ARC Raiders Riven Tides Guide

The western coast of the Rust Belt. Abandoned twice: once during the Exodus when the rich fled the planet, once again by First Wave survivors who got smashed by ARC and had the good sense to leave. You, presumably, will do neither.

The map runs from a decaying beach resort: the Panorama Azzurro Hotel: through an industrial port to a towering Exodus dockyard. Tall structures everywhere, open beaches with zero cover, and a brand-new ARC machine overhead that nobody has figured out yet. Perfect vacation.

ARC Raiders is a PvPvE extraction shooter by Embark Studios: the team behind The Finals. You drop in, loot, kill things, and try to extract with your stash intact. Riven Tides is the biggest content update since launch, dropping April 28, 2025.

Key Locations

• Panorama Azzurro Hotel: multi-story beachside luxury. Fading. Full of loot, full of angles that will end you.
• Exodus Port: industrial dockyard with platforms at elevation. This is where the Crash Mat earns its keep.
• Open Coastline: exposed beach where Beachcombing happens. Richest buried loot, worst cover. Classic trade.
• Coastal Buoys: deployment spots for the Avian Alarm bird cages. Five stages. Don't ignore it.

ARC Turbine: The New Enemy

The ARC Turbine drifts across the map in complete silence until you get close, at which point it becomes a completely different problem. Embark calls it a "totally unique fight": developer-speak for "we have no idea how you'll break it yet, and honestly neither do we."

Its primary strength is defense. Patience is not optional. Rushing it is a creative way to waste durability on your best weapons. The Turbine is the reason the Powered Descender and Crash Mat exist: aerial engagements against a floating machine on a map full of tall docks will end with you falling. Gear accordingly.

Known bug: The Leaper can currently jump through the Turbine. Embark is aware. Enjoy it while it lasts, or don't: your call.

Beachcombing Map Condition

Riven Tides introduces a minor map condition: not a 2x session modifier, just an extra layer. Find the Dockmaster's Detector in-session, equip it in a weapon slot, sweep it across the sand, dig up buried loot. Simple in theory. Awkward in practice because the richest spots are out in the open and everyone knows it.

The detector occupies a weapon slot while active. You are not armed while treasure hunting. This is intentional. This is sadistic. This is correct.

You cannot access Beachcombing without the Dockmaster's Detector. The Detector is the final reward from the Avian Alarm Raider Project. Do the project. There is no shortcut.

What Beachcombing Yields

Loot rarity from buried finds varies. The open beach gives the best drops. The detector works across the coastal sand areas of Riven Tides only: this is a map-exclusive mechanic, not available on Dam Battlegrounds, Buried City, or Stella Montis.

Avian Alarm: Raider Project

Previous Raider Projects: High Gain Antenna, Weather Monitoring Station: gave tokens and cosmetics. Stuff you could skip. The Avian Alarm is different: completing it is the only way to unlock the Dockmaster's Detector, which is the only way to access Beachcombing. For the first time, the project actually matters.

The task: deploy bird cages at buoys along the Riven Tides coastline. Catch birds. Build a makeshift tremor and atmospheric-change detection system. This is the lore reason. The real reason is to make you run the exposed shoreline repeatedly.

The project runs for approximately 27 days. Do not mistake this for a reason to be relaxed about it.

New Items: Crash Mat & Powered Descender

Two fall mitigation tools, because Riven Tides is full of tall dock structures, oil rig platforms, and coastal cliffs, and the ground is, to quote Embark directly, "the hard, splatty ground."

• Crash Mat: deploy it, land on it, survive what would otherwise be a fatal drop. Requires placement before impact. Requires forethought. Good luck.
• Powered Descender: controlled descent device. Slow-fall on demand. Not a jetpack. Does not go up. Get down safely from whatever the Turbine just knocked you off of.

Both items require skill to use effectively. Embark said so specifically, which means the first week of sessions will be a free education in how not to use them.

Last Resort Event: Runs to May 25

XP from any map converts to Merits. For bonus Merits, hunt miniature Ship Models hidden across all maps: each carries a merit value based on rarity. Collect enough to unlock three reward pages.

Last Resort Full Reward List

• Junior Outfit
• Hydrologist Backpack
• Hose Attachment
• Brass Faucet charm
• New emotes (Heel Click and others)
• 250 Raider Tokens
• White Flag: used for signaling

The event runs parallel to the Miniature Voyages system: boats found in Riven Tides specifically grant Merits. The rarer the boat model, the larger the merit payout. Standard event loop: play, find things, get tokens for cosmetics you may or may not ever equip.

Embark decided the weapon economy was imbalanced: heavily PvP players were making impossible trade-offs while friendly players were swimming in guns. The patch addresses this with several changes hitting simultaneously, which is a polite way of saying the floor just dropped.

Weapon Drop & Durability: Summary Table

Common weapons now deplete extremely fast. Tier matters. High-tier weapons get proportionally better durability-per-shot ratios. This is the correct direction and it will be annoying for approximately two weeks until players adapt.

Trigger Grenade: Finally Nerfed

You can no longer throw a new grenade while triggering a previously thrown one. A 1-second delay was added after the throw action before the trigger action becomes available, and a 1.3-second delay after using the trigger. The spam is over. It should have been over a long time ago.

Photoelectric Cloak: Nerfed Hard

Weight increased from 1 to 3. Power use rate changed from 2.5 seconds to 10 seconds. The cloak still works the same when active: it just needs far longer to recharge between uses. Close Scrutiny is now significantly less compelling as a destination because the main tool for running it safely just got punished. Intended. Painful. Correct.

Betatina: Adjusted, Not Nerfed

Slower, harder-hitting, more accurate over time, and now 33% better against ARC armor. Relevant given that the Turbine just arrived. This does not appear to be a coincidence.

ARC Presence Adjustments

• Comets removed from standard Dam Battlegrounds sessions
• Firefly presence reduced heavily in Dam Battlegrounds
• Comet presence reduced in Buried City

Beginner-oriented sessions were too difficult. Embark walked it back. Reasonable.

Two sets on launch day, more rolling out across May. The Solare Set (1,600 Raider tokens) is ceremonial layered fabric with a white-and-orange colorway that is, against expectations, not terrible. The Rachetta Set (1,500 Raider tokens) is bold colors, athletic cut, and apparently zero self-awareness: exactly the kind of skin that gets purchased ironically and then stays equipped for three weeks.

Cosmetic Roadmap: May

Trials Season 4 begins April 29 and brings the Blindspot outfit as a reward. Hotshot and Cantina Legend ranks unlock alternate colorways. Major map conditions no longer award double Trials points: a controversial change that removes a core reason some players chose which sessions to queue.

Augments: Tactical Mark III Smoke & Balance Pass

A new Tactical Mark III Smoke augment arrives this patch. Embark also acknowledged, in the notes, that several combat augments are underperforming: specifically naming the Combat Mark III Flanking augment as one that "has yet to find its place to shine." A general balancing pass is coming to buff underperformers. No timeline given. The acknowledgment alone is something.

The stated goal is a full roster where all augment categories are meaningfully represented. Whether this produces results or just more patch note paragraphs is an open question.