ARC Raiders Weapon Tier List

Live version is Update 1.45.0, shipped 8 September 2026. Aphelion sway dropped. Equalizer holster sound cleaned. Cred on Frozen Trail still expires on that clock. The store later listed 1.46.0. Neither line changed a gun statistic.

Update 1.42.0 on 18 August 2026 only fixed Practice Range damage on Dolabra, Hullcracker and Rascal. That is the proof those 3 exist on the live build. 1.36.0 on 7 July remains Expedition 4 / Trials Season 5 / matchmaking. 1.39.0 cleaned Seeker and Wolfpack grenade damage. Mods already show on dropped guns.

The guns have not been rebalanced. If a clip told you a gun jumped into the meta last week, that clip is wrong. The last change that moved the gun meta was the Bettina buff in 1.26.0 on 28 April 2026. Damage went 14 to 16. Dispersion tightened about 40%. Fire rate went 285 to 235. Armour damage against ARC went up.

Independent boards still letter Anvil and Renegade at the top. Bobcat, Vulcano and Venator join them when the list weights players over machines. Hullcracker and Equalizer fall when that same list blends the player fight into a single letter. This page keeps those 2 on overall A because the raid still has hulls to break.

Rarity is not the letter. The best-value weapon is an Uncommon Anvil. One of the worst is a Legendary Aphelion. Several Legendaries cannot take a workbench upgrade. Chasing colour wastes an expedition of materials.

The boards above split the job. Overall is the raid you actually run. Close-range is rooms and other Raiders. Long-range is armour and open ground. A blended letter hid Hullcracker and Equalizer. Those 2 melt ARC and lose duels. Run 2 answers in the same raid, because the same extract holds machines and people.

Rarity gates go Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary. The real gate is the blueprint and the materials.

Anvil. The blueprint drops from caches, so it is luck. Once you have it, the gun is only Uncommon to build. That is the widest gap between demand and drop rate on this page.

Epics. Bettina, Bobcat, Tempest, Vulcano and Hullcracker need Gunsmith 3, the blueprint, and Advanced Mechanical Components, Magnetic Accelerators or Exodus Modules.

Legendaries. Dolabra, Jupiter, Equalizer and Aphelion are rare drops plus expensive crafting. Several cannot be upgraded afterwards. Weigh that before you commit the pile.

Ferro and Stitcher craft from almost nothing. A broke Raider still has a kit. The top of this list is gated by luck and materials. The bottom of it is free. Stash unlocks sit on ARC Raiders coins, on the rarity letter they do not.

Before you have a workbench worth using:

• Ferro for anything at range. Real armour penetration at almost no cost.
• Stitcher up close. It comes in the free loadout and it still works.
• Rascal as the cheap answer to ARC, standing in for a Hullcracker you cannot build yet.
• Canto once you can afford it, over the Bobcat, because medium ammo lasts the raid.

Skip Hairpin and Rattler entirely. Do not spend a Legendary drop on Aphelion expecting it to carry.

Anvil is luck. The blueprint sits in caches. Once it drops, the craft is Uncommon and cheap. If you burn expeditions rolling for it, you are paying the drop. The gun itself is cheap. A delivered blueprint skips that loop.

Renegade is Rare. The gun itself is craftable once the blueprint is in the bench. Upgrades are where the headshot multiplier starts to embarrass Osprey and Jupiter. Do the upgrades before you call it worse than a Legendary sniper.

Vulcano is Epic. Gunsmith 3 plus the Epic material pile. If your raids die in rooms, this is the spend. If your raids die to hulls at 80 metres, it is not.

Dolabra is Legendary and cannot take a workbench upgrade. You are buying the 2 fire modes, hipfire spread and the ADS beam, as they ship. That is still S. It is also the most expensive S. Weigh the pile against Anvil plus Renegade, which cover most of the same jobs for less.

Hullcracker and Equalizer are the ARC pair. Hullcracker needs the Epic bench. Equalizer needs the Legendary drop. Rascal is the Rare stand-in while you wait. Do not run any of those 3 as your only gun. They lose the player fight that starts when the machines are down.

Ferro and Stitcher are the floor. Craft them the night you spawn. They stay in the bag after you own Anvil, because a wiped kit still needs a free reload.

Aphelion looks like a flex. It is a 2-round energy battle rifle that cannot be upgraded and sits C. If a Legendary drop is Aphelion, treat it as a trophy. Leave it off the raid kit.

Hairpin's whole pitch is the suppressor. Low damage, no armour. Leave it. Rattler's magazine dies mid-fight. Leave it. Kettle used to be the budget AR and then lost fire rate and damage. Leave it unless you have literally nothing else.

4 weapons split across independent boards. The reason matters more than the letter.

Venator. Player-versus-player boards still love the dual projectile and the headshot multiplier. Patch 1.17 cut that multiplier from 2.5 to 2 and also cut damage. The lower overall band is the safer read. Close-range still keeps it S because the remaining multiplier still ends rooms.

Bettina. 1.26.0 is documented and large. Overall A is the conservative read. If you already own the blueprint, treat it as S against ARC armour.

Tempest. Both reads call it a top assault rifle. Overall A. Long-range A. Not worth agonising over.

Hullcracker and Equalizer. Excellent against ARC, unreliable against players. Overall A because the raid still has machines. Close-range drops them. Long-range keeps them A. If a list blends PvE and PvP into a single letter, these 2 are where it breaks.

A structural point: you should be running 2 answers. The same raid contains armoured machines and other Raiders. Almost no gun is the best choice against both.

The ranking tables that used to live here now live on the boards. The facts stay in this list.

Anvil (Uncommon battle rifle). Enormous single-shot damage and strong armour penetration. Upgrades take it past its rarity. Overall S on every serious board.

Renegade (Rare battle rifle). Lever-action, long range, a big headshot multiplier once upgraded. It makes most snipers redundant. Long-range S.

Dolabra (Legendary shotgun). Energy, 2 firing modes: hipfire spread and an ADS beam. Cannot be upgraded. That matters less than it sounds. Still S.

Vulcano (Epic shotgun). Semi-auto burst. Close-range S. Overall S because rooms decide raids. Range falloff is real against ARC at distance.

Bettina (Epic assault rifle). The 1.26.0 buff is the last real gun-stat move. Overall A.

Tempest (Epic assault rifle). Full-auto, medium ammo. A top AR. Overall A.

Bobcat (Epic SMG). Best SMG for fighting players on fire rate and magazine size. Poor armour penetration against ARC keeps it off the overall S row. Close-range S.

Canto (Rare SMG). Medium ammo, so it sustains across a raid better than Bobcat. Overall A.

Ferro (Common battle rifle). The budget king. Real armour penetration for a trivial craft. Long-range S. Overall A because upgraded Anvil and Renegade still outscale it.

Venator (Rare pistol). Dual projectile. Close-range S. Overall A after the 1.17 nerf.

Hullcracker (Epic launcher). Best anti-ARC launcher. Projectile bounce loses duels. Overall A.

Equalizer (Legendary special). Armour-penetrating beam for ARC. Weak against players. Not upgradable. Overall A.

Rascal (Rare sidearm). A budget Hullcracker for ARC clearing. Overall A.

Stitcher (Common SMG). Free-loadout SMG, craftable from nothing. Still usable after its nerfs. Overall B.

Il Toro (Uncommon shotgun). A pump that used to sit S and has been heavily nerfed. Overall B.

Torrente (Rare LMG). The only light machine gun. Clears ARC and lays support fire. Overall B.

Burletta (Uncommon pistol). Consistent light pistol, poor armour penetration. Overall B.

Osprey (Rare sniper). Longest conventional sniper range. Outclassed by Renegade for the work you actually do. Overall B.

Jupiter (Legendary sniper). Energy railgun, high headshot multiplier, leans toward PvE. Cannot be upgraded. Overall B.

Aphelion (Legendary battle rifle). Energy 2-round burst. Outclassed on value. A Legendary at C.

Arpeggio (Uncommon assault rifle). 3-round burst. A niche accuracy pick. Overall C.

Kettle (Common assault rifle). Once a strong budget AR. Nerf on fire rate and damage. Overall C.

Rattler (Common assault rifle). Small magazine and an awkward reload. Underperforms even for its cost. Overall C.

Hairpin (Common pistol). Silenced, and that is the whole pitch. Low damage and very weak armour. Overall C.