ARC Raiders Kicks Off March With a New Patch

ARC Raiders developer Embark Studios has released a brand-new update for the extraction shooter, featuring a handful of bug fixes, adjustments, and more. The March 3 ARC Raiders update is available to download right now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, and while it doesn’t include any new content for players to check out, it does make some important changes following the release of last week’s big Shrouded Sky update.

On February 24, Embark deployed the highly anticipated Shrouded Sky update for ARC Raiders. This patch was the second major update of the year, adding two deadly new ARC enemies, a formidable Hurricane Map Condition, a new Raider Deck, plenty of quality-of-life improvements, and more. Shrouded Sky is the second of four major content updates that have been confirmed by Embark for the first half of the year, with the next significant patch, known as Flashpoint, set to arrive later this month. According to the game’s 2026 roadmap, Flashpoint will add another new Map Condition, a new ARC threat, an overhaul to Scrappy, and more.

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New ARC Raiders Update Rolls Out for March 3

While last week’s update brought plenty of new content for players to check out, it did introduce a handful of new issues. Thankfully, Embark has released a new ARC Raiders update for March 3, which aims to address some of these problems. According to the official patch notes, which can be found further down this article, the studio has already addressed the new Snaphook tech that was allowing players to place the item into their Safe Pocket while in use. The update also fixes an exploit that was allowing players to place weapons into their Safe Pocket without the Safekeeper Augment equipped.

Shrouded Sky also added a major new location to Dam Battlegrounds, which requires ARC Raiders players to complete a puzzle if they want to gain access to the loot-filled room. However, players had already discovered a way to bypass the puzzle and glitch their way into the room. Today’s update has now fixed this exploit with yet another “hot-fix.” We can assume by the wording of Embark’s patch notes that this means anybody who glitches their way into the puzzle room will be burnt to a crisp, as this was the studio’s way of dealing with similar problems in the past.

Part of the new Hurrice Map Condition in ARC Raiders was the increased First Wave Raider Caches, which players quickly discovered were dropping some incredible loot. However, with many players extracting with 3-5 blueprints per raid, Embark has now made some adjustments to the feature. According to the recent changelog for the March 3 ARC Raiders update, the studio has lowered the drop rate of rare blueprints slightly and raised the drop rate for high-tier materials in First Wave Caches on the Hurricane map condition. Embark says the amount of blueprints dropping from Caches was unintentional, given how quickly players were tracking them down. But to balance things out, there are now higher drop rates for higher-tier materials.

Many fans are still patiently waiting for ARC Raiders to nerf the IL Toro Shotgun, but it doesn’t look like there are any changes being made in today’s update. The good news is that Embark recently responded to backlash from the many nerfs included in Shrouded Sky, while also confirming that adjustments for the IL Toro are in the works.

Shrouded Sky not only saw nerfs to the Stitcher, Kettle, and Venator, but also saw changes made to popular ARC-related items, such as the Wolfpack, Deadline, and Trailblazer. Many of these items now require more crafting materials, making them much harder to obtain. Fans were massively unhappy about these changes, but Embark seems to be standing firm on the changes and refusing to revert them.

ARC Raiders Update 1.18.0 Patch Notes for March 3

Fixed an exploit that allowed players to put weapons in a safe pocket without the Safekeeper Augment.
Fixed an issue that allowed players to put the Snaphook into a safe pocket while in use.
Lowered the drop rate of rare blueprints slightly and raised the drop rate for high-tier materials in First Wave Caches on the Hurricane map condition.
- Dev note: The main reason for this change is that the First Wave Caches have been handing out a lot of blueprints, especially given how good players have been at tracking them down and looting them. To help balance that out, we’re bumping up the drop rates for higher-tier materials inside the caches. So while you might see a few fewer blueprints overall, you’ll be getting better materials in return. Caches will still be a solid way to find blueprints, just not to the point where you can reliably walk away from every session with 3–5 of them.
Added a very hot fix for the Dam Controlled Access Zone.
Fixed an issue where some ARC would occasionally cause performance drops.
Fixed an issue where the final stage of the quest “Worth Your Salt” could not be completed if someone else had already done it in the same raid.
Fixed a rare issue where players would crash when navigating to the Player Proximity menu.