In record time, today's Arc Raiders update softened the divisive weapon durability changes recently introduced by developer Embark Studios as a way to promote weapon turnover and reduce player hoarding. The Renegade, a popular rifle held up by many as the biggest loser of the change, received the biggest durability buffs, but it's far from the only one affected.
"It's been clear that the durability changes in the last patch were felt too much on some weapons," Embark admits in the 1.29.0 patch notes. "For this update, we're targeting the worst offenders that seem to break too quickly, increasing their lifetime to bring them in line with other weapons."
Here's the full list of changes, detailing the effective durability increase for each gun (how many shots it takes to break them).
- Ferro - 18% (from 129 to 151 shots)
- Anvil - 25% (from 150 to 188)
- Canto - 18% (from 667 to 784)
- Osprey - 33% (from 111 to 148)
- Renegade - 54% (from 175 to 269)
- Torrente - 25% (from 890 to 1,113)
- Bettina - 25% (from 607 to 759)
- Jupiter - 33% (from 167 to 222)
You'll notice that low-rarity weapons like the Stitcher will still fall apart faster than cookies in milk, which is very much by design. Embark said it wants higher-rarity weapons to feel more solid, while lower-rarity options should come with downsides that encourage players to upgrade.
A durability-adjacent change to the photoelectric cloak was also softened. Originally, the cloak burned through energy at a rate of 2.5 points per second, giving it a long duration. In the durability patch, Embark quadrupled that to 10 per second, quartering the item's effective uptime and giving it limited use cases. Today, that was reduced to 5 points per second – a much more reasonable middle ground, I'd say.
Additionally, on top of its durability buff, the Bettina assault rifle received yet another targeted buff. Its fire rate has been increased from 235 to 250. The Bettina was widely called a brick when Arc Raiders first launched, but Embark has fed the thing so many freakin' buffs that it might just be a brick house. It was feeling pretty okay to me even before this fire rate buff.
These weapon changes come alongside the introduction of an all-new weapon: the Rascal grenade launcher. Think of it as a cheaper, weaker, breach-loaded Hullcracker. "A reliable side-arm for those who want anti-ARC firepower without the risk of lugging around a Hullcracker," Embark says. Naturally, it's also less durable than
