Introduction
This guide focuses on identifying and organizing the strongest weapon options available for PvE gameplay in ARC Raiders, based entirely on performance, accessibility, and situational effectiveness against AI-controlled enemies.
If grinding for the right weapons, resources, and upgrades is slowing you down in ARC Raiders PvE, you’re not alone.
The ultimate raider bundle gives you a faster, more efficient way to gear up, hit harder, and focus on surviving encounters instead of fighting underpowered builds.
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- ARC Raiders Best Maps: Risk, Loot, and Player Experience Explained
- The Buried City Secret Puzzle in ARC Raiders
- ARC Raiders Weapon Attachments Guide
Original Introduction
In shooting games like Counter-Strike and valorant some weapons are objectively the best, whether it’s their range, their fire rate, or how accurate they are in different scenarios. For example, the AK in CS 2 is the best gun in the game. It is accurate, has one-tap headshot ability, and has a great range. The same goes with the Valorant Vandal.
But that does not mean other weapons are useless. Situationally, these are the best ones in any given situation. Whether you’re playing a deathmatch, Pugs, retakes, or even your ranked matches.
Now, in this blog, we are going to talk about the best weapons in ARC Raider. Unlike the example of games I have given above, ARC Raider has two game modes: Player Versus Player one and then Player Versus Enemy one. In which you go up against the game’s environment and its own created enemies. So I am going to include 5 of the best weapons in Arc Raider for PvE mode.
Best Weapons For PvE
PvE Weapon Tier List Overview
| Weapons | Tier |
|---|---|
| Vulcano | S-tier (9.5 | 10) |
| Jupiter | S-tier (9 | 10) |
| Hull Cracker | S-tier (9 | 10 |
| Anvil | A-tier (8 | 10) |
| Venator | A-tier (7.8 | 10) |
S-Tier PvE Weapons
Vulcano
The first gun on the list is Vulcan, and it has been regarded as the best weapon to use in PvEs for multiple different reasons, but before that, let’s talk about its specifications. It has a magazine size of six, has a moderate fire rate of 26.3, and has good agility, and on top of that, it has a fast reload time, so if you’re a player who likes to play aggressively, then Vulcano is the one.
The reason why it is so good in PvE is that it has a very high burst damage output. Not only that, when it is kitted out, it can melt down even the matriarch’s joints within a few minutes. Which no other weapon can do that quickly. And the best part is that it is easier to find this weapon’s blueprints, and having a build for it is also on the cheaper side of things. Which means that not only is it great to play in PvE, it is also easier to get and kitout.
Jupiter
The next on the list is Jupiter, and there are plenty of reasons for using it in PvE modes. Firstly, it has an extremely serious damage output, which is 55 damage per shot, and has one shot headshot ability. Not only does the gun have a very strong armor penetration, which is the most crucial thing while playing in PvE. It allows the gun to shred the ARCs within seconds, and if you manage to consistently target the ARCs’ weakness, you can destroy them even faster. Apart from being a heavy damage dealer and having great armor penetration, it also has High velocity, which means that its shots travel at a great speed, which makes it faster in fighting multiple arcs or moving ARCs.
Hull cracker
The hullcracker is a beast when it comes to giving serious damage. It works like a boss killer or like a Budgeted BFG of Doom. The Hull cracker has one of the highest armor penetrations in the game, it break thorugh the ARC’s Armor with ease and is really effective against the high-level ARCs like the queen and matriarch. And the great part about Hull Cracker is that you could get it by just grinding the game’s own quest line. You can get the Hull Cracker by completing the quest for Major’s footlocker.
The hull cracker also has some issues of its own, the first one being that while this blog is focused on the PvE side of things the hullcracker does not do a single damage towards the humans, the grenades it launches has slower flight and has a great bullet drop which means that you have to get closer to the ARCs to hit them and have to actively calculate if your grenades will reach to the arcs or not.
A-Tier PvE Weapons
Anvil
Anvil has one of the most serious damage per shot in pistols, with 40 damage per shot, which has a 2.5x multiplier on the headshot, which means that you’ll do 100 damage per shot on the head. On top of that, it also has a strong ARC armor Penetration allowing it to dismantle the ARCs quickly.
Which makes it a highly valuable weapon in any PvE enviroment but it does also have some cons, firstly, it has the range issue, which is obvious since it is a pistol. Secondly, it has a slower fire-rate, which is understandable since it works similarly to a revolver. But in my opinion, it is still worth it even with these two cons. Just keep in mind that you do need to have a good aim to make the weapon work well.
Venator
The last gun on the list is venator and while it is considered a bad gun against the boss ARCs or high-level arcs, it is still a good weapon to have on you while roaming around in the map and destroying medium-sized arcs like Hornet or the Wasp. The first thing that is great about the gun is that it has two shot mechanic, which means it shoots two projectiles at the same time while consuming a single ammo unit. It also has great armor penetration and a serious damage output with a single shot, giving 36 hp damage. It also has a headshot damage multiplier of 2.5x, has great agility, and is still good barebones without attachments.
PvE Weapon Pros and Cons Comparison
| Weapons | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Vulcano | Great damage output and fast Time to kill | Poor armor piercing, hard to manage recoil at range |
| Jupiter | Great armor penetration and boss-killing ability. | Slower fire rate, slower reload time |
| Hull Cracker | Quest unlocked, great for boss fights | high cost and ammo scarcity |
| Anvil | ease of acquisition, and excellent armor penetration | Resource-intensive and high dispersion |
| Venator | serious damage output and twin-shot capability | limited range |
Conclusion
Each weapon listed serves a distinct role in ARC Raiders PvE gameplay, ranging from high burst damage and armor shredding to mobility-focused roaming efficiency. Weapon choice ultimately depends on enemy type, encounter scale, and playstyle preference, making situational awareness as important as raw firepower.