How to Beat Every Enemy in ARC Raiders

Besides other Raiders, the biggest threat in ARC Raiders is the ARC enemies roaming around looking for prey. Each ARC enemy has its own tactics to beat you, so you need to be prepared. Here’s how to beat every ARC enemy in ARC Raiders.

How to Beat All ARC Enemies in ARC Raiders

Updated as of December 2025.

Tick

• Recommended Weapons: Melee, Any Gun
• Enemy Type: Small Spider

Ticks hide on ceilings and walls, then leap onto your face and drain health and shields. They die in one hit from almost anything. If one latches on, hold interact to throw it off.

Pop

• Recommended Weapons: Any Gun, Explosives
• Enemy Type: Indoor bomber

Pops roll at you and try to explode at your feet for huge damage. Shoot them as they rush you, but if one’s about to blow, you can time a dodge roll to avoid all damage.

Fireball

• Recommended Weapons: High Armor Penetration Weapons, Explosives
• Enemy Type: Indoor flamethrower

Fireballs roll in, open up, and spray burning fire that lingers. Their armor is thick, so back up, let it open, then melt the core at range. Don’t melee them, because the explosion will burn you.

Surveyor

• Recommended Weapons: Burst Rifles, Explosives
• Enemy Type: Outdoor scanner/support

Surveyors scan areas, broadcast your position to ARCs and players, and then try to roll away. While scanning, the exposed core is vulnerable. Burst it down fast before it closes and escapes.

Turret

• Recommended Weapons: Rifles, Impact Grenades
• Enemy Type: Static indoor sentry

Standard wall-mounted turrets with scanners. Peek from cover, bait a firing cycle, then shoot during its brief reload window. Impact grenades can make quick work of them.

Sentinel

• Recommended Weapons: High Penetration Weapons, Impact Grenades
• Enemy Type: Long Range Laser Turret

Sentinels lock you with lasers at long ranges and then fire a powerful sniper shot. Break line of sight before the laser turns solid red, then peek while it’s reloading and shoot it. The laser exposes you to other players.

Snitch

• Recommended Weapons: SMGs, Fast Midrange Rifles
• Enemy Type: Flying alarm

Snitches mark your location and call in Wasps and Hornets if you stay in range too long. Shoot the rotors or exterior plates fast before they can escape. If they’re close enough, a single impact grenade is enough.

Wasp

• Recommended Weapons: Precision Rifles, Accurate
• Enemy Type: Light aerial harasser

Wasps strafe you with sustained gunfire and are especially dangerous during chaotic fights. Destroying two rotors forces a crash and kill. You can one-tap them with impact grenades.

Hornet

• Recommended Weapons: Heavy rifles, machine guns
• Enemy Type: Stun Drone

Hornets fire slow electric darts that stun you and chunk health. Rolling right before their attack lets you dodge it. Shoot the two exposed rear thrusters to drop it.

Leaper

• Recommended Weapons: High armor penetration rifles, energy weapons
• Enemy Type: Elite Melee Bruiser

Leapers jump huge distances, slam you, and pulse AOE damage. Kite them into buildings or doorways they can’t fully enter. From cover, focus fire on one leg to break it and expose internals. Staying in the open against a Leaper will usually get you killed.

Bastion

• Recommended Weapons: Explosives, heavy machine guns, grenade launchers
• Enemy Type: Heavy Walking Turret (Elite)

Bastions are slow but have a powerful minigun that deletes shields and HP, so take cover immediately. Its weak points are the yellow kneecaps and the cylinder on its back. One teammate draws aggro while another flanks and shoots the back core. You can also just hide inside a building and take cheap shots, but prepare for a long fight.

Bombardier

• Recommended Weapons: Rocket launchers, heavy rifles
• Enemy Type: Grounded Artillery Drone (Elite)

Bombardiers are the explosive version of Bastions, equipped with guided rockets; they’re paired with spotter drones that constantly ping your location. Kill the spotter drones first to cut pressure, then use roofed cover and hit the weak points on its back and legs.

Rocketeer

• Recommended Weapons: Heavy machine guns, rockets, energy weapons
• Enemy Type: Airborne Missile Drone (Elite)

Rocketeers fire high-damage rocket volleys, so never fight one in the open. Find solid cover with a roof. Then, bait a volley, and focus on breaking those front thrusters to drop it; otherwise, prepare to waste a ton of ammo.

Shredder

• Recommended Weapons: Heavy ammo weapons, rockets, or explosives.
• Enemy Type: The Relentless Menace

Shredders shoot shotgun projectiles around it like a porcupine unleashing all its quills at the same time. It does massive damage and can even hit enemies from afar.

The Shredder’s weakness is its thrusters, so you’ll have to aim low for this one.

Matriarch

• Recommended Weapons: Heavy launchers, EMP grenades, high penetration rifles, explosives,
• Enemy Type: Raid Boss

The Matriarch is an event similar to the Harvester event that spawns the Queen. However, the Matriarch doesn’t guard anything. It is just there on the map, being an intimidating force.

It has several strong attacks, such as firing homing rockets, gas mortars, and the occasional flashbang. It also sometimes creates a massive energy shield around it, forcing players to stop shooting from a distance until it’s down. One of the Matriarch’s deadliest mechanics is how it spawns several ARC enemies like Bastions, Leapers, Bombardiers, and Rocketeers. These ARC enemies are already difficult to deal with, but you’ll have to go through all of them before switching back to the Matriarch.

The Matriarch’s weak points are its joints and the head’s core. Since the Matriarch is so massive, it is easy to hit those weak points even with a Hullcracker.

Queen

• Recommended Weapons: Heavy launchers, EMP grenades, High Penetration Rifles
• Enemy Type: Raid Boss

The Queen guards the Harvester with adds like Wasps and Rocketeers. She fires homing rockets, sweeps a laser that ignites everything, and can stomp you. Her weak points are her leg joints and an exposed core on her head during laser attacks. You’ll need multiple players rotating aggro and burning weak spots, all equipped with high-tier upgraded gear.

While you’re here, also check out all Scrappy the Rooster upgrade items locations, our Skills tier list, and the best items to loot in ARC Raiders.

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