10 BRUTAL Truths New ARC Raiders Players Learn the Hard Way…

Hi guys, Rex here.

If you’ve been playing ARC Raiders and it feels like the game is just beating you down — constant deaths, losing your gear, getting ambushed, getting melted by ARC units, or feeling like every raid ends in chaos — you’re not alone.
Every new ARC Raiders player goes through this exact phase.

ARC looks stunning, it feels fun, and on the surface it seems like a chill PvE co-op shooter… until the game suddenly flips on you and becomes way more brutal, unpredictable, and unforgiving than you expected. And most players hit that wall completely unprepared.

So in this video, we’re breaking down 10 brutal truths that new ARC Raiders players learn the hard way. These are the things that explain why the game feels so punishing at first — and once you understand them, ARC becomes far more enjoyable, far less frustrating, and way more rewarding.

And make sure you watch until number 10 — because that one might surprise you, and it’s something most players never think about, but it has a massive impact on how much you’ll enjoy the game long-term.

So without further ado, let’s dive into it.

1. ARC Raiders Is PvPvE — Not a PvE Game With Optional PvP

One of the biggest shocks for new players is realizing that ARC Raiders is not a co-op shooter with a couple of hostile encounters here and there. This is a PvPvE extraction shooter — and that means every squad on the map is competing for the same loot, the same crafting materials, the same opportunities, and the same extracts.

A lot of beginners expect uncontested looting, peaceful routes, friendly interactions, and safe extractions… and when they get shot, they immediately assume the other players are toxic.

But here’s the truth: they’re not toxic — they’re just playing the game the way it’s meant to be played.

Once you accept that players will shoot you and should shoot you, ARC suddenly stops feeling unfair and starts feeling like the tense PvPvE world it actually is.

2. You Will Lose Your Gear — And That’s Normal

This is one of the hardest lessons for new players.

You will die.
You will lose your loadouts.
You will lose loot you spent 20 minutes gathering.
And you will lose gear that felt “important.”

But none of this is a flaw. It’s not bad design. It’s the mechanic that makes the entire experience meaningful.

Risk isn’t punishment — risk is excitement.

If losing gear wasn’t part of the game, loot wouldn’t matter, extracting wouldn’t feel rewarding, the game would lose all tension, and no one would care about fighting in the first place. The danger of losing something is exactly what makes every decision feel impactful, and what turns even small victories into memorable moments.

Many new players get frustrated because they tie their sense of progress to the size and value of their stash. Seeing it go down feels like losing everything. But in reality, your real progress comes from learning the game — understanding fights, surviving pressure, and knowing when to push or back off. The stash just gives you tools to apply that knowledge.

Once you accept gear loss as part of the loop, you stop fearing it, you stop getting tilted when things go wrong, and you start enjoying the real core of the game: the tension, the unpredictability, and the thrill of making it out against the odds.

3. Ambushes, Extraction Camping, and Betrayals Are Part of the Experience

Every new player eventually dies at extraction and feels like they just got robbed of their progress. But here’s a harsh truth: ambushes are part of what makes extraction shooters exciting.

You don’t always know who’s around the corner.
You don’t know who’s watching you from above.
And you definitely don’t know who’s hiding in the bushes right next to you, waiting for the perfect moment to catch you completely off guard.

If every extract was safe, ARC would lose half of its tension instantly.

The possibility of an ambush — even if it never actually happens — is what keeps every extract meaningful. It forces you to stay alert, to think about your approach, to watch your angles, and to consider how much noise you’ve made getting there. And when you do make it out after a messy fight or a risky route, the extraction feels genuinely earned — not routine.

A lot of players take these moments personally, but they’re not griefing you, and they’re not breaking the rules. They’re just taking advantage of opportunities that the game intentionally creates. Once you accept that unpredictability is part of the experience, those moments start feeling less frustrating and more like the heart of what makes ARC Raiders fun.

4. The ARC Are Way More Dangerous Than You Expect

A lot of beginners treat ARC enemies like basic shooter AI you can ignore while focusing on loot, and then they get shredded because they got too comfortable.

ARC units hit hard, they’re aggressive, and they don’t give you much room to make mistakes. You have to treat them with respect. If you fight them out in the open or let them surround you, they’ll punish you instantly. Staying near cover, moving with intention, and being aware of your escape routes makes all the difference. Underestimate them for even a second, and they’ll wipe you before you realize what happened.

And that’s only the beginning — because every ARC type has its own strengths and weaknesses. Even the weakest ARC can be dangerous under the right circumstances. Learning what you’re up against, assessing the situation, and making smart calls is crucial. Some ARC are easy and safe to take out, but if you spend too long trying to kill a Snitch, it might suddenly be joined by a couple of Hornets while you’re stuck in the open with no cover. That’s when the real trouble begins.

Understanding how — and more importantly when — to engage or avoid certain ARC is one of the most important survival skills in the entire game.

ARC are not background noise — they’re a real threat. And once you start treating them that way, you survive much longer.

5. Greed Will Get You Killed

Greed gets more players killed than almost anything else. When you stop to pick up every single item, reorganize your bag, recycle gear, and try to squeeze everything in, you’re burning a huge amount of time. Spending too long increases the chance that other players will arrive and catch you off guard.

And the worst part is that greed usually hits right after a fight, when you think you’re finally safe. You’ve just won a big engagement, adrenaline is high, and now you want to scoop up everything before heading out. But that moment — when you’re low on resources and focused on sorting loot — is exactly when you’re easiest to punish.

Other squads often show up shortly after a fight because they heard the gunshots, were already rotating in your direction, or were simply closer than you realized. And if you’re still standing there moving gear around when they arrive, you’re in trouble.

Most of the time, the extra scraps aren’t worth the risk — and in the long run, extracting more often with a little less will benefit you far more than staying too long for every last piece.

6. Gear Fear Is Your Worst Enemy

Everyone goes through this phase.

You bring in a good loadout and suddenly you get scared of engaging. You hesitate. You panic under pressure. You avoid fights you would normally take. You freeze when you’re caught off guard.

Gear fear makes you emotional instead of logical. It slows your reactions and gets you killed more often.

The truth is simple: gear is replaceable — and you WILL lose it eventually.

Once you stop treating your gear as a trophy and start seeing it as a tool, everything changes. You play calmer, you make better decisions, you take smarter fights, and you stop panicking.

And here’s the key: good players don’t play “to protect their loadout.” They play to use it. Your loadout is there to give you an advantage — not to be preserved like some rare collectible. The moment you stop being afraid of losing your kit, you start using it properly, taking opportunities instead of avoiding them, and your entire performance shifts upward.

Once you learn to stay calm and collected under pressure, you start playing to your full potential, making proper use of the tools at your disposal instead of throwing them away because you’re stressed out. Sometimes you have to risk a little to gain a little, and bringing in that better gear actually increases your odds of winning — even if you end up losing it. It might sound cliché, but at the end of the day it’s pixels on a screen. If you’re not willing to risk it, it will sit in your stash forever as a trophy, or eventually be lost to a forced wipe. In either case, you’re better off using it while you can to maximize your chance of success and your enjoyment of the game.

7. Knowing When to Fight — And When to Run

New players take far too many fights where the odds are stacked against them without even noticing.

You have to constantly evaluate your situation — whether you have cover, how much healing you have left, whether your angle is better or worse than theirs, how much ammo you have, whether you’re outnumbered, and whether ARC enemies nearby are going to third-party the moment you commit.

Sometimes the correct answer is simply: “run.”

Running doesn’t mean you’re afraid. It means you understand the situation. Good players don’t fight every battle — they fight the right battles. Smart repositioning wins more fights than aim alone.

And the irony is that disengaging early often creates better opportunities. If you back off, reset the fight, heal, reposition, and come in from a different angle, you suddenly control the engagement instead of reacting to it. Many players lose because they feel “locked in” to the first fight they stumble into, but the moment you realize you can slip away and re-approach on your own terms, your survivability skyrockets.

Knowing when to commit and when to disappear is one of the biggest separators between players who survive consistently and players who die with full backpacks.

8. Hesitation Will Get You Killed

Hesitation is the silent killer in ARC Raiders.

You die when you peek too slowly, push too late, run too late, wait too long to heal, freeze during pressure, or second-guess your flank at the worst possible moment. Most players don’t lose because their aim is bad — they lose because they hesitate right when action is needed.

ARC rewards players who can make clear decisions — not players who mindlessly commit, but players who choose a plan and act on it. If you want to push, push with purpose. If you want to fall back, fall back early. If you want to reposition, commit to it instead of hesitating in the open.

Being decisive doesn’t mean locking yourself into a bad choice. You can absolutely start a push and then back out the moment something feels wrong — maybe you hear another team rotating in, or your angles aren’t as good as you thought. But that adjustment should be a clean, confident switch, not a panic-freeze where you get caught standing still.

Indecision is where most deaths happen. A fast, imperfect decision is almost always better than a slow, uncertain one — because while you’re stuck thinking, the other squad is already acting.

9. Solo and Team Play Are Completely Different Games

This is a truth many players don’t understand until it’s too late.

Solo play demands stealth, patience, isolation, and the discipline to avoid unnecessary fights while gathering information. You’re relying entirely on your own timing, map knowledge, and positioning because there’s no one to trade shots for you, revive you, or cover your mistakes. A clean disengage or a smart flank will carry you far more than aggression ever will.

Team play — whether it’s duos or trios — is the complete opposite. It thrives on aggression, coordinated pushes, trading shots, and applying pressure together. You can take riskier fights because you have teammates to pick you up, finish a kill you started, or punish an enemy who tunnels on one of you. Teams win fights by overwhelming isolated players and punishing anyone who gets separated.

Trying to play solo like you’re in a team gets you instantly overrun. Trying to play in a team like you’re solo gets you stuck sneaking around while enemy squads take initiative and control the map.

The moment you adjust your mentality — playing solo with precision and patience, and playing in a team with confidence and coordination — the game feels dramatically more manageable. You stop forcing the wrong approach into the wrong mode and start letting each mode play to its strengths.

10. Being Too Friendly OR Too Aggressive Will Hurt You Long-Term

Here’s the one that might surprise you.

A lot of players hard-lock themselves into one identity early on — either “I’m friendly no matter what” or “I kill everyone on sight.” Both extremes feel safe because they remove the pressure of making decisions, but both will hurt your long-term experience.

If you’re too friendly, you never get proper PvP practice. You get betrayed often, you hesitate at the worst moments, and you lose loot simply because you trusted someone you shouldn’t have.

If you’re too aggressive, you burn yourself out. You force fights you don’t need to take, you miss wholesome interactions and spontaneous teamwork, and you turn a dynamic game into a constant brawl that drains your resources and your enjoyment.

ARC Raiders is at its best when you stay flexible. Sometimes teaming up with another group genuinely helps you both. Sometimes fighting is the right call, and other times backing off avoids a disaster. The game rewards players who can read the situation instead of sticking to a rigid playstyle.

Stay open to friendly moments — but don’t rely on them. Stay ready for combat — but don’t force it every time.
Finding this middle ground gives you more options, more memorable encounters, and a much better long-term experience.

And that’s it — 10 brutal truths new ARC Raiders players learn the hard way.

If you’ve been struggling or feeling frustrated, that’s completely normal. Everyone goes through this phase. But once you understand how ARC actually works, the game becomes incredibly rewarding, tense, and genuinely fun.

Let me know in comments: Which of these truths hit the hardest for you — and which one do you think most players still don’t understand?

Thank you for watching, and I’ll see you topside!