‘Arc Raiders’ Frozen Trails Patch Notes, Free Weekend And Major Changes

ARC Raiders: Frozen Trail — At A Glance

Frozen Trail Highlights

• New Map – Pendola Pass
• New Map Conditions – Frigate & Redirection
• New Enemies – Bully, Skulker, Hydra
• New Weapons – Bantam & Stiletto
• Amplified Weapons
• Revamped Skill Tree
• New Items – Grappling Hook, Basic & Advanced Cameras, Tether Launcher, Yank Grenade, Mountaineer’s Detector, Banjo & Harmonica
• The Outpost, including a new Research Bench
• Lootable “Design” items that unlock craftable Outpost furniture
• Quest System improvements, 22 new quests added
• New Reward Pass system
• Weapon Stencils
• Updated default gamepad mapping
• Reworked Map Selection screen, including visual and usability improvements
• Collector DLC is available now
• Max Stash Size increased by 2 new levels (328 Max without Expedition bonuses)

New Map: Pendola Pass

Frozen Trail introduces Pendola Pass, a new snow-covered region outside the Rust Belt.

The map is set in a former Exodus transport hub in Italy and includes an abandoned village, supermarket, town square, observatory and buried train depot. It’s much larger than Riven Tides, which many players (including myself) thought was way too small for the first new map in months.

Pendola Pass has been designed with more verticality than previous maps, with locations both above and below ground. Players will also encounter Flash Freezes, an environmental hazard that arrives in pockets. It’s similar to Cold Snap’s frostbite but thankfully only comes in short waves rather than anytime you’re outdoors.

The main objective revolves around the wreckage of a gargantuan fallen Emperor ARC. Raiders have traveled to the region looking for valuable technology from the wreck, while additional ARC forces have been deployed to the area.

The Frigate

One of the major new activities in Frozen Trail is the Frigate, a large ARC vessel deployed to Pendola Pass. Players can board the Frigate, explore its interior and unlock routes through the vessel while fighting ARC enemies.

Other Raiders may also be attempting to board and loot the Frigate during the same match, making this a very dangerous hot zone when it appears on the map. High risk, of course, means high reward.

New ARC Enemies

Frozen Trail adds several new ARC enemies.

Bully: An aggressive ARC that quickly closes the distance with Raiders and uses several different attacks. Players will need to use cover and look for opportunities to damage it.

Skulker: A more evasive enemy that follows Raiders, waits for opportunities to attack and then retreats.

Hydra: A stationary ARC turret encountered aboard the Frigate. The Hydra consists of three independently moving sections equipped with different weapons and is designed to threaten multiple Raiders simultaneously.

New Weapons

Two new weapons are being added with Frozen Trail.

Stiletto

The Stiletto is a light-ammo battle rifle intended for medium-to-long-range combat. It is relatively inexpensive to craft and provides another early-game option alongside weapons such as the Renegade. Players can fire the Stiletto rapidly, although accuracy decreases when firing too quickly.

Bantam

The Bantam is a short-barreled revolver that uses heavy ammunition. It is designed to deal high damage against both ARC and enemy Raiders and includes a dedicated hip-fire mechanic. The new revolver is one reason the Anvil was moved to Blue rarity.

Amplified Weapons

Frozen Trail also introduces Amplified Weapons, a new weapon progression system. After fully upgrading the Research Workstation in an Outpost, certain weapons can be upgraded to a fifth quality tier. Players can then select additional upgrades that alter the weapon’s characteristics and functionality.

Examples provided by Embark include:

• A fully automatic Burletta
• A scoped Renegade
• A Rattler using incendiary ammunition and a 64-round magazine

The system launches with 15 supported weapons, with additional weapons planned for future updates.

Outposts

Players can now establish an Outpost on the surface between the Rust Belt and Pendola Pass. Outposts can be customized with different modules and furniture and also serve a progression function.

One of the most important upgrades is the Research Workstation, which provides access to additional weapon customization and eventually unlocks Amplified Weapons. Embark plans to expand the Outpost system in future updates.

Grappling Hook

The Grappling Hook adds a new traversal option. Players can use it to reach elevated locations, rappel from buildings and swing across gaps.

The gadget is particularly relevant on Pendola Pass because the new map places a greater emphasis on vertical exploration. It’s a very different traversal mechanic than ziplines, however, and will take some getting used to (it’s also nothing like the quick grappling in Warzone).

Tether Launcher

The Tether Launcher creates a wire between two points.

It can be used to restrict enemy movement and can also tether Raiders to ARC enemies. This gives the gadget both PvE and PvP applications depending on how it is deployed.

Yank Grenade

The Yank Grenade pulls nearby targets toward the point where it detonates. It can be used against ARC enemies, including flying ARC, as well as against enemy Raiders. Players can also use it to pull opponents away from cover or reposition enemies during combat.

Reward Passes Replace Raider Decks

Frozen Trail introduces the new Reward Pass system, which replaces the previous Raider Deck progression structure. The Frozen Trail Reward Pass contains 60 levels and is progressed by completing Feats. There are both free and premium tracks.

• The Free Reward Pass contains weapons, gadgets, items, cosmetics and up to 200 Raider Tokens.
• The Premium Reward Pass costs 1,150 Raider Tokens and focuses on cosmetic rewards including outfit variants, weapon stencils and hairstyles.

Players can earn up to 1,150 Raider Tokens from completing the Premium Pass, which means you can theoretically get the next one for free.

Weapons and gadgets that affect gameplay are available through the free progression track rather than being exclusive to Premium.

Existing Raider Deck content is being moved into a Legacy Reward Pass, and previously unlocked rewards remain available.

Skill Tree Changes

The update also includes changes to the Skill Tree, including new and reworked skills. These include major nodes where players must make a choice between different abilities.

Embark says the changes are intended to provide more options when developing different Raider builds and playstyles.

Weapon Stencils

Weapons can now be visually customized using Weapon Stencils.

These cosmetics remain attached to the weapon itself.

If another Raider takes a customized weapon during a raid, the stencil remains on the weapon when it changes ownership.

Camera

Players can also bring a Camera Topside.

The camera includes several photography controls, including zoom, aperture adjustment, manual and automatic focus, focus racking and selfie mode.

Photos taken with the camera can be stored in the player’s Codex.

New Instruments

Two playable instruments are being added:

Players can use these while exploring or interacting with other Raiders.

ARC Raiders Free Trial

A free ARC Raiders trial is running alongside the release of Frozen Trail.

The trial runs from October 8 through October 12 on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation and provides access to the full game during the free period.

PvE Matchmaking Test

Shortly after Frozen Trail, Embark will begin testing a dedicated PvE matchmaking option. The test runs from October 13 through October 20.

Players who select PvE matchmaking will enter sessions where player-vs-player damage is disabled. Players can continue to explore maps, gather loot, fight ARC and complete quests alongside other Raiders. Solo players, duos and trios will all be placed into the same PvE matchmaking pool.

Loot values will be reduced compared with standard PvPvE matches to account for the lower level of risk.

Several activities and map conditions will not be available in PvE matchmaking, including:

• Night Raids
• Hidden Bunker
• Locked Gate
• Frigate

Embark has described this as a limited test rather than confirmation that PvE matchmaking will become a permanent feature.

Is Frozen Trail Worth Getting Back Into ARC Raiders?

I’ve only played a couple hours of the update so far, jumping on with two of my old crewmates and exploring a pretty good chunk of Pendola Pass, respeccing our Raiders and getting a feel for the changes (including button mapping changes that were quite annoying!)

Overall, it’s an impressive update. The new ARC enemies are fun. Extracting in the gondolas is exciting and different. You call them in similar to a Supply Drop and then have to run over and open the three doors before the gondola rockets off. As soon as one person starts to extract, everyone needs to get inside or it’ll take off without you. It makes for some very tense escapes.

I’m concerned that players who didn’t take a long break during the content drought will have a major advantage over the rest of us, so I’m looking forward to having a PvE option during the PvE test. I love PvP in this game, but I think they screwed up badly when they added a karma system and some servers are “more PvP” and others “more PvE”. It should be totally random. I don’t want to have to play one way or another.

I’m also glad they’ve made it easier to get hold of new guns, and I love the overhauled weapon aesthetics that make each gun look more unique as you upgrade it. The overhauled skill tree is also a big improvement as is the increased stash size.

Will this be enough to get me back into the game? Probably for a little bit, but the DMZ mode in Modern Warfare 4 looks way more interesting at this point, and I don’t think my group will return to Arc Raiders in a meaningful way. It’ll be a fun, casual game to play from time to time, but the Extraction-only nature of the game is a huge weakness. Call of Duty has the advantage here, with DMZ, multiplayer and Warzone to choose from. Embark should seriously consider adding respawn PvP modes, smaller maps with team objectives, 12v12 fights etc.

What do you think of Frozen Trail so far? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog. Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.

Arc Raiders Frozen Trail Patch Notes

Alongside all the new Frozen Trail content, the update includes a substantial list of balance changes, fixes and quality-of-life improvements. Some of the biggest changes include a rework to explosive damage against ARC, the removal of Solo vs. Squads matchmaking, buffs to several skills and the Heavy Shield, two additional Stash upgrade tiers and the new Scrambling traversal mechanic. The Anvil has also moved from Green to Blue rarity, while the Snap Hook has been nerfed to better differentiate it from the new Grappling Hook. Pendola Pass is also testing a new Dynamic Loot Zone system, while Riven Tides has received an approximately 15% increase to overall loot value.

Animation

• Knockback animations now align with the actual direction you’re pushed in.
• Fixed an issue where, after reconnecting and being revived, your character could jitter and display broken animations while moving.
• Fixed an issue where you could get stuck on small obstacles when sliding.
• Added animations to show the player interacting with their map and inventory.
• Added mouth animation for when players are talking in proximity chat.
• Added new contextual character animations; like exhaustion when running out of breath for a while and brushing off dust after sliding.
• Fixed an issue where players kept some items in their hands during the knockout animation or during some interactions.
• Additional animation polish and tweaks.

ARC

• Adjusted the multi-target laser from the Vaporizer to give players a clearer window for dodging with fast traversal and dodge mechanics.
• Added fire status effect visuals for ARC drones.
• Moved higher tier loot from the armor pieces of the legs to the legs pieces for Queen and Matriarch.
• • The armor plates are supposed to protect the legs, so it made sense to relocate the loot to the protected area. Having the loot inside the armor took away from the experience and was inconsistent with how other ARC work. Armor pieces can still contain some loot.
• Improved AI sight handling to prevent rare detection errors in enemy awareness.
• The Matriarch can once again use all of its ranged attacks.
• Rebalanced physical force effects against certain ARC enemies.

Audio

• Adjusted how character sounds are occluded by walls and obstacles for more natural audio positioning.
• Added more variations to metal groan sound effects to improve environmental ambience.
• Added missing sound effects to the Snap Hook for attaching, detaching, and rope movement to improve audio feedback.
• Updated the sound for Skill Tree unlocks and added a hold-interaction audio cue in the UI.
• Fixed an issue where some weapon sounds could fail to play.
• Improved the quality of the Raider Voice model, providing a higher fidelity of voice conversion.

Cosmetic

• Updated Celeste’s appearance.
• Added an Emissive Toggle for backpacks with light sources. That means you can now turn off the lights from your favorite backpacks to go full stealth mode.
• The Zenith Outfit now has all of its intended toggles. Players who own the outfit will receive the missing toggles shortly.

Gameplay

• “Solo vs. Squads” is no longer available in the matchmaking options.
• • We want players to have a proper incentive to use all of the available matchmaking settings, which Solo vs. Squads currently lacks. To that end, we’re taking time to re-evaluate its role in the game.
• Reworked the explosive damage formula for ARC. In practice this means that explosive weapons like the Hullcracker will deal over 50% more damage against armor plates but around 30% less damage against more fragile parts.
• • The intention is to make explosive damage feel more consistent across the board as well as increasing its effectiveness against heavy armor. Since most ARC are heavily armored and we want the numeric damage output to be more consistent this also means that its effectiveness against weak points is slightly reduced.
• Made certain changes to skills that were in the previous Skill Tree iteration to fit them better within the new one:
• • Stamina gained from Fight or Flight increased by ~25% per level.
  • Stubborn Mule stamina regen values increased by ~33%.
  • Increase Back on Your Feet healing from 30 to 40.
• Added more contextual Ping information for ARC and various objects.
• The Stash can be upgraded further, by two tiers. The new maximum (without Expedition rewards or acquired Nomadic Envoy space) is 328 slots.
• You can now drop loot to the ground directly from containers
• You can no longer sprint-climb ladders when exhausted
• Addressed some instances where vaulting onto destroyed ARC parts or other movable surfaces could unexpectedly launch or shove the player.
• Weapon slot weight reduction now applies only to the loadout; other containers and sub-containers are unaffected.
• You can now open the map while downed.
• Improved hit registration when shooting while on top of ARC.
• Heavy Shield: reduced durability decay from 0.20 to 0.15 and decreased movement penalty while equipped from 15% to 10%.
• Added Scrambling. Sprinting at steep slopes will allow you to scramble up them for a short time.
• You now automatically enter a sliding state after tumbling for too long.

Items

• Increased Flame Spray range to better match its visual effect and improve usability.
• Ziplines now break when intersecting something after being placed.
• Reduced Snap Hook range from 20m to 18m, increased durability consumption from 2% to 4% per use, and raised power cost from 50 to 60.
• • As we added more personal mobility items, it became clear we needed to begin differentiating them to a greater degree. While the Snap Hook has previously been a ‘general use’ mobility gadget, with the introduction of the Grappling Hook, we felt the need to give them their own identity outside of a ‘linear upgrade’ path. With these changes, we aim to make the Snap Hook better fit its role as being a burst mobility gadget; something that is used to quickly close distance or traverse a location, but with more commitment when doing so. The power cost increase will still allow for multiple uses within a short time when at full power, but will no longer allow for immediate back-to-back uses.
• Fixed an issue where items were appearing outside their intended areas or containers. These items will now only be available within their designated locations.

Weapons

• Updated Anvil’s rarity from Green to Blue.
• • The Anvil has been a tricky weapon to evaluate. It comes with a versatility that allows it to effectively take on both Raiders and ARC alike, and is outperforming weapons both within and above its own level of rarity. But it is also a fan-favourite and a staple of the game in its own way. We felt that increasing the rarity level for it would put it in a better place within the economy, while still maintaining the gameplay and power that we know and love. In its place, the Bantam will take the role of the uncommon hand cannon, with a balance that is more suitable for the role.
• The Anvil Splitter is no longer usable as a mod, and it has now become an improved upgrade option for the Amplified Anvil. We have also removed the Tech Mod slot from the Anvil to reflect this. The item itself should no longer drop, but will remain in the game for a while, allowing players to sell or recycle it into Amplified Fragments used for repairing Amplified Weapons.
• Fixed an unintended behavior where the Jupiter’s damage would propagate twice to ARC parts behind its intended target. As a result, the Jupiter is now stronger against armor, but slightly weaker against weak spots.
• The Hullcracker will no longer appear incomplete when inspected in the menu.
• Fixed an issue where the Dolabra would not destroy the yellow weak points inside the Harvester.
• Fixed an issue where weapons picked up from the ground appeared without their attached parts.

Maps

• Improved alignment of Doorblockers (now vertical) for small side-sliding-doors.
• Improved texture quality on several maps, resolving blocky and inconsistent visuals.
• Fixed areas on several maps where players could get stuck on terrain while in a Downed state.
• Some areas on the edges of maps are darker than intended.

Blue Gate

• Adjusted lighting on Blue Gate, refining exposure, color grading, and atmosphere.
• Fixed some spots on Blue Gate where players could get stuck.

Buried City

• Fixed the Hospital Roof not being climbable.
• Restored ray-traced lighting on boarded window shutters in Buried City.
• Fixed a lighting issue in Buried City where illumination bled into an interior space.

Pendola Pass

• As we’ve mentioned during our latest Q&A, we will be testing out a Dynamic Loot Zone system, currently exclusive to Pendola Pass. The intent is to make the loot values of certain areas vary from raid to raid, thus making “routes” less predictable and scavenging more dynamic. An important distinction to make is that zones will not change their inherent loot type (therefore, Residential loot areas remain Residential loot areas no matter what), but rather, one such area may yield more value one Raid, and less value on another raid.

Riven Tides

• Increased overall loot value on Riven Tides by approximately 15%.
• Fixed some spots where environmental objects could float unintentionally.

Performance

• Implemented various optimizations related to memory usage, general performance and stability.
• Optimized character customization replication, fixing a bug where different players could sometimes see different outfits.
• Reduced memory usage for enemies to improve stability and performance in busy encounters.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when changing graphics settings.
• Upgraded to AMD FSR version 4.1.1.

Traders

• Trader offers have been updated:
• • Celeste now trades new materials used in crafting furniture and newly introduced gameplay items.
  • Tian Wen will no longer sell Anvil and Hullcracker offers. They will, instead, be part of the weekly Nomadic Envoys rotation.
  • Launcher Ammo and Energy Clips have a daily purchase limit.
  • Shani’s offers are now Coin based and include Cameras, Light Sticks and other social items.
  • Apollo has had a set of Epic Augments added to the offers.
• Living up to their reputation, the Nomadic Envoys have allowed Ermal to go back on the trail and have, instead, brought in Cassio, who will continue to trade for valuables, but also ask friendly Raiders for help with certain quests.

Quests

• Completing quests and quest objectives now grants XP. Added XP as a visible reward in quest descriptions and on quest completion; XP is now shown alongside other rewards when claiming a completed quest.
• Multiple older quests have been updated to require taking photos with the new camera to complete objectives that mentioned taking photos of something in the world.(The League, Reduced to Rubble, Life of a Pharmacist, Battening Down, Groundbreaking)

Social

• Fixed party join not working sometimes when accepting game invites on XBOX.
• Fixed an issue related to in-game Voice Chat not working in certain instances, particularly for PS5 and XBOX players.

UI

• Updated quest list sorting, making progression easier to follow.
• Fixed an issue where long lists could disappear while scrolling in the Settings menu.
• Fix issue where the Nomadic Trader offers could appear when using the Acquire Resources menu.
• Emote and Quick Wheels respond to mouse input more smoothly.
• End-of-round screen now previews milestone progress and rewards earned this round, and milestone updates are shown in the in-round log.
• Fixed an issue where learning certain recipes displayed an incorrect “unknown not installed” message instead of a proper unlock notification, including Snap Hook, Blaze Grenade, and Crash Mat.
• Fixed formatting and text display for in-round daily quest notifications.
• Store panels now scroll when content exceeds the screen and fixed an issue where the last toggle could be blocked and not selectable.
• Fixed issue where not all data from a round would reliably show up in the End of Round Map screen.
• Fixed a bug where closing the Inventory during matchmaking could disable gamepad navigation until switching screens.

VFX

• Fixed an issue where burning visual effects could remain stuck on other players after the effect had ended.
• Fixed an issue that could cause terrain textures to appear as blocky or mismatched squares on some maps when using higher graphics presets.

Dealing with Duplicated Items

We have recently begun taking further action to restrict accounts that store high amounts of duplicated items and remove items that were obtained through duplication from player inventories. This is done to help correct the in-game economy and clean up items that have appeared through past exploits.

Known Issues

Gameplay:

• Weapon meshes can sometimes be partially invisible when equipped with weapon attachments.
• In rare instances, vaulting onto destroyed ARC parts and similar movable surfaces can cause the player to be unexpectedly launched or shoved.
• When swapping shoulders and sprinting, players’ footsteps can become inaudible.
• Field Repair may sometimes be unavailable after unlocking. Restarting the game solves the issue and a fix is in the works.
• The option to repair the Tether Launcher is currently unavailable. Will be fixed in the upcoming update.
• Very rarely, some players may spawn into a lobby “invisibly”, unable to loot, use quick wheel items or interact with containers. They can still fire their weapon and take damage. Returning to Speranza should leave your loadout in the way it was before the “affected” match started.
• The Hydra can detect and shoot players through walls in the Cargo area without being able to deal damage.
• Standing on the side of the Cargo drop can result in being instantly eliminated. A fix is in the works.

Outpost:

(most fixes are already in the works and will be implemented in an upcoming Live Update)

• In order to unlock the Outpost, the first step – “Research Topside Living Conditions” requires you to take a photo of a farmland house. The Camera can be purchased at Shani’s, crafted at the Workbench, or found Topside.
• Some furniture might clip through the Outpost structure.
• Some slots in the Outpost will be unselectable when they should be, if a piece of furniture is blocking it.
• The camera sometimes gets blocked by furniture or the character model at certain angles.
• Lighting in the main Outpost building is corrupted when the Shadow quality is set to Low in settings.
• The camera defaults back to the base room when you leave the decorating view, even if you were in a different module.
• If the Raider sits by a table with chairs, they will clip through the table.
• The Raider steps back from the Customization view with a 10 second delay.
• The Outpost tab lacks the orange dot indicator after completing first stage objectives to unlock it.

Quests:

• The cinematic fails to trigger upon completing the ‘Sizing Things Up’ quest.
• The quest ‘Picking up the Pieces’ cannot be completed on Pendola Pass, but works normally on other maps. This will be fixed in an upcoming update.
• The ‘Damage dealt using Light Impact Grenades’ feat can be completed by using the Hullcracker.

Audio:

• Rarely, some weapons may not play their firing sounds on low-spec PCs (particularly the Anvil).
• Rubber Ducks can be squeezed when equipped, making noise without requiring them to be thrown.

UI:

• Weapon meshes sometimes disappear partially.
• Players that departed on the Expedition recently may have a notification dot on the Projects & Raider tab that does not disappear.
• Keybinds are reset to default after each raid when using a non-English keyboard layout.
• The Expedition screen can still be accessed through the Nomadic Envoys, though it is not functional.
• The weight of the loadout can differ slightly when viewing it in Speranza vs. what it shows in-game.
• When purchasing the Premium Reward Pass, the lock icon is still present on the premium rewards despite them being unlocked.
• The loadout weight amount differs between Main Menu and In-Round.

Pendola Pass:

• Various clipping and collision issues.
• Vaulting onto some steep surfaces can occasionally cause players to slide back down.
• Vaulting onto destroyed ARC parts or other movable surfaces could sometimes unexpectedly launch or shove the player.