ARC Raiders: How to Complete This Week's Weekly Trials + Reload Glitch Explained

Introduction

ARC Raiders is heating up this week with a brand new set of Weekly Trials that are going to push even veteran Raiders to their limits. From battling Vaporizers in wide-open terrain to carefully disarming mines during Locked Gate events, this week's trial roster is one of the most varied — and most challenging — we've seen so far. On top of that, a frustrating reload glitch is currently affecting players across both PC and console, and if you're running expensive heavy-ammo weapons like the Dabra or the Hullcracker, this one could seriously cost you. We're breaking it all down right here.

ARC Raiders Weekly Trials — Full Breakdown (Current Week)

The new Weekly Trials are live, and here's everything you need to know about each challenge, where to find them, and the most efficient strategies to maximize your score.

1. Damage ARC Enemies in Old Town (Buried City)

Buried City — Buried City —

The first trial this week takes place inside Buried City, specifically in the Old Town district. Your objective is simple: deal damage to ARC enemies in that zone.

The key thing to be aware of here is that Old Town is going to be a hotspot — especially early in the week. Every Raider farming this trial will be funneling into the same condensed area, which means PvP encounters are almost guaranteed.

Pro Tips:

If you want a safer run, hop into care bear lobbies where players are less likely to engage each other.
Play cautiously in the early days of the trial week, as the area will be heavily contested.
Later in the week, traffic typically dies down, giving you a cleaner run at the ARC enemies with less interference.

2. Disarm Mines During Locked Gate

Locked Gate — Locked Gate —

This trial is exclusive to the Locked Gate event, which means you can't complete it just anywhere — you have to wait for Locked Gate to go live. At the time of writing, Locked Gate is cycling approximately every 4 hours, so you'll need to plan your sessions accordingly.

You can track the Locked Gate schedule using Metaforge and other community alarm tools that notify you when the event is active.

How to Disarm Mines:

Walk directly on top of a mine until you see the Disarm prompt appear on screen.
Do not move once you begin disarming — stepping off the mine will trigger it and deal damage to you.
Hold the disarm action to completion and the mine will be neutralized.

This one is straightforward in concept but timing-dependent. If you're struggling to catch Locked Gate windows, set an alarm and check back regularly throughout the day.

3. Search Radar Caches

Radar Caches are back on the trials list this week, and the good news is there's a highly efficient spot for farming them.

Best Farm Location: Hurricane

Head into Hurricane and focus on the first-wave Raider Caches scattered around the map. These caches are confirmed to count toward the trial, and you can realistically chain seven or eight in quick succession if you're moving efficiently.

Tips for Finding Radar Caches:

Listen for the audible beeping/ticking sound — it's your best indicator that a cache is nearby.
Prioritize the first-wave caches early in a match before other players or ARC units disrupt your route.
The score ceiling on this one is relatively low due to the point value per cache, but it's one of the easier trials to complete passively.

4. Damage Wasps

The Wasps trial is a fan favourite for score-chasers, and the Snitch Scanner strategy is still the best way to go about it.

The Snitch Scanner Method:

Spend the majority of the week collecting Snitch Scanners passively as you play normally.
Toward the end of the week, drop into a single match and deploy your stockpile back-to-back.
Each Snitch Scanner will spawn a Wasp swarm — eliminate the wasps, drop another scanner, repeat.
This method allows you to rack up an astronomically high damage score in a single session, which will place you significantly higher on the weekly leaderboard.

The key here is patience. Don't burn your Snitch Scanners early. Save them and unleash everything in one calculated run for maximum efficiency.

5. Damage Vaporizers

This is easily the most challenging trial of the week. Vaporizers are tanky, relentless, and they move in wolf packs — meaning you're rarely dealing with just one at a time.

How to Efficiently Damage Vaporizers:

Aim for the bottom plate of the Vaporizer first. Destroying the bottom plate will expose a weak spot, dramatically increasing your damage output.
Do not aim through the thrusters — there are approximately eight thrusters on each unit and firing through them is largely ineffective.
Use cover aggressively. Vaporizers deal serious damage if you're caught in the open. Make use of buildings, rocks, and terrain to duck in and out between shots.
You should be able to hit the three-star threshold within one to two Vaporizer engagements if you play efficiently and target weak spots consistently.

Despite the difficulty, the Vaporizer trial offers a solid score return, making it worth the effort for competitive players.

Weekly Trials — Score Strategy for Competitive Players

If you're chasing a top placement on the Weekly Trials leaderboard, here are some general rules to live by:

Play later in the week. Scores tend to escalate throughout the week as more players complete trials and push higher numbers. Waiting until later means you have a better benchmark to aim for and can plan your effort accordingly.
Stack your consumables. Trials like the Wasp challenge reward players who stockpile items ahead of time rather than spending them on individual runs.
Focus on multi-star completions. Aim for three stars on every trial. The difference in score between one-star and three-star completions is significant and will directly impact your placement.

The Reload Glitch — What's Happening and Why It Matters

Alongside the new trials, there's a significant bug currently affecting ARC Raiders on both PC and console that every player needs to be aware of.

What Is the Reload Glitch?

When reloading your weapon, if you accidentally tap the trigger during the reload animation, the weapon will immediately fire a round — even though the reload hasn't completed. This bypasses the normal reload state and causes an unintended shot to go off.

Why Is This a Problem?

For most light-ammo weapons like the Kettle, this is a minor annoyance. A single wasted round isn't going to ruin your run.

However, for players running heavy or premium ammunition weapons — specifically the Dabra and the Hullcracker — this glitch is genuinely costly. These weapons use expensive, hard-to-source ammo types, and having rounds prematurely fired due to a UI/input bug is a serious issue during high-stakes engagements.

Imagine lining up a critical shot with your Hullcracker, going to reload mid-fight, and accidentally wasting a round because of an input timing issue. In the heat of combat, that can be the difference between surviving a raid and losing your gear.

What Should You Do In the Meantime?

Until Embark Studios issues a fix, here's how to mitigate the issue:

Be deliberate with your trigger finger during reload animations. Avoid any input on the fire button until the reload animation fully completes.
Consider swapping to lighter ammo weapons for your primary slot if you find yourself accidentally triggering the glitch frequently.
Report the bug through the official ARC Raiders channels and community forums so Embark is aware of the scale of the issue.

The development team at Embark Studios has been responsive to community feedback, so hopefully a patch addressing this will arrive soon.

ARC Raiders Player Numbers Are Climbing — Here's Why That Matters

In some genuinely positive news for the community: player counts are trending upward again. ARC Raiders is currently hitting peaks of around 150,000 players within 24-hour windows, with hundreds of thousands of Raiders logging in daily.

The April update is expected to be larger in scope than the March update, which is likely contributing to renewed interest in the game. A bigger update means new content, potential map changes, and fresh mechanics that bring both returning and new players back into the fold.

For a game in its current phase of development, these are healthy numbers that suggest the ARC Raiders community is not only holding steady but growing. With a new map reportedly on the horizon, things could get even more exciting in the coming months.

Weapon Concept Spotlight: The Phantom Bow 4

The ARC Raiders Reddit community has been buzzing this week with an exciting fan-made weapon concept — the Phantom Bow 4, a tactical combat bow with a suite of specialized arrow types.

While this is a community concept and not an officially announced weapon, it's generating a lot of genuine enthusiasm. The proposed feature set includes:

Electric Arrows — Stun enemies, interrupting attacks and creating openings.
Smoke Arrows — Deploy instant smoke cover on demand for tactical repositioning.
Explosive Arrows — High-burst damage for dealing with armoured targets.
Fire Arrows — Apply burn damage for sustained tick damage over time.

A bow would fill a genuinely unique niche in ARC Raiders' current weapon meta. It offers a silent, versatile, and skill-expressive playstyle that doesn't currently exist in the game's loadout options. Whether Embark takes inspiration from community concepts like this one remains to be seen, but the demand is clearly there.

Looking Ahead: New Map & Road Map Updates

The community is increasingly vocal about wanting new map content. With the current maps feeling familiar — and a little stale for long-term players — a new location would go a long way toward reinvigorating the experience.

The general expectation within the community is that a new map will arrive alongside or shortly after the April update. Road map details are expected to surface in late May or early June, once the April update has had time to breathe and the team is ready to reveal what's coming next in the development cycle.

Final Thoughts

This week in ARC Raiders is a dense one. Between navigating a contested Old Town, timing your Locked Gate sessions, farming Snitch Scanners for a big Wasp push, and taking on tanky Vaporizers, there's plenty to keep you busy. Just make sure you're mindful of the reload glitch — especially if you're running premium ammo — and report it to help get it fixed faster.

Stay sharp out there, Raiders. See you in the clouds.

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