Embark Studios has laid out what its biggest ARC Raiders update since launch actually contains. Frozen Trail pushes Raiders past the mountains that ring the Rust Belt into a frozen Italian village, drops a new class of high-level activity on top of it, and rebuilds a chunk of the game’s progression underneath. It is also the first release since the studio moved to two large updates a year instead of a constant stream of smaller ones.
Quick answer: Frozen Trail goes live on October 8th, 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, adding the Pendola Pass map, the Frigate activity, three new ARC enemies, Outposts, and Amplified Weapons.
What to do before Frozen Trail goes live
Cred is being retired when the update lands, and whatever balance is sitting in your account at that point is gone. Spend it on Shani and on any unclaimed Raider Deck rewards before launch day. Anything you have already claimed is safe, and existing Deck progress carries into the new system through a free Legacy Pass.
Leftover Cred does not convert into Raider Tokens. If you do not spend it before October 8th, it is simply wiped.
Embark is also running a developer Q&A livestream about the update on Friday, September 25th at 6PM CEST, with questions taken from the First Look reveal.
Pendola Pass: the new map and the fallen Emperor
Celeste and Shani follow Toledo’s strange signal to Pendola Pass, an old Italian village that serves as an Exodus transport hub beyond the peaks around the Rust Belt. It is the game’s largest map so far, with layered vertical routes and dangers both underground and overhead.
Landmarks called out so far include a supermarket, a dead town square, an observatory, and a buried train depot. But the reason Raiders are being sent at all is the thing dominating the valley: one of the Emperors has crashed here. Rare technology sits inside it, and the core objective of the map is finding a way in.
The weather is a threat on its own. Flash freezes sweep through the valley and will kill you if you stay out in the open, so surface routes now have to be planned around cover and interiors rather than sightlines alone. Frozen Trail also ships with a new Map Condition alongside it.
The Frigate is the new high-level challenge
ARC’s response to a downed Emperor is one of its largest vessels yet, which Raiders have started calling the Frigate. It is not a boss you shoot down. You have to find a way aboard, work through its internal passageways, unlock routes, and survive both old and new machines while you do it.
Other squads will be chasing the same haul, and the fighting happens in tight corridors hundreds of feet in the air. That changes the usual calculus. You are either cutting through the Raiders in your way or temporarily working with them, and there is far less room to disengage than on open ground.
Three new ARC enemies: Bully, Skulker, and Hydra
| Enemy | Behavior | Counterplay |
|---|---|---|
| Bully | Charges in, never backs off | Cover, timing, accurate shots |
| Skulker | Ambushes, then vanishes | Track it between attacks |
| Hydra | Turret, three sections | Split up and divert fire |
Bully
The Bully is a four-legged machine that gallops straight at your position and keeps swinging. It is quick on its feet and has a spread of lethal attacks, so trading shots in the open is a losing plan.
Skulker
The Skulker plays the opposite game. It hangs around the edge of your vision, waits for you to be busy, lands a flurry of hits, and then slips back out of sight. Lose track of it for a moment and the next thing you notice is the damage.
Hydra
Found aboard the Frigate, the Hydra does not move around the map, but its three stacked sections each aim independently. That means it can pressure an entire squad at once. Splitting up divides its attention, which is what makes rushing it between bursts possible.
Outposts, the Research Workstation, and Amplified Weapons
The Raider Den is no longer the only space you own. These two systems are tied together, because the upgrade bench that unlocks late-game weapon changes lives inside your new base.
The Outpost
Celeste hands Raiders an Outpost sitting between the Rust Belt and the mountain range, framed as the first real step toward taking back the surface. You can fit it with different modules and decorate the interior with crafted furniture, from sofas to bar stools. For now it is handled through menus rather than a space you physically walk around, and Embark has said it plans to build the feature out well beyond this version.
Amplified Weapons
The Outpost houses the Research Workstation, and once it is fully upgraded it opens a fifth quality level for a selection of guns. This is not a flat stat bump. Amplification unlocks a branching path of upgrades that can change how a weapon behaves outright.
The examples shown were a fully automatic Burletta, a Renegade fitted with a scope, and a Rattler running incendiary rounds and a 64-round magazine. Ascension pushes an ARC module’s internals into the weapon frame, and that change cannot be undone. The system launches covering 15 weapons, with more planned later.
New guns and gadgets in Frozen Trail
| Item | Type | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Stiletto | Battle rifle, light ammo | Cheap early-game ranged option |
| Bantam | Revolver, heavy ammo | Close-range hip-fire punch |
| Grappling Hook | Gadget | Climb, abseil, swing gaps |
| Tether Launcher | Gadget | Wires two points together |
| Yank Grenade | Gadget | Drags targets on detonation |
The Stiletto is positioned as a cheaper alternative to the Renegade for players who can hold a steady aim. It can fire quickly, but mashing the trigger costs accuracy. The Bantam is the blunt instrument of the pair, a snub-nosed revolver on heavy ammo with a dedicated hip-fire mode for close quarters.
The Grappling Hook is the traversal addition, letting you reach spots that were previously off-limits and swing across gaps, and it runs on stamina rather than limited charges. The two tether gadgets are about disruption. The Tether Launcher roots targets in place and can even pin a Raider to an ARC machine and let them be dragged off. The Yank Grenade uses the same principle but pulls violently on detonation, which is how you slam a flying machine into the ground or rip a player out of cover.
Camera, instruments, and Weapon Stencils
- Camera gadget: use a complete photo tool with zoom, aperture control, focus racking in manual or automatic modes, and a selfie option featuring custom emotes. Every shot is saved to your Codex.
- Instruments: the Harmonica and the Banjo, both playable out in the field.
- Weapon Stencils: reusable designs you apply to a gun, so personalization is not tied to a single dropped weapon.
A personalized weapon is still lootable, so anyone who kills you is free to walk off with your decorated gun.
Normal play does not unlock the Banjo Blueprint; it comes with the Collector Set DLC.
Reward Pass replaces Raider Decks
Raider Decks evolve into the Reward Pass, a 60-level track that launches with the update in three parts.
| Track | Cost | Key rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Free Pass | Free | 200 Raider Tokens, five outfits, 20 cosmetics |
| Premium Pass | 1,150 Raider Tokens | Outfit toggles, colorways, stencils, hairstyles |
| Legacy Pass | Free | All existing Raider Deck progress and rewards |
The Free Pass rewards unlock by earning XP and include gameplay items alongside Scrappy outfits, furniture, charms, attachments, and emotes. The Premium Pass returns 1,150 Raider Tokens across its track, the same figure it costs to buy. The Legacy Pass exists so nothing you were part way through disappears.
There is also a Collector Set DLC bundling both the free and premium tracks with the Renzo cosmetic set, the Dragon’s Breath Weapon Stencil, the Bob hairstyle, and 2,400 Raider Tokens.
Skill Tree rework and other changes
The Skill Tree is being reworked with new and improved skills, aimed at players who hit the skill point ceiling and ended up collecting nearly everything. The goal is builds that specialize rather than converge. Quests are getting more involved too, with bonus XP attached to optional objectives, and new questlines arrive with the update.
Individual skill details have not been published yet, which leaves the exact impact on existing builds as the largest open question going into launch. Everything else is locked to a single date: October 8th, on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
