Aphelion is the new legendary energy battle rifle folded into Arc Raiders with the North Line (v1.2.0) update. Players already know how to get the Matriarch Reactor that feeds into its crafting recipe. What nobody has fully pinned down yet is where its blueprint actually comes from.
This is a breakdown of what is confirmed about Aphelion, what the game quietly implies about its blueprint, and the practical routes players are chasing right now.
Aphelion rifle basics in Arc Raiders
Aphelion is designed as a high-end, but not impossibly rare, energy primary. It fills a gap between the ultra-rare Queen-reactor energy weapons and more conventional ballistic rifles.
| Property | Details |
|---|---|
| Weapon name | Aphelion |
| Type | Battle rifle with burst fire |
| Damage | Energy |
| Rarity | Legendary |
| Update | North Line (v1.2.0) |
| Intended use | Strong against ARC mechanized enemies |
| Design goal | More obtainable energy rifle than Queen-reactor gear |
In play, that translates to a deliberate, mid‑ to long‑range primary focused on short, controlled bursts. It leans into precise shots and target selection rather than spraying at close range, and it’s framed as a strong option against the ARC machines that dominate late‑game encounters.
North Line update context for the Aphelion blueprint
To understand where the Aphelion blueprint might live, it helps to look at the broader structure of the North Line update. The patch pushes players north into a new region and ties several systems together: new enemies, new explosives, a new map, and a new loot economy for blueprints.
| Category | North Line additions that matter for Aphelion |
|---|---|
| Map | Stella Montis, a cold research facility unlocked for raiders who have completed enough earlier runs |
| Major ARC enemies | Matriarch (new boss tied to special map modifiers), Shredder (close‑quarters threat limited to Stella Montis) |
| Primary rifle | Aphelion legendary energy battle rifle |
| Explosives | New grenades (e.g., Seeker, Trailblazer) and mines (Pulse, Deadline, Gas) |
| Progression | Community event to open Stella Montis, Merits currency, new questlines in the north |
| Blueprint drops | Adjusted drop behavior from Raider containers across the game |
Within that framework, Aphelion is not an isolated drop. It sits on top of these new systems: Matriarch as a boss, Stella Montis as a late‑game map, and a reshuffled blueprint economy where more patterns are intended to come from looting containers during raids.
Matriarch reactor and its link to Aphelion
The one hard link between Aphelion and any specific activity is the Matriarch Reactor. This item is directly tied to the new Matriarch ARC enemy and is explicitly called out as part of the recipe for the rifle.
| Element | How it connects to Aphelion |
|---|---|
| Matriarch enemy | New large ARC boss that appears only when a special map modifier is active |
| Matriarch Reactor | Drops from defeating Matriarch; named in the reactor description as related to Aphelion |
| Complex Gun Parts | Also listed as part of Aphelion’s crafting “recipe” |
| Aphelion blueprint | Required to actually craft the rifle; existence confirmed but source not yet clearly mapped |
Players can already farm Matriarch when the right map conditions are active, collect Matriarch Reactors, and stock up on Complex Gun Parts. The sticking point is that owning the reactor does not grant the Aphelion blueprint, and Matriarch kills are not described anywhere as a guaranteed way to unlock it.
That separation — component drops versus blueprint acquisition — is intentional. The game treats high‑end crafting as a two‑step puzzle: obtain the unique resource and independently discover the pattern.
What is actually known about the Aphelion blueprint
Despite the hype, the concrete information around the Aphelion blueprint is surprisingly minimal. The pattern exists, it’s required to craft the rifle, and it is not tied to a simple, advertised quest or one‑and‑done boss clear.
| Blueprint fact | Status |
|---|---|
| Blueprint item exists in game data | Yes |
| Blueprint required to craft Aphelion | Yes |
| Matriarch Reactor needed as a component | Yes |
| Complex Gun Parts needed as components | Yes |
| Guaranteed blueprint source advertised in‑game | No |
| Complete crafting recipe visible to players | Not fully; only key ingredients are clearly teased |
The game also quietly emphasizes that blueprint drops as a whole have been adjusted. Raider containers now play a larger role in spreading patterns across the player base. That matters because it suggests the Aphelion blueprint is designed to sit inside this broader loot table, rather than as a one‑off reward from a scripted mission.
In other words, you can have multiple Matriarch Reactors gathering dust in your stash and still be missing the one ingredient you cannot brute‑force through a single farm — the blueprint itself.
Where players are looking: Stella Montis and containers
Most speculation about the Aphelion blueprint’s origin converges on Stella Montis, the new northern map. That’s partly because the rifle ships with the same update that unlocks the region, and partly because access to Stella Montis is gated by a requirement to complete a significant number of runs elsewhere.
| Suspected source | Why players focus here |
|---|---|
| Stella Montis map | New region arriving with North Line; widely believed to house late‑game blueprints, including Aphelion |
| Stella Montis containers | Blueprint drop rates from Raider containers were explicitly changed, making late‑game maps strong candidates for rare patterns |
| Matriarch‑related activities | Matriarch Reactor is in the Aphelion recipe, so players assume related events or modifiers might also influence blueprint drops |
There is an important caveat: no deterministic trigger has been confirmed. There’s no published line that says “clear this quest in Stella Montis once and you get Aphelion.” Instead, the pattern fits more with a rare drop placed into the new, adjusted container loot tables, likely with a bias toward high‑end activities.
That matches player experiences so far: plenty of Matriarch Reactors, plenty of Complex Gun Parts, but very few — if any — concrete, repeatable stories of “do X and you always get the blueprint.”
How the Matriarch fight and Aphelion fit together
The Matriarch ARC is clearly designed as a boss encounter for players who are already deep into the game. It spawns only under specific map modifiers, echoing how the older Queen encounter is tied to Harvester events.
| Element | Impact on Aphelion chase |
|---|---|
| Matriarch difficulty | High; players must be comfortable with late‑game combat to farm reactors efficiently |
| Matriarch Reactor drops | Gate Aphelion crafting; reactor becomes a bottleneck even after the blueprint is found |
| Energy damage role | Aphelion is framed as particularly strong versus ARC units like Matriarch, reinforcing the thematic loop |
| Loot ecosystem | While Matriarch provides components, the blueprint likely comes from the broader container‑driven loot system |
This creates a layered chase. First, you need to reliably spawn and defeat Matriarch enough times to obtain at least one reactor while deciding whether to recycle extras or hoard them for future crafts. In parallel, you keep opening containers — especially in Stella Montis and other hard content — with the hope that one of them finally spits out the elusive Aphelion pattern.
What’s still unknown about the Aphelion blueprint
For all the attention on Aphelion, several key points remain unresolved. These gaps are worth keeping in mind to avoid over‑committing to a single theory or farm route.
| Unknown | What that means for players |
|---|---|
| Exact drop source | No confirmed activity, map, or quest that always awards the blueprint on completion |
| Drop weighting | Unclear whether Stella Montis containers or Matriarch‑adjacent events have higher chances than other late‑game sources |
| Full crafting recipe | Beyond Matriarch Reactor and Complex Gun Parts, other material needs and any currency cost are not fully surfaced |
| Performance numbers | Precise damage per burst, recoil metrics, and range fall‑off aren’t published in detail |
| Meta position | Without broad usage, its final ranking among top rifles in PvE or PvP is still in flux |
The important takeaway is that the uncertainty is deliberate design. Aphelion is meant to sit in the background of the North Line update, quietly pushing players deeper into the new map, the new boss fight, and the overhauled container system.
What to actually do if you want Aphelion
Given the constraints above, chasing the Aphelion blueprint in Arc Raiders comes down to a mix of targeted preparation and broad grinding rather than a single secret switch.
| Goal | Practical action |
|---|---|
| Unlock access to likely blueprint locations | Complete the required number of runs on existing maps so you can enter Stella Montis and engage with its questlines and containers |
| Secure Matriarch Reactors | Run missions with the Matriarch map modifier active and learn the fight so reactor drops become reliable |
| Stock supporting materials | Collect Complex Gun Parts and other high‑tier materials across raids to be ready once the blueprint drops |
| Maximize blueprint chances | Loot every Raider container you can, especially in late‑game regions like Stella Montis where rare patterns are more likely to appear |
None of these steps guarantees the Aphelion blueprint, but they align with how the North Line update structures its progression. You move into the new map, engage with the new enemies, and lean into the container‑driven blueprint system that the update emphasizes.
The result is less a simple “go here, get rifle” route and more an ongoing background goal: keep raiding, keep cracking containers, and treat every Matriarch Reactor as future fuel for the moment the Aphelion blueprint finally appears in your inventory.
