Arc Raiders best weapons tier list for PvP and PvE (Nov 2025)

Every gun you take topside in Arc Raiders is on the line. Lose a fight, lose the weapon. That makes “best weapon” less about raw DPS and more about what actually wins raids once you factor in ammo type, rarity, upgrade scaling, and how likely you are to replace a lost blueprint.

Across the full 20‑gun roster, two things stand out:

• Some common and uncommon guns are so efficient that they define the meta.
• Several Epic and Legendary guns are strong on paper, but hard to justify risking in everyday raids.

Global Arc Raiders weapon tier list (full roster)

The table below merges how weapons perform at or near max rank, with good attachments, across both PvP and PvE, and also how sensible they are to bring into a typical raid.

Several weapons move up or down a tier if you look at only PvP or only PvE. The rest of this explainer breaks that down by phase of progression and by role.

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All Weapons Explained & Ranked

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Best early‑game Arc Raiders weapons (common tier)

When you are living on free kits, durability damage, and scrap, common guns matter more than their rarity suggests. The five baseline weapons are:

Ferro – the S‑tier starter rifle

Ferro is a single‑shot battle rifle that fires Heavy ammo and hits exceptionally hard. It has very strong ARC armor penetration and keeps that damage over long ranges, which makes it one of the best early PvE tools against Hornets, Wasps, and other drones, and one of the strongest long‑range PvP openers overall.

Downsides are obvious: you reload after every shot, and the rifle is heavy. You should treat Ferro as a pick gun:

• Open at range to crack shields or outright down light targets.
• Swap to a faster secondary (Stitcher, Kettle, Burletta, or Anvil) to finish.

Because it is common and cheap to craft or buy, Ferro stays viable deep into the game as your default ARC killer.

Stitcher and Kettle – common DPS workhorses

Both Stitcher and Kettle punch above their rarity once you invest a little into them.

• Stitcher is a high‑rate‑of‑fire SMG that deletes raiders at close range and has excellent DPS for a common gun. Bloom and recoil are high, so you lean on crouching, grip/stock attachments, and very short bursts. In PvE, it falls off quickly versus armored ARC, but as a sidearm to Ferro, it is an A‑tier PvP choice.
• Kettle is a semi-automatic assault rifle firing Light ammo. It is quiet, accurate, and with upgrades can run a larger magazine, letting you take down raiders without reloading. In pure performance tier lists, it ends up low, but if you want a cheap, low‑recoil rifle that also happens to be one of the quietest guns in the game, Kettle is a smart pick.

Rattler sits in the middle: a full‑auto medium AR with decent DPS on paper but a tiny magazine and no mag attachment slot at base rank. It only starts to feel reliable around Rank III when the mag size increases. Early on, it is mostly a stepping stone to stronger ARs like Tempest.

Best mid‑game Arc Raiders weapons (uncommon and rare)

Once you start finding green and blue weapons in field depots and on enemy raiders, the weapon sandbox opens up. These are the mid‑tier standouts:

Anvil – the overachieving hand cannon

Anvil is an Uncommon heavy‑ammo pistol with Ferro‑class body damage, Strong ARC armor penetration, and better handling. It takes two to three shots most raiders, chews through ARC plating, and weighs far less than a rifle. It is also cheap to craft relative to its output.

In both PvP and PvE, Anvil behaves like a primary weapon masquerading as a sidearm. Popular loadout cores stack it with:

• Ferro – low‑cost, double‑heavy setup focused on ARC and long‑range picks.
• Rattler, Stitcher, or Tempest – Anvil for armor and picks, autos for cleanup and pressure.

Renegade – the premium Ferro upgrade

Renegade takes the Ferro’s concept and tunes it for versatility. It fires Medium ammo, hits slightly softer per bullet than Ferro, but cycles much faster, and upgrades improve fire rate further. It remains precise across medium and long sightlines and handles ARC well, thanks to solid armor penetration.

In practice, Renegade is one of the safest all‑purpose primaries in the game:

• 4 body shots can take down light and medium shields, making it very threatening in PvP.
• High accuracy lets you strip ARC weak points and propellers efficiently in PvE.
• Medium ammo keeps your Heavy pool free for Bettina or Anvil if you stack them.

It lands at S‑tier overall when fully ranked, and it remains strong even if you focus more on ARC than raider hunting.

Venator and Burletta – sidearms that want to be primaries

Venator is a rare semi‑auto pistol that fires Medium ammo and shoots two bullets per trigger pull. It is also the lightest gun in the game at 2 kg. With upgrades and a magazine mod, it outputs terrifying PvP damage at mid‑to‑close range and can still harass lighter ARC. The main drawback is its tiny base magazine; without a mag mod, you burn through 10 shots almost instantly.

Burletta is an Uncommon Light‑ammo pistol: quick, accurate, and cheap to build. It lacks armor penetration, so it is poor against ARC and heavy shields, but for early PvP, it is a forgiving, fast‑drawing backup that can win hip‑fire duels, especially if you extend the magazine.

Il Toro and Torrente – high‑risk brawlers

Il Toro is an Uncommon pump shotgun that erases raiders inside tight interiors. Two shots are often enough to down medium shields if you land center‑mass; three to four for tougher targets. Its weaknesses are a short effective range and a slow fire rate. The correct way to use it is to corner‑peek:

• Peek, fire, return to cover to pump.
• Repeat until the target is down; do not chase into open ground.

Torrente is the only LMG and the heaviest gun in the game, with a 60‑round belt and extremely high sustained DPS. It is inaccurate when standing; crouching tightens its cone significantly. In PvE, Torrente melts swarms and armored ARC but drinks Medium ammo; in PvP, it dominates doorways and stairs but punishes overexposure because its weight slows you and makes repositioning risky.

If you mostly fight indoors with teammates covering your flanks, Torrente can feel S‑tier. For solo roaming in open terrain, its mobility penalty keeps it closer to B‑tier.

Osprey – the first true sniper

Osprey is the first scoped sniper rifle most players see, arriving pre‑equipped with a long‑range optic and firing Medium ammo. It deals more damage than Ferro per shot and excels at picking off distracted raiders or stripping ARC components from safety.

The compromises:

• You cannot remove the long‑range scope, which makes close‑range fights awkward.
• Armor penetration is only average in the PvE context, so big ARC can soak multiple hits.

As such, Osprey is best treated as a dedicated overwatch gun backed up by a close‑range primary. In one‑gun budgets or free‑kit runs, Ferro or Renegade generally provide more flexibility.

Best late‑game Arc Raiders weapons (epic and legendary)

Epic and Legendary guns often come tied to boss materials, Energy Clips, or rare blueprints. They are powerful, but you pay in crafting cost and risk whenever you queue with them.

Tempest and Bettina – the high‑end assault rifles

Tempest is essentially a Rattler that grew up properly: better damage, bigger magazine, solid range, and respectable armor penetration, all on Medium ammo. It is one of the most comfortable full‑auto primaries for both modes and functions as a top‑tier “one gun does most things” choice.

Bettina is a Heavy‑ammo AR with high per‑shot damage and a slower fire rate. It hits very hard, is forgiving to aim thanks to that damage, and shreds ARC due to the ammo type. The trade‑offs are ammo economy and cost:

• Heavy ammo is shared with Ferro, Anvil, and other heavy hitters.
• Repairs and upgrades are expensive; losing a Bettina stings.

On pure performance, Bettina sits at the top of many lists as the best “stat line” gun in the game. In everyday raids, Tempest and cheaper setups (Anvil + Renegade/Ferro) often make more economic sense.

Vulcano and Bobcat – peak close‑quarters PvP

Vulcano is an Epic semi‑auto shotgun with the highest per‑shot damage in the game. It fires faster than Il Toro and deletes raiders almost instantly in cramped interiors, regardless of shield color. The main drawback is its four‑round magazine; for any serious use, you attach a mag mod and treat those four shells like a short‑range win button.

Bobcat is the Epic SMG: a Stitcher with more fire rate, more bullets, and even nastier recoil. Used correctly—with recoil‑reducing attachments and strict discipline to keep fights inside a few meters—it melts even purple shields. At any further distance, its bloom wastes ammo and opportunities.

Both guns are terrifying in the right rooms and almost dead weight on open ground. They are best paired with something long‑range or arc‑focused (Ferro, Renegade, Tempest) if you are not running a dedicated CQB squad.

Jupiter, Equalizer, Hullcracker – boss and ARC specialists

Arc Raiders leans hard into PvE bosses, and several late‑game weapons exist almost entirely for those fights:

• Equalizer is a Legendary energy beam gun built from Queen parts. It fires a sustained energy stream that strips ARC armor extremely quickly over a considerable range. Against raiders, it is overkill and too slow to spin up; against queens, matriarchs, Rocketeers, and Bastions, it is one of the strongest options in the game.
• Hullcracker is a special launcher that only damages ARC. It used to be infamous for instantly deleting flying enemies; balance changes have made it less oppressive, but it still excels at peeling armor off high‑value targets. In PvP, it is effectively useless.
• Jupiter is an energy sniper rifle that charges powerful shots with very strong armor penetration over long distances. It is great at dismantling ARC from safety, but its charge‑up, low rate of fire, and energy‑clip dependency make it an awkward PvP choice compared to Renegade or Ferro. It also cannot take attachments, so you live with its base handling quirks.

These weapons shine in organized ARC hunts and expedition boss runs. For everyday mixed raids, they are more of a luxury than a staple.

Hairpin – the stealth pistol that is bad at everything else

Hairpin is a Light‑ammo pistol with an integrated suppressor and painfully low damage. It is often rated as the weakest combat weapon in the game for straight PvP, and even against ARC, it underwhelms once enemies scale up.

It does have one clear niche: quiet utility. Hairpin lets you clear Pops, Ticks, cameras, and other small ARC without alerting the map the way a loud rifle burst does. If you are running ultra‑light stealth routes focused on loot and avoidance, a Hairpin plus a real primary can make sense; just never rely on it as a dueling weapon.

Best weapons by mode: PvP vs PvE

Once you understand each gun’s profile, you can simplify choices by asking a single question: Are you primarily hunting raiders or ARC?

PvP rewards guns that start shooting quickly, recover fast, and do not require perfect positioning to be effective. Anvil, Kettle, Stitcher, Tempest, and Renegade all let you win on timing and discipline instead of exotic ammo types.

PvE leans harder on armor penetration and ammo economy. Heavy and energy weapons—Anvil, Ferro, Bettina, Equalizer, Hullcracker, Jupiter—allow you to crack plating and weak points without burning through your entire backpack.

Overall, the strongest everyday loadouts pair one raider‑killer with one ARC‑killer, and keep rarity and blueprint availability in mind. A Rank IV Ferro or Anvil that you can replace for scraps will win you more raids than a single Aphelion or Equalizer you are too scared to actually bring topside.