Frozen Trail adds a fifth quality level to 15 of ARC Raiders’ existing guns, sitting on top of the normal I-to-IV track instead of replacing it. Amplification doesn’t hand you a flat stat bump. It opens a branching tree of upgrade nodes that rework how a weapon fires, reloads, or aims, so you can turn a Burletta full-auto, bolt a scope onto a Renegade, or feed a Rattler from a drum. The catch is that every choice is permanent, and getting there is a long base-building grind.
Quick answer: Take a weapon to tier IV, then press Amplify at a Level 4 Gunsmith inside your Outpost using an Amplification Module that matches the gun’s rarity. The amplification cannot be reverted.
What amplification does to a weapon
Quality tiers I through IV raise a gun’s base numbers. Amplification works differently. The initial amplify step adds no damage by itself. It integrates ARC internals into the frame, gives the gun a redesigned model rather than a bolt-on attachment, and unlocks a node tree you research and install from one node at a time.
The tree makes you choose between routes. Taking a fork can make its competing route unavailable, and no gun can access every option on its tree. For the Burletta, Burst Fire rules out both the Full-Auto and Sprint Shooting routes. Hairpin’s Incendiary Rounds occupies a lone branch and excludes every other option. X-Rounds and Anvil Splitter are mutually exclusive on the Anvil, while the Equalizer cannot use Anti-Weak Point alongside Ramping Damage.
Amplification permanently joins the module’s ARC parts to the frame. The original weapon is lost, so decide on the gun and its node before confirming.
Requirements before you can amplify anything
You cannot amplify at a standard Speranza bench. The process lives at the Outpost, a new extension of your Raider Den that Celeste offers once you start exploring Pendola Pass. Two workstations gate everything, and a half-upgraded bench does nothing.
- The Outpost, built through the Sheltered Retreat project.
- The Gunsmith at Level 4.
- The Research Station (inside the Outpost) at Level 4.
- The weapon itself already upgraded to tier IV.
The bottleneck is developing your base, not raising Raider level, since this chain depends on the Outpost and a pair of Level 4 benches. With the Outpost just introduced, every player begins at zero.
Unlock the Outpost (Sheltered Retreat)
Take Sheltered Retreat from the Outpost tab on the main menu, then bring a camera on your next raid. You can buy the Basic Camera from Shani for 1,920 Coins, make one at the Workbench, or pick one up topside.
After stage three is complete, a brief cutscene sets up your Outpost: a mountain tower with a room inside for furnishing. The Workshop stations are relocated there.
Expand the Outpost and upgrade both benches to Level 4
Expanding the Outpost gives you a room to choose and access to the next workstation level. Since the Research Station’s level is capped at your Outpost’s, reach Level 4 with the Outpost first. Installed rooms are permanent; you can’t relocate or replace one.
| Expansion | Unlocks | Materials |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 to 2 | Research Station II | 3 Steel Cable, 20 Sheet Metal, 3 Cable Strippers |
| Level 2 to 3 | Research Station III | Required: 3 Epoxy Buckets, 35 Planks, and 3 Hand Drills. |
| Level 3 to 4 | Gunsmith IV and Research Station IV | Materials needed: 40 Sheet Metal, 3 Laser Levels, plus 3 Insulation Rolls. |
Steel Cable, Epoxy Buckets, Hand Drills, Laser Levels, and Insulation Rolls tend to sit loose on tables and shelves in the train cars at the Freight Terminal and on the Commissary Supermarket shelves on Pendola Pass. Check the outlined high-value loot zones at the start of each raid.
With the Outpost at Level 4, the two final bench upgrades each need a rare endgame item on top of common parts.
| Upgrade | Materials | Rare item source |
|---|---|---|
| Gunsmith III to IV | 3 Radial Press, 3 Magnetic Accelerators, 1 Emperor Modulator | Inside the fallen Emperor on Pendola Pass |
| Research Station III to IV | 3 Thermal Shakers, 3 ARC Data Modules, 1 Frigate Inductor | The ARC Frigate, including its breachable loot ports |
The fallen Emperor contains the Emperor Modulator, but an Emperor Gateway Conduit seals it off. At Workbench I, make the conduit using its blueprint, 1 ARC Conductive Coupler, 1 ARC Insulated Coupler, and 1 ARC Plated Coupler. The large Emperor Payload that crashes during Pendola Pass’s Redirection map condition drops all three couplers.
Amplify a weapon at the Gunsmith
You know the amplify worked when the gun gains a new model, its max durability jumps by 70 (an Anvil goes from 130 to 200), and the node tree becomes selectable. The Stiletto and Bantam, both new in Frozen Trail, are not in the launch pool, and the Bobcat, Tempest, Vulcano, Torrente, and Ferro are also ineligible.
Amplification Modules and where they drop
The module is the gate for the initial amplify. Modules only drop from the Frigate and from inside the fallen Emperor on Pendola Pass; no regular loot table contains them. They come in Mk. I to Mk. V, one Mark per weapon rarity, and every Mark drops at the same rate, so a Mk. V is no rarer than a Mk. I. A Mk. I weighs 0.5 and sells for 7,000 Coins, and so does the Mk. V. A spare module recycles into 7 Amplified Fragments.
There is no swapping Marks: a module works only with a weapon of its own rarity. Frozen Trail changed the Anvil from Uncommon to Rare, so it takes a Mk. III.
| Module | Rarity | Weapons |
|---|---|---|
| Mk. I | Common | Hairpin, Kettle, Rattler |
| Mk. II | Uncommon | Burletta, Il Toro |
| Mk. III | Rare | Anvil, Canto, Osprey, Rascal, Renegade |
| Mk. IV | Epic | Bettina, Hullcracker |
| Mk. V | Legendary | Aphelion, Equalizer, Jupiter |
Move any module to your safe pocket the moment you loot it. A module there survives a knockout, so you keep it even if you lose the rest of your loadout on the Frigate’s deck.
Every amplifiable weapon and its upgrade options
The eligible nodes are set separately for every weapon; you can’t freely transfer effects between guns. The listed weights are for amplified weapons.
| Weapon | Category | Module | Amplification options |
|---|---|---|---|
 Anvil | Hand Cannon | Mk. III | Anvil Splitter, X-Rounds |
 Aphelion | Battle Rifle | Mk. V | Options include Bigger Mag, followed by Charged Burst, Increased Burst, and Incendiary Rounds. |
 Bettina | Assault Rifle | Mk. IV | Bigger Mag, Semi-Auto, X-Rounds |
 Burletta | Pistol | Mk. II | The choices are Burst Fire, then Increased Burst, Full-Auto, and Sprint Shooting. |
 Canto | SMG | Mk. III | Available options: Carbine Conversion, followed by Incendiary Rounds and Sprint Shooting. |
 Equalizer | Special | Mk. V | Anti-Weak Point, Bigger Mag, Ramping Damage |
 Hairpin | Pistol | Mk. I | Incendiary Rounds, Semi-Auto, Sprint Shooting, Tracker Rounds |
 Hullcracker | Special | Mk. IV | Incendiary Grenades, Mag Reload |
 Il Toro | Shotgun | Mk. II | More Reload, Slug Rounds |
 Jupiter | Sniper Rifle | Mk. V | Bigger Mag, Scoped, Ergonomic Bolt |
 Kettle | Assault Rifle | Mk. I | Anti-Shield, Full-Auto, X-Rounds |
 Osprey | Sniper Rifle | Mk. III | Choose from Anti-Weak Point, then Ergonomic Bolt and Tracker Rounds. |
 Rascal | Special | Mk. III | High Velocity, Incendiary Grenades, Sprint Shooting |
 Rattler | Assault Rifle | Mk. I | Drum Mag, Incendiary Rounds, More Reload |
 Renegade | Battle Rifle | Mk. III | More Reload, Scoped |
Several nodes recur across guns. Incendiary Rounds set targets on fire on hit; X-Rounds add an explosive compound that does slightly more to Raiders and a lot more to ARC armor plating; Full-Auto trades accuracy and stability for fire rate; Scoped fits a magnified optic; Ergonomic Bolt lets a sniper cycle its bolt while scoped; Drum Mag adds roughly 40 rounds but still reloads a few at a time; Tracker Rounds briefly reveal targets you hit; Sprint Shooting lets the gun fire while sprinting. Anvil Splitter replaces the Anvil’s round with one that splits into four weaker projectiles.
Research projects that gate the nodes
Installing a module merely makes the tree available. Every node needs a separate Research Station project with three requirements: 5,000 Research Points, a named ARC component, and an objective completed using a weapon or gadget. The node remains locked until its objective meter is full, even if you’ve collected the materials. Once a project is done, that node type is unlocked for all weapons, so you don’t need to research it again for each gun.
| Research | Component and objective | Weapons |
|---|---|---|
 Action Economy | 8 Sentinel Firing Cores + 1,000 damage with a Hairpin | Jupiter, Osprey |
 Beam Resonance Tech | 2 Queen Reactors + 1,500 damage to Vaporizers with an Equalizer in one round | Equalizer |
 Burst Assembly Recovery | 20 Pop Triggers + destroy 3 Shredders with a Raider Tool | Burletta |
 Compact Combustion Charges | 5 Bombardier Cells + 3,000 damage with Blaze Grenades | Hullcracker, Rascal |
 Embedded Blast Engineering | Collect 5 Rocketeer Drivers, then use Light Impact Grenades to deal 1,000 damage to each target: Fireflies, Hornets, Fireballs, and Surveyors. | Anvil, Bettina, Kettle |
 Extended Burst Cycles | 10 Comet Igniters + 10,000 damage with Burst Burletta or Charged Burst Aphelion | Aphelion, Burletta |
 High-Voltage Exposure | 5 Leaper Pulse Units + destroy 5 ARC Turbines | Aphelion |
 Magazine Geometry 101 | 5 Bastion Cells + 15,000 damage to a Bastion with a Rattler | Rattler |
 Mobile-Fire Grip Fittings | 20 Skulker Drivers + visit the Electrical Substation | Burletta, Canto, Hairpin, Rascal |
 Shield Stress Testing | 2 Matriarch Reactors + 700 damage to encountered Raiders | Kettle |
 Solid-Core Casting Tech | 20 Tick Pods + destroy 50 flying ARC with shotguns | Il Toro |
 Targeted Component Trial | 20 Fireball Burners + destroy 40 thrusters on flying ARC | Equalizer, Osprey |
 Thermite-Tipped Rounds | 5 Firefly Burners + destroy 30 Fireballs with Explosive Mines | Aphelion, Canto, Hairpin, Rattler |
 Top Mounted Optics Retrofittings | 14 Snitch Scanners + visit Pilgrim’s Peak on Blue Gate | Jupiter, Renegade |
 Trigger Reset Systems | 4 Vaporizer Regulators + destroy 5 Skulkers with a Raider Tool | Bettina, Hairpin |
Two Epic topside materials, the Pneumatic Actuator and the Pressure Regulator, are also consumed when you craft node upgrades. Both drop from Emperor Payloads during Redirection on Pendola Pass.
Durability and why a looted amplified gun is nearly dead
Amplification permanently increases a weapon’s durability ceiling, though amplified guns still lose durability quickly. A raid involving PvP and ARC battles can consume 30 or more. Weapons looted from another Raider with amplification have roughly 10 percent durability left, enough for around one fight before repairs are needed.
Regular repair supplies won’t restore them; use Amplified Fragments instead. You get fragments by recycling an amplified weapon or a mod that no longer drops. Field Repair is the least expensive upkeep option, restoring up to 30 percent durability each round.
How X-Rounds reshapes the Anvil
X-Rounds is a clean example of amplification as a re-roll rather than a straight buff. It turns the Anvil’s shots into rounds that detonate on impact and pushes its ARC Armor Penetration from Strong to Very Strong, but it pays for that against players.
| X-Rounds change | Value |
|---|---|
| Base damage | +5 |
| Damage vs ARC armor | +35% |
| Headshot multiplier | -30% |
| Vertical recoil | +30% |
| Horizontal recoil | +20% |
| Bullet velocity | -50% |
The payoff shows against armored machines. The amplified Anvil drops the thrusters on Hornets and Fireflies in a single shot, takes a Rocketeer’s thrusters in about six or seven clean hits versus ten or more on the standard Anvil, and clears a full Vaporizer thruster assembly in roughly five or six. The halved bullet velocity and heavier recoil make it harder to land at range or on moving players, which is the trade-off that keeps the node specialized. If you grind ARC more than you fight Raiders, that is the node to chase; if you want a precise sidearm, Full-Auto on the Burletta is the opposite lesson, trading damage, half your recoil control, and most of your headshot multiplier for fire rate.
