The Cold Snap update turns parts of ARC Raiders into temporary snow zones and quietly adds one of the game’s most playful mechanics: snowball fights. Snowballs behave like throwable consumables, occupy inventory space, and deal only a sliver of damage, making them ideal for spontaneous duels with other Raiders rather than serious combat tools.
Where snowballs exist in ARC Raiders
Snowballs only appear on maps running the Cold Snap condition. These are winter variants of existing locations such as Dam Battlegrounds, Buried City, Spaceport, and The Blue Gate. In this state, the map has heavy snow accumulation, frozen surfaces, and the frostbite mechanic active whenever you spend too long exposed outdoors.
You can make snowballs and throw them!
byu/Krinester inArcRaiders
Snowballs are limited to the topside play space. They do not drop in standard, non-snowy variants of these maps and cannot be crafted or bought elsewhere. If you want a snowball fight, you first need a Cold Snap run.
How to find and collect snowballs
Step 1: Queue into a raid that has the Cold Snap map condition enabled. From the start of the match you should see winter visuals across the environment, with snow-covered ground and iced-over areas confirming that you are in the right variant.
Step 2: Move through outdoor areas and look for small, distinct piles of snow on the ground. When you get close enough, an interact prompt appears over the pile, indicating that you can collect from it.
Step 3: Use the interact prompt to gather from the snow pile. Each interaction converts that mound into several snowballs and places them directly into your inventory. These mounds reappear in multiple spots across the map, so you can build up a modest stock if you take the time to roam.
Snowballs are treated as a finite pickup. A single pile gives you a small batch, and once you’ve collected from a mound you will need to find another one to refill. They also take up one backpack slot, so carrying them competes with other consumables or loot.
How to equip snowballs
Step 1: Open your inventory once you have collected at least one mound. Snowballs appear as their own item with a short description, typically labeled as a compact, throwable ball of snow usable only topside.
Step 2: Highlight the snowball item and assign it to a consumable / throwable slot in your quick-use bar. Treat it the same way you would equip grenades or other throwables.
Step 3: Exit the inventory and select the snowball slot in your quick bar. Your Raider switches to a throwing stance with a snowball readied, making it clear that the item is active.
How to throw snowballs
Step 1: With snowballs selected in your consumable slot, hold your aim input to line up a throw. You will see the familiar throwing arc used by other throwable items, letting you judge distance and trajectory.
Step 2: Release the throw input to launch the snowball. The projectile travels quickly and behaves like a lightweight throwable, making it easy to lob over low cover or arc onto moving players.
Snowballs can be thrown at other Raiders or at ARC enemies. They deal negligible damage – at most a tiny chip of health – and do not add any special status effect. They are primarily there for fun, not to grant a combat advantage or replace real ordnance.
How much damage snowballs do
In practice, snowballs are almost non-lethal. Hitting another Raider takes so little health that players can absorb multiple impacts without being seriously threatened. Against ARCs, snowballs either do no meaningful damage or only the slightest visible tick on the health bar.
This design keeps snowball fights in the realm of friendly interaction and light trolling. You can pelt someone at extraction, signal to another squad from a distance, or agree to ditch guns and settle loot disputes with a snow-only duel, but you should not expect snowballs to decide a typical firefight.
What happens to snowballs after extraction
Snowballs do not behave like permanent trophies. If you extract while still carrying some, they convert into water in your stash rather than remaining as intact snowballs. In other words, you cannot hoard hundreds of frozen projectiles for future seasons; they are tied to the Cold Snap environment and intended as a fleeting, seasonal toy.
Frostbite and safety during snowball fights
Cold Snap maps add a frostbite debuff that builds up as you stay outside in the cold. Snow mounds only appear in exposed areas, which means every extended snowball skirmish carries a risk of stacking this effect.
To keep playful fights from turning into medical emergencies in the middle of a raid, keep a few basic rules in mind.
Step 1: Watch your frostbite meter while you are outside throwing snowballs. If it climbs too high, cut the duel short.
Step 2: Carry extra healing items when heading into a Cold Snap run with the intention of social encounters. These supplies help you recover if frostbite and stray bullets stack up.
Step 3: Use indoor spaces as warm-up zones. Heading under cover slows or stops frostbite gain, so you can reset your condition between snowball exchanges.
Because many Raiders still approach every encounter as shoot-on-sight, any attempt at a friendly snowball fight carries social risk as well. Voice comms and clear body language – aiming at the ground, unequipping primary weapons, opening with a snowball instead of a bullet – all help signal non-lethal intentions, but nothing enforces a truce.
Snowballs sit firmly in the “toy” category. They offer no stat bonuses, no quest hooks, and no blueprint shortcuts. Their value comes from the way they create small, unscripted moments: two strangers silently lobbing snowballs instead of trading shots, a squad deciding to resolve a standoff with throws instead of flares, or players using them as a low-stakes way to poke at each other before deciding whether to cooperate.
For a game built around tension, extraction risk, and looming ARCs, that tiny shift toward levity is meaningful. When Cold Snap rolls in, snowballs turn hostile snowfields into potential playgrounds – at least until someone gets tired of being pelted and swaps back to live ammunition.
