With the new year now in full swing, developer Embark Studios has officially released the first set of ARC Raiders Test challenges for 2026, giving players new tasks to complete in exchange for some potentially lucrative in-game rewards. As 2025 drew to a close, ARC Raiders players embarked on their very first expedition and completely reset their characters and progression, meaning the second season is now here, along with the second week of Season 2 trial challenges.
For those who may have just picked up ARC Raiders in a recent winter sale and have no idea what tests are, they are just one of the many in-game opportunities given to players to earn gear and items to take Topside. Each trial, which changes every Monday, has a specific objective for players to complete. These usually involve destroying a specific ARC type, exploring certain areas, or interacting with objects and items while Topside. Players can try their attempts each game, but points do not stack each game. There are three stars that can be earned per attempt, each achieved by earning 1000, 2500 and 4000 points on a challenge. The rewards for each star are a random Uncommon, Rare and Epic loot.
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Fans have often complained that the trial challenges can be repetitive, so Embark decided to mix things up with last week's set of ARC Raiders Try by requiring players to throw snowballs at the Rocketeers. This objective added a whole new kind of challenge for players, as the Rocketeer is one of the deadliest enemies in the game, with the ability to decimate players in just a few hits. Thankfully, players quickly used their initiative by stunning the ARC with a Showstopper grenade before blasting it with snowballs while it was incapacitated. This was still definitely one of the riskiest challenges of the week, but it was certainly a fun way to keep players on their toes. Now, just a week later, players need to stock up on their snowballs again, as the latest set of Trials challenges require players to throw them at the Bastions this time.
How to complete ARC Raiders Week 11 Trials
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Damage Snitches
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Throw snowballs at Bastions
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Damage Bastions
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Search Supply Drops
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Harvested plants
The latest set of ARC Raiders The test challenges are officially live during the week of January 5 to 12. Players who want to collect as many points as possible must damage Snitches, throw snowballs at the bastions, damage the bastions, search for supply drops and harvest plants. Similar to last week's challenge, players will need to enter the Cold Snap map modifier to stock up on snowballs to then throw them at the Bastions. This deadly enemy type has a high rate of fire and can be found at Buried City, Blue Gate, Dam Battlegrounds, Spaceport, and Stella Montis. As was the case with the Rocketeer, the best way to approach this challenge is to stun the bastion with a Showstopper grenade before unloading as many snowballs on it as possible.
For the remaining challenges, damaging Snitches can be made on any map, but they spawn much more often on the likes of Spaceport or Blue Gate. The number of ARCs also increases in Night Raids, so it's worth jumping into the map modifier for a better chance of seeing more Snitches. When it comes to searching for Supply Drops, players must find the small call stations scattered around the map. These are much more common on Dam Battlegrounds and Buried City. Finally, one can harvest plants by gathering mushrooms, agave, mullein or moss. Again, these spawn on most maps, but are more common on Spaceport.
It looks like it's going to be a big week ARC Raiders players, as developer Embark Studios has returned from its Christmas break and is preparing to release the first patch of 2026 on Tuesday, January 6. The studio has already confirmed that it will be dropping the most overpowered item in the game: the Trigger Nade, and has also hinted at a possible fix for players who exploit macros to fire the kettle at an extremely high rate of fire. Fans should not expect any new content from the new one ARC Raiders update, but with the new year now in full swing, Embark may soon reveal what its plans are for the next 12 months.
- Released
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30 October 2025
- ESRB
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Teen/violence, blood
