ARC Raiders Patch 1.31.0 Best Guns to Upgrade First: Stop Wasting Resources on Low Tier Weapons

Many players misunderstand ARC Raiders weapons, often equating high damage numbers with practical advantages, or over-relying on popular weapons while neglecting choices more suited to their playstyle. In reality, in ARC Raiders, feel, margin for error, and applicable scenarios are often more crucial than theoretical stats.

This article, based on test data from Riven Tides Patch 1.31.0, provides a practical evaluation of major weapons and offers upgrade and equipment strategy suggestions to help players rationally plan resources in PvP and PvE.

Close-Range Weapon Recommendations

In close-range combat in ARC Raiders, rate of fire, spread control, and operational stability are often more valuable than single-shot damage. Many players pursue high-burst weapons but easily overlook the issue of accuracy in actual combat.

Mainstream Melee Weapons

Bobcat

While Bobcat's single-shot damage is lower than Canto, it remains one of the most recognized melee weapons in ARC Raiders community. Its advantages lie in its stable recoil pattern and moderate rate of fire, maintaining high controllability even in high-pressure gunfights. Compared to its theoretical damage advantage, Bobcat offers a more stable output experience.

Stitcher

In ARC Raiders, Stitcher boasts excellent close-range burst damage, but its base spread is relatively large. Without a Compensator III, some bullets tend to deviate, requiring priority to equip spread reduction attachments.

Il Toro

As the shotgun with the highest single-shot damage, Il Toro is extremely threatening in close-range scenarios such as indoors, corners, or extraction points, even capable of one-shotting targets with full shields. However, its effective range is extremely short, limiting its mid-range combat capabilities, making it more suitable as a dedicated ARC Raiders Item for specific environments.

Alternative Melee Weapons

Canto

Canto has a faster rate of fire than Stitcher and slightly higher single-shot damage than Bobcat. While less popular than Bobcat in ARC Raiders, it also possesses its own advantages. For players who prefer close-quarters combat, Canto remains a worthwhile option to try.

Dolabra

Dolabra provides greater room for mistakes than Il Toro, the latter being designed for burst damage. Even if the first shot misses, players can quickly follow up with a shot, and it also provides better sustained suppression against multiple targets. For most PvP players, its practicality is comparable to Il Toro.

Mid-Range Weapon Recommendations

Mid-range is the most common engagement zone in ARC Raiders, making weapon stability particularly important. Compared to vertical recoil, horizontal recoil often has a greater impact on sustained accuracy.

Weapons Requiring Attachments

Tempest

Tempest's vertical recoil is relatively easy to control, but its horizontal sway is quite noticeable. In ARC Raiders, this random swaying significantly affects accuracy when tracking at mid-range. A horizontal grip is almost a must-have attachment for this weapon.

With attachments, Tempest still possesses decent mid-range damage output, but its performance is significantly limited without attachments.

Rattler

In its base form, Rattler has poor recoil. Equipping a padded stock significantly improves its stability, allowing for effective suppression at around 50 meters. Therefore, it's not recommended to evaluate this rifle solely based on its base stats.

Venator

Following the balance changes, Venator has lost the all around dominance it once had. In ARC Raiders Patch 1.31.0, it's better suited as a mid-range primary weapon, requiring a secondary weapon for close-quarters combat.

Also Read: ARC Raiders Best Hidden Items Tricks in 2026: Advanced Mechanics Every Raider Should Learn

High-Upgrade Mid-Range Weapons

Renegade

Renegade's upgrade benefits are significant. Upgrading from level 1 to level 4 results in a substantial performance boost and more stable spread control, making it one of the most worthwhile ARC Raiders Items to upgrade in Patch 1.31.0.

Arpeggio

Arpeggio deals extremely high damage with a perfect three-round burst, but requires high accuracy. Missing shots significantly reduce its actual damage output. Therefore, it leans more towards precision-guided weapons than traditional, mindless assault rifles.

Long-Range and Special-Purpose Weapons

While sniper rifles and pistols aren't the mainstream choices in Patch 1.31.0, they still possess unique value in specific scenarios. Furthermore, the performance of some weapons differs significantly between PvE and PvP in ARC Raiders.

Pistol Selection

The two main pistols in Patch 1.31.0 have distinct roles: one emphasizes accurate headshots, while the other suffers from insufficient upgrade benefits.

Burletta

Burletta heavily relies on headshots. It requires a high number of hits when shooting at the body, but headshots significantly improve efficiency. Therefore, this weapon is more suitable for ARC Raiders players with stable aiming abilities.

Osprey

The benefits of upgrading Osprey from level 1 to level 4 are relatively limited. For players with limited resources, there's no need to prioritize investing heavily in upgrade materials.

PvE Dedicated Weapons

Jupiter

Jupiter has some value against ARCs, but its kill efficiency against ARC Raiders is relatively low, making it unsuitable as PvP equipment.

Equalizer

Equalizer excels at breaking the armor of large ARCs like Queen and Matriarch, but its efficiency is average against smaller ARCs like Combat and Wasp.

Hullcracker

Compared to Jupiter and Equalizer, Hullcracker has higher overall versatility, making it more suitable as a permanent PvE weapon. In the current version, Hullcracker is one of the excellent choices for dealing with ARCs.

It demonstrates strong competitiveness in both overall output and practical efficiency, especially suitable for players who primarily engage in PvE content.

Resource Management

Managing resources lies at the heart of long term progression in ARC Raiders. The upgrade benefits of different weapons vary significantly; reasonable investment can significantly improve overall efficiency.

High-Value Choice

Pharaoh

Pharaoh offers extremely high cost-effectiveness. Upgrades are relatively inexpensive but offer significant performance improvements, making them reliable enough even for daily map clearing and resource gathering, ideal for players on a budget.

Kettle

Kettle possesses some combat capability, but requires high accuracy. In the actual combat environment of ARC Raiders, consistently achieving its theoretical damage is not easy, making it more suitable for players with high aiming skills.

Weapons Not Recommended for Prioritization

AnvIl Splitter

Performs poorly in Patch 1.31.0, lacking any significant advantages; investing additional resources in its development is not recommended.

Torrente

Torrente gains a significant reload speed boost at level 4, thus only becoming truly valuable in practice after reaching higher upgrade stages. Its performance at lower levels is relatively average.

Aphelion

Aphelion is more suitable for PvE use. While some special modifications may seem unique, they often reduce overall handling; therefore, upgrades should prioritize stability.

Bettina

Bettina's numerical performance isn't bad, but its gameplay feedback is rather unique. In contrast, many ARC Raiders players find AnvIl's gameplay more comfortable, so Bettina generally performs better in PvE than PvP.

Based on Patch 1.31.0, Bobcat, Renegade, Hullcracker, and Pharaoh are all high-return ARC Raiders weapons, with clear use cases in both PvP and PvE. Conversely, Osprey, AnvIl Splitter, and low-level Torrente are not recommended for priority upgrades.

For most players, prioritizing weapons with high survivability, clear component requirements, and stable upgrade benefits is often more efficient than simply pursuing theoretical DPS.