ARC Raiders’ first major balance update has nerfed some of the game’s best weapons, significantly reducing their effectiveness, particularly in solo play.
In the game’s recent Patch 1.3.0, two of the game’s strongest weapons, the Venator and Hullcracker, have received heavy downgrades.
The Venator, a semi-automatic pistol that fires two shots at a time, now has its fire rate reduced. Players who upgrade it to level 4 can take advantage of its blazing-fast fire rate, making it the bane of the PvP community. Top ARC Raiders streamers like Shroud are even calling it “the most broken weapon” due to how it can quickly melt a Raider’s health in seconds.
The nerf will see the Venator’s fire-rate go from 22/44/60% to 13/26/40%, making it a tad bit slower. The devs shared their philosophy behind the nerf. Apart from its overperforming state, it was to encourage players to take more time with their shots rather than dumping all their medium ammo to the first player they encounter.
Embark also increased its weight from 2 to 5, so bloodthirsty Raiders will have to think twice before bringing two Level 4 Venators; otherwise, they’d risk being over-encumbered.
The second major weapon nerf in Patch 1.3.0 is for the Hullcracker. If the Venator was a PvP nightmare, the Hullcracker is an Arc-killing machine capable of turning solo players into one-man armies in its PvE. It can take down Leapers, Queens, and Matriarchs with its high-penetrating explosion damage.
Now, the Hullcracker is a shell of its former self. The nerf is not directly aimed at the Hullcracker; rather, it’s for the inconsistent explosion damage of its launcher ammo. It can kill larger Arcs too quickly, so Embark had to quickly mitigate this by rebalancing explosion damage on all fronts. This makes hunting for bigger arcs like Bastions much more difficult, as they will now deal less damage.
The Hullcracker nerf sent the community into a frenzy. One post on the ARC Raiders subreddit opposed the nerf, calling it “unnecessary,” and it reduces the game’s sense of fun. Being a PvE-only weapon, there was no point nerfing it to the ground.
Others have also commented that playing solo and hunting Arcs using the Hullcracker is a ‘death sentence’ since not only do you take more time killing larger machines, but you would also make too much noise and alert the entire lobby to your presence. This invites “rats” and other hostile Raiders out to get your precious Bastion or Rocketeer cells.
Patch 1.3.0 isn’t also about nerfs. It has fixed numerous bugs, including map and audio fixes. Players can also now store as many Rubber Ducks in their rooms as they would like, per a community request. Whilst machines like the Shredder are getting their pathfinding fixed, making it more deadly in Stella Montis.
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