ARC Raiders Starts 2026 With a Fresh Set of Trials Challenges

With the new year officially underway, Embark Studios has rolled out the first ARC Raiders Trials challenges of 2026, giving players a new list of objectives to tackle — and some potentially valuable loot to earn along the way. Following the end of 2025, players completed their first-ever Expedition, fully resetting characters and progression. As a result, Season 2 is now in motion, and the second week of Trials challenges is live.

What Are Trials in ARC Raiders? 🎯

For newcomers who may have jumped into ARC Raiders during a recent Winter Sale, Trials are rotating weekly challenges that offer another way to earn gear for trips Topside.

Each Trial:

• Refreshes every Monday
• Focuses on a specific objective, such as destroying certain ARC types, exploring locations, or interacting with items
• Offers three reward tiers, earned by reaching 1,000/ 2,500/ 4,000 points
• Rewards include Uncommon, Rare, and Epic loot, randomly rolled

Points can be earned every match, but they don’t stack between runs, so efficiency matters.

Snowballs Return — But This Time It’s Worse ❄️💣

Trials have often been criticized for feeling repetitive, so Embark began experimenting with more creative objectives. Last week’s challenge required players to throw snowballs at Rocketeers, one of the deadliest enemies in the game. Despite the danger, players adapted quickly — stunning Rocketeers with Showstopper grenades before unloading snowballs while they were disabled.

Now, just a week later, snowballs are back, but this time players must target Bastions, which are arguably even more threatening due to their rapid-fire attacks and heavy durability.

ARC Raiders Week 11 Trials (January 5–12) 📅

This week’s active Trials include:

• Damage Snitches
• Throw snowballs at Bastions
• Damage Bastions
• Search Supply Drops
• Harvest plants

To complete the snowball-related objectives, players must enter maps affected by the Cold Snap modifier, where snowballs can be collected. Bastions can be found across several locations, including:

• Buried City
• Blue Gate
• Dam Battlegrounds
• Spaceport
• Stella Montis

As with Rocketeers, the safest approach is to stun Bastions first using a Showstopper grenade, then throw snowballs while they’re incapacitated.

Tips for the Remaining Challenges 🧠

• Snitches spawn on all maps but appear more frequently on Spaceport and Blue Gate
• Night Raids increase ARC density, making them ideal for Snitch farming
• Supply Drops are called in via small stations, most commonly found on Dam Battlegrounds and Buried City
• Plants can be harvested by collecting Mushrooms, Agave, Great Mullein, or Moss — with Spaceport offering the highest spawn rates

Big Week Ahead for ARC Raiders 🚀

This week is shaping up to be an important one for ARC Raiders. Embark Studios has returned from its holiday break and is preparing to release the first patch of 2026 on Tuesday, January 6.

What’s confirmed so far:

• A nerf to the Trigger Nade, currently the strongest item in the game
• A potential fix for players abusing macros to fire the Kettle at extreme rates

While players shouldn’t expect new content in this update, balance changes and stability fixes are on the way, and with 2026 just beginning, Embark is likely to reveal more about its long-term plans for ARC Raiders very soon.