After spending 100 hours in ARC Raiders, it's time to do something about grenades.

100 hours later arc radarI can confidently say that I am a fan. There's a special kind of tension that keeps players like me coming back to the game. It's not just the adrenaline of a clean escape or the thrill of ambushing another squad. This is why every moment feels dangerous. The tension is undeniable, and that is why ARC Raiders This is a game that stands out among the growing extraction shooting genre. But what has become so prevalent and destabilizing in the combat loop is the importance of grenades.

ARC Raiders It launched on October 30th, and in the months since launch, players have been treated to a steady stream of patches, fixes, and balance tweaks across 11 updates. Embark Studios has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to adjust its games based on community feedback. Consider the recent increase in the frequency of map events. ARC Raiders Player backlash – Despite these efforts, the way grenades define combat is still a sore issue. And it has more implications for the underlying design than just rebalancing the numbers.

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ARC Raiders players believe Embark has made a big difference to the game's matchmaking.

Some ARC Raiders players believe developer Embark Studios may have quietly been making big changes to the game's matchmaking system.

Start the trigger 'Nade' which was nerfed in January

In the community space that follows ARC Raiders In update 1.11.0, grenades weren't just a nuisance, they were a meta-defining feature. Steam Community threads and subreddit discussions were full of complaints about how Trigger 'Nades can turn bottlenecks into death zones, or how their use at extraction points skews the outcome of encounters. The January 13th update openly acknowledged the disproportionate impact grenades are having on the meta, stating that Trigger 'Nade is currently dominating PvP combat and is being chosen far more often than any other throwing option.

In response, the developers specifically changed the Trigger 'Nade mechanism to curb its effectiveness.

The explosion delay between arming and detonating has been more than doubled from 0.7 to 1.5 seconds, giving opposing players more time to react.
Additionally, the damage reduction has been reworked so that the impact of the explosion is concentrated closer to the center, causing less damage to the outer edges of the explosion zone.
These adjustments are intended to reduce the reliability of air trigger tactics while maintaining the overall usefulness of the grenade.

This patch represents the clearest evidence yet that this is not just a perception issue. Embark acknowledged that players prefer Trigger 'Nades because the tool can solve any problem a Raider might face. Grenades certainly provide controlled and direct firepower, but with a bit of improvisation you can also knock players out of hiding, trap players while they're hidden, scout without repercussions, and quickly reset most engagements. They are very good against players and can do it all against ARC as well. Of course, this is also true for Trigger 'Nades, and remote detonation allows for some unique strategies. However, the same applies to all of the following best grenades: ARC Raiders.

The problem is bigger than Trigger 'Nades.

The problems with this dominance are systemic. Grenades are starting to overwrite core mechanics. ARC Raiders' PvP combat is otherwise encouraged. Combat must be fought through positioning, careful attention to sound cues, and incremental (and sometimes gut) decision-making. Making good use of a weapon requires aiming discipline, ammunition awareness, and a basic understanding of how the tool operates when fired, even at the risk of exposure. The same goes for grenades.

The unintended consequence is a burst-first, ask-the-questions-later rhythm that erodes the tactical core. ARC Raiders. Instead of clever aspects, quiet infiltration, or improvised shenanigans, the tension often boils down to spotting players and piling explosives until something breaks. It's a blatantly less dynamic gameplay loop, and doesn't match the heart-pounding action that drew me in in the first place.

Update 1.11.0 made necessary changes, but did not fully address the root cause of the problem. Increasing the fuse time and focusing the damage only mitigates the worst abuse of Trigger 'Nades. Grenades are generally not handled in a way that supports the intended flow of the game. The item still performs too many functions at once. It remains a source of critical damage, positional pressure, and free information. The problem isn't simply that grenades are powerful. That's because it requires too little investment to be too universally effective.

ARC Raiders It is best when enemies are encountered in asymmetrical ways – when engagement hinges on intuition, environmental judgment, or deal brokering rather than the expectation of an explosion and repeated exploitation. ARC Raiders Duplicate meta items. In a game built around fast, close-quarters chaos: call of duty or battlefieldThere is an established context for forces such as grenades. This is just one of the reliable and powerful tools that players have at their disposal, along with guns, potential vehicles, melee weapons, or other support items. ARC Raiders It advertises something different. It promises tactical extraction, emergent conflict, and a meaningful balance between aggression and caution. When one item type begins to short-circuit these trade-offs, the broader system is weakened.

How can grenades evolve through ARC Raiders?

Some changes have been noticeable since update 1.11.0. Invaders may not be stockpiling Trigger 'Nades like they used to, but that hasn't stopped players from using grenades more than guns. Until recently ARC Raiders'In the new Bird City event, explosives remain a comprehensive solution. That's partly because the rest of the sandboxes have less to offer in comparison. Options like mines and support items like barricades and ziplines exist, but they do little to stop attackers with light stun or a backpack full of blaze grenades.

Grenades should have a more defined risk to better offset their high potential. This could include limiting the number of grenades a player can load, increasing the resources required to craft grenades, or potentially even more drastic measures through skill tree specialization. some are ARC Raiders Players won't want to marathon-I fear that limitations like these will continue to undermine the strategic architecture of the game itself if grenades are not addressed.

The real solution comes not from slight explosion delays or isolated decay adjustments, but from changing the way the explosives adapt to the world. Until then, every encounter will be a constant reminder that some of the tools in this game are dominant not because they are well designed, but because they circumvent the mechanics that make the game what they are. ARC Raiders It's worth playing. As the game continues to evolve, hopefully Embark Studios will be able to reevaluate and rebalance the throwable items. If it weren't for me, every Raider would have fallen into oblivion as he opened his filing cabinet.