Embark Studios dropped patch 1.26.0 for ARC Raiders on April 28, 2026, bringing the Riven Tides coastal map, a long awaited Triggernade nerf, and a complete weapon economy overhaul that changes how durability and repairs work. The update went live today and already has PvP mains celebrating the end of grenade spam while PvE players are testing the buffed Bettina against ARCs.
ARC Raiders: Patch 1.26.0 Key Details
| Category | Feature | Impact |
| New Map | Riven Tides | Coastal water biome south of Buried City. |
| New Enemy | ARC Turbine | UFO-style flying threat; drops rare augments. |
| Weapon Nerf | Triggernade | Added 1.0s/1.3s delays to stop spam. |
| Gadget Nerf | Cloak | Power drain increased 4x (10/sec). |
| Economy | Repair Buff | Upgrading a weapon now restores 25% durability. |
| Live Event | Last Resort | Task-based rewards; ends May 25, 2026. |
The patch also gutted the Photoelectric Cloak meta by quadrupling its power drain, making Close Scrutiny runs way riskier than before. If you main high tier locked rooms or rely on weapon spawns around the map edges, your entire looting route just changed.
This is the biggest update since North Line dropped in 2025, and it runs through May 25, 2026 with a new live event that rewards merits instead of just XP. Here’s every change that affects your loadout, your rank climb, and your extract rate.
New Riven Tides Coastal Map Adds Water Biome and ARC Turbine Enemy
Riven Tides is the first ocean adjacent battleground in ARC Raiders, sitting just south of Buried City on the coastline. The map features open water, beach terrain with cliffs, and coastal structures you can loot. Weather tied to the ocean biome can mess with visibility mid raid, so thermal scopes might get more value here than in Buried City or Damn Battlegrounds.
Embark also added a new large ARC enemy called the ARC Turbine, a UFO style threat that drifts across the Rust Belt. Early reports say it shows up in Riven Tides sessions but can spawn in other maps too. No confirmed loot table yet, but players who killed it during the April 26 early access stream reported heavy ammo and rare augment drops.
The map stays in rotation permanently, so you’ll see it pop up in both standard sessions and Damn Battlegrounds. Comet and Firefly spawns got reduced across beginner maps because Embark said the difficulty spiked too high for new players after the last patch.
Triggernade Spam Finally Dies With 1 Second Throw Delay
The Triggernade nerf is the change PvP players asked for since January 2026. You can no longer throw a new grenade while triggering an old one, and Embark added hard coded delays to stop the spam.
Here’s the exact change: 1 second delay after throwing before you can trigger, plus 1.3 second delay after triggering before you can throw again. That kills the instant double and triple Triggernade combos that dominated Close Scrutiny and high tier PvP zones for the last three months.
Reddit user reactions split between PvP mains celebrating and grenade spammers saying the weapon is now useless. If you relied on Triggernades for squad wipes, you’ll need to adapt fast or switch to standard frags and proximity mines.
Bettina Gets Damage Buff But Slower Fire Rate Trades PvP for PvE Power
The Bettina heavy weapon changes are weird. Base damage went from 14 to 16, but fire rate dropped from 285 RPM to 235 RPM. Dispersion improved by 40%, and recoil recovery got 30% better, plus damage against ARC armor increased 33%.
Sounds great for PvE, but Reddit math shows PvP time to kill against light shields actually got worse, going from 1.68 seconds to 1.79 seconds. So if you main Bettina for ranked firefights, this is a stealth nerf. If you use it to farm ARCs and Bastions, you just got a big win.
Heavy ammo stack size also went from 40 to 60 rounds, so you can carry more before hitting weight limits. Test the new bloom and recoil in Damn Battlegrounds first before taking it into ranked Close Scrutiny runs.
Photoelectric Cloak Gutted With 4x Power Drain and Weight Nerf
The Photoelectric Cloak got destroyed. Weight went from 1 to 3, and power consumption jumped from 2.5 per second to 10 per second. That means it drains four times faster than before, cutting your invisible sprint time from over 10 seconds down to around 2.5 seconds per charge.
Embark said the cloak was “aggressively overperforming” in high tier zones, so they wanted to force players to use it in short bursts instead of staying invisible for full Close Scrutiny rotations. The change makes sense for balance, but if you bought the cloak last week for 8,000 Selon, you probably feel scammed right now.
You can still use it to dodge ARC aggro or reposition mid fight, but long invisible flanks are dead. Pair it with batteries and tactical augments that reduce power drain if you want to keep running it.
Weapon Economy Overhaul Changes Durability, Repairs, and Map Spawns
This is the change that affects every player, not just PvP mains. Embark overhauled the entire weapon economy because PvP players were bleeding guns while PvE farmers hoarded stash value with no durability pressure.
Repair on Upgrade: When you upgrade a weapon now, it automatically restores 25% max durability. That’s huge for high tier guns you want to keep long term. If you’ve been sitting on a rare rifle waiting to upgrade it, do it now and get free repairs.
Weapon spawn changes: Embark reduced weapon spawns around map edges to make high tier locked rooms and Close Scrutiny more valuable. Average durability on spawned weapons dropped from 50% to 30%, so free loadouts from map loot are way less reliable.
Durability loss by tier: Common weapons now lose durability faster per shot than epic and legendary weapons. Embark didn’t publish exact numbers, but players testing it in Damn Battlegrounds report common ARs losing around 10% more durability per mag than before.
Knockdown durability loss: Durability loss when you get knocked went from 30 points to 15 points. That’s a small win if you play aggressive and take a lot of fights.
If you run zero to hero raids where you spawn naked and loot everything, expect way more broken guns and fewer full durability spawns on the edges. Budget your Selon for repairs or start crafting more.
Tactical Mark III Augment Added But Combat Augments Still Broken
Embark added a new Tactical Mark III augment in this patch but didn’t say what it does yet. Players who looted it during early access streams couldn’t equip it because the servers were unstable, so details are still coming in.
The patch notes admit combat augments are underperforming, especially the Combat Mark III Flanking augment that “has yet to find its place to shine”. Embark said a full augment balance pass is coming soon to buff the ones nobody uses.
If you’ve been running combat augments and feeling like they don’t do anything, you’re right. Stick with tactical and looting augments until the next balance patch hits.
Last Resort Event and Avian Alarm Project Run Until May 25
The Last Resort live event is the first one that uses tasks instead of pure collectibles. The first task says “lay a bird trap next to buoys alongside the seabed in Riven Tides,” and it runs for 27 days until May 25, 2026.
The Avian Alarm project ties into this event. You collect miniature boat models across the Riven Tides map to earn merits instead of XP. Merits unlock cosmetic rewards like the white flag emote for signaling, heel click emote, new skins, and backpack attachments.
Completing the full Avian Alarm project gives you the Anvil IV weapon, Dockmaster’s Detector, Gel Patches, Bird House backpack, Fist In Air emote, and 250 Raider Tokens. The project has five stages and ends May 26, 2026.
If you want the Anvil IV or the tokens, start grinding Riven Tides runs today. The boat spawns are random, so expect to run 15 to 20 raids minimum to finish all five stages.
New Store Cosmetics Cost 1,500 to 1,600 Raider Tokens
Two new skin sets dropped in the store with this update. The Solar Set costs 1,600 Raider Tokens and comes in multiple colorways, with white and orange being the cleanest option. The second set costs 1,500 Raider Tokens and has pink, red, red and yellow, and red white and blue variants.
You can also grab the Clap Prayer emote for 400 tokens and speckled face customization if you care about that. Neither set is pay to win, so only buy them if you want the drip or you’re sitting on extra tokens from the last battle pass.
If you’re low on tokens, save them for the next battle pass or weapon skins that might actually affect visibility in PvP.
