Best Budget Loadout & Cheap Weapons

Going Topside in ARC Raiders can be an unforgiving excursion, but it’s luckily pretty easy to turn your luck around with a budget loadout. While weapons, Augments, and shields are important, you also want to keep in mind that stealth is very powerful in ARC Raiders, so if the goal is to fill out your stash and earn some cash, avoiding combat is often your best bet. A nice, cheap loadout will keep you prepared for every possible situation, though.

Don’t forget that a free loadout is always an option. This will give you a very basic Augment, a single weapon, a few consumables, and a handful of bullets. Free loadouts, however, are really only good for going Topside, looting, and extracting as quickly as possible, so if you want to brave ARC Raiders‘ smart robots and complete some quests, consider the recommended items below.

Best Cheap Weapons To Use In ARC Raiders

Which Common Weapons To Use

There are two Common weapons I recommend you gravitate toward when short on supplies: the Ferro and the Kettle. If you’re really strapped for cash, and only want to take a single weapon, go with the Kettle, as it’s more versatile.

The Ferro is the most helpful starter weapon for dealing with ARC. In general, you want to avoid the robots regardless of which ARC Raiders map you’re on if supplies are low, but sometimes an engagement is impossible to avoid. With heavy ammo, the Ferro does a great job piercing the armor and tearing components off of the smaller flying ARC enemies – Snitch, Wasp, and Hornet – and can destroy the ones you’ll encounter in buildings – Pop, Fireball, and Turret – in just a couple of shots, if not one.

Pairing the Ferro with the Kettle gives you a lot of variability in how you approach combat. The Ferro is very slow, so you’ll want to be patient when doing the tango with an ARC or two, but if you get swarmed, you’ll have much better mobility and fire rate with your Kettle out. The same basic guidelines still apply, however: aim for the propellers. The Kettle does not pierce armor very well, so you’ll usually want to aim for the back two propellers.

With the Ferro being break-action and the Kettle semi-automatic, you don’t have to bring a ton of ammo. Unless you get really unlucky, one stack of each type (heavy for the Ferro, light for the Kettle) should be enough. When you’re on a tight budget, surviving and extracting with supplies is the goal, so keep your eyes and ears open, and take out any ARC you need to before they alert more enemies.

Budget Augments, Shields, & Quick Use Items

For The Thrifty Raider

ARC Raiders is a very situational game, but if you’re raiding on a budget, the most important objectives are getting loot and staying alive. To dig yourself out of your financial hole, you’ll want the Looting Mk. 1 Augment. It has the most inventory slots and the highest weight tolerance. With the Looting Mk. 1 Augment, you’re only able to use a Light Shield. Shields aren’t strictly necessary, especially if you’re a sneaking aficionado, but if you can swing it, you’ll want it.

Quick Use items can be tough to decide on when you’re low on supplies, but I recommend taking at least a full stack of five Bandages. I also suggest taking at least one Shield Recharger (a full stack isn’t necessary – I usually take two or three), but ARC Powercells can be used in a pinch. Even though you’re trying to avoid combat, it can be worth it to take out a few ARC on each run, because building up a supply of ARC Powercells will keep you stocked with Light Shields.

You’ll most likely be fine leaving your other Quick Use slots open; you can find other utility items Topside. Here’s a quick overview of this full budget loadout, along with each item’s cost in both Coins and crafting materials:

Unless you’re specifically low on supplies (rather than Coins), you should avoid purchasing these items from traders, but you may want to mix and match depending on your funds. The best part about this loadout is every item can be crafted with very basic materials. The most difficult to acquire are the ARC Powercells and ARC Alloy, but if you extract with a full backpack, you should be able to break down enough items for crafting.

There are a lot of moving parts in ARC Raiders, so it can be tough to know what to do or which items to take. This loadout won’t let you take down the larger machines or complete more difficult quests, but it’s great for building up your stockpile of supplies. Getting knocked out Topside is just part of the ebb and flow of ARC Raiders, but this budget loadout can help you pick up the pieces.

Systems

Released

October 30, 2025

ESRB

Teen / Violence, Blood

Developer(s)

Embark Studios

Publisher(s)

Embark Studios

Engine

Unreal Engine 5

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op