Game Glossary#
Community discussion around ARC Raiders is full of proper nouns. This page organizes these terms by category with their meanings and origins — come here whenever you hit a term you do not understand.
World and Identity#
| Term |
Meaning |
| ARC |
The collective name for the mysterious machine enemies occupying the surface, and the source of the game’s title |
| Raider |
The role you play: someone who ventures onto the surface to scavenge supplies |
| Topside |
The ARC-held surface of Earth, the play area of every raid |
| Speranza |
The settlement humanity retreated into underground; your base and staging area |
| Extraction adventure |
Embark’s official genre label for this game, emphasizing adventure more than the traditional extraction shooter label |
Core Mechanics#
| Term |
Meaning |
| Extraction |
The settlement action of returning underground with loot; nothing counts unless you extract successfully |
| Blueprints |
Crafting schematics for weapons and gear; they only count after a successful extraction and are lost on death |
| Augment |
Functional gear split into looting and combat lines, defining your playstyle leanings |
| Shield |
Protective gear in three tiers: light, medium and heavy |
| Matchmaking queue |
Solos, Duos and Trios are matched into the same raids |
| Aggro matchmaking |
A matchmaking system introduced in version 1.36 that matches players of similar hostility levels together |
Machine Enemies#
| Term |
Meaning |
| Tick |
A small harassment unit |
| Shredder |
A ground melee unit |
| Hornet / Wasp |
Flying attack units |
| Surveyor |
A reconnaissance-type unit |
| Bombardier |
An area suppression unit |
| Leaper |
A highly mobile unit |
| Rocketeer |
A ranged suppression unit |
| Bastion |
A heavy patrol elite, the guardian of the Blue Gate underground |
| Queen |
A large-scale boss |
| Matriarch |
The oversized boss of Stella Montis, drops the Matriarch Reactor |
| Matriarch Reactor |
The core material of the legendary weapon Aphelion |
Events and Modes#
| Term |
Meaning |
| Night Raids |
High-difficulty raid conditions in a night environment |
| Hidden Bunker |
A special event, the source of the Vulcano blueprint |
| Locked Gate |
A special event, the source of the Bobcat blueprint |
| Frigate |
A high-pressure encounter scenario |
| Harvester |
An event containing three special containers (source of the Equalizer and Jupiter blueprints) |
| First Wave Cache |
A reward container available under Hurricane weather |
| Hurricane weather |
A special weather condition tied to rewards from hidden events |
| Electromagnetic Storm event |
The event that is the source of the Snap Hook blueprint |
| Pure PvE toggle |
The player damage off/on option tested from 2026-10-13 to 2026-10-20 |
Maps and Locations#
| Term |
Meaning |
| Dam Battlegrounds |
The first map you unlock |
| Buried City |
A city ruins map, the home turf of indoor fights |
| Spaceport |
An open terrain map, tied to the Night Raids quest |
| The Blue Gate |
A map included at launch, with the best loot underground |
| Stella Montis |
The first map added after launch, an endgame region |
| Riven Tides |
A coastal ruins map added in April 2026 |
| Cultural Archives |
A key room on Stella Montis, widely considered the best blueprint room |
| Assembly Workshops |
Where Magnetic Accelerators are found on Stella Montis |
Crafting and Materials#
| Term |
Meaning |
| Complex Gun Parts |
A component material in the Aphelion recipe |
| Shredder Gyros |
A component material in the Dolabra recipe |
| Vaporizer Regulators |
A component material in the Dolabra recipe |
| Workbench |
The base facility that turns blueprints and materials into finished gear |
| Term |
Meaning |
| Extraction (Don’t) Shooter |
Players’ joke name for the “want to shoot machines, not people” ecosystem, quoted by Embark in its PvE announcement |
| Fill it and go |
A community motto: extract immediately once your bag value hits the target |
| Grab it and leave |
The extraction discipline that applies specifically to blueprints |
Notes on Usage#
Of the Chinese names collected in this table, most enemy and event names are common community translations, and the in-game text may use different wording; for any term involving specific numbers, always trust live in-game values.
Related Pages#