One of the roughest parts of any extraction shooter is making money early on. With the free loadouts mechanic, **ARC Raiders** goes a long way toward solving that problem. If you’re ever low on cash or want a more stress-free way to play, grab a free loadout and go to town.
Here’s how they work.
### How Free Loadouts Work in ARC Raiders
Free loadouts are a completely free set of random, relatively low-quality gear that you can use to jump into a raid quickly without spending a dime. You can use them as often as you like — there’s no cooldown and no item limits preventing you from doing free runs back to back. They are genuinely free.
The only “costs” associated with a free loadout are the time you spend playing and the fact that your firepower and survivability will be lacking compared to any kit you’d put together yourself. Your weapon will have no upgrades, you’ll have limited ammo and meds, and a small backpack. You won’t even have a Safe Pocket to guarantee a piece of loot if you die.
How you play your free loadout is up to you, but you’ll need to pick your battles wisely because you are almost always at a disadvantage.
### What Comes with a Free Loadout?
A free loadout will always include:
– A green shield
– A rank 1 gray weapon
– A single stack of ammo
– A small collection of meds and/or grenades
The augment you receive is also gray rarity, meaning it can only hold a few items before you’ll need to drop something to make space. You can’t alter your augment during a raid either, so even if you manage to take down another Raider or two, you’ll have to make some tough choices about what loot to keep and what to leave behind.
### What to Do with the Free Loadout Augment
Surviving a raid with your free loadout offers more than just the loot you find. You can also talk to Lance at the Clinic and trade in your free loadout augment for one of three green-rarity augments.
While it’s not a world-shattering reward, it can give you a leg up on your next kitted raid, saving you crafting resources or Coins needed to buy a better augment. This upgrade essentially elevates you from a free run to a cheap one, where you still have plenty of room to collect better loot without a steep upfront cost.
Alternatively, you can dismantle everything you came out with, preparing for a more fully geared raid that’s slightly less costly to assemble.
### How Should You Play a Free Loadout?
There are two main playstyles when it comes to free loadouts: **loot goblin** or **PvP chaser**.
– **Loot Goblin:** This playstyle acknowledges that you’re at a massive gear disadvantage against almost everyone else in the server. Your goal is to hoover up as much loot as possible before extracting. This method is slower and more methodical, requiring you to watch and listen to PvP fights happening around you and steer clear of conflict. You also need to be cautious of ARC robots flying around the map—they can reveal your position and drain your limited healing resources.
– **PvP Chaser:** This approach is more aggressive. You’re looking to find a better-geared player, take them by surprise, knock them out, and claim their equipment. Once you have a complete kit, you’ll need to decide whether to keep chasing other players or slow down to make sure you actually make it out with your newfound gear.
Of the two, the PvP chaser playstyle is often more exciting. However, if I’m on the back foot, I prefer being a loot goblin—collecting resources safely and then investing them in a completed loadout I can rely on.
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Now that you know how free loadouts work in ARC Raiders, how will you use yours? Whether you opt to stealthily gather loot or hunt down other players, free loadouts offer a flexible and accessible way to stay in the game without breaking the bank.
https://www.shacknews.com/article/146615/how-to-use-free-loadouts-in-arc-raiders
