- Arc Raiders patch 1.29.0 rolled out on May 19, 2026, at 2:00 AM PDT.
- The latest update adds a new trader, weapon, and new cosmetics to the game.
- In addition, numerous balance changes have been made across all departments.
Following the Riven Tides update last month, Embark Studios is switching to a two major updates per-year schedule. As confirmed in the new plans for the game, this month’s update is bringing in a new trader and many more things. Therefore, check out the complete Arc Raiders update 1.29.0 patch notes for May 19, 2026, here.
Arc Raiders Patch Notes Today for Update 1.29.0
The newest Arc Raiders update 1.29.0 went live on May 19, 2026, at 2:00 AM PDT. Launch your client and begin downloading the new update (14.9 GB) right away, as there is no server downtime. This update introduces a new trader, weapon, skins, etc. Discover them one by one in our patch notes for update 1.29.0 here :
New Trader – Nomadic Envoy
One of a group of Nomadic Envoys, Ermal, has made camp in Speranza, bringing with him a range of tempting Topside trades.
Raiders who have reached Level 25 can barter high-value ARC materials and any stockpiled rare weapons in exchange for lucrative offerings:
- Expanded Stash space (resets post-expedition)
- Expedition Vault access – Enabling Raiders to safely store up to 5 of their most prized items for retrieval post-Expedition
Ermal also offers a variety of weekly rotating trades:
- Cosmetics
- Arc Raiders Blueprints
- Raider Tokens
- Gameplay and progression items, including items for current Raider projects
Ermal will return weekly with new offerings as he liaises with his fellow Nomads. Catch his latest deals before he departs!
Dev Note: We’ll keep a close eye on your feedback and data to ensure the balance stays fair and challenging. For the first week, a single Stash expansion and 5 expedition vault spaces will be available to gather initial feedback and give us a chance to adjust prices before adding more space. Offers will rotate in and out. If you missed one of the offers this week, it may appear in a future stock rotation.
New Grenade Launcher – The Rascal
Tian Wen has been tinkering in her workshop again… Meet the Rascal, the latest addition to your Arc Raiders weapon arsenal for tackling armored ARC threats. Lightweight, compact, and easy to carry, this unconventional launcher packs a punch despite its… quirks.
While it’s slower to reload and a bit unpredictable on the aim, the Rascal shines as a reliable sidearm for those who want anti-ARC firepower without the risk of lugging around a Hullcracker. And:
- Mod Improvement: Extended Barrel
- End of Round Changes
- The Sandveil Set
- Facial Hair Style – Sideburns
- The Sheath Set will be available on June 2nd
Patch Highlights
- Fixed an issue where players would be teleported when standing on destroyed ARC parts.
- Reduced the power cost of the Photoelectric Cloak from 10/s to 5/s.
- Weapon durability adjustments.
- Queen and Matriarch will now more often step over things than through them, reducing the number of times players suffer unfair knockback.
- Added an option to block players after reporting.
- An Update on Security and Anti-cheat.
Balance Changes
ARC
- Increased the granularity of ARC vision through bushes and smoke, rewarding strategic positioning. Raiders near the edge of cover are now easier to spot, while those deeper in foliage or behind smoke are harder to detect.
- Improved how ARC enemies perceive sound in open outdoor spaces, while reducing their sensitivity to sounds in indoor environments and those passing through geometry.
Firefly
- Improved how the Firefly applies fire. The effect now matches the visuals more closely, and briefly grazing the flame no longer feels as punishing, reducing the sensation of being hit around corners.
Rocketeer
- When the Rocketeer shoots several missiles at once, they are now consistently spread out over a larger area to prevent unfair situations where multiple missiles hit the same location.
Gameplay
- Reduced the power cost of the Photoelectric Cloak from 10/s to 5/s.
Augment
- The Cloud of Renewal effect on the Tactical Mk. 3 (Healing) Augment has been changed to an AoE effect.
- The Cloud of Renewal healing has been increased from 20 to 45.
- The cooldown on Cloud of Renewal has been increased from 30s to 45s.
- Changed the shield capacity on Combat Mk. 3 (Flanking) Augment to accept Medium Shields.
- Dev note: As mentioned in the Arc Raiders patch notes for Patch 1.26, we continue to focus our sights on underperforming Augments. In this update, we are making the Tactical Mk. 3 (Healing) Augment offers more utility in line with its place as a support-focused Augment. Now you can also heal your allies (and your enemies, if you’re not careful) after being revived. We also increased the survivability potential of the Combat Mk. 3 (Flanking) to make it more viable as a flanking combat Augment.
Weapons
- Bettina Base Fire Rate has been increased from 235 to 250.
Weapon Durability Adjustments
It’s been clear that the durability changes in the last Arc Raiders patch notes were felt too much on some weapons, such as Ferro, Canto, etc. For this update, we’re targeting the worst offenders that seem to break too quickly, increasing their lifetime to bring them in line with other weapons.
We will continue to listen to your feedback and monitor for any pain points that come up around durability in the coming weeks and continue to adjust accordingly.
Weapon Mods
- Weapon mods can now affect aim-down-sights transition speed for scoped weapons.
- Extended Barrel:
- Bullet Velocity Bonus has been increased from 25 to 30%.
- Increased the damage fall-off distance by 15%.
- Renamed to Extended Barrel III.
- Added new mesh.
- Added 2 lower-tier variants:
- Extended Barrel I
- Extended Barrel II
Content and Bug Fixes
ARC (General)
- Fixed an issue where flying ARC could get stuck.
- Queen and Matriarch will now more often step over things than through them, reducing the number of times players suffer unfair knockback.
- When the Raiders first spawn into a session, ARC will be less perceptive of them and less likely to engage.
- Fixed some instances of ARC spawning in unexpected locations.
ARC Turbine
- Fixed ARC Turbine legs becoming invisible at odd angles.
- Improved the ARC Turbine’s probability of finding good angles for the legs when landing.
- Improved ARC Turbine landing positioning to mitigate visual clipping issues.
- Increased the odds of the Raiders getting burned by the ARC Turbine when inside of it.
Animation
- Updated cloth physics on character outfits for more natural movement.
- Fixed an issue causing some ARC weapon rotations to snap and appear laggy.
- Fixed an issue where items would clip into Field Crates when picked up while holding a gadget.
- Fixed the inspect animation for the Metal Detector.
Audio
- Reduced how much sounds are lowered while taking damage.
- Added a distinct sound when Bastion and Bombardier switch targets.
- Added comb filtering to footsteps and movement sounds to achieve a clearer perception of distance, elevation, and movement direction.
- Improved binaural audio to make it easier to distinguish the height and elevation of sounds.
Cosmetics
- Ongoing work to unify character texture settings for better performance and more visual consistency.
Gameplay
- Players are now immune to stuns while entering a Raider Hatch, preventing interruptions when returning to Speranza.
- Fixed an issue where downed players could move out of bounds.
- Fixed an issue where pressing fire during certain actions, like dodgeroll or climbing, wouldn’t buffer fire.
General
- Fixed an issue where players would be teleported when standing on destroyed ARC parts.
- Fixed an issue where characters could float when disconnecting in mid-air.
- Fixed an issue where the Expedition timer was not showing the correct duration.
Items
- Agave Juice now quickly moves into available Quick Use slots instead of the Backpack and will not be unloaded from the Backpack when emptying it.
- Free loadout Augment sell price: 100 -> 660.
Maps (General)
- Fixed low-res textures, odd spray paint decals, and a misaligned wall in tunnel and highway areas.
- Fixed overly dark shading on vent materials to improve visibility.
- Fixed a balcony structure that was clipping into a hotel doorway, which could block passage.
- Fixed floating objects and improved rope visuals and physics.
- Fixed a misaligned balcony in the hotel lobby and a missing wall collision at Room 207.
- Polished environment textures and fixed collision issues.
Social
- Added an option to block players after reporting.
- Fixed an issue where voice chat could fail when opening the console UI on PS5/Xbox.
- End of Round Changes
- Raiders will now be able to see all squad members at the end of the round, whether they extracted successfully or not.
- Interacting with the squad member’s name plate will display a range of social actions that can be taken, which include reporting, muting, or blocking the player.
- Players will also be able to immediately leave the squad in the tunnel sequence.
Stability & Performance
- General performance and stability improvements.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the loading screen to remain stuck.
UI
- Added information to the Crash Mat tooltip to showcase the additional safe fall height gain.
- Deployable previews now show occluded portions with a striped overlay, making placement easier.
- Fixed an issue where pinging an ARC Turbine as it entered the map could cause the ping marker to behave erratically.
Utility
- Removed unintended delay after cancelling a Trigger ‘Nade throw during which the grenade could not be thrown or triggered.
- Fixed an issue where throwing grenades could not be cancelled.
- Cancelling the deployment of Pulse Mine or Gas Mine no longer consumes the item.
- Fixed an issue where the ‘Use Zipline’ prompt was missing, preventing interaction at close range.
- Fixed an issue where vaulting could trigger while moving upward or while standing on the ground with the Powered Descender active.
- Fixed an issue where the Surge Coil would not damage teammates of the player who placed it.
Known Issues
- Opening the console menu on PS5/Xbox while matchmaking causes the matchmaking to be cancelled.
- The Sandveil outfit scarf may appear stretched with long hairstyles clipping through.
- Players can fall from the map by walking near the wall of the Pilgrim Peak building.
- Successful Extraction music plays in the background when the new Trader Introduction video is shown to the player after they return to the main menu.
- Characters in the Squad Walk screen may fail to appear under certain circumstances.
- Dolabra does not deal damage to training dummies on the Practice Range.
- Pause on an Augment’s Regen Effect fails to apply after the player’s revival.
- The throw animation may sometimes fail to play if the player attempts to detonate a Trigger ‘Nade immediately after throwing it.
- Some localization issues across the UI, including missing text in the settings menu and loading screen quotes.
- In rare cases, purchases might not work in the customization screen. Reopen the customization screen to fix it.
- The Firefly may sometimes disappear after going idle and drop an incendiary grenade.
- Shredders float to the ceiling in some rooms of the Hidden Bunker.
- Player animations may appear broken when interrupting a search of the Baron Husk.
- The Leaper can jump through the ARC Turbine.
An Update on Security & Anti-cheat
As mentioned recently in our Ensuring Fair Play article, we want to continue improving our anti-cheat solutions in Arc Raiders and more accurately detect foul play across the Rust Belt. Following a positive rollout in THE FINALS, Denuvo Anti-Cheat will also come to ARC Raiders starting May 19th, initially to a limited player pool, with plans to expand after close monitoring.
We will not be using Denuvo’s Digital Rights Management (DRM) service and are working to ensure minimal impact on performance. With Denuvo Anti-Cheat and Anybrain, we are working to strengthen ARC Raiders’ systems even further. Keep sending us reports of any information that you believe might help us do so; it’s highly appreciated.
And that’s everything new, as well as the latest balance adjustments revealed in the Arc Raiders patch notes today. What do you think about the new trader and grenade launcher weapon added in update 1.29.0? Let us know in the comments below.
