ARC Raiders Loadout: Building a Kit Slot by Slot

The order

1. The augment. It sets your inventory space, your carry weight, and which shield class you are allowed to wear. Choose it first, because it constrains everything after it — a looting augment locks you out of medium and heavy shields regardless of what is in your stash. 2. The shield. Within the class the augment allows, pick for the raid. Light for a loot run, heavier if you expect to fight. Remember that a shield is damage reduction rather than a health bar, and that weight costs movement. 3. Two weapons. Different ammunition types, different jobs. One for Raiders, one for machines. This is the single most important pair in the kit. 4. Quick access slots. Rechargers, bandages, grenades — anything you need in the middle of a fight rather than after it. Putting healing in the backpack instead of quick access is a decision to die while searching a menu. 5. The safe pocket. Anything you cannot lose. A blueprint, a key, a quest item. Fill it before you loot, not after. 6. The backpack contents. Everything else, and the least important decision — because if you are using backpack items mid-fight, something has already gone wrong.

Free loadout versus custom

The free loadout is a fixed kit with a weapon, ammunition, bandages, a light shield, and a backpack — and no safe pocket. It exists so that a bad night costs nothing, and it is the correct choice for learning a map or for a run where you expect to die. Custom loadouts are for raids with a purpose. The difference is not power, it is protection: a custom kit has a safe pocket and gear you chose, and it is worth money you would rather not lose.

The weight decision

Everything above is constrained by weight. A heavy shield, two weapons, and a full bag is a player who cannot run, and running is how you leave. The shield page covers the protection trade, and the augment page covers capacity. The practical rule: build the kit, then check the movement penalty before you queue. If the answer is “slow”, remove something — usually the second weapon on a map where you do not expect machines.

The habit that matters

Build the kit for the raid you are actually running, not for the fight you are imagining. A loot run on a quiet condition wants speed and a safe pocket; a fight map wants armour and ammunition. The map conditions page tells you which one you are about to get.