13 January 2026

ARC Raiders Releases New Update for January 2026

By newsgame

Developer Embark Studios has released a brand-new update for its hit third-person extraction shooter, ARC Raiders. The latest patch is available to download now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, with a handful of important bug fixes and balance adjustments to some key ARC Raiders weapons and items. After waiting for weeks, update 1.11.0 finally nerfs the controversial Trigger Nade, which has been dominating any PvP encounters over the Christmas period.

While the latest update has been highly anticipated due to the included balance adjustments, fans have also been patiently waiting for another teased ARC Raiders skin, which is finally available now as part of the Abyss cosmetic set. The entire bundle can be purchased for 1,600 Raider Tokens and comes with the new skin, which can be seen in the image above, a new emote, and multiple other cosmetic items. This particular outfit caught the attention of players before ARC Raiders was even released, as a pre-release trailer gave fans a glimpse at the skin. Fans were then left waiting for nearly three months without any word on when the outfit would make its way into the game. But with update 1.11.0 now live across all platforms, the Abyss bundle is finally available via the in-game store.

ARC Raiders cover two characters split by rainbow striped 2strip composite

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ARC Raiders Has Finally Nerfed The Trigger Nade

Aside from a highly anticipated new cosmetic set, the latest ARC Raiders update also makes some big balance adjustments. According to the official patch notes, which can be found further down this article, Embark Studios has rebalanced the item’s damage falloff in order to concentrate the damage closer to the center of the explosion and deal less damage further away. The studio has also increased the delay time between triggering the grenade and its explosion from 0.7 seconds to 1.5 seconds, which should give players more time to react and make it more difficult to time detonation while it is in the air. With this nerf, Embark hopes to make the Trigger Nade less usable as a “trigger-in-air” grenade and more in line with its original intention.

One of the other key changes in the update is a reduction in fire rate to the Kettle, one of the most popular weapons in ARC Raiders. After players began using macros to fire the weapon at a much faster rate than humanly possible, many fans called for Embark to fix the issue, as the weapon quickly began dominating lobbies. Now, in update 1.11.0, Embark has reduced the fire rate of the weapon from 600 to 450. The studio notes how its previous fire rate was only realistically achievable by players using macros, which created an unfair dynamic that favors using 3rd party software.

One weapon that hasn’t been touched, however, is the Stitcher. Despite being one of the most common weapons in the game, some have found that it can outperform much rarer weapons in the same category, such as the Bobcat. While Embark did previously state it was looking into new balance adjustments for the Stitcher in ARC Raiders, there appear to be no changes to the weapon in today’s update. Fans have also been left disappointed by the minimal number of bug fixes in patch 1.11.0, as there are still numerous issues with the game, such as players getting out of bounds on Stella Montis, broken voice chat, and the infamous purchase-reset bug.

Today’s update also saw the end of the Cold Snap and Flickering Flames event, both of which kicked off last month in the final update of 2025. The event brought about a new map modifier known as Cold Snap, which covered the map in snow and forced players to seek shelter or risk taking damage from the blistering conditions outdoors. Rumors suggest that a new Toxic Swamp map modifier will be released as part of a new update next week, but this has yet to be confirmed by Embark Studios at the time of writing.

ARC Raiders Update 1.11.0 Patch Notes for January 13

Hey, Raiders!

Update 1.11.0 is rolling out on all platforms and it brings the highly anticipated Abyss cosmetic set along with some fixes and balancing changes to the Trigger ‘Nade and Kettle. Restart your client to download.

We are also celebrating a huge milestone – 12 million ARC Raiders copies sold! We prepared a gift for reaching 10 million players, but you blew right past it over the holidays… we’re not complaining! Everyone who has logged in since launch until Jan 13 11:59pm CET/Jan 13 2:59pm PST/Jan 13 5:59pm EST can pick up the Gilded Pickaxe Raider Tool.

Kettle
- Dev note: Reduced fire rate from 600 to 450. The previous fire rate was only realistically reachable by players using macros, which creates an unfair dynamic that favours using 3rd party software.
Trigger ‘Nade
- Dev note: Trigger ‘Nade currently dominates PVP encounters, and players favour picking it over all our other grenades. This nerf aims to make it less usable as a “trigger-in-air” grenade, whilst keeping its usefulness as a sticky bomb. Damage falloff has been rebalanced to concentrate the damage closer to the center of the explosion, and deal less damage further away. The delay between triggering the grenade and it detonating, has been increased from 0.7s to 1.5s, giving players more time to react, and making it harder to time the detonation in air.
Fixed a key card exploit that allowed players to keep room keys after using them.
Lighting has been lowered in some areas on Stella Montis Night Raid making flashlights and listening more relevant.