How to get a free loadout in Arc Raiders

(Image credit: Embark Studios)

A free loadout in Arc Raiders is something that a lot of players can make good use of after a few bad games. Free loadouts give you some weapons and gear for nothing, and mean you can effectively gamble with the house's money without risking anything of your own. Admittedly, free loadouts are never very good, but considering they're free, that shouldn't be much of an issue. Here's how you get one and start playing without consequences in Arc Raiders.

Choosing a free loadout

Free loadout augment — (Image credit: Embark Studios)

If you want a free loadout you need to go to the custom loadout building screen when you're ready to start a match, and press R1 if you're on PS5 or RB if you're on Xbox. This should bring up a new tab for Free Loadouts as shown above, though it's displayed as an empty loadout except for a special Augment. At this point, you can choose to ready up and go into the match accordingly. Selecting a free loadout will give you the following:

A random weapon and ammo
A light shield
A small selection of basic quick use items
Maximum loadout weight is set to 35.0
14 backpack inventory slots
No Safe Pocket

Obviously this isn't a great setup. You carry less than normal, you're not specced for any particular build, and the equipment you have is about as basic as things get. Not only that but the lack of a Safe Pocket means that if you find something good, you can't guarantee its return.

Still, as I said, it's the house's money, and taking a free loadout makes perfect sense in the right situations. If you're running low on equipment and the resources to obtain more it's a solid choice. Likewise, picking a free loadout can also make sense with a particularly hard mission! Yes, you're less well equipped to deal with it, but it also means that in the likely event you die, you won't lose anything.

CATEGORIES

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.