How to get a free loadout in Arc Raiders

An Arc Raiders free loadout can be very usful if you need to regroup after a few bad games or don't want to risk good gear on a quest. Free loadouts give you some basic weapons and gear for nothing, and mean you can effectively gamble a run without risking anything of your own. As a result these 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.

How to choose a free loadout in Arc Raiders

Free loadout augment — (Image credit: Embark Studios)

If you want a free loadout, 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 ready up and go into the match and when you start the free loadout will give you the following gear:

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 it's not a great setup, with weak gear and a low carry weight so you can't really take on much of a fight or extract with much. The lack of a Safe Pocket also means if you find anything good, you have to escape with it.

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Still, as I said, you won't lose anything if you die and taking a free loadout makes great sense in the right situation - if you're running low on equipment or 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.

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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.