The Arc Raiders Frozen Trail update has been announced, bringing new weapons, a new map, new Arc enemies, and plenty more besides. It's been a long time since the last major update for Arc Raiders after an intentional choice was made to slow down the rate of content updates, but now it looks as though Embark is making the most of that pause to bring back what is arguably the largest update for the game that we've ever seen.
Below, I'll take you through everything you need to know about the Frozen Trail update for Arc Raiders, including all the new content, the release date planned, and what you can expect from this next era of the robot-fighting extraction shooter.
What is the release date and time for the Arc Raiders Frozen Trail update?
The Frozen Trail 2.0 update will be a free content patch for Arc Raiders that goes live on October 8, 2026. No comment yet has been made about what time during the day that will be, but historically patches for Arc Raiders have had a habit of going live roughly around 3:00AM PDT / 6:00AM EDT / 11:00AM BST.
Everything revealed in the Frozen Trail update for Arc Raiders
A huge amount of content is being added to Arc Raiders in the Frozen Trail, much of it focused around a new snowy location that players will be able to explore and loot. We'll quickly go through everything here, before going into further detail below.
- New Map: Pendola Pass
- A large, snowy, mountainous map in the shadow of a fallen "Emperor" Arc Robot, with a variety of playstyles, a focus on verticality, and occasionally afflicted by "Flash Freeze" weather conditions that force players to take shelter.
- New Minor Map Condition: Redirection
- Specific to Pendola Pass, players can call in Harvester payloads from the Collector, prompting both PvE and PvP conflict.
- New Enemies
- Frigate
- Bully
- Skulker
- Hydra
- New Weapons
- "Stiletto" Battle Rifle
- "Bantam" Revolver
- New Gadgets / Tools
- Grappling Hook
- Tether Launcher
- Yank Grenade
- New Instruments
- Banjo
- Harmonica
- New Feature: Weapon Amplification
- A new system wherein players can upgrade weapons further and modify them.
- New Feature: Weapon Stencils
- Allows players to customize weapon appearance and aesthetic without affecting their stats.
- New Feature: Outposts
- Customisable player bases and homes that players can craft/acquire items to display in.
- New Feature: Skill Tree update
- New skills are being added to the Skill Trees, with others being modified or rebalanced.
- New Feature: Camera
- A handheld camera gadget that players can bring into missions to take photos with.
- New Quests
- Frozen Trail will add new quests, as well as quests with optional objectives for bonus XP rewards.
- New Trials
- Trials Season 6 will be kicked off with the Frozen Trail update.
- New "Frozen Trail" Reward / Battle Pass
- A two track battle pass of in-game rewards, with a free pass that includes all Cosmetics, and a Premium Pass that includes everything.
- Frozen Trail Collector Set DLC
- A DLC Bundle with new cosmetics will be added to the game on the same day, costing 2400 Raider Tokens.
Some elements have been explained in more detail while others are still yet to be revealed, such as the upcoming changes to the Skill Tree. Still, we'll go over all the biggest elements to come below.
New Map: Pendola Pass
The new Arc Raiders map is a snowy, mountain region specifically based around a giant, dead "Emperor" Arc walker robot. The map is specifically meant to push a wide range of gameplay styles, with both enclosed spaces for close quarters, open spaces for long-range, and a mention of verticality.
The map also includes its own unique weather condition: Flash Freeze, unpredictable moments of cold which will force players to take refuge indoors (or even in Avalanche Shelters) or else be negatively hit by the cold.
Pendola Pass is also the only map where players will be able to experience the New Minor Map Condition: Redirection, where players can call in an Arc Raiders Harvester away from the Queen, but in so doing draw the attention of both Arc robots and players.
New enemies
The Frozen Trail update comes with four new Arc enemies, though one is less of a traditional enemy and more of an event.
- Frigate. Described as a "pirate ship", the Frigate is a massive endgame challenge, less of a traditional enemy and more of a flying carrier vehicle wherein players will have to get on top and navigate various hazards to obtain the loot it's carrying. The Frigate cannot be killed, only sabotaged.
- Bully. A four-legged walker similar in size to a Leaper but with a turret on top, these squat enemies charge at you in relentless offense, described as "in your face" and "relentless".
- Skulker. A small, opportunistic enemy that uses stealth to hide from the player, take a few pot shots at them from a distance, then hide again. It's a fast, stealthy sniper that you need to listen out for as much as anything else.
- Hydra. A floating weapons platform similar in look to a Shredder, the Hydra has three pairs of gun turrets that can all target individual enemies separately, meaning that there's a viable strategy in diverting its attention among groups.
New weapons
The Frozen Trail adds two new weapons for players to use, each of which has a clear niche.
- Stiletto. A light ammo battle rifle designed for medium-to-long range, and better for PvE than PvP.
- Bantam. A snub-nosed revolver with a unique fire-from-the-hip animation, designed as an alternative to the Anvil, a popular favourite among the Arc Raiders weapons.
New gadgets and tools
There are four new gadgets and tools being added to Arc Raiders with Frozen Trail, assuming you include the Camera.
- Grappling Hook. An alternative to the Snap Hook, the grappling hook is a hand-thrown rope and hook that lets you rappel, swing, climb or even tether to enemies and be dragged along behind them.
- Tether Launcher. A device that fires two tethers attached by a wire. When both are fired, they pull together, allowing you to drag enemies or other players around.
- Yank Grenade. A thrown version of the Tether Launcher, that fires a wire at the nearest character from where it detonates and pulls them towards it. Can be used to smash Arc enemies or pull players out of cover.
Outposts
Outposts are a new form of progression being added in Frozen Trail, where players will be given a new base that they can customize and make their own, including crafting furniture and cosmetics from items found on missions.
Weapon Amplification
Frozen Trail adds a new system for upgrading guns called "Weapon Amplification", in which players will get a new workbench for their base where they can research upgrades for certain guns, then build those upgrades with materials found on missions.
These are different to weapon mods or levelling up guns in that these are more about specializing than general improvements (as as converting weapons to fully automatic or adding incendiary rounds). It's also been revealed that not every weapon in the game will immediately be viable for Amplification: when the update is released, only 15 of them will compatible with this new feature.
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