Arc Raiders update finally puts an end to Trigger 'Nade terror and nerfs a potent PvP weapon

While Embark Studios’ left us plenty of content to entertain ourselves with over its well-earned winter break, there were a few elements of Arc Raiders‘ PvP meta that spiraled into overpowered territory. With the devs resting up, it’s taken a little while to fix these problematic items, but a new Arc Raiders update has just gone live that finally delivers some much-needed nerfs. Both the Kettle and the Trigger ‘Nade have been taken down a peg. Oh, and in celebration of the extraction shooter reaching the frankly ridiculous milestone of 12 million copies sold, there’s a freebie waiting for you in Speranza.

Let’s start with those two big balance changes, though. Embark had already stated that nerfs were inbound for the Kettle and for those lethal Trigger ‘Nades, and now we know exactly how it’s going about it in Arc Raiders update 1.11.0.

While the Kettle itself is decently balanced in the multiplayer game, problems arose from the fact that its fire rate was, conceivably, very high. Actually achieving its old maximum fire rate was a tall order if playing legitimately (you’d need a lightning-fast trigger finger to feel the full benefit) but Arc Raiders players devised illegitimate means that would help them get there. “The previous fire rate was only realistically reachable by players using macros, which creates an unfair dynamic that favours using third party software,” Embark says.

The new update brings the Kettle’s max fire rate down from 600 to 450, which means that macro menaces can no longer get as big an advantage in gunfights.

Elsewhere, the Trigger ‘Nade has been nerfed heavily due to just how strong it was against other raiders. Especially in the tight, PvP-focused spaces of the Stella Montis map, throwing one of these bad boys at an opponent was almost guaranteed to send up a red flare due to how you could time its detonation, giving them no time to react. Its damage numbers and radius were also huge. “Trigger ‘Nade currently dominates PvP encounters, and players favor picking it over all our other grenades,” Embark says. “This nerf aims to make it less usable as a ‘trigger-in-air’ grenade, whilst keeping its usefulness as a sticky bomb.”

To do this, its damage falloff has been tweaked to “concentrate the damage closer to the center of the explosion.” This means you have to be more accurate with where you throw it, as those on the edge of the explosion radius will be dealt far less damage than before. The delay between triggering the detonation and it actually exploding has basically doubled, going from 0.7 seconds to 1.5 seconds.

Elsewhere in this small but important update, an exploit that “allowed players to keep room keys after using them” has been fixed, and lighting has been tweaked in Stella Montis Night Raids, “making flashlights and listening more relevant.” The patch notes are here, if you want Embark’s official record of these changes.

As mentioned, with Arc Raiders achieving over 12 million copies sold, Embark is celebrating by giving all players that logged into the game before today, January 13, a Gilded Pickaxe Raider Tool, which turns your melee weapon into a golden axe. Nice. Head to your in-game inbox, where it should be waiting for you. As is now tradition on a Tuesday, the store has also been refreshed to feature the Abyss cosmetic set, which features that terrifying but very cool cyborg-like helmet we’ve seen in past trailers and artwork.

Today also signals the end of the Cold Snap event, so the glorious, snowy vistas have thawed for now. I’m sure they’ll return in the future. By the way, last week I got to chat to Arc Raiders’ design director Virgil Watkins, and you can already read what he had to say on making improvements to the wipe system and whether Embark’s stance on AI has changed in the wake of the game’s success. There’s more to come this week, though, so keep your eyes peeled.