++ Speranza Overview
Speranza is the oldest neighborhood of Toledo and your home base between raids. Everything you need to prepare for Topside runs is here: five Traders who sell weapons, gear, mods, gadgets, and medical supplies; the Workshop for crafting; the Gunsmith for weapon upgrades; your Stash for storing loot; the Raider Den for customization; and the Main Hub where you select your map and recruit squadmates.
The Main Hub displays your active Feats and Quests with their completion requirements. Always check your quests before deploying so you can plan your Topside run to complete as many objectives as possible in a single raid.
Your Raider Den is a personal room above the streets of Speranza that evolves as your Raider level grows. Items from your Stash display here, and you can customize your Raider with outfits and hairstyles bought with Raider Tokens or unlocked through the Raider Decks.
++ All 5 Traders & Currencies
Speranza has five Traders, each selling different categories of items and accepting different currencies. Understanding which Trader sells what — and which currency you need — is essential for efficient progression.
Celeste Seed
Celeste trades Seeds in exchange for essential materials that every Raider needs. Seeds are found Topside and are the unique currency for Celeste's shop. Her inventory focuses on basic and Topside crafting materials, making her the go-to Trader when you need raw resources for Workshop crafting without spending Coin.
Shani
Shani runs Speranza's security while selling useful gear on the side. She accepts Security Cred as currency and stocks Augments, Weapon Mods, Medical Items, and the critical Raider Hatch Key. Raider Hatch Keys let you extract quickly and discreetly through hidden hatches Topside — essential for emergency extractions. Shani also sells Binoculars for scouting.
Tian Wen — Gun Shop
Tian Wen runs the Gun Shop and is your primary source for purchasing weapons, ammunition, and weapon mods. He accepts Coin, the most common currency. This is where you buy your loadout weapons before deploying. His Weapon Mod inventory is particularly valuable — being able to buy mods directly instead of hoping to find them Topside gives you consistent loadout control.
Apollo — Grenades & Gadgets
Apollo sells Quick Use combat items: Wolfpack Grenades, Deadline Mines, Hornet Drivers, Showstoppers, and other tactical gadgets. These items are critical for boss-tier ARC encounters. Wolfpack Grenades and Deadline Mines are the primary tools for fighting Queens, Bombardiers, Bastions, and other heavy ARC. Stock up before any serious ARC hunting run.
Lance — Clinic
Lance runs the Clinic and patches Raiders up for a price. He sells Augments, Shields (Light, Medium, Heavy), and Medical Items. Lance also provides a free Loadout Augment. Shields are essential survival gear — always bring at least a Light Shield on every raid. Med Kits from Lance keep you alive through sustained ARC encounters and PvP fights.
++ Workshop & Crafting
The Workshop in Speranza lets you craft gear, weapons, consumables, and other items. You start with a simple workbench that produces basic necessities. As you progress, you can build specialized crafting stations to unlock advanced recipes.
The Workshop has three levels, each requiring specific materials to upgrade and unlocking progressively better crafting recipes:
Workshop Level 1
Unlocks crafting for Light Shield, Medium Shield, and three Mk. 1 Augment types: Combat Mk. 1, Looting Mk. 1, and Tactical Mk. 1. These are your foundational gear items that get you raid-ready with basic protection and augmentation.
Workshop Level 2
Unlocks Heavy Shield crafting and all three Mk. 2 Augment types: Combat Mk. 2, Looting Mk. 2, and Tactical Mk. 2. Note that Hornet Drivers drop from Hornet ARC machines, so you will need to farm Hornets Topside to upgrade your Workshop.
Workshop Level 3
Unlocks specialized Mk. 3 Augments with playstyle variants: Combat Mk. 3 (Aggressive or Flanking), Looting Mk. 3 (Cautious or Survivor), and Tactical Mk. 3 (Defensive or Healing). Bastion Cells drop from Bastion ARC walkers, which are Extreme-threat enemies requiring squad tactics to defeat.
++ Gunsmith & Weapon Upgrades
The Gunsmith allows you to upgrade weapons through four levels (I through IV). Each upgrade permanently improves the weapon's handling stats, making it more accurate, stable, and responsive. Upgrading is one of the most impactful investments you can make.
Weapon Mods are separate from upgrades. Mods are attachments that fit into designated slots on each weapon and can be freely removed and swapped. Common mod types include Muzzle attachments for recoil and sound reduction, Underbarrel grips for stability, Magazine extensions for capacity, and Stock attachments for ADS stability.
The Anvil hand cannon has a unique Tech Mod slot that accepts special modifications not available to other weapons, enabling unique build synergies. Visit the Practice Range to test different mod combinations before committing to a loadout for a real raid.
++ Stash Management
Your Stash stores all items you craft and bring home from Topside. It starts at 64 slots and can be upgraded to a maximum of 280 slots. Stash upgrades cost increasing amounts of Coin:
| Level | Size | Upgrade Cost | Total Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 64 slots | Base | - |
| 2 | 88 slots | 5,000 Coin | 5,000 |
| 3 | 112 slots | 10,000 Coin | 15,000 |
| 4 | 136 slots | 15,000 Coin | 30,000 |
| 5 | 160 slots | 25,000 Coin | 55,000 |
| 6 | 184 slots | 40,000 Coin | 95,000 |
| 7 | 208 slots | 60,000 Coin | 155,000 |
| 8 | 232 slots | 90,000 Coin | 245,000 |
| 9 | 256 slots | 130,000 Coin | 375,000 |
| 10 | 280 slots | 200,000 Coin | 575,000 |
Raiders who complete Expeditions earn an extra 12 Stash slots per completion. Stash space is a bottleneck for progression — upgrade it steadily as you accumulate Coin, but balance the investment against weapon and gear purchases.
++ Expedition System
Expedition is ARC Raiders' seasonal character reset system. When you depart on an Expedition, your Raider's level, stash contents, inventory, loadouts, and skill tree all reset. In exchange, you earn permanent rewards that carry over to your next Raider. Expedition is optional but highly recommended for serious progression.
Expedition Stages
Building your Expedition caravan requires committing specific materials across six stages. Once materials are committed, they cannot be retrieved:
Stage 1: Foundation
Requires: 150x Metal Parts, 200x Plastic Parts, 80x ARC Alloy, 15x Steel Spring
Stage 2: Core Systems
Requires: 35x Durable Cloth, 25x Wires, 20x Electrical Components, 4x Cooling Coil
Stage 3: Framework
Requires: 4x Light Bulb, 30x Battery, 10x Shredder Gyro, 1x Exodus Modules
Stage 4: Outfitting
Requires: 5x Frequency Modulation Box, 5x Advanced Electrical Components, 3x Ion Sputter, 3x Leaper Pulse Unit
Stage 5: Load Stage
Requires committing items by category: 250,000 Coin worth of Combat Items (Ammo, Grenades, Traps, Weapons, Weapon Mods), 100,000 Coin worth of Survival Items (Shields, Gadgets, Utilities, Augments), 180,000 Coin worth of Provisions (Nature, Miscellaneous, Trinkets, Old World, Keys), and 300,000 Coin worth of Materials.
Stage 6: Departure
Once the departure window opens, your Raider leaves the Rust Belt forever. All items remaining in your Stash are contributed to the Expedition. Your next Raider earns up to 5 Skill Points based on the total value of those remaining Stash items.
++ Skill Tree & Leveling
You earn 1 Skill Point per Raider level. The Skill Tree lets you specialize your Raider's capabilities. Check your Skill Tree regularly and spend points as soon as they are available — unspent points are wasted potential.
Your Character screen in the Raider Den also shows your Trial progress and Project status. The Codex logs everything you discover Topside, and your completed quest history and stats are viewable here as well.
Raider Decks are seasonal progression tracks where you spend Cred to unlock cosmetic rewards. Each Deck has multiple pages of rewards that must be unlocked in order to progress to the next page. A new Raider Deck is released with each major Escalation season update.
++ Economy Tips & Priorities
The ARC Raiders economy rewards consistent extraction over risky high-value runs. A moderate haul that you extract successfully is infinitely more valuable than a premium haul you lose to ARC or other Raiders.
Early Game Priorities (First 20 Raids)
Focus on learning maps and extracting reliably. Buy basic weapons and shields from Tian Wen and Lance. Do not invest in Workshop upgrades yet. Your goal is to build a Coin reserve while learning extraction routes and ARC patrol patterns. Run the starter map Dam Battlegrounds until you are comfortable, then progress to Buried City.
Mid Game Priorities (Raids 20-60)
Upgrade Workshop to Level 2 for Heavy Shields and Mk. 2 Augments. Start upgrading your favorite weapon at the Gunsmith (Level I and II upgrades are affordable). Expand your Stash to Level 3-4 to avoid inventory pressure. Begin farming specific ARC for their drops: Hornets for Hornet Drivers, Sentinels for Firing Cores, Surveyors for Vaults.
Late Game Priorities (60+ Raids)
Push Workshop to Level 3 by farming Bastions for Bastion Cells. Upgrade primary weapons to Level III-IV. Expand Stash toward Level 7-8. Begin stockpiling Expedition materials. Run Stella Montis for Shredder Gyros and high-value drops. Prepare for Queen and Matriarch boss encounters with a full squad and stocked supplies from Apollo.