ARC Raiders 2.0 Frozen Trail Patch Notes: Pendola Pass, Skill Tree Revamp, Anvil Goes Blue
ARC Raiders' Frozen Trail 2.0 update adds Pendola Pass, three new ARC, two guns, a rebuilt Skill Tree and the Outpost, plus big Anvil and Snap Hook changes.
The ARC Raiders 2.0 "Frozen Trail" update went live on October 8, 2026, and Embark Studios calls it the biggest update since launch. There's a new map, three new ARC enemies, two new guns, a rebuilt Skill Tree, a home base you can decorate and a new progression system that replaces Raider Decks. On top of that, a long list of balance changes touches some of the most-used gear in the game, including the Anvil and the Snap Hook.
The timing helps too. ARC Raiders is free to play from October 8 to 12, so expect a lot of new faces on the trail this weekend.
TL;DR
- New map: Pendola Pass, plus two new map conditions, Frigate and Redirection.
- New ARC: Bully, Skulker and Hydra. New weapons: the Bantam revolver and the Stiletto battle rifle, plus Amplified Weapons.
- Skill Tree revamp with binary choices mid-branch and pick-two-of-three capstones.
- The Outpost, a buildable base with a Research Bench and 100 craftable furniture designs.
- Reward Pass replaces Raider Decks, and Cred is gone, replaced by Reward Points.
- Anvil moves from Green to Blue rarity, the Snap Hook is nerfed, and explosives now hit armor much harder.
- Solo vs. Squads matchmaking has been removed for now.
- Max stash grows by two tiers, to 328 slots before Expedition bonuses.
The biggest changes
Pendola Pass and new threats
The headline addition is Pendola Pass, a brand-new map. It's also the testbed for a Dynamic Loot Zone system. Areas keep their loot type (a residential zone stays residential), but how valuable they are now shifts from raid to raid. The goal is to break up memorized loot routes, so expect your favorite run to pay out less reliably here.
Two new map conditions arrive with it: Frigate, which adds a patrol vessel you can board, and Redirection. Three new ARC join the roster as well: the Bully, the Skulker and the Hydra.
A Skill Tree that asks you to commit
Embark admits the old Skill Tree wasn't giving players enough meaningful ways to shape a build. The new layout swaps the big middle nodes for a binary choice: you pick one of two skills, and you can only change your mind by resetting the tree. At the end of each branch, three skills compete for your points and you can take up to two once you've invested enough. Some returning skills got a bump to fit the new layout:
| Skill | Change |
|---|---|
| Fight or Flight | Stamina gained up ~25% per level |
| Stubborn Mule | Stamina regen up ~33% |
| Back on Your Feet | Healing up from 30 to 40 |
The Outpost
Finish a project (bring a camera, as the first step asks you to photograph a farmland house) and you unlock the Outpost, an expandable base with modules and a new Research Bench. Decorating it runs on Furniture Designs, which work like blueprints. There are 100 in total: 73 found Topside, 22 unlocked by upgrading the Outpost, four tied to the Frozen Trail Pass and one to the Collector DLC.
Reward Pass replaces Raider Decks
The new Reward Pass is now the main progression track. The first one, the Frozen Trail Pass, has 60 levels split across Free and Premium tracks. Cred has been removed and replaced by Reward Points, which feed whichever pass is active. Your old Raider Decks live on in a Legacy Pass, with everything you already unlocked kept.
Feats were reworked into Easy, Medium and Hard tiers worth 15, 25 and 50 Reward Points. Each week there are three milestones worth 250 Reward Points apiece.
Balance changes
The weapon and item changes are where veterans will feel Frozen Trail most.
| Item | What changed |
|---|---|
| Anvil | Rarity raised from Green to Blue; Tech Mod slot removed |
| Anvil Splitter | No longer a mod; now an upgrade path for the Amplified Anvil |
| Snap Hook | Range 20m → 18m, durability use per use 2% → 4%, power cost 50 → 60 |
| Heavy Shield | Durability decay 0.20 → 0.15, movement penalty 15% → 10% |
| Jupiter | Double damage propagation to parts behind the target fixed |
| Flame Spray | Range increased to match its visual effect |
The Anvil change is the big one. Embark says the hand cannon was outperforming weapons at and above its rarity, so it now sits at Blue, while the new Bantam takes over as the uncommon hand cannon. Tian Wen also no longer sells the Anvil or the Hullcracker. Both now rotate through the weekly Nomadic Envoys instead.
The Snap Hook nerf is about giving it a clearer identity next to the new Grappling Hook. It's meant to be a burst mobility tool now: you can still chain a couple of uses at full power, but not back to back.
Explosives got a new damage formula against ARC. Weapons like the Hullcracker now deal over 50% more damage to armor plates but around 30% less to fragile parts. The Jupiter fix works out the same way: stronger against armor, slightly weaker against weak spots. Also worth knowing: high-tier loot on the Queen and Matriarch has moved from the leg armor to the legs themselves, and the Matriarch can use all of its ranged attacks again.
Elsewhere, Riven Tides gets roughly 15% more loot value, and Launcher Ammo and Energy Clips now have a daily purchase limit at traders.
New content and quality of life
- New items: Grappling Hook, Basic and Advanced Cameras, Tether Launcher, Yank Grenade, Mountaineer's Detector, plus a Banjo and Harmonica.
- Weapon Stencils: 14 cosmetic patterns, eight of them found Topside. Stenciled weapons can still be looted off you.
- 22 new quests, and quests now grant XP. Several older quests that asked for photos now require the new camera.
- Scrambling lets you sprint up steep slopes for a short time, and you can now open the map while downed.
- You can drop loot straight from containers, and backpack lights can be switched off for stealth.
- Twitch Drops run October 8 to November 4: watch 60 minutes for the Oxygen Respirator and 120 minutes for the Mailbox.
Bug fixes worth knowing
- Fixed weapons picked up from the ground appearing without their attachments.
- The Dolabra now destroys the yellow weak points inside the Harvester.
- Fixed the Hospital roof in Buried City not being climbable.
- Fixed party invites failing on Xbox and voice chat issues on PS5 and Xbox.
- Fixed a crash when changing graphics settings, and FSR has been upgraded to version 4.1.1.
The known issues list is long, with several Outpost bugs and a few Pendola Pass collision problems. Two to watch for: the Tether Launcher can't be repaired yet, and standing on the side of the Cargo drop can kill you instantly. Embark says fixes are in the works.
What it means for players
Frozen Trail resets a lot of habits. Anvil mains will need a new budget pistol (the Bantam is the obvious pick), Snap Hook users will have to be more deliberate, and anyone who farms big ARC with explosives should aim for armor rather than weak points. The Skill Tree changes mean it's worth respeccing and actually reading the new choices.
For newcomers arriving with the free weekend, the Reward Pass and Outpost give clear goals from the first raid. Just keep in mind that Solo vs. Squads is gone for now, so solo players can run into full teams until Embark decides what to do with that option.
Sources
This article was written by AI (Claude) and checked against the sources above. Games are updated regularly, so details may change.