Patch 1.13.0 introduces Solo vs Squads, a new long-term Trophy Display project, Bird City map changes, and sweeping quality-of-life improvements.
The main January content update for ARC Raiders has now been released. Patch 1.13.0 is much bigger than expected, even though it looked small on the original plan. Players were hoping for a new item in the store and a new map condition. Instead, the update brings many new gameplay features, balance changes, system improvements, and bug fixes that significantly change the experience.
The developers recently shared their content plan, which made January’s patch look pretty light compared to what’s coming later in the year. Now, the update has arrived. But when the full patch notes came out, it was clear this was a foundational change meant to improve both long-term progress and current gameplay.
In the story, the change makes the Rust Belt seem darker. Heavy sandstorms are hitting the surface, and birds have started gathering around Buried City’s chimneys for no clear reason. Maverick Raiders are also said to be hunting ARCs for fun, sometimes going up against whole teams by themselves. Several of the new game features added in Patch 1.13.0 are directly linked to this setting’s mood.
The new Solo vs. Squads mode is the most interesting feature. This mode lets solo raiders queue up against full teams, making it perfect for high-skilled players looking for an extra challenge. To get it, players have to hit level 40, which makes it even more of an endgame feature and less of a default matchmaking option.
If you choose to play Solo vs. Squads, you’ll get an extra 20% XP at the end of each round, whether you were able to escape or not. This bonus makes up for the fact that it’s harder to play against multiple opponents at once, and it also encourages skilled players to try out high-risk, high-reward strategies.
Solo vs. Squads raise the bar for experienced raiders.
Along with changes to how the game is played, ARC Raiders is also expanding its long-term progression features. The Trophy Display is a new multi-step project added in Patch 1.13.0 that pushes players to hunt groups of ARCs that are getting more dangerous. Raiders can slowly build a display case over five stages by sending in ARC parts. Each stage adds a new visual item.
Trophy Display milestones are completed to receive a variety of prizes, such as blueprints and raider tokens. When you finish the job all the way, you’ll get extra cosmetic rewards like a howl emote, a guitar, and a big payout of 300,000 coins. Notably, this project doesn’t have a set end date and won’t be affected by expedition resets. This makes it a real long-term goal for players who are committed to it.
With this update, there is also a new permanent map state for Buried City. Birds are now building nests in empty chimneys, and some people think they might be hiding shiny things inside. This makes players want to look around rooftops and other vertical areas more, which adds a new level of danger and reward to the map.
More bird traps and ziplines have been added to Buried City to support this rooftop-focused gaming. Players can expect more fights to happen above ground, where the ARC is more active, and players are more likely to be. The map state will come and go several times a week, but it will only be available in Buried City.
The update changes the maps and adds two new epic augments and seven new quests. These give players in the middle to late game new ways to build and more organized goals to work toward.
Add long-term depth with new projects and map conditions.
There are also a lot of quality-of-life changes in Patch 1.13.0 that are meant to make squad play easier and more versatile. People can now make their party “open,” which lets friends from their start list or platform network join without any problems. Squadmates don’t have to rely on the party leader to ask people to the party; they can also do it themselves.
Tracking achievements has been made better, fixing problems that stopped people from making progress on achievements like “Any Enemy of My Enemy” and “Hook, Line, and Sinker.” A lot of changes have also been made to how enemies act. ARC travel has been made better, the Leaper can move better after losing its legs, and when pinged, dead Shredders are now correctly marked as scavengeable.
Fixed bugs where Snitches would stop ARC calls in some situations, Spotters would get stuck inside buildings, and Ticks would not let players get rid of them after being grabbed for a short time. As a whole, these changes make fights feel fairer and more expected.
Another big focus was on audio changes. Voice lines that were missing for emotes in the store have been added back in, voice chat has stopped cutting out, and the connection stability of voice chat as a whole has improved. These changes are especially important for proximity chat, which is a big part of how players connect with each other in ARC Raiders.
Stability, sound, and enemy behavior all get a lot better.
Balance on the map and the spread of loot were tuned specifically in a number of places. It is now less likely that certain blueprints will appear during electromagnetic storms, in secret bunkers, or through locked gates. On the other hand, it is more likely that you will find higher-tier weapons in weapon cases. It’s now a little harder to get unique parts from Matriarch and Queen enemies without breaking all of their armor, which makes decisions in battle more important.
Many collision and interaction bugs were fixed across all maps. For example, containers that couldn’t be interacted with and timing problems with raider hatches were fixed. On Dam Battlegrounds, the shape of the cliffs and lift shafts was changed to keep players from getting stuck. Problems with collisions inside the Pattern House were also fixed.
There used to be an unseen wall under the highway in Buried City. It was taken down, along with the musical puzzle. The guitar that was once connected to that puzzle can now be bought at Shaunies. Spaceport got fixes for flying plants and changed where ARC spawn points are, so enemies don’t show up right on bunker antennas.
A lot of attention was also paid to Stella Montis. The bug with extracting seeds from the seed vault was fixed. Most of the lamps in the night raid were turned off to improve the lighting, and more than 40 places where players could get stuck were fixed. It was also fixed so that enemies wouldn’t spawn outside of their defined areas and could fight players through walls.
Maps get long-term bug fixes and changes to loot.
Patch 1.13.0 fixes a lot of crashes and makes the game more stable overall. It also adds new features, like mouse smoothing and a matchmaking wait to stop stream sniping. Aim help now works the same way at all frame rates, and input problems that happened at higher frame rates have been fixed.
Movement bugs were also fixed, such as problems with ladders and being unable to move for a short time when the network was down. UI changes add more ways to rebind gamepads, make it easier to see how much items are worth in your inventory, and fix issues with seeing expedition stash and reward items.
Utility changes include better organization of the stash when switching augments, better behavior of zipline anchors on moving platforms, and a fix that stopped players from being revived with full health when multiple defibrillators were used at the same time.
Lastly, the update shows work on a new system that will stop people from cheating. People who break the rules three times will be banned for three different lengths of time, starting with 30 days and ending with lifelong bans. The developers also talked about problems that have already been found, such as lost pop-ups for Solo vs. Squads and random display bugs that affect how things look.
Overall, ARC Raiders Patch 1.13.0 is a much bigger and more important change than was first thought. With important new tasks, long-term progression systems, and a long list of bug fixes, the January update makes a great base for the content coming out in February.
