The rumors circulating in Speranza turned out to be true. Patch 1.29.0 for ARC Raiders lands today, May 19, and it brings a new underground trader, a fresh grenade launcher, a round of weapon durability corrections, and the first rollout of Denuvo Anti-Cheat to the game.
Meet Ermal, the Nomadic Envoy
The headline addition is Ermal, a member of the Nomadic Envoy tribe who has set up camp in Speranza. Raiders who have hit Level 25 can barter high-value ARC materials and rare weapons with him in exchange for two things that will immediately catch your attention: expanded Stash space and access to the Expedition Vault, which lets you safely store up to 5 items for retrieval after an expedition.
The Stash expansion resets when you depart on an expedition, so it functions more like a temporary buffer than permanent storage. Embark is keeping the first week intentionally limited, offering a single Stash expansion and 5 vault spaces while the team gathers feedback and calibrates prices before opening up more room.
Beyond storage, Ermal's stock rotates weekly and includes cosmetics, blueprints, Raider Tokens, and progression items tied to active Raider projects. The key here is the rotation mechanic: if you miss a trade this week, it may cycle back in a future visit.
The Rascal joins the weapon pool
Tian Wen has been busy. The Rascal is a new compact grenade launcher designed as a sidearm-style anti-ARC option. Embark describes it as lightweight and easy to carry, positioned as the middle ground between going unarmed against armored threats and hauling around a full Hullcracker.
The trade-offs are real, though. The Rascal has a slower reload and less-than-precise aim, so it rewards players who know when to deploy it rather than those who want to spam explosives at every encounter. Think of it as a specialist tool rather than a primary workhorse.
Alongside the Rascal, the Extended Barrel mod received a meaningful upgrade. The bullet velocity bonus climbed from 25 to 30%, damage falloff distance increased by 15%, and the mod has been split into three tiers: Extended Barrel I, II, and III. Weapon mods can now also affect aim-down-sights transition speed for scoped weapons, which opens up some interesting tuning options. For a deeper look at how to build around the new additions, the best guns modifications and upgrades guide covers the modification system in detail.
The Rascal grenade launcher
Durability corrections and the Bettina buff
The durability changes from the previous patch drew significant player feedback, and Embark has acknowledged that certain weapons were breaking down too quickly. Patch 1.29.0 targets the worst offenders, increasing their lifetimes to bring them in line with the rest of the weapon pool.
The patch notes include a chart showing the adjusted values, and the studio confirmed it will continue monitoring durability pain points in the coming weeks.
On the balance side, the Bettina received a fire rate bump from 235 to 250. The Tactical Mk.3 (Healing) Augment now triggers a Cloud of Renewal as an AoE effect rather than a single-target one, healing output jumped from 20 to 45, and the cooldown extended from 30 seconds to 45 seconds. The Combat Mk.3 (Flanking) Augment now accepts Medium Shields.
Photoelectric Cloak got a significant quality-of-life improvement: power cost dropped from 10 per second to 5 per second, which effectively doubles how long you can stay cloaked before draining your reserves.
The free loadout Augment sell price has been adjusted from 100 to 660, which is worth knowing before you start clearing out your inventory.
ARC behavior and anti-cheat rollout
The patch also adjusts how ARC enemies behave. Vision through bushes and smoke is now more granular, meaning Raiders near the edge of cover are easier to spot while those deeper in foliage are harder to detect. Indoor sound sensitivity has been reduced, and the Firefly enemy's fire application now matches its visuals more closely, so briefly grazing the flame no longer feels as punishing.
The Queen and Matriarch will more consistently step over obstacles rather than clipping through them, reducing the unfair knockback situations that have frustrated players since launch.
On the security front, Denuvo Anti-Cheat is rolling out to ARC Raiders starting today, initially to a limited player pool. Embark confirmed it will not use Denuvo's DRM service and is working to keep performance impact minimal. The studio already deployed Denuvo Anti-Cheat in The Finals, so this is a tested rollout rather than a first experiment.
For everything that has changed in the game leading up to this point, the Flashpoint update rundown covers the major content additions from the previous major update and provides useful context for how the meta has been shifting.
