Frozen Trail, the update many players are already calling ARC Raiders 2.0, touches almost every corner of the game: a new frozen map in Pendola Pass, a reworked skill tree, three new ARC enemies, grappling hooks, and your own Outpost. Of all those additions, weapon amplification is the one that will change your loadout the most. It is a fifth level for your guns, sitting beyond tier IV, and it does not add flat stats. Instead, each weapon gets its own upgrade tree, and the choices you commit to change how the gun actually works. A full-auto Burletta. A scoped Renegade. A 64-round Rattler.

This guide covers what amplification is, every step needed to get an amplified weapon, where the parts come from, every known upgrade across the 15 weapons, and which paths early testers rated the highest. Let's start with the basics of the system itself.

How Weapon Amplification Works in ARC Raiders?

An amplified weapon is technically a gun's fifth level. You can only reach it after your Outpost is built and both the Gunsmith and the new Research Station are at level 4. To amplify a weapon, you socket an Amplification Module onto it, which opens that weapon's amplified skill tree.

Branching pathways, not stat bumps

Every amplifiable weapon has its own tree with one to three pathways. You can keep progressing down a pathway, but some upgrades are exclusive. In the game's words, these "block out an alternative amplification chain." Pick Burst Fire on the Burletta, for example, and the Full Auto and Sprint Shooting chains close off with red Xs.

Permanent changes

Nothing can be reverted. The game warns you before you commit: ascension integrates the module's ARC internals straight into the frame and "cannot be reverted." The weapon even gets a new model to match, so an amplified Rattler looks different from a standard one.

Attachments still fit, with a few slot changes

Most amplified weapons still accept attachments, which matters a lot for offsetting the recoil and dispersion penalties some paths carry. A couple of slots do shift:

• The amplified Renegade takes a barrel and stock but loses its magazine slot.

• The amplified Rattler keeps its stock, grip, and barrel.

• The amplified Anvil lost its Tech Mod slot, since the Anvil Splitter is now an amplification instead of a mod.

Amplified Durability also appears as an amplification on every amplified gun seen so far, raising max durability from 130 to 200.

Now that the concept is clear, the real work begins: the system sits behind a long chain of Outpost progression, so here is the full path from zero to your first amplified gun.

List of Amplified Weapons & Amplifications To Upgrade

There are the fifteen weapons that can be amplified at launch. The list below combines in-game tooltips, datamined descriptions, and preview footage. Where exact numbers exist, they're included.

Now for the gear itself. The list below combines preview footage, in-game tooltips and a community list taken from the game files. It covers all 15 weapons.

What Each Amplification Does

Ammo and damage

• X-Rounds: Explosive bullets that do slightly more damage to Raiders and much more to ARC armor.

• Incendiary Rounds: +5 burn damage per second, and +2 seconds on an existing burn.

• Anti-Shield: Breaks shields faster.

• Anti-Weak Point: More damage to ARC weak points, less to ARC armor.

• Ramping Damage: Damage builds while the beam stays on a target.

• Slug Rounds: Fires one large, high-damage projectile instead of buckshot.

• Tracker Rounds: Shows the position of targets you hit for 5 seconds.

• Anvil Splitter: Each bullet splits into 4 weaker projectiles. This replaces the old Splitter mod.

Fire mode

• Burst Fire / Increased Burst: Fires in bursts, and Increased Burst adds more projectiles per burst.

• Full-Auto: Fully automatic, but less accurate and less stable.

• Semi-Auto: Converts the weapon to semi-automatic fire.

• Charged Burst: Hold to charge. The longer you charge, the more projectiles you fire on release.

Handling and utility

• More Reload: Loads more rounds per reload step.

• Mag Reload: Reloads the full magazine instead of one shell at a time.

• Bigger Mag / Drum Mag: Bigger magazines. Drum Mag is much larger but still reloads a few rounds at a time.

• Carbine Conversion: More stable and accurate, but less agile.

• High Velocity: Faster projectiles.

• Scoped: Adds a sniper scope.

• Straight Bolt: Lets you cycle the bolt without leaving the scope.

• Sprint Shooting: Lets you fire while sprinting.

Weapons That Can't Be Amplified

• Bobcat, Tempest and Vulcano have no amplification tree.

• The new Stiletto and Bantam can't be amplified at launch.

• Players hoping for a Torrente or Ferro version will have to wait.

Detailed Look at Some Amplified Weapons Upgrade Path

Four amplified guns got real playtime during the preview sessions. Here's how each one played.

Amplified Rattler

Pathway 1:

• More Reload: +2 bullets per reload step, which fixes the small magazine issue.

• Drum Mag: +40 magazine size, for 64 rounds of medium ammo. The cost is +50% recoil, +30% shot dispersion and 10% slower ADS.

Pathway 2:

• Incendiary Rounds: Burn damage while keeping the 24-round magazine. It's exclusive.

How it played:

• Testers expected a slow drum reload. Loading four bullets at a time "actually ain't that bad at all."

• Players expect it to become a "laser beam" with a Kinetic Converter and the right attachments.

• One preview team called the incendiary version one of the strongest weapons they used.

Amplified Renegade

Pathway 1:

• More Reload: +1 round per reload step.

Pathway 2:

• Scoped: Adds a sniper scope, which turns it into a mid-to-long-range threat.

How it played:

• Players called it "kind of addictive" on Pendola Pass.

• It clears flying ARC from rooftops before they get close.

• It's weak inside about 30 m, and one tester felt the hip fire was off.

• Remember that the Scoped version gives up the extended magazine slot.

Amplified Hairpin

Pathway 1:

• Incendiary Rounds: Taking this blocks every other option.

Pathway 2:

• Semi-Automatic: +150% fire rate, −20% headshot multiplier, +40% per-shot dispersion.

• Sprint Shooting: Fire while sprinting.

Pathway 3:

• Tracker Rounds: Targets you hit are revealed for 5 seconds.

How it played:

• A team running semi-auto Hairpins with sprint shooting was a real danger at close range.

• It's very strong in skilled hands and will produce plenty of highlight-reel clips.

Amplified Burletta

Pathway 1:

• Burst Fire: +2 projectiles per burst.

• Increased Burst: Another +2 projectiles and +3 magazine.

Pathway 2:

• Full Auto: Higher fire rate, but lower damage, a lower headshot multiplier, and heavier recoil and dispersion. Reports put the headshot penalty somewhere between 40% and 60%.

Pathway 3:

• Sprint Shooting.

How it played:

• Preview players had the most fun with this one. It "felt like a totally different weapon."

• It's chaotic, though. It took nearly a full magazine to drop a player wearing a blue-tier shield.

• Some players argue Burst Fire is the smarter choice, because Full Auto puts out less DPS than a Bobcat and has fewer attachment slots.

Best Amplified Weapons to Build First

With all the options laid out, these are the picks we are most excited about. These impressions come from content creators who used pre-built amplified guns in the early-access sessions, before anyone could tune attachments or tree choices. Treat them as a starting point rather than a tier list.

Rattler: Drum Mag

The Rattler's fatal flaw was always its tiny magazine. Drum Mag fixes that outright with 64 rounds of medium ammo, and because More Reload comes first, it loads four rounds at a time, so the long reload people feared "actually ain't that bad at all."

• Testers expect it to be "an absolute laser beam" with a Kinetic Converter and the right stock, grip, and barrel.

• The trade-off is real: more recoil, more dispersion, slower ADS.

• The Incendiary Rounds path keeps 24 rounds but hit noticeably harder against ARC, and one preview crew called it "probably one of the most powerful weapons we used in the update."

Renegade: Scoped

If there is a consensus favorite for range, it's this one.

• Flying ARC can be cleared from rooftops before they get anywhere near you. "You can just sit up on top of a building, take out as much flying ARC as you can."

• In PvP it shines in long-range poke fights on Pendola Pass, and spaceport rooftop campers just got a very large upgrade.

• Weaknesses: not great inside about 30 meters, hip fire felt off to one tester, and it loses the extended magazine slot. Some players also warn that scopes in a third-person shooter cost you peek-shot efficiency against someone sitting in cover with an Anvil or Ferro.

Burletta: Burst Fire vs. Full Auto

The Burletta was "easily our favorite weapon of the playtest" for how much it changed, but the two pathways deserve different verdicts.

• Full Auto is chaotic fun, yet it took nearly a full magazine to drop a player in blue-tier shields. Reduced damage, a heavy headshot penalty, and only barrel and magazine slots mean you have to fire in short bursts unless you're point-blank. Several players argue it ends up with less DPS than a Bobcat.

• Burst Fire has essentially no downside: a 3-round burst, then a 5-round burst with +3 magazine via Increased Burst. For most Raiders, this is the stronger pick.

• Pair either with a muzzle brake if the slot allows.

Hairpin: Semi-Automatic + Sprint Shooting

For the Hairpin Bandits of the world, this is the dream. One preview team ran into a full squad with amplified Hairpins and found them a real threat at close to medium range.

• Semi-Auto removes the slide rack between shots at the cost of some headshot damage and spread.

• Sprint Shooting turns it into a run-and-gun pistol, and it "goes pretty crazy in the game."

• Tracker Rounds is the support alternative, revealing targets for 5 seconds after a hit.

• It remains a weapon that rewards skilled hands and will produce plenty of clips.

Ones to watch

• Anvil with X Rounds could be a long-range mini-Hullcracker against ARC.

• Bettina with X Rounds has players expecting a PvE monster.

• Il Toro with Slug Rounds brings back pre-nerf feel for shotgun fans.

• Kettle Full-Auto already looks strong in early footage.

Two new weapons arrived with the update as well, and many players have asked how they fit into this system.

How to Get an Amplified Weapon?

The in-game explainer sums it up as "unlock the Outpost and upgrade your Gunsmith and Research Stations to Level 4," but there is quite a bit hiding inside that sentence. Here is the complete route.

Quick overview

1. Build the Outpost (a three-stage project).

2. Expand the Outpost to level 4.

3. Build the Research Station and upgrade the Gunsmith to level IV (needs an Emperor Modulator).

4. Get the weapon to tier IV.

5. Amplify it at the Gunsmith with an Amplification Module matching the weapon's rarity.

6. Research and purchase upgrade nodes in the tree.

Let's take each of these in turn.

Step 1: Build the Outpost

The Outpost is an expansion of the Raider Den, a tower in the mountains that becomes your topside home. It is handled as a project in the Outpost tab of the main menu. Accept it before your next raid and bring a camera: Shani sells one, you can craft one at the Workbench, or you can find one in raid.

Stage 1: Research Topside Living Conditions

• Travel to the Ruined Homestead in the south of Blue Gate, between the Olive Grove and the Ancient Fort.

• Photograph any farmland house there. You don't need to be close; zooming in from the edge of the area works.

Stage 2: Gather Building Materials

• Hand in 3 Planks, 5 Sheet Metal, 10 ARC Alloy, and 3 Advanced Electrical Components.

• Celeste sells Planks and Sheet Metal for 3 Assorted Seeds each, which is faster than looting them.

• Your Seeds come from Scrappy, who caps at 50 until you claim them. Talk to Scrappy every few raids or you'll waste Seeds at the cap.

Stage 3: Safeguard the Building Site

• Deal damage to flying ARC (around 800 total) and deal damage to a Bully (around 300).

• Flying ARC are easy anywhere. The Bully is the elephant-sized new enemy on Pendola Pass with a shotgun-style blast and cluster missiles, so bring a squad.

Complete all three and a short cutscene plays. Your Workshop stations move into the Outpost's base room, and you can furnish it with trinkets and furniture you collect.

Step 2: Expand the Outpost to Level 4

Each room you add counts as a level. With only the main room you're at level 1, and you need level 4 before the Gunsmith and Research Station can be upgraded to IV. One streamer learned this the hard way: he had every material for the Gunsmith upgrade but couldn't apply it because his Outpost was still at level 3.

A few notes on this stage:

• Each expansion adds a room of your choice (Panoramic, Timeless, Chalet, Studious, and others). Switch the camera to pick where it attaches. Once installed, a room cannot be moved or swapped.

• Steel Cable, Epoxy Buckets, Hand Drills, Laser Levels, and Insulation Rolls have been found lying loose at the Freight Terminal (the Railyard) on Pendola Pass, particularly inside the passenger train cars, and on the Commissary Supermarket shelves. Check the outlined high-value loot zones on the map at the start of each raid.

Step 3: Research Station and Gunsmith IV

The Research Station is new and lives in the Outpost. Level I costs 35 Planks, 5 Battered Paperbacks, and 3 Mini Pumps; the latter two show up quickly in Raider-style containers at the Observatory, the Railyard, and the Commissary Supermarket on Pendola Pass.

The station has three tabs:

• Blueprint Crafting

• Design Crafting

• Amplified Research, which requires the station at level 4

Each Outpost expansion opens the next station level. Meanwhile, the Gunsmith goes from III to IV with:

• 3 Radial Press

• 3 Magnetic Accelerators

• 1 Emperor Modulator

The Emperor Modulator is a legendary topside material that drops only inside the Fallen Emperor. Without one, Gunsmith IV is out of reach, which brings us to the Emperor itself.

Getting inside the Fallen Emperor

The Emperor's interior sits behind the Emperor Gateway Conduit, a key that must be crafted rather than found. The route runs through the Redirection map condition on Pendola Pass:

1. Look for active Emperor relays firing red lasers into the sky.

2. Loot an Emperor Beacon from inside a relay.

3. Place the beacon in the open to redirect an incoming Harvester payload. Debris rains down, smaller pieces with loot crash around you, and finally the main Emperor Payload lands.

4. Inside the Emperor Payloads you'll find the three different couplers needed for the key, the blueprint to craft it, plus epic amplification materials.

5. Craft the Emperor Gateway Conduit at your workbench, enter the Emperor, deal with the Hydra at the entrance, and work through the puzzles for Emperor Modulators and Amplification Modules.

That red laser is not subtle, so expect company. Redirection is likely to become one of the most contested PvP spots in the game.

Step 4: Max the weapon to tier IV

Amplifying raises durability from the tier IV value of 130 to 200, so the gun must already be at tier IV. Lower-quality weapons won't show the Amplify option.

Step 5: Amplify at the Gunsmith

In the Gunsmith's Weapon Upgrades tab, select the gun and press Amplify. The cost is one Amplification Module of the weapon's rarity:

• Mk. I for common weapons (Rattler)

• Mk. II for uncommon weapons

• Mk. III for rare weapons (Osprey, and the Anvil, which is now rare)

• Mk. IV for epic weapons (Hullcracker)

• Mk. V for legendary weapons

Amplifying also repairs the gun. At this point you own an amplified weapon with 200 durability and a new model, but it still shoots exactly like the tier IV version.

Step 6: Research and buy upgrades

Right-click the weapon to open its tree. Some nodes only need materials, such as the Bettina's Bigger Mag, which one streamer applied immediately with items from the Frigate and Emperor. Others show a grey box and a "Go to station" prompt, meaning they need Amplified Research at a level 4 Research Station first.

With the route mapped out, the next section covers the resources that gate every step.

What You Need For Weapon Amplification

Amplification Modules

The module is the gate. Per the developers, it drops only from the Frigate and from inside the fallen Emperor on Pendola Pass. Key facts:

• Modules come in Mk. I to Mk. V, one per weapon rarity. The Mk. I tooltip reads "unlocks common weapon Amplification," and the Mk. V covers legendary weapons.

• All Marks drop at the same rate, so a Mk. V is not rarer than a Mk. I.

• Each weighs 0.5 and sells for 7,000.

• One was found in a Breach & Search port on the Frigate's hull during a Dam Battlegrounds raid.

• Move a module to your safe pocket as soon as you loot it. One tester's module survived a knockout on the Frigate's deck because of this.

The Emperor's interior sits behind the Emperor Gateway Conduit, which is built from three couplers found in Emperor Payloads.

Rare materials: Pneumatic Actuator and Pressure Regulator

Two epic Topside materials say "Used to craft amplified weapons" right in their tooltips. Both stack to 3 and weigh 0.5. Early players found them in Emperor Payloads, the containers that crash down when you redirect a Harvester payload during the Redirection map condition on Pendola Pass.

To trigger Redirection: look for the red lasers firing into the sky from active Emperor relays, grab an Emperor Beacon from inside one, carry it into the open, and place it. Debris rains down, smaller pieces with loot crash nearby, and finally the main payload lands carrying ARC materials and higher-end items. The laser is anything but subtle, so expect company.

Research points and research objectives

Embark's Frozen Trail first look showed the research screen for a Kettle upgrade called "Concussive Impact Engineering." It needed 5,000 research points and Rocketeer Drivers, plus a research objective, "Deal 100 Damage with…", tracked at 0/100. Even with the resources in hand, a red bar read "Research objective not complete." In other words, you have to actually use the gun before its research opens up.

Research points come from studying research items at the Research Station:

• Frigate Diagnostic Node (legendary, "found in the trail of ARC Frigates"): 1,000 points

• ARC Data Module (epic, found in a range of ARC machines): 200 points

• Battered Paperback, Raider Logbook, Exodus Technical Handbook (common): smaller amounts

The same points also buy blueprints and furniture designs, so the Frigate feeds amplification twice: modules and research points.

Farming loop in one line: run Redirection on Pendola Pass for Emperor Payloads (Actuators, Regulators, and couplers), use the couplers to open the Emperor for modules and Modulators, and board the Frigate for modules and Diagnostic Nodes.

With the inputs sorted, one more practical matter deserves attention before the upgrade list: how these guns hold up in the field and why you cannot simply pick them off dead Raiders.

What About the New Weapons: Stiletto and Bantam?

Neither new weapon can be amplified at launch. Both are uncommon and aimed at the early game:

• Stiletto: a semi-automatic, light-ammo battle rifle with high accuracy, good handling, and low initial recoil that grows into heavy bloom under rapid fire. It takes a barrel, underbarrel, and stock, holds 10 rounds, and feels best around 20 to 30 m. Think of it as a step between the Kettle and the Renegade, built for overwatch on open Pendola Pass ground rather than close-quarters rushes.

• Bantam: a short-barrel revolver firing heavy ammo from an 8-round cylinder with strong ARC armor penetration and a double-action fire mode. No attachment slots, poor accuracy and range, but fired from the hip inside 10 m it can chew through all three shield types in a single cylinder if every shot lands. It sits somewhere between the Anvil and the Il Toro, and its use cases are narrow.

Durability: Why Looted Amplified Guns Are Not a Shortcut

Amplified weapons are expensive to build, and Embark has clearly designed the durability system to stop players from skipping the grind by looting them.

The numbers

• Amplified weapons have 200 max durability, against 130 for a normal tier IV gun.

• They still burn through it quickly. One early-access raid of PvP and ARC fights cost over 30 durability.

• Looted amplified weapons arrive at 10 to 11 durability, every time. As one Redditor put it, "That rat will have a 10 durability weapon until they do the entire grind." You get roughly one fight out of someone else's gun.

How to repair them

• Amplified Fragments repair amplified weapons, per the launch patch notes.

• You obtain Fragments by recycling an amplified weapon, an old Anvil Splitter mod, or a spare Amplification Module (7 Fragments).

• The Field Repair skill restores up to 30% durability during a raid, which is the cheapest insurance for an amplified gun. Known launch issue: the skill may show as unavailable after you take it, and restarting the game fixes it.

With the economics covered, it's time for the part most Raiders actually care about: what every weapon can become.

Is Weapon Amplification Worth It?

The system has a clear cost, and both sides have a point:

The case against

• Reaching a single amplified weapon takes the Outpost, three expansions, Gunsmith IV, an Emperor key, a module, 5,000 research points, and a stack of rare ARC parts.

• You can lose it in one bad raid, and looters only get a 10-durability husk.

• Some amplifications, Full Auto Burletta in particular, look weaker than existing guns.

• Starting over after each wipe is a real concern.

The case for

• "It's the end game content that everyone has been demanding. It's not supposed to be easy."

• The system is aimed at players flush with resources who need something to spend them on.

• The buffs on some weapons are strong enough that they should be expensive and rare.

• Nobody has to grind on day one. Build up a budget of fun-money first, then invest.

Our take: if you're a few hundred hours in with a full stash, amplification gives you a reason to board the Frigate and enter the Emperor. If you're newer, the Stiletto and a tier IV Renegade will serve you fine while you work toward the Outpost at your own pace. 

Amplified Weapons FAQ

How do you get an amplified weapon?
Build the Outpost, expand it to level 4, upgrade the Gunsmith to IV with an Emperor Modulator from inside the Fallen Emperor, bring the weapon to tier IV, then amplify it in the Gunsmith's Weapon Upgrades tab with an Amplification Module of the matching rarity. Finally, research and buy nodes in its tree.

Where do Amplification Modules drop?
Only from the Frigate and inside the Fallen Emperor on Pendola Pass. Mk. I through Mk. V match weapon rarity and share the same drop rate.

How do I get into the Fallen Emperor?
Craft the Emperor Gateway Conduit from three couplers found in Emperor Payloads during the Redirection event. The blueprint drops from the same payloads.

Can I loot amplified weapons from other players?
Yes, but they drop at about 10 of 200 durability. Good for one fight, not for a loadout.

How do I repair amplified weapons?
With Amplified Fragments from recycling amplified weapons, old Anvil Splitter mods, or spare modules. Field Repair also restores up to 30% during a raid.

Can I undo an amplification?
No. Every node is permanent, and exclusive nodes close off competing chains.

Which weapons can be amplified?
Fifteen at launch: Anvil, Aphelion, Bettina, Burletta, Canto, Equalizer, Hairpin, Hullcracker, Il Toro, Jupiter, Kettle, Osprey, Rascal, Rattler, and Renegade. Not the Stiletto, Bantam, Bobcat, Tempest, Volcano, or Torrente.

Do attachments still work on amplified weapons?
Yes, though some slots change. The Scoped Renegade loses its magazine slot, and the Anvil loses its Tech Mod slot.

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