One of the roughest parts of any extraction shooter is making money early on. With the free loadouts mechanic, **ARC Raiders** goes a long way toward solving that problem. If you’re ever low on cash or want a more stress-free way to play, grab a free loadout and go to town. Here’s how they work.
## How Free Loadouts Work in ARC Raiders
Free loadouts are a completely free set of random, relatively low-quality gear that you can use to get into a raid quickly and without spending a dime. You can use them as often as you like—there’s no cooldown or limited items holding you back from doing free run after free run. They are genuinely free.
The only “costs” to a free loadout are the time you spend playing and the fact that your gear will be lacking in firepower and survivability compared to any kit you’d put together yourself. Your weapon has no upgrades, you have limited ammo and meds, and a small backpack. You don’t even have a Safe Pocket to guarantee a piece of loot if you die.
How you play your free loadout is up to you, but you’ll need to pick your battles wisely, because you are almost always at a disadvantage.
## What Comes with a Free Loadout?
A free loadout will always include:
– A green shield
– A rank 1 gray weapon
– A single stack of ammo
– A small collection of meds and/or grenades
The augment you get is also gray rarity, meaning it can only hold a few items before you’ll need to drop something to make space. You can’t alter your augment during a raid, so even if you manage to take down other Raiders, you’ll have to make tough decisions about what loot to keep and what to leave behind.
## What to Do with the Free Loadout Augment
Surviving with your free loadout offers more than just the loot you find. You can talk to Lance at the Clinic and trade in your free loadout augment for one of three green-rarity augments.
It’s not world-shattering, but it can give you a leg up on your next kitted raid, saving you crafting resources or Coin needed to buy a better augment. Essentially, you’ll be turning a free run into a cheap run, where you still have plenty of room to get better loot without having to spend as much upfront.
Alternatively, you can simply dismantle all the gear you came out with to prepare for a more advanced raid that’s a little less costly to put together.
## How Should You Play a Free Loadout?
There are two main playstyles when it comes to free loadouts: **loot goblin** or **PvP chaser**.
### Loot Goblin
The loot goblin playstyle acknowledges that you’re at a massive gear disadvantage against almost everything on the server and focuses on hoovering up as much loot as possible before extracting. This approach is slower and more methodical, as you watch and listen to PvP fights happening around you and steer clear of them.
You also need to be cautious of the ARC robots flying around the map—they can reveal your position and drain the few healing resources you have.
### PvP Chaser
The PvP chaser free loadout playstyle seeks out better-geared players, takes them by surprise, knocks them out, and steals their gear. Once you have a complete kit, you’ll need to decide whether to keep chasing other players or slow down to ensure you make it out with your new goodies.
Of the two styles, the PvP chaser is usually more exciting. However, when I’m on the back foot, I prefer being a loot goblin first, then spending the resources I get for free on a completed loadout I can trust.
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Now that you know how free loadouts work in ARC Raiders, how will you use yours? Whether you prefer cautious looting or aggressive PvP, free loadouts give you a risk-free way to jump into the action and start building your arsenal.
https://www.shacknews.com/article/146615/how-to-use-free-loadouts-in-arc-raiders
