If you’ve been lurking in the dark corners of Speranza, waiting for a reason to head back to the surface, Embark Studios just gave you a big one. ARC Raiders Trials Season 3 has officially kicked off, and it’s time to find out if you’re a Cantina Legend or just another pile of scrap waiting to happen.
Running from now until April 29, Season 3 is doubling down on the high-stakes extraction gameplay we love (and fear).
Here is everything you need to know about the new Trials, the ranking system, and the loot you’ll be chasing.
What Are the Trials?
Think of Trials as your weekly “to-do” list from the people of Speranza. These are rotating tasks that task you with everything from gathering medicinal plants to culling specific ARC units or salvaging pre-collapse data.
But here’s the kicker: It’s all or nothing.
Progress on these Trials must be made in a single raid. If you bite the dust, you don’t just lose your gear; you lose all the progress you made toward your Trial in that run.
You have to extract safely to make it count. It’s classic ARC Raiders tension—do you push for that last objective, or do you bank what you’ve got and get out alive?
You’re already nervous about dropping that blueprint you found, or that new weapon you looted. Now the added jeapordy of losing your progress means it’s fight or flight time. For me, it’s usually flight….or rather, leg it as soon as anything good happens.
Chasing the Three-Star Standard
The reward system for Trials is based on a point threshold within a single raid:
- 1,000 Points: 1 Star
- 2,500 Points: 2 Stars
- 4,000 Points: 3 Stars
The more stars you earn, the better the rewards. We’re talking blueprints, weapons, and gadgets.
If you want the top-tier gear to survive the cold, methodical advance of the ARC, you’re going to need to aim for those 3-star runs.
Climb the Leaderboards
Season 3 introduces a competitive edge to the grind. Each week, you’ll be grouped with a pool of 100 other Raiders. Your performance determines your standing:
- Promotion: High scorers move up to the next rank, carving their name into Raider legend.
- Demotion: Fail to contribute enough, and you’ll be kicked back down to the rank-and-file rookies.
Exclusive Season 3 Cosmetics
Let’s be honest, we’re all here for the drip. Embark has revealed that final seasonal rewards will be based on your rank when the season ends on April 29.
The headline reward is “The Torque”—an exclusive Trials Season 3 outfit.
- Rookie II: Unlocks the base Torque outfit.
- Daredevil & Hotshot: Pushing into these higher echelons will unlock alternative colourways and unique outfit variants to show off your veteran status.
This is another free cosmetic opportunity. Something that Embark haven’t been shy of since launch. Free decks (essentially battle passes) and other bits. Now chance to get more. This is how you keep a game alive.
Our Take
ARC Raiders continues to lean into that “one more run” mentality. The Trials system adds a much-needed layer of structured progression to the extraction loop, and the “all-or-nothing” progress rule ensures that every encounter with a drone or a rival Raider feels meaningful.
I haven’t run out of reasons to go for a run still, and Embark add more and more reasons to keep going, almost every week. ARC Raiders has such a fundamentally perfect core loop, each raid is worthwhile. Get those trials done for even more satisfaction or dismay.
Are you dropping into the surface this week? Are you rocking the Deadline or playing it safe with a Snap-hook? Let us know your loadout in the comments or over on the socials.
