The latest North Line update has made runs on Stella Montis way tougher, and if you have not changed the way you play, you are gonna get chewed up fast. You will notice good players barely spend time bleeding out now – they use the quick-burst heal trick that keeps them alive even in heavy fire. Hit a Vita Shot for a fast 50 HP boost, then drop a Bandage straight after. The instant heal and slow regen stack, which means you go from almost dead to ready for another fight in seconds. Shields gone? Same idea – throw in a Surge Recharger, then slot a regular shield over it. It is a panic reset that works every time. Keep these on your quick slots, because being able to patch up on the move is everything. You can even knock out endless Sterilized Bandages at a Med Station II without burning through valuable mats, which helps keep your ARC Raiders Coins focused on bigger upgrades.
Mobility is right up there with healing. A Sprint Roll covers almost twice what a normal roll does, and it is perfect when someone’s in your face with a shotgun. Running dry on stamina but need to vault? Pop a stim just as you climb to keep that speed going. There’s also a neat crouch-back-jump-mantle move that gets you onto high shelves in Outposts – ideal for grabbing loot nobody else can reach or setting up ambush spots. If you want to feel bulletproof, run a Heavy Shield with the ‘Use of Weight’ perk. You get over 50% damage reduction without slowing down. Mix that with the crouch-walk revive to pull mates out of danger or even hit the extraction lever while you are downed – clutch plays do not get better than that.
When you are actually trading fire, you need to be smart about targets. ARCs have weak points, so hit those first to make fights shorter and get more parts for crafting. A Showstopper EMP to the rocket unit’s front will wreck its turbines quick, leaving it wide open. In PvP, Jolt Mines are king for stopping hyper-aggressive rushers. You can plant them on ziplines, elevator entrances – anywhere you expect trouble. Throwables are great for scrambling enemy positions, and a Noisemaker near an extraction will give you just enough warning to be ready. If you don’t mind playing dirty, even a fake friendly emote can pull someone close enough for you to drop them and take everything they had.
Loot is what keeps the grind worth it, so know your routes. First stop – locked rooms, always. They guarantee high-value drops. And don’t hide in bad weather; lightning storms make commercial zones absolute goldmines for blueprints. Assembly Silos? Full of hidden crates and grenades. Residential blocks are packed with trinkets and sellable keys. Keep crafting bandages and stims while you move so you can keep running raids without stopping. Track your workshop materials and let markers guide you right to what you need. Hit ARC Probes and Field Depots, and they will flag hidden locations with valuable gear. That’s how you turn an average haul into something special – and if you are serious about pushing your build faster, you might just want to buy ARC Raiders Coins to speed things along.