ARC Raiders Kettle Amplification: X-Rounds vs Full-Auto and Anti-Shield

An amplified Kettle can go two ways. X-Rounds turns it into an explosive Light Ammo rifle for ARC plating, but it blocks both of the other nodes. Full-Auto and Anti-Shield can share one Kettle, which makes it a raider-shield breaker instead. Every node you apply is permanent, so pick the build before you spend a Kettle IV and an Amplification Module Mk. I at the Gunsmith.

The two Kettle V builds

X-Rounds conflicts with Full-Auto and Anti-Shield, and it also removes the magazine slot. Full-Auto and Anti-Shield only conflict with X-Rounds, so they stack. A Kettle starts at 8.5 damage per shot, 450 RPM and a 20-round magazine. Here is where each build takes it:

Full-Auto plus Anti-Shield is the only two-node Kettle. It fires 6.5-damage rounds at about 518 RPM, and each of those rounds does double damage to a raider's shield.

Taking a Kettle to Level 5

Your Gunsmith and Research Station both need to be at Level 4 before any weapon can reach Level 5. You can craft a Kettle I at Gunsmith 1 from 6 Metal Parts and 8 Rubber Parts, or buy one from Tian Wen for 2,520. Every upgrade after that also happens at Gunsmith 1:

1. Kettle I to II: 8 Metal Parts and 10 Plastic Parts, for 25% more bullet velocity and 13% faster reloads.
2. Kettle II to III: 10 Metal Parts and 1 Simple Gun Parts, for 50% more bullet velocity and 26% faster reloads.
3. Kettle III to IV: 3 Mechanical Components and 1 Simple Gun Parts, for 75% more bullet velocity and 40% faster reloads.

Starting from scratch, a Kettle IV costs 24 Metal Parts, 8 Rubber Parts, 10 Plastic Parts, 2 Simple Gun Parts and 3 Mechanical Components. The Kettle is Common, so the jump to Level 5 takes an Amplification Module Mk. I. You can find Mk. I modules in ARC Frigate cargo, or inside the Fallen Emperor on Pendola Pass once you open it with an Emperor Gateway Conduit. The module adds +70 Max Durability, which takes a Kettle IV from 130 to 200.

X-Rounds for ARC plating

X-Rounds adds 6.5 base damage, so each shot goes from 8.5 to 15. Damage against ARC armor plating rises by 400%. The node takes a lot in return:

• Fire rate drops 20%, from 450 to 360 RPM.
• Bullet velocity drops 30%.
• Vertical and horizontal recoil both rise 15%.
• The magazine loses 4 rounds, down to 16, and the mag slot is removed.

Even after the slower fire rate, X-Rounds puts out about 41% more damage per second than a plain Kettle, at 90 against 63.75. The Bettina and the Anvil can take X-Rounds too, with much milder numbers. On the Bettina it adds +3 damage and +25% against ARC armor, and on the Anvil it adds +5 damage and +33%. Only the Kettle gets the full 400%, and it does it on cheap Light Ammo.

To unlock X-Rounds, start Embedded Blast Engineering at the Research Station. The task asks you to deal 1,000 damage each to Fireflies, Hornets, Fireballs and Surveyors with Light Impact Grenades. Those grenades do 30 damage in a 2.5m radius, and you can craft them at Explosives Station 1 from 2 Plastic Parts and 3 Chemicals or buy them from Apollo for 810. Once the task is done, the research costs 5,000 Research Points and 5 Rocketeer Drivers, which drop from destroyed Rocketeers and their husks.

Applying the node costs 3 Fossilized Lightning. You can only find it at the epicenter of lightning strikes while the Electromagnetic Storm condition is up, so plan a storm-night Fossilized Lightning run before you queue the upgrade.

Full-Auto and Anti-Shield on one Kettle

Full-Auto is the cheaper node to unlock because it has no research step. All it asks for is 3 Pneumatic Actuators, an Epic part you scavenge from ARC and from the ARC Frigate. The trigger becomes fully automatic and fire rate rises 15%, to about 518 RPM. In return, the headshot multiplier drops from 2.5x to 2.0x, both recoil directions rise 30%, and maximum shot dispersion rises 30%.

Anti-Shield shifts the Kettle's damage onto raider shields. Each shot loses 2 base damage, down to 6.5, but deals 100% more damage to a raider's shield. Its research, Shield Stress Testing, asks you to deal 700 damage to raiders you encounter. After that, the research costs 5,000 Research Points and 2 Matriarch Reactors, the Legendary part you scavenge from a destroyed Matriarch.

The node itself costs 3 Assessor Matrix. You can only get them from the ARC Assessor, an event machine that comes down from orbit during the Close Scrutiny ARC Operation. Breaching an Assessor also calls down a squadron of ARC around it, so expect a fight for every Matrix. Each node is paid in Epic ARC Raiders Items, and the two-node build needs three Pneumatic Actuators and three Assessor Matrix on top of the Mk. I module.

Research Points for both projects

Embedded Blast Engineering and Shield Stress Testing each cost 5,000 Research Points. A finished research keeps its node available for good, so completing both lets you build an X-Rounds Kettle and a Full-Auto plus Anti-Shield Kettle side by side. That puts 10,000 points on the bill. Studying a Frigate Diagnostic Node grants 1,000 points, and an ARC Data Module grants 200.

Magazine and attachments after amplification

An amplified Kettle keeps its muzzle, grip and stock slots on every build. The magazine slot is the difference. X-Rounds removes it, which leaves that Kettle at 16 rounds. A plain Level 5, Full-Auto or Anti-Shield Kettle still fits the Extended Light Mag line:

• Extended Light Mag I: +5 rounds, for 25. You can craft it at Gunsmith 1 from 6 Plastic Parts and 1 Steel Spring, and Tian Wen also sells it for 1,920, up to 5 per day.
• Extended Light Mag II: +10 rounds, for 30. It crafts at Gunsmith 2 from 2 Mechanical Components and 3 Steel Springs, and Tian Wen sells up to 3 per day for 6,000.
• Extended Light Mag III: +15 rounds, for 35. It crafts at Gunsmith 3 from 2 Mod Components and 5 Steel Springs.

You need the matching ARC Raiders BluePrints before Mag II or Mag III can be crafted. A 35-round Full-Auto Kettle empties its magazine in about 4 seconds at 518 RPM.

Repairs and losing an amplified Kettle

Once a Kettle hits Level 5, it repairs with Amplified Fragments instead of the 2 Mechanical Components and 2 Simple Gun Parts a Kettle IV uses. A plain amplified Kettle takes 7 fragments for 50% durability. X-Rounds raises that to 15, and Full-Auto or Anti-Shield raises it to 17. With both Full-Auto and Anti-Shield applied, the bill climbs higher again. Expedition repair buffs are percentage based, so they cut more off these bigger fragment bills than off a standard Kettle repair.

If you get knocked out, the amplified Kettle drops at 10% durability for whoever loots it. The 1.17.0 change that cut the Kettle's damage from 10 to 8.5 still applies at Level 5, which is why every node above starts from 8.5.

Take the X-Rounds Kettle into ARC-heavy raids, and save the Full-Auto plus Anti-Shield build for raids where you expect other squads.

The U4GM Team