ARC Raiders has exploded onto the scene as the ultimate PvPvE extraction shooter, blending tense raids against alien ARC horrors with brutal player showdowns. Dropping into maps like Stella Montis or Speranza, you're scavenging for blueprints, mods, and loot while dodging both Raptors and rival Raiders. The economy revolves around crafting loadouts at your workshop—coins spent on weapons, armor, and attachments that can make or break a run. Right now, SMGs dominate close-quarters chaos, and two stand out: the humble Stitcher and the flashy Bobcat.
I've sunk hundreds of hours into this game since launch, testing every purple and gold-tier toy. The big question everyone's asking: does shelling out triple the coins for a maxed Bobcat pay off against a dirt-cheap Stitcher setup? Spoiler: it's closer than you think, and the budget option punches way above its weight.
The Stitcher IV is your workhorse SMG—common rarity, level 4 upgrade, and a steal at around 28,000 coins to craft fully kitted. Why so cheap? Abundant mats like metal and rubber parts drop everywhere, and blueprints are a joke to snag from early crates or vendor trades.
Here's the no-nonsense build I've run to wipe lobbies:
| Attachment Slot | Recommendation | Cost (Approx.) | Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barrel | Compensator Mk2 | 4K | Tames horizontal spray for 30m hipfire lasers |
| Grip | Angled Grip Mk2 | 5K | Cuts side-to-side recoil—crucial for strafing fights |
| Magazine | Extended Light Mag Mk2 | 6K | +10 rounds (20->30), ends mag droughts mid-spray |
| Stock | Padded Stock Mk1 | 3K | Faster ADS, stability for peeks |
| Mod (Optional) | Kinetic Converter (if looted) | 10K | 15% fire rate bump—feels snappier |
Total: ~28K coins. Pair it with a Ferro shotgun secondary (3-shot shield breaker) for 10K more, medium armor, and a shield gen. You're raid-ready without breaking the bank.
In PvE, the Stitcher shreds ARC packs—7 damage per bullet chews through unshielded mobs in seconds. Reload during zips, hipfire hordes.
PvP? This thing's a monster. I dropped into Stella Montis with this exact kit: third-partied a duo spraying Venators, one-clipped a heavy-shielded foe peeking containers, looted defibs to self-rev, and outlasted the lobby for 11 minutes straight. TTK on a light-shield Raider? Under 1.5 seconds with head taps. Recoil's predictable—drag down vertically, and it lasers. Lost only when my shield glitched to 1% dur.
Pros: Forgiving, spammable, recraftable in minutes. Cons: Mag runs dry in prolonged 1v2s without perfect aim.
Bobcat IV is the purple-tier SMG flex—epic blueprint grind, rarer mats, and a full whale kit hitting 105K coins. It's got that 6-damage-per-bullet edge with blistering fire rate, but demands investment.
Sweaty endgame setup:
| Attachment Slot | Recommendation | Cost (Approx.) | Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barrel | Compensator Mk3 | 15K | Pinpoint dispersion out to 40m |
| Grip | Vertical Grip Mk3 | 20K | 40% vertical recoil cut—feels like cheating |
| Magazine | Extended Light Mag Mk3 | 25K | +15 rounds (35 total)—never reload in duels |
| Stock | Lightweight Stock Mk3 | 15K | Strafe speed boost for flanks |
| Armor/Shield | Heavy Plate + Overshield Gen | 30K | Tanks full mags |
Total: ~105K. Secondary: Volcano for one-shots. This is your "I'm rich" loadout.
PvE melts—faster spray clears nests quicker than Stitcher. PvP shines in 1v1s: I felt invincible, absorbing Rattler bursts while deleting foes. TTK dips to 1.2 seconds, recoil butter-smooth. But crafting? Hours of farming epics. In tests, it won more raw fights but died to bad luck spawns just like the cheap kit.
Pros: Tankier, deadlier sprays. Cons: Insurance nightmare—if lost, you're grinding weeks.
| Scenario | Stitcher TTK | Bobcat TTK | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hipfire Body | 1.8s | 1.5s | Bobcat |
| ADS Headshots | 1.2s | 1.0s | Bobcat |
| 30m Spray | 2.1s | 1.7s | Bobcat |
Stitcher's 7 dmg/shot closes the gap—base DPS nearly matches without mag hunger.
Stitcher: Climbs right then up—easy 20-round bursts. Bobcat: Tighter with Mk3s, but base is snappier horizontally. Both hipfire gods.
Tired of blueprint hunts? U4GM.com has instant ARC Raiders items: Bobcat IV blueprints for $40, modded Venators, Tempest bundles. Delivery in minutes—buy, suicide to safe, profit. I've grabbed epic blueprints there to test whales without the slog. Safe, cheap, no bans. Load up your Stitcher or Bobcat today.
The $105K Bobcat feels godlike—20% more wins in fair fights—but the $28K Stitcher carries 90% of lobbies on skill alone. Commons are overtuned; purples need buffs. Run Stitcher to farm coins, splurge on Bobcat once stacked. In ARC Raiders, value > vanity. Drop in, loot up, extract rich.