Arc Raiders Headwinds Update — Solo vs Squads, Bird City, and the Trophy Project

Patch 1.13.0 landed on January 27, 2026, kicking off the Escalation roadmap with the Headwinds update. Here's what changed.

Solo vs Squads Mode

This is the one everyone's been asking for. Players level 40 and above can now toggle Solo vs Squads matchmaking, dropping into the Squads queue alone to take on full teams.

It's a high-risk, high-reward mode — solo Raiders earn a +20% bonus XP at the end of every round, whether they extract or get taken out. The level gate ensures you have enough game knowledge and gear to compete, but make no mistake: going solo against coordinated squads is brutal.

Bird City on Buried City

A new permanent map condition exclusive to Buried City. Flocks of birds have nested in the empty chimneys across the map, stashing "shiny trinkets" in their nests.

What this means gameplay-wise:

• Bird traps scattered across rooftops with loot
• Additional ziplines connecting elevated areas
• More combat around rooftops — expect vertical fights
• More flying ARC patrolling the skyline
• Higher player density in rooftop areas

The condition cycles in and out of rotation weekly, so it won't always be active. When it is, Buried City feels like a completely different map.

Trophy Display Project

A new long-term project that gives you a reason to hunt specific ARC machines. You're building a Display Case across five steps, each requiring increasingly dangerous group hunts.

The full reward track includes:

• Exclusive blueprints
• Raider Tokens
• The Howl emote
• A guitar (previously locked behind a musical puzzle, which has been removed)
• 300,000 Coins for full completion

This is Arc Raiders leaning into its PvE side, and it's a welcome addition for players who prefer fighting machines over other Raiders.

Loot Changes

• Higher-tier weapons now drop more frequently from weapon cases
• Condition-specific blueprints spawn in fewer container types during Storms and Bunkers

The loot changes make high-tier gear more accessible without flooding the economy. Smart balancing from Embark.

The State of Arc Raiders in 2026

The numbers tell the story: 3.5 million concurrent players across all platforms, roughly 6 million weekly active users, and an estimated 14 million copies sold by mid-February. Arc Raiders also won Online Game of the Year at the 29th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards on February 12.

The Escalation roadmap runs through April, with Shrouded Sky, Flashpoint, and Riven Tides still to come. If Embark keeps delivering updates at this quality, 2026 is going to be a massive year for Arc Raiders.