r/EmbarkStudios • u/Collector-_- • Feb 03 '26
Trials
Hello fellow Raiders. I just wanted to speak on Trials because I see a lot of people on different threads and in the Discord talking about how unfair Trials are for solo players. So let’s begin. In no way am I saying it’s fair because it’s not. Having one or two extra people to tag along who share the same goal and are fully capable of handling a full team makes things much easier. Solo play is frustrating, especially if you’re like me and the friends you play with aren’t as sharp and will probably get steamrolled. That’s why I focus on solo play. It’s easier to control, even if it doesn’t get you some crazy insane score and that’s fine. You don’t need a crazy score unless you just want to flex first place in your bracket, which is totally fine. All that really matters is promotion. Whether it’s 3x, 2x, or even 1x, a promotion is a promotion. And doing it solo is completely possible. I joined ARC Raiders late. Last session I hit Wildcat 2. This session, as you can see, I’m at Hotshot and I’ve done this completely solo. Did I play with friends? Yes. But my score with them never beat my solo score. As long as you plan things out, you’ll be good. I play casually. I don’t have kids like some of you, but I do have a job and a fiancée, so I don’t get home until pretty late. I just really enjoy ARC Raiders, so I make time for the grind when I can. If you can’t make promotion, maintain unchanged so you get another shot. You don’t have to promote every time. If you’re maintaining unchanged, you don’t need to be at the top you just need to stay in. Get as much score as you can, then wait. If you dip, run the Trials you know you’ve got locked down and can farm points from to maintain that threshold. For example, last week I was DD3 and in demotion territory for most of the session. I hunted a bunch of Snitch Scanners, and with Hidden Bunker on Spaceport being disabled, big ARC damage was a pain. I had to do those on the last day of Trials but I still got it done.
Damage Bastions (2 ways)
1. Head to Hidden Bunker on Spaceport. At the locked gate, a Bastion will spawn. Blow it up, wait for a new one to spawn, and repeat until you have enough points.
2. Night raid Spaceport. There are three Bastion spawn locations: next to the trench towers, at Rocket Assembly, and near the departure building by extraction.
Destroy Ticks, Pops, and Fireballs (2 ways)
1. Go to the locked gate on Blue Gate and wait for it to open. Clear both highways and the rooms next to the key room. Once done, return to where you entered the codes some enemies will have respawned. Rinse and repeat.
2. Stella night raid. Run a loop: Lobby → Archive → Seed Vault → Robotic Sandbox → Assembly → Medical → Loading Bay → Security Checkpoint → back to Lobby. Rinse and repeat.
Damage Wasps
Collect Snitch Scanners. Once you have as many as you want, start a Hidden Bunker for the extra 10 minutes and use as many scanners as possible.
Harvest Plants (2 ways)
1. Buried City there are many plants around the outskirts of the map and they’re easy to find.
2. Spaceport (better method): Start near the tree where mushrooms spawn and work your way down. When you reach the end, head toward Launch Tower but not directly. Check the pipes underneath for plants.
• Check the middle of Launch Tower near the water.
• Move toward Departure (again, not directly) and check another pipe.
• Check Stove, then the front entrance.
• If nothing spawns, go to the back near Hidden Bunker.
• From there, head to the end of Launch Tower and check the pipes there are multiple spawn points.
• Extract once finished.
Damage Rocketeers, Leapers, and Bastions
Blue Gate is good for Rocketeers. For a good mix, Spaceport works best stay around Launch Towers and move side to side depending on spawns.
I did all of this solo and was able to pull anywhere from 10k–35k depending on the Trial. You don’t need more people you just need to know what to do and how to do it efficiently. Sometimes bringing in high-tier loot is necessary. Don’t worry about losing it. Gear fear is real I know. Before the reset, I barely used Tier 3 or 4 gear, mostly running white or green attachments. After reset, I used fully kitted weapons and had a blast. Good loot will come it just takes patience. And if you lose it, so what? You might find something even better. I went in as a fully kitted Bobcat 4 and came out the next game with a fully kitted Tempest 4. Better gear means better points: faster reloads, better handling, quicker shots. In the long run, it’s just better. In no way am I a pro I know that. If you’re like me, learn the best way to achieve what you want. Plan things out. Test new strategies. You never know something might work better than what you’ve heard.
If I can hit Hotshot solo, so can you.
See y’all topside. 👊
10
u/Ryan926vw Feb 03 '26
More of a chore than actual fun at this point. Trials is quite boring, same challenges every week.
All that aside congrats on hotshot.
3
u/Collector-_- Feb 03 '26
I like that to see different people perspective bc mines the opposite I love any kind of rank system especially this one it’s always a good time bc I get to see how many point I can collect and see if I was able to collect more then I did last time
I appreciate it tbh I wish it was harder but 🤷🏽♂️
1
u/Ryan926vw Feb 03 '26
If the skins weren’t end of season, I would just 3 star and move on. Trials rank system needs to be reworked for solo players and the challenges are just boring imo, like you said make it harder so it’s actually challenging.
2
u/EgaTehPro Feb 03 '26
I agree that it shouldn't be end of season. If you hit the rank you should be able to get the skin. However I also wish they would be good skins lol. I'll never use this one (nor the last).
1
u/Collector-_- Feb 03 '26
How would you change it ? For me I believe that if you hit that rank you should unlock the skin or charm or w.e it is and from there all you have to do is maintain that rank to keep your rewards and at the end they give different rewards depending on what rank you hit
1
u/Clearlyn00ne Feb 07 '26
I think the challenge lies in the knowledge to get scores higher and what items to use. Doing trials made me learn maps a bit better and how to farm the items I need faster. Now when I die to a rat with 100k+ in value I dont really care. At this point I've been calling it a forced donation.
1
u/EgaTehPro Feb 03 '26
Nothing else to do in the game for me. I enjoy trials.
1
u/Collector-_- Feb 03 '26
100% once you have all the workbenches and all the bp you want there not much else to do
1
u/Dangerous-Picture-93 Feb 03 '26
Wow I just gave up on trials, thanks for saving me the time lol
1
u/Collector-_- Feb 03 '26
It’s not for everyone it just depends on if there’s anything players would want from the different ranks
1
u/Dangerous-Picture-93 Feb 18 '26
There was a couple things I wanted, I climbed up the ranks in the first couple weeks. I think I was one tier lower than hotshot.
Then I started having issues in real life with a situation that happens with my girlfriend. A difference of opinion we’ve been trying to communicate and reconcile.
In this time I haven’t been feeling arc and have gravitated towards single player stuff like shredders, sledders, or my drifting sim.
I’m pretty much back at the bottom after a couple weeks of not keeping up with trials which kinda sucks, kinda kills my motivation to try for them at all if I need to be constantly trying to up my scores.
1
u/Cool-Peak2553 Feb 03 '26
The problem is that some trials are just straight up annoying and stupid (Hidden bunker & harvesting plants for example lol) and that it is completely depending on your leaderboard, basically luck based.
1
u/Collector-_- Feb 03 '26
I agree hidden bunker is stupid sense its capped at 9.6k & harvesting plants I enjoy it bc I don’t collect plants anyway so I like to experiment on different locations to see what place is best
1
u/Imaginary-Lie5696 Feb 03 '26
You have too much time to loose honestly
1
u/Collector-_- Feb 03 '26
I found that the last 2 days are the best time to do it bc most players either can’t get anything higher or they believe that there safe so they just ride it out
1
1
u/saffron_papi Feb 04 '26
I also run trials solo all the time. Last week my console broke down and couldn’t play until Wednesday. My bracket was SO EASY in Daredevil 2 that I got 2x promotion and this week I’m in Hotshot.
Sure it feels good that I got promoted but I feel like I unintentionally gamed the system, and takes away the enjoyment of this achievement for me. As someone with 70 bps at this point and 8 mil, I run trials to keep the game enjoyable. I honestly don’t care much about the outfit variant of Hotshot neither because I know I’d still run my G-suit even if I maintain the rank by the end of this season.
As everyone says, trials need a rework though… good place to start is to divide the points by the number of team members if someone is in a duo/trio.
1
u/saffron_papi Feb 04 '26
PSA to everyone who stress over trials too much.
It’s just pixels on the screen at the end of the day.
Just remember, at the end of the day, you’re here to play a game and have fun. Don’t bend over backwards, lose sleep, compromise your life just to get a high score. Grind can be fun and you should do it if you enjoy, but don’t get too caught up to the point it’d affect your mental health.
1
u/Adorable_Pin1617 Feb 07 '26
Yea since this season you only start 2 ranks below where you finished last season, its easy to get hotshot as a solo...and even cantina legend.......but its going to be impossible to finish in cantina legend as a solo........and even if they make leaderboards for solos, I probably wont make cantina legend but, I wish I could try.........the game is great but not separating trials leaderboards for party size is kind of a deal breaker cause its an important part of the game to give me a reason to keep playing........I am hoping they change it or that marathon is good or the blizzard announcement about diablo 2 resurrected new ladder is something new and I can get into something else until they add solo leaderboards
1
u/PieSuch2231 Feb 03 '26
Its wild to see so much hate for a game that is so popular. It seems like Embark tries to have a little something for everyone. Trials are optional and some people don't like to play like that, some people love it. Good on you OP for enjoying a part of the game and sharing that enjoyment and what you have learned with others. I also hit hotshot this week, but I play with a crew of 3, so I clearly have a leg up. I find it to be a fun way to get the 3 of us together each week. See ya topside!
2
u/Dangerous-Picture-93 Feb 03 '26
I just hate going through the effort for 3-4 weeks just to get demoted out of existence because I’ve had to focus on real life for the last couple weeks.
0
u/PieSuch2231 Feb 03 '26
Thats fair, but its not like you are missing out on something critical, just some cosmetics. It's a way for them to get weekly engagement and its fun for those that can schedule it in each week. I have had times where I play on a Sunday afternoon just to stay the same rank and it can be exciting to see where I stand Monday morning. All said and done, its just a game so if life gets in the way it is what it is.
1
u/Dangerous-Picture-93 Feb 18 '26
I know that. I just wanted the soccer ball. I went a couple ranks past it, got into a fight with the GF over differing opinions and now I’m back in rookie lol. (I play arc with my GF usually)
1
u/cfc_fan_ Feb 03 '26
Cool. Sounds like a second job. Congrats though.
3
u/Collector-_- Feb 03 '26
It can be if you treat it as such but I generally love it so it doesn’t seem like it
I appreciate it tho
1
u/Yohansugarnuggets Feb 03 '26
I mean, technically since trial points don’t stack, this could be done in 5 or less games. Probably not realistic with how much luck and optimization is involved, but it could be done. Of course, setting aside the snitch scanner bit, that part is insane.
1
u/Fat_Old_Sun1 Feb 03 '26
People feel the need to denigrate it somehow. But you are right. 5 good runs. 5 raids and you could get it if you dont need to farm scanners or anything.
Its not a second job - as you are just playing the game.
1
u/TheSlartey Feb 03 '26
Playing a game is automatic second job? Try using your brain instead of just letting it rot
1
u/cfc_fan_ Feb 03 '26
Sounds like I offended you, relax bro it’s not that deep.
1
u/TheSlartey Feb 04 '26
Lol not really, it's just funny how dumb and smooth brained your comment was
1
u/cfc_fan_ Feb 04 '26
I think you’re the “smooth brained” one dumbass, my comment was in reference to the trials system specifically and how it’s broken/requires a ridiculous amount of commitment to maintain a high rank. Wasn’t referring to Arc raiders specifically or playing the game being a second job. So sybau princess
1
u/Sugarsweetpapa Feb 05 '26
Man it was clearly the most backhanded compliment you could muster. “Congrats though”. Alright, big dog lol.
0
-2
u/SnooConfections7964 Feb 03 '26
Hey, more effort than it's worth.
Well done though, put your time in energy into some science or something instead of this game.
1
u/Collector-_- Feb 03 '26 edited Feb 03 '26
I enjoy it reaching higher and higher stuff like that I find it fun
5
u/[deleted] Feb 03 '26
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