Your augment is the single most build-defining slot you carry into a raid in ARC Raiders. You only get one equipped at a time, you cannot swap it once you're Topside, and the right one decides whether you walk out with a full backpack or get downed and lose everything that isn't in your safe pocket. Two Raiders with identical guns and shields play completely differently depending on whether one is running a safe-pocket augment and the other a combat-regen augment. This guide covers every augment family, a clear S–C tier list, exactly what each top Mk.3 perk does, how to farm augment blueprints fast, and the best augment to run for solo, looting, and PvP loadouts.
Below we break down how augments actually work, rank them, then give you the exact pick for each playstyle.
Why augments matter in ARC Raiders
Augments are the equipment devices that quietly modify three things every raid: your backpack space, your weight capacity, and your shield compatibility (Light, Medium, Heavy). On top of those baseline stats, rarer augments grant unique perks — passive health regen, faster weapon swaps, a healing cloud on revive, or a universal safe pocket — that substantially change how you fight and how much loot survives a bad fight.
Three rules make the choice high-stakes:
- One augment per Raider. There's no second slot. Your augment is your build identity for that run.
- No swapping while deployed. You cannot remove or replace an augment once you're Topside, so you commit at the loadout screen — there's no adapting mid-raid.
- Augments take durability damage. Every time you get knocked out, your augment loses durability in 30-point increments. Run it into the ground and the perk stops working until you repair it back in Speranza.
Because the slot is so scarce, "best augment" really means best augment for what you're trying to do this raid — bank a rare blueprint, farm a high-value POI, or hunt other Raiders.
How augments work
Families and Mk tiers
Augments come in families built around a playstyle — Combat, Tactical, and Looting — and each scales through marks, Mk.1 → Mk.3. Higher marks add more backpack/weight and unlock the named perk variants. The Mk.3 versions are where the build-defining perks live, so that's where this tier list focuses.
Everyone starts with the Free Loadout Augment (Common): a basic augment for rookie Raiders that gives slightly more backpack space and carry capacity, with a Max Loadout Weight of 35.0 and Light shield compatibility only. It's fine for low-risk free-kit runs, but it's also a hard cap on what you can carry — and like every augment, it cannot be equipped or unequipped while in a round. Stepping up to an Epic Mk.3 augment nearly doubles your weight ceiling (Looting Mk.3 Safekeeper, for example, runs 65.0 Max Loadout Weight with Light, Medium and Heavy shield compatibility) on top of its perk.
Shields and the safe pocket
Augments interact directly with shields and with the thing every Raider cares about most: what you keep when you die. A core community trick is that running a Light shield without an augment still leaves you a basic ("naked") safe pocket — you trade overall storage for one protected slot. The premium version of that idea is an augment perk: Looting Mk.3 (Safekeeper) gives you a universal safe pocket that protects any item, which is the cleanest way to bank a freshly-learned blueprint or a rare pull without praying you survive the extract.
How to get augments (blueprints)
Augments follow the same Learn-and-Consume blueprint system as the rest of your gear. Augment blueprints drop primarily from Security Containers (and, rarely, Medical Containers), then you take them back to Speranza and learn them permanently. To speed it up:
- Prioritise Security Containers on every run — that's the augment funnel.
- Farm during x2 Major Map Conditions (Night Raid, Electromagnetic Storm, Locked Gate). Rare and epic blueprints are more common during x2 conditions, so that's your window for the good Mk.3 augments.
- Duplicate blueprints you've already learned sell for 5,000 Coins each, can be gifted to another Raider, or donated to the Expedition — so a second augment BP is never wasted.
ARC Raiders augment tier list
This ranks the standout Mk.3 augment perks by how much they change a run. Tiers assume you've got the blueprint learned and the station level to craft it.
| Tier | Augment (Mk.3 variant) | What it does | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | Looting (Safekeeper) | Universal safe pocket — protects any item on death | Banking blueprints, rare-loot runs, solo |
| S | Looting (Survivor) | Regenerates health up to 75% while downed and stationary | Solo survival, self-revives, clutch fights |
| A | Tactical (Defensive) | Use shield rechargers while running | Aggressive PvP, repositioning under fire |
| A | Combat (Aggressive) | Restores 2 health every 5 seconds | Sustained PvE, long farming routes |
| B | Tactical (Revival) | Restores 1 health every 5 seconds; effect pauses for 30s after you take damage | Passive sustain between fights |
| B | Tactical (Healing) | Healing cloud restores 20 health on revive (30s cooldown) | Duo/trio team play |
| B | Combat (Flanking) | Pistols & hand cannons equip 33% faster | Sidearm-swap PvP, close range |
| C | Looting (Cautious) | Auto-administers a weak Adrenaline Shot on shield break | Newer players, panic insurance |
A few notes on the ranking:
- Safekeeper is the default "I have something to lose" pick. The moment you're carrying a learned blueprint, a rare augment BP, or a stacked backpack, the universal safe pocket is worth more than any combat perk — it converts "I died and lost it" into "I died but kept the thing that mattered."
- Survivor is the solo king. Regenerating up to 75% while downed means you can outlast a knock, self-res, and turn a lost fight into a free extract. For solo Raiders it's frequently the difference between a wipe and a save.
- Defensive is the PvP pick. Recharging your shield while moving is a huge tempo swing in human fights — you don't have to break contact to top up.
- Aggressive / Healing are your PvE and team-support sustain options, strong but lower-variance than the S-tier survivability perks.
Best augment by loadout
Best solo augment: Looting (Survivor) or Safekeeper
Going in alone, you have no teammate to res you and no one to carry your loot out. Survivor keeps you alive through knocks; Safekeeper makes sure that even a death isn't a total loss. Rule of thumb: run Survivor when you're fighting for the extract, Safekeeper when you're carrying something you can't afford to drop (a rare blueprint, a high-value pull).
Best loot-run augment: Looting (Safekeeper)
On a pure scavenging run — farming Security/Electrical containers, banking blueprints — Safekeeper is unmatched. Pair it with a Light shield if you want to keep weight low and movement high; pair it with Medium/Heavy if the route is contested. The universal safe pocket means a single great find survives even a failed extract.
Best PvP augment: Tactical (Defensive)
Against other Raiders, uptime wins fights. Defensive lets you recharge your shield while repositioning instead of hiding to do it, so you stay in the fight and dictate the pace. If you live on your sidearm, Combat (Flanking) and its 33% faster pistol/hand-cannon swap is a sharp second pick.
Best team augment: Tactical (Healing)
In a duo or trio, the Healing cloud on revive (20 HP, 30s cooldown) turns every res into a mini reset for the squad. Stagger it with a teammate running Aggressive regen and your group sustains through long PvE stretches without burning consumables.
Tips for getting the most out of augments
- Commit at the loadout screen. You can't swap Topside — pick the augment that matches the goal of the run (bank, farm, or fight), not a generic "best."
- Repair before durability bottoms out. Every knockout chips 30 durability; a dead augment is a dead perk. Top it up in Speranza between raids.
- Match shield to augment. Light shield + Safekeeper = max mobility looter. Heavy shield + Defensive = a PvP brawler that never has to disengage to recharge.
- Always carry the blueprint to safety. If you just learned or looted a rare blueprint, the safe pocket (naked Light-shield slot or Safekeeper) is where it belongs the second you have it.
- Farm augment BPs during x2 conditions. Night Raid / EM Storm / Locked Gate runs are when the rare and epic augment blueprints actually show up — don't grind augments on a calm map.
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FAQ
How do I get a safe pocket in ARC Raiders without an augment? Run a Light shield with no augment equipped — you keep a basic "naked" safe pocket at the cost of overall storage. For a safe pocket that protects any item, learn and equip Looting Mk.3 (Safekeeper).
What's the best augment for solo play? Looting (Survivor) for staying alive (regen up to 75% while downed), or Safekeeper when you're carrying something you can't afford to lose. Most solo Raiders swap between the two depending on what's in their bag.
Can I change my augment during a raid? No. You cannot remove or replace an augment while deployed Topside — you commit at the loadout screen, so choose for the run you're about to do.
How do I get augment blueprints fast? Augment blueprints come mainly from Security Containers (rarely Medical). Farm them during x2 Major Map Conditions (Night Raid, EM Storm, Locked Gate) when rare and epic blueprints are more common.
Do augments break? They lose durability in 30-point increments every time you're knocked out. Repair them in Speranza before the perk stops working.
What should I do with a duplicate augment blueprint? Already-learned blueprints can't be consumed again — sell the dupe for 5,000 Coins, gift it to another Raider, or donate it to the Expedition.
Mechanics verified against the official ARC Raiders wiki (Augments, Blueprints) and arcraiders.com. Augment perks and values are current-build and can change with patches — confirm in-game. Topic and player questions sourced from the r/ArcRaiders community. Brand: timesaver.gg.
