ARC Raiders: How to Make Money Fast — 7 Ways That Still Work After the Energy Clip Nerf

Coins are the engine of everything in ARC Raiders — better guns, augments, stash space, and the gear you need to survive Stella Montis. But most of the "make money fast" advice online is out of date: the famous Energy Clip crafting exploit that every old guide pushes has been nerfed into a loss. This guide cuts the stale tricks and ranks the 7 ways that actually still make Coins right now, with verified numbers from the official wiki.

Quick answer: The primary way to make money in ARC Raiders is selling loot you bring back Topside — and the single best repeatable payout is selling duplicate blueprints, which vendor for a flat 5,000 Coins each regardless of rarity. Sell high-value raw components (an Advanced ARC Powercell is worth 640 Coins), farm ARC machines that drop them, stack quests and trader contracts, and grab trinkets on every run. Do not craft Energy Clips for profit anymore — Patch 1.20.0 cut their sell value from 1,000 to 200 Coins, so a batch now sells for 1,000 Coins against ~1,140 Coins of materials — a net loss. (Sources: arcraiders.wiki/Coins, arcraiders.wiki/Energy_Clip)

Best ways to make money in ARC Raiders (ranked)

#	Method	Payout	Notes
1	Sell duplicate blueprints	5,000 Coins each (flat, any rarity)	Best repeatable lump sum — clear dupes you'll never learn
2	Sell high-rarity Topside loot	Scales with rarity	The core income loop — the rarer the item, the more it sells for
3	Farm ARC machines for Powercells	~640 Coins per Advanced ARC Powercell	Drops from big ARC enemies; sell raw, don't craft
4	Stack quests & trader contracts	1,000–2,000 Coins per quest + bonuses	Overlap several objectives in one raid
5	Complete Projects	up to 300,000 Coins (Trophy Display)	Big one-time payouts for long-term goals
6	Trinkets & valuables (diamond icon)	Varies, instant	Zero-risk — sell the second you extract
7	Efficient looting routes	Depends on map & rotation	Hit the densest-value maps, extract early

The rule that beats every method: stop losing value before you chase more of it. Keep your money-making loadout cheap and replaceable, tuck your single best item in the Safe Pocket before you push, and extract the moment your bag is full. A fat run is worth nothing if you die at the gate.

Why the Energy Clip "money exploit" no longer works

For months, every ARC Raiders money guide pushed the same trick: craft Energy Clips (1 Advanced ARC Powercell + 2 Batteries → 5 clips at Workbench 1) and sell them for a huge margin. That method is dead. Patch 1.20.0 cut the Energy Clip sell value from 1,000 Coins to 200 Coins each, per the official wiki's patch history.

Run the new math and it's a trap:

• 5 Energy Clips × 200 Coins = 1,000 Coins per batch
• Inputs: 1 Advanced ARC Powercell (640 Coins) + 2 Batteries (250 Coins each = 500) = 1,140 Coins
• Result: you lose ~140 Coins every time you craft — plus you burn the materials you could have sold raw

The lesson that still holds: an Advanced ARC Powercell is worth 640 Coins sold as-is. So sell your Powercells and Batteries straight to the trader — don't convert them into Energy Clips expecting a profit. If a 2025 guide tells you Energy Clips print money, it's pre-patch.

The single best repeatable payout: duplicate blueprints

Blueprints you already own — or ones you'll never craft — are pure Coins. Every duplicate blueprint vendors for a flat 5,000 Coins, no matter its rarity, so a common dupe pays exactly the same as an epic one. Clearing a stash of unwanted blueprints is the fastest reliable lump sum in the game.

One caveat worth stating: a handful of blueprints are worth far more kept than sold. The Tempest (epic weapon), Snap Hook (legendary mobility), and Anvil Splitter (pistol mod) are among the blueprints the community values most for trading and gameplay — hold or use those, and only vendor the dupes and the ones you'll genuinely never touch.

Sell high-rarity loot (and know what's actually worth Coins)

Selling items found Topside is the primary way to earn Coins — the wiki says so plainly — and value scales hard with rarity: a green item is worth a fraction of its purple or gold equivalent. Two categories carry your bag value:

• High-value components — Processors, Power Cells, and ARC parts. An Advanced ARC Powercell alone is 640 Coins.
• Trinkets — items with the diamond icon. They have no crafting use, weigh little, and sell instantly on extract, which makes them the purest low-risk income in the game.

Don't over-value the wrong things, either. Great Mullein, for example, is an Uncommon Topside material worth only 300 Coins — useful for medical crafting, not the jackpot some guides claim. Grab high-rarity gear and components first; fill the gaps with trinkets.

Farm ARC machines for Advanced ARC Powercells

The most reliable high-value component to farm is the Advanced ARC Powercell (640 Coins each). It's scavenged from the big ARC enemies — Bastions, Bombardiers, Leapers, Rocketeers, Sentinels, Surveyors, Vaporizers, and the Matriarch and Queen bosses. Pair your Powercell farm with your combat runs and you're stacking two income streams — kills plus loot — on the same trip. Sell them raw at the trader; the Energy Clip conversion is no longer worth it.

Quests, contracts, and Projects

Don't run a map for loot alone. Stack daily and weekly trader contracts with active quests before you drop in, then plan a route that completes several at once — overlapping objectives multiplies your Coins per run without adding a single extra trip. Quest payouts are real money: "A Dead End" pays 2,000 Coins and "The Root Of The Matter" pays 1,000 Coins, and there are many more across the map.

For the long game, Projects are the biggest single payouts in ARC Raiders — completing the Trophy Display project rewards 300,000 Coins. They take time and materials, but they're the closest thing to a jackpot the economy offers.

Best maps and looting discipline

If you'd rather earn Topside than sell from your stash, focus your runs on the densest-value maps. Stella Montis is a harder, endgame-leaning research-facility map (unlocked after 24 rounds played) with some of the richest loot in the game, while Dam Battlegrounds and Buried City are strong, loot-rich maps for mid-level Raiders. Exact per-run Coin totals swing wildly with map conditions and rotation, so chase loot density and safe extracts, not a magic number.

The discipline matters more than the route. Before you optimise anything, plug these leaks:

• Dying greedy. The most expensive mistake in ARC Raiders is "one more room." If your bag is worth a run's profit, extract.
• Over-insuring your loadout. Running expensive gear on a farming trip means every death costs double. Keep money runs cheap.
• Recycling sellables. Recycle only when you specifically need the components — for pure Coins, the trader almost always pays more than the materials are worth.
• Ignoring the Safe Pocket. Your single most valuable item belongs in the Safe Pocket every raid — it survives even if you don't.

What to craft and buy with your Coins

Reinvest before you flex. The highest-ROI early spend is stash space — more room means you hoard high-value loot across runs instead of dumping it cheap. From there, upgrade the Workshop stations in Speranza that let you craft and repair the gear you actually use, and once you reach Level 25 you unlock Ermal and the Expedition Vault (five slots) to protect your best items across Expeditions. Guns and cosmetics come last — income infrastructure first.

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FAQ

What is the fastest way to make money in ARC Raiders? Selling loot you extract Topside is the core income, and the single best repeatable payout is selling duplicate blueprints — a flat 5,000 Coins each, any rarity. Back it with high-value components (an Advanced ARC Powercell sells for 640 Coins), stacked quests and contracts (1,000–2,000 Coins each), and trinkets on every run.

Does the Energy Clip crafting money method still work? No. Patch 1.20.0 cut the Energy Clip sell value from 1,000 to 200 Coins, so a crafted batch of 5 now sells for 1,000 Coins against ~1,140 Coins of materials — a net loss. Sell the Advanced ARC Powercells and Batteries raw instead (640 and 250 Coins each). Any guide still recommending Energy Clip crafting for profit is out of date.

How much do duplicate blueprints sell for in ARC Raiders? Every duplicate blueprint vendors for a flat 5,000 Coins, regardless of its rarity — a common dupe pays the same as an epic. Hold the genuinely valuable ones (Tempest, Snap Hook, Anvil Splitter) and sell the rest.

Should I sell or recycle my loot in ARC Raiders? Sell by default. Recycle only when you need the specific crafting components — for pure Coins, the trader almost always pays more than the materials are worth. Trinkets (diamond icon) and high-rarity gear should always be sold.

What items sell for the most Coins in ARC Raiders? High-rarity gear, duplicate blueprints (5,000 Coins each), and valuable components like Advanced ARC Powercells (640 Coins), Processors, and Power Cells. Rarity drives value — the rarer the item, the more it's worth. Big one-time Coins come from Projects like the Trophy Display (300,000 Coins).

What should I buy first with my Coins? Prioritise stash expansions so you can hoard high-value loot across runs, then upgrade the Workshop stations you rely on. Save gun and cosmetic spending for after your income infrastructure is set.