ARC Raiders Pop Trigger Trial: How to Damage ARC With Pop Triggers Fast (Aug 18–25)

Quick answer: This week's Trial reads "Damage ARC enemies using Pop Triggers" — and most players are burning through 20+ Pop Triggers landing almost nothing, because they roll them across the floor and let the random bounce whiff. The fast method is the opposite: don't roll them, plant them. Sneak behind a slow, heavy ground ARC — a Bastion or Bombardier — and stick 2–3 Pop Triggers directly onto it like a Deadline mine (the plant animation is near-instant), then walk away. That reliably clears the objective in one encounter, and the same damage also counts toward the ongoing Phantom Targets project — whose next stage, Part 2, lands with Update 1.42 on August 18. Pop Triggers drop from Pop units, so ammo is never the problem — placement is.

Key takeaways

• Plant, don't roll. Dropped on the floor, a Pop Trigger rolls where you aim, then randomly hops and detonates somewhere unpredictable — a coin-flip that wastes stacks. Raiders have found you can instead plant them straight onto a Bastion or Bombardier, which lands the damage far more reliably.
• Pop Triggers come from Pops — the little bombs that charge at you. They spawn on almost every map, so supply is easy; the challenge is landing the damage.
• Two systems, one action. Clearing the Pop Trigger Trial also feeds the Phantom Targets project, whose "Test ARC Parts" stage wants 50 damage from Pop Triggers — with the next chapter, Part 2, arriving in Update 1.42 on Aug 18. Do it once, progress both.
• This week's full Trial set (announced by Embark, Aug 18–25): Open Containers in the Swamp · Loot ARC enemies · Damage ARC enemies using Pop Triggers · Destroy Wasps · Damage ARC enemies using Medium Ammo.
• You must extract to bank it. Only your best single-run score per challenge is kept — dying banks nothing.

ARC Raiders Trials are the game's weekly endgame grind: unlocked at Level 15, five scored challenges that swap out on the weekly rotation, with points tallied on extraction and only your best score per challenge kept (ARC Raiders Wiki — Trials). This set runs from August 18 until the next weekly reset. It's part of Season 5 "Prove Your Mettle," which runs July 7 – September 30, 2026 and rewards Scorta outfit variations by final placement (arcraiders.com/news). The Pop Trigger objective is the one wrecking people's runs this week — so we'll break that down first, then clear the other four challenges and the ranking system underneath them.

What are Pop Triggers in ARC Raiders?

A Pop Trigger is the salvaged component that drops from a Pop — the small, round ARC unit that rushes you and detonates. Because Pops appear on essentially every map, Pop Triggers are one of the easiest ARC parts to stockpile; you'll usually have a fistful without trying.

The catch is how they behave once deployed. Drop one on the ground and it rolls in the direction you're facing, then hops around unpredictably before exploding. The blast location is close to random, so throwing them into open space is a lottery — Raiders on the ARC subreddit report burning through three full stacks and landing zero. That randomness is exactly why the placement trick below matters so much.

One more physics quirk that matters: Pop Triggers do not roll up stairs or steep inclines. If you're trying to catch an enemy above you, you'll never connect. Keep your target on the same level as the trigger, or lower.

How to damage ARC with Pop Triggers fast (the plant method)

Here's the trick most guides miss, and it comes straight from player testing on r/ArcRaiders: you can plant a Pop Trigger directly onto an ARC machine, the same way you attach a Deadline mine — even though the wiki only describes the rolling deploy. Sneak up behind a large, slow target, hold the deploy input, and it sticks to the hull. Raiders report the plant animation is almost instant — quicker than a Deadline — so you can stack 2–3 on the same enemy in a couple of seconds and jog away before it turns around.

That converts Pop Triggers from "random junk" into controlled, dependable damage. The ideal targets are the biggest, slowest ground ARC:

Target	Why it works	Best hunting ground
Bastion	Heavily armored walker, moves slowly, huge hitbox — easy to plant on from behind.	Buried City patrols; Dam Battlegrounds
Bombardier	Massive, ponderous; plenty of surface area for 2–3 triggers.	Open industrial areas across most maps
Leaper (trapped)	Bait it into a doorway; while it flails trying to reach you, plant or detonate at point-blank.	The small building by the Riven Tides extract is a classic pin spot

The Bastion play is the cleanest: find one in Buried City, approach from behind, plant two or three Pop Triggers, and the objective is done in a single encounter. If you'd rather use the rolling method, only do it into a tight chokepoint — a subway entrance or a doorway where an enemy is pinned — so the random bounce still has somewhere to connect. In the open, expect to waste the whole stack.

How to complete the rest of this week's Trials (Aug 18–25)

The other four challenges are straightforward once you know where to go. Here's the full rotation and the fastest line on each:

Challenge	Fast method
Open Containers in the Swamp	The Swamp is on Dam Battlegrounds. Each container is roughly 200 points; about 15 containers clears three stars. Run the wet zone from the Controlled Access area through Hydro and Water Treatment, and stack it during an Electromagnetic Storm map condition for extra spawns.
Loot ARC enemies	Search downed ARC machines — kill or scavenge any unit and loot the wreck. Fliers like Wasps count and are quick, so pair this with the Destroy Wasps challenge.
Damage ARC enemies using Pop Triggers	The plant-on-a-Bastion method above.
Destroy Wasps	Wasps are small, agile flyers with unarmored thrusters — cheap to strip with any weapon. Farm them anywhere with open air; this also drops Wasp Drivers you can use for Phantom Targets.
Damage ARC enemies using Medium Ammo	Bring a Medium Ammo weapon (e.g. the Torrente). Ermal is set to stock Medium Ammo and an Extended Medium Mag III blueprint this week, so top up before you queue and plink any ARC to rack up damage.

Every one of these tallies on extraction — so don't die on the way to the hatch with an unbanked run. Loot ARC and Destroy Wasps overlap heavily; do them on the same raid.

Do Pop Triggers count for Phantom Targets?

Yes — and that's the reason to farm this challenge properly this week. The Phantom Targets project has a "Test ARC Parts for Irregular Behavior" stage that asks you to deal 50 damage with Pop Triggers, 500 damage with Wasp Drivers, and 1,000 damage with the Leaper Pulse Unit. The Pop Trigger damage you land for the weekly Trial contributes to that same 50-damage step, so you're clearing two objectives with one action. The project's next chapter, Part 2, arrives with Update 1.42 on August 18 (arcraiders.com/news/store-update-1-40-0), so it's worth getting comfortable with these ARC-part damage types now.

The most efficient combo run: bring a stack of Pop Triggers and Wasp Drivers, bait a Leaper into a doorway, drop three Wasp Drivers in front of you, and shoot them the instant the Leaper jumps and stuns itself — that burst does massive damage and usually kills the Leaper, netting you the Leaper Pulse Unit for the third part of the stage. One pinned Leaper can feed Wasp Driver damage, Leaper Pulse Unit farming, and (with a couple of planted triggers) your Pop Trigger objective in a single window.

How ARC Raiders Trials scoring and ranks work

Trials are more than checklist rewards — your weekly total drives your division rank. The system is worth understanding before you grind:

• Unlock: Level 15. A fresh set of five challenges rotates in each week (the new rotation goes live around Tuesday; your division rank changes are processed at the weekly changeover).
• Star tiers: 1,000 / 2,000 / 3,000 points for one / two / three stars on each challenge.
• Banking: per the wiki, "Upon extraction, the Raider's points for each challenge are tallied. Only a Raider's best score in each challenge is kept" (ARC Raiders Wiki — Trials). Scores do not stack across raids — one clean run beats five sloppy ones.
• Divisions: your cumulative weekly score places you in a 100-player division, and where you finish decides whether you rank up. Finish near the top and you get promoted — the very top of a division can jump multiple tiers at once — while a low finish can hold you in place or demote you. The exact promotion, hold, and demotion bands shift depending on your current rank, so treat "finish high in your division" as the rule. That's the real prize: climbing toward Hotshot and eventually Cantina Legend.

So the urgency isn't a vanishing reward (the reward set refreshes each week). It's your placement: bank a strong score before the weekly reset, or you risk sliding down the division.

Skip the grind and climb straight to your target rank:

- ARC Raiders Trials & Rank Carry — fast Trials completion and division promotion, handled by trusted players.

- ARC Raiders Blueprints — from $0.99 — 80+ blueprints, unlock the energy weapons Phantom Targets Stage 3 wants, fast & secure delivery.

- ARC Raiders Materials — from $0.02 — all rarities, instant delivery, stock the ammo and parts to farm every challenge.

FAQ

What is a Pop Trigger in ARC Raiders? It's the component that drops from Pop enemies — the small ARC units that charge and explode. Once deployed it rolls and then hops before detonating, or you can plant it directly onto an ARC machine. Only Pop Trigger damage counts toward the "Damage ARC enemies using Pop Triggers" Trial.

How do you damage ARC with Pop Triggers fast? Don't roll them across open ground — plant 2–3 directly onto a slow, heavy target like a Bastion or Bombardier from behind. Raiders report the plant animation is near-instant, so you can stick several and walk away for far more reliable damage than the random roll.

Where do Pop Triggers come from? From destroyed Pop units, which spawn on nearly every map. Supply is rarely the issue — landing the damage is. Kill Pops on your way through a raid and you'll have plenty.

Do Pop Triggers count for Phantom Targets? Yes. The Phantom Targets project's "Test ARC Parts" stage requires 50 damage from Pop Triggers, so completing the weekly Trial progresses the event project at the same time. The project's Part 2 chapter arrives with Update 1.42 on August 18.

What are this week's ARC Raiders Trials (Aug 18–25)? Open Containers in the Swamp (Dam Battlegrounds), Loot ARC enemies, Damage ARC enemies using Pop Triggers, Destroy Wasps, and Damage ARC enemies using Medium Ammo. All five rotate out at the next weekly reset.

Do I have to extract to keep my Trial score? Yes. Points are tallied only when you successfully extract, and only your best single-run score per challenge is kept. Dying banks nothing, so play the objective, then get to the hatch.