Weekly Trials are the single best engine for free blueprints, gear and seasonal cosmetics in ARC Raiders — and most raiders leave half their points on the table because they don't know how the scoring actually works. The difference between a 1-star scrape and a clean 3-star isn't luck. It's picking the right target, throwing the right grenade, and — the one trick almost nobody uses on purpose — playing the right map condition. This guide breaks down the exact point thresholds, how many points each action is worth, the fastest 3-star routes, and the current Heavy Fuze Grenade challenge that's got half of r/ArcRaiders arguing about Bombardiers. Every number here is cross-checked against the ARC Raiders Wiki and the current Season 4 trial guides.
Quick answer (TLDR): Weekly Trials unlock at Level 15. Each week has 5 challenges; you bank only your best score per challenge, and points carry over across raids. Star thresholds per challenge: 1,000 points = 1 star (Green chest), 2,500 = 2 stars (Blue chest), 4,000 = 3 stars (Purple chest) — max 15 stars/week. The fastest way to 3-star anything is to play during a Major Map Condition (Night Raid, EM Storm, Cold Snap, Hidden Bunker), which doubles all Trial points. For damage challenges, hit a Bombardier — big, slow, lightly armored, and stuffed with stackable weak points; a single clean Heavy Fuze Grenade (~11.5 points per HP) into one Bombardier is usually a full 3-star on its own.
How Weekly Trials work
Trials are ARC Raiders' weekly objective system, layered on top of the Season 4 ranked ladder. 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" (arcraiders.wiki). A few rules decide everything below:
- You must reach Level 15 to unlock Trials. Below that, the tab is locked.
- There are 5 challenges per week, and they reset weekly along with a fresh random leaderboard of up to ~100 players.
- Only your best run counts. You don't add up every raid — the game keeps your single highest score on each challenge. That means you can chip away across multiple raids and only your best attempt sticks.
- You must extract for points to bank. Die topside with a 3,900-point Bombardier run and you get nothing. Score, then leave.
That last rule is the one that wrecks most raiders: greed. A 3-star is 4,000 points, and the moment you cross it, the smart play is to walk to the nearest hatch and extract.
The scoring system: stars, thresholds and rewards
Each of the five challenges is scored independently, and each one can earn up to 3 stars. Here are the exact thresholds and what each star tier pays out:
| Stars | Rank Points needed | Reward chest |
|---|---|---|
| ⭐ 1 Star | 1,000 | Green Loot Chest (Uncommon) |
| ⭐⭐ 2 Stars | 2,500 | Blue Loot Chest (Rare) |
| ⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars | 4,000 | Purple Loot Chest (Epic) |
Five challenges × 3 stars = a maximum of 15 stars per week. On top of the per-challenge chests, your accumulated Rank Points push you up the weekly leaderboard and your seasonal rank (Rookie → Tryhard → Wildcard → Daredevil → Hotshot → Cantina Legend), which pays out end-of-season cosmetics — outfits, emotes, backpack charms and color variants. The Epic (Purple) chests are where the real value sits: 3-star Trials are a documented source of high-end blueprints, including legendary weapon BPs like the Bobcat IV.
How points are actually earned
This is where most guides stop and most raiders guess. Points scale with the action the weekly challenge asks for, and the rates are not equal. Verified per-action values from the wiki:
| Trial action | Points |
|---|---|
| Damage any ARC enemy | 0.7 per damage |
| Damage ground-based ARC enemy | 0.8 per damage |
| Damage with a Light Impact Grenade | 2 per damage |
| Damage with a Heavy Fuze Grenade | ~11.5 per HP |
| Open an ARC Probe | 667 per probe |
| Search a Raider Cache | 800 per cache |
| Harvest a plant | 250 per plant |
The headline takeaway: grenade-damage challenges pay massively more per hit than generic "damage ARC" challenges. A Heavy Fuze Grenade is worth ~11.5 points for every point of HP it removes, and a single grenade deals roughly 80 HP of damage — so one clean throw into a big target can land you thousands of points instantly. That's why the current grenade challenge is the fastest 3-star of the week if you know where to aim it.
The #1 score multiplier: Major Map Conditions
If you take one thing from this guide, take this: playing during a Major Map Condition doubles all your Trial points. Night Raid, EM Storm, Cold Snap and Hidden Bunker all apply a ×2 multiplier to everything you score that raid (skycoach.gg).
That changes the math completely. A 4,000-point 3-star suddenly only needs 2,000 points of real performance. A Bombardier that would normally get you ~3,800 points now reads ~7,600 — a full 3-star with overflow to spare. Night Raid is the community favorite: it darkens the map (better stealth), raises loot quality, and doubles your Trial points at the same time. Check the map condition before you queue. Running Trials on a vanilla map when a doubling condition is available is leaving half your score behind — every single time.
Best targets for damage challenges (and the Heavy Fuze Grenade trick)
Damage challenges — "deal damage to X," "deal as much damage as possible with grenade Y" — are the bread and butter of Trials scoring, and the target you pick is everything. The current standout is the Heavy Fuze Grenade challenge, and the entire r/ArcRaiders meta-debate has settled on one answer:
Bombardier is the best target
The Bombardier is the ideal grenade-damage target, and the reasons stack up:
- It's huge and it doesn't run. Bombardiers spawn in open areas and don't actively dodge thrown projectiles, so your grenade lands where you want it.
- It's lightly armored. Large patches of white/weak armor mean your Heavy Fuze does near-full damage instead of getting eaten by plating.
- It has multiple stackable weak components (yellow leg joints and the rear canister), so a single grenade hits several damage zones at once.
The result: a single clean Heavy Fuze Grenade into one Bombardier consistently lands in the ~3,800–4,000 range — a full 3-star off one throw. Raiders report numbers like ~3,400 points from a single nade before any doubling, and each additional enemy caught in the blast adds roughly 300–400 points. Stack that with a Night Raid and you're double-3-starring it.
The Bastion fallback
No Bombardier on the map? The Bastion is the proven backup. It's a heavily armored walker, so don't just chuck a grenade at its plating — blast the legs off first to expose it, then drop the Heavy Fuze right underneath. That route is a confirmed 3-star. What doesn't work well: tossing the grenade into a Turbine's side air vent (reports of only ~1,300 points) or wasting it on small fry. Big, slow, fragile-bellied targets win.
Herding for multi-hit challenges
For challenges that reward total damage across many enemies or many grenades, the play is crowd control: pull weak enemies (Shredders, Leapers) into a tight chokepoint — a metro breach door, a spawn corridor — and grenade the cluster. More bodies in the blast = more stacked damage = more points per throw.
The fastest 3-star route, step by step
- Read the week's 5 challenges before you load in. Identify which ones are grenade- or damage-based (the high-payout ones).
- Queue into a map running a Major Map Condition (ideally Night Raid) to double everything.
- Carry the right tools: the grenade the challenge calls for (Heavy Fuze / Light Impact), and a weapon that can strip a Bastion's legs as backup.
- Find a Bombardier, line up a clean throw across its weak points, and detonate. One grenade should clear or nearly clear the 4,000 threshold under doubling.
- Bank the easy passives on the way to extract — open any ARC Probe (667), search Raider Caches (800), harvest plants (250) for whatever challenges those satisfy.
- Extract. Points only count on a successful extraction. The moment you've crossed your thresholds, leave.
This week vs. next week
The Heavy Fuze Grenade / Bombardier challenge is the current Season 4 highlight and the reason this is the fastest week to bank stars in a while. Heads up for the June 15–21 rotation: per Embark's weekly preview, next week's Trials test Wolfpack proficiency — so start banking Snitch Scanners now, because you'll want a stack of them to score efficiently when the rotation flips. Same scoring system, same star thresholds, same doubling trick — just a different tool in your hand.
Skip the grind — get the rewards without the RNG:
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- ARC Raiders Blueprints — from $0.99 — go straight to the legendary BPs (Bobcat IV and 60+ more) instead of chasing Purple chests.
- ARC Raiders Materials — from $0.02 — every rarity, instant delivery, trusted.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many points do you need for 3 stars in ARC Raiders Trials? You need 4,000 Rank Points on a single challenge for 3 stars (a Purple/Epic chest). 1 star is 1,000 points and 2 stars is 2,500. Each of the five weekly challenges is scored separately, so the max is 15 stars per week.
What is the best target for the Heavy Fuze Grenade trial? A Bombardier. It's large, spawns in the open, doesn't dodge projectiles, and is covered in lightly armored, stackable weak points. One clean Heavy Fuze Grenade into a Bombardier typically lands ~3,800–4,000 points — a full 3-star from a single throw. A leg-stripped Bastion with a grenade dropped underneath is the best fallback.
How do you double your Trial points in ARC Raiders? Play on a map running a Major Map Condition — Night Raid, EM Storm, Cold Snap or Hidden Bunker. These apply a ×2 multiplier to all Trial points, turning a 2,000-point performance into a 3-star. Night Raid is the most popular because it also improves stealth and loot.
What level do you need to unlock Trials? You must reach Level 15 to access the Weekly Trials system. Below Level 15 the Trials tab is locked.
Do Trial points count if I die before extracting? No. Points are only banked on a successful extraction. If you die topside, that run's score is lost — even if you'd crossed the 3-star line. Score your points, then immediately head for the nearest extraction.
Can I keep grinding the same challenge for more points? Only your best single run is kept per challenge, so re-grinding only helps if you beat your previous high score. There's no benefit to repeating a worse run — push one clean high-scoring raid instead.
