As the new year begins, Embark Studios has officially released the first set of challenges for ARC Raiders Trials 2026. Through this update, players are receiving new objectives that can be completed to earn valuable in-game rewards. After the completion of ARC Raiders’ first Expedition at the end of 2025, player progression was reset, and Season 2 has now entered its second week with new Trials challenges.
For players who recently joined the game through the Winter Sale, Trials are a special in-game system where new tasks are assigned every week. These challenges refresh every Monday and focus on completing various Topside activities, such as damaging ARCs, exploring specific locations, or interacting with items and objects. In each Trial, players can earn up to three stars, which are unlocked at 1,000, 2,500, and 4,000 points. These stars reward players with Uncommon, Rare, and Epic loot.
For quite some time, the community has been complaining that Trials had become repetitive. To address this, Embark introduced a unique twist last week by requiring players to throw snowballs at Rocketeers. The Rocketeer is a dangerous enemy capable of taking players down in just a few hits. Players used a smart strategy by stunning the enemy with a Showstopper grenade before using snowballs, making the challenge risky yet highly enjoyable.
Now, one week later, snowballs have returned in the latest ARC Raiders Trials 2026, but this time the target is Bastions. The Week 11 Trials, live from January 5 to January 12, give players multiple objectives, including damaging Snitches, throwing snowballs at Bastions, searching Supply Drops, and harvesting plants.
To obtain snowballs, players must enter the Cold Snap map modifier. Bastions are fast-firing and powerful enemy types found in Buried City, Blue Gate, Dam Battlegrounds, Spaceport, and Stella Montis. The best strategy for this challenge is to first stun the Bastion with a Showstopper grenade and then use as many snowballs as possible.
Snitches can spawn on all maps, but they appear more frequently on Spaceport and Blue Gate. The Night Raids modifier increases the number of ARCs, giving players a better opportunity to encounter them. To complete the Supply Drops challenge, players need to locate small call stations scattered across the map, which are more common in Dam Battlegrounds and Buried City. For harvesting plants, players can collect Mushrooms, Agave, Great Mullein, and Moss, which are most commonly found on Spaceport.
This week is especially important for ARC Raiders players, as Embark Studios is set to release its first patch of 2026 on January 6 after returning from its Christmas break. The studio has confirmed that the overpowered Trigger Nade will be nerfed and that it is also working on fixing macro abuse related to the Kettle weapon. While no new content is expected in this update, Embark may soon reveal its roadmap for the next 12 months.
If you’re interested, you can check out Fortnite 2026 Update Schedule Fully Revealed by Epic Games for more insights and updates.
