Raiders, are you excited for the upcoming ARC Raiders Expedition? This Expedition will have some minor changes compared to previous installments. Earning Skill Points will now be based on dealing damage as required. So, let's see how to maximize your damage output in Expedition.
The official estimate is that 100,000 damage is roughly equivalent to destroying 20 Bastions or Bombardiers. A typical run will deal around 8,000 to 10,000 damage, meaning it will take at least 10 to 13 runs to achieve the goal and earn 5 Skill Points.
Our goal is to plan our routes strategically to achieve 20,000 to 40,000 damage per run, exceeding the official estimate.
Efficient Damage Farming Strategy
In Expedition, many players with top-tier gear will flood popular boss fights, causing damage to be spread out. To deal more damage faster, our core strategy is to choose routes with fewer raiders and faster enemy spawns. This essentially means avoiding peak raid times with other raiders.
You can choose less popular map conditions like Hurricane, or spawn points on the map's edge. Focus on enemies like Bastion and Bombardier, which have moderate health, consistent damage, and fast respawn rates. This offers the best cost-effectiveness for us.
It's best not to obsess over bosses like Matriarch. While they deal high damage, the competition is fierce, and the actual damage per minute might be lower than farming Bastion and Bombardier. This doesn't align with our strategy.
Equipment Strategy
If you have abundant resources, you can use weapons like Deadline, Hullcracker, and Wolfpack to instantly kill enemies and deal high damage. You could potentially deal over 35,000 damage per round. However, I estimate only a few players can achieve this.
Therefore, if your equipment is decent but not abundant, try to use a few grenades and some legendary energy weapons. This requires some movement, but the enemy clearing speed is acceptable. You can still achieve over 20,000 damage per round.
For players with limited resources, choose Anvil and regular rifles. Although the speed will be slower, sustained fire using cover is still viable.
If you don't have the equipment mentioned above, it's best to acquire ARC Raiders blueprints to craft weapons and prepare before Expedition launches. There's still time.
Comparison of Three Routes
Queen Raid
If you only fight the boss, this route takes about 5 minutes. If you clear the entire area, you can keep it under 10 minutes.
Fighting Queen will deal approximately 6600 damage, and with clearing other mobs and elites, it can reach 10,000. It's simple and straightforward, suitable for beginners and players who just want to finish a run quickly.
However, its drawbacks are also obvious. As I mentioned earlier, competition for boss kills is fierce, and stealing kills is intense, so the actual damage you get will be lower than expected. Also, the boss spawn is unpredictable.
Buried City Two-Location Loop
On the map, Old Town and New District are only 200 meters apart, and the spawn points for Bastion and Bombardier are very concentrated. They spawn every 5 to 7 minutes.
So our strategy is to kill one enemy in Old Town, then run to New District to kill another, clearing out smaller enemies along the way, and then circle back to Old Town to kill the respawning enemies. Repeat this cycle. This should result in over 15,000 damage in about 15 minutes.
The best time for this route is during Hurricane, as most players only open caches and don't attack enemies, resulting in very little competition. However, the risk is that storms can interfere with mine placement, and some players might ambush at intersections, so you need to protect yourself.
Spaceport Hidden Bunker
This route takes a bit longer than the previous two, about 40 minutes per round. However, the enemy spawn density is the highest. In 25 minutes, you can kill 4 Bastions and 4 Bombardiers, dealing a total of 40,000 damage. That's almost half of our goal.
The damage from killing Rocketeer and Vaporizer is approximately 1000-2000 each, which can be used as filler while waiting for elites to spawn.
If the upcoming Expedition adjusts Hidden Bunker, no worries, we have an alternative. We can mark all elite spawn points in Spaceport Electromagnetic Storm for point-to-point fast travel.
Risk Avoidance
Dealing with Free Kit Rat Squads
If you unfortunately encounter free kit rats in the game - those low-equipped players who exploit matchmaking loopholes to enter high-resource matches specifically for ambushes - prioritize clearing surrounding bushes, rooftops, and other suspicious locations. If you hear gunfire or footsteps, immediately stop attacking and find cover.
You can also team up and keep watch on each other.
Avoiding Damage Theft
If multiple people are fighting over a monster, the elite monster's health is shared. However, the last hit does not affect damage calculation; the actual damage is based on your total damage output to the monster.
It is recommended to use high-burst weapons to quickly deal massive damage; don't slowly whittle it down. If you see multiple people attacking an elite, abandon it immediately and move to the next spawn point.
Strategy When Resources are Scarce
When resources are limited, you can forgo expensive consumables and carry only a mid-range rifle. Then, specifically target elite monsters that are already being attacked, chip away at their health from a distance until you've dealt enough damage, then leave.
While this method is inefficient, it's cost-free and suitable for players with extremely limited resources.
Hopefully, this guide will help you acquire Skill Points smoothly in Expedition!
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