Frozen Trail

0:59 Frozen Trail is the 2.0 update of ARC Raiders, released Oct 8, 2026, and "our biggest update since launch" in Embark's words. It added a seventh map, Pendola Pass, where an ARC Emperor has fallen, along with the Frigate, three new machines, two weapons, a fifth weapon tier, a home base called the Outpost, a rebuilt Skill Tree, 22 new quests and Reward Passes that replace Raider Decks. The game was free to play from Oct 8 to Oct 12 around it. Everything below is as of Oct 8 unless a later patch is named; Patch Notes and Updates has the patches since.

Quick facts

Sources: Frozen Trail 2.0 Update highlights, Oct 8, 2026; Frozen Trail overview, Oct 8, 2026; Trials Season 6, Oct 12, 2026.

The map and the story

1:26 The story picks up from the Phantom Targets and Ascending the Mountain projects of the summer. Celeste and Shani traced a strange signal to an old Italian village and Exodus transport hub, and one of the Emperors, the giant ARC, is down there. Raiders reach it by Ballistic Gondola. Embark calls Pendola Pass its most complex map to date, with vertical terrain, a supermarket, a town square, an observatory, a buried train depot and the Flash Freeze weather condition. It also tests a Dynamic Loot Zone system: a zone keeps its loot type but can be worth more in one raid and less in the next. Rare technology lies inside the fallen Emperor.

The Frigate and Redirection

2:46 The Frigate is a colossal airborne carrier that Embark describes as a very high-risk, high-reward encounter: you find a way aboard, move through its passageways, unlock paths and fight ARC, with other Raiders after the same goal. Embark deliberately withheld the details at launch. Redirection, the second new condition, gets no description in the notes; Game Rant reports that damaged Emperor Relays activate one or two at a time and yield an Emperor Beacon that calls down a breach container (Oct 10, 2026). See Map Conditions.

New ARC, weapons and gear

4:01 Three machines joined: the Bully, which gallops at you, the Skulker, which waits at the edge of vision, and the Hydra, a three-part turret found on the Frigate. They are covered in Bully, Skulker and Hydra.

9:09 Two guns arrived. The Stiletto is a light-ammo battle rifle and an early-game alternative to the Renegade; the Bantam is a snub-nosed heavy-ammo revolver with unique hip-fire. See Shotguns and Battle Rifles and Pistols and Hand Cannons.

10:25 New items are the Grappling Hook, Basic and Advanced Cameras, Tether Launcher, Yank Grenade, Mountaineer's Detector, Banjo and Harmonica, most of them on Gadgets and Grenades. Weapon Stencils reskin guns, and a looted gun keeps its stencil for whoever took it.

Weapon Amplification and the Outpost

7:38 Weapon Amplification adds a branching upgrade path on 15 weapons, with examples such as a fully automatic Burletta, a scoped Renegade and a Rattler with incendiary rounds and a 64-round drum. It needs the Research Workstation fully upgraded and gives a fifth quality level.

6:17 The workstation lives in the Outpost, which Celeste offers as a home between the Rust Belt and the mountains. You fit modules and furniture, and lootable Design items unlock craftable furniture. Embark calls it the start of a feature it hopes to develop much further. See Outpost and Research.

Progression changes

• Skill Tree: middle nodes of a branch are now a choice of two skills, changeable when you reset, and end nodes offer three, of which you may take up to two. See Skill Tree.
• Stash: two new levels, 328 at most before bonuses. See Stash.
• Quests: 22 new quests, and quests now grant XP. Five older ones now need camera photos: The League, Reduced to Rubble, Life of a Pharmacist, Battening Down and Groundbreaking. See Update Quests.
• Reward Pass: Raider Decks and Cred are gone. The Frozen Trail pass has 60 levels: the free track includes base outfits, weapons, gadgets and up to 200 Raider Tokens, and the premium track costs 1,150 tokens and pays back up to 1,150. Embark says only the free track holds gameplay items. A Legacy Reward Pass holds the old deck rewards. See Raider Tokens and Reward Passes.
• Collector Set DLC: the Renzo set, Dragon's Breath stencil, Bob hairstyle, 2,400 Raider Tokens, premium pass access, a Retro Sofa and the only Banjo blueprint. See Price and Editions.
• Trials: Season 6 runs to Jan 12, 2027, with the Maestro Outfit as grand prize. See Events and Feats.

Balance changes

All from Embark's full notes of Oct 8, 2026. Later patches changed some of them, as noted.

Source for the table: Frozen Trail 2.0 Update, full notes, Oct 8, 2026.

The traders moved around too: Celeste sells furniture and materials, Tian Wen no longer sells Anvil or Hullcracker offers, Apollo gained Epic Augments, and Cassio replaced Ermal as the Nomadic Envoy. See Speranza and the Traders. Controllers got an updated default gamepad mapping, which Controls and Settings covers. Expeditions did not come with 2.0: they are paused until early 2027, and the notes list the Expedition screen as non-functional. See Expeditions.

Patches since

Hotfix 2.0.2 on Oct 9 fixed invisible weapon models and server crashes. 2.1.0 on Oct 13 fixed Reward Pass progress and opened the PvE Toggle test. 2.2.0 on Oct 20 rebalanced Feats and raised enemy presence on Pendola Pass slightly. 2.3.0 on Oct 27 reworked Emperor and Frigate loot.

Frequently asked questions

When did ARC Raiders Frozen Trail come out? Frozen Trail, ARC Raiders' 2.0 update, came out on Oct 8, 2026.

Is Frozen Trail free in ARC Raiders? Yes, the update itself is free for owners of ARC Raiders. The Collector Set DLC and the premium Reward Pass are the paid parts, and the premium track holds no gameplay items, according to Embark.

What is new in ARC Raiders Frozen Trail? Pendola Pass, the Frigate and Redirection conditions, the Bully, Skulker and Hydra, the Stiletto and Bantam, Weapon Amplification, the Outpost, a reworked Skill Tree, Reward Passes and 22 quests.

Did Frozen Trail remove anything from ARC Raiders? Yes. Solo vs Squads was removed, Raider Decks and Cred were retired, and Ermal was replaced by Cassio.

Where are the full Frozen Trail patch notes? On Embark's site. The Steam post lists only the highlights.

Sources

• Frozen Trail 2.0 Update, full notes, Embark Studios, Oct 8, 2026
• FROZEN TRAIL - 2.0 Update, Embark Studios, Oct 8, 2026
• Frozen Trail, Embark Studios, Oct 8, 2026
• Frozen Trail is live, Embark Studios, Oct 8, 2026
• Frozen Trail content preview, Embark Studios, Sep 23, 2026
• Trials Season 6: Frozen Trials, Embark Studios, Oct 12, 2026
• Play ARC Raiders for FREE from Oct 8 to Oct 12, Embark Studios, Oct 2, 2026
• Live Update 1.45.0, Embark Studios, Sep 8, 2026
• The 5th Expedition, Embark Studios, Aug 21, 2026
• How to Enter the Fallen Emperor, Game Rant, Oct 10, 2026
• Hotfix 2.0.2, Embark Studios, Oct 9, 2026
• Store Update 2.1.0, Embark Studios, Oct 13, 2026
• Store Update 2.2.0, Embark Studios, Oct 20, 2026
• Live Update 2.3.0, Embark Studios, Oct 27, 2026
• Frozen Trail: First Look | ARC Raiders, Embark Studios, Sep 23, 2026 (video)