How to kill and farm Queens in Arc Raiders' Harvester event

Arc Raiders Queen blaze grenade traps: A player reloading their gun while fighting a Queen at the base of the dam wall in Dam Battlegrounds, as it kicks up sand and fires a laser at another player in the distance.

(Image credit: Embark)

Let's face it, Arc Raiders' robots are terrifying. Sure, you can one-tap a Pop, but if one (or even worse, a pack) sneaks up on you, you're toast. Wasps may be similarly low on the food chain, but underestimate them and they'll drop you every time. And don't get me started on Ticks. The point is, you don't mess with Arc machines unless you're prepared.

These all pale in comparison to the Queen, the largest Arc currently in the game, which you can only encounter during the Harvester map event. These towering, spider-like monstrosities guard the Harvester and will rain mortar fire, laser beams, charges, and EMPs down on those brave (or stupid) enough to challenge them.

It turns out you needn't be all that scared of the Queen, though. Why? Because you can burn through their roughly 33,000 health with just a single, blue-quality Blaze Grenade Trap. That's right, you don't need to cram your backpack with valuable Wolfpack grenades, a Hullbreaker, or any of the other best guns. Just a cheap, fairly common grenade that you wouldn't even feel bad about losing will do the trick.

The reason why this is even possible is that Blaze Grenade Traps seem to be bugged and are dealing way, way more damage against all enemies than they should be. Don't shoot the messenger, but this includes against other players, where it'll eviscerate an entire team in a nano-second—I'm sorry if this now encourages the most bloodthirsty among you to start slinging Blaze Traps at everyone they meet.

How to Kill the Queen FAST with a Blaze Trap ARC Raiders XP Guide - YouTube

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Content creator Epitomy suggests hurling the grenade so it lodges in the gap between the 'head' and 'body' of the Queen, but I've seen people take them down by simply sticking it to the underside. In other words, I don't really think it matters where you damage them.

Just remember that since Blaze Grenade Traps are…traps, they won't automatically detonate in this situation—you need to manually trigger the explosion by shooting them.

I think it's safe to say that this isn't the intended experience. One-tapping something as terrifying as the Queen shouldn't be possible; you're supposed to gear up and even team up with random players to do the Harvester event.

With that in mind, I think you've only got a small window of time to quickly take down some Queens and raid the Harvester for all its worth. Given that you can get in, kill the Queen, and get out in a matter of three to five minutes with a good spawn, you can certainly cram some kills in. Plus, you'll get upwards of 50,000 XP for each Queen kill, plus bonuses for looting the now-safe Harvester, so it's both the best loot and XP farm available right now.

Rory has made the fatal error of playing way too many live service games at once, and somehow still finding time for everything in between. Sure, he’s an expert at Destiny 2, Call of Duty, and more, but at what cost? He’s even sunk 1,000 hours into The Elder Scrolls Online over the years. At least he put all those hours spent grinding challenges to good use over the years as a freelancer and guides editor. In his spare time, he’s also an avid video creator, often breaking down the environmental design of his favourite games. If you can’t track him down, he’s probably lost in a cave with a bunch of dwarves shouting “rock and stone” to no end.

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