I finished Arc Raiders' new Shared Watch event in a single evening thanks to this one easy-to-craft item

Arc Raiders extraction shooter — (Image credit: Embark Studios)

The Shared Watch event is running for the next couple of weeks in Arc Raiders, but it's just a lil' one. Unlike trying to hunt down Candleberries in a blasted snowscape, this new event focuses on killing Arc, which, well, we've all been doing since the game first launched. It's supposed to encourage teamwork and camaraderie among Raiders as we work together to take down machines—though I can't say I saw too much of that as I decimated every Arc in sight with my inventory of Seeker Grenades.

Now, I love Seeker Grenades, essentially a 'Poor man's Wolfpack', which were added to the game in December last year. You toss one into the air and it explodes into a single homing projectile, but it'll take down a Wasp in a single hit, often kill a Snitch, and sometimes will even one-shot a Hornet depending on the angle. I'd never really used them before, but I got the blueprint quite early on after my Expedition and noticed something important—crafting Seeker Grenades only takes two very easy-to-get ingredients. These are:

2x Arc Alloy
1x Crude Explosives

Obviously, you'll need the blueprint to make this (and if you don't have it: commiserations), but it may very well be one you picked up and never really gave a second thought to. The fact that both ingredients come from Arc machines makes it perfect for this event. I was chucking Seeker Grenades left, right, and centre, then scavenging alloy and parts to recycle into alloy from those dead Arc. I'd also grab Crude Explosives from dead Pops and recycle Pop Triggers and Fireball Burners for even more.

You can craft Crude Explosives yourself in the Refiner with chemicals, and when I ran out of those, I'd purchase more from Celeste with seeds. I found Bird City was a great map condition for this, since every chimney has a couple of seeds inside (which everyone leaves), and there are tons of Snitches patrolling the rooftops, which makes it easy to call down lots of Arc to kill.

While I was still killing Leapers and Bastions when I happened upon them, my main strategy was effectively blasting my Anvil towards the nearest Snitch, often making them cross the map to come to me—why go to the Arc when they'll come to you? I'd shoot off one of its wings and then the other, just as it summoned two Wasps and a Hornet. Now, three flying Arc isn't much, but it can be a little risky to deal with them in the open all by myself.

This is where the Seeker Grenades come in. As soon as they spawned, I'd chuck a couple, often instantly killing both Wasps, or killing one and maiming the Hornet. It was so much faster than the usual trying to plink their rotor fans, especially against Hornets, who I swear never stop being annoying, no matter how long you play this game. You can see above them absolutely decimating Arc in Buried City, though this aggressive approach is a little spicier.

As mentioned, the Bird City map condition was incredible for this strat, since there are so many Snitches watching the rooftops where you're looking for loot in the chimneys. If you don't have the Seeker Grenade blueprint, then you can at least buy some from Apollo, and they'll be super useful in taking down those Snitch summons. Dam Battlegrounds is also really good, especially by the Hydroponics Complex.

Just remember, you want Snitches to summon more Arc onto the map as it'll let you kill more and gain extra merits to complete the event. Sure, you could just go up against a Matriarch and deal with her summons, but Matriarch fights require you to be pretty well equipped, and you're competing to damage and destroy them with a lot of other players. Either way, you'll get the event done, but if you want a speedier approach, I definitely recommend Seeker Grenades.

Sean's first PC games were Full Throttle and Total Annihilation and his taste has stayed much the same since. When not scouring games for secrets or bashing his head against puzzles, you'll find him revisiting old Total War campaigns, agonizing over his Destiny 2 fit, or still trying to finish the Horus Heresy. Sean has also written for EDGE, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, EGMNOW, and Inverse.

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