ARC Raiders Maps Guide: All 7 Maps, Unlocks and Difficulty

This ARC Raiders maps guide lists every raid map with its difficulty, unlock rule and raid length, then covers how extraction points and map conditions change a run. It was rebuilt on October 8, 2026, the day the Frozen Trail update added a seventh map, Pendola Pass. Map data comes from the ARC Raiders Wiki's Maps table; Pendola Pass details come from Embark's own posts.

Updated 2026-10-08: now 7 maps with Pendola Pass. Difficulty and unlock data corrected against the wiki: The Blue Gate is rated 4 and unlocks after 18 rounds (it was wrongly listed as the beginner map), and Stella Montis unlocks after 24 rounds played, not at a player level.

TL;DR: ARC Raiders has 7 raid maps. By wiki difficulty: Dam Battlegrounds (2), Buried City (3), Spaceport (3), The Blue Gate (4), Stella Montis (4) and Riven Tides (5); Pendola Pass is new and not yet rated. Maps unlock by rounds played, from 0 (Dam) to 24 (Stella Montis). Raids last 30 minutes. There are four extraction types, and the Electromagnetic Storm condition disables Raider Hatches.

Screenshot: ARC Raiders Steam store page

How many maps are in ARC Raiders? (quick answer)

Seven raid maps as of October 8, 2026: Dam Battlegrounds, Buried City, Spaceport, The Blue Gate, Riven Tides, Stella Montis and Pendola Pass. The first six are listed on the ARC Raiders Wiki's Maps page; Pendola Pass arrived with the Frozen Trail 2.0 update. The Practice Range also appears in map selection, but it is a two-hour training area, not a raid.

Key takeaways

• 7 raid maps, plus the Practice Range.
• Easiest: Dam Battlegrounds, difficulty 2, no unlock requirement.
• Hardest rated: Riven Tides, difficulty 5.
• Unlocks: rounds played, not player level. Stella Montis needs the most, 24.
• Raid length: 30 minutes, 40 during Hidden Bunker (Spaceport) and Locked Gate (The Blue Gate).
• Extractions: cargo elevators, metro stations, airshafts and Raider Hatches.

ARC Raiders maps guide: all 7 maps at a glance

The wiki rates each map's difficulty on a five-bar scale and lists how many rounds you must play before it unlocks. Every raid map runs 30 minutes by default.

Image: Maps table, ARC Raiders Wiki (arcraiders.wiki), CC BY-SA 4.0

Two things in this table surprise people. First, the unlock order is not the difficulty order: Riven Tides (rated 5) opens at 20 rounds, before Stella Montis (rated 4) at 24. Second, The Blue Gate is not a beginner map. Older versions of this guide called it one; the wiki rates it 4 and gates it behind 18 rounds.

The six original maps

Each description below quotes the wiki's own map text, so you can tell the settings apart before you queue.

Dam Battlegrounds is "Alcantara Power Plant, or 'The Dam'," which "stands as a silent sentinel amidst a toxic, waterlogged land." It is the only map with no unlock requirement and the lowest rating, which makes it the natural first map. Our Dam guide covers it in depth.

Buried City sits "amidst the sand dunes in this arid wasteland," a remnant of the old world "quite unlike the cold steel spires of the Exodus age," with "narrow streets and empty plazas." It unlocks after 8 rounds. See the Buried City map guide.

Spaceport, Acerra Spaceport, is "where the Exodus shuttles, vessels of hope and desperation, once roared into the heavens." It unlocks after 12 rounds and stretches to 40 minutes during Hidden Bunker. The Spaceport map guide has the details.

The Blue Gate "now serves as a daunting entryway into the perilous mountain ranges." It unlocks after 18 rounds and runs 40 minutes during Locked Gate. Our Blue Gate guide covers it.

GODEEPER: Getting out is half of every raid. Every extraction type and how to use it. ARC Raiders Extractions Guide →

Riven Tides is "a twice-abandoned coastal paradise," a "magnificent harbor resort." It is the only map the wiki rates 5 and it unlocks after 20 rounds. The 2.0 update also raised its "overall loot value on Riven Tides by approximately 15%." See the Riven Tides guide.

Image: "Riven Tides Update" video thumbnail, official ARC Raiders YouTube channel (Embark Studios)

Stella Montis is "a secluded research facility amidst snow-draped peaks." It needs 24 rounds played, the most of any map, and carries a 4 rating. Our Stella Montis guide covers its layout and loot.

Pendola Pass, the seventh map

Pendola Pass arrived on October 8, 2026 with the Frozen Trail update. Embark's First Look post calls it "an old Italian village and Exodus transport hub," with a supermarket, a town square, an observatory and a buried train depot, built around a fallen Emperor ARC.

It also has a loot rule no other map uses yet. The patch notes describe a Dynamic Loot Zone system, "currently exclusive to Pendola Pass," where a zone keeps its loot type but its value changes from raid to raid. The wiki had not added a difficulty rating or unlock count for it on launch day, so this guide does not guess one. The free play post says new players "will be able to access Pendola Pass immediately if teamed up with other players who have already unlocked the new map." The full update is covered in our Frozen Trail 2.0 guide.

Extraction points and map conditions

The wiki lists four extraction types: "cargo elevators, metro stations, airshafts, and Raider Hatches." Most of them show a shutdown timer on the map. Two wiki tips are worth knowing: downed Raiders "are still able to interact with Extraction Point terminals," and a terminal used just before it shuts down will not deactivate, so you can survive into "overtime."

Raider Hatches work differently. They stay locked until you use a Raider Hatch Key, then remain open for roughly 10 to 15 seconds for one Raider at a time, and they "do not have a shutdown timer."

Map conditions change all of this. The Electromagnetic Storm condition brings "Fewer active Return Points" and "No active Raider Hatches," in exchange for increased loot value and lightning strikes. Other conditions on the wiki include Night Raid, Hidden Bunker, Locked Gate and Hurricane, and boss conditions such as Harvester spawn the Queen (see our Queen boss guide). The electromagnetic storm explainer covers that one in detail.

Step-by-Step

A simple order for working through the maps, based on the wiki's unlock and difficulty data.

1. Start on Dam Battlegrounds: it has no unlock requirement and the lowest rating, 2.

2. Check the map condition before you queue: a storm removes Raider Hatches and cuts active extraction points; Hidden Bunker and Locked Gate add ten minutes.

3. Move to Buried City and Spaceport: both rated 3, opening at 8 and 12 rounds played.

4. Take on The Blue Gate after 18 rounds: rated 4, so bring a loadout you can afford to lose.

5. Treat Riven Tides as the hardest map: it opens at 20 rounds but carries the only 5 rating.

6. Finish with Stella Montis and Pendola Pass: Stella Montis at 24 rounds; Pendola Pass by unlocking it or by joining a teammate who has.

Tips

• Plan two exits. Since most extraction terminals shut down on a timer, know a second exit before your bag is full.
• Do not count on a hatch in a storm. The Electromagnetic Storm condition switches every Raider Hatch off.
• Stay alive at the terminal. Downed Raiders can still use a terminal, so crawl to it if you can.
• Expect crowds this week. The free play window runs to October 12, and players expect busy maps. In the free weekend thread, u/Admirable_Glove_9480 wrote "Avoiding dam for the weekend lol," and u/wingsofblades predicted "stella montis about to become a warzone!"

Embark's official map overview video:

Image: "The maps of ARC Raiders" video thumbnail, official ARC Raiders YouTube channel (Embark Studios)

GODEEPER: Knowing what to keep matters more on high-difficulty maps. ARC Raiders Loot Guide →

Our take

Based on the wiki data and Embark's posts cited here, the most useful fact in this guide is that unlocks follow rounds played, not difficulty. That is why Riven Tides, the only 5-rated map, can open before Stella Montis. The map most often misdescribed, including by an earlier version of this page, is The Blue Gate: it is a 4-rated map behind 18 rounds, not a starter zone. Pendola Pass is too new to rank; check back once the wiki rates it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many maps does ARC Raiders have? Seven raid maps as of October 8, 2026, including Pendola Pass from the Frozen Trail update. The Practice Range is separate.

What is the hardest map in ARC Raiders? Riven Tides, rated 5 on the wiki. The Blue Gate and Stella Montis are rated 4.

How do you unlock maps in ARC Raiders? By rounds played: Buried City 8, Spaceport 12, The Blue Gate 18, Riven Tides 20, Stella Montis 24. Dam needs nothing.

How long is a raid in ARC Raiders? Thirty minutes, or 40 during Hidden Bunker (Spaceport) and Locked Gate (The Blue Gate).

What are the extraction types in ARC Raiders? Cargo elevators, metro stations, airshafts and Raider Hatches. Storms disable Raider Hatches.

Which map should beginners play first in ARC Raiders? Dam Battlegrounds: no unlock requirement and the lowest difficulty rating.

Related Reading

• ARC Raiders Extractions Guide: every extraction type in detail.
• ARC Raiders Frozen Trail 2.0 Update: Pendola Pass and everything else in the October 8 update.
• ARC Raiders Dam Guide: the first map most players learn.
• ARC Raiders Buried City Map Guide: the desert old-world map.
• ARC Raiders Spaceport Map Guide: Acerra Spaceport.
• ARC Raiders Blue Gate Guide: the mountain gateway map.
• ARC Raiders Riven Tides Guide: the highest-rated map.
• ARC Raiders Stella Montis Guide: the last map to unlock.
• ARC Raiders Beginner Guide: your first raids.

References

• Maps, ARC Raiders Wiki
• Extraction Points, ARC Raiders Wiki
• Raider Hatch, ARC Raiders Wiki
• Electromagnetic Storm, ARC Raiders Wiki
• Frozen Trail First Look (Embark Studios)
• FROZEN TRAIL - 2.0 Update patch notes (Embark Studios)
• Play ARC Raiders for free: October 8 - 12 (Embark Studios)
• The maps of ARC Raiders (official YouTube)
• ARC Raiders on Steam