What This Build Is For
The PvP Brawler is the archetype other Raiders see on the killcam. Combat Mk. 3 Aggressive, Heavy shield, Bettina primary, Anvil secondary. The whole kit is tuned around one outcome: when two Raiders open fire on each other at 30 to 50 meters, you walk away with their loot and most of your shield bar.
Run this build if you push toward gunfire instead of away from it. It owns the mid-range trade window where Heavy Ammo penetration matters, where the item:heavy-shield's 80 charge absorbs the inevitable return fire, and where Aggressive's +2 HP every 5 seconds tops you up between fights without burning a medkit (arcraiders.wiki Augments page). The same kit that deletes a three-stack at an extraction also punches through a Bastion's plate, so one loadout covers PvP and the harder PvE on the same raid.
It is not a stealth kit and it is not an extract-rich kit. The Heavy shield's -15% movement penalty is loud over open ground until you skill into item:used-to-the-weight. The 65 weight ceiling on Combat Mk. 3 Aggressive leaves real room for ammo, heals, and grenades but not for a full Safekeeper-tier loot bag. If your run plan is hauling a dozen rare components home, run a looter augment instead.
The headline weight math: item:bettina 11.0 + item:anvil 5.0 + Heavy shield 9.0 = 25.0 of the 65-weight cap. That leaves 40 weight for quick-use, ammunition, and whatever you pry off the bodies you stack up.
Core Loadout
| Slot | Item | Key Numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Augment | Combat Mk. 3 (Aggressive) | 18 backpack, 65 weight, 4 quick-use, +2 HP / 5s with 30s combat pause |
| Shield | Heavy | 80 charge, 52.5% mitigation, 9.0 weight, -15% move penalty |
| Primary | Bettina | Heavy Ammo AR, 16 dmg, 28.7 fire rate, 22 mag, 4.5s reload, 52.3m range, 11.0 weight |
| Secondary | Anvil | Heavy Ammo hand cannon, 40 dmg, 16.3 fire rate, 6 mag, 2.5x headshot, 50.2m range, 5.0 weight |
| Quick-use 1 | Medkit | Heavy heal, primary recovery |
| Quick-use 2 | Bandage | Top-up between fights |
| Quick-use 3 | Shield Recharger | Mid-fight charge restore |
| Quick-use 4 | Frag grenade | Flush corners, break stacks |
Bettina's per-page values on arcraiders.wiki list 16 damage, 28.7 fire rate (235 RPM), and 22-round mag with a 4.5s reload, which supersedes the 14 / 32 numbers on the older overview snapshot, those appear pre-Flashpoint-buff. Use the per-page values everywhere this guide cites Bettina performance.
Why Each Slot
Augment: Combat Mk. 3 (Aggressive)
The Aggressive variant is the only Combat Mk. 3 augment that pairs Heavy shield access with the +2 HP / 5s passive (arcraiders.wiki Augments page). The passive pauses for 30 seconds after any damage taken, which sounds like a downside until you read it the right way: the regen is a between-fights tool, not a mid-fight one. That is exactly when a brawler needs sustain. You finish a trade, drop behind cover, and your health bar climbs while the Heavy shield is recharging on the same clock. IGGM's Flashpoint augment tier list slots item:combat-mk3-aggressive at S for this reason.
The 18 backpack slot count is the other half of the trade. item:looting-mk3-cautious gives 24 slots but locks you to Light shields. item:combat-mk3-flanking gives 20 but also locks Light. Aggressive is the only augment that lets a Heavy-shield brawler carry meaningful loot and quick-use depth on the same raid.
Shield: Heavy
Heavy is 80 total charge and 52.5% mitigation versus Medium at 70 / 42.5% (arcraiders.wiki Shields page). A 40-damage Anvil headshot lands for 19 health damage through Heavy and 23 through Medium. The per-hit gap is small, but the total-charge gap is the real story. Heavy absorbs twice the hits of a item:light-shield (40 charge) and roughly 14% more than Medium before breaking, which is the whole margin in a sustained AR trade where both sides empty a mag.
Some PvP guides run Medium for the smaller -5% movement penalty (thearcraiders.com Builds), and that is a fair pick for players who skip the Used to the Weight skill. If you spend 5 points on Used to the Weight, the Heavy shield's -15% drops by half and the build stops feeling sluggish, so the 10-charge and 10-percentage-point upgrade comes free.
Primary: Bettina
Heavy Ammo profile, fully-automatic, strong ARC armor penetration (arcraiders.wiki Bettina). Sixteen damage at 28.7 rounds per second translates to ~459 raw DPS, before mitigation and before the 1.5x headshot multiplier. The 22-round magazine is what separates the Bettina from the item:tempest in the brawler role: you can land a sustained burst on a shielded target, watch the shield pop, and still have ten rounds left to dump into health. Tempest reloads sooner and runs Medium Ammo, which trades the armor-pen profile away.
The 4.5-second reload is long, so time it behind cover. item:fight-or-flight stamina recovery is partly why Conditioning is the brawler tree: you reload mid-fight more than other archetypes do.
The 11.0 weight is the heaviest weapon in this archetype's pool. The skill item:loaded-arms cuts the equipped weapon's encumbrance contribution in half, dropping Bettina's effective weight to ~5.5 (arcraiders.wiki Skills page). That is five units of capacity reclaimed for ammo and heals. Skip Loaded Arms and you feel every kilogram on long extraction sprints.
Secondary: Anvil
Single-action hand cannon, Heavy Ammo, strong ARC pen, 40 damage with a 2.5x headshot multiplier (arcraiders.wiki Anvil). One clean headshot deals 100 damage to a target's health pool before mitigation, which is a two-tap kill on most Raiders running default health. The Anvil exists so you do not waste Bettina mags on a finisher: empty a controlled burst into the chest, swap, headshot, move on. Available from the trader Tian Wen for 15,000 coins, three per day, so the supply is steady once you hit mid-game.
Five-point-zero weight makes it the cheapest serious sidearm in the archetype. The 50.2m range covers the bracket the Bettina drops off in, which means a Raider who breaks contact at 45 meters does not get to walk away.
Quick-use: Medkit, Bandage, Shield Recharger, Frag
Two heals because Aggressive's passive only ticks when you have not been hit in 30 seconds, and a third party will rotate on your gunfight before that timer clears. item:shield-recharger because the Heavy shield bar is the difference between winning the trade and losing it. Frag because indoor fights end one of two ways: the target dies, or the target runs into a side room to heal. The frag answers both. Stun grenade is a viable swap on Buried City interiors where you want to lock a doorway rather than clear it.
Skill Tree Allocation
The character cap is level 75 with 76 skill points across the three trees (arcraiders.wiki Skills page). The brawler is Conditioning-heavy with Mobility support and almost no Survival until late.
Level 20 (21 points spent):
- item:marathon-runner, Mobility, 5pt. Reduced sprint stamina cost. Foundational for closing range to Bettina's 52.3m sweet spot.
- item:youthful-lungs, Mobility, 5pt. About 24% max stamina increase. Stacks with Marathon Runner for extended chase windows.
- Used to the Weight, Conditioning, 5pt. Cuts the Heavy shield -15% movement penalty in half. Without this point, the build is a moving target.
- Fight or Flight, Conditioning, 5pt. Recovers 2.82 to 15.64% of stamina when hit in combat. The brawler eats damage by design, so free stamina on incoming hits keeps the dodge-roll loop alive when a trade goes sideways.
- item:carry-the-momentum, Mobility, 1pt capstone (15 Mobility prereq). Free sprint after dodge roll.
This order is non-negotiable because Used to the Weight is the difference between the Heavy shield feeling playable and feeling broken. By level 20 you have a kit that functions in any 30-meter trade.
Level 40 (41 points spent):
- Loaded Arms, Conditioning, 1pt. Equipped weapon contributes 50% less to encumbrance. Drops Bettina from 11.0 to ~5.5 effective.
- item:survivors-stamina, Conditioning, 1pt (Fight or Flight + 15 Conditioning prereq). Faster stamina regen while critically hurt, which is when you most need to disengage.
- item:effortless-roll, Mobility, 5pt. Dodge rolls cost less stamina. Earns its keep on any push the brawler aborts.
- item:looters-instincts, Survival, 5pt. Faster loot reveals on bodies. The only PvP-relevant Survival node, because a third party is rotating on your gunfire and every second on the corpse counts.
- item:broad-shoulders, Survival, 5pt. Carry capacity. Optional swap to a second Mobility node if you extract light.
Level 75 (76 points spent):
- item:back-on-your-feet, Conditioning, 1pt capstone (36 Conditioning prereq). Health regenerates while critically hurt up to ~30%. Pairs with Aggressive's +2/5s for compounding sustain after the 30-second damage pause clears.
- item:slip-and-slide, Mobility, 5pt. Slide distance for cover-to-cover transitions.
- item:calming-stroll, Mobility, 5pt. Stamina regen while walking, free recovery between engagements.
- item:silent-scavenger, Survival, 5pt. Quieter looting, useful when extracting through PvE-heavy zones.
Overgear's Tank Build skill priorities (Used to the Weight, Blast-Born, Fight or Flight, Survivor's Stamina, Loaded Arms, Turtle Crawl, Back on Your Feet at 37 Conditioning) line up with this allocation almost point for point, which is a fair sanity check on the Conditioning spine.
Against Each ARC Class
Heavy Ground (Bastion). Bettina headshots through the chest plate at mid range, Anvil finishes when the plate pops. The strong ARC armor pen on both Heavy Ammo weapons is why this archetype handles Bastions without packing a Hornet Driver. Stay at 25 to 35 meters where the Bastion's own weapon falloff hurts them more than yours.
Heavy Aerial (Rocketeer). Bettina's 28.7 fire rate eats Rocketeers out of the sky before they commit a rocket volley. Burst from cover, reposition. The Flashpoint 1.22.0 Rocketeer rocket damage values make this safer than the previous patch.
Smaller ARCs (Wasps, Shredders, Snitches). The Bettina is overkill but works fine; the Anvil one-shots most of them on body. Skip the Hornet Driver slot, you do not need it.
Bosses (Queen, Matriarch). This is not a boss kit, so you can participate in a Queen or Matriarch fight but you will not out-DPS a item:hullcracker plus item:jupiter pair on red-core damage. Skip boss arenas unless your squad already has the right kit. The Boss Hunter archetype is the swap for that fight.
When the Build Fails
Snipers past 55 meters. Jupiter and item:osprey users on a ridgeline with line of sight to your approach win the trade before Bettina is in range. Bettina range falloff hits hard past 52.3m, so you cannot answer at the same distance. Counter by picking approach angles with cover at 40-meter intervals. Never sprint open ground when you cannot see the ridge.
Coordinated three-stack flanks. Heavy shield's 80 charge does not survive simultaneous fire from multiple angles. Aggressive's regen assumes you get 30 quiet seconds, and a coordinated flank denies that window. If the flank lands inside 20 meters before you notice, you lose. Frag your own position, pop Shield Recharger, break line of sight, and reset.
Tactical Mk. 3 Defensive anchors in choke points. Their integrated Shield Recharger uptime out-sustains your +2/5s passive in extended trades. Do not push a held angle alone. Bait their shield down with a frag and a Bettina burst from cover, then commit only if the charge bar visibly drops.
Extract-priority runs. If the run plan is hauling Safekeeper-tier loot home, the 25-weight floor of Bettina + Anvil + Heavy shield crushes your loot economy. Swap to a looter augment for those raids. The brawler is for fight-priority play.
Variant: Close-Range Vulcano Swap
For Buried City interior raids and Stella Montis lower floors, swap the Bettina for a item:vulcano (semi-auto shotgun, 49.5 damage, 26.3 fire rate, 26m range, 8.0 weight per arcraiders.wiki) and the Anvil for a item:stitcher SMG (Light Ammo backup, 5.0 weight). Keep Combat Mk. 3 Aggressive, keep Heavy shield, keep the same Conditioning spine. Add Effortless Roll to the skill priorities for the in-and-out shotgun playstyle.
The full corridor-pusher writeup, including map breakdowns, item:il-toro pump variant, and quick-use tweaks, is covered in the close-range loadout build guide. Read that one for the indoor-specific play; this archetype guide treats Vulcano + Stitcher as the close-range slot in the same brawler family, not a separate build.
Quick Reference
Total loadout weight floor: Bettina 11.0 + Anvil 5.0 + Heavy shield 9.0 = 25.0
Combat Mk. 3 Aggressive cap: 65 weight, 18 backpack slots, 4 quick-use slots
Remaining for ammo + heals + grenades + loot: 40 weight
With Loaded Arms applied to Bettina: effective floor drops to ~19.5
Heavy shield math:
Total charge: 80
Mitigation: 52.5%
40-damage hit through Heavy: 19 health damage, 40 charge consumed
Number of 40-damage hits before break: 2
Bettina sustained damage:
Raw DPS: 16 dmg * 28.7 fire rate = 459 per second
Per mag: 16 * 22 = 352 raw, dropped to ~167 through Heavy (~52.5% mitigation)
Mag duration at full auto: ~0.77s
Reload: 4.5s
Anvil two-tap math:
Headshot: 40 * 2.5 = 100 health damage before mitigation
Through Heavy shield: ~47 health damage per headshot
Body shot: 40 raw, ~19 through Heavy
Citations: arcraiders.wiki per-weapon pages for Bettina, Anvil, Vulcano, Stitcher; arcraiders.wiki Shields and Augments pages for shield mitigation and augment passives; arcraiders.wiki Skills page for skill effects and prerequisites; Overgear, TheArcRaiders, and GameRant for cross-validation on the augment-shield-skill spine.