The Rascal is the break-action grenade launcher Embark dropped into the Special slot with Nomadic Envoys 1.29.0. It does one thing well: it kills ARC. Its projectiles refuse to detonate on anything else, which writes its job description before you even pick it up. Anti-ARC sidearm. Lightweight complement to the item:hullcracker, not a replacement.
This guide covers what the Rascal does, when to bring it instead of the Hullcracker or a grenade launcher quick-use option, the loadout slots it shifts, and the failure modes that keep it from being a universal pick.
What the Rascal is
The Rascal is a Special-slot weapon from Tian Wen. Break-action, single-shot magazine, Launcher ammo. The base stat block as shipped in 1.29.0:
- Damage: 75
- Fire rate: 13.7
- Range: 28.3
- Magazine size: 1
- Weight: 4.0
- Stability: 87.8
- Agility: 78.1
- Stealth: 1
- ARC armor penetration: Very Strong
- Rarity: Rare
Per-shot durability and reload time are unconfirmed at the time of writing (datamining pending for both). Time the reload in your own raids and enter the value you see in-game; the Loadout Optimizer accepts a user-input override for both fields so the rest of the loadout math still resolves.
The detonation rule is the headline. Rascal projectiles do nothing on PvP impact. The shell physically hits a Raider, then nothing happens. No damage, no stagger, no AoE. Against ARC, the impact triggers the explosive and the round behaves like you would expect a grenade launcher round to behave.
Where it fits in the Special slot
The Special slot has two real contenders for anti-ARC work now: the Hullcracker and the Rascal. They are not redundant.
The Hullcracker is the high-ceiling option. 100 damage per pump-action shot, pump-action reload, no PvP restriction on detonation. It can finish a Raider in two pumps and it can strip a Queen or Matriarch armor plate in two shots. It carries weight for that ceiling and it eats Launcher ammo at the same rate as the Rascal.
The Rascal is the low-floor option. 75 damage per break-action shot, single-shot magazine, ARC-only detonation. It weighs less, it occupies the same Special slot, and it kills the ARC threats that Heavy and Energy ammo struggle to clear quickly. Three hits drop a Shredder cleanly under community testing. A clean hit on a smaller ARC ends the encounter immediately.
The pick comes down to what the rest of the loadout is doing. Boss Hunter builds running Jupiter primary and Hullcracker secondary keep the Hullcracker because the per-shot ceiling matters against the Queen and Matriarch armor windows. Solo Raiders running a Heavy-ammo primary and looking for ARC coverage without spending the Hullcracker's weight budget pick the Rascal. The Hullcracker is the dedicated boss tool. The Rascal is the patrol sidearm that handles the ARC that comes around the wrong corner.
When to bring the Rascal
Solo runs are the strongest case. The Hullcracker is heavy enough that fitting it into a Looting Mk. 3 (Cautious) or Tactical Mk. 3 weight ceiling forces real compromises elsewhere in the loadout. The Rascal's 4.0 weight lets you keep your primary, keep a full quick-use bar, and still have an anti-ARC answer for the unscheduled Shredder pull.
Squad runs where someone else already brings the Hullcracker are the second case. You do not need two players carrying the heavy boss tool. One Hullcracker for the boss windows, one Rascal as an off-augment ARC support, and the third squadmate runs a PvP-leaning loadout without overlapping the launcher role.
PvE-heavy sectors are the third case. Old Spaceport patrol routes that funnel through ARC-dense corridors reward the Rascal's quick anti-ARC answer more than they reward the Hullcracker's ceiling, because most of those engagements are against Shredders, Pops, and Sentinels that the Rascal one or two-shots.
PvP-heavy sectors are not the case. The detonation rule makes the Rascal useless against Raiders, and the single-shot magazine means you cannot panic-fire when an opponent commits to a push.
Loadout slot consequences
Putting the Rascal in the Special slot means the rest of the loadout has to cover human combat. Primary handles PvP at range; secondary handles PvP at close range. The Rascal contributes zero to that math. This is fine on PvE-leaning loadouts and ugly on PvP-leaning ones.
The 4.0 weight is the cleanest part of the equation. Compared to a Hullcracker, you free up enough weight for either a heavier shield (Medium instead of Light, or Heavy instead of Medium) or a fuller quick-use bar. Pair the Rascal with a item:bettina primary and a item:hairpin or item:anvil secondary and the result is a loadout that handles ARC, handles long-range PvP, and handles close-range finishers without sliding over a Combat Mk. 3 weight ceiling.
Augment-wise, Combat Mk. 3 (Aggressive) is the natural pairing for boss-style PvE squads. Tactical Mk. 3 (Healing) makes sense when the Rascal carrier is also the medic, because the AoE Cloud of Renewal rework means the medic is not glued to one position anymore. Looting Mk. 3 (Cautious) plus Rascal plus a light primary is the dedicated solo-looter anti-ARC fallback.
Kill efficiency vs ARC types
Confirmed from community testing in the 1.29.0 release thread: three Rascal hits drop a Shredder. Against smaller ARCs (Pops, Sentinels, Snitches), the first clean hit ends the engagement. Heavy ARCs (Bastions, Rocketeers) take more hits than a Hullcracker would; the Rascal's lower per-shot ceiling shows up here.
Boss-tier ARCs (entity:queen, entity:matriarch) are where the Rascal underperforms hardest relative to the Hullcracker. The single-shot magazine means you cannot land two consecutive armor-strip shots without a break-action reload between them. For dedicated boss windows, the Hullcracker still wins. The Rascal handles the surrounding adds while a teammate's Hullcracker does the plate-stripping.
For the boss-room workflow specifically, the [[arc-raiders-matriarch-boss-guide]] walks the homing-missile counter-play timing and the [[arc-raiders-boss-hunter-build-guide]] covers the full Hullcracker-centric loadout the Rascal complements.
Failure modes to know before you commit
Single-shot magazine. After every shot the weapon is empty. Reload time is unconfirmed (datamining pending), so plan for it being slower than you want and do not run the Rascal as your only answer to a sudden push.
PvP useless. The detonation rule is absolute. Do not bring the Rascal expecting it to function as an emergency PvP grenade launcher because it will not.
Launcher ammo scarcity. The Rascal and the Hullcracker share an ammo pool that is already thin. Running both in the same squad slot is fine; running both on the same Raider eats ammo fast and leaves nothing for the second half of the raid.
Range cap of 28.3 meters. The Rascal is a close-to-mid-range tool. Long-range ARC threats (Rocketeers from elevated positions, Bastions on overwatch) want a Jupiter or a Hullcracker with arc compensation, not a Rascal with a single shot in the tube.
Per-shot durability unconfirmed (datamining pending). Pack a backup anti-ARC option for when the Rascal breaks mid-raid; the Loadout Optimizer's durability input field accepts a manual value once you have measured your own.
Routing implications
The 1.29.0 ARC perception rework matters more for Rascal carriers than for most loadouts. Outdoor ARC sound detection got buffed. Indoor sound-through-walls got nerfed. This means the openings where you actually fire the Rascal shift toward indoor corridors and pre-positioned cover engagements, away from open-ground patrols where the single-shot magazine punishes you for being spotted mid-reload.
Old Spaceport and Buried City interior runs gain value as Rascal-friendly routes. Long-distance Riven Tides Beach approaches lose value because the Rascal cannot cover the gap between when you fire your first shot and when an unspotted ARC closes the distance.
For the full route-by-route breakdown of how ARC perception changed under 1.29.0, the [[arc-raiders-weapon-tier-list]] covers which weapons gained and lost value in each terrain type.
Bottom line
The Rascal is a clean anti-ARC sidearm for loadouts that already have PvP coverage handled. It is not a Hullcracker replacement and it is not a universal pick. It is a 4.0-weight answer to the question "how do I deal with ARC without committing to the Hullcracker's weight budget."
Solo Raiders, PvE-leaning squads, and any loadout that wants Combat or Tactical Mk. 3 weight headroom for a heavier shield or a fuller quick-use bar should test the Rascal. PvP-leaning loadouts and dedicated Boss Hunter builds should keep running what they were running.