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ARC Raiders Cold Snap Patch Notes (Update 1.7.0)

Embark's December 16 winter drop adds the Cold Snap map condition, Flickering Flames event, skill tree refunds, and a Bettina durability rework.

v1.7.0By BrokenBuilds WikiUpdated

What Changed in Cold Snap

Embark shipped Update 1.7.0 on December 16, 2025 as the first true seasonal drop after launch. The patch is built around three changes that altered how every Raider plays through the holidays: the Cold Snap map condition that adds freezing damage outdoors, the Flickering Flames event with the Gathering Candleberries reward track, and the long-awaited Skill Tree Reset. Underneath the seasonal layer, the Bettina got a durability rework that quietly raised its place in the meta.

Cold Snap map condition

A rotating environmental hazard active across all maps through January. Standing outdoors stacks freezing damage that ramps until you find shelter or burn a heal. Buried City interiors, Spaceport hangars, and Stella Montis tunnels become safe rooms. The condition reshaped extract routes around fire pits and indoor stretches, and it punished Looting Mk. 3 Survivor builds that lean on the stationary regen passive in the open.

Flickering Flames and the Gathering Candleberries event

The seasonal event ran December 16 to January 13, 2026. Players earned merits by completing the Candleberries questline and unlocked 25 reward tiers covering cosmetics, Raider Tokens, and currency. The free Goalie Raider Deck dropped on December 26 as a community gift.

Skill Tree Reset

The long-requested respec arrived. Each refunded skill point costs 2,000 Coins. The respec lets a Raider pivot from a PvP Conditioning build to a PvE Survival build without rerolling, and it removed the early-game punishment for sinking points into the wrong branch.

Quality of life

ADS Toggle joined the control settings. The wallet UI now shows the 800-Cred soft cap so players stop overshooting the threshold by accident. Festive cosmetic packs and Raider Tool customizations went live in the store.

Balance Changes

  • item:bettina: durability burn rate dropped from roughly 0.43% to 0.17% per shot. The rifle now lasts about 26 magazines before breaking instead of 12. Magazine size up from 20 to 22 rounds. Reload trimmed from 5.0 seconds to 4.5 seconds.
  • item:rattler: magazine size 10 to 12. Aimed at fixing early-level PvP TTK against Tempest and Bettina players.
  • entity:shredder: reduced weapon knockback so Raiders are not staggered out of cover by a single melee swipe. Faster movement and turning. Increased head HP to prevent unintended dismemberment from stray rounds. More individually destructible parts. Better navigation in tight corridors.
  • item:aphelion blueprint: relocated from the Matriarch drop table to the Stella Montis boss drop table. The Matriarch already gave up enough endgame gear; this change opens a second source for energy battle rifle hunters.

Bug Fixes

  • Snap Hook plus zipline momentum-storage exploit closed.
  • Breaching exploit that let downed players keep fighting resolved.
  • Deployables no longer launch enemies when shot.
  • Crash when alt-tabbing out of game fixed.
  • Texture and mesh flickering across maps cleaned up.
  • Spawn-distance corrections so squads no longer drop on top of other Raiders.

Build Impact

The Bettina durability rework is the headline shift that sticks past the seasonal window. Doubling the magazines-per-break threshold on the meta assault rifle made it cheaper to run in extract loops. Builds that previously rotated to a backup AR mid-raid because the Bettina was bleeding HP can now finish the route on a single rifle.

The Rattler magazine bump matters for new Raiders working toward their first Bettina. A 12-round mag closes the TTK gap against Tempest users who were winning trades on volume alone, which softens the pre-Workshop grind that defines the first ten levels.

The Shredder rework is the unsung change. Pre-1.7.0, players cleared Shredders with three or four short bursts to the head and moved on. Post-patch, the increased head HP forces a real engagement. This raises ammo cost on PvE-heavy routes and bumps the case for Heavy ammo weapons in your secondary slot.

The Skill Tree Reset is the structural change. Anyone who rushed Survival nodes during the launch grind now has a 2,000 Coin path back to a balanced build. Loadouts that wanted Conditioning passives like Used to the Weight or Marathon Runner became viable mid-season for the first time.

Map and Event Notes

The Cold Snap condition rotates off in mid-January with the next major patch. While active, plan extracts around indoor cover and load a heal in your quick-use slots even on PvP routes. The freezing damage stacks fast enough that a downed Raider in the open can die to environment alone before a teammate revives.

The Flickering Flames event reward track is fully claimable; nothing carries to a future event. Players who skipped the questline forfeit the 25-tier rewards. Plan an evening of PvE if you want the cosmetic set.

See Also