arc raiders patch notes gun nerfs: Store Update 1.40.0 Explained

Quick Answer: The latest arc raiders patch notes gun nerfs article for Store Update 1.40.0 covers two new Volare outfit colors, the Phantom Targets event, and a pending fix for Queen and Matriarch stomp damage going through walls or from excessive range.

TL;DR: what shipped in Store Update 1.40.0

Store Update 1.40.0 shipped on 2026-08-04 and is mainly a store-content update, not a wide combat rebalance. The clearest confirmed additions are two new colour variants for the Volare outfit—black and yellow—alongside a new event called Phantom Targets. The patch context also flags an important bug fix in progress: the team has seen reports that Queen and Matriarch stomp damage can pass through walls and hit from too far away, and that fix is not described as already live in the excerpt. That means this update is more about cosmetics, event rotation, and a known boss-attack issue than about sweeping weapon tuning.

If you came here searching for arc raiders patch notes gun nerfs, the key takeaway is that this specific patch context does not list direct weapon nerfs, ammo changes, or recoil adjustments. In other words, there is no confirmed gun balance pass in the provided patch excerpt, so players should avoid assuming their current loadout has been secretly weakened. The practical implications are still important, though: boss-fight safety may change once the stomp fix lands, and a new event usually shifts where players spend their time, which can indirectly affect weapon choice and farming routes.

For broader patch tracking, the public patch notes wiki lists ARC Raiders updates from Update 1.1.0 through Update 1.7.0, with Update 1.7.0 dated December 16, 2025 in the wiki excerpt. Source

Winners: what got buffed or added

Store Update 1.40.0’s winners are players who care about cosmetics, event participation, and any loadout that benefits from the new event’s activity patterns rather than from raw weapon buffs. The update’s tangible additions are straightforward: Volare outfit owners and fashion-focused players get black and yellow variants, and anyone looking for something fresh to do gets Phantom Targets. Since the excerpt does not include weapon stat lines, magazine changes, or damage increases, no gun can honestly be labeled a direct buffed winner from the supplied facts.

The most concrete positive change is the cosmetic expansion. In live-service extraction games, outfit variants may not affect damage output, but they still matter because they create identity and can influence what squads see at a glance in social or competitive spaces. If you run the Volare set, the new colors give you two immediate styling options without needing to swap your entire wardrobe. That may sound minor compared with a weapons pass, but for a game with solo, duo, and trio play, visual clarity can actually matter in lobby recognition and group coordination.

The second winner is the event loop itself. A brand-new event often means new reasons to queue, new zones to revisit, or a temporary focus that nudges players into different fights. Even without explicit reward numbers in the excerpt, the existence of Phantom Targets suggests a shift in what the community will prioritize in the short term. That usually benefits players who like to farm event objectives, test route efficiency, or stack session-specific rewards rather than simply grinding standard extraction runs.

Concrete additions from the patch context

Addition	What it means in practice	Who benefits most
Volare outfit: black variant	A new cosmetic color option	Players who already own or use Volare
Volare outfit: yellow variant	Another cosmetic color option	Fashion-focused players and squad identity users
Phantom Targets event	A fresh event activity	Event farmers, route optimizers, and returning players

Why this matters even without weapon buffs

The absence of confirmed gun buffs is itself useful information. If you were waiting for arc raiders patch notes gun nerfs to reveal a major meta shift, this patch context does not show one. Instead, it points toward a more limited update cadence: cosmetic additions, event rotation, and targeted bug work. For players, that means the current weapon meta is likely to remain closer to whatever was already working before this update, at least until the next balance pass appears in the public notes.

That stability helps organized squads. If your trio has already settled on a practiced mix—such as one player handling mid-range pressure, another carrying close-range backup, and a third focusing on utility—you do not need to rebuild the entire team around a new damage model. It also helps solo players who have memorized traversal lines and extraction timing because they can keep using familiar kits while learning the new event structure.

You might also like

• ARC Raiders Star Wars Zero Company Could Give Turn-Based Tactics Its Moment
• Arc Raiders waking the grid quest security sensors security control center traces of breach Beginner Guide
• ARC Raiders: Arc Raiders The Already Great State of the Turn-Based Tactics Genre
• Arc Raiders naomi kyle reviews your best clips cl1p it with naomi kyle Beginner Guide
• ARC Raiders Arc Raiders gadgets you believed useless but are op in cold snap

Losers: what got nerfed or removed

Store Update 1.40.0 does not confirm any direct gun nerfs, but it does identify a gameplay issue that is effectively unfavorable to players fighting certain bosses. The reported problem is that Queen and Matriarch stomp damage can go through walls and from too far away, and the developers say a fix is in the works. Until that fix arrives, players dealing with those encounters are the clearest “losers” in this update because the fight environment can behave unfairly in ways that are not tied to player skill or positioning.

That distinction matters for anyone reading arc raiders patch notes gun nerfs closely. A lot of patch-note traffic in extraction shooters comes from weapon adjustments, but this excerpt is more about enemy behavior and collision integrity than firearms. There is no stated reduction to recoil control, fire rate, magazine capacity, damage falloff, or armor penetration. There is also no listed removal of a gun, attachment, or crafting option. So if your favorite rifle, SMG, shotgun, or utility tool suddenly feels different, the provided update text does not support blaming this patch.

The biggest negative impact is therefore indirect. If boss stomp damage can clip through level geometry, then cover is less reliable than it should be. That affects route selection, revive safety, and whether a squad feels comfortable taking certain engagements in narrow interiors or near doorframes. In extraction games, unfair boss contact can force players to slow down, bait more carefully, or avoid lucrative encounters until the repair is live. That can also change the value of defensive or burst-mobility choices because surviving accidental stomp damage becomes a higher priority than maximizing time-to-kill.

Confirmed problems, not confirmed nerfs

Negative change or issue	Status in the excerpt	Likely impact
Queen stomp damage passing through walls	Reported, fix in progress	Reduced safety behind cover
Matriarch stomp damage reaching too far	Reported, fix in progress	Less reliable spacing in boss fights
Gun nerfs	Not confirmed in the provided text	No direct balance loss can be claimed
Item removals	Not mentioned	No removal can be claimed

What not to overread

It would be a mistake to treat this store update as a stealth weapon balance patch. The excerpt does not mention any of the usual signs of gun tuning, such as adjusted damage values, changed spread patterns, or attachment reworks. For players following arc raiders patch notes gun nerfs specifically, that means the right interpretation is restraint: no evidence, no invented nerf.

The practical loser category is also narrow in content scope. If you do not fight Queen or Matriarch often, or if you mainly focus on lighter scavenging runs and event participation, the update has little obvious downside. Cosmetic players may even view this patch as a net positive because the new Volare colors add more options without forcing any build compromise. In other words, the update hurts encounter fairness more than it hurts player builds.

Player action items: what to do differently starting today

Players should adjust event routing, boss-fight caution, and cosmetic priorities starting today, while leaving current gun builds largely intact until an actual balance patch says otherwise. The biggest mistake would be overreacting to a store update as if it were a full combat redesign. Since this patch context does not confirm gun nerfs, there is no reason to respec around imagined recoil changes or re-craft a whole armory.

1) Treat Queen and Matriarch fights as higher-risk until the stomp fix is live

If your squad regularly challenges these bosses, assume that walls and distance may not protect you as reliably as they should. That means you should:

• keep more space between the boss and your revive position
• avoid holding static angles behind thin cover
• use routes with multiple escape lines instead of committing to single-door defenses

This is especially relevant for trio play, where one downed teammate can cascade into a wipe if everyone stacks too close to the stomp zone. Solo players should also be careful about healing windows near corners because collision bugs tend to punish stationary behavior more than mobile disengagement.

2) Re-route event farming toward Phantom Targets

The new Phantom Targets event should become the center of your short-term farming plan if it offers any event-specific progress or engagement. Even without reward numbers in the patch excerpt, the smartest move is to sample its loop early and see whether it concentrates enemies, objectives, or loot in a way that improves your extraction efficiency.

A useful approach is to compare three run types:

• a standard scavenging circuit
• a boss-hunting circuit
• the new Phantom Targets event circuit

Once you know which route gives you the most practical return in the current meta, you can commit your squads there instead of spreading time across inefficient maps or low-yield encounters.

3) Keep your weapon setup stable unless later notes say otherwise

Because no concrete gun changes are listed here, this is not the moment to panic-respec or scrap a familiar build. If you already run a consistent weapon pair, keep it and only make small adjustments around boss survivability. Examples of safe, non-destructive adjustments include:

• carrying more mobility or escape tools
• prioritizing cover-heavy pathing
• keeping a backup option for cramped fights

Those changes preserve your existing loadout identity while reducing risk from the boss-attack issue.

4) If you own Volare, check the new color variants immediately

Cosmetic players should inspect the new black and yellow Volare variants as soon as they log in. Even if you do not plan to wear them every session, it is worth confirming how they look in different lighting, squad formations, and map visibility conditions. In extraction shooters, cosmetics often have social value beyond pure appearance: they can make teammates easier to recognize in chaotic moments and can help your squad maintain a consistent visual identity across runs.

Action checklist

• Do not assume a stealth gun nerf from this patch
• Re-evaluate Queen and Matriarch engagement timing
• Test Phantom Targets early for route value
• Keep your current loadout unless later notes say otherwise
• Check Volare black and yellow variants if you use that outfit

What this means for the current ARC Raiders meta

The current ARC Raiders meta should remain relatively stable after Store Update 1.40.0 because the excerpt does not include direct combat tuning. That matters a lot in a game where weapon preference, team size, and map knowledge all interact. ARC Raiders is built for solo, duo, and trio play, and stability in balance means squads do not have to relearn every engagement pattern just because a store patch landed. The update also arrives in the context of an extraction adventure on a lethal future Earth, so player value tends to come from consistency, route knowledge, and survivability rather than from chasing every minor content drop.

If you are specifically monitoring arc raiders patch notes gun nerfs, the best reading of this patch is that the developers are currently focused on broader live-service maintenance: cosmetics, event freshness, and boss-attack correctness. That is not a bad thing. In extraction games, balance and content do not always move together. Sometimes one patch is about the store and the event schedule, while the next one is the real weapon pass. For that reason, the smartest players keep one eye on meta discussions and one eye on official note wording.

Here are the most likely short-term meta effects:

• boss-heavy squads may play more conservatively around cover
• event chasers may spend less time on standard loot routes
• cosmetic recognition may matter slightly more in squad play
• weapon selection should stay anchored to what already performs well

The broader platform and player-health context also suggests the game is still active and well-tracked. Steam lists 381356 reviews in one public snapshot and a Very Positive sentiment reading at 82.5% positive in another, while HowLongToBeat reports roughly 38.43 hours for the main story and 157.95 hours for completion. Source Source Those numbers are not patch effects, but they help explain why even a small content update can matter: there is a large, engaged audience watching for every change. Because the game also has 50 achievements with 0 currently unobtainable according to SteamHunters, players who care about completionism are likely to notice any live-service adjustment quickly. Source

Status-first take on the update

Area	Current status after Store Update 1.40.0	Practical reading
Guns	No confirmed nerfs or buffs in the excerpt	Hold existing loadouts
Boss fights	Queen and Matriarch stomp fix pending	Play cover more cautiously
Cosmetics	Volare gets black and yellow variants	Check your wardrobe
Live events	Phantom Targets added	Re-route playtime toward the event

How to read future arc raiders patch notes gun nerfs correctly

Future arc raiders patch notes gun nerfs should be read by separating confirmed balance changes from adjacent maintenance notes, because not every update that mentions combat problems is actually a weapon pass. This patch is a good example: it contains an event, cosmetic variants, and a boss-attack bug, but no stated gun adjustments. That distinction matters for players who make fast decisions based on patch headlines alone.

When a future update truly nerfs a gun, you usually want to look for specific language about damage, reload timing, spread, recoil, magazine size, or attachment behavior. In the absence of that kind of wording, the safer interpretation is that the balance state has not changed. For this patch, the concrete facts point to a cleaner conclusion: the studio is active, the content calendar is moving, and combat fairness issues are being acknowledged, but the weapon sandbox itself is not documented as altered.

A disciplined patch-note reading habit helps in three situations:

• when deciding whether to respec or re-roll around a build
• when planning which weapons to farm or master next
• when choosing whether to invest time in a new event or wait for a fuller meta update

It also helps with expectations. Some players see “patch notes” and assume every update must include gun nerfs, buffs, and tier shifts. In live-service extraction design, that is not always true. Store updates can be narrow, and hotfixes can focus entirely on one collision issue or event activation. So the correct response to this patch is to adapt to the content it actually added, not the changes it did not confirm.

Sources

• https://steamstore-a.akamaihd.net/news/externalpost/steam_community_announcements/1839676055896877
• https://arcraiders.wiki.fextralife.com/Patch+Notes
• https://arcraiders.wiki/wiki/Patch_Notes
• https://store.steampowered.com/app/1808500/
• https://howlongtobeat.com/?q=arcraiders
• https://steamhunters.com/apps/1808500
• https://www.metacritic.com/game/arc-raiders
• https://www.protondb.com/app/1808500

See also

• Arc Raiders Hurricane Map Condition and First Wave Hidden Cache Locations: Beginner Guide
• Arc Raiders groundbreaking quest building picture whiteboard photo abandoned housing project Beginner Guide
• Arc Raiders flickering flames event exactly needed dlc free update Beginner Guide
• Arc Raiders paving the way quest guide enelica building researcher flat
• Arc Raiders how unlock azimuth outfit archeologist backpack the finals crossover Beginner Guide
• Arc Raiders 10 biggest regrets of a players wish i knew sooner: Beginner Guide
• Arc Raiders new steam game like minecraft dwarf delve extraction Beginner Guide
• Arc Raiders loadout best pve pvp ferro cost free good op Beginner Guide
• ARC Raiders How to Complete Trials This Week Jan 5 to 12
• Arc Raiders gamers into voice actors cl1p it with naomi kyle Beginner Guide