Arc Raiders Shared Watch event explained

Bridging the gap between the Headwinds and Shrouded Sky expansions, Arc Raiders latest update brings the Shared Watch event. Running from Tuesday, February 10 until Tuesday, February 24, Shared Watch is all about putting differences aside and teaming up to fight the true enemy: the Arc machines. If you’re a very peaceful, approachable raider, then you’ll have no trouble with this, since you’ll generally be in friendly lobbies anyhow.

Below, I’ll explain how to earn Merits to progress the Shared Watch event, and the rewards you’ll get for doing so. Annoyingly, it’s a limited-time event, so you’ll need to get everything done in time if you want the ultimate prize, the (fully upgraded) Slugger outfit—though judging by its looks, I’m not sure why you would.

Arc Raiders Shared Watch event explained

(Image credit: Embark)

During the Shared Watch event, you will earn Merits from destroying, assisting and damaging Arc machines. Importantly, you won’t earn any Merits from fighting other players, though that’s not to say you’re technically discouraged from engaging in a bit of PvP. It is not a separate PvE mode or matchmaking. The key difference to past events, such as the Stella Montis one, is that not all XP will translate into Merits at the end of a run.

Because you earn Merits based on the XP gained specifically from fighting and killing Arc (100 XP equals one Merit), it’s easier to complete this event faster with friends, hunting as many machines as you can during a match.

The bigger and tougher the Arc, the more Merits you’ll earn. For example, small Arcs like Wasps, Hornets, Snitches, and so on give you 100-200 XP, while Rocketeers, Leapers, and Bastions give you around 500 XP. You’ll also earn XP for damaging Arc machines in general and assisting with big Arc kills, so you don’t always have to get the killing blow.

With this in mind, map events like Night Raids are a great opportunity to rack up high scores, as is sitting on a rooftop in Spaceport sniping Rocketeers which you’ll be used to if you’ve done Trials. Bird City might also be good because of the increased number of Snitches over the rooftops, letting you call down lots of Wasps and Hornets.

As for what to do with Merits, these will progress the Shared Watch events page and the rewards track. You can unlock items, up to 150 Raider Tokens, and the new Slugger baseball-themed cosmetic set with what looks like an umbilical cord.