Since the Frozen Trail update landed on 8 October, ARC Raiders has had a new enemy that players keep talking about on the snowbound Pendola Pass map: the Bully. This four-legged machine gallops at you, shells you from range and finishes you off with a shotgun up close, so no distance ever feels safe. This guide gathers its attacks and weak spots as reported by players, then what it drops according to the game data published by ARC Tracker.
At a glance
The Bully is a four-legged ARC found on Pendola Pass, firing cluster grenades from range and a shotgun up close.
Its weak spots are the leg joints, best hit with heavy ammo rather than wasting rounds on its armoured body.
It drops the Bully Fragmenter, a throwable that deals 40 damage across a five-metre radius.
The Bully is ARC Raiders’ most aggressive new machine
In its official first look at the Frozen Trail content, Embark Studios describes the Bully as a machine-learned enemy, an oppressive and aggressive beast that cedes no ground as it gallops towards your position. The studio offers three pointers of its own: use cover, time your response and hit your shots.
Kyuman “Frann” Kim, who played the update early for Inven Global’s Frozen Trail preview, describes it as a quadruped ARC that gallops like a horse. He rates it the most annoying enemy of his whole demo, precisely because it’s so hard to shake once it has spotted you. You’ll run into it on Pendola Pass, the update’s new map, whose missions are covered one by one in our Pendola Pass quests guide. For a wider view of everything Frozen Trail adds, our Frozen Trail review covers the new map, the weapons and the rest of what’s new.
Its attacks leave you nowhere safe to stand
ARC Raiders’ Bully picks its weapon according to range. From afar, it lobs mortar rounds that split into cluster bomblets, which makes any open ground dangerous. Up close, it switches to a shotgun. Writing Insider Gaming’s guide to the Bully, Charlie Champion sums up its rhythm as hit and run, all while it keeps charging you down. Hang around at mid range in the open and you’ll be eating both attacks at once.
In ARC Raiders, the cover Embark mentions matters most against the grenades. A wall or a rock shields you from the shower of bomblets while the Bully closes in, and that’s often when it slows down to fire that its legs become a target you can actually work with. If you’re in a squad, one of you can draw its attention while the others go for the joints.
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Weak spots and loot: the ARC Raiders Bully explained
According to Insider Gaming, the Bully’s weak spots sit in the joints of its legs. A handful of accurate hits with heavy rounds will soften it up, whereas its armoured body simply drains your magazines. So don’t waste ammo on the shell: aim for the knees and save your resources for what matters. To pick the right gun, our tier list of the best weapons after the update compares their time to kill.
Take it down and you’ll pick up the Bully Fragmenter, an epic-tier throwable that works as a cluster grenade, as Insider Gaming first reported. According to the game data published by ARC Tracker, it deals 40 damage across a five-metre radius and sells for 5,000. You can also recycle it into one ARC Alloy and one Explosive Compound.
Early previews of the update said the Bully also dropped Couplers, the parts that open up the Emperor, the colossal robot on Pendola Pass that doubles as a dungeon. The game data tells a different story: the Fragmenter is the only item tied to the Bully, while the three Couplers (Conductive, Insulated and Plated) come from cargo drops and are then assembled into the Emperor Gateway Conduit. Our Emperor Modulator guide covers the whole route, from beacon to extraction.
Should you fight the Bully on every raid?
Not necessarily. If you mainly play ARC Raiders to loot buildings, steering clear of it is a perfectly sound plan, especially solo. If you want a strong throwable or a 5,000 sale, though, its Fragmenter is worth the detour. To get inside the Emperor, it’s the Couplers from cargo drops you need to hunt down.
The Bully isn’t the only newcomer, either. Embark also introduces the Skulker, an ARC that hides in the snow before turning into a turret, and the Hydra, a three-tiered turret stationed on the Frigate. You’ll also come across both in the new map’s quests.
To keep track of what is coming next, check the release calendar.