Dropping into ARC Raiders after 1.17.0 feels different in your bones, and it hits fast. One minute you're jogging a familiar route, the next the sky goes mean and the hurricane starts bullying your movement. If you've been tracking ARC Raiders Items to keep your runs consistent, you'll still get thrown off, because the storm doesn't care what you planned. Wind yanks your aim, rain smears the sightlines, and all those "safe" crossings suddenly look like a bad joke.

How The Storm Changes Fights

The biggest shock isn't the visuals, it's the timing. Hurricane Mode turns the map into a moving problem. You'll hear it build, think you've got a few seconds, then debris is cutting across your path and you're forced to choose: stop and get stable, or push and get exposed. PvE gets messier because arcs and patrols don't wait for you to reset. PvP gets nastier because you can't read distance the same way; people appear out of the haze, vanish behind a gust, then reappear somewhere you didn't expect.

Loadouts Aren't "Set And Forget"

You learn quick that long-range confidence doesn't travel well in this weather. You can bring a sniper, sure, but you're gambling that the wind won't nudge your shot and that the target won't blur into the rain. Most squads I've run into are leaning on close tools instead: shotguns for the sudden door swings, SMGs for those messy corner scrambles, and a mid-range AR when you need to tag someone through dust without praying to the recoil gods. Even attachments feel different; anything that helps you reacquire a target matters more than raw damage on paper.

Movement, Cover, And Team Calls

Cover isn't optional now, it's your whole plan. You stop doing long sprints across open ground and start moving in short bursts, almost like you're crossing a street in traffic. Crouch, slide, hit a wall, breathe. Buildings and low terrain dips become mini safe zones where you can actually listen and reset your angles. Solo runs are rough because the storm steals audio cues; footsteps get lost, and that "I swear I heard someone" turns into a wipe. With a squad, simple callouts win fights: who's watching the flank, who's holding the doorway, who's saving utility for the push.

Playing The Hurricane Instead Of Fighting It

Once you stop trying to out-muscle the weather, you can use it. Bait a team into a gusty lane where their aim goes shaky, then rotate tight through cover while they're stuck correcting their movement. Take fights closer than you normally would, but not reckless-close; you want control, not chaos. And if you're gearing up for these runs, it's not a bad idea to buy ARC Raiders gear early so you're not improvising mid-storm when the map decides to get violent.