In praise of one-job RPGs, the greatest antidote to FOMO

There is exactly one string to my bow

Image credit:Psychic Software

We have all known the profound sorrow of getting two hours into an RPG and deciding that actually, Mum, I don’t want to be an elven druid anymore. Being an elven druid sucks ass. There’s barely any plantlife in the opening dungeon, so half my support skills are useless, and the only animal companion I’m qualified to conjure right now is a cranky squirrel. I’d much rather be a rogue. Look at all these elevated paths and pickable locks hereabouts! Look at all these shadows I could be skulking in, these precarious chandeliers directly opposite crawlspaces with rusty grills! Ugh, if only I weren’t a stupid diluted floral wizard!

You whine and kick your heels and finally reroll your character as a debonair sneak with a brace of poison daggers. Then, three hours later, you realise that the current quest is set exclusively in meadows, under blazing sunshine, against squadrons of spiders with a 330-degree viewing arc, and conclude that being a rogue is rubbish as well.

Obviously, if you have a group of characters you can enjoy all the options, but for me, this creates a bizarre problem of envy. Hark at Johnny the Battlemage there, carrying the brawl once again with his bespoke swordmagic while I, the mud-faced squirrel conjurer, hobble around in the rearguard casting Minor Verdancy. Screw you, Johnny the Battlemage. I’m going to restart the game and steal your best moves and then murder you before you’ve even joined the party.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Larian Studios

A contrarian might level up these routine earlygame complaints into the argument that the breadth of class options offered by a traditional roleplayer can be to its disadvantage. If there are 12 classes in an RPG, such a contrarian might snicker, you’re going to spend 11 of every 12 hours wallowing in regret.

There are questions of execution too, of course. For every RPG that has the wit or resource to sustain a bunch of intriguing or even ’emergent’, class-specific solutions for every scenario, there are a bunch that overlap and genericise approaches, cramming them into each area in a dutiful way. I associate this particularly with The Outer Worlds , in which the different questing methods are deflatingly easy to map out the second you enter the area. Unearthing solutions feels more like scooping up collectibles, at times, than role-playing.

All of the above is broadly why I’m still enjoying The Necromancer’s Tale , after gushing over the character creator a week or two back. As the name implies, it’s a one-job RPG in the tradition of The Bard’s Tale , though I think it commits to the idea far more than the latter.

You are a necromancer operating out of a big mansion in a fictional town near Venice, during the age of Isaac Newton. There are, admittedly, shades (hoho) and degrees of necromancy, based on your starting stats. You might be a burly necromancer who works down the docks, or a spindly bookworm who teaches at the academy, or a crypt-delving Sherlock, or a mystic boozehound who can talk the hind leg off a cadaver. But your fundamental purpose in this crafty little period piece is to get really good at raising the dead.

You don’t start off with this goal, mind. You start off investigating the untimely death of your dad. But then it turns out your dad dabbled in the dark arts and had various powerful rivals. So you sift through his notes and learn a few curses to protect yourself and your frail mother, and then you learn a few more spells because this liche lore is pretty handy, and you slowly become part of the underworld.

The chapters often hinge on mastering a particular rite, which might involve tracking down a cipher for your dad’s brain-boggling spellbook, then gathering ingredients such as grave soil and deadly nightshade. In the process, you’ll need to interact with folks in town, asking for hints about certain mushrooms, or where such-and-such a cursed tree is rumoured to grow. You have to do this, of course, without exposing yourself. The populace are grouped into factions, such as Children or Gentry, with Trust levels that add up into an overall likelihood of being chased down and butchered by a torch-waving mob.

Within all that, you’re also deciding whether to be nasty or nice to the various individual people in your orbit, who range from childhood friends to colleagues and woebegone randos in the slums. Will you test this new potion on yourself, or an animal, or some feckless sod down the pub? From where, exactly, will you obtain the body parts you need for this particular seance?

It thickens and it thickens. The writing, which I’ve praised already, does a quietly excellent job of fleshing out a town’s worth of soldiers and shopkeepers, alchemists and priests, oafs and busybodies. It has enough flair that you can forgive the world itself for being a bunch of lifeless painted boxes and forests full of invisible walls, made interminable by a lack of fast travel options. The branching dialogue conundrums are witty enough that you can forgive the combat for being flavourless hex-and-turn-based fare.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Psychic Software

But above all, what gives The Necromancer’s Tale life is simply that it’s dedicated to necromancy. It steams away the FOMO incumbent on fullscale character creation, and allows both the developers and player to sink their fangs into the role. It makes a dramatic asset of the disadvantages of being a gibbet-diver. Again, you have to be secretive. You can’t just pop by the tavern and say “Lads I’ve just found a phat tomb, who’s up for a shovelling?”

There’s no spectral regret associated with these constraints, however: you aren’t thinking “beggars and bellwhistles, I knew I should have picked Fighter”. You’re thinking: “Patience, Aleister. Weave the net. Climb the ladder.” I haven’t experienced any of that weird jealousy towards other party members with their own flashy skillsets, either. Partly this is because a lot of the game’s party members are dead, but also, I’m not supposed to carry the fray. My job is to scheme in the shadows.

I’d dearly like to play more fantasy games that drill into other familiar RPG classes, weaving stories and scenarios around their drawbacks. For example - and I think I’ve touched on this in other pieces - an RPG dedicated to the clerical professions, in which you are either a pacifist or not able to hold your own for long in combat.

I suggested something like this to Larian’s boss Swen Vincke once, back at Digital Dragons in 2024. I asked him if they’d consider making smaller, more specialised RPGs, after topping the pile with Baldur’s Gate 3 , and he looked at me like I’d asked him to chainsaw his favourite dog and give all the pieces names. I suspect many of you will be of the same mind. You’re all fools and blaggards, as far as I’m concerned. Gimme a Healer’s Tale next, Psychic Software.

The Necromancer’s Tale

Video Game

Rock Paper Shotgun is better when you sign in

Sign in and join us on our journey to discover strange and compelling PC games.

All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

Rock Paper Shotgun is better when you sign in

Sign in and join us on our journey to discover strange and compelling PC games.