Rally Point: Mega-mod Terror From The Void finally pushed me into loving Phoenix Point

Job of the perks

Image credit:RPS

I found Phoenix Point difficult to love, despite wanting to. I didn’t cover its original 2019 release at all, partly preferring to give something else positive coverage instead, and partly suspecting I’d attached hope to it in a way I seldom do, and was overreacting. Perhaps that was a disservice to you, The Reader. We ponder.

Its final form left me ambivalent , and hoping its new modding support might provide the leg up it still needed. Well. It did. Terror From The Void is a major overhaul that touches on just about all the problems I had, while preserving what worked. And after it consumed me for several months, I’m ready to call it the game that Phoenix Point was trying to be.

TFTV rewrites the story to centre on a new strain of the Pandoravirus that reduced the Earth to a wasteland dotted with occasional “havens”. With its spread comes “oneiric delirium”: a Lovecraftian madness presented on the strategic map as “Void omens”. These impose worldwide curse-like restrictions like limited human perception, or a lower soldier-per-mission cap.

Delirium appears directly in tactical missions too, occasionally spawning incorporeal monsters from bodies, and piling up on soldiers exposed to its carrying mist. Low levels are easily mitigated by resting, but otherwise sap the Will Points that serve as both morale and fuel for special abilities. Cyborging or mutating your soldiers provides some optional protection, and investing more levelling juice into their Will Points buys time. You may find that by the time you research the best non-final medicine, you’ve already stockpiled enough resources to make it practically free… but even that treatment has side effects. It’s a hint at what Phoenix Point’s overall strategic dynamic should be - not to exterminate but to explore and seek a permanent solution.

Void omens and side effects are, candidly, more “gamey” than I like. I’d even say “roguelike-y”, an unnecessarily distasteful expression, but that’s more true of squads. Many side missions add a randomised twist to the enemy; idiosyncratic habits and specialties of the individual squad you’re facing. You might fight scrappy bandits whose accuracy increases if they stick together, say, or New Jeric-holes who go berserk when you kill a high-ranking member. They’re generally dispelled when you zap the leader, and a few can be a real pain. But they add a little unpredictability to the still quite limited mission set, and colour in the world a little.

More-common ambush missions discourage the previous strategy of minmaxing to a second dropship with one recruit exploring the globe solo. They double as resource scavenging sites too, incentivising prepared exploration. It’s a measured, carrot-over-stick change, rather than the too-common habit of some mods and games to overcorrect for a minority of powergamers. Expansion is still vital and rewarding, but it’s a more open question when and how, allowing for more personal choice than the one obviously best answer.

Complementing this are changes to “Pandoran evolution”. Phoenix Point’s main villain became stronger over time, but by counter-intuitive means that contradict the premise - Pandorans got stronger the more you defeated them or sterilised their bases. That’s all gone now, and most of their progress comes passively - the more of their strongholds remain intact, the faster they field stronger monsters with more varied abilities. They’re harder to find too, as radar coverage now makes detection more likely, not certain.

Image credit:RPS

Undiscovered NPC havens now broadcast an open SOS, rather than quietly dying. Sure, they’ll still be out of range sometimes, but now you know who you’re letting down, where you should be stronger. The world feels more desperate, actively crying for your help. Since a colony anywhere generates enemy progress, you’re naturally pressed to do what the setup implores - to defend the world, to root them out. The lower detection chance makes expansion more complex - a more distributed network plays the odds better. It also hints, too, at the true path to victory - wiping them out is impossible. You must chase the marked plot missions and press the right research.

Managing their progress now feels more natural than being punished for success, which only accelerated the tendency for the Pandorans to become near invulnerably-armoured damage sponges. That narrowed the range of viable strategies, and led even some reluctant players to the natural solution of puzzling out the most game-breaking perk combinations, which bluntly cheapened the experience.

TFTV requires the complete DLC set, some of which was frankly pretty bad. But they’re rearranged - their major side plots kick off later, instead of piling up almost immediately. Specific issues aside, the shared problem was that most of that DLC was additive, new weapons mostly countering their own additions rather than hooking together and punishing players who didn’t know what was coming in advance. The air game in particular is still dissatisfying, but much less demanding. The evil robots and viral attacks are more manageable, and a rejig of vehicles and modules make them more useful and cost effective (especially in ambushes). The “Kaos Engines” marketplace of unique weapons is readily available, and sells faction research too. Normally, see, access to the best technology depends on allying with one or two of the bickering factions, or stealing it from their laboratories. Those are still true, but the marketplace offers a third, expensive way. You generally have more viable options and fewer mandatory resource sinks.

Image credit:RPS

The most welcome changes, though, are to the class system. As before, a soldier’s starting class grants weapon proficiencies (without which they’re generally useless with a weapon), and seven perks to spend Skill Points on. Where the awkward perks formerly led to absurdities like heavies using their giant guns primarily to whack enemies over the head, or the ostensibly melee-oriented Berserker having almost no actual melee advantage, TFVT rebalances and redistributes so well that every class excels at its core designation, and dramatically increases the room for variety and personalisation.

My particular bugbear with Heavies is immediately improved by moving the Assault-only “return fire” ability to their easily-gained second level, and multiple damage-reducing options. Instead of a slow, inaccurate waste of space until leveling up enough to reach the silly “war cry” power that took away enemy action points (and still rarely getting to shoot anything), they’re now natural tanks who run to the front line and counter-attack when a friendly is shot at. Stealth-specialised Infiltrators benefit from UI tweaks and bonus action points from far more effective sneak attacks to get them out of, or further into, trouble. High level snipers can access a huge “fire twice in overwatch” perk.

Better still, everyone gets a line of seven (formerly three, often underwhelming) “personal perks”, reflecting their randomised background, original faction, and guaranteeing access to a bonus weapon proficiency. They can still multiclass too, opening a potential 21 perks before even factoring in bionic and mutant augmentations. It’s so much better.

The infiltrator who can whip out a shotgun to finish off a newly-armourless target, the sniper who can double-fire a heavy cannon (with a 50% bonus to overwatch accuracy thanks to her faction background) at a charging crabman even before multiclassing. I have a Berserker who can, well, berserk - charge in for multiple taser attacks - and support with a light sniper rifle when the situation changes. The new perks can make even a single class soldier very capable - boosting raw stats instead is often just as useful. And there are still no prerequisites - you can skip or delay any unwanted perk.

Image credit:RPS

If phrases like “axe medic” or “jetpack priest” aren’t enough: it gives room to characterise them. I don’t even change their lurid colour choices now, but try to find armour and tools that lean into their super speed or morale-sapping counter attacks. There are no doubt overpowered combinations, but between the fairer Pandoran progress and breadth of options, it’s no longer necessary to seek them out just to keep up. Their skills generally feel less artificial too, more a product of scrappy post-apocalypse experience than magic and meta-knowledge about how many action points an Arthron needs.

There are some partial misfires. Acheron enemies are still too common and cover every map in absurd amounts of mist (which is wildly more demanding graphically than anything else, and plain annoying to see through), and the Revenants don’t quite work for me. Dead soldiers can come back as mutants who bestow a special power on their pals, ostensibly one based on your established tactics. For example, my focus on single-shot attacks (apparently?) led to a revenant who halved the damage of all my first attacks on an enemy. It’s an effort to realise PP’s initial idea that the mutants would respond to your tactics over time, but the brute force implementation feels too magical for my taste. But hey, it’s a meetable challenge, and varies things a little.

Phoenix Point still has its limitations, but Terror From The Void has finally pushed it from mixed feelings to a recommendation, albeit with a caveat or two based mostly in the need to approach it differently to its peers. It’s been a long time since I played an overhaul mod that felt so much like an effective corrective procedure, and more than ever, I hope we get to see a follow-up that builds on its successes and ambitions.

Phoenix Point

Xbox One , PC

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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

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