The 19 best roguelike games on PC

Going rogue

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Mossmouth / Twin Motion / Supergiant / Kitfox Games

Chaos and comedy. Death and rebirth. Luck and, uh, running out of luck. A good roguelike doesn’t treat the player like other games do. Roguelikes won’t guide you helpfully along a path, or let you cinematically snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. They’re more likely to dangle you deep between the jaws of defeat and fumble the rope until you go sliding down defeat’s hungry gullet. This is their beauty, and it’s a part of why we keep coming back for another go. Next time everything will go right. Next time you’ll find the right pair of poison-proof loafers, the perfect co-pilot for your spaceship, a stash of stronger, better ropes. Next time.

Here’s our list of the 19 best roguelikes on PC you can play in 2024.

Our definition of roguelike is broad. We won’t nitpick what constitutes a rogue like versus a rogue lite , for example. That argument is for professors and other freaks. For a long time, RPS has joked about the “roguelikelike”. This is our way of saying all taxonomy is folly. We could easily headline this article “19 good video games” and call it a day. But as pattern-seeking reprobates, PC gamers crave categorisation (that’s why we love games about managing inventory). Meanwhile, as sicko word scribblers, we journos must provide our fellow rogueliker with the greasy meat of good games, regardless of prescriptive definitions. In short, we’re not interested in the question: what is a roguelike? We are interested in the question: what are the good ones?

The best roguelike games on PC

Here’s our full list of the final contenders. These links are in alphabetical order, because we know you love the suspense of scrolling to see what’s number 1. If you actually HATE doing that, whoa, okay, chill out. You can click a link below to be directed straight to the game.

• Balatro
• The Binding Of Isaac
• Caves Of Qud
• Darkest Dungeon 2
• Dead Cells
• Endless Dungeon
• FTL: Faster Than Light
• Hades 2
• Into The Breach
• Monster Train
• Noita
• Returnal
• Risk Of Rain 2
• Slay The Spire
• Spelunky 2
• Streets Of Rogue
• Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy
• Vampire Survivors
• Wildermyth

19. Vampire Survivors

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun

What else should I be playing if I like this: Other bullet hellions are available, most notably Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor or Death Must Die.

The dirt-cheap popping candy of Vampire Survivors has accidentally created an entire subgenre. And why not? It’s so simple. There are basically four buttons to this auto-shooting crowd controller. Up, down, left, and right. Okay, you have to select an upgrade from a level-up menu that appears every minute or so. But that’s basically it - collect gems, don’t get hurt. You’d think something this straightforward would have caught on decades ago. But no, it took until 2022 for people to realise the most important indivisible part of a video game is “slurp dat jewel”. It’s not, let’s say, a tidy game. The menus look like a phone game from 2009 and the sprites care less about texel density than they do about touching your sweet, sweet collision box. But with every death things get wackier, the screen more full of rando enemies, your pockets full of wilder abilities. Starting up Vampire Survivors is like busting open a 2 kilogram bag of peanuts you buy in LIDL every week because they are coated in some mysterious MSG flavour that you cannot stop eating. Imagine Devil Daggers , but all the enemies have bad knees and you don’t have to aim.

18. Monster Train

What else should I be playing if I like this: Slay The Spire for quintessential roguelike card-killin’. Or Roguebook for similar capers.

Monster Train feels like playing three games of Hearthstone at the same time while snorting a line of Slay The Spire . It is the maximalist speed demon of deckbuilding roguelikes. Each run sees you amassing a deck of malicious minions and wax-headed weirdoes to defend your train’s hot furnacey core against the bigoted legions of heaven. Enemies spill into multiple floors and you’re forced to think ahead with tactical gambles and wild buffing. As you try and repeatedly fail to keep your train alive, new cards and clans are released, letting you mix many-limbed shadowbastards with vine-covered skincrawlers, among other combinations. Its principal inspiration, Slay The Spire, is a cleaner, more elegant card battler. But Monster Train is louder, wilder, and willing to party.

17. Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy

What else should I be playing if I like this: If you’re happy to abandon the bright colour palette and go trad, Caves Of Qud will offer another deep world of lore.

Unexplored 2 does two clever things with regard to its top-down fantasy adventuring. First, it abolishes money. The traders in the game’s many towns and settlements will only operate on the barter system. In other words, if you want a new sword, you might need to give up your boots. The second clever thing happens when you die. As your bones sink into the dirt, whole years pass until your next adventurer is ready to go. This happens in seconds, a map of the world changing as factions and evil empires spread and retreat. Meaning friendly places you visited in a former life may now be held by your worst enemies. All this (and other unexpected features) combine to make Unexplored 2 understatedly special. It isn’t a fiercely combat-heavy game, rewarding you more for chatting and sneaking than for swinging a sword. But in sticking to its principles of exploration and discovery, it stands apart as a game for those who like to wander.

16. Returnal

What else should I be playing if I like this: Risk of Rain 2 for a more light-hearted bullet-heck with pals.

The roguelike is the realm of the indie. Crunchy pixels, ASCII art, tiny teams, and affordable prices - you’ll find no shortage of these things on this list. But what if a AAA studio went big with the genre. What if you applied blockbuster mentality to the dive-and-die game design that every small studio already knows is perfect popcorn gaming? You might come out with something like Returnal . A bullet hellish third-person shooter about a spacewoman trapped in a time loop on an alien world she barely understands. You’ll have all the randomised levels and item choices that force you to create a “build” on the hoof, and the slow meta-progression that lets you get a little further into the time loop with every failure. But you also have the mocap and voice acting expected of a PlayStation-published pew-pew. There is an end to your hero’s time-trapped terror (big game story gotta have closure) but like all good roguelikes you can continue endlessly if you desire, with the aptly named Tower of Sisyphus mode.

15. Endless Dungeon

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sega

What else should I be playing if I like this: This game’s predecessor, Dungeon Of The Endless, was a scrappier 2D version with just as much character.

Endless Dungeon was made for turret fans. The kind of gamer who always plays the Engineer in Team Fortress 2 , who picks Torbjorn in Overwatch 2 , and who won’t listen to as you talk about a cool roguelike you’re into because they’re busy transfixed on the phone playing some random tower defence game about goblins or tanks or… hey. HEY! I’m trying to tell you something here! Ahem. In our Endless Dungeon review it is described as “escorting the mulebot from Deep Rock Galactic through a sci-fi Hades , with tower defence.” If you enjoy the twin-stick appeal of blasting your way through a space station for a few floors, while simultaneously managing the routes waves of enemies will take, then here you go. The biggest complaint about this shooty schlockathon is that the “Endless” is a bit of a misnomer - you won’t get the same seemingly infinite variety from it as others on this list. And fans of its 2D spiritual predecessor Dungeon Of The Endless may not like the new form. But I will forever defend (with turrets) its door-dashing and desperate last stands.

14. Balatro

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

What else should I be playing if I like this: Inscryption led the way as far as wonderfully messed-up card games go. Buckshot Roulette takes inspiration from both that and Balatro.

Gambling has always been a central pillar of the roguelike. Choosing to drink an unlabelled potion is just a thirsty wager against god. Balatro takes things back to the casino. In one sense the game is simple. It is poker. In another sense, it is lunacy. (In a third sense it is actually Big Two , but that’s enough senses for now). You are tasked with breaking a ceiling of points by making a strong poker hand. Perhaps you get a full house, well done. Now the points required are tripled. And there appears to be no solution. WRONG. Balatro soon foists upon you weird and wonderful modifiers. Jokers shaped like credit cards which let you go into debt to buy upgrades. Tarot cards that turn all your spades into diamonds. Spectral cyptids that create copies of other cards held in your hand. With each upping of the ante your stack of winnings soars to more ludicrous heights. But we all have to cash in our chips some time.

13. Darkest Dungeon 2

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun

What else should I be playing if I like this: Perhaps Battle Brothers, if you fancy swapping Lovecraftian gloom for gritty medievalism.

In the first Darkest Dungeon , success would often ride on how much sanity your troubled band of dungeoneers could retain when faced with horrible odds and freakish monsters. The psychic snapping of one character would often lead to an insanity cascade as things went horribly wrong, fast. In this sorrow-soaked sequel, there is a similarly important system underlying your team’s struggles. This time, it is all about relationships. If your team has strong bonds, if they are lovers or best pals for instance, they will buff one another in battle. But if they’ve gotten rowdy on the road, or harbour some resentment, they will chide and blame each other in the middle of a fight, debuffing one another at the worst possible moments. It’s a great way to add some tension, not to mention an excuse to constantly reevaluate your team’s composition. Is it really worth having that bitter Doctor around, when everyone dislikes him and he is always insulting the Man-at-Arms? If only we could do something about that…

12. FTL: Faster Than Light

Image credit:Subset Games

What else should I be playing if I like this: Space hijinks abound in Cobalt Core, which owes a debt to FTL. As does management game The Last Starship.

For every failed run in FTL, you will float away with a tiny, glimmering space anecdote. Tell me about the time your hull got ripped open by robots, or the time you had to suspend life support for three people just to have enough power to keep weapons systems alive for one. Or the time you opened the airlock to remove oxygen in engineering, because a fire was threatening to blow the ship to pieces. It didn’t matter that your chief engineer was still in there. You had no time, right? Who could judge you? You’ll pick up a new engineer in the next system, anyway. FTL was a relatively small game that led the way for a lot of chaotic tomfoolery that would follow. It’s not only one of our favourite roguelikes, it’s one of our best space games too. And, come to think of it, one of YOURS . Ah, it’s so pleasant when we all agree. Huh? You don’t? Please step this way and let’s talk about it. Yes, this way, into the airlock.

11. The Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth

What else should I be playing if I like this: Enter The Gungeon offers hot pixel death but without, you know, the foetuses. Alternatively, try Undermine.

A poo-obsessed roguelike with Zelda-style dungeons in which your hero is a sad foetus who defeats enemies by shooting them with his tears. Yep. Even after all these years it still feels weird to explain. You travel from single-screen room to single-screen room collecting upgrades that will, in theory, make defeating your abusive mother a little easier. Not one for the queasy, developer Edmund McMillen intentionally exhibits his scatological humour alongside religious symbolism with a fervour that will have you worrying about exactly how much urine is going to spill into Satan’s face. Hopefully a lot.

10. Streets Of Rogue

Image credit:tinyBuild

What else should I be playing if I like this: Good question. Very few games share the same sandboxy approach, but for 4 player co-op mischief, perhaps Wizard With A Gun.

The most valuable currency in Streets Of Rogue is chicken nuggets. The in-universe reason for this is that the mayor (the game’s final boss) got food poisoning one time from a pack of nugs, and subsequently banned them. But you will need them to level up your character, a gorilla. No, wait, a robot. No, a vampire. Oh actually, a gangster. A bartender? Hmm, maybe a cannibal this time. Ooo! An investment banker. A hacker. Maybe a shapeshifter. A wrestler today. How about a cop? I think you get the idea. Streets Of Rogue’s comedy lies in its unlockable characters and exactly how they will change the way you approach your ascent through its crime-infested sci-fi cityscape. You might hack every ATM on the way up and use the money to hire goons. Meanwhile a co-op friend might just snort enough cocaine to keep themselves supercharged until you both hit the final floor. Honestly, I don’t care how you go about it. I’m busy biting people as a zombie and causing a small apocalypse.

9. Caves Of Qud

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Kitfox Games

What else should I be playing if I like this: If you want sci-fi Rogue, try Cogmind. If you want MMO Rogue, try Realm Of The Mad God Exalt. If you just want Rogue, try Rogue.

“I’m watching you, traveller,” says a voice behind you as you approach a chest that does not belong to you. You turn. There is no one there. Just a small pond. The only living thing nearby is an eel in the water. Hm. You inspect the eel. “I’m watching you, traveller,” the fish repeats. It is, according to Caves Of Qud’s maximalist descriptivism, a “wet sewage eel and hired guard”. You leave the room, and decide not to steal from the chest. This is a mundane encounter by Qud standards, but it’s representative of the rich absurdity of this massive post-post-apocalyptic world. On tombstones, you will see descriptions of previous adventurer deaths. “Overdosed on a sphynx salt injector,” says one. “Made too many mocking sounds at an ogre ape,” says another. The world is dense with ways to die. One of the game’s achievements is unlocked if you “Wear your own severed face on your face”, raising a number of questions about the fearful depth of its simulation. It is also perhaps the most traditional roguelike on this list, in terms of its presentation and controls. It is as much for roguelike purists as it is for those seeking a fun-loving, low-fidelity RPG of frightening size.

8. Noita

What else should I be playing if I like this: Spelunky 2, you fool.

Noita understands wizards. If a wizard found a mysterious wand buried in a deep tomb beneath ominous statues, that robed rapscallion would not hesitate to point it at the first frog and fire it off. Roguelikes have branched out into many flavours since ye olde days of Rogue itself. But one thing many of them have forgotten is the chaos that comes of curiousity. Drinking potions to find out what they do is one thing. Blasting subterranean ghosts with a random glowing stick you just picked up is entirely another, and it gives Noita’s dank dungeon dives so much comedy fuel. Even more joy erupts when you understand the importance of swapping spells between wands, and combining the flying sawblades, magical dynamite, teleportation, toxic mist, and watery slurge into a single supreme Idiot Twig that will shuffle the spells like a fatally explosive Spotify playlist. If you played Spelunky and thought “this game is not unpredictable enough”, then you are probably a wizard, and Noita is for you.

7. Wildermyth

What else should I be playing if I like this: Griftlands likes to thread narrative throughout its roguelike mischief too.

The brighter alternative to Darkest Dungeon 2, in the sense that Wildermyth too is about the relationships and story that emerges from your characters’ journey. There’s a lot of tactical turn-basery in this RPG, with fights taking place on a grid in a colourful papercraft world. But its the procedural storytelling and clever narrative mechanisms that make your heroes memorable. And if they get bested in battle they won’t necessarily die. Instead they’ll often receive a harsh wound that will affect their personal story in unforeseen ways. Unless of course… it makes sense for them to die? This is something more games could embrace. Choice is a hugely important element of roguelikes, and Wildermyth understands that. It trusts the player to shape the arc of a story, even to give the nod for a final act of desperation or heroics. “I cannot possibly express to you how brilliant Wildermyth is,” said Sin in our review . “It is one of the best games I have ever played and it will bring you more delight than you thought possible.”

6. Risk Of Rain 2

What else should I be playing if I like this: Gunfire Reborn for a similar first-person co-op baddy blasting. Or Helldivers 2 if you just like pals and want to get rid of the roguelike elements altogether..

The first Risk Of Rain was an out-of-nowhere sci-fi survivathon pitting up to four co-op castaways against waves of alien lizards and robot giants. Its pixel simplicity hid a huge variety of power-ups and relics that changed how each character would fight. Seven years later the developers basically shot their ruckusome roguelike with a big ray gun labelled “turn into 3D” (it was probably more difficult than that, but still). The pixel art disappeared but the magic remained. Up to four friendfolk can now dash around the bright 3D levels of this sequel, scooping up teddy bears that negate damage or gasoline tanks that set crowds of extraterrestrials on fire. It also has a killer soundtrack of electric guitar warbling, giving its drop-in-and-mess-dudes-up action even more spacey appeal.

5. Hades 2

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Supergiant Games

What else should I be playing if I like this: The first Hades, for more of the story. But any of Supergiant’s back catalogue would please: Transistor, Bastion, or Pyre.

Smite us not. The first Hades is a good game. But this list isn’t big enough for two errant spawn of the underworld. Hades 2 builds on the slashing and dashing of its predecessor by giving your new hero, Melinoë, a crowd controlling spell. It’s a small but significant change to the rhythm and one that helps propel you downward (and upward) through grim realms full of ancient Greek misfits. Supergiant’s storytelling is also out in full regalia, filling your runs with characterful encounters and clever dialogue. In most roguelikes, you chase new powers, upgrades, and gizmos, building a body that can survive a complete run. You still aim for that in Hades 2, of course, but you’re also building something else: a cast of weird new friends.

4. Slay The Spire

Image credit:Mega Crit

What else should I be playing if I like this: Playable sci-fi comic book Griftlands is quite good. Monster Train is a good shout.

Slay The Spire’s mystical power is such that it spawned an entire genre - the roguelike deckbuilder. You can bet your bottom relic there are others on this list that look to its cardy clamber up a surreal spire for direct inspiration. It had a hefty proportion of the RPS treehouse in its claws for months, and it only takes a few runs to see why. It is a game of improvisation and luck, but also one of cunning and craftiness. At it’s most basic, you have a hand of cards and a violent freak in front of you. The exact order in which to discard and dispatch cards is your recurring conundrum, but it isn’t your only one. Each dive into this dungeon presents you with decision after decision, and the gambles you make in choosing one card over another are as significant as the ethereally perfected arithmetic that underlie the game’s design. I could not tell you what half of Slay The Spire’s enemies are made from; they are beasts from the sad nightmares of Salvador Dalí’s gamer cousin. But I can tell you that finally defeating the most fearsome of them will not quell your thirst for another run. It is likely nothing will.

3. Dead Cells

What else should I be playing if I like this: Rogue Legacy 2 for one thing. But if it’s a pure metroidvania you’re after then Hollow Knight is the obvious choice.

Run wreck smash jump slam slice heck dash roll oh no slash dash slash jump slash run damn dead. That is the average run in Dead Cells reduced to the stream of consciousness purity of buttonthought. This side-scrapping 2D dying simulator marketed itself, once upon a time, as a “roguevania” , not knowing that 8 years and several DLCs later, it would be popular enough to be paired with Castlevania itself. Also, it’s getting an animated TV show in French !? Cool. Few roguelikes can boast both an animated series and some of the most sublime feeling stabs and whacks this side of an Xbox controller. Game developers often talk about “juice”, the enigmatic fusion of controls, animation, and visual effects that makes a game feel plain good. Dead Cells is not just a great roguelike, it’s one of the juiciest games in existence.

2. Spelunky 2

Image credit:Mossmouth

What else should I be playing if I like this: The first Spelunky remains beloved. But why not try Celeste for a purer platforming experience?

Our Graham calls Spelunky 1 the “best game in the world”. So when Spelunky 2 came along, adding turkeys you can ride and moles that dig up from beneath you like a dirt shark, he was thrown into a spiral of confused delight. This platformer roguelike is an escapade generator of random rope climbing, dastardly death traps, and pugs that still need rescuing. The typical feeling of playing Spelunky 2 is that of wonder, followed by hubris, followed by a hilarious cascade of errors that will probably see you accidentally blowing up a shopkeeper and being catapulted into a pit full of bone spikes. This was also true of the first Spelunky, but the sequel refurbishes every procedurally generated biome with new items, enemies and quirks. Everything old is deadly again. All this and more makes it “the best game ever 2” , according to our acting editor.

…but he’s not the one writing the list! EAT IT, GRAHAM.

1. Into The Breach

Image credit:Subset Games

What else should I be playing if I like this: Hmmm, how about Pawnbarian for the “roguelike chess” feel? Fights In Tight Spaces is a tactical deckbuilder.

Chess but with giant time-travelling robots. No, that doesn’t do Into The Breach justice. Hmmm. Grid-paper XCOM with an undo button. No, that’s not it. Turn-based Neon Genesis Evangelion but with an ending that makes sense. Ah, jeez, none of these work. Let’s just settle on “best roguelike six years running”. The cleverest thing about Into The Breach is also the simplest - it lets you see what’s coming. In the same way that Slay The Spire’s enemies telegraph their next move, all the horrible kaiju that threaten the skyscrapers of your 8 x 8 dioramaland will show you exactly what they plan to do. It is up to you to move your mechs into the perfect positions to shunt, shove, and shut down those pesky bugs. Some roguelikes are about chaos, about the laughter that comes from disorder, the accidental death resulting from coin-flip decisions that cause everything to go horribly, hilariously wrong. Not so Into The Breach. It is an exercise in searching for the perfect move. And when the perfect move is not obvious, if it is not even possible, then you do the next best thing and hope for the best.

Think we missed a roguelike? It’s possible we forgot to open a chest or two as we plundered these depths. But that’s what you’re here for. Let us know what your favourite roguelike is, and why you love it so much.

Balatro

PC

Caves of Qud

Video Game

Darkest Dungeon 2

PC

Dead Cells

Android , PS4 , Xbox One , PC , Nintendo Switch

Endless Dungeon

Video Game

FTL: Faster Than Light

iOS , PC , Mac

Hades II

PC , Nintendo Switch , Nintendo Switch 2

Into the Breach

Android , iOS , PC , Mac , Nintendo Switch

Monster Train

PC

Noita

PC

Returnal

PS5 , PC

Risk of Rain 2

PS4 , Xbox One , PC , Nintendo Switch

Slay the Spire

PS4 , PC , Nintendo Switch

Spelunky 2

PS4 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X/S , PC , Nintendo Switch

Streets of Rogue

Video Game

The Binding of Isaac

PC

Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy

Xbox One , Xbox Series X/S , PC

Vampire Survivors

PC

Wildermyth

Video Game

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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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