With a Trace is the first ARC Raiders mission that truly tests whether you understand how the game wants you to move, observe, and disengage. On paper, it sounds simple: follow evidence of a vanished scout team, collect environmental clues, and extract with proof. In practice, it’s a layered objective chain that punishes rushing, sloppy aggro management, and poor map awareness harder than anything before it.
Most players hit this mission right as the game opens up, which makes the difficulty spike feel brutal. Enemy density increases, ARC patrol paths overlap, and the mission quietly demands that you slow down and read the environment instead of sprinting between markers. If you treat it like a standard loot-and-leave run, you’re almost guaranteed to fail.
What the Mission Is Actually Asking You to Do
With a Trace isn’t about killing a specific target or grabbing a single quest item. It’s a multi-step investigation mission where each clue spawns in semi-fixed zones rather than exact points. You’re looking for physical traces like broken equipment, damaged terrain, and abandoned gear tied to the missing squad.
The critical detail most players miss is that the clues must be found in sequence within a single deployment. You can’t extract after grabbing one piece and come back later expecting progress to carry over. If you die or leave early, the mission effectively resets, which is why so many runs feel like wasted time.
Why Navigation, Not Combat, Is the Real Challenge
The mission routes you through mid-risk zones that sit between early scav areas and high-threat ARC territories. These spaces are crawling with roaming enemies that aren’t tied to your objective but will happily third-party you while you’re searching. This creates constant pressure to fight when the correct play is usually to disengage and reposition.
Compounding the problem, several clue locations are near sound traps and open sightlines. Firing unsuppressed weapons or triggering environmental noise can pull ARC units from outside the objective area, snowballing encounters into unwinnable fights. Players get stuck because they think the mission failed due to bad combat, when it’s actually bad pathing.
The Silent Failure States That Brick Runs
With a Trace has multiple soft-fail conditions that the game doesn’t clearly communicate. Missing a clue because you didn’t search the full radius can lock progression without a clear indicator of what went wrong. Likewise, moving too far ahead can despawn earlier evidence, forcing a full reset without any warning.
Extraction is another hidden hurdle. You must extract after completing all investigative steps, not during or immediately after combat. Calling extraction while enemies are still aggroed near the final clue dramatically increases the chance of ARC spawns interrupting the evac, which is one of the most common reasons squads wipe at the finish line.
Why This Mission Filters Solo Players and Squads Alike
Solo players struggle because the mission demands patience, audio awareness, and the ability to disengage without backup. Squads, ironically, fail for the opposite reason: too much noise, overlapping aggro, and overconfidence in DPS. One player sprinting ahead can invalidate careful progress for the entire team.
With a Trace is the game’s way of teaching extraction discipline. It’s less about firepower and more about reading the map, respecting enemy patrol logic, and knowing when not to shoot. Once you understand that, the mission stops feeling unfair and starts feeling deliberate, which is exactly what ARC Raiders is aiming for.
Pre-Mission Preparation: Recommended Loadouts, Gadgets, and Risk Budget
With a Trace punishes players before they even deploy. If you drop in with a loud kit, bloated inventory, or the wrong mindset, the mission will fight you every step of the way. Preparation here isn’t about max DPS, it’s about control: controlling sound, aggro radius, and how much you’re willing to lose if extraction goes sideways.
Primary Weapons: Suppression Over Stopping Power
Your primary weapon should be something you trust to end fights quickly without advertising your position. Suppressed rifles and SMGs with stable recoil are ideal, even if their raw DPS is lower than a heavy option. You’re not clearing dungeons here, you’re buying space and resetting aggro.
Avoid slow-firing, high-caliber weapons unless you’re extremely confident with hitboxes and ammo discipline. Missed shots in this mission don’t just waste bullets, they pull patrols that weren’t part of your problem yet.
Secondary Weapons: Panic Buttons Only
Your secondary is insurance, not a solution. Compact sidearms or burst pistols work best because they let you finish weakened enemies without reloading or weapon swapping in a panic. Shotguns can work, but only if you’re disciplined enough not to overcommit in close quarters.
If you find yourself relying on your secondary often, that’s usually a sign your positioning or engagement timing is off. With a Trace rewards players who avoid those scrambles entirely.
Gadgets That Actually Matter
Audio control gadgets are king in this mission. Decoys, sound dampeners, or anything that lets you redirect patrols will save more runs than extra explosives ever will. Use them proactively to clear a path to clue locations, not reactively once you’re already swarmed.
Defensive gadgets like shields or deployable cover are valuable for solo players who need breathing room during clue searches. Explosives should be treated as last-resort reset tools, not openers, because the noise footprint can cascade into ARC reinforcements if used carelessly.
Armor, Healing, and Weight Management
Medium armor is the sweet spot for With a Trace. Heavy armor tanks hits but punishes stamina and repositioning, which matters more than raw survivability here. Light armor can work for experienced players, but one misread patrol can end the run instantly.
Bring fewer heals than you think you need, but make sure they’re fast to use. Long animation heals are risky when enemies can re-aggro mid-search, and getting caught without I-frames is a common way solo runs die.
The Risk Budget: What You Should and Shouldn’t Bring
This mission is not worth flexing rare gear. Treat With a Trace as a medium-risk, high-frustration objective where consistency beats greed. Bring gear you can afford to lose without tilting, because forced resets and extraction interruptions are part of the learning curve.
A good rule of thumb is to cap your loadout at what you’d be comfortable running twice in a row. If losing your kit would make you hesitate to disengage or abort, you’re already over-invested.
Solo vs Squad Loadout Adjustments
Solo players should bias toward self-sufficiency: one flexible weapon, one escape-focused gadget, and minimal weight. Your goal is to stay invisible, not heroic, and every extra item increases decision fatigue under pressure.
Squads should specialize instead of duplicating roles. One player running distraction or crowd control while another handles clue interaction dramatically reduces noise and overlap. Most squad failures happen because everyone brings the same loud solution to a problem that needs restraint.
Objective 1 Breakdown: Locating the Initial Trace Evidence and Safe Entry Routes
With your loadout locked and your risk budget set, Objective 1 is where With a Trace quietly tests whether you understand ARC Raiders’ stealth economy. This step isn’t about combat proficiency; it’s about reading patrol logic, terrain funnels, and knowing when to wait instead of push.
The trace evidence itself is static, but the danger around it is not. ARC movement patterns and scavenger spawns shift enough between runs that your entry route matters more than your aim.
Where the Initial Trace Evidence Actually Spawns
The first trace evidence consistently appears inside low-profile industrial structures near the mission zone’s outer ring, usually adjacent to collapsed infrastructure or half-buried cargo modules. Think maintenance sheds, comm relay huts, or broken transit depots rather than large landmark buildings.
The key tell is environmental clutter without high-tier loot spawns. If you’re seeing rare containers or heavy ARC units nearby, you’re too deep. Backtrack and look for quieter, less rewarding-looking interiors.
Recommended Entry Routes for Low Detection
Approach from elevation whenever possible. Ridges, broken overpasses, and rubble piles let you scout patrol timing without triggering aggro cones, especially against ARC sentries with long frontal detection.
Avoid main roads and open corridors even if they look faster. Those routes are designed to funnel players into overlapping ARC sightlines, and getting tagged here often snowballs into reinforcements before you ever touch the objective.
Enemy Presence and Patrol Behavior to Watch For
Expect light ARC drones and intermittent scavenger patrols, not heavy units. The real threat is overlapping aggro rather than raw DPS, especially when drones drift close enough to chain-alert ground units.
ARC drones pause briefly at patrol endpoints before reversing direction. That pause is your window. Move during it, not after, or you’ll be crossing their detection arc mid-turn when their hitbox feels unfairly generous.
How to Interact With the Trace Without Getting Pinned
Before interacting, clear only what you must. One or two silent takedowns or suppressed shots are fine, but full clears are a trap that waste time and raise noise.
Position yourself with a hard piece of cover directly behind you during the interaction. If enemies re-aggro mid-scan, you want immediate line-of-sight denial, not open space that forces a panic sprint.
Common Failure Points That End Runs Early
The most common mistake is looting nearby containers after spotting the trace. That extra ten seconds often overlaps with a patrol cycle reset, pulling enemies back into the area while you’re locked in an interaction animation.
Another frequent failure is overreacting to minor detection. A single yellow alert indicator doesn’t require gunfire. Breaking line of sight and waiting it out preserves the mission far more reliably than trying to reset aggro with noise.
Solo vs Squad Execution Differences
Solo players should treat Objective 1 as a patience check. If the area feels wrong, it probably is, and waiting out a patrol is almost always safer than forcing progress.
In squads, designate one player to overwatch from elevation while another interacts with the trace. Callouts matter here; overlapping movement is how squads accidentally trigger cross-aggro and turn a clean entry into a messy retreat.
Objective 2 Breakdown: Following the Signal Trail and Managing ARC Patrols
Objective 2 begins immediately after the trace resolves, and this is where most clean runs start to wobble. The signal trail pulls you deeper into ARC-controlled space, usually along predictable movement corridors that ARC patrols actively sweep. If Objective 1 tested patience, Objective 2 tests discipline under pressure.
Where the Signal Trail Actually Leads (And Why It’s Dangerous)
The signal trail doesn’t lead straight to the objective marker. Instead, it snakes through terrain ARC units already consider high-priority patrol space, often near elevation changes or choke points.
Follow the signal visually rather than sprinting between markers. The trail updates dynamically, and rushing often puts you directly into a patrol overlap zone before the UI fully catches up.
If the trail pulls toward an open lane or road, pause. ARC patrols favor straight paths with long sightlines, and entering those lanes at the wrong timing almost guarantees a yellow alert that escalates fast.
ARC Patrol Types You’ll Encounter in This Phase
Light ARC drones remain the primary threat, but now they’re paired with ground-based sentries that respond faster to partial detection. These units don’t hit hard individually, but their aggro radius overlaps aggressively.
Patrols here are on longer loops than Objective 1, which creates false safety windows. You might clear a lane, move forward, and then have a drone re-enter behind you while you’re focused on the signal trail.
Listen for audio cues. Drone hums echo differently in open terrain, and that echo usually means they’re above you or cresting a nearby rise.
Step-by-Step: Safely Advancing the Signal Trail
Move only when the signal updates, not continuously. Each pulse gives you a brief pause where patrol timing can be re-evaluated before committing.
Advance from cover to cover, even if it feels slower. Hard cover lets you break line of sight instantly, which is far more reliable than trying to outrun ARC detection once the alert meter starts climbing.
If the trail bends sharply, stop before the corner. ARC units frequently idle just beyond turns, and peeking wide is how players accidentally face-tank detection without realizing why.
Optimal Loadouts for Objective 2
Mid-range suppressed weapons shine here. You want enough DPS to drop a drone quickly if needed, but noise discipline matters more than raw damage output.
Bring at least one utility option that creates space, like a decoy or short-duration stun. This isn’t for combat dominance; it’s for resetting bad timing without committing to a fight.
Heavy armor is a trap in this phase. Mobility and stamina matter more than survivability, because avoiding aggro entirely is the real win condition.
When to Fight vs When to Slip Past
Only engage if a unit blocks the signal path completely. Optional enemies cost resources and increase RNG risk through reinforcements or third-party scavengers.
If you trigger a yellow alert, don’t shoot immediately. Break line of sight, crouch, and wait. Most ARC patrols de-escalate if you don’t feed them noise or damage.
Red alerts mean you stayed too long. At that point, reposition laterally rather than retreating straight back, or you’ll run directly into the patrol you just avoided.
Solo vs Squad Signal Trail Execution
Solo players should trail the signal slightly offset rather than centered. This gives you more reaction time if a patrol crosses the path unexpectedly.
Squads should stagger movement by a few seconds. Stacked players amplify detection and make ARC hitboxes feel way less forgiving than they actually are.
Designate one player to watch the rear. Objective 2 loves punishing tunnel vision, and most wipes here come from enemies re-entering space you assumed was clear.
Common Failure Points Specific to Objective 2
Chasing the signal too aggressively is the number one killer. The mission doesn’t reward speed here; it rewards timing.
Another frequent mistake is looting mid-trail. Containers along the signal path are bait, and opening them often overlaps perfectly with patrol returns.
Finally, don’t panic when the trail briefly disappears. That’s usually a positioning issue, not a bug. Re-center calmly rather than sprinting forward and pulling unnecessary aggro.
High-Risk Zones and Enemy Behavior: ARC Types, Spawn Triggers, and Avoidance Tactics
Understanding where ARC pressure spikes is the difference between a clean signal trace and a forced extraction. Objective 2 funnels players through spaces that look open but are secretly tuned for patrol overlap and delayed spawns. If you know which ARC types show up and why, you can route around most fights without ever firing a shot.
ARC Types You’re Most Likely to Encounter
Watchers are the most dangerous enemy in this mission, not because of DPS, but because of information control. Their detection cone is wider than it looks, and once they lock, nearby ARC units path toward your last known position even if the Watcher disengages. Breaking line of sight immediately matters more than killing them.
Drones and Skitters patrol the signal-adjacent lanes and are usually on soft timers rather than fixed routes. If you hear idle audio but don’t see movement, assume a patrol is about to round a corner. These units are easy to drop, but the noise spike often chains into a second encounter you didn’t plan for.
Heavier ARC units are rare here, but they can spawn if you linger in a signal node too long. This isn’t RNG punishment; it’s a soft fail-state to push movement. If a heavy shows up, you already stayed past the safe window.
High-Risk Zones Along the Signal Path
Collapsed infrastructure areas are the most dangerous, especially broken overpasses and half-buried buildings. These zones compress patrol paths vertically, meaning enemies can aggro from above or below even if the horizontal space looks clear. Crouch-walking here significantly reduces accidental detection.
Signal bends are another trap. When the trail curves sharply, it often crosses a patrol route at the worst possible angle. Pause before following the bend, scan for movement, and let patrols complete a loop instead of forcing timing.
Open extraction-adjacent fields feel safe but aren’t. These areas frequently spawn late-arriving drones once the objective updates, catching players who sprint toward the next marker. Move laterally first, then forward.
Spawn Triggers You Can Control
Noise is the obvious trigger, but proximity is the silent killer. Advancing too quickly along the signal can wake patrols ahead of schedule, stacking enemies that were meant to be spaced out. Slow, deliberate movement keeps spawns staggered and manageable.
Objective progress itself is a trigger. Completing a signal segment often activates a patrol behind you, not ahead. This is why rear security matters even for solo players; always assume something is re-entering the space you just left.
Looting and hacking actions also flag soft alerts. Even if enemies don’t aggro immediately, they begin pathing toward the sound source. Finish interactions quickly or abandon them entirely if patrol timing feels off.
Avoidance Tactics That Actually Work
Verticality is your best friend. ARC pathing struggles with quick elevation changes, especially ladders and broken stairwells. Use these to reset aggro rather than sprinting across open ground.
If you trigger a yellow alert, stop moving after breaking line of sight. Many players keep repositioning and accidentally pull a second patrol. Staying still for a few seconds often fully de-escalates the situation.
Decoys and stuns aren’t for kills here. Toss them to redirect patrols away from the signal path, not toward extraction. Think of them as temporary map edits, buying you a safe lane rather than a fight.
Mission-Specific Warnings for With a Trace
The mission loves punishing impatience near the final signal confirmation. ARC density spikes slightly here, and players often sprint thinking they’re done. Treat the last stretch like the first: slow, quiet, and controlled.
Don’t chase down fleeing drones. Retreating ARC units frequently path into other patrols, dragging them back toward you. Let them go and continue the objective.
If things go bad, don’t force completion. Backing off a zone fully resets most patrols within a short window, and the signal will still be there. Surviving to extract with progress beats wiping with 90 percent done every time.
Common Failure Points and How to Prevent Losing Progress
Everything leading up to this mission trains you to move carefully, but With a Trace punishes very specific mistakes harder than most faction tasks. These failures aren’t about bad aim or low DPS. They’re about misunderstanding how the mission tracks progress and how ARC reacts once objectives start flipping states.
Below are the most common wipe and progress-loss scenarios, and exactly how to avoid them without turning the mission into a slog.
Overcommitting After a Signal Update
The biggest trap is treating each completed signal segment as a green light to push forward. In With a Trace, progress ticks often trigger delayed spawns behind or on lateral paths, not directly ahead. Players who sprint immediately after a confirmation end up sandwiched when those patrols activate.
The fix is simple: pause for five to ten seconds after every signal update. Rotate your camera, listen for audio cues, and clear your immediate rear before moving. That short delay keeps patrols from stacking into an unwinnable crossfire.
Losing the Signal Trail During Combat
Another common failure is drifting too far from the signal path while kiting enemies. It’s easy to tunnel on survival, loop wide, and accidentally break proximity to the objective. In some cases, this causes partial resets or forces you to re-trigger earlier segments.
Always fight on the edge of the signal radius, not away from it. If combat pulls you too far, disengage entirely and reset aggro before re-approaching. Winning the fight means nothing if it costs objective progress.
Trying to Clear Every ARC Unit
With a Trace is not designed to be fully cleared, especially in mid-to-late segments. ARC reinforcements are semi-RNG and scale with time spent in the zone. Players who insist on wiping every patrol slowly bleed ammo, healing, and focus until one bad spawn ends the run.
Your goal is control, not elimination. Kill what blocks the signal path, stagger what threatens your flank, and disengage the rest. If an enemy isn’t directly interfering with objective interaction, it doesn’t need to die.
Mismanaging Audio Aggro From Interactions
Signal interactions, loot crates, and hackables all generate sound pings that pull nearby ARC even if they don’t instantly aggro. Many wipes happen because players start an interaction at low awareness, finish it, and immediately get rushed from multiple angles.
Before interacting, make sure the immediate area is quiet and stable. If you hear distant movement during an interaction, cancel it and reposition. Losing two seconds is better than losing the entire run.
Extraction Greed After Final Confirmation
The last failure point is psychological. Once the final signal confirms, players rush extraction assuming the danger curve drops. In reality, ARC density stays elevated for a short window, and late patrols often path toward common extraction routes.
Treat extraction like another objective phase. Move deliberately, avoid straight-line sprints, and don’t be afraid to wait out patrol movement before calling evac. The mission only counts if you leave alive, and With a Trace has ended more runs at extraction than at the signal itself.
Ignoring Reset Windows
One of the mission’s most forgiving mechanics is also its most overlooked. If you fully disengage and leave the zone, most ARC patrols will reset after a brief period. Players wipe because they try to salvage bad situations instead of taking the reset.
If alerts stack or resources dip too low, back off completely. Let the area cool down, then re-enter on your terms. With a Trace rewards patience more than heroics, especially for solo players.
Understanding these failure points turns the mission from frustrating to predictable. Once you stop fighting the mission’s pacing and start working with its triggers, progress becomes consistent, repeatable, and far safer.
Extraction Strategy: When to Extract, Best Exfil Routes, and Solo vs Squad Considerations
Once With a Trace confirms completion, the mission isn’t over. This is the phase where most clean runs fall apart because players mentally clock out. Extraction has its own threat curve, and managing it correctly is what turns progress into a successful clear.
When to Call Extraction vs When to Wait
The biggest mistake is calling evac immediately after the final signal. ARC patrols don’t despawn on completion, and in many cases, they actively path toward high-traffic routes as if responding to residual noise.
Take 20 to 30 seconds to stabilize. Reload, heal, and listen. If you hear distant mechanical movement or aerial ARC audio, wait it out. Let patrols pass, then move once the soundscape thins out.
If you’re low on ammo or stims, extract earlier than planned. With a Trace doesn’t reward loot greed, and forcing an extra engagement on the way out is the fastest way to throw a successful run.
Best Exfil Routes for With a Trace
Avoid straight-line routes to extraction beacons. ARC pathing favors open lanes and predictable corridors, especially near map edges and elevation ramps.
The safest exfil routes are indirect and low-profile. Move through cover-dense zones, skirt buildings instead of cutting across plazas, and use vertical terrain to break line of sight. Even a small elevation drop can cause ARC to de-aggro or hesitate.
If multiple extraction points are available, choose the one furthest from your final objective site. Late patrols often gravitate toward recent interaction zones, making nearby exfils deceptively dangerous.
Calling Evac Without Pulling the Entire Zone
Calling extraction generates audio aggro similar to interactions, but with a wider pull. Clear the immediate 360-degree area before activating the beacon, not after.
Position yourself with a solid fallback angle. Ideally, you want hard cover behind you and a single approach lane in front. If ARC push during the evac timer, stagger and disengage rather than trying to DPS everything down.
If the evac timer is long, don’t hover directly on the beacon. Rotate around nearby cover and re-enter the zone only when the ship is about to land. Standing still is how flanks happen.
Solo Extraction Considerations
Solo players should bias heavily toward early extraction. Once the objective is done, your risk-reward ratio collapses fast without teammates to split aggro or revive.
Use reset windows aggressively. If the path to extraction feels hot, back off and let ARC reset before committing. There’s no penalty for patience, and solos benefit more than anyone from cooled-down zones.
During evac, prioritize survival over damage. Breaking line of sight, using terrain, and avoiding full commits will keep you alive far more reliably than trying to clear waves alone.
Squad Extraction Coordination
In squads, extraction is about role discipline. One player should always act as forward scout, another as rear security, with the third floating based on threat direction.
Do not stack on the beacon. Spread just enough to avoid splash damage and shared aggro, but close enough to trade revives if needed. Communication matters here more than gun skill.
If someone goes down during evac, make the call fast. Either commit to the revive together or leave immediately. Hesitation is what wipes squads, not bad RNG.
Common Extraction Failure Points to Avoid
The most common wipe comes from sprinting after completion and face-checking a patrol that hasn’t reset yet. Slow is smooth, and smooth gets you out alive.
Another frequent failure is overcommitting to kills during evac. ARC don’t need to be eliminated, only managed. Stagger, reposition, survive the timer.
Finally, don’t assume extraction is safer because the mission is “done.” With a Trace treats exfil as the final test. Respect it, and the mission becomes one of the most consistent faction clears in ARC Raiders.
Efficiency Tips: Completing ‘With a Trace’ in a Single Raid
Completing With a Trace in one clean raid isn’t about speedrunning—it’s about controlling variables. If you manage ARC density, route timing, and extraction flow, this mission becomes one of the most reliable faction clears in ARC Raiders. The key is committing only when the map state favors you, then exiting before pressure spikes.
Plan the Route Before You Drop
Before boots hit the ground, check your spawn relative to the objective zones tied to With a Trace. You want a path that minimizes cross-zone travel, even if it’s slightly longer on the map. Crossing too many ARC patrol layers is what bloats raid time and burns resources.
If your spawn forces you through a known high-density area early, slow your pace and let patrols cycle. Rushing early almost always causes cascading aggro that follows you through the entire mission.
Use a Loadout Built for Control, Not DPS
This mission rewards consistency over raw damage. Bring a primary that staggers reliably and a secondary you can use while repositioning or retreating. Ammo efficiency matters more than time-to-kill since prolonged fights are the real risk.
Mobility tools are non-negotiable. Anything that lets you break line of sight, reset aggro, or reposition vertically will save more runs than extra armor plates ever will.
Chain Objectives Without Fully Clearing Zones
With a Trace is designed to punish players who try to sanitize every area. You only need windows of safety, not total control. Clear just enough ARC to interact with objectives, then disengage before reinforcements escalate.
Once an objective completes, immediately rotate. Lingering causes ARC to converge on your last known position, which is how manageable zones turn lethal.
Exploit ARC Reset Timers
ARC behavior is predictable if you respect its rules. Break line of sight, move laterally, and give the system time to cool down before re-engaging. This is especially important between objectives when tension spikes.
If a zone feels wrong—too many patrols, overlapping enemy types, or bad terrain—back out. Waiting thirty seconds for a reset is faster than recovering from a downed state or failed extraction.
Commit to Extraction the Moment the Objective Clears
Once the final interaction completes, treat the mission as finished. Do not loot. Do not hunt kills. Your only goal is reaching evac with minimal exposure.
Pick an extraction route you’ve already partially cleared, even if it’s not the closest. Familiar ground with known threats is safer than gambling on fresh territory under pressure.
Know When to Abort and Re-Queue
Single-raid completion is efficient, not mandatory. If you burn too many resources early or lose tempo to bad ARC spawns, extracting early is still a win. You’ll keep your gear, learn the map state, and re-enter stronger.
For solos especially, forcing a bad run is the fastest way to stall progression. ARC Raiders rewards players who disengage intelligently, not those who brute-force objectives.
If you respect pacing, manage ARC instead of fighting it, and extract with intent, With a Trace shifts from a progression wall into a dependable faction mission. Mastering this flow pays dividends across the entire game—and it’s exactly the mindset ARC Raiders is built to reward.