What's in Frozen Trail
The full list
- New map: Pendola Pass — frozen village, buried train depot, observatory, and a fallen Emperor
- The Frigate — a huge ARC vessel you board and fight through, hundreds of feet up
- Three new enemies — Bully, Skulker, and the Hydra turret aboard the Frigate
- Outposts — a customisable Raider Den extension with themed modules, craftable furniture and a Research Workstation
- Amplified Weapons — a fifth quality level with branching upgrades for 15 guns
- New weapons — the Stiletto light battle rifle and the Bantam heavy revolver
- New gadgets — Grappling Hook, Tether Launcher, Yank Grenade, and a working camera
- Harmonica and Banjo, weapon stencils, new questlines, a Skill Tree rework, and a new map condition
- Reward Pass — Free, Premium and Legacy tracks replacing Raider Decks
Pendola Pass interactive map — we are building it for launch day. The placeholder page has the datamined layout, landmarks and enemies until then.
Open the Pendola Pass pageNew Map: Pendola Pass
With Raiders' help on the Phantom Targets storyline, Celeste and Shani have triangulated the signal that has been ringing across Toledo. It points to an old Italian village and Exodus transport hub called Pendola Pass, beyond the peaks that wall in the Rust Belt. Icy air keeps the place preserved: a supermarket, a lifeless town square, an observatory, and a buried train depot that once served as a major transit hub.
What makes it more than a scenic detour is the thing on top of the hill. One of the Emperors has fallen. Rare technology is inside, and the job description is short: get to Pendola Pass and find a way in, while the ARC response scrambles around you and flash freezes cut through the valley.
Stills from the First Look footage. Click any frame for the full-size version; the complete gallery is on the Pendola Pass map page.
"Between a scrambled ARC response and brutal flash freezes that cut through the valley, the adventure will be dangerous."
Two details matter for how Pendola Pass will actually play. First, flash freezes read like a map-wide hazard on a timer, the same design space as the Electromagnetic Storm, which means the open areas east of the station are going to be dangerous to cross at the wrong moment. Second, a fallen Emperor with "find a way inside" as the objective is a persistent puzzle on the map, not a one-off event. Expect keys, breach points and a very crowded north end.
The datamined layout we have been sitting on lines up with the reveal almost exactly: village, central station, railyard, observatory, factory, and the Emperor at the top. It is all on the Pendola Pass map page, credited to @Silarious, and it will be replaced by the real interactive map the day the update lands.
The Frigate
A fallen Emperor is unprecedented, and ARC is reacting by sending one of its largest vessels to patrol Pendola Pass. Raiders are already calling it the Frigate. This is the "massive new ARC Operation" from the original announcement: find a way on board, navigate its internal passageways, unlock paths, and fight ARC new and old, with other squads competing for the same prize in close quarters hundreds of feet in the air.
Embark is careful to say the Frigate is for highly skilled Raiders, and the "collaborate or cut through them" line makes it clear it is a shared space, not an instance. Treat it like a raid-within-a-raid: you need a loadout that works in corridors, a plan for the Hydra, and an exit. The traversal gadgets below are almost certainly how you get on and off it.
What the Video Adds
The written preview is the skeleton; the First Look video, with the creative director and the enemy, weapons and gadget teams on camera, fills in how things are meant to work. The details worth knowing, paraphrased:
Dev notes from the First Look
- Pendola Pass location: the northern edge of the Rust Belt, in the mountains north of every existing map. Built for variety: verticality, open ground, tight interiors and close-quarters PvP pockets.
- Flash freeze: when it hits you get out fast and shelter indoors or in shelters scattered around the map. It is described as something you watch constantly.
- The Frigate cannot be destroyed. It is ARC's rescue vessel for the fallen Walker, and the loop is boarding a pirate ship: get on top, solve the puzzle, survive the hazards, sabotage it, take the loot. Endgame difficulty by design.
- Bully never pauses and can stumble, fall and crash into players to knock them down. Skulker is small, very fast, snipes from range, hides behind rubble and gets behind you; listen for it. Hydra has three pairs of guns and can fight several squads at once, so splitting up dilutes it.
- Amplification has two gates: research the upgrade at the Outpost's research bench, then find rare materials to apply it. The fifth tier adds no inherent stats; it opens a branching set of modules that change behaviour. The Rattler drum mag holds around 65 rounds and keeps the two-bullet reload.
- Stiletto is built for medium-to-long range with paced shots, and is positioned as an early-game Renegade alternative on light ammo. Bantam is the contrast to the Anvil, with a dedicated hip-fire animation.
- Grappling hook is a hand-thrown rope you attach to surfaces: rappel down a building, climb in through a window, swing a gap, or attach yourself to ARC. The tether grenade attaches to something nearby and yanks it in with violent force.
- Premium Reward Pass also includes extra backpacks and unique legendary weapon stencils on top of the outfit toggles and colourways in the written notes.
- Timing: the team frames Frozen Trail as the close of the game's first 12 months, and the moment Raiders finally go beyond the Rust Belt.
Three New ARC Enemies
Bully
Machine-learned, oppressive and fast. It gallops onto your position, cedes no ground, and fights with a set of lethal close attacks. Cover, timing and accuracy are the counters.
Skulker
The opposite of the Bully: it lurks at the edge of your vision, waits for a distraction, retreats when watched, and lands a flurry of blows when you finally lose track of it.
Hydra
A stationary turret split into three stacked, autonomous sections, each with its own weapon. Found on the Frigate. Divert its attention, find cover fast, and attack in the gaps.
The Bully and Skulker are a matched pair, one that pushes and one that ambushes, and both are ground units, which is a change from the flying-heavy roster of recent seasons. The Skulker in particular is going to punish solo players who tunnel on loot. The Hydra is a squad-design enemy: three independent sections means it needs three angles, which tells you a lot about how the Frigate is meant to be run.
Outposts: Your New Home Beyond the Rust Belt
Celeste is offering anyone who answers her call to explore Pendola Pass a home away from home: the Outpost, nestled between the Rust Belt and the mountain range. Embark describes Outposts as an extension and graduation of the Raider Den. You choose from themed modules to build the structure, craft furniture from resources you bring back, and use the Research Workstation to unlock higher levels of weapon customisation and modding. The pitch is self-expression beyond character skins: how you build your Outpost becomes part of who your Raider is.
The First Look footage spends a surprising amount of time inside Outposts, and it is the best look yet at how much the interiors vary: double-height living spaces, attic modules with skylights, long wooden halls, green-walled dining rooms, and the Research Workstation tucked into a corner with its monitors glowing. The furniture menu shows the crafting loop directly, with each piece listing required resources and a "track resources" option so you can shop for it on your next raid.
Outpost interiors and the furniture crafting screen from the First Look footage. Click any frame for the full-size version.
Outposts are the feature most likely to keep people logging in between updates, and Embark says as much: this is "just the beginning", with the Outpost meant to evolve over time. Two things I want to see confirmed at the Q&A: whether Outposts are visible to squadmates or other players, and how many modules the launch set includes. If builds are shareable in any form, we are planning to add a tool here on the hub for Raiders to share their Outpost builds once Frozen Trail is out.
Amplified Weapons
This is the systemic change of the update. A fully upgraded Research Workstation in your Outpost unlocks a fifth quality level for a range of guns, with a branching path of abilities and enhancements that can completely change how a weapon behaves. Embark's own examples: a fully automatic Burletta, a Renegade with a scope, and a Rattler with incendiary rounds and a 64-round magazine. It rolls out to 15 weapons at launch, with more planned.
The stated goal is to get late-game players off their one favourite gun, and the examples are chosen to prove it: each one turns a weapon into a different category. The catch is the gate. The fifth tier sits behind a fully upgraded Research Workstation in the Outpost, so this is an endgame progression sink first and a balance shake-up second. Start banking crafting materials now.
New Weapons: Stiletto & Bantam
The Stiletto is a light-ammo battle rifle positioned as an early-game alternative to the Renegade: cheap to craft, easy to handle, and built for steady shooters working at range. Fire rate can be fast, but mashing the trigger costs accuracy.
The Bantam is a snub-nosed revolver on heavy ammo, effective against ARC and Raiders, with a unique hip-fire capability. Embark's pitch is the cowboy fantasy, frozen fingers included.
Gadgets: Grappling Hook, Tethers & a Camera
The Grappling Hook lets you climb to hard-to-reach spots, abseil off buildings and swing over gaps. On a vertical map like Pendola Pass, with a Frigate overhead, this is the gadget the whole update is built around.
Two tether gadgets join it. The Tether Launcher connects two points with a wire, rooting targets in place or attaching Raiders to ARC so they get dragged away. The Yank Grenade works on the same principle but pulls a nearby target with violent force when it detonates: flying ARC to the ground, or another Raider out of cover.
And for the Topside photographers: a fully working camera with zoom, aperture, manual and automatic focus racking, and a selfie mode with custom emotes. Shots save to your Codex.
Tethers plus the Yank Grenade are a bigger PvP change than either new gun. Pulling a Raider out of cover, or pinning one to a Bastion, is a new kind of play in a game that has mostly been about positioning and pings. Expect the first week on Pendola Pass to be a tether clip highlight reel.
Instruments & Weapon Stencils
Two new instruments arrive in October: the Harmonica, and the Banjo, whose blueprint comes with the Collector Set DLC. Weapon Stencils let you re-skin a gun with your own flair, with the obvious warning that whoever kills you will be happy to take the personalised version home.
Reward Pass: The Raider Deck Replacement
Frozen Trail launches a new progression mechanic, the Reward Pass, described as an evolution of Raider Decks. Three tracks:
Free Pass
Unlocked by earning XP.
- 200 Raider Tokens
- Five new outfits
- New gameplay items
- 20 cosmetics: Scrappy outfits, furniture, charms, attachments, emotes
Premium Pass
For Raiders who want more from the update.
- Premium toggles for all the outfits
- Exclusive colourways and weapon stencils
- Hairstyles
- 1,150 Raider Tokens
Legacy Pass
Free for everyone.
- Combines all existing Raider Decks
- No lost progress
- Keep working through old rewards
The Collector Set DLC bundles both Reward Pass tracks with the Renzo cosmetic set, the Dragon's Breath weapon stencil, the Bob hairstyle, and 2,400 Raider Tokens.
The Legacy Pass is the answer to the question everyone asked when Cred retirement was announced, and it is a good one: nothing you have earned goes away. The Premium track's 1,150 tokens is the number to watch, because it decides whether the pass pays for itself across seasons the way most battle passes are designed to.
Also Coming October 8
- New questlines and general improvements
- A Skill Tree rework with new and improved skills — see our skill tree planner
- A new map condition, very likely the flash freezes described for Pendola Pass
- Trials Season 6, ending the current off-season on the weekly trials page
Dev Q&A: Friday, September 25 at 6pm CEST
Embark is hosting a livestream Q&A about the Frozen Trail update and taking questions about the First Look. If the Frigate boarding mechanics or the flash-freeze rules are still unclear after this article, that is the place to ask.
Two weeks out, the to-do list is: spend your Cred, finish Expedition 5 departure before September 29, bank materials for the Research Workstation, and bookmark the Pendola Pass map page. We will have the interactive map live on day one.
Gear up. Dress warm. See you Topside, Raiders.
— Arc Raiders Hub