After dumping more hours than I’d care to admit into Arc Raiders, you start noticing the patterns, the highs, the screw-ups… and the gear that quietly destroys everything in sight. Most folks chase rare rifles or flashy loot drops, but the real MVP? It’s a humble, craftable heavy pistol you can grab early on. The Anvil. You’ll run past its blueprint without a second thought, but trust me — this thing’s unreal. I found mine while wandering near a scrapyard, grabbed the ARC Raiders BluePrint, and never looked back. Forty base damage straight out of the gate, plus ridiculous ARC armor penetration, means big scary robots turn into scrap faster than you can reload. While your team’s chewing through mags against a Scrapper, you’re landing a few calm shots and watching its armor peel away. It’s the kind of weapon that makes you grin mid-fight.

And yeah, bots melt when you bring it out, but that’s not the whole picture. In PvP, it’s a complete headache for whoever’s on the wrong end. Being a pistol, it barely slows you down — quick to aim, quick to swap, and deadly if you’ve got the hands for it. Somebody rushes you with a rifle, swinging that big sight around? You flick to the Anvil, plant two shots, and their shields are gone. One more round and they’re toast. It’s almost unfair, especially if you catch them before they expect the follow-up. I lost count of how many full-kit players have gone down because they didn’t respect a sidearm.

The beauty is, you don’t need to grind the endgame to feel its power. Start in early zones, grab the parts, and you’re set. You’ll get used to the rhythm fast — pressure with your main weapon, then swap for the finisher. Against squads, it’s the closer you want in your back pocket. In those tight loot fights where you barely have time to think, having a sidearm that drops people in a heartbeat can be the difference between making it out or watching the respawn screen. It’s light, fast, and mean, which is exactly what this game rewards.

Once you push the Anvil to Rank IV, it really stops feeling like a backup gun. Damage numbers climb, penetration keeps scaling, and suddenly you’re taking chunks out of bosses instead of just harassing them. At that point, you can run it as your main without missing a beat. Personally, I stick it alongside an SMG — shred shields with the spray, then swap for a precise kill. That combo works on everything from lone scavengers to armored ARC monstrosities. Best part? It’s there for the taking almost from the start. Hunt down the BluePrint, craft it, and you’ll have one of the most ruthless tools in the wasteland sitting in your hands.