Rocketeers are one of the first truly dangerous ARC machines you’ll encounter once you start running serious raids topside. They hover high above the battlefield, rain down guided missiles, and punish players who stand in the open for even a second too long. Anyone who has ever tried to extract with high-value loot knows one truth: a Rocketeer can end your run faster than most bosses.

Unlike ground-based ARCs, Rocketeers dominate vertical space. Their tracking systems, high armor, and missile barrages turn every encounter into a test of movement, positioning, and burst damage. If you don’t understand their weakpoints, you’ll waste heavy ammo, burn healing items, or lose the entire raid.

This guide breaks down where Rocketeers spawn, how they behave, how to kill them efficiently, and how to cheese them in seconds using the most reliable method discovered by veteran players. You’ll also find a complete loot table and recommended loadouts to farm Rocketeers for their valuable workshop materials.

Where to Find Rocketeers (All Maps)

Rocketeers do not spawn randomly they appear in specific patrol zones across four main maps. Spawns are still affected by RNG, but each map has predictable hotspots where Rocketeers show up frequently.

1. Dam Battlegrounds

Two most consistent Rocketeer locations:

• East of the Control Tower
  The Rocketeer circles high above the tower, making it one of the easiest spawns to spot from afar.

• Power Generation Complex/Generator Hall (near extraction)
  A frustrating spawn because it can gatekeep the extraction elevator. You must deal with it before calling the elevator safely.

This map is considered the best place to farm Rocketeers early on.

2. Buried City

Primary Spawn:

• Parking Garage (South of the Research Building)

Rocketeers patrol a tight circle around the garage rooftop, offering several angles to engage from. This is the most reliable spawn on this map.

3. Spaceport

Two related patrol areas:

• Launch Towers

• Northern Extraction Point

A Rocketeer usually spawns near the Launch Towers, but depending on the raid’s timing, it may drift north toward the extraction zone. It’s extremely visible thanks to the open terrain.

4. The Blue Gate

Two fixed spawn zones:

• West of Pilgrim’s Peak

• Southeast of Checkpoint

These are wide patrol zones that give you plenty of cover options depending on which side of the map you approach from. Pilgrim’s Peak is the easier of the two thanks to natural terrain elevation.

How Rocketeers Work (Behavior, Attacks & Targeting)

Rocketeers behave similarly to Wasps and Hornets, but they are significantly more armored and much more lethal. Their missile tracking system follows a predictable lock-on sequence:

1. Yellow Lasers: scanning and soft lock

2. Red Lasers: hard lock, firing in 1.5 seconds

3. Missile Barrage: always lethal in two hits unless you run a heavy shield

The most important rule:

Never stay in the open when a Rocketeer has line of sight.

Buildings, pipes, trucks, cliffs, and even small walls can break the lock and prevent missiles from firing.

How to Kill a Rocketeer in ARC Raiders

Rocketeers are one of the most challenging ARC machines in the game. Their aerial mobility, heavy armor, and guided missiles make them deadly if you try to fight them in the open. Success comes down to positioning, timing, and knowing their weak points.

Step 1: Find Hard Cover

Never start the fight in an open area. Always position yourself near a building, wall, or large metal structure. Hard cover absorbs the initial missile volley and gives you a safe window to plan your attack. Avoid open spaces at all costs, as Rocketeers can one shot unprotected targets with their rockets.

Step 2: Wait for the Missiles

Rocketeers begin by firing a volley of guided missiles. When they hit your cover, you usually have about 3 seconds of safety enough time to peek out and start your attack. This pause is critical for assessing your angle, aiming at weak points, and preparing grenades or heavy ammo.

Step 3: Target Weak Points

Rocketeers have two main weak points:

1. Thrusters (Primary Weakpoint)
   These keep the Rocketeer airborne. Destroying two thrusters will make the machine crash, taking fall damage and leaving it exposed for several seconds. This is your prime target for any weapon setup.

2. Red Glowing Core (Secondary Weakpoint)
   Located underneath the Rocketeer and usually revealed during reload cycles. This is ideal for precision weapons, explosives, or Wolfpack cleanup, especially if the thrusters are already damaged.

Additionally, Rocketeers can be stunned using:

• Showstopper Grenades

• Hornet Drivers

• Wolfpack homing missiles

• Crashes from broken thrusters

Once stunned or grounded, the Rocketeer becomes extremely vulnerable, allowing you to unload heavy ammo into the exposed body for maximum damage.

Step 4: Stay Mobile

Even after you’ve grounded the Rocketeer, don’t stay still unless you are safely behind hard cover. Its tracking AI punishes stationary targets instantly. Roll, jump, or use Snap Hooks to reposition between shots, staying unpredictable while maintaining line of sight on weak points.

Step 5: Finish Quickly

After exploiting its weak points and stunning it, finish the Rocketeer with heavy weapons or explosives. If you use the “cheese” method like 1 Wolfpack grenade followed by 3 shots from Anvil you can take it down in seconds, minimizing risk and conserving ammo.

Riding a Rocketeer Achievement

Like other aerial ARCs, Rocketeers can actually be mounted if you position yourself correctly. You can grab onto one directly using the Snap Hook or by carefully timing your approach. Another option is to temporarily bring it down by stunning it with a Showstopper or Hornet Driver, which makes it fall to the ground and easy to climb on. Once on top, any Raider can deal damage using any weapon, including melee attacks. Inflicting 50 damage while riding a Rocketeer also unlocks the Death From Above achievement.

Best Weapons to Kill Rocketeers

Choosing the right weapon is crucial for efficiently taking down Rocketeers. Here’s a breakdown of the most effective options and their pros/cons:

Ferro

• Upgrade Ferro to Level 4 for one of the cheapest but still effective options.

• Pros: Reliable, good penetration for its cost.

• Cons: Only 1 shot per reload, and it has a long reload time, which can be punishing against fast-moving Rocketeers.

Anvil

• Arguably the best weapon in the game right now.

• Pros: High damage revolver capable of one shotting most ARCs, 6 rounds per magazine, extremely versatile.

• Always go for Anvil if you unlock the blue print, or purchase from NPCs if available.

• Cons: None significant; the weapon is meta defining.

Hullcracker

• A special pump-action 40mm grenade launcher using launcher ammo.

• Pros: Extremely high burst damage, great for quick takedowns.

• Cons: Very expensive and risky losing a Hullcracker can hurt your progress much more than losing Ferro or Anvil.

The CHEESE Method:

1 Wolfpack Grenade + 3 Anvil Shots = dead Rocketeer

How it works:

1. Throw a Wolfpack grenade near the Rocketeer

2. Clear nearby Wasps/Hornets so they don’t steal the lock

3. Wolfpack fires 12 homing missiles

4. Rocketeer loses most of its HP instantly

5. Finish with 3 Anvil shots while it’s stunned

This method is so strong that many players use it specifically to farm Rocketeer Drives for workshop upgrades.

Rocketeer Loot Table

Below is the full loot table combining both main debris and small debris drops.

Main Debris Loot

Small Debris Loot

Final Words

Rocketeers are terrifying at first, but once you understand their weakpoints and attack windows, they become one of the most farmable mid-tier enemies in ARC Raiders. Focus the thrusters, stay behind hard cover, time missile volleys, and use burst weapons to bring them down fast. And if you truly want to speedrun these kills, the Wolfpack + Anvil combo deletes Rocketeers in seconds.

If you ever need help farming Rocketeers, collecting Rocketeer Drives, or taking down any ARC boss, you can always hire one of our ARC Raiders Boss Kill pros and get the fight done safely.
Or, if you want stronger gear before heading topside, browse the ARC Raiders Marketplace and grab the items you need for smoother raids.

Stay safe topside and may your missiles always lock first.