Arc Raiders Blueprint Drop Rates Surge After Cold Snap Update

What to know

• Arc Raiders’ Cold Snap update expanded where blueprints spawn and moved the Aphelion drop location.
• Players report blueprints appearing far more often than expected.
• The rare Aphelion schematic now drops in Stella Montis rather than from Matriarch bosses.
• Community reaction ranges from thrilled to questioning if the rate is too high.

Arc Raiders developers have just rolled out a major content update — the Cold Snap patch — that shakes up how players find one of the game’s most sought-after items: blueprints. Beyond the usual seasonal features like snowy map conditions and quality-of-life improvements, this patch does something more fundamental with loot distribution.

In the patch notes, the team explained they expanded blueprint spawn locations across the world to give Raiders more opportunities to snag schematics that let them craft weapons and gear. As part of this, they also moved the drop location for the rare Aphelion blueprint, a high-tier weapon schematic that had previously been tied to Matriarch boss encounters, to now drop in the Stella Montis region instead.

Almost immediately after the update hit live servers, many players noticed a dramatic uptick in blueprint loot. Reports from across social platforms describe raids where inventories are filled with multiple blueprints — sometimes four, six, or even eight in a single run — including high-value ones that were previously very hard to come by. This has led some to joke that blueprint drops are now almost “too generous,” a change that players suspect might be temporary or unintended.

Reactions in the Arc Raiders community are mixed. Some players love the increased availability, saying it helps them experiment with new builds and weapons without grinding endlessly. Others are concerned that such a high spawn rate could upset the game’s balance or reduce the thrill of hunting rare schematics. A few threads on fan forums suggest the spike may be tied to a server variable that can be adjusted without a full patch, hinting the developers could roll it back if needed.

The move of the Aphelion blueprint away from Matriarch bosses — once a high-risk, high-reward encounter — also changes how players plan their raids. Rather than fighting powerful elites specifically to hunt for this schematic, Raiders now have a clearer geographic target in Stella Montis, though the weapon remains rare and valuable.

As Arc Raiders continues to evolve, this update shows Embark Studios is listening to player feedback on accessibility and loot fairness — even if it means adjusting long-standing drop systems. Whether blueprint abundance stays at current levels or gets tuned in a future hotfix remains one of the hottest topics in the Arc Raiders community this week.