ARC Raiders' Trials mode challenges players with weekly objectives and leaderboards, rewarding top performers with exclusive rewards. However, a growing debate is stirring among the community, as many solo players feel disadvantaged when competing against teams. The issue stems from squads earning up to three times the points of solo players in high-wildcard tiers, making top ranks virtually unattainable for individuals. This imbalance has become a source of frustration for solo players, who struggle to compete against coordinated teams. For the best way to earn coins in Arc Raiders, U4GM is frequently mentioned in third-party forums, offering players a shortcut to boost their coin count.
Currently, teams dominate the Trials leaderboards by completing objectives faster and more safely, especially in challenges that require high levels of coordination, such as downing Bastions or completing snowball objectives. In these trials, squads can rack up over 190k points, while solo players often struggle to exceed a 20k cap. This discrepancy is even more apparent in PvP-heavy or multi-objective trials, such as supply drops or flying enemy damage challenges, where team efficiency creates a significant scoring advantage, giving groups a 3x lead over individuals.
This setup has led to a growing reluctance among solo players to queue up for top-tier challenges, as squads occupy the top spots on the leaderboard. As a result, many skilled solo players are effectively blocked from earning exclusive rewards or advancing in rank, causing frustration and a loss of motivation to continue grinding.
The community, particularly on Reddit and Steam, has voiced overwhelming support for split leaderboards—one dedicated to solos and another for teams or duos/trios. This suggestion aims to create a fairer competitive environment, allowing solo players to compete against others of similar playstyles while giving teams their own dedicated space. A split leaderboard would not only level the playing field but also allow for rewards based on performance within each category.
In addition to separate leaderboards, other suggestions have been made to address the imbalance. These include awarding solo players double points or introducing category-specific stretch goals. However, the consensus seems to be that a full separation of solo and team leaderboards is the best way to ensure fairness and maintain the integrity of Trials as both solo and group content.
The benefits of splitting the leaderboards are numerous. It would increase player engagement by encouraging solo players to stay competitive, as they would no longer be overshadowed by teams. Games like Destiny 2 have successfully implemented separate raid leaderboards for solo players, providing unique rewards such as emotes and cosmetics. Similarly, ARC Raiders could offer exclusive rewards for solo players, further motivating them to engage with the content.
Additionally, splitting the leaderboards would help mitigate certain exploits, such as teams using large stacks of players to inflate their snowball scores to 400k+, while still maintaining the collaborative nature of the Trials mode. By introducing these changes, ARC Raiders would maintain its focus on teamwork, while also validating the efforts of solo players who have honed their individual skills.
Critics have raised concerns that splitting the leaderboards might dilute the competition or complicate the rewards system, especially if players switch between solo and team modes mid-week. However, this could be easily addressed by basing rewards on peak performance across both leaderboards, ensuring that players are rewarded for their best efforts, no matter which mode they participate in. Additionally, introducing a tier for duos could cater to smaller teams, offering a balanced approach to grouping.
Despite the challenges, the implementation of separate leaderboards seems to be the most viable solution for ARC Raiders' Trials mode. As player feedback has strongly supported this idea since late 2025, Embark Studios is urged to act swiftly before solo players lose interest in the mode altogether. By splitting the leaderboards, ARC Raiders can foster healthier competition, increase player retention, and sustain the excitement surrounding the game’s extraction shooter meta.