The Flickering Flames event launched on December 16, 2025, bringing 25 tiers of rewards to Arc Raiders players. This guide breaks down how to earn Merits fast, survive Cold Snap conditions, and unlock every reward before the event ends on January 13, 2026.
Unlike paid battle passes, Flickering Flames rewards you simply for playing. Every raid earns XP that converts automatically into Merits at 100 XP to 1 Merit. The challenge is surviving Cold Snap’s frostbite damage while farming efficiently.
What is the Flickering Flames Event in Arc Raiders?
Flickering Flames is Arc Raiders’ winter event running from December 16, 2025 to January 13, 2026. That gives you four weeks to complete all 25 reward tiers focused on the Hi-Tech Hiker cosmetic outfit and its variants.
You need five completed rounds before the event activates. These don’t need to be successful extractions – dying and returning to Speranza empty-handed still counts. Most launch players already meet this requirement.
The Merit system is straightforward. Every 100 XP converts to 1 Merit when you return to Speranza, whether you extracted successfully or got eliminated. XP comes from multiple sources:
- Looting caches and ARC containers
- Killing ARC machines (Bastions, Bombardiers, etc.)
- Defeating enemy raiders
- Completing map objectives
- Extracting with valuable items
The game doesn’t favor any single activity, so play your way.
Rewards unlock every 600 Merits with Raider Tokens appearing at multiple tiers. The Space Wrench Raider Tool sits at the final 15,000 Merit milestone. You’ll also find Candleberries at certain milestones that feed into the Banquet Project for bonus Merits.
Cold Snap Mechanic Guide: How to Survive Frostbite Damage
Cold Snap activates on four maps during the event: Dam Battlegrounds, Buried City, Spaceport, and The Blue Gate. Staying outdoors triggers continuous health drain that ignores armor completely. You can survive roughly 3-5 minutes outside depending on your health pool, but combat damage stacks with frostbite.
When Cold Snap is active on a map, it lasts the entire raid. You can’t wait it out. Your options are finding shelter, using healing items, or extracting early.
Indoor areas completely stop frostbite damage. Buildings, underground tunnels, and any roofed structure provides protection. The catch is everyone funnels toward these spots, creating high-traffic choke points where squad encounters become inevitable.
| Map | Top Shelter Location | Risk Level | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dam Battlegrounds | Power generation complex | High | Heavy traffic, contested |
| Buried City | Central facility | Medium | Tight corridors, CQB |
| Spaceport | Main terminal & staff parking | Medium | Balanced coverage |
| The Blue Gate | Underground sections | Low | Safest option |
Dam Battlegrounds has limited shelter spread across open areas, so plan routes between buildings carefully. Buried City provides more indoor coverage but creates intense close-quarters scenarios. Spaceport and The Blue Gate offer better balance between exposure and available shelter.
Pack 5-7 healing items minimum instead of the usual 2-3. Medkits restore health quickly when juggling frostbite and incoming fire. Bandages work during safe shelter moments when you have time for heal-over-time effects. Consider dropping extra ammunition to make room for medical supplies since you’ll spend more time surviving than fighting.
Best Weapons and Loadouts for Flickering Flames Event
Cold Snap pushes fights indoors where close to mid-range weapons dominate:
Primary weapons:
- Vulcano shotgun – Devastating in building corridors
- Stitcher SMG – Excellent hip-fire, light weight for more healing items
- Rattler assault rifle – Versatile for indoor and outdoor movement
Secondary:
- Anvil pistol – Hits hard enough to function almost like a primary
A typical loadout: one primary with 2-3 magazines, pistol with 1-2 magazines, 5-7 healing items, remaining space for loot. Skip heavy weapons that limit carrying capacity.
How to Earn Merits Fast in Flickering Flames
Maximizing XP per hour is the fastest way to clear the track. Here’s what generates the most XP:
Route planning matters. On Dam Battlegrounds, hit the power plant ARC spawns, loot surrounding caches, then extract through southern points. Buried City rewards indoor-focused play through the central facility area before using underground tunnels for safe extraction. Spaceport’s staff parking and main terminal offer balanced loot density with manageable ARC patrols.
Play full rounds rather than chain dying early. XP stacks from exploration, kills, objectives, and extraction. Surviving deeper is more valuable than rushing risky fights. Early extraction after securing moderate XP often provides better Merit-per-hour rates than pushing for maximum loot.
Every minute trades safety for potential gain. Extracting with 10 minutes of collected XP earns full Merits. Dying with 15 minutes earns zero. Conservative play consistently outperforms aggressive gambling during extended sessions.
Average players earn 50,000-75,000 XP per hour through mixed gameplay, translating to 500-750 Merits hourly. At 500 Merits per hour, you need 30 hours of active raiding to reach 15,000 Merits. That’s roughly 1 hour daily across the 28-day event.
Quick Merit calculation:
- Total needed: 15,000 Merits
- XP required: 1,500,000 (at 100:1 conversion)
- Average rate: 500-750 Merits/hour
- Time needed: 20-30 hours of active play
That’s roughly 1 hour daily across the 28-day event.
Candleberry Banquet Project Complete Guide
The Candleberry Banquet Project runs alongside Flickering Flames with five stages requiring specific items. Each completed stage returns rewards including cosmetics, Raider Tokens, items, and bonus Merits that count toward your main event progress.
Early estimates suggest 1000-2000 bonus Merits across all stages. That’s equivalent to 100,000-200,000 XP, potentially saving 3-5 hours of grinding. You’re essentially double-dipping on progression by farming XP during raids while collecting Candleberries.
Candleberries grow on plants in nature zones when Cold Snap is active. Look for vegetation areas with small bushes and shrubs in swamp and forested regions. Dam Battlegrounds western swamp near South Swamp Outpost has the highest concentration. Spaceport’s staff parking area contains spawns near fruit trees.
Bushes are rare and only yield one Candleberry per harvest. You need multiple successful farming runs to accumulate significant quantities. Go in with free loadouts to minimize risk. Hit the swamp area, collect 5-10 Candleberries in a single pass, then extract immediately.
Avoid lingering in Candleberry zones. These areas attract other farmers, creating high-traffic PvP situations. Collect your target amount quickly and move toward extraction. Don’t mix berry farming with high-risk XP farming – use separate dedicated runs.
Flickering Flames Solo vs Squad: Which Earns More Rewards?
Solo advantages:
- Full control over pace and decisions
- Keep all XP, no splitting
- Better stealth opportunities
Squad advantages:
- Combat support and shared healing
- Cover during outdoor movements
- Faster clear times on heavy ARCs
Merit earning rates:
| Playstyle | Merits/Hour | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Solo (safe play) | 100-150 | Consistent progress |
| Solo (efficient) | 150-200 | Experienced players |
| Coordinated squad | 150-200 | Teams with voice comms |
| Random squad | 80-120 | Often underperforms solo |
Test both approaches during your first few days to see which suits your skills better.
Common Flickering Flames Event Mistakes
- Getting caught in extended outdoor fights kills more raiders than actual combat. Always know your nearest shelter before engaging outdoors. If you’re more than 30 seconds from a building when a fight starts, disengage immediately. Don’t chase wounded enemies across open snow – that tempting kill often leads you far from shelter while your health drains.
- Random Candleberry farming wastes enormous time. Learn high-density spawn locations and hit them systematically instead of wandering aimlessly. Use separate dedicated runs with cheap loadouts specifically for berry collection. Ignore Candleberries during serious XP farming raids.
- Attempting to complete every objective in a single raid spreads focus too thin. A tighter plan with a few high-value goals and safe extraction often yields better survival odds than overlong greedy routes. Chasing rare loot spawns leads to contested areas with high player traffic where the potential value doesn’t justify increased death risk.
- Staying in raids too long after accumulating solid XP creates diminishing returns. Once you’ve cleared 70-80% of target objectives, extract and start fresh. The last 20% often carries disproportionate risk. Don’t wait for perfect loot saturation – a 70% full inventory with successful extraction earns more Merits than 100% lost to death.
Flickering Flames Event Timeline and Planning
Weekly progression targets:
- Week 1 (Dec 16-22) 3,750 Merits (25% complete)
- Week 2 (Dec 23-29) 7,500 Merits (50% complete)
- Week 3 (Dec 30-Jan 5) 11,250 Merits (75% complete)
- Week 4 (Jan 6-13) 15,000 Merits (100% complete)
Casual players with 1-1.5 hours daily can comfortably finish by targeting 500-600 Merits per session. Weekend warriors need 1,500 Merits per weekend session (3-4 hours).
The event concludes January 13, 2026 at 10:30 AM CET (1:30 AM PT / 4:30 AM ET). Any unclaimed rewards disappear after this deadline.
Final Tips to Maximize Your Rewards
Flickering Flames rewards consistent play over heroic individual raids. Daily 1-hour sessions beat irregular multi-hour marathons for steady progress.
Survival trumps aggression during Cold Snap. Set mental health thresholds where you abandon objectives to reach shelter. The Candleberry Banquet Project provides meaningful Merit bonuses that stack with regular XP conversion – don’t ignore this parallel progression.
Four weeks provides comfortable buffer time if you maintain reasonable pace. Track your Merit gains daily to verify you’re on schedule, and don’t burn yourself out trying to finish in the first weekend.
