If you have been glued to ARC Raiders since it dropped last October, you probably noticed how wild the meta's been swinging around with every patch, and Patch 1.7 really pushed it over the edge, especially once you start messing with the Vulcano IV and its ARC Raiders BluePrint setups in real matches.
Why Vulcano IV Stands Out
On paper the base Vulcano IV looks kind of average at first glance, the damage sits around 49.5 and the mag feels tiny, so a lot of players just walk past it and stick with Il Toro or Kettle. Once you push it up to Tier IV though, it stops feeling like a regular shotgun and starts behaving more like a handheld cannon. You are looking at roughly a 30 percent bump to fire rate and a big reload speed boost, so the gun barely stays out of action. When you bolt on a Shotgun Choke III and a Vertical Grip III, the recoil drops so low that you can just spam shots instead of playing that slow pump rhythm.
How It Plays In PvP
In PvP the Vulcano IV really shines when you play aggressive angles, flanks, and tight corridors rather than sitting back sniping. You peek a tunnel or stairwell, land that first shot, and you often crack a heavy shield straight away, so the second shot usually finishes the job before they even react. Time to kill against shielded players sits somewhere under a second, which feels unfair when you are on the receiving end. Il Toro users try to time their pump shots and outplay you, but if you keep your distance short and just click in rhythm, the semi‑auto burst completely drowns them out. Confidence is a big thing here, once you trust the gun you start taking fights you would normally avoid.
Role In PvE And Its Limits
In PvE runs the Vulcano IV clears smaller ARC packs and wasps fast, it is great for those moments when your squad gets caught in a bad choke and needs space again. You just sweep across the group and the first few enemies melt, which gives you breathing room to swap to a longer‑range option or reposition. The weak spot is heavy armor and tougher mech targets, because the penetration is not amazing, so you cannot just face tank everything and hope the pellets solve it. A lot of people run it as a secondary for close‑quarters emergencies while keeping something with better penetration in the main slot, which feels like a good balance rather than trying to force it into every situation.
Dealing With The Grind
The real pain point is getting the Vulcano IV built and upgraded instead of stuck at that boring early tier, because farming blueprints, alloys, and advanced mech parts can drag on if your drops are bad. You can grind scav runs for hours, fail extractions, and still not see the pieces you need, which makes a lot of players just log off. Some people cut the boring part out and grab blueprint and parts bundles through sites like u4gm, especially if they work long hours and do not want to waste a weekend on low‑value loot runs, and once you have the gun fully built you can jump straight into higher‑tier raids and enjoy the current S‑tier chaos before the balance team finally swings the nerf hammer.
