Cold Snap did not just change the weather in Arc Raiders. It changed how the game is played. Frostbite turns every step outside into a countdown, forcing Raiders to think about shelter, healing, and route planning as much as gunfights. At first, it feels unfair. Health drains even when nothing is shooting you. But once you understand how frostbite truly works, the system becomes predictable and manageable.
This guide breaks down how to survive, cure, and even exploit frostbite during Cold Snap raids.
How Frostbite Works in Arc Raiders
Frostbite is tied to time spent outdoors during Cold Snap conditions. After roughly 95 seconds in exposed areas, the effect triggers. The game clearly warns you before this happens. Snow slowly builds on your screen, your Raider begins shivering, and breathing becomes strained. These cues are your final reminder to move.
Once frostbite activates, it deals one health point of damage every second. This damage never pauses and ignores shields entirely. Armor does nothing to help you here. If you stay outside, your health will steadily tick down until you find warmth or die. What makes frostbite dangerous is not its damage per second, but the fact that it is constant and unavoidable while exposed.
Arc Raiders Guide: How to Survive & Cure Frostbite
Shelter Is Your Best Defense
Shelter is the single most important survival tool during Cold Snap. Any structure with a roof counts, even if the walls are missing. Open garages, broken buildings with intact ceilings, and covered walkways all stop frostbite instantly.
The moment you step under a roof, frostbite damage stops, snow fades from your visor, your character relaxes audibly, and the outdoor timer resets completely. You do not need to wait. Even one second under shelter is enough.
This creates a rhythm to Cold Snap raids. Instead of running directly across open terrain, experienced Raiders move from roof to roof. Short sprints outdoors followed by brief shelter resets allow you to cross large areas without losing health. Walls alone do not help. If snow can land on your character, you are still exposed.
Arc Raiders Guide: How to Survive & Cure Frostbite
Healing Through Frostbite
When shelter isn't immediately available, you can temporarily outlast frostbite through aggressive healing. Since the effect deals exactly 1 HP per second, any healing item that restores health faster than this rate keeps you alive. Your best options include:
Bandages provide steady regeneration over time. Standard bandages won't fully counteract frostbite, but they slow your health drain significantly. Herbal Bandages and Sterilized Bandages offer stronger healing rates that can actually keep pace with or exceed frostbite damage temporarily.
Vita Spray delivers rapid health restoration, making it excellent for emergency situations. If you're caught far from shelter with frostbite active, a quick Vita Spray application buys you precious seconds to reach safety. Vita Shots work similarly but with different timing characteristics.
This strategy is expensive. You are trading consumables for time. Use it only when crossing short exposed gaps, escaping a fight, finishing a quick objective, or reaching extraction with no shelter nearby. Cold Snap raids demand more healing supplies than normal, so plan your loadout accordingly.
Tip
Stock significantly more healing items than normal for Cold Snap raids. Frostbite forces you to heal proactively rather than reactively, consuming supplies even when you're not in combat.
Using Combat MK.2 to Reduce Healing Costs
The Combat MK.2 Augment becomes incredibly powerful during frostbite-heavy raids. It regenerates 1 HP every five seconds when you are not taking damage. Frostbite counts as active damage, so regeneration does not work while you are exposed.
However, the moment you enter shelter and frostbite stops, Combat MK.2 begins healing immediately. This allows you to recover health passively without spending bandages or Vita items. Over long raids, this saves a huge amount of resources.
With good shelter discipline, Combat MK.2 effectively gives you unlimited healing. Take damage while sprinting outdoors, duck inside, regenerate, and repeat. For Cold Snap events, this augment should be considered close to mandatory.
The Fire Trick: Emergency Frostbite Removal
When you're stranded far from shelter with dwindling healing supplies, there's a desperate but effective technique: intentionally ignite yourself. Yes, setting yourself on fire actually removes frostbite. Here's how it works.
Fire damage from any source immediately overrides the frostbite status effect. The moment flames touch you, frostbite disappears entirely, resetting your outdoor timer to zero. You can trigger this using:
- Baron Husk flames by stepping into their fire attacks
- Blaze Grenades thrown at your feet
- Fireball Burners activated near your position
Once ignited, let the fire burn out naturally. Don't immediately heal. The fire needs to extinguish on its own for the frostbite removal to stick. After the flames disappear, quickly heal using bandages or Vita items, then recharge your shield if needed. You now have a fresh 95-second window to find proper shelter.
Fire overriding frostbite effect
Important
This technique damages your shield durability. If your shield durability drops below 50%, using fire removal can permanently destroy your shield. Only use this method when extraction or shelter is otherwise impossible.
This isn't a routine strategy. It's a last-resort survival tactic when everything else has failed. The shield durability cost makes it expensive, and you're trading one damage source for another. But when the alternative is dying to frostbite with valuable loot in your pack, sometimes burning yourself is the smart play.
Preventing Frostbite Before It Starts
The safest way to deal with frostbite is to avoid triggering it at all. Route planning matters more than speed during Cold Snap. Before committing to an objective, look for chains of buildings that allow you to move with minimal outdoor exposure.
Direct paths across open snow may be faster, but they cost health. Longer routes with frequent shelter usually result in safer extractions. Treat outdoor time like ammunition. Spend it carefully.
Looting also changes. Do not wander aimlessly in exposed areas. Sprint to specific targets, loot quickly, and return to shelter. Fighting outdoors is especially dangerous since you take both combat damage and frostbite damage at the same time. If possible, pull enemies into buildings and fight on your terms.
Cold Snap Combat and Team Play
Cold Snap raids reward methodical play over aggressive rushing. The Raiders who extract successfully aren't necessarily the ones who fight best. They're the ones who manage their exposure time most effectively. This creates interesting risk-reward calculations throughout your raid.
High-value loot in exposed locations becomes genuinely dangerous. That legendary weapon sitting in an open field isn't just guarded by ARCs anymore. Claiming it costs you health through frostbite, and you need to decide whether the item value justifies the health expenditure. Sometimes the smart play is walking away from good loot because the exposure cost is too high.
Extraction timing becomes more critical. You can't afford to linger near extraction points waiting for the perfect moment. Frostbite forces you to commit earlier than you might prefer. If you're planning to extract safely in Arc Raiders, factor in extra time for shelter breaks during your approach.
Team coordination matters more during Cold Snap. Squads can rotate shelter usage, with some players staying warm while others venture out for objectives. Communication about shelter locations and frostbite status keeps everyone alive longer. Solo players need to be even more disciplined since they lack backup healing support.
Advanced Frostbite Management Tips
Veteran Raiders push close to the 95-second limit before sheltering, maximizing movement efficiency. With Combat MK.2, taking small amounts of frostbite damage is sometimes acceptable since it can be regenerated for free.
The fire trick enables extreme extraction plays when enemies block normal routes. It is dangerous, but in the right moment, it can save an entire raid’s worth of loot. Mastery comes from treating frostbite like any other system in Arc Raiders. It has rules, limits, and counters.
For more Arc Raiders check out our guide on the best candleberry farming locations and learn how to unlock the free Red Ryder skin.