What is the Firefly's weak point in Arc Raiders?

The yellow fuel tank is the primary weak point. The community wiki notes that entering combat mode makes the Firefly extend its flamethrower, exposing an unarmored yellow fuel tank that takes increased damage, and a gameplay programmer at Embark recommends aiming for that yellow gas tank in the official tips post. The catch is timing, because the tank is only exposed after the Firefly has committed to attacking you, and Embark itself calls it a tricky shot. Its four armored thrusters are the slower backup target.

What ammo should you use against the Firefly?

Heavy ammo. Against ARC machines, ammo type rather than raw damage drives armor penetration, and Heavy, Energy and Launcher are the categories that break armor. Anvil and Ferro are the two weapons named most often across Firefly guides, with Anvil the most cited overall. Light ammo weapons, particularly light SMGs, fall off badly against armored ARC and are a poor pick here.

How many thrusters do you have to destroy to bring down a Firefly?

The community wiki says only that destroying multiple thrusters destabilizes the drone and makes it lose control of its flight, at which point every collision with the environment inflicts heavy damage. Several community guides put the specific threshold at two out of four, but no primary source confirms that number. Either way, a destabilized Firefly effectively kills itself on the level geometry, which makes the thrusters the more forgiving target when the fuel tank shot is not available.

Should you run away from a Firefly?

Not across open ground, which is the most common mistake players make against it. Embark's own tips post says running away is not the play and that if you cannot fight, you should get inside. The Firefly is faster than you, it pursues Raiders into corners, and unlike a Hornet's shock attack the flame stream cannot be dodged, so the right move is breaking line of sight into a building or hard cover. A Lure Grenade or a Photoelectric Cloak buys the gap if you need one.

What does the Firefly drop in Arc Raiders?

The headline drop is the Firefly Burner, a component required for the Weather Monitoring System player project introduced in Shrouded Sky. Destroying one awards 150 XP, with a further 250 XP for scavenging the chassis. The community wiki also lists ARC Powercell, Chemicals, ARC Alloy, Simple Gun Parts, ARC Synthetic Resin and Synthesized Fuel, though loot lists differ between sources and may be incomplete.

How to Kill the Firefly in Arc Raiders: Weak Points and Ammo

Firefly is the flamethrower drone that chases you into cover. Where the fuel tank sits, which ammo strips the armor, and when to stop fighting it.

Category: ARC Machines, Every Enemy · Updated 2026-08-03

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slug: arc-raiders-firefly-guide

title: "How to Kill the Firefly in ARC Raiders: Weak Points and Ammo"

description: "Firefly is the flamethrower drone that flushes you out of cover. Where the fuel tank sits, which ammo strips the armor, and when to stop fighting it."

category: arc-enemies

keywords:

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published: 2026-08-03

updated: 2026-08-03

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Firefly is an armored flying ARC with a gimbal mounted flamethrower. The community wiki calls it a heavily armored drone that reinforces Wasp and Hornet patrols as fire support. Embark is blunt about the temperament gap: the Wasp and Hornet keep enough distance for you to reach cover, while the Firefly is "tenacious and audacious" and "will happily hunt you into corners and unleash hellfire from above."

It arrived in the Shrouded Sky patch (1.17.0, February 24, 2026) alongside the Comet, though the official notes never named either: "Scouts have spotted two new ARC types in the Rust Belt."

How to know one is there

Silhouette. It reads like a Hornet at a glance, but pointier, closer to a jet fighter, with a distinct armor plate on top.
Flight profile. The lore entry says the fuel tank gives them a slightly different flight profile than a plain Hornet. That is the veteran tell.
Company. The wiki has it reinforcing Wasp and Hornet patrols as close range fire support, so expect it attached to other flyers. Patch 1.22.0 later reduced the chance for multiple Fireflies to spawn together.
Color language. On ARC machines, matte bright yellow is a weak point that bypasses armor and shiny dark grey is plating.

How it attacks

The flamethrower applies burn damage over time. On entering combat the Firefly extends the weapon, then closes distance and scorches Raiders in range.

Expect an ambush, not an opener. Embark and the wiki describe the same pattern: it hangs back while you are already engaged with something else, then dives in to flush you out of cover.

Guides warn that a sustained flame stream is not dodgeable the way a Hornet's shock attack is. Once it is close, the answer is hard cover, not footwork.

It has 200 HP, a small pool for something this heavily plated. Armor value, movement speed, flame damage per second, burn duration and engagement range are not published anywhere, so treat any figure for those as a guess.

Where to shoot it

The yellow fuel tank. This is the kill shot, and both top sources agree. Entering combat mode makes the Firefly extend its flamethrower, exposing an unarmored yellow fuel tank that takes increased damage. The lore entry is blunter: "A well-placed shot turns the machine into a brief but spectacular fireball." Alexander, a gameplay programmer at Embark, put it in the official tips post as "Aim for the yellow gas tank," though the same page admits it is "a tricky shot and not easy to pull off."

Timing is the real mechanic: the tank only becomes a target after the Firefly has committed to burning you. One guide places it between the nozzle and the body and favors the underside angle, but that detail is single source.

The thrusters. It flies on four armored thrusters and all of them are load bearing. Per the wiki, "Destroying multiple thrusters destabilizes the drone, causing it to lose control of its flight. In this state, each collision with the environment inflicts heavy damage." A crippled Firefly beats itself apart on the level geometry.

Two caveats:

Several guides say the threshold is two of four. The wiki only says "multiple," so treat two as a community figure.
One guide claims the two rear rotors sit exposed while the front pair needs its armor stripped. The wiki says all four sit under thick armor, so do not plan around that.

Guides advise not shooting the rotors while it is facing you. High ground helps: you are firing down into the fans.

One smaller guide names a V shaped plate above the eyes as a third weak point. Nothing corroborates it.

What to bring

Ammo type, not raw damage, drives armor penetration against ARC. Heavy, Energy and Launcher break armor, Medium sits in between, and Light is the worst option against armored machines (light SMGs fall off badly here). Nobody publishes Firefly specific resistance multipliers, so ignore any per ammo chart claiming otherwise.

Anvil. The most recommended pick across guides, on sustained heavy damage.
Ferro. Named repeatedly as a designated anti air option.
Hullcracker. One guide claims a two shot kill. Single source, unverified.
For the tank shot, guides name Anvil, Renegade, Osprey, Jupiter and Pharaoh as precision picks.
Grenades. Seeker grenades are described as devastating against flying ARC, usually knocking a Firefly out of the sky instantly. Wolfpack and Showstopper get named too, though one guide calls Wolfpack expensive and not worth it.

Build the rest of the kit on loadouts and check crafting costs under items.

Where it shows up

Firefly attaches to existing flying patrols rather than nesting in fixed spots, so it appears anywhere Wasps and Hornets do, concentrated in open airspace and around Snitch alerts that pull patrols in. Dam Battlegrounds, Spaceport, Blue Gate and Buried City are named across multiple sources, and guides lean toward open outdoor spaces.

Stella Montis is settled, whatever the guides say. Patch 1.22.0 fixed "an issue where flying ARC (especially Fireflies) would spawn inside walls and attack players from outside the walls and floors in Stella Montis," which is Embark naming Fireflies on that map. Treat any guide claiming they skip Stella Montis as out of date.

Still unsettled: whether the Hurricane condition raises the spawn rate. One guide claims it does, another says there is no confirmed evidence for it. Layouts are on the maps pages.

When to leave instead

The most common mistake is running away in the open. Leon, a fullstack engineer at Embark, said it plainly: "Running away is not the play. If you can't fight, get inside. Anything else is asking for trouble." The same page puts the failure state as being "toast before you can say 'returning to Speranza'."

It fails because the machine is built to chase. Embark's own framing is that it will hunt you into corners, and the flame stream is not something you sidestep. Sprinting across open ground hands it free approach time.

The correct version of that instinct is breaking line of sight into a building or hard cover. To buy the gap, use a Lure Grenade (Sherilynne, a quality analyst at Embark, recommends throwing one and running) or a Photoelectric Cloak, which Junsik, a machine learning engineer at Embark, names in the same post. The lure doubles as a setup: pull it off you, then shoot the underside while it investigates.

Is it worth fighting

Conditionally yes. It drops the Firefly Burner, which Shrouded Sky introduced as a component for the Weather Monitoring System project, and killing one awards 150 XP with another 250 for scavenging the chassis. Note that patch 1.22.0 gave the Burner "a new extra-spicy functionality," so check the item in game before you assume it is only crafting stock. The wiki loot list, which may be incomplete, adds ARC Powercell, Chemicals, ARC Alloy, Simple Gun Parts, ARC Synthetic Resin and Synthesized Fuel. Sources disagree past the Burner and Simple Gun Parts, and the near guaranteed drop rate one site claims has no corroboration.

Against that, it usually travels with a patrol, so you are rarely fighting one machine, and disengaging costs a consumable. Fight it when you have a wall, a roof or high ground and heavy ammo in the bag. Lure it or leave when you are caught crossing open terrain. If the Burner has to earn its stash slot, run it through keep or sell.

What has changed since launch

Most of the detail above describes the Firefly as documented around 1.17.0. Since then, patch 1.22.0 (March 31, 2026) reduced the chance for multiple Fireflies to spawn together, fixed flying ARC spawning inside walls in Stella Montis, changed the Firefly Burner, and listed a known issue where "the Firefly may sometimes disappear after going idle and drop an incendiary grenade." Patch 1.33.0 (June 16, 2026) then fixed the Firefly "sometimes drop[ping] an incendiary grenade without being destroyed." The live game is on 1.39.0 as of July 28, 2026, so read the newest notes before trusting any older guide, this one included.

More machine writeups are on the guides index and the AI hub.

Fan made companion site, not affiliated with Embark Studios.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Firefly's weak point in Arc Raiders?: The yellow fuel tank is the primary weak point. The community wiki notes that entering combat mode makes the Firefly extend its flamethrower, exposing an unarmored yellow fuel tank that takes increased damage, and a gameplay programmer at Embark recommends aiming for that yellow gas tank in the official tips post. The catch is timing, because the tank is only exposed after the Firefly has committed to attacking you, and Embark itself calls it a tricky shot. Its four armored thrusters are the slower backup target.
What ammo should you use against the Firefly?: Heavy ammo. Against ARC machines, ammo type rather than raw damage drives armor penetration, and Heavy, Energy and Launcher are the categories that break armor. Anvil and Ferro are the two weapons named most often across Firefly guides, with Anvil the most cited overall. Light ammo weapons, particularly light SMGs, fall off badly against armored ARC and are a poor pick here.
How many thrusters do you have to destroy to bring down a Firefly?: The community wiki says only that destroying multiple thrusters destabilizes the drone and makes it lose control of its flight, at which point every collision with the environment inflicts heavy damage. Several community guides put the specific threshold at two out of four, but no primary source confirms that number. Either way, a destabilized Firefly effectively kills itself on the level geometry, which makes the thrusters the more forgiving target when the fuel tank shot is not available.
Should you run away from a Firefly?: Not across open ground, which is the most common mistake players make against it. Embark's own tips post says running away is not the play and that if you cannot fight, you should get inside. The Firefly is faster than you, it pursues Raiders into corners, and unlike a Hornet's shock attack the flame stream cannot be dodged, so the right move is breaking line of sight into a building or hard cover. A Lure Grenade or a Photoelectric Cloak buys the gap if you need one.
Which maps does the Firefly spawn on?: Firefly attaches to existing flying ARC patrols instead of fixed nests, so it turns up wherever Wasps and Hornets are active, with a bias toward open outdoor airspace. Dam Battlegrounds, Spaceport, Blue Gate and Buried City are named across multiple sources. Whether it spawns on Stella Montis is disputed, with guides directly contradicting each other, and the claim that the Hurricane condition raises its spawn rate is unresolved as well.
What does the Firefly drop in Arc Raiders?: The headline drop is the Firefly Burner, a component required for the Weather Monitoring System player project introduced in Shrouded Sky. Destroying one awards 150 XP, with a further 250 XP for scavenging the chassis. The community wiki also lists ARC Powercell, Chemicals, ARC Alloy, Simple Gun Parts, ARC Synthetic Resin and Synthesized Fuel, though loot lists differ between sources and may be incomplete.