Embark finally said what everyone's been whispering about in Discord: the Kettle and the Stitcher are getting retired in the first major 2026 update, and you can feel the market wobble already. If you've been hoarding parts, flipping kits, or just trying to stay afloat, it's worth skimming ARC Raiders Items to see what people are actually valuing right now, because the old "lose three, win one" math isn't coming back. I'm not mad, either. Those guns weren't beloved, they were tolerated. They let players spam their way through fights and call it a playstyle.

Why The Cheap Spam Worked

Let's not romanticize it. The Kettle was ugly, loud, and it kicked like it hated you. The Stitcher was worse in a different way: hold the trigger, flood the screen with noise, and let aim punch do the rest. I've been on both sides of it. You push a corner in decent kit, and some guy in bargain gear erases you because the numbers were doing the heavy lifting. That's why people are panicking now. Not because they "love" those guns, but because they loved the safety net.

The Anvil Isn't Slow, Your Timing Is

I started messing with the Anvil because everyone keeps repeating the same line: "too slow for close fights." Sure, if you try to track like it's an SMG, you'll whiff and you'll get punished. The trick is to stop chasing the target with your mouse and start shooting in beats. Bang-bang, tiny pause, bang-bang. It sounds silly until you feel it. The recoil settles almost instantly, and your next pair lands where you meant it to. At 15–30 meters, it starts to feel unfair, in a good way.

What Changes In Real Raids

In a live raid, that rhythm changes how people move around you. I held a doorway against a trio yesterday. First guy swung wide and got dropped before his second step. The next one didn't sprint in. He stopped. You could feel the hesitation through the wall. That's the difference: with the old spam guns, enemies gambled on your bloom and chaos. With the Anvil played right, they respect the angle. You'll still lose if you overpeek or miss your beat, but the fight turns into spacing, pre-aim, and patience instead of coin-flip spray.

Spending Smarter, Not Just Spending More

Yeah, it costs more to field an Anvil setup, and the zero-risk loop is probably dead. But that doesn't mean you've gotta buy your way into a Ferro or a Tempest and pray. It means you invest with a plan, then you actually practice the cadence until it's muscle memory. If you do want to shortcut the grind for currency or gear so you can test builds without draining your stash, that's where RSVSR fits in naturally, because it's built around getting players items and resources fast so you can spend your time learning fights instead of farming them.