ARC Raiders Kinetic Converter Guide: Discover the Best PvP & PvE Weapons for Riven Tides
Kinetic Converter is a legendary weapon attachment in ARC Raiders that increases a weapon's rate of fire by 15%, but at the cost of a 20% increase in both horizontal and vertical recoil.
Currently, 15 weapons in the game can use Kinetic Converter: Ferro, Kettle, Rattler, Stitcher, Arpeggio, IL Toro, Osprey, Renegade, Torrente, Hullcracker, Bettina, Bobcat, Vulcano, Canto, and Aphelion.
With the upcoming ARC Raiders Riven Tides, which gun benefits most from Kinetic Converter, and which benefits the least? How should PvP and PvE players choose? Understanding these concepts will give you an edge in Riven Tides, so I decided to conduct two tests to find out.
Testing Methods
All tests were conducted after weapons were upgraded to the maximum level, and some weapons were equipped with magazine conversion mods by default, such as Bobcat, as they are almost always used with magazine conversion mods; otherwise, these two tests wouldn't be realistic.
The first test was a kill time test. Entering the practice range, I first knocked down a Light Shielded Raider with a bare weapon, then equipped a Kinetic Converter and knocked down another Light Shielded Raider with it. I calculated the time required for these two knockdowns.
The second test was a magazine emptying test. Since some weapons are clearly better suited for PvE, I felt it was fair to conduct a magazine emptying test, which involved measuring the time required to empty the magazine of a weapon without a Kinetic Converter and with one equipped with a Kinetic Converter.
Unsuitable Weapons
First, Ferro and Osprey should absolutely not use Kinetic Converter.
Ferro is a folding combat rifle that uses heavy ammunition. It's inexpensive and an effective choice for mid-to-long-range engagements, but its long reload speed becomes a disadvantage in close-quarters combat. Kinetic Converter increases the rate of fire, not the reload speed. Since Ferro magazine only holds one round, equipping it with Kinetic Converter makes no sense. Your rate of fire won't change because you only have one round to fire.
Osprey is a bolt-action sniper rifle that uses medium ammunition. When using Osprey, you need to stop after each shot. Even if you fire Osprey at its fastest rate, without even aiming down sights, Kinetic Converter won't increase your rate of fire.
Automatic weapons or weapons that require rapid trigger pulls, such as Kettle, Arpeggio, Vulcano, and Aphelion, are best left without a Kinetic Converter.
Based on the data, if a weapon requires rapid trigger-firing, such as Kettle, a semi-automatic assault rifle using lightweight ammunition, or a burst-fire weapon like Arpeggio or Aphelion, then its performance mechanics are not well-suited to Kinetic Converter.
In my testing, I found that the time it took to empty Kettle magazine was exactly the same regardless of whether I used Kinetic Converter. While my kill rate and magazine emptying speed were indeed faster with Arpeggio and Aphelion, the improvement was not significant compared to other weapons.
These data are likely affected by human error, such as operational mistakes during testing, resulting in imperfect shots with each weapon. However, this means that in matches, using Kinetic Converter will not provide a consistent benefit, as the margin for error is too low; we cannot guarantee that every match will be error free.
Suitable Weapons
If you use fully automatic weapons, you don't need to worry about negligible benefits or the risk of operational errors. Therefore, I believe the weapons that benefit most from Kinetic Converter are Rattler, Stitcher, Torrente, Renegade, Canto, Betina, and Bobcat.
Torrente is a fully automatic light machine gun that uses medium ammunition. Equipping Kinetic Converter on Torrente empties its magazine 43 frames faster, significantly improving its performance and DPS.
IL Toro also empties its magazine 43 frames faster after equipping Kinetic Converter. If you, like Matriarch, enjoy using IL Toro for wide-range spraying, you might also consider equipping Kinetic Converter.
For PvP players, all the above weapons are suitable for pairing with Kinetic Converter. Even if your best kill time is only slightly reduced by a few frames, this could be the deciding factor in a 1v1 battle.
Therefore, if you enjoy PvP, revel in the increased rate of fire provided by the Kinetic Converter. However, if you're a peace-loving PvE player, I highly recommend installing Kinetic Converter on your Hullcracker.
Hullcracker is a unique pump-action grenade launcher that uses launcher ammunition. Its ammunition explosions cause multiple instances of damage, making it extremely useful when hunting large Arc Wardens (ARCs) like Matriarchs or looting Evaluators.
Once you penetrate the protective layer of an Arc Warden, it will expose a yellow weak point or a glowing red core. Attacking these weak points or the core with the high rate of fire of Hullcracker will deal significant damage. You can efficiently kill ARCs and obtain a wealth of ARC Raider Items.
Kinetic Converter requires the right attachments to be effective. Ferro and Osprey are the least beneficial or even completely useless attachments. Semi-automatic or semi-automatic weapons like Kettle, Arpeggio, Vulcano, and Aphelion, while offering slight stat boosts, are highly susceptible to human error in actual gameplay, resulting in inconsistent gains and a tiny margin for error. Therefore, their use is not recommended.
The greatest benefits and most worthwhile investment are in all fully automatic weapons. For PvP players, this frame rate advantage is often the key to victory in 1v1 gunfights. If you're a PvE-focused player, try installing Kinetic Converter on your Hullcracker; it will definitely surprise you.
Kinetic Converter's benefits come at the cost of a 20% increase in both horizontal and vertical recoil. You need to carefully balance rate of fire and recoil control based on your playstyle to make this legendary attachment truly worthwhile.
