The Flickering Flames event in ARC Raiders comes back with a punch, and if you have jumped in already, you know the timer is brutal when you are chasing Merit and eyeing those ARC Raiders Items rewards at the same time. You quickly learn you cannot just wander from icon to icon and expect progress. Candleberries look harmless scattered around the map, but if you try to grab every single one with no plan, you burn out fast and your runs feel pointless. The best sessions I have had were not lucky streaks; they started in the lobby, looking at the map with my squad and agreeing on a path before we even dropped.
Planning Routes That Actually Work
Most players sprint straight to the first objective marker they see, and that is usually where the run starts to fall apart. You want routes that cut through Candleberry clusters, not lonely berries on the edge of nowhere. Think in lines, not dots: if a zone has three or four clusters that you can hit in one sweep, that is where you go. I try to chain these clusters while moving toward a main objective so I am never just running for the sake of it. You also need to read the map for trouble spots. Obvious choke points and high ground near key objectives tend to turn into PvP magnets, and getting dragged into a ten‑minute fight when you only wanted berries is a huge waste. If I am not in the mood to duel another squad, I plan a slightly longer but quieter route around those hotspots.
Picking Missions With A Purpose
Not every mission on the board is worth your time if your goal is event progress and nothing else. When I am feeling sharp and my aim is on point, I lean into combat missions because steady waves of enemies keep the Merit ticking up. You clear one group, the bar jumps, and it feels good. On slower days or when I am solo, I flip that and stick to exploration tasks, scan points, and low‑risk objectives that let me farm berries without getting third‑partied. It is slower on paper, but you keep your loot, which matters more. Always watch the rotating multipliers as well; if the game is handing out bonus Merit for a certain task type and you ignore it, you are basically throwing away free progress.
Why Squads Make Everything Easier
Running this event alone is doable, but it is way more stressful than it needs to be. In a squad you can split jobs, and that is where it really starts to click. We usually set one person as crowd control, one as a dedicated berry runner, and the third flexes between the two. The CC player keeps bots or enemy squads busy, while the berry runner hugs cover, scoops up Candleberries and calls out safe paths. Pings are huge here; we spam markers on high‑value drops, enemy snipers, and safe routes so everyone moves together instead of scattering. On top of that, I swap my loadout specifically for this event: more sprint speed, faster climbing, movement perks over raw damage when I can. Covering ground quicker ends up giving me more Merit per hour than a tiny DPS bump.
Small Tricks That Add Up
After a few nights with Flickering Flames you start noticing little things that separate decent runs from great ones. Using terrain to funnel enemies into mines or explosives means you clear fights faster and save ammo. Taking a slightly wider path that passes one extra Candleberry pocket ends up adding hundreds of event points over an evening. Learn which areas tend to attract other squads at certain times and adjust your route when the lobby feels sweaty. The event is really about stacking these small wins: efficient pathing, smart mission choices, and a squad build tuned for speed and survival. Do that consistently and you will see your Merit climb, your Candleberries pile up, and you will unlock the best ARC Raiders gear from ARC Raiders gear long before the timer runs out.
