How to Get Comet Igniter in Arc Raiders: Locations, Loadout, and Deadline Crafting

The Shrouded Sky update added Comets to Arc Raiders, and with them, one of the most frustrating farming loops in the game. The Comet Igniter drops from these rolling ARC threats, but only if you kill them before they blow themselves up. Miss the DPS check and you get nothing. Here’s how to farm Comet Igniters consistently, where to find Comets, and what to do with the Igniter once you have one.

What Is the Comet Igniter?

The Comet Igniter is a Rare-tier ARC component added in Patch 1.17.0 (Shrouded Sky). It weighs 1.0, sells for 1,000 coins, and only drops from the new Comet enemy type. You can’t find it as ground loot or craft it at any station. The only way to get one is to destroy a Comet before it self-destructs and loot the core.

Comets are armored spherical machines, bigger than Pops but smaller than Surveyors. They have a single vertical light sensor on the front and patrol outdoor areas. If you’re still getting familiar with the different ARC threats in the game, our complete hunting guide breaks down every enemy type including the new Comet.

Where to Find Comets in Arc Raiders

Comets spawn on every outdoor map in Arc Raiders. The one exception is Stella Montis, which is mostly indoors, though some players report rare spawns in the loading bay area alongside Bastions.

Here’s where to look, ranked by farming efficiency:

Map	Why it works
Dam Battlegrounds	Wide open sightlines make Comets easy to spot. The dam itself and the area near the Control Tower are reliable spawn points with minimal obstructions.
Buried City	The plaza north of Plaza Rosa is a consistent spawn zone. High ARC density means Comets show up regularly between other threats.
Blue Gate	Frequent orbital drops and open terrain near the main structures. Good backup option when Dam lobbies are contested.
Spaceport	Large open areas, but spawns feel less consistent than the maps above. Still worth checking if you’re already running Spaceport for other materials.

Watch the sky for ARC trails. Comets leave visible streaks when they drop from orbit, so you can track their landing zone before they even hit the ground. Hurricane weather seems to increase Comet spawn frequency too. If you’re specifically farming Igniters, prioritize Hurricane maps when they’re available.

One more thing: Comets only patrol open areas. If you’re searching inside buildings, you won’t find them. Stick to outdoor zones and keep scanning the horizon.

How to Kill the Comet (Best Loadout)

This is where most players fail. Comets are heavily armored and will self-destruct if they reach you. The Igniter gets destroyed in the explosion, so you leave empty-handed. Think of the Comet as a mobile DPS check with a countdown timer.

Comet behavior

The Comet has a detection cycle driven by its front-facing light strip. It starts neutral, shifts to yellow when it notices you, then goes red when it fully locks on. At red, it charges directly at you and begins the self-destruct sequence. You need to pump out enough damage to destroy it before the detonation triggers. Let it get too close and the blast wipes the Igniter.

Recommended loadout

• Primary weapon: Ferro, Anvil, or Hullcracker. Heavy weapons strip Comet armor faster than anything else. The Ferro is probably the best pick since it deals consistent high damage at range. Check our best weapons tier list for more on heavy weapon rankings.
• Grenades: Seeker Grenades are the MVP here. Two well-placed Seekers can sometimes kill a Comet outright. They home in on the target so you don’t waste them on a miss. Wolfpack rounds and Trigger Nades also work, but Seekers are more reliable.
• Backup: Anything with decent range as a finisher.

Combat strategy

1. Spot the Comet from as far away as possible. Distance is your biggest advantage.
2. Open with Seeker Grenades while the Comet is still in its patrol loop.
3. Follow up immediately with your heavy weapon. Aim for the sides where the armor plating is thinner.
4. If the light strip goes red and it starts charging, keep firing. Don’t run. You’ll lose DPS time and it will catch you anyway.
5. In a squad, coordinate fire. One person throws grenades while the others focus heavy weapons. Three players shooting together makes this trivial.

A decent headset helps more than you’d expect. Comets make a distinct rumbling sound as they patrol, and you can hear the orbital drop before you see the trail. Picking up audio cues early gives you extra seconds to set up the engagement from range.

How to Loot the Comet Igniter

When a Comet dies, it splits into two separate loot containers. This trips up a lot of players who only grab one.

The outer ring drops common ARC parts like ARC Coolant and Advanced ARC Powercells. The core is the smaller container sitting inside, and that’s where the Comet Igniter sits. You need to loot both separately.

⚡ Important: If the Comet self-destructs, it still leaves some loot behind, but the explosion destroys the Igniter. So you’ll see a loot pile, search it, find ARC Coolant, and assume you got unlucky. You didn’t. You just let it blow up.

The Comet Igniter is not a random drop with bad RNG. If you killed the Comet before detonation, the Igniter is always in the core. Every single time. If you didn’t get one, the Comet self-destructed and the Igniter was destroyed in the blast.

Once you have an Igniter, manage your inventory carefully. It weighs 1.0 and sells for 1,000 coins, but you’ll want to keep it for crafting. Check our inventory management guide if you need help deciding what to drop to make room.

What to use the Comet Igniter for

The Comet Igniter has two main uses, and you’ll want at least a couple of them in your stash.

Weather Monitor System project (Stage 2)

The Weather Monitor System is the new 5-stage project introduced in Shrouded Sky. Stage 2 (Sunlight) requires 1 Comet Igniter along with a Snitch Scanner, 3 Wires, and 3 Sensors. Completing all 5 stages earns you the Anemometer Backpack Charm and 250 Raider Tokens.

The good news: you only need 1 Igniter for the entire project. Stage 2 is the only stage that calls for one. The other 4 stages use completely different materials.

Deadline weapon crafting

The Deadline is an explosive weapon you can build at the Explosives Station (Level 3). The recipe costs 1 Comet Igniter, 3 Explosive Compound, and 2 ARC Circuitry. The finished weapon is valued at 6,000 coins, or 18,000 at traders, making it one of the more profitable craftable items in the game.

The Deadline is solid for Queen and Matriarch fights where burst damage matters. That said, the Shrouded Sky update increased its crafting cost from what it used to be. The community has been vocal about this change, with some players arguing the added Comet Igniter requirement makes it not worth the farming time. I’d say it’s still worth it for the trader value alone, but your mileage will vary depending on how quickly you can drop Comets.

Recycling and selling

If you don’t need the Igniter for crafting, you can recycle it for 2 ARC Alloy and 2 Crude Explosives, or sell it outright for 1,000 coins. But with only 1 needed for the Weather Monitor project and the Deadline being a strong craft, I’d hold onto every Igniter you find until you’ve completed Stage 2 and built at least one Deadline.

Frequently Asked Questions

Summary

The Comet Igniter is a straightforward farm once you understand the core mechanic: kill the Comet before it self-destructs, loot the core, extract. Bring heavy weapons, start shooting from range, and hit Dam Battlegrounds for the most consistent spawn rates. You need at least 1 Igniter for the Weather Monitor System project and 1 more per Deadline weapon you want to craft.

For more Arc Raiders coverage, check out our best weapons tier list, complete enemy type guide, and inventory management guide.