Hey Raiders, Elias here from Rivalsector.com. Let’s talk about the sound that defines an indoor fight in ARC Raiders. It is not the zip of an SMG or the crack of a battle rifle. It is the deep, terrifying, semi-automatic BOOM-BOOM-BOOM of the Vulcano shotgun. When you hear that sound, you are either the one holding it, or you are already dead.
I have seen a lot of tier lists online, and many of my fellow writers have been quick to slap an “S-Tier” label on this gun. I have read the Reddit threads calling for it to be nerfed. I get it. In a straight-up fight in a locked room, the Vulcano is, without question, the “undisputed king.”
But today, I am going to make a case for a more… expert take.
After dozens of raids running this thing, and dying to it even more, I am planting my flag. The Vulcano is not an S-Tier weapon. It is, in my professional opinion, the definition of an A-Tier weapon. And let me be clear: that is not an insult. S-Tier means a gun is broken, versatile, and the best in almost every situation. The Vulcano is not that. Instead, it is something almost more interesting. It is a hyper-specialized instrument of destruction that is god-like at one job and a paperweight for all the others.
The Brutal Profile: What is the Vulcano?
First, a quick intro for the fresh-faced Raiders. The Vulcano is an Epic-rarity semi-automatic shotgun. It is the big brother to the common Il Toro pump-action. Where the Il Toro makes you patiently line up a single, devastating shot, the Vulcano is all about panic and firepower.
Its stats tell the whole story. It has a lower base damage per pellet than the Il Toro, but its fire rate is massively faster. This combination gives it one of the highest theoretical “damage per second” (DPS) ratings in the entire game, a staggering 1,300+ DPS according to community data.
This means it can spit out two or three shells in the time it takes an Il Toro user to fire and pump their weapon once. In a game where the Time-to-Kill (TTK) is measured in milliseconds, the Vulcano has a near-zero TTK. It is an ambush predator, a room-clearer, and a squad-wiper.
The S-Tier Fantasy: Where the Vulcano Is Unbeatable
I am calling this gun A-Tier, but to do that, I have to acknowledge why everyone thinks it is S-Tier. And they are not wrong, in a very specific context. The Vulcano is the master of any fight happening within a 10-meter box.
- Player Deletion: Its primary strength is its TTK against enemy Raiders. At point-blank range, it is an instant one-shot kill. At 5-10 meters, it is a consistent two-shot kill, and those two shots come out almost instantly. No other weapon, not even a high-powered SMG, can compete with that.
- Psychological Warfare: The sound of this gun is a weapon in itself. When you hear a squad push into your building, firing a single Vulcano shot into the wall is often enough to make them stop, regroup, and question their life choices. It creates an “area of denial” around you.
- The Ultimate Ambush Tool: This is the best gun in the game for sitting in a dark corner and waiting. It is the perfect counter-punch to an aggressive squad. As they breach a door, you can erase the first player before they even see you, and be on to the second before they can react.
- It Is Forgiving: Did you whiff your first shot? Who cares. With a pump-action, a miss is a death sentence. With the Vulcano, you just pull the trigger again. This makes it incredibly easy to use and forgiving in a chaotic, close-quarters scrap.
This is the fantasy, and it is a powerful one. But ARC Raiders is not just a game of fighting in closets. And that is where the A-Tier reality sets in.
The A-Tier Reality: Its Crippling Weaknesses
Here is the core of my argument. A true S-Tier weapon needs to be versatile. It should be good at most things, and great at one. The Bettina or the Anvil are S-Tier. They can fight at 100 meters, and they can defend themselves up close.
The Vulcano cannot. It is a one-trick pony.
1. The 4-Shot Magazine Catastrophe
The single biggest drawback of the Vulcano is its four-shot base magazine. Let me spell out what that means. You get four trigger pulls before you are completely, totally vulnerable.
- In a 1v1: You have plenty of ammo.
- In a 1v2: You kill the first player with two shots. You kill the second player with two shots. You are now empty, and his 1v3 partner is pushing you.
- In a 1v3: You simply cannot do it. You will down one, maybe two, and then you will be caught in the game’s long shotgun reload animation.
This small magazine is a hard cap on the gun’s potential. It makes an extended magazine mod an absolute, non-negotiable requirement.
2. It Is a Melee Weapon (With Awful Range)
This gun’s damage does not just fall off, it plummets off a cliff. Past 10-12 meters, you are firing confetti. The pellet spread becomes so wide that you are lucky to tickle an enemy.
This is a massive liability on a map as open as the Rust Belt. If you are caught in an open field, in the Dam, or in the long sightlines of the Spaceport, this gun is a brick in your inventory. You are 100% reliant on your primary, which means the Vulcano is not a primary weapon. It is a role-player.
3. It Is a Bad PvE Weapon
This is the part new players miss. The Vulcano is a PvP weapon.6 It is designed to kill fleshy Raiders. It is terrible against armored ARC units.
You will empty your entire 4-round mag, and all your reserves, into a heavy ARC Harvester and barely scratch its armor. Other shotguns, and especially weapons like the Ferro, are designed to crack ARC armor. The Vulcano is not. It wastes precious ammo and leaves you vulnerable. A true S-Tier gun should be able to help you farm the bots, not just the players.
This is why it is A-Tier. It is the best in the world at its job, but its job is only 25% of a successful raid.
The Hunt and The Loadout
So, you still want this A-Tier monster? Good. It is worth the slot. Getting one is the hard part.
- Finding It: The Vulcano is an Epic drop. You can find the weapon itself in high-tier loot zones like the Spaceport Tunnels, Control Towers, and in Security Lockers.
- The Blueprint: The real prize. The Vulcano blueprint is one of the rarest in the game. It drops from the same high-tier lockers and has been reported during special events like the Bunker. Finding this means you can craft it forever.
Once you have it, you must mod it. Here is my non-negotiable mod setup.
Table: Elias’s Essential Vulcano Mods
| Mod Slot | My Top Pick | Why It Is Mandatory |
| Magazine | Extended Magazine | This is the number one priority. Getting the mag to 6 or 8 shots changes the gun from a 1v1 tool to a 1v2 tool. |
| Barrel | Choke (Any) | You want a tighter pellet spread. This makes your two-shot kill more consistent at the edge of its range (around 10m). |
| Sight | Reflex Sight (1x) | This is personal preference, but I find a clean red dot helps me snap-aim in a panic faster than the iron sights. |
My Final Verdict and Loadout
The Vulcano is not a gun you build a loadout around. It is a gun you slot into a loadout to cover a weakness.
My Go-To A-Tier Loadout:
- Primary: Tempest (AR) or Osprey (Sniper). Something that DOMINATES the mid-to-long-range fights.
- Secondary: The Vulcano.
This is the perfect loadout. I use my Tempest to fight in the open and pressure teams. The second they try to push me, or I push them into a building, I swap. Holstering my rifle and pulling out the Vulcano is a declaration: “You are no longer in your comfort zone. You are in mine.”
This makes it the perfect A-Tier “Specialist” weapon. It is not on our main List of the Best Weapons in ARC Raiders as an S-Tier all-rounder, but it is the undisputed S-Tier King of CQC. It is a scalpel, and it is up to you, the player, to be the surgeon.
For more deep-dive guides and hardware reviews, keep it locked to our ARC Raiders category right here at Rivalsector.com.
What do you think? Am I right to knock it down to A-Tier, or am I crazy? Let me know your best Vulcano squad-wipe stories in the comments.
