ARC Raiders’ Burletta: A D-Tier Weapon I Never Take

Hey everyone, Elias here from Rivalsector.com. We need to talk.

In every extraction shooter, there is a hierarchy. There are the S-Tier meta kings, the A-Tier workhorses, and the B-Tier niche picks. And then, at the very bottom of the barrel, there is the D and F-Tier. This is the “desperation” pile, the gear you pick up only because it is better than throwing rocks. And for me, in ARC Raiders, the undisputed king of the D-Tier is the Burletta pistol.

I know what you are thinking. “But Elias, it is a starter gun! It is not supposed to be good!” I get that. But ARC Raiders has other starter-level gear, like the Rattler, that is at least serviceable. The Burletta, in my opinion, crosses the line from being a “starter” weapon to being a “liability.”

I have spent dozens of hours on Speranza, testing every piece of hardware I can get my hands on. And after all that testing, my expert opinion is that the Burletta is actively detrimental to your raid. It is a gun that fails at the one thing a gun needs to do: reliably neutralize threats.

Today, I am not just going to tell you it is bad. I am going to show you why it is my permanent D-Tier pick, and why you should be dropping it for scrap the moment you find literally anything else.

The “On-Paper” Problem: A Look at the Stats

On the surface, the Burletta looks like a simple, fast-firing pistol. It is an Uncommon sidearm that uses the plentiful Light Ammo. Its stats favor Agility and Stability, which sounds great. It is fast to draw, fast to aim, and does not kick much.

But then you look at the two numbers that actually matter: Damage and Magazine Size.

Here is the base stat block for the Burletta I, and why each number is a problem.

Let’s do some simple math. With 10 damage per shot and a 12-round magazine, the Burletta has a total potential damage of 120 per mag.

Now, let’s look at what you are shooting at:

• A Raider with a Light Shield: This is the only target you can reasonably kill with one magazine, and that is if you hit all 12 shots. Miss one or two? You are now stuck reloading while they blast you.
• A Raider with a Medium Shield: You cannot kill them. It is mathematically impossible with one magazine. You will break their shield and maybe tickle their health, and then you will die during your reload.
• A Raider with a Heavy Shield: Do not even make me laugh. You would be better off trying to punch them.

The gun’s only strength is its high fire rate, which lets you “mag-dump” that 120 damage very quickly. But a fast Time-to-Kill (TTK) does not matter if your “kill” is not even a kill. It is a “time to get you killed,” because you are left with an empty gun facing a very angry opponent.

The Critical Flaw: It Cannot Kill Bots

If the low PvP damage was its only issue, the Burletta would be C-Tier. A niche, backup “finisher” weapon. But it has one stat that drops it straight to D-Tier: Very Weak ARC Armor Pen.

This is not just a small problem, it is a fundamental, game-breaking flaw.

ARC Raiders is a PvPvE game. You are always fighting AI. They guard loot, they call in reinforcements, and they are a constant environmental threat. A weapon that cannot handle the “E” part of “PvPvE” is a wasted slot.

This “Very Weak” penetration means your bullets essentially bounce off even the most basic ARC enemies. I have tested this myself. I tried to clear a simple ARC patrol with a Burletta. I emptied my entire 12-round magazine into the chassis of a standard ARC bot. It barely flinched. I reloaded, emptied another 12 rounds. Its armor was maybe slightly scratched.

This is a complete deal-breaker. Imagine you win a close PvP fight, but the noise draws in a bot patrol. You are low on health, you swap to your trusty sidearm, and… nothing. Your gun does not work. You are dead.

A gun that is only useful in PvP (and only against low-geared players) is a liability. It means you have no backup, no plan B, when the AI pushes you.

The Upgrade Trap and Attachment “Fix”

“But Elias,” you say, “what if I upgrade it? What about attachments?”

Let’s talk about the upgrade path. At the Gunsmith workbench, you can upgrade the Burletta all the way to Tier IV. What does this give you? It almost exclusively improves Reload Time. By Tier IV, it reloads 50% faster.

My question is: who cares? You are spending valuable Mechanical Components and Gun Parts to make a bad gun reload faster. You are not fixing the 12-round mag. You are not fixing the 10 damage. And you are not fixing the non-existent armor penetration. It is a total resource sink. That scrap could be going toward a Rattler, or better yet, the blueprint for a real pistol.

The only “fix” for the Burletta is finding a high-tier Extended Light Mag. A Level III mag can add +10 rounds, bringing your total to 22. This finally makes the gun usable. With 220 potential damage, you can now kill a Medium Shield player and maybe, maybe chip away at a bot.

But this does not make the gun good. It just makes it not-terrible. A weapon that requires a specific, rare attachment just to become functional is a D-Tier weapon. Why would I waste a good extended mag on the Burletta when I could put it on a far superior weapon?

What Replaces It? (Hint: Almost Everything)

This brings me to my final point. The Burletta is D-Tier because it has no role, no niche, that is not done infinitely better by another weapon. It does not even make the list of ARC Raiders best weapons in the “budget” category.

If you are looking for a sidearm, literally every other option is a better choice.

• The Anvil: This is what a sidearm should be. It is an Uncommon heavy pistol, but it hits like a cannon. It has Strong ARC Armor Pen. It deletes bots. It two-taps players in the head. It is a true backup, a “get off me” gun that can save your life.
• The Venator: This Rare pistol fires a two-shot burst. Its TTK is insane if you land your shots. It is a high-skill, high-reward weapon that shreds players.
• A Melee Weapon: I am not joking. I would rather take a melee weapon into a raid than a Burletta. At least a melee weapon can silently kill basic AI and does not rely on ammo.
• A Second Primary: Just do not run a sidearm at all. Run an AR and a Shotgun. Run a Sniper and an SMG. Anything is better than wasting a slot on the Burletta.

My Final Verdict: Leave It in the Scrap Heap

The Burletta is a trap. It looks like a fast, agile pistol, but it is a “peashooter” in the truest sense of the word.

It fails in PvP against anyone with decent shields.

It fails completely in PvE against all but the weakest flesh-and-blood enemies.

It wastes your resources to upgrade.

It wastes your attachments to make it barely usable.

Do not get attached to it just because it might be your first gun. My advice is to complete Tian Wen’s “Industrial Espionage” quest with it, and then immediately take it to a Recycler and turn it into scrap. That scrap is more valuable for crafting literally any other item in the game.

What do you all think? Am I being too harsh, or is the Burletta scrap-tier for you too? Let me know your D-Tier weapon picks in the comments below.

For more deep dives, guides, and reviews, be sure to keep it locked on Rivalsector and check out our full ARC Raiders category.

Keep your aim sharp, Raiders.

Elias