If you have been freezing your fingers off in ARC Raiders during the Cold Snap event, you have probably noticed how everything seems to orbit around Merit and the Flickering Flames reward track, right alongside your usual hunt for rare ARC Raiders Items. Merit is basically a reputation bar that fills up as you earn XP from pretty much anything you do. The rough math most players use is one point of Merit for every 100 XP, so you do not have to sit there with a calculator. What makes it work is that you are not locked into one "correct" way to play. You can spend a whole evening scavenging and sneaking around and still see that bar move, instead of feeling forced into sweaty PvP lobbies.

How Merit Really Builds Up

Once you pay attention to it, you notice Merit comes in from lots of small actions, not just big hero moments. Clearing out ARC machines is the most steady option, because those bots are everywhere and they do not complain when you farm them. A dense machine zone gives reliable XP with way less drama than chasing other players. PvP does add a nice chunk when it goes well, but there is a catch. If you die before extraction, you miss the big end-of-run XP spike that pushes your Merit forward. Safe extractions with decent loot almost always beat wild fights that end with you face-down in the snow. Even casual stuff like opening containers, grabbing junk off the ground, and tagging resources builds up over time, so it is worth grabbing things even if you plan to dump half of it later.

What You Get From The Reward Track

The Flickering Flames track runs across 25 levels, and it feels more like a slow climb than a quick sprint. Early on, around 600 Merit, you pick up the Hi-Tech Hiker Outfit, which fits the icy theme and makes your character look like they belong in the storm instead of just visiting. As you keep going, the rewards between roughly 1,200 and 2,400 Merit are all about Candleberries. These odd little items matter a lot for seasonal projects, so you really do not want to ignore them just because they are not flashy skins. At 3,000 Merit you unlock the "Check Compass" emote, which is a small thing but great for messing around with teammates when you are planning your next route. Push deep into the track and the big flex starts to show: at 10,800 Merit there is a Yellow Camo colour that stands out in a lobby, and the Space Wrench skin sitting at 15,000 Merit is the clear "I stayed for the grind" badge.

Making The Most Of Each Run

If you want your Merit to climb without burning out, you need a mix of routine and small risks, not just constant firefights. Candleberries are one of the big pain points here. They only appear out in natural areas, tucked into bushes when Cold Snap weather is active, so you cannot just walk in a straight line and expect to find them. The reward track hands you some, which helps, but it is never quite enough if you are trying to finish every project. A solid run usually looks something like this: you move through a machine-heavy region, pick up anything that gives XP, avoid pointless duels with stacked squads, and then extract clean with whatever you have found. People who sprint straight for fights often end up with a cool story and very little Merit to show for it.

Balancing Risk, Loot, And Time

Over a whole evening, the players who do best on the Flickering Flames track are usually the ones who pace themselves. They fight when it makes sense, back off when things look messy, and always keep an eye out for those hard-to-spot Candleberries. Planning a loose route before you drop in helps a lot: a couple of known machine spawns, some likely berry bushes, and a reasonable extraction point that you can reach without crossing the whole map. If you treat each run like a small project instead of a random brawl, your Merit climbs in steady steps, and your stash of rare gear and ARC Raiders Items cheap grows along with it.

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