Been cashing out way more Merits since I stopped chasing every fight near the coast, and yeah, I've been getting mine from ARC Raiders Coins when I'm short on stuff, but the event grind itself is mostly about not dying like an idiot. Last Resort in Riven Tides looks chill because it runs on any map, but it's sneaky sweaty. April 28 to May 25, 2026 sounds like plenty of time until you realize the full track is about 3,150 Merits and 21 tiers.

What actually worked for me

I tested two nights of just normal raids versus hard focusing Ship Models, and the shoreline runs were way faster when they didn't go sideways. Thing is, they go sideways a lot. Everyone knows those Riven Tides coastal spots are juiced now, so you're not just fighting ARC units. You're fighting every goblin with a backpack who watched the same clip. My best runs were boring ones: loot fast, kill heavy ARC if it's not a death trap, grab a Ship Model if it's nearby, then leave.

Stop greeding the last five minutes

Most people I'm seeing are treating Merits like they just bank as you play. They don't. If you get dropped before extract, that XP conversion and whatever Ship Models you had are gone for that run. I lost a rare model yesterday because I stopped to third-party a fight I absolutely didn't need. Total clown move. Since then I've been extracting earlier, and my Merit gain feels way more steady.

Ship Models are cracked, but not free

The Dockmaster's Detector is good, maybe too good, but it's also basically a dinner bell. I've been using it near beach routes, then cutting inland instead of walking straight at the ping like a bot. Could be wrong, but it feels like higher rarity Ship Models beat raw XP farming by a lot. The annoying part is we still don't know the exact spawn rates or the Merit value per rarity. Common might be mid, legendary might be busted, but I haven't seen clean numbers yet.

My lazy route for the track

Here's my current plan if you're trying to finish without burning out. Run whatever map you're comfortable on, stack XP normally, and only force shoreline routes when your loadout can handle a messy extract. Don't skip world events if they're close, because the XP bump matters. Don't tunnel vision cosmetics either; the Junior outfit variants come later, and the track is sequential, so you can't just grab the cool piece and dip. The 250 Raider Tokens across the rewards are nice, but they're bait if you start playing tilted.

Stuff I still don't know

I haven't figured out if dailies or weeklies add any flat Merit bonus, or if it's only the final match XP screen doing the work. Also no clue what happens to extra Merits after tier 21, which is kinda lame if there's no sink. If you're behind, I'd save the sweaty pushes for Ship Model routes and keep the rest chill; I found it easier to buy cheap ARC Raiders Coins for side stuff than pretend every raid needs to be a max-risk run. Hope this helps, lmk if I missed anything.