ARC Raiders’ temporary PvE test removes direct damage between Raiders, but it does not remove danger, competition, or progression restrictions. Here is what to know about the test schedule, reduced loot value, mixed squad sizes, and the newly excluded Redirection activity before taking your equipment Topside.

PvE Test Schedule and What the Experiment Means

The announced test begins on October 13 at 4:00 a.m. Central Time, equivalent to 5:00 a.m. Eastern and 2:00 a.m. Pacific. It ends on October 20. This is a limited experiment, not confirmation that a permanent PvE playlist will become part of ARC Raiders.

Embark plans to review gameplay, matchmaking, and economic effects, alongside a post-test survey asking players where they want PvE to go next. A future version could use different rules, and the test does not guarantee that the mode will return.

The central change is straightforward: Raiders cannot directly damage one another. However, hostile ARC remain active, loot retains an extraction requirement, and other players can still influence how a session unfolds.

Player Damage Is Disabled, but ARC Can Still Eliminate You

Weapons, Stuns and Fire Cannot Hurt Other Raiders

The PvE rules disable player-to-player damage. Stun effects and fire throwables also do not affect other Raiders. That removes several obvious ways to attack another squad, rather than merely switching off bullet damage.

This distinction matters when sharing space with unfamiliar players. A nearby Raider firing at a machine is no longer the same direct combat threat they would be in the standard playlist. Nevertheless, machine attacks and poor positioning remain dangerous.

ARC can attack downed players and fully eliminate them. The test provides an eight-second ARC grace period after a Raider is downed, during which machines will not attack that player.

Use that window to crawl toward cover or a position where a teammate can attempt a rescue. It is a brief opportunity to improve your situation, not a guarantee of survival. Remaining exposed after it expires leaves you vulnerable to elimination.

Extraction still determines whether ordinary carried loot makes it back to Speranza. Death loses items outside the Safe Pocket, so removing hostile player fire does not make every equipment investment safe.

Physical Interactions Still Allow Player Competition

Barricades and zip lines retain physical interactions with other players. The test does not introduce a universal pass-through system that makes another Raider’s deployed equipment irrelevant.

That leaves room for competition over movement and resources even without direct damage. Possible friction includes blocked routes, interference with traversal, races for loot containers, and congestion around extraction spaces. These are potential consequences of shared physical interactions, not evidence that every session will involve deliberate obstruction.

• Check your escape route: Do not assume a passage will remain clear simply because other Raiders cannot shoot you.
• Keep alternative cover available: Another group’s movement can affect where you can safely fight ARC.
• Expect shared loot competition: Friendly damage rules do not give each squad ownership of nearby containers.
• Watch machine attention: ARC drawn toward another group can still complicate your own positioning.

The practical difference is that conflict may move away from gunfights and toward access, timing, and positioning. Treat other players as participants in a shared raid rather than as harmless scenery.

Take a look at: how the PvE test could change PvPvE lobbies

Solos, Duos and Trios Can Share Sessions

Squad size is not prioritized for separation in the PvE test. Solo players, duos, and trios can occupy the same session rather than being divided into strictly matching squad-size pools.

For a solo Raider, this means encountering a larger group is expected behavior, not necessarily a matchmaking problem. Direct damage protection reduces the combat disadvantage, but larger groups may still collect resources or handle machine encounters more efficiently.

Do not assume that sharing a PvE lobby creates a single cooperative team. Other squads retain their own objectives, and their presence does not guarantee a revive or coordinated extraction.

Reduced Loot Value Changes the Risk and Reward

PvE is designed to offer lower overall loot value because it removes a significant source of risk. At the same time, the normal PvPvE playlist receives a slight increase to its baseline loot value as part of the experiment.

The exact meaning of lower overall value has not been fully specified. There is no confirmed breakdown establishing whether the adjustment primarily changes quantities, item quality, container contents, or another part of the reward distribution. Avoid planning around an assumed reduction percentage.

For players building a reserve of ARC Raiders coins, the useful comparison is not simply which mode offers more valuable individual finds. It is how much usable loot reaches the stash after losses, consumable use, and equipment replacement are considered.

A lower-value raid that ends in extraction can still support progression. Conversely, reduced player danger does not automatically make an expensive loadout worthwhile when ARC can eliminate you and some activities are unavailable.

Keep equipment spending proportionate to your objective. If the goal is routine material collection, prioritize a setup you can replace rather than treating the test as permission to risk every valuable weapon.

Redirection joins Night Raid, Hidden Bunker, Locked Gate, and the Frig among the excluded content. Its removal is particularly important for players pursuing Frozen Trail endgame progression.

Redirection is a primary targeted route for obtaining Emperor Payloads, Emperor Couplers, Gateway Conduit components, and the Gateway Conduit blueprint. Without that activity, the PvE playlist cannot provide the same targeted route toward building Emperor access.

This restriction is separate from the general reduction in loot value. Even if a player extracts consistently, completing raids in the test does not replace access to an excluded activity.

Existing Gateway Conduits Remain an Open Question

One important interaction remains unconfirmed: whether a Raider who already owns a Gateway Conduit can bring it into a PvE session and open access to the Emperor.

Do not interpret Redirection’s exclusion as proof that an existing conduit will work, or as proof that it cannot. Those are different questions. Players planning around ARC Raiders blueprints and endgame components should distinguish recipe acquisition from using an item already held in the stash.

Trials Season 6 Has a Date Discrepancy

Alongside the PvE test, Trials Season 6 introduces outfit rewards, a sheriff badge charm, an infrared transmitter attachment, a dance reward, and a helmet reward, together with new challenge themes.

The schedule requires care. Earlier versions of the announcement displayed November 16 as the end date, while the updated official page lists January 12. The reason for that difference has not been established, so it should not be presented as a confirmed extension or a fully explained correction.

It also remains unconfirmed whether PvE sessions contribute to Trials, leaderboard progress, or relevant ARC objectives. Players focused on competitive rewards should not assume that machine kills in the test will count toward those systems.

Take a look at: Frozen Trail progression and loot changes

Why the Test Matters Beyond Its Own Playlist

Survey figures indicate that 51% of respondents expressed interest in a dedicated PvE option. That is not the same as saying 51% want PvP removed or intend to abandon the standard mode.

The reported playstyle breakdown was roughly 37% friendly co-op, 27% mixed, and 34% pure PvP. Interest in fewer hostile encounters also crossed playstyle boundaries: 70% of friendly players and 40% of the PvP group wanted fewer such encounters.

Those figures help explain the experiment, but participation and actual raid outcomes will matter more than preference alone. Splitting players between playlists could affect queue times, regional population, matchmaking quality, extraction values, and the atmosphere of ordinary PvPvE sessions.

It is plausible that standard sessions could become more aggressive if many cooperation-focused players move into PvE. That remains a possibility to measure, not a confirmed outcome.

Is the PvE mode permanent?

No. The announced test runs from October 13 to October 20. Embark will evaluate its results before deciding what happens next.

Can other Raiders damage or stun me?

Direct player damage is disabled, and stun and fire effects do not affect other Raiders. Physical interactions with barricades and zip lines still remain.

Can ARC finish off a downed player?

Yes. Downed Raiders receive eight seconds during which ARC will not attack them, but machines can eliminate them after that grace period.

No. Redirection is excluded, removing an important targeted route for Emperor-related components and the Gateway Conduit blueprint.

Does PvE count toward Trials?

That has not been confirmed. Avoid relying on the test for Trials or leaderboard progression until the interaction is explicitly clarified.