ARC Raiders PvE Toggle Beta Oct 13 – 20: Rules and Loot

The ARC Raiders PvE toggle beta runs from 13 to 20 October 2026: with it on, there is no player-to-player damage and the session is about the ARC and co-op, and when the test ends the toggle is removed. Embark Studios’ follow-up post gives the window as 11:00 CEST on 13 October to 11:00 CEST on 20 October. Everything below comes from the studio’s own posts unless marked otherwise.

It is a matchmaking choice added by Update 2.1.0 on 13 October, not a new game mode with its own progression. Embark’s Steam post says Update 2.1 marks the start of the PvE toggle Beta Test. You pick between the classic PvPvE experience and a PvE experience built around co-op against the ARC. In the PvE experience there is zero player-to-player damage. Embark says the intent is not a harder PvE or new PvE progression, only an alternative to PvP encounters, and it describes scavenging, quests and exploring in relative safety from other hostile players.

The toggle arrives five days after Frozen Trail 2.0 went live on 8 October. They are two separate releases. For the content side, see our Frozen Trail overview covering Pendola Pass, the Outpost and the PvE test.

Switching between PvE and PvPvE

Embark says it designed the system for seamless switching, for example a relaxed solo PvE session and then a high-tension PvPvE match. The posts we checked name no menu path for the toggle. One third-party guide, allthings.how, says it sits under the Play tab’s Limited Time panel as a PvE Only button (unverified by us, not in Embark’s posts).

Squads and rating

PvE sessions include Solos, Duos and Trios in the same session. Squad separation is not prioritized, so different-size groups meet more often. Playing PvE sessions leaves your PvPvE matchmaking rating untouched. Standard matchmaking continues to apply in PvPvE sessions.

What still works

Scavenging, quests and exploring are the activities Embark names for PvE. Physical interaction items such as barricades and ziplines are unaffected, so they keep their collision. Embark does not describe any PvE-only rewards, drop rates or progression track.

Embark says some major map conditions are excluded because they are designed for higher tension and rely on the uncertainty of meeting a variety of players. The list grew between the two official posts, so use the later one. The 12 October post lists Night Raid, Locked Gate, Hidden Bunker, Frigate and Redirection.

If you want to know how map conditions rotate in general, our explainer on regional map conditions in update 1.42.0 covers that separately.

Lower loot value in PvE

Embark says overall loot value is lowered in PvE to compensate for the relative safety. No percentage or figure for the reduction is published in the Embark posts we checked.

Slightly higher loot in PvPvE

Embark expects friendly and PvE players to see higher extraction rates and more value, so PvPvE sessions get slightly higher baseline loot values during the test.

Downed players and ARC

PvE is not risk-free. Embark’s follow-up post describes an eight-second grace period after being downed in which ARC will not acquire you, but they may attack if they catch you moving after that. The September post put it more loosely: crawling can get you re-acquired, and ARC ignores you if you stay still.

Queue times

In low-population regions or off hours, Embark says there might be a small increase in matchmaking times.

The cost here is time-boxed rather than grind-based: the window runs from 13 October 11:00 CEST to 20 October 11:00 CEST. Because no loot-reduction figure is published, we cannot convert PvE sessions into a loot-per-hour comparison.

Embark gives its own player split, with no sample size or method stated in the post. Per Embark, more than 70% of Friendly players, and 40% of PvP players, would like fewer hostile encounters, and 51% of the players it surveyed are interested in a dedicated PvE option.

Embark says the Friendly group has grown consistently since launch and the Pure PvP group has remained stable. It frames decisions as three inputs: data, player feedback and the team’s gut. It is open about the downside: a toggle might take away some of the tension ARC Raiders was designed around. The studio says the game was first conceived as a raid-based PvE co-op looting game before the reset into the PvPvE extraction game that shipped.

The practical use is work where a PvP death would cost you a run: quest objectives and project stages. Embark names quests as part of the PvE experience. The Outpost’s Sheltered Retreat project is one candidate; the unlock path is laid out in our Outpost guide on the Sheltered Retreat project and research. Which individual quest objectives count in a PvE session is not stated per quest in the posts we checked, so check the objective in-game.

Keep the lower loot value in mind: PvE is better suited to objectives than to chasing valuable drops. Redirection is excluded from PvE, so anything tied to that condition needs a PvPvE queue.

The toggle is removed and matchmaking returns to normal. Embark says it will share findings and future plans sometime after the test, with no date given. Its Steam post says player feedback along with in-game data will help decide whether the toggle becomes a permanent part of the game. If a PvE option does come later, Embark warns it may not look like this beta.

Two items remain unresolved in the Embark posts we checked: whether the Fallen Emperor encounter is excluded beyond the five named conditions, and the sample size behind the survey figures. A third-party guide, allthings.how, says Emperor parts still require the standard queue; Embark’s own list does not name the encounter.

Sources and Confidence

This table separates what the studio has confirmed and what is not confirmed yet. Each claim below is tied to the post and the game version it describes.