ARC Raiders China Beta: New Modes Explained Guide

The ARC Raiders China beta launched June 24 as a separate Tencent-run client with its own servers, its own account system, and its own list of things you don't get. Four new map conditions exist there right now. None of them exist for you. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

Security Protocol: The "PvE Mode" That Isn't

Everyone calls it ARC Raiders PvE mode, and everyone is technically wrong. Under Security Protocol, shooting a teammate produces a hit effect and blood splatter but deals zero damage. Comforting, until you notice the game still hands you a rebellion key. Press it, and a red icon lights up over your backpack, broadcast to the entire lobby, and every player who was just farming peacefully in "friendly loot", now has a state-sanctioned reason to end you. Friendly fire and PvP never actually leave the mode — the game just makes betrayal loud and public instead of silent and cheap.

The genius here is not the peace. It's the snitch mechanic bolted onto human behavior: cooperate quietly, or announce your treachery to a map full of people who now have permission to hunt you down. Efficient.

Solo queue also stuffs early matches with passive AI bots that barely shoot back, a soft tutorial layer for players who apparently need training wheels before facing real humans. Bring a squad and the bot population drops, because the game assumes you already know which end of the gun is dangerous.

All-Domain Alert: Shoot the Snitch, Summon the Problem

This is the mode from the leaked footage, officially called All-Domain Alert. Special, recolored snitches roam the map. Shoot one down and it doesn't just die — it spawns a wave of ARC units, sometimes small, sometimes an oversized recolored mega-snitch that summons a leaper, a bastion, or a full rocketeer platoon escorted by more snitches. Loot from these ARC farming game mode enemies runs noticeably higher than standard raids, and bastions in particular can drop eight or more cores off a single kill.

Is it balanced? No. Is that the point of a beta stress test? Also no, but nobody at Tencent seems bothered. The drop rates are almost certainly inflated deliberately to accelerate beta unlocks, not a preview of live-service math.

What Actually Changed

Dual Boss: Queen and Matriarch, Together, Forever

Where Dual Boss Queen Matriarch spawns both heavy units on the same map simultaneously, with airdrop crates of ammunition and gear scattered nearby so you have some faint chance of surviving the encounter. Extra loot, extra chaos, extra reasons to bring a Wolfpack instead of walking in with a pistol and misplaced confidence.

Advanced Probes and the EMP Grenade

Recolored, golden-red probes now contain a blueprint, a full weapon, and attachments in a single break, compared to the standard version's habit of rewarding fifteen minutes of effort with something forgettable. There's also a new EMP grenade: it deals direct shield damage and disables shield regeneration for ten seconds. A clean PvP tool, assuming PvP still means anything once everyone's marked as allies.

Getting into the ARC Raiders China beta requires a Tencent account, real-name verification, and a survey-based eligibility check, because apparently loot farming now needs a background check. Beta slots are limited. Steam already region-locked the game in China back in January 2026, and the client runs on its own separate domain, disconnected from every other region. No VPN, no access, no exceptions.

Cosmetics like the Lemon Renegade skin unlock through in-client quests and are purely visual — no stat changes, no hidden advantage, just a slightly citrus-colored coat of paint on the same weapon.

Will Any of This Reach the Global Version?

Unconfirmed, and Embark is offering nothing beyond silence. The ARC Raiders Frozen Trail update, rumored for October 2026, is the most-cited candidate for anything crossing over, with the PvE-adjacent Rebellion condition as the leading guess. Community sentiment splits roughly into thirds — pure PvE fans, PvP purists, and the undecided middle — which is exactly why Embark hasn't flipped any global switch yet, and exactly why watching this beta from outside stings as much as it does.