"Don't shoot!"
Forget Wolfpack grenades and Snaphooks: those two words can be your most powerful tool in Arc Raiders. My favorite runs have all started with that voice line, such as the time when I spent 15 minutes hunting an espresso machine in Buried City with a South African guy who loved talking about rugby, or when I teamed up with four other solos on Spaceport to destroy dangerous ARC and debate the best pizza topping.
But when uneasy alliances break, it feels horrible.
If you've played for more than a few hours, particularly as a solo player, then you've likely been betrayed by somebody who seemed friendly right until they shot you in the back and feasted on the tasty loot you'd plundered alongside them.
It feels like players are more hostile now than they were at launch, emboldened by hours of play, and that betrayals are more frequent. So how do you spot traitors and kill them before they kill you? Well, you learn the signs. It's not an exact science, but after 80 hours of Arc Raiders, these are my top tips.
Traitors stab in the back. They won't instigate a fair fight and will try, whenever possible, to stay behind you before opening fire. If you've teamed up with a random somebody, keep an eye on exactly where they run. If they deliberately stay behind you, or keep circling around you, then they may be planning their attack, especially if they insist on keeping their weapon drawn.
If you spot this behaviour, take cover and ask them to put their gun away. The tension might be easily defused – perhaps they were just suspicious of you, for example – and you want to avoid conflict when possible because gunfire will draw third parties who could prove even more difficult to deal with. But if you don't like your companion's answer, either run away or open fire.
Smoke grenades are brilliant in this situation: they can buy time to help you escape, or simply obstruct a traitors' line of sight.
The safest time to kill is when someone is looting. If you're focused on your inventory, you can't see your surroundings, and so you can't react when shot. For that reason, traitors will avoid breaching, calling elevators, or otherwise interacting with objects themselves. If you do the looting, their hands are free to catch you at the perfect moment. These players may try to appear busy by sprinting, strafing, or running between rooms – but if they're not looting, be worried. If a player turns their back to me and loots, it instantly makes me trust them more.
In Arc Raiders, your character turns their head as you move the camera, which indicates to other players where you're looking. Keep an eye on where your opponents are watching – if they keep swivelling their head to keep you in their sight, make an exit plan.
Of course, to keep a close eye on them, you might have to keep moving your camera, and your apparent allies might simply be doing the same, so this behavior isn't enough on its own to warrant conflict. Get on voice comms to seek reassurance.
Players without mics are more likely to betray you: their silence is like a social shield that numbs their guilt. That doesn't mean mic-less players are all traitors, of course: if you prefer to remain anonymous, things like using voice lines, flashing your torch, crouching, and holstering your weapon can all build trust.
What's more worrying is when a player who was chatty suddenly goes silent. They might just be AFK, but sometimes they're masking their location or pretending they've left the area. If you call out and don't get a response, stay alert. And if you catch a silent player crouch-walking, shoot on sight: they're about to spring an ambush.
Betraying somebody is nervewracking. Some players can't take the strain and you'll literally hear the adrenaline pumping in their voice. If they seem edgy, take cover and watch them closely. Equally, if they're acting loud, cocky, or exaggerating their voice in some way, they're less likely to play fair.
Arc Radiers' built-in voice changers are a grey area. Players who use them are, in my experience, more volatile, but it's not an ironclad sign of a traitor. Remain vigilant.
Asking a raider, "What gear have you found?" or "What level is that gun?" is the equivalent of asking a stranger when they last showered. It's too personal. The big difference, though, is that questions about your washing habbits don't tend to be followed by betrayal. In Arc Raiders, questions about your personal equipment often signals that a player may be deciding whether or not your inventory is worth the risk. Whenever anyone asks me something like this I usually laugh it off then immediately find an excuse to leave.
The self-declared war between the followers of two streamers – TheBurntPeanut and HutchMF – is technically over for now, but you may run into people who still ask whether you're a Bungulator or an FMFer. I personally haven't found this on European servers and would be baffled if I did, but judging by the game's subreddit it's pretty common in North America.
I recommend escaping or shooting these players. If you're not following popular Arc streamers then it's hard to know the right answer, and your interrogators may have already made up their minds to kill you. Be particularly wary of groups roaming around with the same cosmetic skin – these groups have "uniforms" that signal their allegiance (and potentially their intentions.)
If your gut tells you not to trust a player, something is probably off. Take cover, call out their behaviour, ask for an explanation, and weigh their response. If you really feel uneasy, then shoot first, ask questions later: they can talk when they're down. I always carry a defibrillator in my safe pocket in case I realise they're innocent and I've made a horrible mistake, and it's normally rectified with a revive, an apology, and a contrite gift from my inventory.
Samuel Horti is a journalist with bylines at the BBC, IGN, Insider Business, and Edge.
