ARC Machines
The ARC are the AI-controlled machines that own the surface. They range from palm-sized surveillance drones to skyscraper-tall harvesters. Every ARC machine follows a "solve me" design philosophy: instead of just tanking bullets, each one has specific weak points you can target to disable or kill it faster.
Learning how each machine type behaves, where it is vulnerable, and when to fight versus when to avoid it is the difference between extracting with a full pack and losing everything.
Detection System
Every ARC machine has a visible detection cone that tells you its current state:
| Cone Color | State | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| Blue | Passive | Patrolling. Has not detected you. Safe to sneak past or line up a first shot. |
| Yellow | Alert | Investigating a disturbance (noise, movement, dead machine nearby). Will search the area. Can still return to Blue if it finds nothing. |
| Red | Combat | Target locked. Actively attacking. Will not disengage until you are dead, it is dead, or you break line of sight for long enough. |
Moving from Blue to Yellow takes about two seconds of exposure. Moving from Yellow to Red happens almost instantly if the machine gets a clear visual. Breaking combat (Red to Blue) requires hiding behind solid cover and staying quiet for 15 to 20 seconds, depending on the machine type.
Crouching reduces your detection profile. Walking while crouched lets you move through Blue-cone patrols without triggering them, as long as you stay outside the cone's inner radius. Sprinting instantly flips any nearby machine to Yellow.
Standard Enemies
These are the machines you will fight in every raid. They appear on all maps, with higher numbers on harder maps.
| Machine | Threat | Behavior | Weak Point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wasp | Low | Small flying drone. Patrols in groups of two to four. Fires a short-range plasma burst. | Thrusters on its back. One or two shots to the thrusters kills it instantly. |
| Hornet | Low-Moderate | Upgraded Wasp. Fires electrical shocks that slow your movement for two seconds. | Same as Wasp. Thrusters on the back. Slightly more HP. |
| Tick | Low | Tiny ground unit. Rushes toward you and detonates on contact. | Anywhere. Low HP, but they come in swarms. Listen for their clicking noise. |
| Snitch | Critical | Surveillance drone. Scans in a slow 360-degree sweep. If it detects you, it emits a ping that summons ARC reinforcements within 10 seconds. | Exposed sensor array on its underside. Kill it before it completes its scan or you will face a much harder fight. |
| Rollbot | Moderate | Spherical unit that rolls at high speed and fires a continuous laser while spinning. Hard to hit while moving. | Yellow joints visible when it stops to fire. Time your shots for when it pauses. |
| Pop | Low | Stationary mine. Blends into rubble and debris. Explodes when you walk too close. | Shoot from a distance. The red glow is visible if you are looking for it. |
| Fireball | Moderate | Mid-sized hovering unit. Launches incendiary projectiles that leave burning ground for five seconds. | Fuel core on its belly. Destroying the core causes it to crash and explode, dealing AoE damage to nearby machines. |
| Turret | Moderate | Fixed emplacement. Cannot move. Fires high-damage rounds in a narrow cone. | Power cable on its back. Flanking it and shooting the cable shuts it down instantly. |
The Snitch Rule
Snitches are the most important enemy in the game from a tactical standpoint. A single Snitch detection can escalate a quiet looting run into a survival fight against five to ten reinforcement machines.
The moment you hear the Snitch's scanning whine (a high-pitched electronic hum), stop everything and locate it. Kill it before the scan completes. If you are too late and the ping goes out, you have about 10 seconds to either prepare for a fight or run.
Snitches can detect you through glass and thin walls. Being inside a building does not make you safe from a Snitch patrol outside. Check windows before settling into a loot spot.
Elite Enemies
Elites are larger, tougher machines with more complex attack patterns. They typically guard high-value loot areas or appear as part of Snitch reinforcement waves on harder maps.
| Machine | Threat | Behavior | Weak Point | Tactics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bastion | High | Heavily armored quadruped. Charges at detected players and fires a spread-shot cannon. Takes reduced damage from frontal attacks. | Exposed vents on its rear legs. Flank it or bait a charge, then shoot the legs from behind. | Fight with a partner. One player holds aggro, the other flanks. Solo, bait the charge, dodge sideways, shoot the vents while it turns. |
| Rocketeer | High | Heavy bipedal unit with shoulder-mounted missile launchers. Fires tracking missiles that follow your movement. | Missile pods on its shoulders. Destroying one pod cuts its fire rate in half. | Dodge missiles laterally (they track poorly on side movement). Focus fire on one shoulder pod, then the other. |
| Leaper | High | Fast, agile unit that jumps across terrain to close distance. Attacks with blade-arms in melee range. | Yellow joints on its legs. Destroying a leg joint slows it dramatically. | Keep it at mid-range. Shotguns and high-ROF weapons work well. Do not let it reach melee range. |
| Bombardier | High | Heavy unit with area-of-effect explosive mortar. Lobs arcing shells that detonate on impact with a splash radius. | Ammo drum on its back. Shooting the drum causes it to detonate, killing the Bombardier instantly (and anything near it). | Stay mobile. Mortar shells have a one-second travel time. Sprint out of the impact zone, then aim for the ammo drum. |
| Sentinel | High | Long-range sniper unit with a swiveling arm turret. Looks similar to a standard Turret but has a mobile arm and much higher damage per shot. | Small yellow capsule on the rear of its swiveling arm. Requires flanking or shoulder-peeking to target. | Do not waste explosives on it. The Sentinel's armor resists splash damage. Use precise medium or heavy ammunition from cover. Shoulder-peek to line up your shot on the yellow capsule, then fire. |
The Bombardier's ammo drum detonation deals friendly damage to other ARC machines. If a Bombardier is near a group of standard enemies, popping its drum clears the entire cluster. Use this to your advantage.
Boss Encounters
Bosses are rare, powerful ARC machines that appear under specific map conditions or during dynamic events. They are the hardest PvE content in the game and drop the best loot.
The Queen
The Queen is a massive, multi-limbed ARC construct. Think of a skyscraper-sized spider made of scrap metal and plasma cannons. She typically appears during Harvester events on higher-difficulty maps.
Attack patterns:
- Plasma barrage. Fires a wide spread of plasma bolts across the arena. Move laterally and use hard cover.
- Leg slam. Drives one of her front legs into the ground, creating a shockwave. Jump or dodge at the moment of impact.
- Drone swarm. Periodically releases a wave of Wasps and Hornets. Clear them fast before they overwhelm your squad.
- Core exposure. After each attack cycle, the Queen's central core opens for about five seconds. This is your damage window. Unload everything you have into the core during this phase.
Tactics:
- Bring a full trio. Solo attempts are possible but demand perfect play and high-tier gear.
- Designate one player to clear the drone swarm while the others focus on core damage.
- Rocket launchers and high-damage single-shot weapons maximize your output during the core exposure window.
- The fight is loud. Other players will hear it. Watch your flanks for opportunistic PvP attacks during the fight.
Matriarch
The Matriarch is a heavy assault unit that appears during specific dynamic mission rotations. Smaller than The Queen but faster and more aggressive.
Attack patterns:
- Rush attack. Charges in a straight line. Devastating if it connects, but highly telegraphed. Dodge sideways.
- EMP pulse. Disables shields and electronics in a radius. After an EMP, your shield recharge is paused for eight seconds.
- Minion deploy. Spawns Bastions as backup. Focus the Bastions first or they will overwhelm you while you try to damage the Matriarch.
Tactics:
- Prioritize killing the spawned Bastions before returning focus to the Matriarch.
- After an EMP pulse, your shields are down. Play defensively until they recharge.
- The Matriarch's weak point is the EMP generator on her back. Flanking is required.
Boss loot drops on the ground when the boss dies. Other players can (and will) swoop in to grab it. Secure the area before looting, or designate one squad member to grab the drops immediately while the others watch for incoming threats.
Post-Launch Threats
These machines were added in the 2026 updates. They are among the most dangerous enemies in the game and require specific counter-strategies.
Vaporizer
Added in Patch 1.22.0 (Flashpoint). The Vaporizer is an aerial sniper unit and the most feared ARC machine on the surface. It hovers at medium altitude and fires rapid, high-damage energy beams that can pin an entire squad behind cover.
The Vaporizer's signature ability is a directional energy shield that makes it immune to explosive ordnance. Grenades, rocket launchers, and explosive traps do nothing while the shield is active.
How to fight it:
- Do not waste explosives. The shield blocks them completely.
- Break line-of-sight by moving indoors or behind solid structures. The Vaporizer will reposition and drop its shield to re-acquire you.
- Once the shield drops, hit it with heavy weapons like the Jupiter. The window is short, so coordinate with your squad.
- If you cannot get indoors, use terrain features (boulders, walls, vehicle wrecks) to force it to circle around you.
The Vaporizer patrols endgame maps heavily and also appears during Assessor matrix events (Close Scrutiny map condition). Clearing overhead Vaporizers is always the first priority before engaging any other objective.
Comet
A ground-based spherical unit designed to punish players who cluster together. When a Comet detects a Raider, it locks on and charges in a straight line at high speed. At the end of its charge, it detonates in a powerful explosion.
The explosion may not kill a fully shielded player outright, but it strips all shield layers and leaves you exposed to follow-up attacks from other machines.
How to fight it:
- Listen for its charge-up whine. You have about two seconds between detection and the charge.
- Dodge sideways behind hard vertical cover. The Comet travels in a straight line and cannot turn mid-charge.
- Kill it before it reaches you. Comets have low HP and go down fast to focused fire.
- Destroying a Comet before it detonates drops a Comet Igniter, a rare crafting material. This is the only way to get this component.
Comets and Fireflies were removed from Dam Battlegrounds in Patch 1.26.0 to reduce the difficulty for new players. You will only encounter them on mid-tier and endgame maps.
Firefly
An advanced aerial unit that operates alongside Hornets and Wasps. Unlike the Hornet (which has two armored thrusters), the Firefly has four heavily armored rotors that make light ammunition almost useless against it.
The Firefly uses a flamethrower to force players out of cover, creating denial zones on the ground.
How to fight it:
- Do not use light weapons. Pistols and SMGs bounce off its armored rotors.
- Target the unarmored fuel tank on its underbelly. Destroying the fuel tank disables the flamethrower and causes the Firefly to crash.
- Heavy-caliber weapons (rifles, marksman weapons) punch through the rotor armor. Use them if you cannot get a clean angle on the fuel tank.
- Stay mobile. The flamethrower leaves burning ground for several seconds. Standing still in a Firefly fight means standing in fire.
The Assessor and Close Scrutiny Events
The Assessor is not a roaming enemy. It is a massive, stationary matrix event tied to the Close Scrutiny map condition (added in Patch 1.22.0). Assessor encounters are the highest-risk, highest-reward PvE content in the game outside of boss fights.
How the event works:
- During a Close Scrutiny condition, Surveyors (rolling spherical intelligence units) appear on the map.
- Damage a Surveyor. This locks it into an alerted state.
- The alerted Surveyor summons an Assessor from orbit. The Assessor descends slowly, projecting tall red tracking beams into the sky.
- The Assessor deploys three heavily secured, breachable loot containers on its legs.
- You must breach the leg containers to access the high-tier loot inside.
- Vaporizers guard the Assessor from above during the entire event.
The golden rule: Kill all overhead Vaporizers before you start breaching the Assessor's leg containers. Breaching is loud, takes time, and you cannot defend yourself while doing it. If Vaporizers are still active overhead, they will kill you mid-breach.
The Assessor has a ground phase timer. If you take too long to breach, it relaunches into the atmosphere and takes all the loot with it. Do not start the event unless your squad is ready to clear Vaporizers fast and breach immediately after.
AI Behavior Notes
There is a common misconception that ARC machines "learn" your tactics and adapt their combat strategies during a raid. This is not accurate.
Embark Studios uses a hybrid AI approach:
- Combat decisions are driven by traditional, hand-authored behavior trees. Every machine follows a defined set of rules: patrol routes, detection triggers, attack patterns, and retreat conditions. This keeps combat readable and balanced across all skill levels.
- Physical movement uses machine learning (reinforcement learning) to handle locomotion and animation. This is why heavy ARC units dynamically recover from explosions, navigate complex terrain, and react to physics collisions in a realistic way. The ML governs how the machines move, not how they fight.
The practical takeaway: ARC machines do not adapt to your dodge patterns or memorize your cover spots. Their behavior is predictable once you learn their attack sequences. What makes them feel reactive is the physically grounded movement system, which handles terrain traversal and collision recovery dynamically.
Vary your approach for tactical reasons (flanking from different angles, using different cover), but do not worry about the machines "learning" your habits.