Hey fellow PMCs!
There seems to be a bit of confusion as to how and when and what kind of raiders arrive on the Reserve map, so I wanted to take a moment to share my findings after some extensive testing and dying. Hopefully this will help you hunt raiders you wanna kill, and distinguish between players and raiders with greater ease.
Here's handy visual aid for those of you who don't wanna read.
Here's link to the Raider wiki page if you're new to the game.
- GLUHAR'S SQUAD The scav boss
- HOW OFTEN: Gluhar and 5-6 Raiders have a 41% chance to spawn at the start of a raid. 41% according to the Wiki, in my experience it seems more like 50-60%.
- WHERE: White Knight, Black Knight, Black Pawn, Black Bishop, "K" Freight buildings in front of bunkers, and infrequently in the back of the bunker basement.
- SCAV HOSTILITY: Gluhar and his raiders WILL NOT kill peaceful scavs unless they get within a certain lateral distance of Gluhar, including being too close through a wall.
- NOTES:
- Gluhar's squad starts on the first floor or just outside of any building, but can spread throughout as they patrol. Gluhar's squad will occasionally patrol outside of their designated building, and can occasionally get stuck on terrain or corners.
- 2 of the raiders are "assault" raiders who will run up to and "warn" peaceful scavs by flipping them off, indicating that they're getting too close to Gluhar and are about to draw aggro. These assault raiders will also charge players. Despite reports, I have never seen more than 2 assault raiders in Gluhar's squad.
- Despite having an APS pistol and sometimes a secondary weapon, I never observed Gluhar swap weapons.
- Gluhar's squad does not spawn as a result of pulling the lever, or the train arriving. Despite the rumors, Gluhar's squad will NOT travel to the train when it arrives.
- Gluhar's squad aggros as a unit. You cannot assassinate one of the guards without alerting the entire team.
- LEVER RAIDERS Bane of backpack rats
- HOW OFTEN: 3-4 Raiders have an approximate 60-80% chance to spawn the first time and the first time only that the hermetic door lever is pulled.
- WHERE: "K" Freight buildings in front of bunkers, on top of the bunkers, between "K" Freight and Rook/Castle.
- SCAV HOSTILITY: Lever Raiders WILL NOT kill peaceful scavs.
- NOTES:
- Pulling the lever more than once does not increase or respawn lever raiders.
- Lever raiders seem to wander more than other raiders, allowing them to be spread out in their patrol routes, making them hard to pin down.
- TRAIN RAIDERS Bane of late-game player scavs
- HOW OFTEN: 3-4 Raiders have an approximate 50-75% chance to spawn at the armored train platform up to five minutes before when the armored train arrives.
- WHERE: Rook/castle building, train platforms
- SCAV HOSTILITY: Train Raiders kill all scavs on sight, even if they're a peaceful scav.
- NOTES:
- Since raiders can spawn at Rook/Castle before the train arrives, they can be a reliable albeit lethal indicator of if the train is near.
- Hostile train raiders that are mistaken for peaceful lever raiders are a common cause of death, especially since they can run up to you in freight from Rook/Castle if spotted.
- Unconfirmed reports suggest that Train Raiders can be prevented from spawning if a PMC is on the train platform and inside Rook/Castle when the train arrives (Needs more data)
- Train Raiders WILL NOT passively patrol into the train.
- Train Raiders WILL NOT follow players onto the train, but will shoot and throw grenades through the windows and doors.
- General Notes:
- "Peaceful scav" refers to a player scavs who have not drawn agro by shooting other scavs or raiders. "Aggro scavs" are player scavs who have damaged or killed other scavs, raiders, or a player scav who did not deal flesh damage to you first.
- All raiders attack PMCs and aggro scavs on sight.
- Raiders can be aggroed with noise as well as sight, such as loud footsteps, sprinting, voice lines, or gunshots.
- Raiders initiate combat with a voice line 90% of the time. Though some raiders have scav voice lines, american voice lines such as "contact" or "enemy spotted" are a good sign its a raider, since players basically never use those lines.
- Raiders frequently initiate combat by throwing flashbangs. If you hear multiple flashbangs go off on the map, there's a good chance its a raider squad.
- Raiders will rarely initiate combat by charging straight up to, or running away from players without shooting. This can often lead to raiders that have already seen you from a long way away with SCAVVISION(tm) running straight up to you and one tapping you in the face out of fuckin' nowhere.
- Raiders only aim down sights if they see a target they are about to shoot at.
- Raiders that are peaceful will not kill peaceful scavs for looting any player, scav, or raider corpses. Raiders will also not kill peaceful scavs that defend themselves from other player scavs (ie: shooting a players scav who has dealt flesh damage to you first)
- Raiders only sprint if they are initiating combat or charging towards a target. They do not sprint-stop while on passive patrol.
- Raiders are able to sprint, slide, crouch, go prone, open doors, breach doors, throw grenades, and (obviously) reload.
- Raiders do not jump, loot, unlock doors, or double-tap corpses, ever. That's a player.
What do you guys think? Seem accurate? Anything I missed?
TLDR: Raiders have a chance to be everywhere except for queen, king, white pawn and white bishop. Please stop spamming the lever guys, the raiders only spawn once, please, my ears, I beg you.
Edit: Formatting mistakes