Arc Raiders update nerfs the Kettle and Trigger Nade as Embark acknowledges the latter "currently dominates PVP encounters," with changes making it "less usable as a 'trigger-in-air' grenade"

Arc Raiders update 1.11.0 is here, nerfing the Kettle and making alterations to the Trigger Nade, as developer Embark acknowledges it "currently dominates PVP encounters."

In the 1.11.0 patch notes, Embark explains that the Kettle's fire rate has been reduced from 600 to 450, noting that "the previous fire rate was only realistically reachable by players using macros, which creates an unfair dynamic that favours using 3rd party software." Design lead Virgil Watkins recently told us in an interview that Embark has actually seen some people manage to reach this limit manually, but generally speaking, it sounds like this alteration should make things a little fairer across the board.

As for the Trigger Nade change, Embark says: "Trigger Nade currently dominates PVP encounters, and players favour picking it over all our other grenades. This nerf aims to make it less usable as a 'trigger-in-air' grenade, whilst keeping its usefulness as a sticky bomb."

To allow for this, "damage falloff has been rebalanced to concentrate the damage closer to the center of the explosion, and deal less damage further away," and the delay between the triggering and detonation has been lengthened, now taking 1.5 seconds instead of 0.7 seconds, "giving players more time to react, and making it harder to time the detonation in air."

Otherwise, some areas of the Stella Montis Night Raid have had their lighting lowered, "making flashlights and listening more relevant" than before, while "a key card exploit that allowed players to keep room keys after using them" has been fixed.

It's also worth noting that Embark's gift to fans for Arc Raiders surpassing 10 million players – a big, gold hammer called the Gilded Pickaxe Raider Tool – is now available to claim. "Everyone who has logged in since launch until Jan 13 11:59pm CET/Jan 13 2:59pm PST/Jan 13 5:59pm EST" will receive it, so if you're yet to load up the game at all, you still have a few hours to do so in order to be eligible.

"We can track who shoots first": Arc Raiders design lead says aggression-based matchmaking is "a bit of a misnomer," and "we don't do anything like skill-based matchmaking or gear-based."