Pick the PvE instance unless you want the 2.5x yield and you're ready to defend it. Since patch 1.3.20 in April, every official World runs at least one PvE and one PvP Deep Desert, and you choose each time you fly in from the Overland Map.

The PvE instance has no player combat anywhere, shipwrecks included. The PvP instance is the launch-day layout: row A along the Shield Wall stays safe, and from row B outward it's open season. Checked against Funcom's 1.3.20 notes and April developer update, 9 October.

Player combat
None, shipwrecks included
From row B outward; row A stays PvE
Mining and harvesting
Standard yield
2.5x in the PvP rows
Loot chests
Standard tables, your own share
Richer tables, your own share
Spice and Testing Stations
Yes
Yes
Building
Half price
Half price
Weekly Coriolis storm
Wipes it
Wipes it

Pick PvE if

  • You're not in endgame gear yet: the Deep Desert's NPCs and sandworms are enough of a fight without a guild on top of them.
  • You play solo or in a pair: there's nobody to camp your exit or follow your spice harvester home.
  • You want the content, not the contest: Funcom pitched the PvE instance as the place to hunt spice and explore Imperial Testing Stations.

Pick PvP if

  • Yield is the point: mining and harvesting pay 2.5x in the PvP rows, so every trip out brings back far more. Spice also buys Specialisation traits, 750 per track.
  • You have a guild and an exit plan: a full vehicle past row A is a target until it's home.
  • You want the richer chests: PvP loot tables drop more, and since patch 1.2.10 every player gets their own share, as in PvE, so there's no race to open one.
From row B outward in the PvP instance, a full vehicle is a target until it's home. · Open full size

How to choose an instance

  1. Open the Overland Map and head for the Deep Desert.
  2. The instance list marks each one PvE or PvP.
  3. Pick one and fly in. Every official World has at least one of each.

What 1.3.20 changed besides the split

  • Hagga Basin went fully PvE: shipwrecks included, so your home map has no player combat at all now.
  • Earlier worm warnings: the red vibration meter now picks up sandworms from 1,500 metres instead of 500, so you see the ones other players have drawn in.
  • Better non-combat Uniques: the drop rate went up for non-combat Unique schematics, ones the Overland Map dungeons don't offer.

How it used to work

Older guides describe a Deep Desert you can't play any more. If one tells you PvE and PvP share a single map, it was written before April 2026.

  • June 2025, launch: mostly PvP, with a few small PvE areas.
  • Late June 2025, hotfix 1.1.0.17: the southern half turned PvE, but control points and shipwrecks stayed PvP. Chapter 3 later removed the control points.
  • April 2026, patch 1.3.20: two separate instances, and in the PvP one, combat moved back to its launch-day line at row B.
Since April, combat in the PvP instance starts at row B, and the PvE instance has none at all. · Open full size

Rather skip the gearing up?

Most of the Deep Desert assumes a high-level character. Our operators level your PC character by hand to any level up to 200, and we deliver Solari on every PC World for the vehicle parts a spice run needs. The FAQ on our Dune: Awakening page covers how both work.

Planning a spice farm? The Solari guide covers selling what you haul, and the Exchange guide covers what listing it costs. Back after a long break? Start with everything that changed.

Quick answer

Is Hagga Basin PvP in Dune: Awakening?

No. Since patch 1.3.20 in April 2026, Hagga Basin is fully PvE, shipwrecks included. On official Worlds, player combat only happens from row B outward in the PvP Deep Desert instance.