Twitch Raid Train vs Raid
People use these two terms interchangeably and they are not the same thing. A raid is a single Twitch feature you can use tonight. A raid train is an event built out of many raids, and it needs a schedule and other people. This page covers which one you actually want.
The short answer
A raid is a Twitch feature. You type /raid and a channel name, and everyone in your chat moves to that channel. It happens once, it takes ten seconds, and you can do it on your own.
A raid train is an event format built on top of that feature. Several streamers agree on a schedule, each takes a slot, and each one raids the next when their slot ends. The audience travels through the whole lineup instead of stopping at one handoff.
So a raid train is made of raids, in the same way a relay race is made of runs. The feature is identical. What changes is the coordination around it.
Side by side
| Single raid | Raid train | |
|---|---|---|
| People involved | You and one other channel | Usually four or more |
| Planning needed | None. Decide as you go offline | A schedule agreed in advance |
| How long it lasts | One handoff | Hours, sometimes a full day |
| What the viewer gets | One new channel to try | A curated run of channels back to back |
| What you get | Goodwill, and often a raid back later | Exposure to every other lineup's audience |
| Main failure mode | The target is offline or blocks the raid | A no-show or a late handoff breaks the chain |
| Tools needed | The /raid command | A shared schedule everyone can read |
When a single raid is the right call
- You are wrapping up tonight: The default use. Send your chat somewhere good instead of letting them close the tab, and you have done the most valuable thing available to you at the end of a stream.
- You want to support one specific person: A friend hitting a milestone, a small channel doing something interesting, or someone who raided you last week. A train would be overkill.
- You have no schedule to work around: Raids cost nothing to arrange. If coordinating with five people is not realistic this month, a consistent raid habit still builds the same relationships, just slower.
- You are testing who to work with: Raiding people and seeing who turns up in your chat afterwards is a good way to find the streamers worth inviting to a train later.
When you want a raid train
- You are trying to grow a group, not a channel: A train circulates one audience through every participant. Everyone gets introduced to everyone else's viewers, which a single raid cannot do.
- There is an occasion: A charity drive, a launch, an anniversary, or a holiday gives people a reason to show up and stay for more than one slot.
- You have a team or community already: If you have a Discord full of streamers who like each other, a train turns that into something the public can watch.
- You want the watch time to keep going: A raid ends when your stream ends. A train keeps an audience moving for the length of the schedule, which is the whole point of the format.
What about hosting?
Hosting used to be the third option. It embedded another channel's stream on your page while you were offline, so your page always showed something live. Twitch deprecated the /host and /unhost commands on 3 October 2022, and Autohost became Suggested Channels.
Twitch's own explanation was that hosting stopped viewers interacting with the streamer they were watching, which limited how much either channel gained from it. Raids replaced it as the recommended way to send viewers somewhere.
If you find an older guide telling you to host the next streamer on a raid train, it predates that change. The command no longer exists.
Related terms people mix up
- Raid: sending everyone in your chat to another live channel with /raid
- Raid train: a scheduled series of raids through a lineup of streamers
- Shoutout: mentioning a channel in chat, often with /shoutout, without moving anyone
- Suggested channels: the renamed Autohost list, which surfaces channels on your page rather than sending viewers anywhere
- Stream Together: Twitch's own multi-streamer feature, where guests appear on one broadcast at the same time rather than in sequence
You are meant to do both
Trains are events. Raids are a habit. The streamers who get the most out of the format run a train occasionally and raid somebody at the end of almost every stream.
The habit is also what makes trains easier to fill. By the time you organize one, you already have a list of people you have raided and who have raided you, and those are the people who say yes.
Keep reading
- How to raid on Twitch: The command, the countdown, and the settings behind it.
- What is a Twitch raid train?: The full explanation of the format.
- How to host a raid train: What organizing one actually involves.
Frequently asked questions
- Is a raid train just a lot of raids?
- Mechanically yes. Each handoff uses the same /raid command. What makes it a raid train is the agreed schedule and running order, so every streamer knows when they go live and who they raid next.
- Which is better for growing a channel?
- A raid train exposes you to more audiences at once, but only if the lineup is filled with people whose viewers would like your channel. A regular raid habit with a handful of similar channels often does more over a few months than one large train.
- Can you host instead of raiding on a raid train?
- No. Twitch removed host mode and the /host command on 3 October 2022, so raids are the only way to move viewers to another channel.
- Do you need permission to raid someone?
- Not explicitly, but the target channel's incoming raid settings can require a certain viewer count, account age, or relationship. On a raid train the running order is agreed in advance, so consent is built in.
- How many raids are in a typical raid train?
- One per handoff, so a six slot train has five raids inside it plus whatever the last streamer chooses to do at the end. Many hosts ask the final slot to raid back to the first streamer or to the host channel.