Everything to Know About Expedition Projects in ARC Raiders

ARC Raiders features a progression system that lets players reset their characters for special rewards. The Expedition Project serves as the game's built-in prestige system, unlocking once your Raider hits level 20.

Unlike forced server wipes in games like Escape from Tarkov, the Expedition Project operates on individual choice. Each player decides whether to participate in the reset, allowing you to continue progressing normally or start fresh with exclusive benefits. This optional approach means your squad members might be at different stages of their progression journey.

In this article, we'll explore everything you need to know about Expedition Projects in ARC Raiders, covering the unlock requirements, what gets reset, what carries over, and whether the rewards justify starting over.

Also Read: What is the Max Level in ARC Raiders? Everything to Know

How to Participate in the Expedition

Participating in the Expedition Project is actually easier than players think. The system walks you through each step without overwhelming complexity, though the resource requirements are substantial. Once your Raider reaches level 20, the Projects tab unlocks in the main menu. Navigate to the Raider section, select Projects, and you'll find the Expedition Project available for activation.

The Expedition Project operates on a roughly eight-week cycle, giving you approximately 60 days to complete the preparation stages. This timeframe might seem generous, but the material requirements across all stages demand consistent farming and resource collection.

Expedition Requirements

The current Expedition Project has substantial material requirements to complete. It consists of six stages, with each stage demanding specific materials that progressively increase in rarity and difficulty to obtain.

Here's the complete breakdown of materials required for each stage:

The total credit requirement for Stage 5 reaches 830,000 Credits worth of items across four categories. This represents the biggest financial investment in the entire Expedition process, requiring extensive looting, trading, and mission completion to accumulate the necessary value.

Stage 1 materials are the most common and can be easily recycled or found throughout the map, while later stages demand increasingly rare components that drop from specific enemies or locations. The Exodus Module in Stage 3 and the Leaper Pulse Units in Stage 4 represent some of the hardest items to acquire, often requiring targeted farming or trading with other players.

Also Read: ARC Raiders Free Loadout Explained

What You Keep After Expeditions (and What You Don't)

After completing an Expedition, you can skip most tutorial and onboarding steps that new players must complete, with features and maps immediately available from the start. Here's the complete breakdown of what stays and what resets:

Workshop upgrades reset upon departure, though the workshop building itself remains. This means you'll need to rebuild your crafting capabilities from level 1, even though you retain access to the workshop station.

Also Read: How Many Blueprints Are in ARC Raiders?

Expedition Rewards

Embark Studios has finalized the reward structure for Expeditions, offering both permanent and temporary benefits.

• Bonus skill points calculated based on your combined stash value and wallet balance at departure time. Each 1 million credits in total value grants 1 bonus skill point, up to a maximum of 5 points. These are permanent.

• +12 permanent stash storage slots per Expedition.

• Unique cosmetic rewards that cannot be obtained through any other means.

• +5% XP boost (temporary).

• +10% item repair efficiency (temporary).

• +6% Scrappy materials (temporary).

• The temporary buffs stack with consecutive Expedition completions, increasing their effectiveness over time. Missing a single Expedition cycle resets all temporary buffs to zero.

The developers maintain that resetting your character should never create power or combat advantages over players who choose not to participate. The reward structure focuses on quality-of-life improvements and progression efficiency rather than direct combat superiority.

When is the next Expedition Departure Window?

The second Expedition Departure Window opens February 22 to March 1, 2026, with the final departure occurring on March 1. If you don't finalize your Expedition during this window, your progress saves for the next cycle, but you won't receive that cycle's rewards or buffs.

Expedition cycles repeat approximately every eight weeks, with roughly 60 days for preparation followed by a seven-day finalization window. After the first cycle completes in December 2025, subsequent departure windows will follow the same pattern.

Final Words

The Expedition Project offers a balanced approach to character resets in ARC Raiders. Players seeking fresh challenges and permanent account upgrades can participate every eight weeks, while those preferring steady progression can ignore the system entirely without penalty. The substantial material requirements and complete character wipe demand careful consideration before committing, but the permanent skill points, expanded stash space, and exclusive cosmetics provide long-term value for dedicated players.

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