ARC Raiders: the complete guide to Expeditions — how to properly prepare for the launch of Expedition 5 (2026)

On July 21, 2026, at 10 a.m. Paris time, the fourth Expedition's departure window closed: the enrolled Raiders left Speranza for good, taking with them the first tier of the Zenith outfit and their mystery rewards. Right after, the fifth cycle opened. According to the schedule documented by the reference community wiki, the departure window for Expedition 5 should open on September 21, 2026 — Embark Studios has officially confirmed neither the date nor the content of the rewards.

That leaves about six weeks to prepare your departure, and now is when everything is decided: the caravan is built over time, rare materials are stockpiled in advance, and the cumulative bonuses from consecutive departures show no mercy for a missed window. Nine months after launch, the system remains one of the most misunderstood in the game, between repeatedly overhauled rules and guides that have become outdated.

Here is the current state of the system: what you actually lose, what you keep, how the damage challenge and the mystery rewards introduced this summer work, and above all what to farm starting this weekend to approach September 21 with peace of mind.

A voluntary prestige, unlocked at level 20

An Expedition is ARC Raiders' "New Game+": your Raider leaves the surface for good, and a new character takes over with permanent and temporary perks. The project appears in the Projects tab as soon as one of your Raiders reaches level 20, and then stays unlocked for all subsequent ones.

Each cycle lasts around 62 days: a long preparation phase, followed by a departure window of about two weeks (April 28 to May 11 for Expedition 3, July 7 to 21 for the fourth one). During this window, you enroll, complete an optional challenge, and departure becomes automatic once the window closes. Key point: nothing forces you to leave. If you skip it, you simply continue your progression — but you lose the stacking of consecutive bonuses, more on that below.

What you lose, what you keep

Departure resets everything tied to character progression:

• level and skill points (excluding Expedition bonuses);
• the contents of the stash and inventory;
• Speranza workshop progression;
• ongoing personal quests and projects;
• active leaderboards.

Conversely, everything tied to the account is kept:

• cosmetics, achievements, and merits;
• Raider tokens;
• learned blueprints and codex entries;
• unlocked maps;
• additional stash slots and bonus skill points earned during previous Expeditions.

And what about coins? This point has long been unclear, as the rules have evolved since the first cycles: in the game's current state, the reference community wiki classifies them as "kept". In practice, the question rarely comes up: the caravan loading step will require you, in any case, to pour in the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of coins' worth of items before departure.

The caravan: six sub-steps and permanently committed resources

Building the caravan unfolds in six sub-steps, displayed in this order in the French client: Base, Core Systems, Framework, Equipment, Load the Level, then Departure. Golden rule: any material handed over to the caravan is permanently committed, with no way to get it back. Never give up an item you might need before September.

The exact composition varies with each cycle, but the logic stays the same. As a benchmark, Expedition 3's caravan required:

• Base: 150 Metal Parts, 200 Rubber Parts, 80 ARC Alloys, 15 Steel Springs;
• Core systems: 35 Durable Fabric, 25 Cables, 20 Electrical Components, 4 Cooling Coils;
• Frame: 4 Light Bulbs, 30 Batteries, 10 Shredder Gyroscopes, 1 Exodus Module;
• Equipment: 5 Frequency Modulation Boxes, 5 Advanced Electrical Components, 3 Ion Spargers, 3 Bounder Impulse Units.

Next comes Load the Level, the most costly step: turning in items to reach a total value set for each category — for Expedition 3, 250,000 for combat items, 100,000 for survival items, 180,000 for provisions, and 300,000 for materials. This is the step that turns the end of the cycle into a massive stockpile clear-out: better to plan ahead than scramble to sell off everything in a last-minute panic.

Departure window: sign-up, damage challenge, and mystery rewards

Once the caravan is complete, everything comes down to the departure window. After signing up, an optional challenge opens up: deal 5,000, 10,000, 30,000, 50,000, then 100,000 damage points during the window, with each tier unlocking a reward. All damage counts, whether in PvE or PvP — only the training range is excluded. Embark estimates that a very good match yields 8,000 to 10,000 damage; the final tier is equivalent to destroying around twenty Bastions.

Since Expedition 4, these tiers no longer grant skill points: instead, they unlock mystery rewards, namely a blueprint drawn from a list of 25 weapons and attachments — usable by your next Raider, but reset at the following Expedition — and 150 Raider tokens per objective, which are permanently kept. Bonus skill points from Expeditions remain capped at 15 total, and a catch-up mechanism still allows you to recover any missed from previous cycles. Embark hasn't specified whether Expedition 5 will keep this format or revert to skill points: don't build your plan on an assumption.

Next Raider bonuses: the stakes of consecutive departures

Each departure credits your new Raider with 12 additional stash slots — 48 accumulated after Expedition 4, and Embark has confirmed the total will cap at 60 with the fifth. On top of that come exclusive cosmetics: the Patchwork Raider outfit and its upgrades for the first three cycles, then the first tier of the Zenith outfit for the fourth, along with Scrappy's headgear.

Temporary bonuses, meanwhile, reward consistency and stack over three consecutive departures: +5 to +15% experience gain, +6 to +18% extra materials delivered by Scrappy, and improved repair value, from 60 to 80% depending on your streak. Missing just one window resets this stack to zero. If you left on July 21, Expedition 5 is therefore not optional: it's what keeps your streak going.

Preparing for Expedition 5 starting this weekend

In practical terms, here's where to focus your sessions throughout August.

• Stockpile recurring caravan materials: ARC Alloys, Steel Springs, Advanced Electrical Components, Ionic Sparkers, Shredder Gyroscopes and Leaper Impulse Units come up regularly from one cycle to the next.
• Watch out for the Phantom Targets project: step 2 of the ongoing project consumes precisely Pop Triggers, Wasp Drivers and Leaper Impulse Units. Plan two separate stockpiles if you're running both projects at once.
• Keep the economy running: the value to load up amounts to hundreds of thousands of coins per category. Hold on to valuable provisions and healing items rather than selling everything to traders.
• Don't farm damage too early: the challenge only counts during the departure window. There's no point going on a killing spree in August; instead, scout your spots for Bastions and heavy machines to be efficient by late September.
• Don't commit your current gear: the caravan doesn't give anything back. Prioritize duplicates and surplus items, never your active raid equipment.

The roadmap up to September 21

Before the announced opening of the window, a simple plan will do: reach level 20 if you haven't already, complete the caravan's first sub-steps with the surplus from your raids, set aside a stock of rare components, and keep an eye on Embark's announcements — the studio has yet to confirm the exact date, the rewards, or the format of this fifth Expedition's challenge. Those who fill their caravan in advance will approach the departure window as a mere formality; the rest will spend two weeks chasing after Cooling Coils. It's up to you to choose your side.