ARC Raiders Expeditions: How They Work and Why They're Paused

At a glance

An Expedition is ARC Raiders' voluntary reset: you build a caravan, sign up during a set window, and choose to send your Raider away in exchange for permanent account rewards and temporary buffs on your next Raider. It is not currently available — Embark Studios paused Expeditions on August 21, 2026 and says they will return in early 2027 after a rework.

What an Expedition is

The feature sits under Projects. Once a Raider reaches level 20, the Expedition Project is unlocked. Over roughly an eight-week cycle, players contribute goods and equipment to a personal caravan, then sign up during a finalisation window to depart. Departing wipes the character's own progress and creates a new Raider carrying the account-level rewards.

The key idea, in Embark Studios' own framing, is that ARC Raiders does not force a wipe on everyone. An Expedition is a reset you opt into, so players who have less time to play are not wiped against their will.

What you keep and lose

The split follows one line: anything tied to the account or to real money survives; anything tied to the character's own progress resets.

Embark Studios also says that after an Expedition you can skip most of the onboarding a new player goes through — features and maps you already unlocked stay available from the start of the fresh Raider.

Rewards and buffs

The stated incentives are permanent account unlocks for each completed Expedition, unique cosmetics, and account buffs that apply for the duration of the following cycle. Embark Studios has been explicit that a completed reset should never give a combat advantage over players who have not reset: the benefits centre on cosmetics, bragging rights, quality-of-life and smoothing out early progression. Sequential completions increase the magnitude of the buffs up to a limit.

Why Expeditions are paused

In an August 21, 2026 message, Embark Studios said it had reviewed player feedback and concluded that issues like tight departure windows, the reward structure and accessibility for new players needed more than incremental fixes. The fifth Expedition was therefore the last before a pause, with Expeditions returning in early 2027. During the pause, buffs already earned persist, and partly-completed caravans were replaced with vouchers of equal value.

What is not published

• An exact return date. "Early 2027" is the only timeframe; no day is published.
• The final reworked rules. Embark Studios says the returning feature will address the pain points but has not published the new structure.
• Confirmation that the buffs and catch-up mechanics stay the same. The rework may change both.