Arc Raiders: How to Prepare for Expedition 3 Wipe – Rewards Guide

Why This Expedition 3 Guide Matters (and How I Messed Up Before)

After grinding through Expedition 2 and almost missing my bonus rewards, I promised I wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes for Expedition 3. The Expedition wipe in Arc Raiders is optional, permanent once you commit, and easy to misunderstand if you just skim the in-game text. This guide is everything I wish I’d known before I signed up the first time: exact timing for Expedition 3, what gets wiped, what you keep, how rewards stack, and how to prep materials and credits efficiently so the wipe actually feels worth it.

Expedition 3 Timeline – Don’t Miss the Real Deadlines

Expeditions run on roughly a 60‑day cycle with three clear phases. For Expedition 3, the in-game timers line up like this:

• Construction Phase: March 2 – April 28, 2026
  This is your big prep window. You can work through Expedition project phases 1-5 and dump materials into the project.
• Departure Window & Sign-up: April 29 – May 4, 2026
  The caravan is ready. You must have finished all construction phases by now. During this week you decide whether to actually sign up to leave.
• Departure & Wipe Day: May 5, 2026
  If you signed up, your Raider “departs”, your progression is wiped, and your Expedition rewards are applied.

If you don’t sign up or you fail to finish all project phases in time, nothing dramatic happens. Your Expedition project progress is saved and carried into the next ~8‑week cycle. So there’s no penalty for taking more than one cycle to finish the caravan build; the only irreversible step is signing up to actually leave.

Important detail I learned the hard way: you can still play normally between signing up and the actual departure day. The wipe only triggers on the departure date, not when you press the sign-up button. But once you sign up, there’s no way to cancel it.

How to Unlock and Use the Expedition Project

The Expedition wipe is tied to a special “Expedition Project” you build over several phases. Here’s how it works in practice.

Unlock Requirements and Menu Path

On a fresh account this is how it unfolds:

• Level 10+ – You can see and start the Expedition Project.
  Open Hub → Projects → Expedition to view the six phases and their material requirements.
• Level 20+ – You become eligible to sign up for departure once all required phases are complete.
• If you’ve completed any previous Expedition, the project shows up from the start regardless of level.

You don’t have to commit to wiping just because you start the project. For my first run I began contributing materials around level 12 and didn’t actually sign up until near the end of the cycle when I felt ready.

The Six Project Phases (What You’re Actually Building)

The Expedition Project is split into six phases. In each of the first five, you build part of the caravan and donate specific resources from your inventory. Phase 6 is effectively the “ready to depart” state.

• Phases 1–5: Material donation phases. Each has four sub‑objectives with resource requirements.
• Phase 6 – Departure: No more materials. Once you reach this, you’re eligible to use the next departure window.

For Expedition 3, the phases lean heavily on:

• Common crafting mats: Metal Parts, Chemicals, basic components.
• Mid-tier loot: craftable modules and vendor mats you can salvage from gear.
• Rare items: Exodus Modules (including mythic ones), specific Trinkets, and Broken Guidance Systems.

The exact numbers are shown in-game on each phase, and they do differ if you started an earlier Expedition cycle but didn’t finish. In that case some requirements get swapped out. Always double‑check your current phase list under Projects → Expedition before you start selling or salvaging anything.

One crucial thing I learned: once you donate an item to the project, it’s gone forever. Don’t make my early mistake of dumping everything on day one and then realizing you can’t finish a weapon craft. Prioritize building your combat setup first, then start feeding surplus into Expedition goals.

What Resets in an Expedition Wipe (and What You Keep)

Expedition wipes are not full account nukes, but they’re pretty close. Before you even think about signing up, make sure you actually understand what’s being reset.

Things That Are Wiped

When your Raider departs at the end of Expedition 3, you effectively start over in terms of normal progression. These are the big things that are reset:

• Character level and XP
• All stash contents (weapons, armor, consumables, materials)
• Quest and mission progress
• Blueprints and crafting unlocks
• Regular stash upgrades and inventory progression that weren’t earned via Expeditions
• Most of your tutorial / early-game onboarding state (though some of it is skipped)

Think of it as a soft account wipe: anything that directly affects your current Raider’s power or economy is basically gone.

Things You Keep Between Wipes

On the flip side, quite a lot of account-level progress does carry over. After my first wipe I was surprised how fast I got back on my feet because of this list:

• All cosmetics and skins
• Personal event progress
• Trophy collection progress
• Bonus Skill Points earned from Expeditions
• Bonus stash upgrades earned from Expeditions
• Unlocked maps / regions
• Codex entries
• Raider Tokens
• Miscreds (premium currency)
• Merits
• Raider Deck progress
• Active leaderboards and Trials
• A big chunk of the tutorial is permanently cleared, so re‑progression is faster

This is why the wipe can actually be worth it: each successful Expedition permanently nudges your account forward with more stash space, extra skill points, and other perks, even though your character itself restarts.

Expedition Rewards: Permanent vs Temporary (and How They Stack)

Another thing that confused me at first: Expedition rewards are based on how many Expeditions you personally have completed, not which cycle the game is on.

• Your 1st completed Expedition always grants the “Expedition 1” reward track.
• Your 2nd completed Expedition unlocks the “Expedition 2” rewards.
• Your 3rd completed Expedition will grant the “Expedition 3” rewards, and so on.

Doesn’t matter whether that happens during Expedition 3, 4, or 10 – the count is per player.

Permanent Rewards

Each completed Expedition gives you permanent upgrades that carry into all future runs, such as:

• Extra stash slots
• Bonus Skill Points you can assign on fresh characters
• Permanent cosmetics / banners
• Other account-level advantages (listed in your Expedition reward screen)

These never go away once earned. The more Expeditions you finish, the more front‑loaded your new characters become.

Temporary Rewards and Stacking

You also earn temporary buffs – stuff like enhanced gains or combat bonuses that last only while you’re on a streak of successful Expeditions. The key rules:

• Temporary Expedition bonuses can stack up to three times for consecutive successful Expeditions.
• If you ever fail to complete an Expedition (or simply don’t finish a cycle), those stacked temporary bonuses are lost.

For Expedition 3’s specific reward list, not everything is revealed yet, but we already know you’ll be able to bump your temporary buffs one more step and secure additional permanent advantages like more stash capacity. Keep an eye on your in‑game Expedition screen as the cycle progresses for the final details.

Efficient Preparation: Materials, Credits, and Farming Routes

This is where I wasted the most time during Expedition 2. I chased blueprints I was about to lose anyway and barely scraped together the required mats. Here’s how I’m handling Expedition 3 prep.

1. Prioritize the Right Materials

Across Expedition 3’s phases, the repeat offenders are:

• Metal Parts
• Chemicals
• Other common components (anything you regularly use for crafting)
• Exodus Modules (including higher-rarity ones)
• Specific Trinkets
• Broken Guidance Systems

My rule of thumb now: until I’ve completed my current Expedition phase, I never sell these categories unless I’m absolutely drowning in them. Instead, I craft around what I already have and avoid “just for fun” builds near the end of the cycle.

2. Farm Smart: Dam Battlegrounds & Hydroponic Dome

For raw materials, some locations are way better than others. The most consistent run I’ve found for Expedition prep is:

• Queue into Dam Battlegrounds.
• Beeline for the Hydroponic Dome area (the big greenhouse‑style complex).
• Clear out all the red lockers and any metal crates in and around the dome.
• Extract once you’ve swept the area; don’t stick around for unnecessary fights.

Run this loop with a squad and you’ll stockpile Metal Parts and Chemicals fast. I can usually knock out a project phase’s common-material requirements in a couple of focused evenings just repeating this route.

Don’t forget to aggressively salvage unwanted gear at the workbench (Hub → Workbench → Salvage). Early on, I made the mistake of hoarding “maybe one day” guns instead of breaking them down into mats I actually needed for the caravan.

3. Adapt to Patch 1.18.0: Materials > Blueprints

Patch 1.18.0 quietly changed loot priorities. First Wave Caches now drop fewer blueprints but more high‑quality materials. This shift is actually perfect for Expedition prep:

• Stop stockpiling caches “for blueprint hunting” right before a wipe – you’ll lose those blueprints anyway.
• Open caches steadily during the cycle to feed your material requirements.
• Think of caches as material injections for Expedition progress, not long-term gear investments.

This mindset change alone saved me a ton of grind time in Expedition 3 compared to how I approached Expedition 2.

4. Hit 3 Million Credits for Max Bonus Skill Points

Expeditions also convert part of your economic progress into Bonus Skill Points for your next run. Right now the key thresholds are:

• Every 600,000 credits of value you’ve accumulated going into departure grants 1 Bonus Skill Point.
• You can earn up to 5 Bonus Skill Points this way per Expedition, so aim for at least 3,000,000 credits before departure.
• If you missed points in a previous Expedition, there’s a reduced “catch‑up” price per missing point in later cycles, but it’s still wasted potential if you simply undershoot now.

This is why I try to lock in my Expedition project materials early, then spend the rest of the cycle focused on high‑value loot and money‑making so I don’t end up short of that 3M mark.

When Should You Actually Sign Up? (Irreversible Step)

This is the step where most people panic – and for good reason. Once you hit Sign up for Expedition during the departure window, there’s no “undo” button for that cycle.

My current rule set for Expedition 3:

• Do sign up this cycle if:
  • You’ve completed all 6 project phases.
  • You’re level 20+ and comfortable re‑leveling.
  • You’ve banked or are about to bank ~3M credits.
  • You’re ready to say goodbye to your current quest / build setup.
• Wait for a later cycle if:
  • You’re still learning the game or below level 20.
  • You haven’t finished key blueprints you care about this run.
  • You can’t realistically play much in the weeks after the wipe to take advantage of the new buffs.

I personally sign up late in the departure window – usually a day or two before wipe day. That gives me maximum time to pad my credits and clean up any last gear crafts, while still leaving some buffer in case servers go down or life gets in the way.

What the Post-Wipe Experience Feels Like

Starting over sounds brutal on paper, but with Expedition rewards it’s closer to a “New Game+ in disguise.” On my second run I noticed:

• Leveling felt faster thanks to extra skill points and account perks.
• Inventory management was less painful right away because of bonus stash slots.
• I could skip a chunk of the early tutorial friction and get to the “real game” quicker.

If you go into Expedition 3 with a plan – materials lined up, credits stacked, and clear expectations about what you’ll lose and gain – the wipe stops feeling like a punishment and more like a strategic reset. That’s the sweet spot Arc Raiders is aiming for between hardcore and casual players.

Use this cycle to build your caravan calmly, farm the key materials in efficient loops, and only hit that sign‑up button once you’re genuinely ready. If I can drag myself through a botched first Expedition and still come out enjoying the wipe loop, you can absolutely make Expedition 3 work in your favor.