29 November 2025

Waiting for ARC Raiders’ Expedition Wipe? Here’s What You Should Do Until Then

By newsgame

As ARC Raiders is a live-service game, it has certain systems in place aimed at keeping it alive long-term. One of those systems is its Expedition wipe — a voluntary reset that occurs every 8 weeks, should players find themselves interested in the benefits that it provides. Similar to Call of Duty‘s Prestige system, once players complete an Expedition in ARC Raiders and the date for said Expedition arrives, their current Raider is wiped, forcing them to start a new character. However, bonus skill points, increased XP gain, more scrap-material yield, better weapon-repair efficiency, extra stash space, and unique cosmetic rewards all await players as they proceed to start over, making it worth it to some players even though the loss-reward ratio may not appeal to others.

ARC Raiders has only been out for about a month now, but many players have already completed the demanding requirements to send their Raider on the game’s first Expedition. The only caveat for those players, though, is that the wipe doesn’t occur until December 21, 2025, meaning they might be sitting around twiddling their thumbs until the day arrives. At first glance, it appears there’s nothing left to do in ARC Raiders once an Expedition is prepared, simply because almost everything the player currently owns or would acquire in future raids will be lost. However, there are still several things players can focus on until December 21 that make playing the game worthwhile.

What ARC Raiders Players Can Do Until the First Expedition Wipe

Focus on ranking up in Trials
Complete the Raider Deck
Ensure stash and wallet have plenty of value
Keep an eye and ear out for live events
Complete any remaining quests

Focus on Ranking Up in Trials

One of the main things players can focus on doing before their first Expedition wipe in ARC Raiders is focus on ranking up in Trials. Trials give players five challenges every week that they can complete during a raid, and those challenges reset every Monday. Only a single run that ends in a successful extraction counts toward a challenge, meaning players are required to complete the objective and escape safely, or the progress is lost. During that run, the player’s score for each challenge is tallied. Only their best single-run score per challenge matters for that week’s rewards, but the main draw of doing ARC Raiders‘ Trials is for the permanent rewards players can earn.

Each Trials challenge in ARC Raiders comes with milestone reward boxes that grant players varying tiers of loot, but anything gained there will be lost on the date of the wipe. However, once the weekly scoring period ends, the sum of the player’s best scores across all challenges places them on the weekly Trials leaderboard. Their rank on the leaderboard at the end of the week then determines what additional, permanent rewards — like cosmetics, emotes, backpack charms, etc. — they can earn. In light of all that, Trials remain one thing players can focus on tackling before the Expedition wipe happens on December 21.

Complete the Raider Deck

Something else worth investing in before ARC Raiders‘ first Expedition wipe is the Raider Deck, which functions similarly to a battle pass and is entirely free to all players. Each day, players are given a set of unique Feats to complete that, when completed, reward Cred that can be spent on various rewards in the Raider Deck. These Feats can be anything from delivering Field Crates to dealing damage to a specific type of ARC, and players can often complete these unknowingly by simply playing the game.

Certain loot-based items in the Raider Deck will be lost once the Expedition wipe arrives, but there are plenty of permanent rewards players should be eyeing before it’s too late. Firstly, each tier of the Raider Deck includes various cosmetics players can spend their hard-earned Cred on. Secondly, players can also spend their Cred to acquire Raider Tokens, which can be used in the official ARC Raiders store to purchase full outfits for their characters. Needless to say, those who really want to go Topside in style shouldn’t write off the Raider Deck as something to spend some more time on before the Expedition wipe.

It’s worth noting that the Raider Deck will occasionally reset and offer new items, with the first new Deck arriving with ARC Raiders‘ upcoming Cold Snap update.

Ensure Stash and Wallet Have Plenty of Value

Before ARC Raiders‘ first Expedition wipes players’ belongings on December 21, they’ll want to ensure their stash is filled with plenty of valuable items. While performing an Expedition can award players up to 5 bonus skill points, exactly how many they get ultimately comes down to the total value of items in their stash and their coins. Since some players likely play ARC Raiders in such a way that keeps their stash fairly empty, they might instead consider keeping their stash full of the most valuable items they can find.

There’s no way of currently knowing just how much the player’s stash and wallet need to be worth in order to acquire the maximum number of bonus skill points after an Expedition, but since everything is going to be lost anyway, players might as well keep it stocked with ARC Raiders‘ high-value resources, materials, and crafting components. Furthermore, since the player’s wallet counts toward the total bonus skill points they can obtain after an Expedition, Valuables can simply be sold — there’s no need to hoard them in the stash.

Keep an Eye and Ear Out for Live Events

Live events in ARC Raiders are another thing players awaiting their first Expedition should keep an eye out for, as they are yet another opportunity to earn permanent rewards. These events trigger a temporary battle pass that, like the Raider Deck, rewards players with various rewards like Raider cosmetics, backpack attachments, emotes, and Raider Tokens. ARC Raiders‘ first live event, “Staking Our Claim,” arrived alongside the Stella Montis map, and more are expected to follow. In other words, if players haven’t completed their battle pass for “Staking Our Claim,” they should, and if they have completed it, another reason to keep playing the game is expected to arrive soon.

ARC Raiders‘ “Staking Our Claim” live event ends on December 8, 2025, and it’s possible that the anticipated Cold Snap update will arrive then as well.

Complete Any Remaining Quests

Finally, players who are looking for something to do in ARC Raiders until the first Expedition wipe on December 21 should ensure they’ve completed any remaining quests and keep an eye out for quests that may and likely will be added in the near future. While quests in ARC Raiders do often award players with items that will succumb to the game’s first wipe, there are plenty that offer permanent cosmetic rewards on completion as well. There are countless quests in the game, and even those who have already put dozens of hours into ARC Raiders may still have more to finish. Players should check the Traders tab in the game and look for traders who have a yellow icon next to their name in order to learn whether they still have quests available.