The Expedition Project in ARC Raiders just got nudged back a bit, and for once a delay actually feels good. Instead of kicking off right away, the first window now runs from December 17th to the 22nd, which means a little extra breathing room to polish your stash and stack more ARC Raiders Coins before everything flips. Devs are calling it a stability thing for the servers, but for most of us it just means one more weekend to squeeze value out of every run so the coming reset hurts a lot less.

How The Departure Works

This Expedition is not some brutal forced wipe where you wake up naked in the mines for no reason. It is an optional “departure” that you sign up for using your Caravan between the 17th and 22nd. When the window closes on the 22nd, everyone who opted in gets reset together. You lose level, gear, all the usual stuff, and that sounds rough on paper, but the trade you get back is huge. The standout reward is a permanent +12 Stash Space, which is basically luxury living in an extraction shooter. On top of that, you can earn up to 5 Skill Points, based on the total value of your stash when the reset hits. The math is dead simple: every 1 million in value gives 1 Skill Point, so players are aiming for that 5 million mark to start the next cycle with a fully juiced build.

Why Stash Value Matters

Because this reset actually pays you for being rich, you can not just sit on random junk any more. You need high value per slot. If you are running with a solid squad and can handle the pressure, you should be pushing into Stella Montis or the Dam Battlegrounds as often as you can. Those zones are nasty, but a Queen Core or Bastion Cell can throw 200k+ into a single inventory slot, and you feel that spike instantly. Solo players do not have to be heroes; daytime Blue Gate runs are usually safer and still drop decent stuff like Tempest blueprints. Whatever you bring back, do not let duplicates rot in the stash. Dump them at the trader, turn them into raw coins, and push that total value number as high as you can before the 22nd.

Making The Grind Bearable

Not everyone wants to run a hundred raids just to see a number tick up, and a lot of people simply do not have the time. If you would rather skip the slow climb and go into the next cycle ready to fight from day one, you can lean on the marketplace and pick up ARC Raiders items to pad out your stash value. Mythic gear and rare alloys can push you toward that 5 million target way faster than trying to farm everything by hand. Once you do commit to the departure, the permanent upgrades kick in and the next cycle feels totally different: cheaper repairs, bonus XP, and a stash that actually fits the builds you want to run. Whether you grind it all out yourself or top things up and buy Raider Tokens to get there quicker, the main thing is locking in before the 22nd so you go into the next round ahead of the pack, not chasing it.