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- ARC Raiders Expedition 5 departure deadline and sign-up
- ARC Raiders Expedition 5 Caravan requirements: all five stages
- ARC Raiders Expedition 5 rewards and the damage challenge
- ARC Raiders Expedition 5: what carries over and what resets
- ARC Raiders Expedition 5 pre-departure checklist
- ARC Raiders Expedition 5 materials and boosting
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources and update history
The ARC Raiders 5th Expedition departure window closes September 29, 2026 at 8am UTC (10am CEST), and there is no “last call” this time: finishing the Caravan does not sign you up. Stage 5 alone asks for 750,000 Coin value of items. Departing resets your level, Coins, Blueprints and stash items; Raider Tokens, Cred, Merits and cosmetics are kept.
Which Expedition counts: Expeditions are completed in order, and requirements and rewards are bound to your own Expedition number (ARC Raiders wiki, updated September 8, 2026). The material list and Zenith reward in this guide apply when this is your fifth personal Expedition; players on their first to fourth Expedition use that Expedition’s own requirements and rewards, even during this September window.
ARC Raiders Expedition 5 departure deadline and sign-up
The Expedition itself started July 21, 2026. The departure window opened on September 8 and closes at the end of the month, and departure is a separate, manual step (ARC Raiders wiki, updated September 8, 2026).
| Event | UTC | CEST (game’s local time) |
|---|---|---|
| Departure window opens | September 8, 2026, 11am | September 8, 2026, 1pm |
| Departure window closes | September 29, 2026, 8am | September 29, 2026, 10am |
| Expeditions return | Early 2027, “with major improvements” (ARC Raiders, August 21, 2026) | |
The two parts run on different clocks. The Caravan can be built at any time, including between windows. Departure only happens inside the window, and completing Stage 5 does not register you automatically — with no last-call fallback this time, a finished Caravan that was never signed up does nothing (ARC Raiders, August 21, 2026).
Items committed to a Caravan stage cannot be retrieved (ARC Raiders wiki). If you do not finish in time, Caravans are reset during the pause and a partially completed Caravan is replaced with Ermal Vouchers of equal value, usable on Ermal offers or sold for Coin (ARC Raiders, August 21, 2026). You are compensated for what you contributed, but the outfit, the stash slots and the departure rewards are gone for this cycle.
ARC Raiders Expedition 5 Caravan requirements: all five stages
These are the Expedition 5 stage requirements as documented on the community wiki (updated September 8, 2026). Each Expedition uses a different material list, so the Expedition 1 and 2 tables in older guides do not apply here.
| Stage | Requirement |
|---|---|
| 1 · Foundation | 150× Metal Parts, 100× Plastic Parts, 80× ARC Alloy, 15× Magnet |
| 2 · Core Systems | 30× Durable Cloth, 25× Duct Tape, 20× Mechanical Components, 10× Voltage Converter |
| 3 · Framework | 20× ARC Circuitry, 15× Speaker Component, 5× Bastion Cell, 3× Magnetic Accelerator |
| 4 · Outfitting | 2× Radio, 5× Advanced Mechanical Components, 3× Lance’s Mixtape (5th Edition), 3× Rocketeer Driver |
| 5 · Load Stage | 750,000 total Coin value of goods: 200,000 Combat Items, 100,000 Survival Items, 150,000 Provisions, 300,000 Materials |
| 6 · Departure | No items. Sign up during the window. |
Stage 5 is not a currency payment: you hand over items measured by their Coin value, so a large Coin balance does not complete it. Stages 3 and 4 are the other choke points, because Bastion Cells, Magnetic Accelerators, Rocketeer Drivers and Lance’s Mixtape (5th Edition) are specific named items rather than general scrap.
Expedition V Materials - Foundation 1-4Stages 1 to 4 of the Expedition 5 Caravan need the named materials listed above, and the window closes September 29, 2026.From $41.99View offerARC Raiders Expedition 5 rewards and the damage challenge
Departing on the 5th Expedition pays out (ARC Raiders, August 21, 2026):
- The complete Zenith Outfit — Expedition 5 grants the second half, so players who finished all five have it fully unlocked.
- +12 bonus stash slots, bringing the Expedition-earned bonus to 60 after five departures (Embark’s infographic lists it as “60 total”).
- Consecutive buffs, each capped at three levels: XP boost 5% → 10% → 15%, Scrappy materials +6% → +12% → +18%, and a repair value increase (per-level numbers: ARC Raiders, April 17, 2026). These persist through the pause.
- Catch-up skill points for Expeditions you missed, capped at 5 per Expedition and 15 in total (Embark’s “Expeditions Explained” infographic, August 21, 2026). The wiki puts the catch-up cost at 300,000 Coin value per missed point, available only if you took part in the Expedition you missed them on (ARC Raiders wiki, updated September 8, 2026).
On top of that is the damage challenge, an optional layer that only counts during the departure window. The thresholds are 5,000 / 10,000 / 30,000 / 50,000 / 100,000 damage. What each tier pays depends on how many Expeditions you have completed, not on the calendar (ARC Raiders wiki, updated September 8, 2026):
- Your 1st to 3rd Expedition: one bonus Skill Point per tier, up to 5.
- Your 4th or 5th Expedition: one Blueprint and 150 Raider Tokens per tier, delivered after departure. Embark’s infographic below shows this in its “5th Expedition” column and describes the Blueprint as guaranteed rare or higher.
Those Blueprints are temporary: they reset when you depart on your next Expedition. Duplicates are prevented, except against Blueprints carried over in Ermal’s Vault. The Raider Tokens are permanent.
For scale, Embark said a single very good round in internal testing produced 8,000–10,000 damage, and put 100,000 damage at roughly the equivalent of destroying 20 Bastions (ARC Raiders, “A Triumphant Exit”, April 17, 2026). The top tier is a multi-session commitment, not a one-raid job.
ARC Raiders Expedition 5: what carries over and what resets
Per the wiki’s “Progression reset” table (updated September 8, 2026):
| Resets | Carries over |
|---|---|
| Stash upgrade progress | Unlocked maps |
| Inventory items | Codex entries |
| Blueprints | Raider Tokens |
| Coins | Cred |
| Player level | Merits |
| Skill points | Raider Decks progress |
| Raider Den | Active leaderboards |
| Workshop | Trials |
| Quests (optional this time, see below) | Cosmetics |
| Personal event progress | |
| Bonus skill points and stash slots earned from Expeditions |
New this time: you can opt out of resetting your quests. Embark says you can keep your progress and continue where you left off, and because the Hullcracker Blueprint can only be obtained through the quest line, it will add other ways to get it (ARC Raiders, August 21, 2026).
Separately, Cred is being retired, and any Cred left on the account expires on October 8, 2026 when the Frozen Trail update launches (PCGamesN, September 8, 2026). Cred survives the Expedition reset but not that date, so depart first and spend Cred second.
ARC Raiders Expedition 5 pre-departure checklist
- Sign up during the window. Finishing the Caravan is not signing up, and there is no last call.
- Decide on the quest reset before you go.
- Know what you lose. Inventory items, Coins, Blueprints, the Raider Den and the Workshop reset; Raider Tokens, Cred, Merits and cosmetics do not.
- Run the damage tiers inside the window, and claim catch-up skill points if you skipped earlier rewards — the next chance is 2027.
ARC Raiders Expedition 5 materials and boosting
Stages 3 and 4 are where most Caravans stall, and every departure resets your player level. These are the parts of the run people hand off before the window closes:
Bastion Cell x3Stage 3 of the Expedition 5 Caravan needs 5× Bastion Cell.From $1.29View offer
Lance's Mixtape (5th Edition) x3Stage 4 of the Expedition 5 Caravan needs 3× Lance's Mixtape (5th Edition).From $1.49View offer
ARC Raiders Level BoostDeparting resets your player level, and levelling starts again from scratch after the Expedition.From $74.53View offerFrequently asked questions
When does the ARC Raiders Expedition 5 departure window close?
September 29, 2026 at 8am UTC (10am CEST). The window opened on September 8, and Expeditions then pause until early 2027 (ARC Raiders wiki, updated September 8, 2026).
Is completing Stage 5 enough to depart?
No. You have to sign up for departure during the window, and this Expedition has no “last call” fallback for people who finished the Caravan but missed sign-up (ARC Raiders, August 21, 2026).
What do the Expedition 5 damage tiers reward?
It depends on how many Expeditions you have completed. The tiers are 5,000 / 10,000 / 30,000 / 50,000 / 100,000 damage dealt inside the departure window. On your 1st to 3rd Expedition, each tier gives a bonus Skill Point (up to 5). On your 4th or 5th, each tier gives one temporary Blueprint and 150 permanent Raider Tokens (ARC Raiders wiki, updated September 8, 2026).
Do I lose my blueprints when I depart?
Yes. The wiki’s reset table lists Blueprints under “reset”. Blueprints earned from the damage challenge on a 4th or 5th Expedition are delivered after departure, but they are temporary and reset again on your next Expedition. Raider Tokens are the permanent part of that reward (updated September 8, 2026).
Do Coins carry over after the Expedition?
No. Coins are on the reset side of the wiki’s table. Cred, Merits and Raider Tokens are kept, although Cred itself expires on October 8, 2026 (ARC Raiders wiki, September 8, 2026; PCGamesN, September 8, 2026).
What happens if I do not finish the Caravan before September 29?
Committed items cannot be retrieved, but a partially completed Caravan is replaced with Ermal Vouchers of equal value during the pause, usable on Ermal offers or sold for Coin (ARC Raiders, August 21, 2026). You miss the Expedition 5 outfit, stash space and damage-challenge rewards.
Sources and update history
- ARC Raiders (Embark Studios), “The 5th Expedition” (August 21, 2026)
- ARC Raiders (Embark Studios), “A Triumphant Exit” (April 17, 2026)
- ARC Raiders Wiki, Expedition (updated September 8, 2026)
- PCGamesN, “Arc Raiders is removing Cred for a more expansive reward system” (September 8, 2026)
Update history: Published September 16, 2026. Facts last checked September 16, 2026 against the sources above.
