ARC Raiders Expedition 4: No Skill Points, Just Blueprints

The ARC Raiders 4th Expedition marks the first time the Expedition reward system drops Skill Points entirely for veterans on their fourth run. You have capped out at 15 points. Congratulations. Enjoy your Blueprints, which expire next cycle.

Embark's stated reasoning: the old damage-to-Skill-Point pipeline had issues, so they are iterating. What that actually means is the carrot got smaller and the stick (750,000 coin Load Stage) stayed the same size.

Completing your Caravan does NOT register you for the Expedition. Sign up manually once the window opens July 7. This trips up veterans every single time.

How the Expedition Works

The Expedition Project is a voluntary wipe system. Your Raider sacrifices everything inventory-related for permanent account upgrades that stack across departures. It unlocks at Raider level 20 and runs in two phases: a preparation phase (build the Caravan) and a departure window (sign up, deal damage, depart).

• Complete the Caravan Five material stages, all permanent donations. Progress carries across cycles, so whatever you committed during Expedition 3 counts here.
• Wait for July 7 The window opens at 13:00 CEST / 11:00 UTC / 04:00 PT. The in-game countdown is live.
• Sign Up Go to Projects > Expeditions and sign up. This is not automatic. Do not skip this and then post about it.
• Deal Damage Hit the five cumulative thresholds before July 21. ARC units and players both count. The practice range does not.
• Depart Automatically Everyone signed up leaves on July 21 at 08:00 UTC. Mystery Rewards arrive after departure.

The last call feature remains active in case you miss the initial sign-up window. Use it if you must, but do not rely on it as a strategy.

Caravan Stage Requirements

Five stages stand between you and departure eligibility. Stages 1–4 demand specific materials; Stage 5 demands coin value by category. All donations are permanent: nothing comes back.

Stage 5 is the one that breaks people. 750,000 total coin value across four item categories. Not a typo. Start hoarding now.

The Caravan building guide logic is simple: do not hoard. Sell across all four Load Stage categories throughout your sessions. Players who bank everything for a single session consistently run short on time.

Damage Challenge Thresholds

Damage is cumulative across the entire 14-day window. Expedition damage thresholds for Expedition 4 match the previous cycle. One solid run yields roughly 8,000–10,000 damage, so hitting 100,000 takes around 10–13 decent raids. It is not hard. It is just time.

• 5,000 Blueprint + 150 Tokens
• 10,000 Blueprint + 150 Tokens
• 30,000 Blueprint + 150 Tokens
• 50,000 Blueprint + 150 Tokens
• 100,000 Blueprint + 150 Tokens

100,000 damage is approximately equivalent to destroying 20 Bastions. Embark tested it internally and confirmed it is achievable. They are right. It is not the damage that is the issue.

No catch-up mechanic exists for Mystery Rewards. Miss the window, miss the Blueprints. Unlike Skill Points, nobody is coming to save you.

Rewards are split between permanent and temporary. The Expedition 4 Mystery Rewards sit firmly in the temporary column, which is the joke Embark did not intend to tell. The Raider Tokens expedition payout is at least permanent.

Blueprint Pool

The ARC Raiders blueprint rewards pool includes weapons (Venator, Rascal, Osprey, Trailblazer, Anvil, Bettina, Hullbreaker, Tempest, Volcano, Delabra, Aethilion), attachment blueprints, and survival prints (Survivor, Safekeeper, Defensive, Flanking, Wolfpack, Power Descender, Snapbook). The Hullbreaker normally drops from a quest. Getting it as a mystery reward is the highlight of this otherwise stingy list.

Blueprints you already have in Ermal's Vault are NOT protected from duplicate draws. Move them out or accept the waste.

The consecutive expedition buffs system rewards unbroken streaks. Three consecutive departures caps the bonuses: 15% XP boost, 80% Scrappy materials, 80% repair value increase. Miss one window and the buffs go inactive: but your streak level is preserved. One more departure restores them immediately. You do not restart from zero.

The ARC Raiders wipe mechanics are voluntary. Departing is opt-in. Completing the Caravan, signing up, even sitting inside the window does not force a wipe. Only confirming departure does. If you want to skip expedition and keep your permanent rewards, nothing is taken from you: except the dormant consecutive buffs until you return.

Skill Point Catch-Up

Players who missed points from Expeditions 1–3 can still recover them during Expedition 4: up to 5 per cycle. The catch-up is tied to stash value (300,000 coins per missed point). Once you hold all 15 Skill Points, the catch-up menu disappears permanently. There is nothing more to earn in that column.

This is Embark's concession to players who fell behind. It is also the last moment of generosity before the no more skill points era begins in full for Expedition 5 and beyond.

Is It Worth Doing

This depends entirely on why you play. If consecutive buffs: particularly the 80% repair value: matter to your playstyle, the answer is yes. Losing the streak costs more than the temporary Blueprints are worth.

If you have everything capped and no particular attachment to the Zenith Outfit's first stage, skipping is a reasonable decision. The ARC Raiders progression reset offers diminishing returns at this stage by design. Embark acknowledged the balance problem with new vs. veteran players and said they are working on it.

The 750 Raider Tokens are permanent. If you plan to engage with the cosmetic system at all, completing the damage challenge is the most efficient free token injection the game offers.