ARC Raiders Expedition 3 Guide: Materials, Damage Requirements and Rewards

What the event was and why it still matters

The third Expedition in ARC Raiders ran from April 28 to May 11, 2026. The departure window was first planned as a single week ending May 4, then extended after player backlash. It has been closed for months, so this guide looks back at what the event asked for and what it gave. Data as of October 18, 2026.

The big change from Expedition 2 was how bonus skill points were earned. Before, you had to stack a huge stash value. This time points came from damage dealt. Everything else was familiar: five project stages and a voluntary wipe once you departed.

The game has changed since, including the skill tree and the rewards system, so treat the numbers below as the rules of that specific event. Later Expeditions may use different lists and thresholds.

How departure works and what it wipes

Expeditions are fully optional in ARC Raiders. To depart you needed two things: finish the Caravan by completing all five project stages, and confirm departure while the window was open. If you did not confirm, your Raider stayed untouched and the Caravan state was kept until the next window.

Departure reset everything that helps you in raids and kept account-wide progress. This is how it looked in Expedition 3:

Weigh it honestly before you commit. If your progress rests on finished quests and a stack of blueprints, losing them may outweigh the rewards. A crafting station upgrade and a quick level climb help you get back up to speed, but it still takes real time.

Materials for stages one to four

Each of stages 1-4 asked for its own set of items. Below is the full Expedition 3 list and the spots players most often reported for farming it.

Stage 1.

• Metal Parts x150

• Chemicals x100

• ARC Alloy x80

• Steel Spring x15

Metal Parts and Chemicals turn up almost everywhere and come from recycling. The bottleneck is ARC Alloy, which players most often got by destroying ARCs such as Couriers and Surveyors in Buried City. For Steel Spring, players suggest searching residential areas (Ruined Accordion and Spring Cushion recycle into springs) or buying from the trader Celeste for Seeds, though there is a daily limit.

Stage 2. Durable Cloth is the hard part here.

• Durable Cloth x30

• Wires x25

• Electrical Components x20

• Industrial Charger x3

Players say cloth can be crafted from Fabric (14 per piece, so 420 for all thirty), but looting medical areas is usually cheaper. Many players made Electrical Components in the Refiner from plastic and rubber, or recycled odd junk in Stella Montis. Industrial Charger is usually found in large drawer containers in the Loading Bay of that map.

Stage 3. By player accounts, the least demanding of the five.

• Coffee Pot x1

• Battery x35

• Firefly Burner x5

• Exodus Module x1

The coffee pot turns up in residential areas, batteries in metal crates and terminals (the Power Generation Complex on the Dam has plenty), and Firefly Burner drops from Fireflies. Players report that popping their napalm canister does not hurt the drop chance. Exodus Module comes out in bulk when you recycle purple materials in Stella Montis.

Stage 4. It sends you after the Bombardier.

• Broken Guidance System x1

• Advanced Electrical Components x5

• Breathtaking Snow Globe x3

• Bombardier Cell x2

Broken Guidance System is often found in the Hydroponic Dome Complex on the Dam. Advanced Electrical Components sit in consoles, for example in Water Treatment Control and in Stella Montis. The fussiest item is Breathtaking Snow Globe: it drops in residential areas, with better odds in the yellow and red zones. Players find Bombardier Cell easier to farm as a squad.

Stage 5: loot donations

The last stage has no specific items. You donate loot in four categories until each reaches its target value in coins.

• Combat: guns, augments, grenades and mods, 200,000 coins

• Survival: healing and shields, 100,000 coins

• Provisions: nature items, trinkets and keys, 150,000 coins

• Materials: anything used for crafting, 300,000 coins

That adds up to 750,000 coins of loot value. It is not scary if you stockpile in advance, but closing Provisions and Materials at the last minute can drag. Pick up part of the loot while you work on stages 1-4 instead of making separate runs.

Damage instead of stash value

After you confirmed departure, bonus skill points came from total damage dealt to ARCs and other Raiders. This replaced the Expedition 2 rule that paid points for stash value: 500,000 coins per point and 3,000,000 for all five.

The thresholds in Expedition 3 were:

• 1 point: 5,000 damage

• 2 points: 10,000

• 3 points: 30,000

• 4 points: 50,000

• 5 points: 100,000

An important detail: 100,000 is the total for all five points, so you never farm each point separately. Many players had been planning to stack stash value, so the new rule caught them off guard.

In practice it meant you could play for damage any way you liked: hunting big ARCs, fighting other players, or mixing both. If you need points to spend, open the skill tree and decide in advance where the first ones go.

Departure rewards

Expedition 3 rewards were split into permanent and temporary. Permanent ones stay forever. Temporary ones lasted for a limited time.

Permanent rewards:

• a piece of the Patchwork outfit (third stage)

• a turban for Scrappy the Rooster

• an Expedition icon that upgrades with each departure

• +12 stash space for every Expedition

• 1 to 5 bonus skill points

Temporary bonuses grew in steps: XP +5%, +10%, +15%; Scrappy materials +6%, +12%, +18%; repair value 60%, 70%, 80%. The stash bonus adds up with every Expedition, which makes it the most practical permanent reward.

Catch-up for missed Expeditions

If you missed the previous Expedition, a catch-up mechanic from the Expedition 2 rules worked the same way in the third one.

• Each missed skill point cost 300,000 coins of stash value.

• You could get at most 5 points, so 1,500,000 coins covered all of them.

• It did not return any other bonuses.

This eased FOMO without removing it: the other rewards of a missed Expedition were not restored. If you are returning to the game and want to catch up, start with leveling, because skill points do little without it.

Last Call and what to take forward

Last Call let you confirm departure retroactively. It had one condition: the Caravan had to be fully built. On your first login after the window closed, after May 11, the game offered to reset your progress, and damage dealt after finishing the Caravan counted toward skill points. If you dealt none, you got none.

The event is over and cannot be repeated, but the rules help you prepare for the next one. Stock up on ARC Alloy early, keep a reserve of residential loot, and do not leave the Caravan to the final days of the window.