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Player Projects in ARC Raiders are personal, multi-stage objective chains. You complete their tasks during ordinary raids, return to Speranza, and claim each stage before the next one unlocks. Contributions can be item donations, damage totals, photographs, kills, or other actions; donated items are consumed. Projects become a permanent system at Raider level 20 (although the Sheltered Retreat card can display level 18), and several tracks can be active at once.
On 29 October 2026, the best progression path is to finish Sheltered Retreat first because it unlocks the Outpost and Research Station needed for Amplified Weapons. Complete the short, time-limited Soul’s Offering before 16 November, then work through Trophy Display as your materials allow. Expeditions are paused after the fifth window and should not be treated as an available project today.
What are Player Projects in ARC Raiders?
A Project is a linear chain of stages tied to your Raider, not a shared community meter. You complete the active objective, return to Speranza, claim the reward, and receive the next objective. Some stages are donation stages that consume named items; others are action stages that count things such as damage, photographs, or kills.
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Embark design director Virgil described Projects as a feature that expands beyond the original Expedition track with updates, holidays, and events. The general system is permanently available once your Raider reaches level 20. Frozen Trail’s Outpost card may appear at level 18, so the level shown on that card is an exception rather than a replacement for the level-20 system rule.
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Open the Raider menu in Speranza and choose Projects. Sheltered Retreat is also surfaced in the Outpost tab. You can contribute to multiple Projects simultaneously, but each donation is removed from your inventory immediately.
Which Projects are live on 29 October 2026?
| Project | Status and time limit | Structure | Main rewards or effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sheltered Retreat | Live since 8 October 2026; no announced closing date | Three stages | Outpost, Research Station, Advanced Camera Blueprint, Red Light Stick Blueprint, furniture design and materials |
| Trophy Display | Live since 27 January 2026; no announced closing date | Five stages | 150 Raider Tokens, weapon and blueprint rewards, cosmetics, 300,000 Coins on completion |
| Soul’s Offering | 27 October–16 November 2026 | Three donation blocks and one firework action | Weapon and attachment rewards, Pilgrim Backpack, Offering Display Table Design and fireworks |
| Expedition | Paused after window five; return targeted for early 2027, with January cited as a target | Caravan preparation plus a departure window | Prestige cosmetics, stash and skill bonuses, temporary consecutive buffs |
Projects that ended earlier in 2026 include Flickering Flames, Weather Monitor System, High-Gain Antenna, Avian Alarm, Converging Paths, Phantom Targets and Ascending the Mountain. They are historical tracks, not current objectives.
How do you start and claim a Project stage?
- Reach the required Raider level. Treat level 20 as the general Projects unlock; check the individual card for exceptions.
- Open the card in Speranza. Go to Raider menu → Projects, or use the Outpost tab for Sheltered Retreat.
- Read every requirement before deploying. The card distinguishes a consumed hand-in from an action target, so you can choose an efficient loadout.
- Complete the objective in raids. A photograph, damage total or kill target must be performed as specified; a donation must be extracted with the named item.
- Return to Speranza and claim the stage. Progress does not automatically advance to the next stage until you collect the current reward.
- Repeat for the newly unlocked stage. Keep a reserve of items that are also needed for Gunsmith, amplification or other upgrades.
Why should Sheltered Retreat come first?
Sheltered Retreat is the only live Project that unlocks a system rather than mainly paying out gear. Finishing it opens the Outpost and its Research Station. The Outpost is menu-managed rather than a walkable location in Frozen Trail 2.0, but its levels gate Research Station levels, and Research Station level 4 is required alongside Gunsmith level 4 for Amplified Weapons.
Stage 1: Study Old Outposts
On Blue Gate, photograph any farmland house around Ruined Homestead. Bring a camera in your loadout; Embark’s reminder to “accept the quest and bring your camera” matters because the objective will not complete without one. The reward is the Advanced Camera Blueprint.
Stage 2: Gather Building Materials
Hand in 3 Planks, 5 Sheet Metal, 10 ARC Alloy and 3 Advanced Electrical Components. You receive the Red Light Stick Blueprint. Planks and Sheet Metal are usually the limiting materials. Community routes point to residences around Dam Battlegrounds and the Pendola Pass Supermarket for Planks, and industrial containers in Pendola Pass for Sheet Metal. Celeste’s post-2.0 furniture-material trades can provide another source.
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Stage 3: Safeguard the Building Site
Deal 800 damage to flying ARC and 300 damage to Bullies. Bullies are a Frozen Trail enemy commonly found around Piazza della Rupe on Pendola Pass. The reward is the Hotel Chair Design, 15 Planks and 5 Durable Cloth. Completing this stage unlocks the Outpost and Research Station.
Research Station costs
| Level | Required items |
|---|---|
| Research Station 1 | 3 Mini Pump, 35 Planks, 5 Battered Paperback |
| Research Station 2 | 3 Calculator, 3 Raider Logbook, 5 Skulker Targeter |
| Research Station 3 | 3 Differential Microphone, 3 Exodus Technical Handbook, 6 Bully Fragmenter |
| Research Station 4 | 3 Thermal Shaker, 3 ARC Data Module, 1 Frigate Inductor |
Gunsmith level 4 separately requires 3 Radial Press, 3 Magnetic Accelerator and 1 Emperor Modulator. Save those Magnetic Accelerators before feeding Trophy Display stage 4.
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Trophy Display is the long-running payout track. It has no announced closing date and was designed to survive an Expedition reset. Across five stages it awards 150 Raider Tokens, multiple blueprints and weapons, then a completion bundle containing the Howl emote, Jupiter, Acoustic Guitar, 5 Energy Clip and 300,000 Coins.
| Stage | Hand-ins and action | Stage rewards |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — Roaming Threats | 3 Rusted Bolts; 15 Pop Trigger; 15 Tick Pod; 5 Surveyor Vault | 10 Mod Components; 3 Power Rod; 10 Raider Tokens; Light Gun Parts Blueprint |
| 2 — Soaring Menaces | 10 Spotter Relay; 3 Expired Respirator; 20 Wasp Driver; 15 Hornet Driver | 3 Vita Spray; 3 Photoelectric Cloak; 20 Raider Tokens; Vita Shot Blueprint |
| 3 — Ferocious Foes | 10 ARC Performance Steel; 5 Shredder Gyro; 10 Leaper Pulse Unit; 5 Bastion Cell | 1 Kinetic Converter; 3 Anvil Splitter; 30 Raider Tokens; Shotgun Silencer Blueprint |
| 4 — Dominant Dangers | 10 ARC Synthetic Resin; 10 Magnetic Accelerator; 8 Rocketeer Driver; 3 Queen Reactor | Bobcat IV; 5 Wolfpack; 40 Raider Tokens; Bobcat Blueprint |
| 5 — Imposing Behemoths | 5 Exodus Modules; 3 Geiger Counter; 8 Bombardier Cell; 3 Matriarch Reactor | 2 Snap Hook; 1 Aphelion; 50 Raider Tokens; Snap Hook Blueprint |
Frozen Trail changed the Anvil Splitter reward: it is now an amplified-Anvil upgrade option rather than a conventional mod. Existing Splitters can be sold or recycled into Amplified Fragments for repairing Amplified Weapons, so value it as repair material.
Stages 1 and 2 are the easiest place to make progress while raiding normally because small ARC produce Pop Triggers and Tick Pods, and Wasps and Hornets are common. Stages 4 and 5 are expensive. Queen Reactors, Matriarch Reactors and Magnetic Accelerators are also needed for amplification or Gunsmith, so complete those stages only with surplus stock.
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For Queen and Matriarch farming, Frozen Trail 2.0 moved higher-tier loot from armor pieces of the legs to the legs themselves. Search the legs, not only the plating. Embark also says explosives such as Hullcracker do more than 50 percent more damage to armor plates and about 30 percent less to fragile parts, which changes how you should target those enemies.
What is Soul’s Offering?
Soul’s Offering is a short holiday Project running from 27 October through 16 November 2026. Its story has Celeste gathering offerings for shrines honoring fallen Raiders in Contradas Ferrovia, Murteta, Vaulto and Speranza. The track is inexpensive compared with Trophy Display’s final stages and does not consume Queen or Matriarch Reactors.
| Objective block | Required contribution | Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Donation 1 | 1 Dead Flowers, 2 Rock Salt, 15 ARC Alloy, 1 Expired Respirator | Stiletto II, Extended Barrel I, Angled Grip II, Stable Stock II |
| Donation 2 | 3 Dead Flowers, 2 Railway Lantern, 15 Advanced ARC Powercell, 10 Remote Raider Flare | Torrente II, Compensator III, Extended Medium Mag III, Stable Stock III |
| Donation 3 | 2 Fancy Plate, 1 Mask Fragment, 1 Insulation Roll, 5 Fertilizer | Vulcano I, Shotgun Silencer, Extended Shotgun Mag III, 3 Fireworks Box |
| Action | Set off a firework on the rooftop of the Santa Maria Houses | Pilgrim Backpack and Offering Display Table Design |
The Project page does not fully name each stage, so use the live in-game card for the exact objective wording. Because the window closes on 16 November, claim each completed block before moving on to longer-term tracks.
How does the Expedition Project work, and why is it paused?
Expedition is an optional one-way prestige reset, not a normal loot Project. You build and supply a caravan, sign up during a published Expedition Window, and depart when that window closes. Completing the caravan alone does not sign you up; registration during the window is a separate step.
The fifth window opened on 8 September 2026 at 11:00 UTC and closed on 29 September at 08:00 UTC. Embark paused Expeditions afterward to rework tight departure windows, reward structure and access for new players. The stated return target is early 2027, with a January target mentioned by the Projects wiki. Do not start a caravan expecting a departure while the system is paused.
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What resets and what remains?
| Reset on departure | Kept after departure |
|---|---|
| Stash upgrade progress, inventory, blueprints, Coins, player level, skill points, Raider Den, workshop levels and most quests | Unlocked maps, Codex entries, Raider Tokens, Merits, Raider Decks or Reward Pass progress, leaderboards, Trials, cosmetics, event progress and real-money purchases |
| Workshop stations restart from level 1, although the stations themselves remain unlocked | Expedition-earned bonus skill points and bonus stash slots |
Frozen Trail 2.0 removed Cred and replaced it with Reward Points for the Reward Pass. Therefore, older Expedition lists that say Cred persists are outdated; rely on the current currencies, tokens and pass progress instead.
Consecutive buffs persist through the current pause. They last until your next departure and are lost if you miss a window. At three consecutive departures they cap at three levels: XP boosts of 5%, 10% and 15%, Scrappy-material boosts of 6%, 12% and 18%, and a repair buff listed by the wiki as +10% per level up to +30%. An Embark update instead described repair value totals of 60%, 70% and 80%; the two repair descriptions have not been mathematically reconciled.
Historical Expedition rewards
Rewards follow your personal Expedition count, not the global window number. The first departure grants the Patchwork Raider outfit part, Scrappy Janitor Cap, 12 stash slots and up to five bonus skill points. The second and third departures add 12 slots each and evolve the Patchwork outfit; the fourth begins the Zenith outfit and the fifth completes it. Expedition stash rewards are capped at 60 extra slots, and bonus skill points are capped at 15 account-wide. Without Expedition or Nomadic Envoy additions, Frozen Trail’s stash maximum is 328 slots.
Expeditions 1–3 used skill-point challenges or stash-value catch-up rules. The later system used five Mystery Reward thresholds instead: each threshold grants a duplicate-protected high-end blueprint that is temporary until the next departure plus 150 Raider Tokens, for up to 750 tokens. These figures describe the historical system and may change in the 2027 rework.
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- Finish Sheltered Retreat. Carry a camera, gather the building materials and unlock the Outpost and Research Station before spending scarce amplification components.
- Complete Soul’s Offering before 16 November. Its weapon, attachment and cosmetic rewards are time-limited and its donations avoid the Reactor bottleneck.
- Take Trophy Display stages 1 and 2 during normal raids. Small ARC, Wasps and Hornets supply much of the required material without special farming.
- Upgrade the Outpost and Gunsmith. Reserve at least 3 Magnetic Accelerators for Gunsmith 4 before considering Trophy Display’s 10-unit stage 4 requirement.
- Do Trophy Display stage 3 when surplus materials exist. Shredder Gyros, Leaper Pulse Units and Bastion Cells are useful elsewhere, so avoid emptying your stash for a cosmetic timetable.
- Leave stages 4 and 5 for last. Queen Reactors, Matriarch Reactors, Exodus Modules and Magnetic Accelerators compete with high-end weapon progression.
- Ignore Expedition sign-up until Embark reopens it. Its reset and reward rules are being revised for the 2027 return.
What mistakes slow Project progress?
- Deploying without checking the card: read the active requirement before every Topside run so one raid can satisfy several objectives.
- Donating shared upgrade parts: contributions are permanent; compare the Project hand-in with Gunsmith and Research Station requirements first.
- Forgetting to claim a stage: extraction completes the objective, but the next stage does not unlock until you collect the reward in Speranza.
- Assuming a caravan equals registration: even a fully supplied caravan needs a separate sign-up during an open Expedition Window.
- Using old Expedition guides: recipes change by personal Expedition number, Cred was removed in Frozen Trail 2.0, and the 2027 rework may alter rewards. The in-game Project card is the authoritative recipe.
- Farming Queen or Matriarch armor incorrectly: inspect the legs for high-tier loot and adjust explosive targeting between armor plates and fragile parts.
How should you manage resources while Projects overlap?
Keep a short-term reserve for system gates and a separate surplus pile for payout Projects. Planks and Sheet Metal should go to Sheltered Retreat until its second stage is complete. Magnetic Accelerators belong to Gunsmith 4 before Trophy Display stage 4. Queen and Matriarch Reactors are best held until Research Station and Amplified Weapon plans are secure, unless Trophy Display is your immediate priority and you already have duplicates.
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When a Project asks for common ARC drops, combine it with ordinary extraction goals rather than running a special route. For rare components, check the Project card before deploying and choose a loadout that protects the item; a death can erase the only copy needed for a donation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Sheltered Retreat sometimes say it unlocks at level 18?
The Frozen Trail Outpost card can display level 18, while Embark’s broader Projects framing and the Projects wiki use level 20. Treat the card as a Sheltered Retreat-specific exception and verify the requirement shown on your Raider.
Are Twitch Drops the same thing as Player Projects?
No. The Oxygen Respirator and Mailbox Twitch Drops were a separate watch-to-unlock promotion running from 8 October to 4 November 2026. Watching a stream does not advance any Project stage.
Can a first-time Raider earn the first Expedition cosmetics in a later window?
Yes. Expedition rewards are tied to your personal departure count, not the global window number. A Raider making a first departure after the 2027 relaunch would begin with the first-departure reward tier.
Which platforms can run ARC Raiders?
The game is available on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Project objectives and reward tracks are tied to the Raider account rather than a platform-specific version.
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