ARC Raiders Expedition 5: Fechas, y luego una pausa hasta 2027

ARC Raiders’ fifth Expedition opens on September 8, 2026 and closes September 29, and Embark Studios has confirmed it’s the last one until early 2027. That’s the headline from the studio’s latest blog post, covered by outlets including Forbes and PC Gamer. Here’s exactly when the window runs, what changed for this cycle, what carries over during the pause, and what to actually do before September 29.

Expedition 5’s sign-up window opens Tuesday, September 8 at 4am PT / 7am ET / 1pm CEST and closes Tuesday, September 29 at 1am PT / 4am ET / 10am CEST. That’s a three-week window, a full week longer than the two-week windows Embark has used for previous Expeditions. Embark Studios detailed the change in an official post on the game’s site, and it was picked up widely, including by Forbes’ Paul Tassi. The extra week is meant to ease the crunch of gathering resources and completing the Caravan before departure, but it comes with a catch: once this window closes, Expeditions go quiet until early 2027.

Embark isn’t just extending the clock — it’s changing how the reset itself works. For the first time, quest progress reset becomes optional rather than automatic, and since the Hullcracker Blueprint was previously locked behind that quest line, Embark says it will make the blueprint available through other means for players who opt to keep their quests intact. There’s also no Last Call period this cycle — previous Expeditions gave latecomers a short grace window after the deadline, but this time if you’re not signed up by September 29, you’re not going.

As for the pause itself, Embark put the reasoning in its own words, citing tight departure windows, the reward structure, and accessibility for newer or less active players as problems that need more than another round of tuning. The studio has said it will share the first concrete details of the reworked system in September, though the rework’s actual shape and its exact 2027 return date remain unconfirmed.

What survives the pause

Any consecutive buffs you’ve already banked — the skill point bonuses, XP boosts, and related perks tied to back-to-back Expeditions — carry over untouched through the entire quiet period. Nothing resets just because the system goes dormant.

What doesn’t survive it

Caravans do reset once Expedition 5 closes. If yours is only partially filled, Embark converts the leftover value into Ermal Vouchers, which you can spend on Ermal offers, ARC Parts and firearm trades, or simply sell for Coin.

The bonus skill points earned through consecutive Expeditions cap at 15 total, while catch-up on previously missed points (available from your second Expedition onward and tied to stash value) tops out at five per cycle. The separate XP, Scrappy materials, and repair-value boosts cap at three stacked levels. None of that changes for this run — it’s the same reward math as prior Expeditions, just with a longer runway and one fewer safety net.

Practically, this is the moment to decide whether you’re departing at all. If you’ve been sitting on a mostly-built Caravan across previous Expeditions, this is the run to finish it, since leftover value converts to vouchers rather than vanishing, but a completed Caravan still gets you the full reward instead of a partial conversion. Skipping Expedition 5 doesn’t burn your progress either — your consecutive buffs hold through the pause, so there’s no penalty for sitting this one out beyond waiting longer for the next opportunity. Completing all five Expeditions also unlocks the full Zenith Outfit, so if you’re one shy of that set, September 29 is your deadline for a while.

Two other systems land near this window but aren’t part of the pause. The current Trials ranked season ends September 22, with Trials itself off for two weeks before returning October 8 — that’s a separate, shorter break from the Expedition freeze. The Frozen Trail update also lands October 8, and because Expeditions are paused by then, that content update will arrive without an Expedition tied to it, unlike past major patches. If you’re weighing whether to sign up early or wait for last-minute clarity, the lack of a Last Call this time makes early sign-up the safer call, similar to how getting ahead of a limited-time challenge like the recent Phantom Targets event beat scrambling near the deadline.

Realistically, budget the full three weeks if you’re starting Caravan contributions from scratch and still want to finish the departure challenge comfortably — trying to compress that into the final days is exactly the crunch Embark says it’s trying to design out of the next version of the system.