Alright Raiders, the countdown’s brutal and there’s barely any room to breathe. First Expedition leaves on December 15 and you’ve only got until the 21st to get your act together. Resetting your Raider might feel like ripping the heart out of your build – I get it, losing your gear, levels, and blueprints stings. But this isn’t just a reset; it’s the ticket to buffs you’ll keep forever, no matter how many runs you do next cycle. If you’re not grinding now, you’re basically gifting the advantage to everyone else who is. And yes, that’s where grabbing a stash of ARC Raiders Coins early can make the whole prep way less painful.
Building the Caravan
The caravan project is a beast – six stages, each more resource-hungry than the last. The shell alone wants 150 Metal Parts and 200 Rubber Parts. That’s a lot of dumpster diving and stripping parts from dead zones. By Stage 3 you’ll be chasing Exodus Modules and Sensors, which don’t exactly drop from the sky. Nail these before departure and you’re setting yourself up for permanent boosts: extra XP on kills, better scrap yields, more stash capacity. Push that stash value to the limit and you can squeeze out up to five bonus skill points before you ship out – and that’s huge in the next round.
Picking the Right Skills
Skill points are unforgiving here – no refund, no respec. Mess up early and you’re stuck running a bad build till the wipe. Right now, speed wins. Mobility-focused builds are tearing through the meta. Nimble Climber means you can clear obstacles before ARC machines close in; Marathon Runner keeps you outrunning trouble when solo play gets hairy. Sprinkle in a couple of Survival perks like Looter’s Instincts and you’ll stop leaving loot behind in low light. Just don’t go heavy armour too soon – slow tanks get mobbed fast.
Chasing the Blueprints
Blueprint resets mean if you want decent firepower next cycle, you need to farm hard now. The Bobcat SMG and the Vulcano have been my focus – both solid options – but hunting them means camping at the Blue Gate breaches. Cold Snap weather’s been killing visibility, making farming runs a headache. If time’s tight and you can’t grind forty hours for nuts, bolts, and rare drops, looking at a shortcut isn’t crazy. I’ve seen plenty of crews boost their prep by picking up Raider Tokens cheap to max stash quickly, and if you’re cutting it close to the 21st deadline, it might be your best play.
