I'm not gonna pretend I was calm. My hand was actually sweating while I hovered over "Expedition Complete," and I kept thinking about all the stuff I'd hoarded for weeks. If you're the type who names your loadouts and hates wasting time, it feels wrong to reset. Still, after doing it once and starting over in a clean Speranza, it clicked fast: the wipe is less about "losing everything" and more about setting yourself up to win long-term, especially if you've already squeezed value out of your current run and you know what you're chasing next. I'd even been browsing ARC Raiders Items beforehand, trying to decide what was worth caring about when the slate goes blank.
What you really keep, and why it matters
People focus on the painful part: blueprints gone, Creds gone, all that familiar gear wiped. Fair. But the permanent rewards are the whole point, and they change how the next 100 hours feel. The extra stash space doesn't sound exciting until you've lived through the "what do I delete" minigame every other raid. More room means fewer bad choices, fewer forced sells, and way less friction when you're trying to stockpile parts for a specific craft. The bonus skill points help too, not because they make you a god, but because you reach the useful breakpoints sooner, and the early game stops being a slog.
Early points: don't get baited
Here's where a lot of players mess it up. They come back after a wipe, feel weak, and start pumping combat stats because it's comforting. Don't. Put your first points into the Breaching path and get the "open more, sooner" tools online. The difference is immediate. You start accessing the lockers and secured containers that actually spit out the kind of loot that snowballs your run. You'll still win fights with basic guns if your positioning isn't sloppy, but you won't out-loot the lobby if you're skipping the good doors because you can't crack them yet.
Cold Snap habits that save runs
With the Cold Snap conditions, your biggest opponent isn't always the guy in the next building. It's the clock. You can't play this event like normal open-air looting, not for long. Treat shelters like checkpoints and plan your route around warm stops. If you're caught outside, make a decision fast: push to cover or turn back, no daydreaming. Molotovs are weirdly clutch because they buy you a moment to reset warmth when the weather turns nasty, and that moment can be the difference between extracting and face-planting in the snow. Also, learn the plant spawns people ignore; those red candleberry bushes near vents can patch you up and keep you moving.
Making the second grind feel quicker
Once you accept you're rebuilding, the re-grind gets way more manageable. Run short raids with a purpose, not "wander and hope." Go in for secure containers, parts, and blueprints, then leave. Sell what you don't need, keep what supports your next craft, and don't get sentimental about early weapons. The whole point is momentum. If you're trying to skip the broke phase and get back to running higher-tier routes, plenty of players look at marketplaces and shortcuts, but whatever you do, keep your focus on the stuff that compounds across raids; that's how the wipe pays you back, and it's also why buy ARC Raiders BluePrint ends up on a lot of people's radar when they're planning their comeback.