What Is a Wipe? The Season System After 1.0

A wipe in Escape from Tarkov is a reset of your progress. Before 1.0, every wipe deleted the level, stash, hideout and tasks of every player. 1.0 changed that model: the main character is never reset anymore, players who want a fresh start create a separate seasonal character, and only that character resets when the season ends.

Main character and seasonal character

Your main PMC is permanent. Your Kappa, hideout stations, trader loyalty and stash carry over from season to season. The seasonal character is entirely optional: it starts at level 1 with an empty stash and hideout and plays in a matchmaking pool separate from your main. Even if your main has Kappa, the seasonal character starts without it; you either redo the Collector chain or pick the Kappa Protocol modifier.

Rules specific to the seasonal character

• Modifiers: there are forced global modifiers that everyone has, plus the positive and negative modifiers you pick with your point budget. The full list and a planner are on the season page.
• No insurance: insurance is disabled in season mode. You do not get your gear back when you die, so cheap gear matters even more early on.
• Leagues: only on the seasonal character. You rank up through a weekly XP ladder in a group of 50; the rewards are permanent cosmetics.
• Starting over: you can reset your seasonal character for 100 TarCoin in the Expansions Hub and pick modifiers again. Level, stash, hideout and tasks reset too.

What stays when the season ends?

The seasonal character itself is reset, but season rewards you earned stay unlocked on all your characters. Battle pass rewards are permanent as well and work in every game mode. Three things do not carry over: battle pass currency, documents and crates.

Why do people still say "wipe"?

Players still call a season start a wipe out of habit, and for the seasonal character it really is the same as an old wipe: everyone starts on the same day from the same zero point. To see which guns can be built with what at trader level 1 and 2 in the first days, check the early wipe builds page.