The next Escape from Tarkov wipe is the start of Season 2, which Battlestate Games’ official roadmap places in December 2026 with Patch 1.4.0.0, but BSG has not announced an exact day or time yet. It only resets Seasonal Characters: your PvP Zone and PvE Zone characters are not part of the scheduled seasonal reset.
Below we cover what the roadmap says, the unofficial date you will see repeated, how BSG announces a wipe now that the game has seasons, what a seasonal reset clears and what survives it, and how PvP and PvE differ. Everything here is verified against Escape from Tarkov‘s official patch notes and Battlestate Games’ official posts as of October 12, 2026. We never guess a date: anything BSG has not confirmed is labeled as such.
The Official Answer: Season 2 in December
On August 27, 2026, the official Escape from Tarkov account posted a preliminary plan for updates through the end of 2026. It lists Patch 1.4.0.0 in December, and the first item under it is Season 2 launch. The same patch is slated to add:
- A new location, End of the Line
- A new boss, Povodyr
- Ally healing, and a knockdown state with recovery
- First-person magazine loading animations
- Containers with gear presets
- A simplified GPS system
- New weapons: the FAMAS and G3
- New customization options in the Expansions Hub
Two more updates sit ahead of it on that plan, both slated for October: Patch 1.3.0.0 (the move to Unity 6, performance work and updated vegetation) and Patch 1.3.5.0 (a Halloween event).
Note the word “preliminary.” BSG’s roadmaps give a month, not a day, and months can slip: its June plan put Season 1 and Patch 1.1.0.0 in July, and Season 1 actually started on August 3.
The December 7 date you keep seeing
Fan-run wipe trackers list December 7 as the end of Season 1 and its Battle Pass. BSG has not published that date in its patch notes, its news section or on X, so treat it as unconfirmed until BSG says so.
What BSG’s own cadence suggests
Patch 1.1.0.0, which launched the Seasons system, says Seasonal Character progression “is automatically reset every four to six months with the release of a major content update and the start of a new season.” Counted from Season 1’s August 3 start, that window runs from early December to early February, and the December roadmap slot sits at its earliest end. That is arithmetic on BSG’s stated range, not an announcement.
How BSG Announces a Wipe Now
Season 1 shows the pattern, in three steps:
- The roadmap gives the month. The current plan went up on the official Escape from Tarkov X account; earlier plans were also posted to Steam.
- Nikita Buyanov gives the date. The head of Battlestate Games posts on his own X account when timing firms up. A week before Season 1, on July 27, he wrote that there would be “a slight delay for first season start” and gave a “planned date” of August 3.
- Patch notes confirm it on the day. Patch 1.1.0.0’s full notes went up on the official site’s news section and on Steam on August 3, the day Season 1 began.
BSG had not posted a start time for Season 2 by October 12. Until it does, any hour you see is a guess.
What a Seasonal Wipe Resets and What You Keep
A seasonal reset puts your Seasonal Character back at the start. BSG’s notes call it a reset of “Seasonal Character progression.” For a sense of what that progression includes, Patch 1.1.0.0 lists the progress that syncs from EFT Arena into PvP Season, namely PMC experience, skill and weapon mastery experience, trader reputation and unlocked trade offers, currency, and tactical clothing. Your League rank and that week’s League experience also reset with the character, per BSG’s Leagues announcement.
What survives, per BSG’s own notes:
- Seasonal Rewards you unlocked. They stay available permanently in every mode: PvP Zone, PvE Zone and PvP Season. Rewards still locked when a season ends are gone for good; BSG says that about Season 1’s KORD BREACH rewards specifically.
- Battle Pass progress. The free Battle Pass is shared across PvP Season, PvP Zone and PvE Zone, so documents you turn in on a Seasonal Character count toward the same pass your other characters use.
- League rank rewards. The rewards for reaching a rank are yours permanently, even if your rank later drops.
- Tactical clothing. Since Patch 1.1.0.0, clothing bought from Ragman stays unlocked on your account through a profile reset, a Prestige or a new Seasonal Character.
- Twitch Drops subscription rewards. BSG says these “will remain on your account even after your character’s progress is reset.”
- Achievements. Seasonal achievements can be earned again in later seasons.
Want to restart before the season ends? Buyanov said in a DevTalks question-and-answer session that modifiers cannot change mid-season, so changing them means wiping your Seasonal Character. Launch coverage reported that an early seasonal reset costs TarCoins.
PvP vs PvE: Who Actually Gets Wiped
| Mode | Scheduled wipe? | How to start over |
|---|---|---|
| PvP Season (Seasonal Character) | Yes, with each new season; Season 2 planned for December | Wait for the new season, or reset early |
| PvP Zone | No scheduled reset announced since 1.0 | Optional profile reset or Prestige |
| PvE Zone | No forced wipe | Optional reset or the new PvE Prestige |
PvP Zone. At the 1.0 launch on November 15, 2025, launch coverage reported a full wipe of PvP profiles. Since then, BSG’s notes describe scheduled resets only for Seasonal Characters, which run on separate servers “completely independent from PvP Zone and PvE Zone characters.” Prestige, added in Patch 0.16.0.0, remains the opt-in way to reset a PvP character for rewards.
PvE Zone. PvE players were not forced to wipe at 1.0; they could keep their characters, and a reset was needed to start the release storyline and its related content. Patch 1.2.0.0 on October 6, 2026 added Prestige to PvE Zone with six levels. Each level resets your progression only in PvE Zone, and you can keep some gear and up to 50 percent of your skills and weapon mastery. BSG adds that players who have not reset since release can do it through Prestige and unlock the release content, the storyline, the Icebreaker chapter and future events at the same time.
Other extraction shooters split this differently. WARDOGS wipes every player’s cash and XP each season, while Active Matter lets you pick PvE-only or PvPvE raids from the start.
The Historical Pattern
Before 1.0, major patches came with full profile wipes. Its official notes for Patch 0.15.0.0 on August 20, 2024 and Patch 0.16.0.0 on December 26, 2024 both say “This update features a full profile wipe.” The 1.0 launch followed on November 15, 2025, and Season 1 on August 3, 2026.
The pattern holds in one way: in every official note we checked, the wipe arrived with a big content patch rather than on its own, and December has hosted one before. BSG has never committed to a fixed calendar, though, so the patch date decides the wipe date, not the other way around. If Patch 1.4.0.0 slips, Season 2 slips with it.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the next Escape from Tarkov wipe? Season 2, planned for December 2026 with Patch 1.4.0.0 on BSG’s official roadmap. BSG has not announced the exact day or time.
Does Escape from Tarkov still wipe after 1.0? On a schedule, only on the seasonal servers. Seasonal Characters reset every four to six months with each new season, per BSG. PvP Zone and PvE Zone characters are separate and are not part of that reset.
Does the Tarkov wipe affect PvE? No forced wipe. PvE Zone players can reset by choice, and Patch 1.2.0.0 added PvE Prestige, which resets PvE progression in exchange for rewards while keeping part of your skills and gear.
Is the December 7 wipe date confirmed? No. It comes from fan trackers. BSG’s official posts only say December.
What do you keep after a seasonal wipe? Unlocked Seasonal Rewards, League rank rewards, Ragman’s tactical clothing and Twitch subscription rewards all carry over, per BSG’s patch notes and announcements, and Battle Pass progress is shared across every mode.