The Best Skills in ARC Raiders – Level Up These Skills First

ARC Raiders has a lot of systems that its players need to be aware of, and while the gear you take with you each time you go Topside is important, you also need to be levelling up your Raider's skill tree appropriately, if you want to be able to make the best of your runs.

While completing the full Skill Tree is a slog, since you don't just have to unlock skills by spending individual points, you need to spend a certain amount of skill points in each of the three sections (Conditioning, Mobility, and Survival) to move into the second and third tiers of skills.

That means you don't want to needlessly spend your skill points on skills that won't have as much of an impact on your playing experience. This guide will show you which of the skills in the skill tree are the best in the game, and what you should be focusing on.

For more guides on ARC Raiders, check out our complete walkthrough and guides hub, and check out our dedicated ARC Raiders hub for all of our coverage of Embark's third-person extraction shooter.

The Best Skills in ARC Raiders - Guide

Best Conditioning Skills

The Conditioning branch of skills is all about keeping your Raider in top shape for the marathon that is going on runs Topside. The skills in this branch help toughen your Raider in bad situations, with some restoring stamina and health while you're low on health, and others that make you more proficient at common elements of the game, like breaching containers and how fast you can be with extra weight on your back.

Here are the best skills in the Conditioning branch, listed with their in-game descriptions:

• Used to the Weight - Wearing a shield doesn't slow you down as much
• Proficient Pryer - Breaching doors and containers takes less time
• Survivor's Stamina - When you're critically hurt, your stamina regenerates faster
• Downed but Determined - When you're downed, it takes longer before you collapse
• A Little Bit Extra - Breaching an object generates resources

The first on the list, Used to the Weight, is also the first Conditioning skill you'll unlock. Its description (read above) might not sound like a lot on the face of it, but when you consider that you'll be wearing a shield every time you're Topside, you immediately understand why it's essential. So essential that Embark Studios put it at the beginning of the branch, to ensure you don't miss it.

When you've unlocked the rest of the skills in the opening tier of the Conditioning branch, and you're looking for skills to dump points into so you can continue to the next tier, Used to the Weight should be one of the first skills you max out.

Proficient Pryer, Downed but Determined, and A Little Bit Extra are all fairly self-explanatory in their importance. You're constantly breaching things open to get resources, and you're vulnerable while breaching something. You should work to make this as quick as possible. While Downed but Determined gives you a greater chance at survival if you do go down, with other players having more time to pick you back up. Lastly, A Little Bit Extra is just that - extra resources that can go a long way to making breaching anything and everything worth more.

Survivor's Stamina is just as key as actually increasing your max stamina (which we'll get to in the Mobility section). You'll find yourself in a lot of tough situations in ARC Raiders. Having your stamina regenerate faster in those situations will help you get out of a lot of jams that would've otherwise killed you.

Best Mobility Skills

While the Conditioning branch helps keep your Raider in top shape, the Mobility branch keeps you nimble and mobile, with skills that directly impact your stamina, both how much you have and how it regenerates, how fast you are, and how far actions like jumping and vaulting can take you.

Here are the best skills in the Mobility branch, listed with their in-game descriptions:

• Youthful Lungs - Increases your max stamina
• Marathon Runner - Moving around costs less stamina
• Calming Stroll - While walking, your stamina regenerates as if you were standing still
• Crawl Before You Walk - When you're downed, you crawl faster
• Heroic Leap - You can Sprint Dodge Roll further

Like some of the skills in the Conditioning branch, the importance of skills like Youthful Lungs, Marathon Runner, and Calming Stroll is all pretty self-explanatory. Everything you do impacts your stamina, so levelling up Youthful Stroll to give you more is a no-brainer; the same goes for Marathon Runner to make the stamina you do have go further. Calming Stroll helps you keep that stamina up and ready for when you need it, like being surprised by a Hornet or a Rocketeer you didn't notice was patrolling by, and you accidentally walked right into its sightline.

I can tell you from experience that Crawl Before You Walk (especially when paired with Downed But Determined) can be the difference between you making it back to Speranza alive or a failed run. Not successfully extracting stings, and it stings even more if the difference was just a few feet and your Raider's inability to stay alive for a few seconds longer.

Lastly, Heroic Leap can be an essential skill for combat. As noted in our Tips and Tricks Guide, plenty of the maps you'll visit in ARC Raiders have a serious lack of cover, and getting caught out in the open without a place to hide or duck behind can mean a resource-draining fight, or worse, the end of your run. Heroic Leap can take you that extra bit to help you stay ahead of ARCs and other players while in combat.

Best Survival Skills

The third and final branch of the skill tree in ARC Raiders, the Survival branch, is all about skills that keep your instincts sharp while Topside. Some of that includes skills that impact how much noise you make and how you interact with looting resources, while some of the skills give you additional abilities to use while Topside.

Here are the best skills in the Survival branch, listed with their in-game descriptions:

• In-Round Crafting - Unlocks the ability to field-craft items while Topside.
• Broad Shoulders - Increases the maximum weight you can carry.
• Looter's Instincts - When searching a container, loot is revealed faster.
• Stubborn Mule - Your stamina regeneration is less affected by being over-encumbered.
• Minesweeper - Mines and explosives can be defused when in close proximity.

In-Round Crafting is an obvious one, because it means you don't have to rely on bringing as many bandages and shield rechargers as you can carry. You'll be able to craft items like those on the fly while Topside, freeing up more space in your backpack for more tactical items. Broad Shoulders and Stubborn Mule are two skills that work in tandem with each other. One increases your carrying capacity, while the other ensures that even if you go beyond your limits, you won't be impacted as greatly as you could've been.

Minesweeper is another that's important for obvious reasons, because being able to defuse explosives can help give you the upper hand when fighting enemy Raiders trying to get the jump on you. Lastly, Looter's Instinct works in tandem with Proficient Pryer from the Conditioning branch. Not only will you be faster when it comes to breaching, but Looter's Instinct helps to make the actual looting part as quick as possible, so you're not left vulnerable in the looting menu for longer than you need to be.

Honorable Mentions

The five skills listed in each section are, in my experience, the best skills to put levels into as soon as you can, and the ones you should focus on unlocking the most. That said, there are a few that I did want to make sure I highlighted, so you don't needlessly ignore them.

• Sturdy Ankles (Mobility)
• Looter's Luck (Survival)
• Loaded Arms (Conditioning)

NOTE: Guide based on 30+ hours of playtime in the PlayStation 5 up-to-date version as of February 2.

Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.