The Best ARC Raiders Skills for Solos and Squads

If you want consistent success in Arc Raiders, you’ll need far more than strong weapons and armor — your skill build matters just as much. The Arc Raiders skill tree splits into three distinct branches: the Conditioning path, the Mobility path, and the Survival path.

Each time you level up, you earn a skill point that can be invested in any of these paths. With dozens of choices and multiple branching connections, planning your progression ahead of time is crucial. So which skills should you pick early, and which late-game skill nodes are worth prioritizing the moment you can?

This rewritten Gamer Choice guide breaks down the full Arc Raiders skill tree in detail. Below, you’ll find a curated list of the strongest early-game skills, followed by a complete recommended progression route for both squad and solo players.

There are 45 total skills in the Arc Raiders skill tree, distributed evenly across the three color-coded branches. The green Conditioning path on the left deals with your resilience, physical durability, and endurance. The yellow Mobility path improves stamina, dashing, climbing, and general movement. Meanwhile, the red Survival path enhances scavenging, crafting, and inventory management.

Some skills don’t perfectly fit their category, but this gives you a solid baseline. Importantly, all three paths contain key upgrades — so spreading your points is usually more effective than rushing only one branch.

Best Arc Raiders skills to unlock first

The top early-game upgrades in Arc Raiders are located in the Mobility tree. Your base Stamina is extremely limited, so expanding and improving it provides an immediate boost in survivability. Once that’s handled, you can branch out more comfortably into Conditioning and Survival.

Below are the strongest and most practical skills to unlock early:

Marathon Runner (Mobility)

Marathon Runner is arguably the most impactful starter skill in the entire tree. You should invest all 5 points into it as soon as possible. Reducing Stamina drain while sprinting makes traversing dangerous open areas far safer and helps you reposition much more effectively during firefights.

Youthful Lungs (Mobility)

This node pairs perfectly with Marathon Runner. Youthful Lungs simply increases maximum Stamina — an essential upgrade early on. With more Stamina at your disposal, you can sprint longer distances and chain together more dodge rolls when pressured by ARC units or enemy players.

Effortless Roll (Mobility)

Effortless Roll completes the trio of crucial movement skills. Positioned further up the Mobility branch, it reduces the Stamina cost of Dodge Rolls, letting you evade bullets more often without completely emptying your bar.

Newer players frequently burn through their entire Stamina pool without realizing it during tense encounters. This skill helps prevent that from happening at the worst possible moment.

Crawl Before You Walk (Mobility)

This skill is only helpful if you’re frequently playing with teammates, but for squads it’s invaluable. Crawl Before You Walk increases your crawling speed while downed, giving squadmates a better opportunity to reach you during chaotic gunfights.

Used To The Weight (Conditioning)

The starting Conditioning skill might look simple, but it’s exceptionally strong. Each point invested makes you faster while carrying Medium or Heavy Shields.

You don’t need it immediately, since you start with lighter gear, but once you unlock heavier shields, Used To The Weight becomes mandatory if you want to avoid sluggish movement.

Downed But Determined (Conditioning)

Another great squad-focused skill. Downed But Determined increases your bleed-out duration when downed. You can still be eliminated quickly by enemy gunfire, but when you’re crawling to cover while your squad fights back, that extra window often determines whether you get revived or not.

Loaded Arms (Conditioning)

Located deeper in the Conditioning branch, Loaded Arms is a fantastic one-point wonder. It reduces the encumbrance penalty from your equipped weapons.

If you've ever been burdened with too much loot, you know how painful overencumbrance can be — slow movement, loud footsteps, and sluggish Stamina recovery. Since weapons are among the heaviest items, this skill helps tremendously.

In-Round Crafting (Survival)

Unlocked early in the Survival path, this one-point skill gives you the ability to craft basic items like Bandages, Shield Rechargers, Smoke Grenades, and Light Impact Grenades during raids.

This may sound minor, but the ability to quickly craft a healing item at a desperate moment can completely turn a fight around.

Traveling Tinkerer (Survival)

A powerful upgrade to In-Round Crafting, Traveling Tinkerer expands your list of craftable items mid-raid, assuming you gather the proper resources. With this, even Free Loadout runs become viable since you can rebuild essentials quickly through targeted looting.

Broad Shoulders (Survival)

Boring on paper, amazing in practice. Broad Shoulders increases your total carrying weight with each point invested. This allows you to keep high-value loot without tipping into overencumbrance.

It's such an essential quality-of-life skill that Embark intentionally placed it deep in the Survival tree. Every player should grab all 5 points eventually.

Arc Raiders skill tree: Best path for Squad players

Because Arc Raiders only grants 75 total skill points, you can’t unlock everything. The goal is to minimize wasted points and prioritize impactful upgrades across all branches.

Below is the recommended build route for players who frequently raid with a squad, including all skills mentioned earlier.

Nimble Climber 1/5 (Mobility)
Marathon Runner 5/5 (Mobility)
Youthful Lungs 5/5 (Mobility)
Agile Croucher 1/5 (Survival)
Revitalizing Squat 1/5 (Survival)
In-Round Crafting 1/1 (Survival)
Agile Croucher 5/5 (Survival)
Looter’s Instincts 5/5 (Survival)
Silent Scavenger 3/5 (Survival)
Suffer In Silence 1/1 (Survival)
Traveling Tinkerer 1/1 (Survival)
Broad Shoulders 5/5 (Survival)
Used To The Weight 5/5 (Conditioning)
Gentle Pressure 5/5 (Conditioning)
Proficient Pryer 5/5 (Conditioning)
Blast-Born 1/5 (Conditioning)
Fight Or Flight 1/5 (Conditioning)
Survivor’s Stamina 1/1 (Conditioning)
Downed But Determined 5/5 (Conditioning)
Unburdened Roll 1/1 (Conditioning)
A Little Extra 1/1 (Conditioning)
Loaded Arms 1/1 (Conditioning)
Revitalizing Squat 2/5 (Survival)
Nimble Climber 3/5 (Mobility)
Slip And Slide 2/5 (Mobility)
Sturdy Ankles 1/5 (Mobility)
Calming Stroll 1/1 (Mobility)
Carry The Momentum 1/1 (Mobility)
Crawl Before You Walk 3/5 (Mobility)
Effortless Roll 5/5 (Mobility)

Your first major priority should be improving Stamina through Marathon Runner and Youthful Lungs. Once movement feels stable, shift into the Survival tree to reach In-Round Crafting, then rush for Broad Shoulders and Traveling Tinkerer.

After finishing your Survival investments, move into Conditioning to grab Used To The Weight and the crucial revive-related skills. Your last points then return to Mobility to round out mid-tier nodes and finish with Effortless Roll.

Arc Raiders skill tree: Best path for Solo players

Solo players don’t benefit from skills tied to downed revives, so you can redirect those points into more movement and scavenging upgrades. Since you have no teammates to cover you, mobility is even more important, and the Conditioning branch becomes a later priority.

Below is the recommended solo progression path:

Nimble Climber 1/5 (Mobility)
Marathon Runner 5/5 (Mobility)
Youthful Lungs 5/5 (Mobility)
Agile Croucher 1/5 (Survival)
Revitalizing Squat 1/5 (Survival)
In-Round Crafting 1/1 (Survival)
Agile Croucher 5/5 (Survival)
Looter’s Instincts 5/5 (Survival)
Silent Scavenger 3/5 (Survival)
Suffer In Silence 1/1 (Survival)
Traveling Tinkerer 1/1 (Survival)
Broad Shoulders 5/5 (Survival)
Silent Scavenger 5/5 (Survival)
Used To The Weight 5/5 (Conditioning)
Nimble Climber 5/5 (Mobility)
Carry The Momentum 1/1 (Mobility)
Effortless Roll 5/5 (Mobility)
Slip And Slide 2/5 (Mobility)
Sturdy Ankles 1/5 (Mobility)
Calming Stroll 1/1 (Mobility)
Revitalizing Squat 2/5 (Survival)
Gentle Pressure 5/5 (Conditioning)
Proficient Pryer 5/5 (Conditioning)
Unburdened Roll 1/1 (Conditioning)
A Little Extra 1/1 (Conditioning)
Loaded Arms 1/1 (Conditioning)
Blast-Born 1/5 (Conditioning)
Fight Or Flight 1/5 (Conditioning)
Survivor’s Stamina 1/1 (Conditioning)
Fight Or Flight 5/5 (Conditioning)

The differences may seem minor, but omitting downed-related skills frees up points for improved scavenging and additional mobility. The end result is an extremely balanced spread across all three skill paths, ideal for self-sufficient raiders.

You may wonder whether pushing to the very end of one branch is worth it. To reach the last skill in any path, you need 36 points in that single branch — more than half of all available points. Since none of the final skills are powerful enough to justify skipping numerous mid-tier upgrades in other branches, a balanced approach remains the best strategy overall.