Better loot keeps you alive in Arc Raiders, but the right skills decide how far you get before a fight or a wall of ARC machines ends your run. The skill tree splits into three colored branches, and you will never have enough points to fill all of them, so the order you unlock things in matters as much as which skills you pick.
Quick answer: Put your first 11 points into Marathon Runner (5/5) and Youthful Lungs (5/5) in the Mobility tree to fix your low starting stamina, then branch into Survival for In-Round Crafting, Broad Shoulders, and Traveling Tinkerer, and into Conditioning for Used To The Weight.
How skill points and resets work
You earn one skill point each time you level up, and leveling happens through completing quests, looting containers, surviving raids, and killing enemies. Leveling from 0 to 75 gives 76 points in total. The three branches hold 45 skills between them, but many of those skills have multiple ranks, so 76 points is nowhere near enough to max everything. You have to specialize.
Deeper skills are locked behind points already spent in earlier nodes on the same branch, so you cannot rush straight to a powerful late-game skill without investing in the foundation first. That is exactly why a balanced split beats dumping everything into one tree.
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Points from leveling (0-75) | 76 |
| Bonus points from an Expedition | Up to 5 (one per 1,000,000 coins of stash value) |
| Maximum total points | Around 81 |
| Reset cost per point | 2,000 coins |
| Full 76-point reset | 152,000 coins |
You can respec whenever you want by opening the skill tree and using the Reset Skill Tree button, which refunds points for 2,000 coins each. That makes it safe to experiment, so treat the builds below as starting templates rather than fixed rules.
Skills to unlock first
Your starting stamina is very low, which is the single biggest thing holding back a new raider. Running across open ground, dodge rolling out of a firefight, and climbing all drain the same pool, so Mobility comes first for every playstyle.
| Skill | Branch | Why it matters early |
|---|---|---|
| Marathon Runner (5/5) | Mobility | Cuts the stamina cost of moving. The most impactful early skill; max it before anything else. |
| Youthful Lungs (5/5) | Mobility | Raises your maximum stamina for more sprinting and more dodge rolls. |
| Effortless Roll | Mobility | Reduces dodge roll cost so you can reposition repeatedly during a fight. |
| In-Round Crafting (1/1) | Survival | One point unlocks field crafting for bandages, shield rechargers, smoke, and grenades mid-raid. |
| Used To The Weight | Conditioning | Reduces the movement penalty from Medium and Heavy Shields once you start finding them. |
| Broad Shoulders | Survival | Increases carry weight so you can fill your backpack without becoming over-encumbered. |
| Traveling Tinkerer (1/1) | Survival | Expands the list of items you can craft during a raid, building on In-Round Crafting. |
Note: Used To The Weight is not a day-one pick because you are unlikely to have heavier shields at the start. Slot it in once Medium or Heavy Shields enter your rotation, or you will feel the speed loss badly.
Best solo build
Running alone, no teammate can pick you up, so skills tied to the downed state lose most of their value. Self-revives exist, but your points are better spent on moving fast, escaping trouble, and hauling more loot. Lean into Survival for looting and into Mobility for getting out clean.
| Branch | Allocation |
|---|---|
| Survival | Agile Croucher 3/5, Looter’s Instincts 5/5, Silent Scavenger 5/5, Revitalizing Squat 1/5, In-Round Crafting 1/1, Suffer In Silence 1/1, Good As New 1/1, Broad Shoulders 5/5, Traveling Tinkerer 1/1, Stubborn Mule 4/5, Looter’s Luck 5/5, One Raider’s Scraps 1/5, Three Deep Breaths 3/5, Security Breach 1/1, Minesweeper 1/1 |
| Mobility | Nimble Climber 2/5, Marathon Runner 5/5, Youthful Lungs 5/5, Carry The Momentum 1/1, Slip and Slide 1/5, Sturdy Ankles 2/5, Effortless Roll 5/5 |
| Conditioning | Used To The Weight 5/5, Gentle Pressure 5/5, Proficient Pryer 5/5, Unburdened Roll 5/5 |
Security Breach opens locked lockers that most raiders never reach, while Looter’s Luck and Looter’s Instincts speed up searching and can double what a container reveals. Broad Shoulders and Stubborn Mule let you carry far more loot without crawling at over-encumbered speed. Minesweeper lets you defuse explosive deployables instead of setting them off, which keeps a solo route safe.
Best squad build
With two teammates watching your back, fights happen more often and last longer, so survivability in combat earns its keep. This is where downed-state skills become genuinely strong, because a squadmate can revive you if you can stay alive long enough to crawl to cover.
| Branch | Allocation |
|---|---|
| Conditioning | Used To The Weight 5/5, Blast-Born 5/5, Fight Or Flight 5/5, Gentle Pressure 1/5, Proficient Pryer 4/5, Survivor’s Stamina 1/1, Unburdened Roll 1/1, Downed But Determined 5/5, Turtle Crawl 5/5, A Little Extra 1/1, Loaded Arms 1/1, Back On Your Feet 1/1 |
| Mobility | Nimble Climber 4/5, Marathon Runner 5/5, Youthful Lungs 5/5, Slip and Slide 1/5, Sturdy Ankles 5/5, Carry The Momentum 1/1, Effortless Roll 5/5, Heroic Leap 5/5, Crawl Before You Walk 2/5 |
Downed But Determined keeps you alive longer before you bleed out, Turtle Crawl reduces the damage you take while down, and Crawl Before You Walk speeds up your crawl so you can reach safety for a revive. Fight Or Flight refunds stamina when you get hurt in combat, and Back On Your Feet regenerates health up to a limit when you are critically wounded.
Every Conditioning skill
Conditioning is the combat and endurance branch. It reduces penalties from heavy gear, speeds up breaching, and keeps you fighting after you take a hit.
| Skill | Effect |
|---|---|
| Used To The Weight | Wearing a shield slows you down less. |
| Blast-Born | Your hearing is less affected by nearby explosions. |
| Fight Or Flight | Regain a fixed amount of stamina when hurt in combat, with a cooldown. |
| Survivor’s Stamina | Stamina regenerates faster while critically hurt. |
| Downed But Determined | Takes longer to collapse while downed. |
| Turtle Crawl | You take less damage while downed. |
| Back On Your Feet | Health regenerates up to a limit when critically hurt. |
| Gentle Pressure | You make less noise when breaching. |
| Proficient Pryer | Breaching doors and containers takes less time. |
| Unburdened Roll | If your shield breaks, your first dodge roll within a few seconds is free. |
| A Little Extra | Breaching an object generates resources. |
| Loaded Arms | Your equipped weapon has less impact on encumbrance. |
| Effortless Swing | Melee abilities cost less stamina. |
| Sky-Clearing Swing | You deal more melee damage to drones. |
| Flyswatter | Wasps and turrets can be destroyed with a single melee attack. |
Every Mobility skill
Mobility governs movement and stamina. It is the most important tree early on, and most builds keep coming back to it for escape and traversal tools.
| Skill | Effect |
|---|---|
| Nimble Climber | You climb and vault more quickly. |
| Marathon Runner | Moving around costs less stamina. |
| Youthful Lungs | Increases your max stamina. |
| Carry The Momentum | After a sprint dodge roll, sprinting is free for a short time, with a cooldown. |
| Effortless Roll | Dodge rolls cost less stamina. |
| Heroic Leap | You can sprint dodge roll further. |
| Vaults On Vaults On Vaults | Vaulting no longer costs stamina. |
| Crawl Before You Walk | You crawl faster while downed. |
| Vigorous Vaulter | Vaulting is no longer slowed while exhausted. |
| Vault Spring | Lets you jump at the end of a vault. |
| Slip And Slide | You slide further and faster. |
| Sturdy Ankles | Less fall damage from non-lethal heights. |
| Calming Stroll | Stamina regenerates while walking as if standing still. |
| Off The Wall | You can wall leap further. |
| Ready To Roll | Wider timing window to perform a recovery roll when falling. |
Every Survival skill
Survival is the looting and utility branch. It speeds up searching, raises carry capacity, unlocks field crafting, and opens access to security lockers and explosive deployables.
| Skill | Effect |
|---|---|
| Agile Croucher | Faster movement while crouching; the root skill for the branch. |
| Revitalizing Squat | Stamina regenerates faster while crouched. |
| In-Round Crafting | Unlocks field crafting while topside. |
| Good As New | Stamina regenerates faster while under a healing effect. |
| Stubborn Mule | Stamina regeneration is less affected by being over-encumbered. |
| Three Deep Breaths | You recover stamina faster after an ability drains it. |
| Minesweeper | Defuse nearby mines and explosive deployables. |
| Looter’s Instincts | Loot is revealed faster when searching a container. |
| Silent Scavenger | You make less noise when looting. |
| Suffer In Silence | Your movement is quieter while critically hurt. |
| Broad Shoulders | Increases maximum carry weight. |
| Traveling Tinkerer | Unlocks more items to field craft. |
| One Raider’s Scraps | Small chance of extra field-crafted items from Raider containers. |
| Looter’s Luck | Chance to reveal twice as many items at once while looting. |
| Security Breach | Lets you breach security lockers. |
Whichever route you pick, lock in Marathon Runner and Youthful Lungs before you spend on anything fancy, then shape the rest around how you play. Because a full reset only costs 152,000 coins, there is no penalty for rebuilding when you switch between solo runs and squad raids.
