Skill Tree and Progression
The ARC Raiders skill tree holds 45 skills, 15 in each of three branches, but caps you at 76 skill points while most skills take up to 5 points to max, so you cannot unlock everything and your build has to be deliberate. Conditioning covers fighting, breaching, and toughness, Mobility covers movement and stamina, and Survival covers looting and field-crafting. Respeccing costs 2,000 coins per point spent, which works out to 152,000 coins for a full reset.
ARC Raiders has a persistent skill tree that carries across every raid. Unlike gear (which you lose on death), skill points are permanent investments in your Raider's capabilities. Choosing where to put them shapes how you play the game at a fundamental level.
How Leveling Works
You earn experience points (XP) for almost everything you do during a raid:
| Action | XP Source |
|---|---|
| Looting containers | Small XP per container |
| Killing ARC machines | XP scales with machine difficulty |
| Killing or downing other players | Moderate XP |
| Completing quests | Large XP chunks |
| Surviving and extracting | Flat extraction bonus |
| Discovering new areas | First-visit XP bonus |
Dying during a raid costs you your loot, not your learning. You still bank partial XP from a raid you die in, though extracting alive always pays out more.
As your Raider level increases, you earn one skill point per level, and each completed Expedition can award up to five more, capped at 76 skill points total. The tree holds 45 skills, and most of them take up to 5 points to max. You cannot unlock everything. Your build must be deliberate.
You cannot earn enough points to fill the entire tree. Every skill point you spend is a choice to not spend it somewhere else. Read all three branches before committing. Respeccing costs money (covered below).
The Three Branches
The skill tree splits into three color-coded branches. Each focuses on a different aspect of your Raider's performance.
Conditioning
Conditioning makes you better at fighting, breaching, and taking hits. Melee efficiency, faster breaching, shield encumbrance, and stronger downed-state survival all live here.
Key skills:
| Skill | Effect | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Flyswatter | Wasps and Turrets die to a single melee attack | Turns two of the most common ARC machines into free, silent kills. |
| Effortless Swing | Melee abilities cost less stamina | Melee is a last resort, but when you need it, this keeps you swinging. |
| Proficient Pryer | Breaching doors and containers takes less time | Less time standing exposed at a breach is fewer deaths to ambushes. |
| A Little Extra | Breaching an object generates resources | Free materials on every breach for loot-focused runs. |
| Downed But Determined | You last longer before collapsing while downed | Gives squadmates a real window to fight to your body and revive you. |
Best for: Players who want to stand and fight, and squads that trade revives. Pairs well with heavy shields and melee-friendly maps.
Mobility
Mobility makes you harder to catch and cheaper to move. Stamina economy, dodge rolls, climbing and vaulting, and safer falls all live here.
Key skills:
| Skill | Effect | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Marathon Runner | Moving around costs less stamina | The consensus top pick in the branch. Every raid involves a lot of running. |
| Calming Stroll | Stamina regenerates while walking as if you were standing still | Needs 15 Mobility points. Keeps your dodge always available on the move. |
| Carry The Momentum | Sprinting briefly costs no stamina after a Sprint Dodge Roll | Chains escapes together when a fight turns against you. |
| Nimble Climber | You climb and vault more quickly | Crucial on vertical maps like Buried City and Blue Gate. |
| Sturdy Ankles | Less fall damage from non-lethal heights | Lets you drop from rooftops and ledges without paying full price. |
Best for: Solo players and scouts. Mobility skills keep you alive when your only option is to run. Also the strongest branch for learning new maps since it rewards aggressive exploration.
Marathon Runner is one of the highest-value single skills in the entire tree. Cheaper movement means more stamina banked for the dodge roll that saves your life. Get it early.
Survival
Survival improves your efficiency at looting, crafting, and moving quietly. Faster loot reveals, quieter searching, mid-raid crafting, and carry weight all live here.
Key skills:
| Skill | Effect | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| In-round Crafting | Unlocks field-crafting of items while topside | You carry raw materials instead of finished items and build what you need on the fly. One of the most valuable single skills in the game. |
| Looter's Instincts | Loot is revealed faster when searching a container | Less time frozen at a container is less time getting shot in the back. |
| Looter's Luck | Chance to reveal twice as many items at once while looting | Compounds with Looter's Instincts to shorten every loot stop. |
| Silent Scavenger | You make less noise when looting | Searching containers is one of the loudest things you do. This muffles it. |
| Security Breach | Lets you breach Security Lockers | The deep-branch payoff pick. Security Lockers hold some of the best loot on any map. |
Best for: Players focused on efficient loot extraction. Strong for material farming and quest-focused playstyles. Also the best branch for players who avoid PvP and want to maximize their haul from safe routes.
Depth Gates and Prerequisites
The deepest skills in each branch are locked behind total points spent in that branch, and many skills also require completing a specific earlier skill first:
| Depth Gate | Requirement | Example Unlocks |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-branch | 15 points spent in that branch | Calming Stroll (Mobility) |
| Deep-branch | 36 points spent in that branch | Back On Your Feet (Conditioning) |
| Skill ranks | Most skills take up to 5 points to max | Single-rank exceptions like In-round Crafting and Survivor's Stamina |
This gating means you cannot cherry-pick the deepest skills from every branch. Building deep into one branch gives you access to its strongest perks. Spreading thin across all three branches leaves you with only entry-tier skills from each.
Recommended Builds
Early Game: Mobility-Survival Hybrid
Goal: Survive long enough to extract, loot efficiently, learn the maps.
Spend your first points like this:
- Mobility: Marathon Runner, Nimble Climber, Sturdy Ankles (working toward the 15-point gate)
- Survival: Looter's Instincts, Silent Scavenger, then In-round Crafting
This build makes you cheap to move, hard to catch, and quick at grabbing loot. You do not need combat skills when you are using free loadouts and avoiding fights.
Mid Game: Escape-and-Loot
Goal: Hold your own in PvP and PvE while maintaining escape options.
Shift your build toward:
- Mobility: hit 15 points for Calming Stroll, then add Carry The Momentum and Effortless Roll
- Survival: Looter's Luck and Broad Shoulders for bigger hauls
- Conditioning: Used To The Weight, plus Downed But Determined and Fight Or Flight if you run squads
This build lets you fight when you need to and run when you do not. Good for players transitioning from free loadouts to custom gear.
Late Game: Deep-Branch Payoffs
Goal: Cash in a 36-point branch investment for the strongest perks in the game.
Pick your payoff:
- Loot route: push Survival to 36 points for Security Breach, which opens Security Lockers on every map
- Combat route: push Conditioning to 36 points for Back On Your Feet, with Flyswatter and Effortless Swing along the way
- Keep Marathon Runner and In-round Crafting regardless. No build does without them.
Both routes sacrifice breadth for a signature capability. Best decided by whether you clear Stella Montis for loot or for fights.
Respec System
If your build is not working or you want to try a different approach, you can reset your skill tree at any time.
The cost: 2,000 coins per skill point you have spent. A full 76-point reset costs 152,000 coins. That is a significant amount of money, especially in the early game.
Partial resets do not exist. The reset is all or nothing.
Do not respec casually. 152,000 coins represents many successful extraction runs. Plan your build using the full tree viewer before committing, and only respec when you are certain your current build is fundamentally wrong for how you want to play.
If you complete an Expedition Project (the voluntary wipe system), your entire skill tree resets to zero along with your character level, coins, and stash. Respec costs are irrelevant if you are planning to wipe soon. The flip side: each completed Expedition can award up to five bonus skill points, which is the only way to push toward the 76-point cap beyond leveling. See the Expedition Projects guide for details on what survives a wipe.
Progression Beyond the Skill Tree
Skill points are half of your progression. The other half is your Raider Den.
Station upgrades, weapon rarity upgrades, and blueprint unlocks all contribute to your power level in ways that the skill tree does not cover. A fully upgraded Gunsmith turning out top-rarity weapons will outperform any skill tree build using basic Workbench gear.
Treat skill points and station upgrades as parallel investments:
- Skill points make your Raider more capable (faster, tougher, more efficient).
- Station upgrades make your gear more powerful (higher damage, better shields, stronger consumables).
Both matter. Neglecting either one will leave you underprepared for endgame content.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many skill points can you get in ARC Raiders?
76 total: one per character level plus up to five for each completed Expedition. The tree holds 45 skills across three branches and most take up to 5 points to max, so 76 points cannot buy everything.
How much does a respec cost in ARC Raiders?
2,000 coins per skill point you have spent, so a full 76-point reset costs 152,000 coins. Partial resets are not available, so it is all or nothing.
What is the best early game skill build in ARC Raiders?
A Mobility and Survival hybrid. Take Marathon Runner, Nimble Climber, and Sturdy Ankles in Mobility, then Looter's Instincts, Silent Scavenger, and In-round Crafting in Survival. That makes you cheap to move, hard to catch, and quick at grabbing loot.
What is the best skill in ARC Raiders?
Marathon Runner and In-round Crafting are the two consensus picks. Marathon Runner cuts the stamina cost of moving, which banks stamina for life-saving dodges, and In-round Crafting lets you build bandages and ammo from raw materials mid-raid.
Do skill points survive an Expedition wipe in ARC Raiders?
No. Finalizing an Expedition Project resets your entire skill tree to zero along with your character level, coins, and stash. Each completed Expedition can award up to five bonus skill points toward the 76-point cap, but you respend them from scratch.
What to Read Next
- Crafting and Gear. Gear that pairs with each build branch.
- PvP Survival Tips. Nodes that matter in player fights.
- Expedition Projects. Progression that carries across wipes.
- Tips and Tricks. Respec pricing and the only source of skill points past leveling.