Survivor

Survivor skills improve improvised weapons, the search for collectible items, and general movement.

Tier I

Icon	Skill	Description	Notes
	Rapid Crafting	Makes it faster for Lara to craft ammo and improvised weapons on the run.	This ability is less useful in the early game, when you won’t be making as many Specialty Arrows and thrown weapons. However, it becomes better and better as you learn more crafting recipes and start to use powerful Arrows more commonly. Take this in the mid- or late-game to get the most out of it.
	Resourceful Combatant	Improvised weapons give you bonus experience when they kill an enemy.	This skill is situational. It’s very useful if you rely on Molotovs and Shrapnel Grenades often. It’s much less important if you only use these items during major battles.
	Incendiary Bombs	You learn how to craft throwable explosives with Gas Cans and Radios.	You get two new types of explosives to craft by taking this skill. These items aren’t seen very often, but both are extremely powerful. Gas Cans are turned into Explosive Bombs and are wonderful for taking out groups. The Radios becomes Proximity Mines and should be used to lure patrollers to their deaths.
	Lightfoot	Use to land safely from heights that may hurt Lara, but aren’t outright fatal.	This is a skill that improves your movement, protects Lara from some damage, and it looks hardcore. Unless you like taking the slow way down, grab this skill early and use it often.
	Avid Learner	You gain bonus experience from Survival Caches, Documents, Relics, and Challenges.	Take this early or not at all. The sooner you grab it, the more experience it gives you.
	Eye for Detail	Challenge objects show up when you use Survival Instincts.	Our guide negates some of the value for this skill, but it’s still pretty darn useful for spotting what you need to interact with while completing Challenges.
	Iron Grip	Lara is faster at climbing.	You get this from a Codex. It’s a nice way to speed up the many climbing sections that you face in this game.

Tier II

Icon	Skill	Description	Notes
	Crafting Mastery	Allows Lara to make higher-capacity quivers and ammo pouches. It also improves the ammo quantities that you craft out in the field.	This non-essential skill is convenient and helps somewhat during larger battles where your supply of ammunition is tested the most. It is never a live or die type of skill.
	Body Trap Specialist	Place poison on corpses and wait for enemies to find their fallen ally.	For stealth players, this is a fairly useful addition to their arsenal. Kill a patroller, trap their body, and wait for their friends to swing by. Craft an explosive while you wait, and use that on any of the opponents who survive the poison gas.
	Grenadier	Craft explosive Grenades for the Rifle Grenade Launcher.	Once you purchase the Grenade Launcher, this skill lets you make very nice ammo for the Rifle. Blow up barricades, take out groups, and trash armored enemies without needing to switch to your Bow.
	Hollow-Point Bullets	Enables crafting of high-damage bullets for the Pistol.	The normal Pistol shots don’t have quite enough stopping power. Mine plenty of ore and use it to craft hollow points. This ensures that your backup sidearm can still take out targets quickly.
	Dragonfire Shells	Craft incendiary Shotgun shells.	Though expensive, you can make your Shotgun even more powerful. It’s perfect for taking out mobile targets that attempt to flank Lara.
	Demolitions Expert`	Improvised weapons have a larger blast radius.	Your crafted explosives are much more effective against groups after you learn this skill. Combine this with Incendiary Bombs and Resourceful Combatant to see some nice rewards.
	Bright Eyes	Traps automatically glow when you’re close to them.	You get this skill automatically after reading a Codex. It’s nice for keeping Lara from running right into pit traps.
	Natural Instincts	Natural crafting sources are revealed on the map and through Survival Instincts.	This is another Codex skill. It helps a little when going on crafting runs.

Tier III

Icon	Skill	Description	Notes
	Arrow Climber	Press to use a Climbable Arrow mid-jump.	This makes it easier to use Climbable Arrows without much setup time. It’s non-essential, but can really help with speed runs.
	Intuitive	Survival Instincts highlights collectible items even through solid walls. Crypts show up on your map and are no longer hidden.	Our maps make this non-essential, but it’s an amazing skill when you’re going through the game without using maps to find the collectible items.
	Napalm Arrows	Upgrade fire arrows to increase the range of the fire burst that erupts on impact.	The increased blast of fire is moderately worthwhile, but Fire Arrows are still the most limited of your Specialty Arrows.
	Death Cloud Arrows	Increase the size and duration of the poisonous cloud created by poison arrows.	On the other hand, this skill is stunning. Death Cloud Arrows, even on Survivor, are able to help you kill bears, Deathless, Enforcers, and Defenders. Easily. This is a must-have upgrade for the late-game.
	Cluster Bomb Arrows	Upgrade grenade arrows to disperse additional explosives on impact.	Though useful, because your explosions are bigger and have an entire second wave, this skill is a bit dangerous. Try not to race right into your own explosions, even if you kill everything with the initial blast! Not that we’ve ever done that…
	Greek Fire	Fire Arrows and Molotov Cocktails do more damage and hurt armored enemies.	With this Codex skill, you start to get the most out of Fire Arrows. Once you get that, Napalm Arrows becomes a more viable skill and starts to really help Lara’s damage output against groups of enemies.