Best Early Skills in ARC Raiders – Beginner Starter Build

Get every advantage you can get!

ARC Raiders fighting ARC enemies
Image via Embark Studios

ARC Raiders is not just your typical extraction shooter; you also have a sizable skill tree to work with. Skills play a crucial role in surviving, so you want to get the best skills to get every advantage you can.

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Here are some of the best skills to develop as you progress in ARC Raiders.

Best Skills to Get Early in ARC Raiders

Updated as of December 2025.

Skills in ARC Raiders are useful in various ways, but they mostly revolve around different playstyles, making it a bit subjective depending on what you want to do. There are builds for those who want to play tactically and slowly, and those who want to run & gun and loot as fast as possible.

Since all skills are categorized into Survival, Conditioning, and Mobility, here are the best skills you can get from each tree, and you can find what suits your playstyle the best.

Best Survival Skills

Skill NameDescription
Traveling TinkererUnlocks Additional Items for field craft.
Broad ShouldersIncreases the maximum weight you can carry.
In-Round CraftingUnlocks the ability to field-craft items while topside.
Security BreachLets you breach Security Lockers.

In-Round Crafting is one of the most useful skills in the game. With all the things you may run out of, crafting those bandages and shield rechargers while in a raid is too useful to pass up. The skill is accessible with just three skill points in the Survival tree, so everyone should have it. Traveling Tinkerer improves on this even more by adding more craftable items.

Security Breach is at the end of the Survival tree, which will take a long while before you can get it. It just helps you access Security Lockers for better high-value loot.

While the loot in Security Breach Lockers is nerfed already, it is still decent or useful enough to provide value compared to other skills. Since these lockers are littered across all maps, they could easily give you an extra weapon or ammo when you need one, especially in a free loadout run. They can also contain purple items, but just not as frequently.

Best Mobility Skills

Skill NameDescription
Marathon RunnerMoving around costs less stamina.
Youthful LungsIncreases your max stamina.
Calming StrollWhile walking, your stamina regenerates as if you were standing still.
Effortless RollDodge Rolls cost less stamina.
Heroic LeapYou can Sprint Dodge Roll further.

Mobility is one of the most useful trees just because it allows you to leave the enemies in the dust or get to places quicker at the start of the match.

Getting to the most high-value areas at the start of a match gives a big advantage to the looter, and having the extra mobility for maximum sprints will get you to places faster than others who didn’t invest in Mobility.

The mobility skills above are self-explanatory, but if you don’t want to invest heavily in the tree, at least go for the Marathon Runner and Youthful Lungs, which is available early.

Best Conditioning Skills

Skill NameDescription
A Little ExtraBreaching an object generates resources.
Proficient PryerBreaching doors and containers takes less time.
Effortless SwingMelee abilities cost less stamina.
Sky-Clearing SwingYou deal more melee damage to drones.
FlyswatterWasps and Turrets can now be destroyed with a single melee attack.
Back On Your FeetWhen you’re critically hurt, your health regenerates until a certain limit.

Conditioning skills pair well with mobility skills, especially when conserving stamina. The melee damage increase to drones and reduced stamina cost for melee attacks help you in stealthily clearing out buildings.

Since shooting weapons without a Silencer always gives the position away, you can always use melee to be quieter and conserve useful ammo for stronger ARC enemies or other players.

Proficient Pryer and A Little Extra is great for those fast loot runs when you just need to farm credits and progress.

Use a combination of these amazing skills for each tree and curate a build for your playstyle.


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Enzo Zalamea

Enzo is a staff writer at Prima Games. He began writing news, guides, and listicles related to games back in 2019. In 2024, he started writing at Prima Games covering the best new games and updates regardless of the genre. You can find him playing the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Path of Exile, Teamfight Tactics, and popular competitive shooters like Valorant, Apex Legends, and CS2. Enzo received his Bachelor's degree in Marketing Management in De La Salle University and multiple SEO certifications from the University of California, Davis.