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For most new Raiders, start in Mobility with Youthful Lungs, then add a traversal skill such as Nimble Climber or Sure-Footed Scrambler. Choose Survival first when field crafting, quiet looting and long scavenging runs matter most, or Conditioning when you routinely carry heavy loads, breach containers or need stronger downed-state tools. There is no single best build: the right first unlocks depend on how you move, loot, fight and extract.
This guide covers the tree introduced with Frozen Trail 2.0, released October 8, 2026. Embark says further adjustments are likely, so treat point gates and rank values as current guidance rather than permanent rules and check the live in-game tree before spending points.
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How the ARC Raiders skill tree works now
Skills are persistent Raider upgrades. You spend points in the tree once, and their effects carry into future raids rather than being selected as a per-raid loadout. The current guide reports 76 base points by level 75.
Frozen Trail 2.0 replaced the previous mid-tree and end-tree layout. Every branch now has a middle node where you choose one of two skills. At the branch end, you can take up to two of three options after reaching the required investment. The official update notes say these choices can be changed when you reset the tree.
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The following gates and cost come from the current guide’s October 9 cross-check, not from the official patch notes:
- The middle choice is reported at 10 points invested in that branch.
- The first end choice is reported at 30 points.
- The second end choice is reported at 40 points.
- A reset is reported to cost 2,000 Coins per skill point.
Because the official notes do not publish those thresholds or the reset price, verify the numbers in your client before committing. Resetting is best treated as a deliberate rebuild rather than something to do casually after every raid.
Mobility skills: stamina, climbing and combat movement
Mobility is the broadest starting branch for players who sprint, climb, vault, slide, scramble up slopes and dodge frequently. Its value appears in nearly every route because movement affects rotations, escapes, vertical access and how often you can disengage from ARC or another player.
Youthful Lungs
Youthful Lungs increases maximum stamina. It is the safest first Mobility point for a new player because extra stamina improves repeated sprints, climbs, slides and evasive actions without requiring a particular weapon or route.
Nimble Climber
Nimble Climber speeds climbing and vaulting. The current guide reports up to a 15% increase to climbing and vault speed across its ranks. Pick it when you regularly take roofs, fences, ledges or other vertical shortcuts.
Sure-Footed Scrambler
Sure-Footed Scrambler extends sprint scrambling on steep slopes. It is more valuable on routes with uneven terrain than in flat, direct rotations, and it rewards players who keep moving uphill instead of stopping to recover.
Ready to Roll
Ready to Roll widens the timing window for a recovery roll after a fall. That makes mistakes on drops less punishing and can preserve momentum when you use vertical routes.
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Fight or Flight
Fight or Flight returns stamina after you take combat damage, subject to a cooldown. The guide reports up to 25 stamina from this effect. Embark’s October 8 notes say the stamina gain was increased by about 25% per level, so it is particularly relevant to players who expect to take occasional hits while escaping rather than avoiding all contact.
The 10-point Mobility choice
| Skill | Effect | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| Vault Spring | Lets you jump at the end of a vault. | Players who use vaults to gain height or clear an obstacle quickly. |
| Vaults on Vaults on Vaults | Removes the stamina cost of vaulting. | Players who chain vaults during rotations and want to preserve stamina for sprinting or dodging. |
These options solve different movement problems. Vault Spring adds a burst of vertical movement; Vaults on Vaults on Vaults is an efficiency choice for routes with repeated vaults.
Later Mobility effects
Further Mobility skills reduce dodge-roll or movement stamina costs, extend sprint acceleration, improve sliding or wall leaps, and shorten recovery after a heavy landing. The exact rank values can change with updates, so read the current tooltip at each node instead of relying on an older route.
Mobility’s end choices
| Skill | Effect | When to choose it |
|---|---|---|
| Sprinting on Fumes | Allows sprinting without fully draining stamina, but another action or incoming damage cancels the effect. | Long rotations and escapes where maintaining a sprint matters more than using another action during the window. |
| Wall Run | Lets you run a few steps up a wall. | Players who deliberately use vertical combat routes and wall approaches. |
| In the Flow | Chained mobility moves increase speed and reduce stamina cost. | Players who consistently link slides, vaults, climbs and other movement actions. |
These are not interchangeable upgrades. Choose based on the movement pattern you actually repeat; a Wall Run player and an In the Flow player need different terrain and timing.
Conditioning skills: carrying capacity, breaching and resilience
Conditioning is the practical branch for Raiders who return over-encumbered, breach containers often or want more margin while downed. It reduces the penalties associated with carrying and improves several ways to keep operating after a mistake.
Used to the Weight
Used to the Weight reduces shield movement penalties. It helps when your defensive equipment would otherwise make repositioning feel sluggish.
Stubborn Mule
Stubborn Mule makes stamina regeneration less affected by over-encumbrance. Embark’s October 8 notes report stamina-regeneration values increased by about 33% per level. This is a strong quality-of-life choice for players who leave a container area carrying more than planned.
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Three Deep Breaths
Three Deep Breaths shortens recovery after a stamina-draining ability. It suits builds that spend stamina on an ability and need to resume normal movement quickly.
Vigorous Vaulter
Vigorous Vaulter preserves vault speed while you are exhausted, preventing exhaustion from turning every obstacle into a full stop.
Vault ‘N’ Carry
Vault ‘N’ Carry allows vaulting while holding a carryable. It is useful on extraction routes where moving an objective or heavy item through obstacles is part of the plan.
The 10-point Conditioning choice
| Skill | Effect | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| Mule’s Gallop | Allows sprinting while over-encumbered. | Heavy haulers who accept the slower load state but still need to reach safety quickly. |
| Back on Your Feet | Regenerates health while critically hurt, up to a limit. | Players who prioritize recovery after taking severe damage. Embark increased the healing value from 30 to 40 in the October 8 update. |
Mule’s Gallop improves transport speed under a specific penalty; Back on Your Feet improves survival after critical damage. Pick according to which failure costs you more raids.
Later Conditioning effects
Additional nodes increase carrying capacity, reduce the movement penalty from excess weight, reduce the encumbrance impact of equipped weapons, improve downed crawl speed or the time before collapse, and shorten breaching time. These effects are especially noticeable in loot-heavy routes and coordinated runs where one player carries more than others.
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| Skill | Effect | When to choose it |
|---|---|---|
| Security Breach | Opens Security Lockers. | Routes built around Security Lockers and the rewards they contain. |
| Weapon Bash | Enables a melee attack with a weapon. | Players who want a close-range emergency option without changing equipment. |
| Bull Rush | Knocks back players or ARC while sprinting with the weapon stowed. | Aggressive breach or escape play where displacement is worth stowing your weapon. |
Survival skills: crafting, stealth and field utility
Survival supports longer scavenging runs. Its skills speed up searches, reduce the sound you make while looting, improve crouched movement and add field-crafting or repair options.
In-Round Crafting
In-Round Crafting unlocks several field-crafted consumables. Take it early if your route depends on making supplies away from a permanent crafting station.
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Looter’s Instinct
Looter’s Instinct reveals container contents faster. The guide reports up to a 25% reduction in search time. It saves time in exposed areas and lets you evaluate more containers before the route becomes unsafe.
Silent Scavenger
Silent Scavenger reduces looting noise, with the guide reporting up to 50% less noise. It is most valuable when nearby players or ARC can punish a long, audible search.
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Sturdy Ankles reduces fall damage from non-lethal heights. It does not turn lethal drops into safe ones, but it makes ordinary shortcuts less costly.
Agile Croucher
Agile Croucher increases crouched movement speed. It benefits stealthy repositioning and low-profile approaches where sprinting would reveal your location.
The 10-point Survival choice
| Skill | Effect | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| Quick Roll | Provides a faster, shorter dodge with a lower stamina cost. | Players who use rolls frequently to evade attacks or reposition. |
| Minesweeper | Lets you defuse nearby mines and explosive deployables. | Routes where traps and defensive explosives are a regular obstacle. |
Later Survival effects
Later nodes reduce breach noise, unlock field-crafted tools and grenade traps, increase recovery-roll height, generate crafting materials from breaching, sometimes reveal two items at once, or reduce damage while downed. Because these benefits serve different routes, compare the tooltip with your usual map path before buying a rank.
Survival’s end choices
| Skill | Effect | When to choose it |
|---|---|---|
| Road Warrior | Increases ammo and ARC Powercell loot from ARC and allows full-efficiency in-round recycling. | Runs that fight or scavenge a lot of ARC and convert materials during the raid. |
| Nomadic Crafting | Expands field-crafting options. | Self-sufficient scavenging builds that want more recipes available away from base. |
| Field Repair | Repairs weapons, shields and gadgets up to 30% durability during a raid. | Long raids where equipment wear, rather than ammunition, is the limiting factor. |
Embark’s October 8 notes identified a launch issue in which Field Repair could be unavailable after unlocking. The stated workaround was to restart the game while a fix was in progress. If the skill remains missing after a restart, check the current in-game notices before spending more points.
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Which skills should you unlock first?
General movement or a new player
- Start with Youthful Lungs for a larger stamina reserve.
- Add Nimble Climber if your routes use vertical shortcuts, or Sure-Footed Scrambler if steep terrain is the bigger problem.
- Continue into other movement skills, including Marathon Runner when the tree allows it.
- At the Mobility middle node, choose between Vault Spring and Vaults on Vaults on Vaults based on whether you need extra height or stamina efficiency.
This is the broadest default because stamina and traversal apply to looting, escapes and ordinary map movement. It is a practical recommendation from the listed effects and example builds, not an official universal meta.
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Looting and crafting
- Take Survival’s In-Round Crafting if making consumables in the field is central to your route.
- Buy Looter’s Instinct to reduce search time.
- Add Silent Scavenger when remaining unheard during searches is more important than faster movement.
- Later, choose between Road Warrior, Nomadic Crafting and Field Repair according to whether your bottleneck is ARC loot, recipe access or equipment durability.
Heavy hauling
- Invest in Conditioning nodes that increase capacity or reduce the movement penalty from excess weight.
- Take Stubborn Mule when over-encumbrance frequently delays stamina recovery.
- Choose Mule’s Gallop at the middle node if sprinting while loaded is your priority; choose Back on Your Feet if critical-health recovery saves more runs.
- Consider Vault ‘N’ Carry when your route includes carrying an objective through vault-heavy terrain.
PvP-oriented movement
Prioritize stamina, roll efficiency and chained movement rather than a single named end skill. Compare Sprinting on Fumes, Wall Run and In the Flow against your actual habits: sustained sprint escapes, deliberate wall routes or linked movement chains. An aggressive PvP allocation published by the guide is one documented build, not a settled universal meta or a measured win-rate recommendation.
Security Locker and route utility
Build toward Conditioning’s Security Breach when Security Lockers are a central part of your route. Do not take it merely because it is an end node; its value depends on how often your squad can safely reach and open those lockers.
A practical way to plan your points
Before buying a node, classify your raids on three axes:
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- Capacity and downed resilience: Do you become over-encumbered, carry objectives or spend long periods incapacitated?
- Looting, stealth, crafting and utility: Is your time limited by search speed, noise, recipes, repairs, traps or special containers?
Then label your usual raids as PvP-oriented, balanced or scavenging-focused. Spend the first points on effects that solve a recurring problem, not on an end skill whose condition you rarely encounter. At the middle node, choose one option; at the end, you can eventually take up to two of three, so leave room for a second end choice if both match your route.
What Frozen Trail 2.0 changed
The October 8, 2026 update revamped the tree with new skills, improvements and a reshuffled layout. It added one-of-two choices in the middle of each branch and up-to-two-of-three choices at branch end. Embark said the goal was to improve under-performing skills and make choices and playstyle expression more central.
The current guide lists 16 new skills, 13 removed skills and 11 skills moved between branches. That means pre-October 8 routes can point to the wrong branch, gate or unlock order. A community wiki table also states that it has not been rebuilt for the 2.0 tree, so use older pages only as historical context and verify every node in the live client.
Embark’s update notes also warn that more changes are likely as the team observes player engagement. Recheck the tree after major patches, especially before paying for a reset or copying a build designed for an earlier version.
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Choose Mobility first for a broadly useful Raider, beginning with Youthful Lungs and then Nimble Climber or Sure-Footed Scrambler. Choose Survival first when crafting and quiet, efficient looting define your raids. Choose Conditioning first when capacity, breaching and loaded movement are the problems that repeatedly end your runs. Use the middle and end choices to reinforce the behavior you actually perform, and verify live tooltips because Frozen Trail 2.0 is still being tuned.
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