Frozen Trail made skill points scarce, so which skills are worth taking matters more than ever.
We tested most of the key skills in real raids, and the results change a few common assumptions.
Here are the best skills, the mixed ones, and the ones to skip, with the numbers we measured.
Table of Contents
Skill Tier List at a Glance
| Tier | Skills |
|---|---|
| Take in every build | Loaded Arms, Broad Shoulders, Downed But Determined, Crawl Before You Walk, Mule’s Gallop |
| Strong for your mode | Security Breach, Sprinting on Fumes, Road Warrior (Survival builds), Speedy Mule |
| Situational | Wall Run, Quick Roll, Vault ‘N’ Carry, Back On Your Feet |
| Skip | Weapon Bash, Bull Rush, Nomadic Crafting, Field Repair, maxed Sure-Footed Scrambler |
The tests come from our raid footage. Max ranks come from the Arc Raiders wiki.
Best Conditioning Skills
Loaded Arms (1 rank) halves the weight an equipped weapon adds. The Hullcracker went from 7 lb to 3.5 lb, and the loadout dropped by almost 10 lb.
Broad Shoulders (5 ranks, +2 lb each) lifted the cap from 60 to 70 lb.
Downed But Determined (about 6 seconds per rank) and Crawl Before You Walk work as a pair. We crawled about 40 m without them and about 80 m with them, on half the health bar.
Mule’s Gallop and Speedy Mule fix being over-encumbered. Without them, walking was faster than sprinting for us. Speedy Mule gives up to a 40 percent bonus at max.
Vault ‘N’ Carry is a quality-of-life skill, and Proficient Pryer helps with breaching speed.
See how these fit together in our carry-focused PvE build.
Best Mobility Skills
Fight or Flight and Marathon Runner carry the stamina budget, and Embark buffed Fight or Flight in Frozen Trail.
Vault Spring beat Vaults On Vaults On Vaults, because the latter still drained a little stamina in our test.
Effortless Roll and Right Back At It keep you moving after falls.
Sure-Footed Scrambler is not worth maxing. At 5 ranks it gave only about +2 seconds. The 91-point builds take 1 rank only to unlock Wall Run.
Best Survival Skills
Looter’s Instinct and Looter’s Luck are the main income skills, and Silent Scavenger helps you loot unnoticed.
Quick Roll mainly cuts the stamina cost of small rolls. That made it better than Minesweeper for us.
Sturdy Ankles cuts fall damage, with 3 ranks giving about 9 percent.
Turtle Crawl and Stylish Landing suit squad play, because teammates have longer to revive you.
Capstones Compared
| Capstone | Branch | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Security Breach | Conditioning | Best loot value |
| Weapon Bash | Conditioning | Skip. Negligible damage, risky on a Skulker |
| Bull Rush | Conditioning | Skip. No damage, interrupts looting or extraction |
| Sprinting on Fumes | Mobility | Strong, but long recovery unless you use an Adrenaline Shot |
| Wall Run | Mobility | Escape tool, about twice the height of the radar |
| In The Flow | Mobility | Skipped because it was glitchy before launch |
| Road Warrior | Survival | Strong for launcher and energy ammo ARC |
| Nomadic Crafting | Survival | Skip. Ammo, a zipline and a grappling hook |
| Field Repair | Survival | Skip. Expedition repair bonus does not apply in raid |
Road Warrior roughly doubles ARC Power Cells and increases ammo. A Skulker gave about 14 ammo plus 1 cell without it and about 30 ammo plus 2 cells with it. A Hornet gave 24 ammo versus 30.
It costs 30 Survival points before you buy it, so it only fits a Survival-first build. It also lets you recycle at full efficiency during a raid.
For the enemies where this matters most, see our enemies guide.
Patch 2.0 Skill Changes
Embark’s patch notes list these skill changes:
- Fight or Flight: roughly 25 percent more stamina per level
- Stubborn Mule: roughly 33 percent more
- Back On Your Feet: 30 to 40
- Known issue: Field Repair may be unavailable after unlock until you restart
For everything else in the update, read our Frozen Trail update breakdown.
Which Build Uses Which Skills
The three 76-point builds share 63 points, built around the skills in the top tier.
- PvE skill tree guide: Security Breach
- PvP skill tree guide: Sprinting on Fumes
- PvPvE skill tree guide: both
Our best skill tree build hub compares them, and our Frozen Trail skill tree article explains the gate rules. Embark’s PvE toggle test from October 13 to 20 has zero player-to-player damage (our PvE toggle guide has the rules), so combat-leaning picks lose value there. Crafting players can pair these with our crafting guide.
Key Takeaways
- Loaded Arms and Broad Shoulders cut weight and lift the cap to 70 lb.
- The crawl pair doubles crawl distance to about 80 m.
- Security Breach is the best Conditioning capstone.
- Road Warrior roughly doubles Power Cells but costs 30 Survival points.
- Skip Weapon Bash, Bull Rush, Nomadic Crafting and Field Repair.
FAQ
What are the best skills in Arc Raiders after Frozen Trail?
The best skills are Loaded Arms, Broad Shoulders, Downed But Determined, Crawl Before You Walk and Mule’s Gallop.
They solve weight and survival problems we measured directly.
Capstone value depends on your mode.
What does Loaded Arms do?
Loaded Arms halves the weight an equipped weapon adds to your load.
A 7 lb Hullcracker counted as 3.5 lb in our test.
With Broad Shoulders, the carry cap rose from 60 to 70 lb.
Is Road Warrior worth 30 Survival points?
Only for launcher and energy ammo ARC, and only if you commit to Survival.
We measured roughly double the ARC Power Cells and more ammo.
It also lets you recycle at full efficiency in a raid.
Is Weapon Bash worth taking?
No. In our test Weapon Bash did negligible damage, and using it on a Skulker was dangerous.
It is the weakest Conditioning capstone.
Spend the 31 Conditioning points on Security Breach instead.
What does Bull Rush do?
Bull Rush did no damage in testing.
It only interrupts looting or extraction, and it costs a lot of stamina.
Security Breach is the better Conditioning capstone for most players.
Is Wall Run worth it?
It is flashy and good for escapes, reaching about twice the height of the radar.
Treat it as a second Mobility capstone, which you can afford with Expedition points (see our Expedition 5 guide).
It is not a core skill.
Is Nomadic Crafting good?
Not really. In our test it only adds ammo, a zipline and a grappling hook. Our Grappling Hook guide covers the gadget itself and how to craft it.
Road Warrior is the stronger Survival capstone, and Field Repair has its own problems.
Most builds are better off leaving it out.
Is Field Repair worth it?
Probably not. The Expedition repair bonus did not apply inside a raid in our test.
Embark also lists a known issue where it may be unavailable after unlock until you restart.
Spend the points on looting skills instead.
Which skill changes did the Frozen Trail patch make?
Embark buffed Fight or Flight by roughly 25 percent more stamina per level and Stubborn Mule by roughly 33 percent.
Back On Your Feet went from 30 to 40.
Solo vs. Squads was also removed.
Is Sure-Footed Scrambler worth maxing?
No. Maxed, it gave only about 2 extra seconds in our test.
The 91-point builds take a single rank to unlock Wall Run.
Stamina skills such as Marathon Runner give a clearer return.
