Best Arc Raiders Skills (Tier List)

In Arc Raiders, success isn’t just about firepower — it’s about how efficiently you move, fight, and survive. Every bit of stamina, speed, and recovery counts when the Arc is hunting you down. With over 40 skills spanning conditioning, mobility, and survival, choosing the right ones can completely change how you perform in raids. This guide ranks the best skills in Arc Raiders, helping you focus on the ones that give the biggest competitive edge. Whether you’re aiming to last longer topside, escape faster, or recover quicker under pressure, these are the must-have skills that will keep you alive and level you up faster.

S-Tier Skills

These are the strongest and most universally useful skills in Arc Raiders. No matter your playstyle or loadout, each of these provides consistent value that enhances stamina management, survivability, and efficiency across every raid.

Fight or Flight (Conditioning) – Regains stamina after taking damage. This skill keeps you agile in chaotic firefights, allowing quick repositioning or escape when under pressure.

Survivor’s Stamina (Conditioning) – Boosts stamina regeneration when you’re critically wounded. Perfect for clutch moments, it pairs excellently with Fight or Flight to keep you active during tough battles.

Effortless Swing (Conditioning) – Reduces stamina cost for melee attacks, letting you fight longer without slowing down. A must-have for players who rely on close-quarters combat.

Loaded Arms (Conditioning) – Decreases the encumbrance penalty of equipped weapons. This ensures that even heavy loadouts won’t weigh you down, giving more freedom to mix gear types.

Back on Your Feet (Conditioning) – Regenerates a small portion of health when critically injured. It’s a lifesaver in prolonged encounters, often turning near-deaths into survivable recoveries.

Marathon Runner (Mobility) – Lowers stamina drain while moving. Ideal for explorers and aggressive players who sprint frequently across large areas.

Youthful Lungs (Mobility) – Increases total stamina capacity, giving you longer bursts of speed, dodges, and extended engagements without downtime.

Broad Shoulders (Survival) – Expands maximum carry weight, allowing more loot and heavier gear setups without slowing you down.

Security Breach (Survival) – Unlocks access to high-value lockers, dramatically improving your looting potential and resource gains per run.

In-Round Crafting (Survival) – Enables crafting items mid-raid, granting flexibility and sustain without needing to extract early.

Stubborn Mule (Survival) – Minimizes stamina penalties while over-encumbered. A perfect pick for heavy looters or support players carrying extra gear.

Each of these S-tier skills directly strengthens your survival odds and efficiency in Arc Raiders, making them top priorities to unlock as early as possible.

A-Tier Skills

These skills in Arc Raiders deliver reliable, consistent value and can be incredibly strong when paired with the right playstyle or team setup. They may not always be game-changers on their own, but when used strategically, they enhance survivability, mobility, and efficiency across different builds.

Proficient Pryer (Conditioning) – Reduces the time needed to breach doors and open containers, minimizing your exposure while looting in risky areas. Excellent for fast-paced or stealth-oriented players.

Effortless Roll (Mobility) – Cuts stamina cost for dodge rolls, allowing you to evade more frequently without draining your stamina bar. A must-have for agile or aggressive players.

Carry the Momentum (Mobility) – Lets you sprint immediately after a dodge roll without consuming stamina. Perfect for quick escapes or fast repositioning during fights.

Vigorous Vaulter (Mobility) – Prevents slowdowns when vaulting while exhausted, ensuring smooth movement even when stamina is low — a subtle but valuable boost for fluid mobility.

Heroic Leap (Mobility) – Extends the distance of your dodge roll, helping you close gaps or retreat faster during intense combat situations.

Calming Stroll (Mobility) – Regenerates stamina while walking, supporting longer endurance during exploration or downtime between fights.

Minesweeper (Survival) – Detects and defuses nearby explosives, protecting your team and preventing sudden deaths in PvPvE encounters.

Good as New (Survival) – Increases stamina regeneration while healing, ideal for sustaining yourself mid-battle or during prolonged engagements.

Three Deep Breaths (Survival) – Boosts stamina recovery right after using an ability, making it a solid choice for players who rely heavily on tactical skills.

Revitalizing Squat (Survival) – Speeds up stamina regeneration when crouched, improving stealth play and stationary endurance.

Silent Scavenger (Survival) – Reduces the noise you make while looting, a strong perk for stealth-focused runs or when avoiding enemy detection.

Traveling Tinkerer (Survival) – Expands your list of craftable field items, allowing more flexibility and tactical options during raids.

Looter’s Instinct (Survival) – Speeds up loot detection, helping you find resources faster and reducing your time exposed while scavenging.

Ready to Roll (Mobility) – Extends the window for recovery rolls after falls, preventing accidental damage from misjudged jumps — a small but handy safety net.

Off the Wall (Mobility) – Increases wall jump distance, allowing for smoother vertical navigation in complex environments.

Vault Spring (Mobility) – Adds a jump boost at the end of vaults, offering a tiny edge in quick escapes or fast movement chains.

Nimble Climber (Mobility) – Makes climbing and vaulting faster, keeping your movement fluid during vertical transitions.

Slip and Slide (Mobility) – Extends slide distance and speed — minor but satisfying for advanced mobility-focused players.

Used to the Weight (Conditioning) – Reduces movement penalties when using shields, making it a valuable niche pick for defensive or tanky builds.

Overall, these A-tier skills provide steady power boosts and quality-of-life improvements, especially when combined with top-tier conditioning or survival skills.

B-Tier Skills

These Arc Raiders skills can be useful in specific builds or niche situations, but they lack the consistency or broad impact of higher-tier options. They’re worth experimenting with if your playstyle aligns with their unique effects — otherwise, most players can skip them for stronger upgrades.

Unburdened Roll (Conditioning) – Makes your first dodge after a shield break free of stamina cost. Handy for defensive players relying on shields, but too situational for most loadouts.

A Little Extra (Conditioning) – Restores a small amount of resources after breaching. It offers minor sustain but only pays off in loot-heavy missions.

Sky-Clearing Swing (Conditioning) – Increases melee damage against drones. Useful in drone-heavy areas but irrelevant in most encounters.

Flyswatter (Conditioning) – Allows one-hit melee kills on wasps and turrets. A convenience perk for faster clearing but doesn’t contribute much in serious fights.

Crawl Before You Walk (Mobility) – Boosts crawl speed when downed, helping with repositioning before a revive. Still, it rarely affects the outcome of a match.

Downed but Determined (Conditioning) – Extends the time before fully collapsing when downed. Offers a small survival window for teammates to revive you but doesn’t change much solo.

Gentle Pressure (Conditioning) – Reduces noise while breaching, making it slightly easier to stay stealthy. A nice touch for sneaky players but not critical.

Blast Born (Conditioning) – Lessens hearing impairment from nearby explosions. Extremely niche and barely noticeable in regular gameplay.

Sturdy Ankles (Mobility) – Decreases fall damage from short drops. A situational safety perk that’s avoidable with careful movement.

Agile Croucher (Survival) – Lets you move faster while crouching. Only relevant for dedicated stealth builds, offering limited benefit elsewhere.

Looter’s Luck (Survival) – Adds a random chance to double loot drops. RNG-based and inconsistent, though rewarding when it triggers.

One Raider’s Scraps (Survival) – Occasionally yields extra field-crafted items. A small bonus that rarely changes your overall loot value.

Turtle Crawl (Conditioning) – Reduces damage taken while downed. Slightly extends your downed time, but it’s rarely game-saving.

Suffer in Silence (Survival) – Lowers movement noise when critically hurt. Too niche to make a major difference in most PvE or PvP encounters.

Overall, these B-tier skills can complement specific roles or playstyles but don’t deliver consistent returns. They’re good to experiment with early on, but you’ll want to replace most of them as you unlock stronger, more impactful abilities.

Conclusion

Mastering the best skills in Arc Raiders can completely change how you survive and perform during raids. While S-tier abilities like Fight or Flight, Marathon Runner, and In-Round Crafting give universal advantages that benefit any build, A-tier and B-tier skills still have value in specific strategies or squad roles. The key is balancing mobility, stamina efficiency, and survival — ensuring you’re always ready for both the Arc and enemy players. Whether you focus on crafting mid-run, sprinting through danger, or holding your ground under fire, unlocking the right combination of skills will make every extraction smoother and every fight more rewarding.