How the skill tree works after Frozen Trail 2.0
Embark rebuilt the Skill Tree in the "FROZEN TRAIL - 2.0 Update" on October 8, 2026. The official name is "Revamped Skill Tree"; "New Skill Tree" comes from video titles.
The developers' goal: rework or replace under-performing skills and make choice a more central part of building your character. Embark also expects more tweaks "in the near future".
| Element | How it works |
|---|---|
| Branches | Conditioning (green), Mobility (yellow), Survival (red), 16 skills each, 48 in total |
| Regular nodes | 1 point or up to 5 points; to reach the next node you need at least 1 point in the previous one |
| 1st diamond (middle of the branch) | 10 points in the branch, you pick 1 of 2 skills |
| 2nd diamond (end of the branch) | 30 points for the first pick, 40 points for the second; you take 2 of 3 |
| Cost of a pick | the pick itself costs 1 point, so your first capstone is the 31st point in the branch and the second is the 41st |
| Changing a pick | only by resetting the whole tree |
| Assigning points | you hold the button (since Store Update 1.47.0) |
Embark doesn't publish the thresholds as numbers. The 10/30/40 values come from the game, the wiki and the planners, and all current sources agree. Maxing out the entire tree would take 138 points, so you always leave something out.
How many points you get and what a reset costs
- Each level-up gives you 1 point. At level 75 you have 76 points (75 level-ups + 1 at the start). Embark hasn't officially stated the level cap; the numbers come from the wiki and players.
- Expedition veterans (progress reset) have up to 15 extra points, so up to 91. The 5th Expedition was the last one "until early 2027", so you can't earn new Expedition points right now.
- Since 2.0, quests and quest objectives also grant XP, and 22 new quests were added.
- A reset costs 2,000 Coins per spent point and wipes the whole tree, not a single branch. With 76 points that's 152,000 Coins. This price comes from Cold Snap 1.7.0 on December 16, 2025; the 2.0 patch didn't repeat it, but the wiki and players in October still quote it.
- According to players, everyone got their points refunded for free with 2.0. There was no free reset after the Sprinting On Fumes nerf.
Conditioning (green): all skills
Carrying loot, shields, surviving while downed and melee.
| Skill | What it does | Position and threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Used To The Weight | a shield slows you down less; 1 point | start |
| Stubborn Mule | being over-encumbered hurts stamina regen less; up to 5 points | no threshold |
| Vault 'N' Carry (new) | you can vault while holding a carryable; 1 point | no threshold |
| Three Deep Breaths | you recover faster after an ability drains your stamina; up to 5 points | no threshold |
| Vigorous Vaulter | exhaustion no longer slows your vaulting; 1 point | no threshold |
| Mule's Gallop (new) | sprint while over-encumbered; 1 point | 10 points, 1 of 2 |
| Back On Your Feet | when critically hurt, your health regenerates up to a limit (since 2.0: 40 instead of 30); 1 point | 10 points, 1 of 2 |
| Downed But Determined | when downed, it takes longer before you collapse; up to 5 points | past the diamond |
| Crawl Before You Walk | you crawl faster when downed; up to 5 points | past the diamond |
| Broad Shoulders | higher carry weight: +2 per level, up to +10 (creator tests); up to 5 points | past the diamond |
| Speedy Mule (new) | smaller speed penalty when severely over-encumbered; up to 5 points | past the diamond |
| Loaded Arms | your equipped weapon weighs less (test: by half); 1 point | past the diamond |
| Proficient Pryer | faster breaching of doors and containers; up to 5 points | past the diamond |
| Security Breach | you can breach Security Lockers; 1 point | 30/40 points, 2 of 3 |
| Weapon Bash (new) | melee attack with your equipped weapon; 1 point | 30/40 points, 2 of 3 |
| Bull Rush (new) | with your weapon stowed, you knock back players and ARC while sprinting; 1 point | 30/40 points, 2 of 3 |
Mobility (yellow): all skills
Stamina and movement, the PvP branch.
| Skill | What it does | Position and threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Youthful Lungs | higher max stamina; 1 point | start |
| Sure-Footed Scrambler (new) | while sprinting, you can scramble up steep slopes for longer; up to 5 points | no threshold |
| Ready To Roll | longer timing window for a Recovery Roll when falling; up to 5 points | no threshold |
| Nimble Climber | faster climbing and vaulting; up to 5 points | no threshold |
| Fight Or Flight | when hurt in combat, you regain a fixed amount of stamina (with a cooldown); up to 5 points | no threshold |
| Vault Spring | jump at the end of a vault; 1 point | 10 points, 1 of 2 |
| Vaults On Vaults On Vaults | vaulting no longer costs stamina; 1 point | 10 points, 1 of 2 |
| Effortless Roll | the Dodge Roll costs less stamina; up to 5 points | past the diamond |
| Slip And Slide | longer and faster slides; up to 5 points | past the diamond |
| Right Back At It (new) | you get back up faster after a heavy landing; 1 point | past the diamond |
| Off The Wall | longer Wall Leap; up to 5 points | past the diamond |
| Marathon Runner | moving costs less stamina; up to 5 points | past the diamond |
| Swift Start (new) | the burst of speed at the start of a sprint lasts longer (MetaForge: up to 10 s); up to 5 points | past the diamond |
| Sprinting On Fumes (new) | stamina never fully drains while sprinting; any action or damage cancels it, and the penalty grows with the sprint's length; 1 point | 30/40 points, 2 of 3 |
| Wall Run (new) | sprinting at a wall lets you run up it for a few steps; 1 point | 30/40 points, 2 of 3 |
| In The Flow (new) | chaining mobility moves while sprinting raises your speed and cuts the stamina cost; 1 point | 30/40 points, 2 of 3 |
Survival (red): all skills
Looting, staying quiet and crafting during a round.
| Skill | What it does | Position and threshold |
|---|---|---|
| In-round Crafting | you can craft items during a round; 1 point | start |
| Looter's Instincts | loot in containers is revealed faster; up to 5 points | no threshold |
| Silent Scavenger | you make less noise when looting; up to 5 points | no threshold |
| Sturdy Ankles | less fall damage from non-lethal heights; up to 5 points | no threshold |
| Agile Croucher | faster movement while crouched; up to 5 points | no threshold |
| Quick Roll (new) | a faster, cheaper Dodge Roll over a shorter distance; 1 point | 10 points, 1 of 2 |
| Minesweeper | defuse mines and explosive deployables up close; 1 point | 10 points, 1 of 2 |
| Gentle Pressure | you make less noise when breaching; up to 5 points | past the diamond |
| A Little Extra | breaching generates resources; 1 point | past the diamond |
| Traveling Tinkerer | more items to craft during a round; 1 point | past the diamond |
| Looter's Luck | a chance to reveal twice as many items at once; up to 5 points | past the diamond |
| Stylish Landing (new) | Recovery Roll from higher up; up to 5 points | past the diamond |
| Turtle Crawl | you take less damage while downed; up to 5 points | past the diamond |
| Road Warrior (new) | more ammo and ARC Powercells from ARC, full-efficiency recycling during a round; 1 point | 30/40 points, 2 of 3 |
| Nomadic Crafting (new) | a much wider range of items to craft during a round; 1 point | 30/40 points, 2 of 3 |
| Field Repair (new) | repair weapons, shields and gadgets up to 30% durability during a round; 1 point | 30/40 points, 2 of 3 |
Embark doesn't publish per-level values (percentages, seconds). The numbers in these tables come from the MetaForge planner or from creator tests. Some players claim MetaForge uses old data, so treat them as approximate. The ones confirmed by tests, such as Broad Shoulders and Loaded Arms, are more reliable.
What changed compared to the old skill tree
- Thresholds: they used to be 15 and 36 points in a branch, now they are 10 and 30/40.
- Choices: 1 of 2 in the middle of a branch, 2 of 3 at the end. The old large nodes didn't offer a choice.
- Removed (13 skills): Blast-Born, Survivor's Stamina, Unburdened Roll, Effortless Swing, Sky-Clearing Swing, Flyswatter, Carry The Momentum, Calming Stroll, Heroic Leap, Revitalizing Squat, Suffer In Silence, Good As New, One Raider's Scraps.
- Added (16 skills), marked "new" in the tables.
- Moved to another branch (11 skills): Conditioning got Broad Shoulders, Stubborn Mule, Three Deep Breaths and Security Breach among others, Mobility got Fight Or Flight, and Survival got Sturdy Ankles, Turtle Crawl and Gentle Pressure among others.
- Used To The Weight has 1 level instead of 5.
- Official number changes: Fight Or Flight gives about 25% more stamina per level, Stubborn Mule about 33% more stamina regen, Back On Your Feet heals to 40 instead of 30.
- Players complain that Marathon Runner and faster breaching now sit further up the tree.
Sprinting On Fumes after the 2.1.0 nerf
On October 13, 2026, Store Update 2.1.0 blocked stamina-restoring consumables (such as the Adrenaline Shot) during the Sprinting On Fumes penalty. Advice from videos made before October 13 along the lines of "pop an Adrenaline Shot right after the sprint" is outdated.
Embark explains that the penalty is part of the balance, and items that skipped it disrupted "the intended risk of using the skill". The same patch fixed a bug that let Fight Or Flight skip the penalty too, and fixed Broad Shoulders and Field Repair, which sometimes didn't work.
Players timing it with a stopwatch put the penalty at about 1/4 of the time spent sprinting "on fumes", with a minimum of about 4 s. Opinions are split: for some players it's now the worst skill in the game, for others it went from "must have" to "nice to have" and still pays off on large maps such as Spaceport.
The best first 3 skills
Raider Logic (video from October 8, 2026) ran every legal build through a solver. The same three picks came out in all of them: Quick Roll (Survival), Vaults On Vaults On Vaults and Sprinting On Fumes (both Mobility).
If you aren't level 75 yet:
- Put points into Mobility first, up to 31, to unlock Sprinting On Fumes.
- Then Conditioning.
- Survival last.
If you're short on points, skip Vault 'N' Carry, Ready To Roll, Off The Wall and Sturdy Ankles. More starting tips are in our beginner's guide.
Best build: PvE, PvP and general builds compared
Points at 76 in Mobility / Conditioning / Survival order. All of these builds were made before the Sprinting On Fumes nerf or on the day of the nerf.
| Build | Author, date | Points | Capstones | Key picks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PvE | Raider Logic, October 8, 2026 | 31 / 31 / 14 | Sprinting On Fumes, Security Breach | Mule's Gallop, Vaults On Vaults On Vaults, Quick Roll |
| PvP | Raider Logic, October 8, 2026 | 34 / 22 / 20 | Sprinting On Fumes | Back On Your Feet, Slip And Slide 5, Turtle Crawl 5 |
| General | Raider Logic, October 8, 2026 | 31 / 31 / 14 | Sprinting On Fumes, Security Breach | Back On Your Feet, Stylish Landing |
| PvE | Millzaa, October 9, 2026 | 26 / 31 / 19 | Security Breach | Vault Spring, Mule's Gallop, Looter's Luck 5 |
| PvP | Millzaa, October 9, 2026 | 31 / 27 / rest | Sprinting On Fumes | Vault Spring, Mule's Gallop, Quick Roll |
| PvPvE | Millzaa, October 9, 2026 | 31 / 31 / 14 | Sprinting On Fumes, Security Breach | Quick Roll, Traveling Tinkerer |
| General | IGN, updated October 15, 2026 | 41 / 31 / 4 | Sprinting On Fumes, Wall Run, Security Breach | Back On Your Feet, Vault Spring |
The IGN table is inconsistent: its Mobility points add up to 40, not 41, and only 35 points in the branch come before Wall Run, even though the second capstone needs 40. Don't copy it 1:1, build it in a planner. Millzaa suggested using an Adrenaline Shot after Sprinting On Fumes: since October 13 that no longer works.
What everyone agrees on: Broad Shoulders 5 and Loaded Arms, Swift Start 5, Marathon Runner 5, Effortless Roll 5. Weapon Bash is advised against by everyone who tested it (Fallout Plays: "four thumbs down").
PvP build
- Mobility up to Sprinting On Fumes (31 points), with Swift Start 5. Millzaa calls this pair "a clear and obvious choice".
- For Conditioning, Raider Logic says: "If you fight players, back on your feet". Millzaa takes Mule's Gallop in his PvP build, though.
- Downed But Determined 5 and Crawl Before You Walk 5 appear in PvP and squad builds. Raider Logic takes Turtle Crawl only for PvP.
- At 91 points: Raider Logic adds In The Flow and Bull Rush, Millzaa adds Wall Run. According to Fallout Plays, Bull Rush works well against players and poorly against ARC.
- According to players in October, In The Flow may not work correctly (Millzaa leaves it out), and patch 2.1.0 says nothing about it.
Pick a weapon for your PvP build from our best weapons tier list.
PvE build
- Raider Logic, Millzaa and IGN all cap Conditioning with Security Breach.
- Mule's Gallop if you carry a lot and fight ARC (Raider Logic: "If you loot heavy and fight ARC, mule's gallop").
- In Survival: Looter's Instincts 5 and Silent Scavenger 4, plus Looter's Luck 5 in Millzaa's build.
- PvE players praise Road Warrior for recycling during a round. According to Millzaa, Field Repair gives less to Expedition veterans (their repair bonus doesn't apply in a round), and he sees Nomadic Crafting as a questionable use of 30 points.
- At 91 points, Raider Logic adds Bull Rush, and Millzaa maxes Proficient Pryer, Speedy Mule, Fight Or Flight and Stubborn Mule.
Playing in the PvE toggle test? We explain how it works in our PvE mode guide.
Solo build
Only Millzaa gives a separate solo variant, in his PvP build: playing solo, you take Traveling Tinkerer and Looter's Luck 5 in Survival, while in a squad you take Stylish Landing 1 and Turtle Crawl 5. The rest of the build stays the same.
Fallout Plays also suggests a variant heavy on Survival (crafting during a round) with Sprinting On Fumes, and he plays Security Breach, Bull Rush and Sprinting On Fumes himself.
Disputes: Vault Spring or Vaults On Vaults On Vaults, Quick Roll or Minesweeper
- Vault Spring or Vaults On Vaults On Vaults: Raider Logic and Fallout Plays ("every time") take Vaults On Vaults On Vaults. Millzaa prefers Vault Spring and claims Vaults On Vaults On Vaults doesn't fully remove the stamina cost; in the Fallout Plays test, vaulting costs nothing.
- Quick Roll or Minesweeper: Raider Logic and Millzaa take Quick Roll. Fallout Plays prefers Minesweeper, which now also defuses mines, not just grenade traps. Some players criticize Quick Roll.
- Mule's Gallop or Back On Your Feet: it depends on your style (loot and ARC or players). Fallout Plays slightly prefers Mule's Gallop.
Build planners
| Planner | What it offers |
|---|---|
| MetaForge Skill Tree Builder | 0/76 counter, publishing and sharing builds; Raider Logic and Fallout Plays use it |
| arcraiders.gg Skill Tree Builder | new and old tree for comparison, Expedition bonus, share link |
| Arc Raiders Hub | saving, sharing, public player builds with voting (fan site) |
Raider Logic's ready-made builds in MetaForge: PvE, PvP, general.
FAQ
What is the best build in ARC Raiders?
The most recommended one is Mobility up to Sprinting On Fumes (31 points) plus Conditioning up to Security Breach (31 points), with the rest in Survival. For PvP, shift points from Conditioning into Mobility and Survival (Turtle Crawl).
How many skill points can you have?
You get 76 at level 75. Expedition veterans have up to 15 more, so up to 91 in total. There won't be new Expedition points until early 2027.
How much does a skill tree reset cost?
It costs 2,000 Coins per spent point, so 152,000 Coins with 76 points. You always reset the whole tree.
Is Sprinting On Fumes still good after the nerf?
It's still in most builds, but since October 13, 2026 you can't use stamina-restoring items during its penalty. Player opinions are split.
Will I get a free reset after the nerf?
No. According to players, the only free point refund came with the 2.0 update on October 8, 2026.
