Skills & Upgrades — Tomb Raider (2013) Guide

Manage your Skill Points and salvage in Tomb Raider (2013). Enhance Lara Croft's combat, survival instincts, and exploration abilities with new upgrades.

As Lara's journey on Yamatai progresses, she'll gain experience (XP) from defeating enemies, discovering collectibles, and completing challenges. This XP translates into Skill Points, which are crucial for unlocking new abilities that enhance her combat prowess, survival instincts, and exploration capabilities. Furthermore, scavenging salvage from crates, defeated enemies, and environmental objects allows you to upgrade your weapons, making them more effective in the brutal encounters ahead.

Acquiring Skill Points

• Combat Encounters: Successfully eliminating enemies, especially with headshots or stealth takedowns, grants significant XP.
• Exploration & Collectibles: Discovering hidden Collectibles like Relics, Documents, and GPS Caches provides a steady stream of XP.
• Challenges: Completing specific in-game challenges, often tied to exploration or combat feats, offers substantial XP bonuses.
• Tombs: Solving optional Challenge Tombs not only yields large XP rewards but also grants unique skill unlocks upon completion.

Once you have enough XP to earn a Skill Point, you can access the Skills menu at any Base Camp. Prioritize skills that align with your playstyle, but remember that some foundational skills are universally beneficial.

Skill Categories

Skills are divided into three distinct categories, each focusing on a different aspect of Lara's development:

1. Survivor Skills

These skills enhance Lara's ability to navigate the environment, scavenge resources, and improve her situational awareness. Early investment here is highly recommended for efficient progression.

• Arrow Retrieval: A must-have early game skill. Allows Lara to retrieve arrows from defeated enemies and surfaces, conserving precious ammunition. Located in the first tier of Survivor skills.
• Advanced Salvaging: Increases the amount of salvage gathered from crates and enemies. Essential for quickly upgrading your arsenal. Prioritize this after Arrow Retrieval.
• Cartography: Reveals the location of all collectibles and challenge items on your map within the current area. Invaluable for completionists and those seeking extra XP. Unlocked after progressing past the Coastal Forest.
• Survivalist: Grants additional XP for hunting animals and gathering resources. Useful for passive XP generation throughout the game.
• Scavenging: Increases the chance of finding rare salvage components. Consider this for later game weapon upgrades.

2. Hunter Skills

Hunter skills focus on improving Lara's combat effectiveness with various weapons, increasing damage, accuracy, and special attack capabilities.

• Steady Shot: Reduces weapon sway when aiming, making headshots easier. A good early investment for precision players.
• Fast Traverse: Allows Lara to move faster while aiming with a bow. Excellent for maintaining mobility in combat.
• Pistol Expert: Increases the damage and critical hit chance of the Pistol. Useful for early game encounters.
• Shotgun Expert: Boosts Shotgun damage and spread. Crucial for close-quarters combat against armored foes.
• Rifle Expert: Enhances Rifle damage and accuracy. Makes the Rifle a more versatile weapon for mid-to-long range engagements.
• Dodge Counter: After a successful dodge, press the melee button to perform a powerful counter-attack. This skill is a game-changer for dealing with melee-focused enemies and is highly recommended.

3. Brawler Skills

Brawler skills enhance Lara's melee combat, defensive capabilities, and resistance to damage. These are particularly useful for players who prefer a more aggressive, close-quarters approach.

• Pain Tolerance: Reduces incoming damage. A solid defensive skill, especially on higher difficulties.
• Axe Attack: Unlocks a powerful melee attack with the Climbing Axe. Great for finishing off weakened enemies or breaking their guard.
• Dodge Kill: After a successful dodge, press the melee button to instantly kill a stunned enemy. This is an advanced version of Dodge Counter and incredibly effective against most human enemies.
• Strong Melee: Increases the damage of all melee attacks.
• Thick Skin: Further reduces incoming damage, stacking with Pain Tolerance.

Weapon Upgrades

Weapon upgrades are performed at Base Camps using Salvage. Each weapon has multiple upgrade tiers, and each tier offers several specific improvements. Prioritize upgrades that complement your chosen skills and address weaknesses in your arsenal.

Bow Upgrades

The Bow is Lara's signature weapon and incredibly versatile. Early upgrades are essential.

• Recurve Bow: The first major upgrade, increasing draw speed and damage. Requires approximately 150 Salvage.
• Compound Bow: A powerful late-game upgrade, significantly boosting damage and range. Requires around 300 Salvage.
• Specific Upgrades:
  • Reinforced Limbs: Increases damage.
  • Stabilizing Brace: Improves accuracy.
  • Padded Grip: Reduces draw time.
  • Napalm Arrows: (Requires unlocking through story progression) Ignites enemies and environmental objects.
  • Explosive Arrows: (Requires unlocking through story progression) Deals area-of-effect damage.

Pistol Upgrades

Your reliable sidearm, useful for quick shots and finishing off enemies.

• High Capacity Magazine: Increases ammo capacity. Early investment recommended.
• Silencer: Allows for stealth kills without alerting nearby enemies. Crucial for stealth-focused players. Found in the Shipwreck Beach area.
• Specific Upgrades:
  • Ported Barrel: Increases damage.
  • Hair Trigger: Increases fire rate.
  • Heavy Slide: Reduces recoil.

Rifle Upgrades

Excellent for mid-range combat and taking down multiple foes.

• High Capacity Drum: Significantly increases ammo capacity.
• Grenade Launcher: (Requires unlocking through story progression) Adds an explosive secondary fire mode. Incredibly effective against groups and armored enemies.
• Specific Upgrades:
  • Polished Barrel: Increases damage.
  • Tactical Stock: Improves accuracy.
  • Rapid Fire Mod: Increases fire rate.

Shotgun Upgrades

Devastating at close range, perfect for crowd control and heavily armored enemies.

• Full Choke: Narrows the spread, increasing damage at slightly longer ranges.
• Drum Magazine: Increases ammo capacity, allowing for more sustained fire.
• Specific Upgrades:
  • Reinforced Barrel: Increases damage.
  • Recoil Suppressor: Reduces recoil.
  • Extended Stock: Improves accuracy.

Recommended Early Game Progression

For a balanced start, we recommend prioritizing the following:

1. Arrow Retrieval (Survivor): Essential for conserving arrows.
2. Advanced Salvaging (Survivor): Speeds up weapon upgrade progression.
3. Steady Shot (Hunter): Improves accuracy for all weapons, especially the Bow.
4. Dodge Counter (Hunter): Transforms melee encounters into opportunities for powerful counter-attacks.
5. Recurve Bow (Weapon Upgrade): Your first major bow upgrade will make a significant difference in combat.

Remember to regularly check your skill and upgrade menus at Base Camps. Adapting your choices to the challenges you face will be key to Lara's survival on Yamatai.