Tomb Raider Guide | How to Level Up Fast and Get the Best Skills

Gaining a new experience level provides a skill point in Tomb Raider, which can be spent at a campsite to acquire abilities from one of three categories. This guide explains how you earn experience points and how they are used to unlock new skills.

Primary Methods for Earning Experience

Every step forward on this island teaches you something. Pushing through the main path of the story gives you steady experience, with the biggest chapters offering a major leap in your understanding.

When you face enemies, simply surviving the fight grants you knowledge, but mastering the encounter—with a clean headshot, a silent takedown from the shadows, or a perfect counter—imparts a much deeper lesson and is rewarded as such.

Exploring optional tombs is highly efficient, as each tomb's treasure chest yields 1250 XP. Discovering secrets, like relics or documents, provides between 5 and 25 XP per item. 

Completing an entire set of secrets, such as all Relic Vases, awards an additional bonus ranging from 150 to 500 XP.

Secondary Methods for Earning Experience

Additional experience points come from other actions. Hunting and harvesting animals provides a variable bonus per species, generally from a few to several dozen XP.

You should note that you can hunt in a major area until a "cleansing" message appears; after this, each animal kill yields only 1 XP. You can also earn XP by locating orange supply crates or finding interactive plants.

Skills That Enhance Experience Gain

Certain skills increase the XP you earn from specific actions, such as making headshots or harvesting animals. Unlocking these skills early is recommended to maximize your experience accumulation throughout the game.

Unlocking Skills at Campsites

After you collect enough XP to reach a new level, you must travel to a discovered campsite. Select the first tab in the menu to access the skills interface and spend your skill point.

You do not need to spend the points immediately; unspent skill points are saved indefinitely for later use.

Also, check our Tomb Raider (2013) Review and Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Review, and other guides below.

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