Arc Raiders is finally out, and like anyone else who’s played it, I spent way too much time staring at the skill tree trying to figure out the best path.
But I noticed something annoying: every time I wanted to share a build with a friend or check a stat on my phone, I had to either take a shaky photo of my monitor or scroll through a clunky, ad-filled Wiki.
So, I decided to build a cleaner version myself: arcskilltree.net.
It’s still early days—I’m not pulling in thousands of users yet—but I wanted to share the logic behind how I’m building it and why I’m obsessing over the small details.
- The "Shareable Link" Problem The main reason I built this wasn't just to show info, but to make it portable.
I used URLSearchParams to make sure that every time you click a skill, the URL in your browser updates automatically. If you want to show someone your "Speed Scout" build, you just copy the link and send it. No screenshots, no long explanations. It’s a simple feature, but it’s the one thing the community actually needed to stop arguing in text and start showing proof.
- Obsessing over the "Feel" (The CSS struggle) I’ll be honest: I spent way more time on the CSS than I probably should have. I wanted those neon glows, the specific grid layout, and the line connections to feel exactly like the in-game UI.
Why? Because when a developer shows up to a community with a tool that looks like it was made in 5 minutes, nobody trusts the data. By making it look high-fidelity, it signals that I actually care about the game. It’s about building trust through pixels.
- My Stack: Keeping it Simple I didn't want to overengineer this.
React: Good for managing the state of all those nodes.
Plain CSS: No heavy UI libraries. I needed total control to get that sci-fi look right.
Vercel: For quick deployment.
- Being a Contributor, Not a Spammer I’m very conscious about how I talk about arcskilltree.net. Nobody likes a dev who just drops a link and leaves.
Instead of saying "Check out my site," I wait for someone on Reddit to ask, "Does anyone know how many points it takes to reach X skill?" Then I'll jump in with a pre-filled link to the builder that answers their question. It’s slow, but the feedback I get is way more honest and helpful.
What's next?
The site is still a work in progress. I’m looking to add more stat calculations and maybe a way to save multiple builds.
If you're playing the game, give it a spin at arcskilltree.net. If you're a dev, I’d love to hear how you handle UI fidelity in your own side projects.
See you in the Zone!
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