Rise of the Tomb Raider Guide

Rise of the Tomb Raider offers a large and dangerous world to explore, as well as a large skill tree to master. To help you get on the right line to success, we've put together some essential tips that will help Lara conquer her foes and find all the secrets.

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Complete the Challenge Tombs

You could get through to Rise of the Tomb Raider's end credits without setting foot in a Challenge Tomb, but by doing that you'd miss out on some neat bonuses that will aid you on your adventure. There are nine Challenge Tombs to conquer, so if you see a message telling you that you're near, don't ignore it: go and earn your prize. As a bonus, the Challenge Tombs offer some of the game's best moments.

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Use the Supply Shack to buy items

This might sound obvious (buy things from the shop), but the Supply Shack is a single location in the world of Rise of the Tomb Raider. Because you're unlikely to run into it again after first discovering it, it's worth remembering that it's there. Simply fast travel (from any base camp) to it and use earned in-game currency to buy any supplies and weapons you want. The laser sight for rifles and the suppressor for pistols are excellent buys.

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Get that XP as quickly as possible

Earning XP gives you upgrade points, which can be used to give Lara new or enhanced abilities. To maximise XP we advise that you unlock the Avid Learner skill as soon as possible. While not as exciting as other upgrades, it'll pay dividends going forward. Combine this with attempting headshots on enemies (the Dead Eye skill places a symbol on the screen when you've targeted a head) and your XP will skyrocket.

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Craft wisely

As soon as you have the resources (Hide, Cloth, and Bear Hide), use them to craft the Satchel and Rucksack. With these items and as many of the Naturalist and Survivalist skills unlocked you'll be able to gather more resources and in turn craft more upgrades for Lara's gear.

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Essential skill unlocks

In order to take less damage and loot more ammo (something that can be rare at points), skills worth unlocking as early as possible are "Thick Skinned", "Iron Hide", "Scavenger", and "Soft Landing". While the last one doesn't help you against enemies, it does prevent you from taking damage from medium height falls.

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Check your ammo

At times you can suddenly find yourself under attack, from mercenaries or (often more frighteningly), large wild animals. If you find yourself in this position, you don't want to see your special ammo supplies are low or completely depleted. You can (resources pending) craft new ammo on the fly, but it's best to take a moment every now and again to craft your fire, explosive and poison arrows, and get your shotgun equipped with as many explosive shells as possible.

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Stealth is an option

Lara can get hold of a pretty devastating arsenal of weapons, but she also has some effective stealth techniques, especially if you unlock a few new skills. Her standard stealth kills require a fairly lengthy strangulation, so it's worth unlocking the Deadly Force skill. This lets lara take out foes with quicker attacks using the ice axe.

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Make the most of the map

Certain items in the game world will only be shown on the map once you find items (such as Archivist Maps and Lost Satchels). Once you have an item on the map you can set a waypoint marker and then visualise this during gameplay by pressing down on the right analogue stick. It's also worth keeping an eye out for a small triangle next to location markers, which indicates the object is on a lower level or in a cave.

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Find those Coin Caches

Coin Caches are hard to find because you need to do a lot in order to highlight them on the game map. Firstly you'll need to translate (look at) all the Documents and Murals you can find, in turn increasing Lara's languages skills. She'll then be able to to use Monoliths (of her Language level or lower) to find Coin Caches.

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Stock up on Hardwood

If you're playing on any of the difficulty settings, Hardwood is used by Lara to craft arrows, but on Survivor difficulty you'll need it to activate certain Base Camps. Base Camps let you upgrade your skills and weapons, and fast travel around the map, so are very useful to find. Make sure you have a good supply of Hardwood if you're on Survivor mode or else you might find yourself unable to make camp.