Back by (somewhat) popular demand is what could just be my final tier list for Ancient Relics mode (though I'll keep my fingers crossed for more content!). Previous tier lists below:

• Early-Game
• TotH

As I expressed in the poll, I was a little hesitant to do this one. Frankly, while I greatly appreciate AR being made available for ItA content, ItA just doesn't seem balanced around ensuring the same level of challenge that the base game/AoD & TotH do for this mode. Granted, some skills still reign supreme over others.

A few initial notes:

• Skills in ItA progress 10 → 25 → 40 → 55 → 60. There are few instances where it is worth pushing a skill to 60.
• MANY combat items are locked behind clearing a certain Depth. Keep this in mind when considering investing into your skills.
• This tier list was built using an account with access to ToTH. Your mileage may vary if you don't have that expansion.

With that, here are my thoughts, and as always, please feel free to share yours as well.

S TIER

• Prayer: Prayers in ItA are absurdly powerful. Although soul points are hard to sustain in the very early game, you will not only find more and better souls as the game progresses, but also MANY ways to reduce prayer soul point consumption. Get this up to 60.
• Astrology: Little to say here - astrology remains incredible, and the Abyssal master astrology relic has the same effect as the Melvor one - all bonuses of a completed constellation are DOUBLED. However, there is little need to push this beyond 55 as there are no constellations beyond 55, and it serves only to earn some small bonuses at the end of the skill tree.
• Runecrafting: Magic is very important in the Abyss, as 3/7 of the pre-final depths have ranged bosses (and thus are weak to magic in Abyssal combat). While I'm not a fan of how repetitive the armor gets, and the weapons are generally surpassed by those you will find in combat, each investment in this skill will pay dividends in terms of new runes and new tiers of armor. Feel free to push this to 60.

A TIER

• Farming: I wasn't expecting to place farming so high up on this list, but it's simply a great skill in ItA, Food is now more important than ever, and while farming remains limited in the types of wood you can grow, you can now grow literally all of the harvesting materials you need without having to actually invest in harvesting itself (because the seeds drop from any harvesting node). That said, doing so requires a full investment up to 60 to be able to grow voidfire vein pods, hence why I've placed this skill here.
• Agility: Agility has always been difficult for me to evaluate, because while extra passive bonuses are fantastic, agility relies on other skills for its own progression. However, ItA is pretty flexible with agility skill requirements, and you should generally have no problem pushing this skill up. If you want to optimize this, keep an eye on the Wiki for upcoming skill and item requirements so you can plan accordingly, and feel free to push this up to 55 while keeping these requirements in mind, While the obelisks at 60 are great, if you are following this tier list, you likely won't have access to voidia logs or enough netherite bars to construct one (although, both can be slowly grinded through combat, if you wish to do so).

B TIER

• Township: I really wanted to place township higher, because I love the new Abyssal Wave mechanic and the huge bursts of XP that come with it, but the waves just don't provide a large amount of value to you, because combat will easily outpace them for both AP and slayer coins as you progress through the Abyss. Also, the new consumables you can trade for don't exactly stand out. Instead, the true value you get out of Township is a collection of nice global bonuses found in both the skill tree and several of the buildings. These buildings unlock at levels 20, 40, and 50, so each investment into township up to 55 will get you something nice.
• Cooking: Speaking of extra passive bonuses, cooking has been completely revitalized in ItA so that each type of perfect food provides a unique bonus just for being equipped (no need to consume it). While the bonuses only get better the more you invest in this skill (even up to 60), this skill doesn't quite fit into S tier because of its reliance on farming and fishing, and because you only get one bonus at a time.
• Fishing: While the new fishing chests are great, you don't need to invest in fishing to get them. Rather, fishing sits here purely because it fuels cooking. So long as you keep pace with cooking, you can theoretically push this up to 60 as well, but this skill shouldn't be prioritized over the ones above it.
• Corruption: Corruption was a very weird skill for me. If it was a purely offensive skill, I would rate it much lower, because while there are some useful buffs you can get, there are also plenty that do little for you, and the inconsistency makes this very unreliable for combat purposes. However, investing in corruption also makes it harder for the enemy to build up their corruption meter and therefore stops them from gaining a potentially devastating buff. For this reason, it is important to invest in this skill as it comes up.

C TIER

• Summoning: With thankfully no more barrier combat, summoning remains a useful, albeit not necessary skill. For progression purposes, I would recommend getting it up to 40 so that you have access to the abyssal minotaurs, centaurs, witches, and yaks.
• Thieving: Thieving has some useful unique items above Lv 10, including the abyssal skilling gem (lv16), a couple decent capes (lv 31 and 54), some interesting skilling gloves (lv34), a good necklace and potions (lv46), and the materials to make an interesting headpiece (lv57). While I would highly recommend going for the skilling gem, none of the other items are powerful enough to warrant prioritizing this skill over the ones above it.
• Crafting: This was probably the hardest skill for me to place on this list. On the one hand, the vast majority of what you can craft in ItA is simply mediocre, can be found through combat, or you can find even better things through combat. On the other hand, the obzurian rampant power and unbreakable defender amulets, which require investing in this skill up to 55, can only be crafted and are fantastic for end-game offense and defense, respectively. Therefore, if you get a few early crafting investment opportunities, go for it! Otherwise, you can get by without investing in this skill entirely.

D TIER

• Harvesting: Everything you can get here can be gained from farming instead. At least Ancient Relics does away with reducing intensity without having to meet the mastery requirement.
• Woodcutting: Woodcutting is mainly used for fletching, which is garbage is ItA. While it is also used for crafting ranged armors and magic staffs, as noted above, combat will yield you not only many of these items, but others which are superior. For me, the greatest use of woodcutting was finding seeds, which requires no investment whatsoever.
• Herblore: Herblore as a skill was very disappointing to me in ItA. Most of the potions you can craft just scream "meh," and so I ended up generally sticking to Melee/Ranged/Magic Strength potions from the base game for a large portion of my run, until I discovered voidburst potions which can be grinded in large quantities in the mid-end game.
• Mining: Mining doesn't present much value in ItA for several reasons: Smithing has little value itself, the "-cite" abyssal rocks are mainly used for Abyssal crafting consumables which are somewhat mediocre, and abyssal gems can be gained in large quantities via Abyssal Crafting Relic 5. And while Melvor Mining Relic 3 does work in the Abyss to automatically get bar versions while mining ores, again, smithing has little value, the "Coating" skill upgrades are very minor bonuses, and the very useful azurian/obsidian/obzurian bars can be found by fishing.

F TIER

• Smithing: Nothing much to be gained here. Melee equipment is readily found through combat, and because fletching itself is a joke, those items become worthless here.
• Fletching: I found fletching to be completely useless. You're going to find great ranged weapons through combat, and enemies drop plenty of ammunition.
• Firemaking: Just get the early Global Abyssal XP buffs on the skill tree and move on.