Congratulations - you’ve rattled off your first handful of deliveries in Euro Truck Simulator 2, and the game has finally flashed the Skills page in front of you. From here on, the size of your paychecks and the distance of your routes depend far less on luck and far more on how you spend these first upgrade points.
Before you rush back onto the motorway, let’s break down exactly where your first few points should go and why they’ll speed up your growth instead of leaving you grinding.
Under the Hood: Skill-by-Skill Breakdown

Before everything, here are the skills available in-game. Each skill has 6 ranks and costs one skill point to spec up. Because you earn only one point each time you level up, the early game moves at a crawl if you choose the wrong perk; speccing into the wrong skills can trap you in a loop of short, low-paying runs.
ADR Training
The transportation of dangerous goods demands well-trained professionals. Use your hard-earned experience to acquire the following ADR certificates and substantially increase your income.
ADR skills are the only skills that are not to be unlocked linearly, with each skill being spent independently to unlock a certain ADR Class.
Class 1 – Explosives
The key to making this skill truly shine is to combine it with Fragile Cargo, as explosive cargo, such as both ammunition and explosives, needs both skill classes to be unlocked to show up on the freight and cargo market.
Class 2 – Gases
ADR Class 2 is not as common as other ADR cargoes, so this can be saved for later. The pay is also not as good as in other classes.
Class 3 – Flammable liquids
When starting, it can be a good idea to unlock this ADR class first. Fuel and oil are relatively common, pay really well, and generally require no other skills to be viable.

Class 3 – Flammable solids
As with Class 1 and Class 6 ADR cargo, this really only comes into its own when it is combined with the Fragile Cargo skill, unlocking high-value cargo options such as potassium.
Class 6 – Toxic and infectious substances
This is my personal favorite, as this unlocks biohazardous substances. When combined with fragile cargo, medical vaccine deliveries become available, which pay incredibly well and are very light, which makes for leisurely drives that help me earn both XP and euros at a fast pace.
Class 8 – Corrosive substances
If Class 3 cargo is too vanilla for you, Class 8 ADR is a good option. These cargoes generally do not need other skills, and many options for corrosive cargo become available as soon as you unlock the skill.
Long Distance

Your Long-Distance skill determines the maximum distance you can travel on duty. Initially, you are offered to drive no farther than 250 km.
Each rank of the skill unlocks longer distance routes, with routes longer than 403km being rewarded with bonus experience, with rewards also increasing per skill rank. The game already rewards you with XP based on your distance traveled, which means longer distances are rewarded more. When combined with the bonuses this skill provides, ranking up becomes a piece of cake.
High-Value Cargo
All cargo is valuable, but some loads are more valuable than others. Companies trust only proven experts to carry out these kinds of deliveries.
High-value cargo jobs pay well and unlock interesting cargo options. Each rank of this skill grants higher rewards and experience for high-value deliveries.
Fragile Cargo
This skill allows you to transport fragile cargo such as glass, electronics, or delicate machinery.
Fragile Cargo synergizes well with ADR and High-Value skills, as many of the high-reward fragile cargo jobs are high-value as well, such as cars, yachts, and scooters. The same concept also applies to ADR skills, as mentioned in the ADR section. Each rank of this skill provides higher rewards and experience for fragile cargo deliveries.
Just-In-Time Delivery

Sometimes companies need to deliver something important quickly, so they call for a just-in-time job. Such work puts more stress on the driver; the delivery window is tighter, but the compensation eases your level of discomfort.
This skill is best unlocked for experienced drivers, as driving both fast and safely requires a ton of practice. The first rank of this skill unlocks important deliveries, which have a tighter delivery window. The second rank unlocks urgent deliveries, which have even shorter deadlines but give higher rewards. Subsequent ranks simply increase the rewards and experience for these deliveries. Just-in-time bonuses can apply to almost all types of cargo, so this is another synergistic skill.
Eco-Driving
Improved ecodriving skills will help you minimize your fuel consumption.
This skill is rendered useless if you have “Realistic Fuel Consumption” on in your game settings, and fuel is a negligible expense with how well-paying deliveries in the game are. Furthermore, if you’re still doing quick jobs, fuel is handled by your employer anyway, so your skill points are really better spent elsewhere.
Level-Up Roadmap: Spending Your First Points

This section is by no means a strict guide - feel free to customize the order of skills yourself. This is what works for me, as I find that this really gives me a lot of experience points. I tend to lean towards longer jobs, so if long hauls aren’t for you, you can always combine multiple smaller high-value and just-in-time deliveries.
I recommend starting by leveling up Long Distance, at least to its second or third rank, to travel further and get more XP from kilometers traveled. It’s then best to spec at least one point each into the Fragile and High-Value skills. Alternatively, you can start your ADR training with Class 3 and skip High-Value, as this will still give you a nicely rewarding cargo pool. Once you’re confident in your trucking skills, go for Just-In-Time to add bonuses to your deliveries.
Try to maximize your Long-Distance skill above all else, as the kilometer-XP combination is still the best way to level up. Here’s a nice little trick - constraints for urgent and important deliveries also become more forgiving at longer distances, which means they reward you without the time pressure.
Closing Thoughts
Try this method for hauling cargo to stack the best early pay and XP bonuses. I’ve tailored this roadmap to unlock the widest set of profitable jobs while you’re still in a starter truck, turning every run into noticeable progress. Before you know it, your single-rig outfit may very well snowball into a fleet.
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