Debian, don't like apt.
Arch, breaks too much.
NixOs, just don't need the tools it provides.
Any fork of a mainline distro because it's never as good as the root.
I used arch for a while, but got sick of running repairs every few weeks. I use Gentoo now, it's stable and good. I have a fuck ton of ram and a good cpu, I also take advantage of binary packages from time to time. I don't really need to install new things that much after having done the initial install.
It can be used for other stuff. I use dwm and find that on occasion some programs aren't nice in dwm or don't work well. So, i suggest having both a tiling and a floating.
I know you're on ubuntu, but installing programs depends on your distribution. Some programs are in your software library, some aren't. But there will always be a way to get the program. For instance, I use Gentoo and Mullvad. The way I set it up is with Wireguard so I control it through the terminal, this is because Gentoo has no mullvad app. Otherwise, you can often add new libraries to your system. Again, on Gentoo Steam is not in my repository by default. So, I added the steam repository to my system so I could get it. For Mullvad, I'm pretty sure they offer a deb package, which Ubuntu can use. Otherwise, some other distributions offer a mullvad app in their repository by default. Try other distributions and see what clicks. A lot of linux is experimentation. I personally prefer doing a lot of things fairly manully, so I use Gentoo with essentially only a terminal for control. Linux Mint, Devian, Arch, Void, Nix, Gentoo; there's tons of choices so there's going to be something that you click with.
I use it, been using it for a while. Both my desktop and laptop run it. I like it a lot and find it really easy to use. Amytime I find an issue I can pretty quickly fix it and keep my system clean. Games run great, my music production software is great, it's fast, and just overall very enjoyable to use.
The arch breaks were always related to keys. I would run an update and there would always be an error related to the keys. Never had a breakage due to confs.
My favorite shoes are the Red Wing Iron Ranger's. I worked for them for 3 years and when I left I was gifted my second pair. They're great shoes in everyway. I only wish they had an 8 inch version available in the states. They had one back then in Europe, but nothing stateside. My two sets and the pile of other shoes I got when I worked there have been going strong some years on so I haven't boot shopped in a while, maybe they finally took my advice and did it.
Whatever you know best. My personal choice of distro is Gentoo, my gaming pc and my carry laptop both run it. My games run great in gentoo, and because I understand it best, I deal with few issues. For a long time it was Arch, and before that Ubuntu. I used Ubuntu for only maybe 2 months before moving onto Arch then Gentoo. My games always worked, but once I really understood Linux, they ran great.