Every character in Risk of Rain 2 has several choices of abilities available to them, provide you have unlocked them of course. For this reason, I am going to be showing you the best loadouts for every character in Risk of Rain 2 and how to unlock these brand new abilities.
This has been updated for the Survivors of the Void DLC. Aka, the latest PC update. If you aren’t on PC you will be missing a few of the abilities, but everything else is still relevant.
Since there are going to be a bunch more loadouts added as Risk of Rain 2 gets updated, I will keep this guide fresh and make sure to add any new abilities and loadouts as they are added.
That being said, let’s get started with the first character you can play in Risk of Rain 2, the Commando.
Table of Contents
Best Loadout for the Commando
To say the Commando sucked at everything is pretty fair. He couldn’t do good AOE damage or single target damage to literally save his life.
This is something more or less expected, as he is the “vanilla” survivor in Risk of Rain 2 and serves as a starting point for all new players.
However, the skills 2.0 update has given the Commando some new life. His new ability Phase Blast is basically just an upgrade over his old ability Phase Round. The only negative repercussions being a decreased proc coefficient per shot (but it shoots eight so it should proc more) and the fact it can’t travel through the terrain, a largely irrelevant factor.
Other than a new secondary, the Commando also got a new special ability, Frag Grenade.
The Frag Grenade is not a direct upgrade to the Commando’s previous special. Instead, it is an entirely new ability that caters to a different playstyle which is how I prefer these loadouts to be.
For the most part, I would go with his old special. The stun it provides and the scaling factor makes it a whole lot better in my opinion. However, if you feel like you are lacking AOE damage as the Commando, then I would recommend the Frag Grenade.
As of the new Artifact update, the Commando has also received a new utility skill. Tactical Slide replaces his old combat roll with something you see out of a Call of Duty. When you press shift (or whatever button you use) you will slide forward.
There are two things that make this superior to Tactical Dive (the OG). First, you can shoot while sliding, meaning more DPS. Secondly, Tactical Slide can be improved with move speed, which Tactical Dive cannot. Also, if you use the ability while jumping you get a slight boost in the air instead of sliding, making some terrain traversable.
To shorten things up, get the new secondary Phase Blast. Whether you want to switch between the new special or the old is mainly personal preference and or playstyle differences. Get the new Tactical Slide and use that for higher DPS potential.
How to Unlock Commando’s Loadout
To unlock the Commando’s Phase Blast you will need to land the killing blow on an overloading worm.
To unlock the Commando’s Frag Grenade, you need to clear 20 stages as the Commando without picking up a lunar item.
To unlock the Commando’s Tactical Slide, you need to clear the first stage in less than 5 minutes. (Just put it on Drizzle and do the teleporter immediately).
Best Loadout for MUL-T
MUL-T is a good character and has been for a while now. Sadly, this update did nothing to help him, in fact, it kinda made him weaker.
The new loadout for MUL-T, the saw blade, makes MUL-T a melee character with none of the benefits. Sure, it supposedly does 1000% damage, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that once you get into melee range of anything, and I mean anything, it is going to give your silly little robot head a whack.
I tried this out just to be sure and lo and behold a Lemurian (and I ain’t even talking about the Elder) was giving me the what for. Truly, I shudder to imagine dealing with wisps as melee MUL-T.
Alright, that’s enough of me dumping on the saw. Now let me dump on his Scrap Launcher.
The Scrap Launcher serves next to no purpose on MUL-T. He doesn’t need the AOE damage it provides and the fact that it has four charges doesn’t help either.
To be fair, the problem I have with both of MUL-T’s new skills is the fact his old loadout is far superior, the Auto-Nailgun for most situations and the Rebar for sniping far away enemies like wisps.
Consider situations like running into a flying enemy (which you will in Risk of Wisps 2). With his saw, he literally can’t do damage to it and will need to retool to deal with it. Hopefully, you have a Rebar since MUL-T’s Auto-Nailgun kinda sucks at dealing with air units as well.
My advice? For all of you MUL-T mains out there, forget this update even happened. Don’t change your loadout, don’t even play with it a little, there is nothing but pain here.
How to Unlock MUL-T’s Loadout
- Gotcha! (Scrap Launcher) – As MUL-T, land the killing blow on an Imp Overlord with the Preon Accumulator.
- Pest Control (Power-Saw) – As MUL-T, defeat two Beetle Queens without leaving the teleporter zone.
Best Loadout for the Huntress
Now the Huntress is a character who got a big Ol’ buff.
Something that the Huntress lacked before this update was the ability to do decent single target damage. This was because of both of her best abilities doing AOE damage and the only real single target damage she could do was her primary attack, which is super weak early on.
Thankfully, Hopoo must have realized this and gave her a brand spanking new ability accurately named “Ballista”.
Not only does the Ballista do a very nice amount of single target damage, but it also serves as extra mobility for the Huntress. The Ballista teleports her above the ground a couple of meters and allows her to traverse areas she otherwise might not be able to reach, especially when used in conjunction with her blink/utility ability.
Speaking of which, her new blink is technically better. Except, not really. You end up trading the better mobility of the original blink, for something more like the Commando’s dash, which only allows you to go forward and not upward or to the side.
Artifact has blessed all Huntress mains with a new primary attack. Flurry launches 3 arrows instead of the usual 1, and critical strikes fire off 6 arrows (and do double damage on top of that). Needless to say, this is a weebit better.
In short, use Huntress’s new special ability and keep her old utility skill and also take her new primary.
How to Unlock Huntress’s Loadout
- One-Shot, One Kill (Blink) – As Huntress, collect and carry 12 Crowbars at once.
- Huntress: Piercing Wind (Ballista) – Beat Rallypoint Delta (Stage 3) without taking Damage
- Huntress: Finishing Touch – Land six killing blows with a single glaive.
Best Loadout for Engineer
Much like MUL-T, the Engineer received a skill that somewhat ruins his kit rather than benefiting it. I am of course talking about the new Carbonizer Turrets.
These turrets, unlike the original Gauss Turrets, are mobile and move around the map, normally following the Engineer like lost puppies. They are honestly super cute.
Sadly, cuteness is the only redeeming trait they have.
The Carbonizer Turrets break the best item synergy for the Engineer, aka, the bustling fungus, because they move about on their cute Lil legs.
Also on their list of crimes against humanity include having a garbage range, making them straight bad at killing air units. Which is already an issue for the Engineer.
To make matters worse, the bubble shield won’t protect them because they move outside of it. And, spoiler warning, they won’t go back inside it.
I personally think that Hopoo needs to make the Engineer’s shield stick to surfaces. That way when I use my little puppy turrets I can stick the shield to them and have a mobile bubble shield. Just a thought.
The Engineer’s new mines, however, are superior to the old pressure mines. Spider mines, as they are called, do 600% damage to enemies and seek out enemies once placed down. Compare this to the 300% damage of the pressure mines (900% if charged for 3 seconds) and you can see why the Spider mines are way better.
We also have a new utility skill for Engineer ala the Artifact update. Thermal Harpoons are tracking harpoons that allow you to “paint” enemies for the missiles/harpoons to target and then attack. These charge just like your mines, meaning you have 4 to start and you slowly get one every couple seconds.
Long story short, use the old turrets and the new mines when playing the Engineer. His utility is optional if you want to play a more aggressive playstyle.
How to Unlock Engineer’s Loadout
- Better With Friends (Spider Mines) – As Engineer, recruit 12 minions at one time.
- 100% Calculated (Carbonizer Turrets) – As Engineer, defeat the teleporter boss in less than 5 seconds after it spawns.
- Unlocked via the “Engineer: Zero Sum” Challenge. (As Engineer, finish charging the teleporter with zero monsters remaining on the stage.)
Best Loadout for Artificer
Apparently Hopoo loves the Artificer because she got three new abilities in the update. Although, most of them aren’t great.
The new Artificer primary attack, Plasma Bolt, does the same damage and holds the same charges as the Artificer’s old primary. The only difference being that the new one does AOE damage.
Her new secondary is amazing. Again, as with the new primary, this one does the same damage and has the same cooldown as the old secondary. The new secondary, however, can pierce through enemies AND freeze them.
For those of you who don’t play Artificer, being frozen means they are executed at low health. See why it might be good now?
As for Artificer’s special, well this is going to be up to you to decide. On the one hand, the old special, Flamethrower, does way more damage but on the other hand, the new special Ion Burst stuns in an AOE and shoots you in the air. Way in the air.
I personally think that the maneuverability of the new Ion Burst is enough to make it really good, but the Flamethrower is just so damn good at killing things. It is the hardest choice on the list IMO.
TL;DR: Get the Artificer’s old primary, her new secondary, and keep the Flamethrower for damage and Ion Burst for mobility.
How to Unlock the Artificer’s Loadout
- Chunked! (Nano-Spear) – Kill the teleporter boss with one second of burst damage.
To get Chunked! on the Artificer, play on Drizzle and rush for the Preon in stage 3. Restart if you don’t get to it in time.
- Orbital Bombardment (Ion Surge) – kill 15 enemies before touching the ground.
- Massacre (Plasma Bolt) – Perform a multi-kill on 20 enemies.
Best Loadout for Mercenary
The Mercenary didn’t get any buffs from this patch either. Both of his new abilities, Rising Thunder and Slicing Winds, are just slightly worse versions of his original skills.
In the case of Rising Thunder, it does do more damage than the original Mercenary skill, but it decreases his overall mobility because the new skill can only push him upwards. The AOE is roughly the same, however.
Now, for the Mercenary’s new special ability, the new loadout choice, Slicing Winds, is inferior. His old special, Eviscerate, allowed him to be nigh-invulnerable during the animation as it prevented him from being hit. It was the best “oh shit” button in the game. being melee made it even better for the Mercenary to have, considering he has to be right up in the action to do damage.
Slicing Winds might do more damage but in a game like Risk of Rain 2, you need to balance survivability with damage.
Also, something to consider when playing the Mercenary is his (nearly) unrivaled mobility. You can easily clear a good chunk of the map with his base skills. His Whirlwind, Blinding Assault, and Eviscerate all move him forward and can keep him vertical.
For these reasons, I would say the best loadout for the Mercenary in Risk of Rain 2 is his old secondary, Whirlwind, and his old special, Eviscerate.
How to Unlock Mercenary’s Loadout
- Demon of the Skies – don’t touch the ground for 30 seconds
- Ethereal – complete a Prismatic Trial without falling below 100% health.
Best Loadout for Rex
So back in Skills 2.0, Rex got a brand spanking new loadout called Seed Volley. This is now changed in the Hidden Realms update, but I will keep the previous image up just to give people an idea of what the old secondary used to be like.
Previously, his secondary loadout was a slightly worse version of the original, it did more damage but cost more health. Now, with Hidden Realms, it has been changed to a different ability called Drill.
Drill is actually a wee bit better than his secondary now, depending on how you look at it. It lasts for three seconds and has a six-second cooldown, which means it has a downtime of three seconds. Seed Barrage doesn’t have this downtime, meaning you can continually pump out DPS without wasting any time.
That all being said, the main difference between the two is the fact that Drill doesn’t cost any health, while the Seed Barrage does.
As for Rex’s new utility skill, Bramble Volley, this functions almost exactly like his old one except it does damage/heals him as well. It still weakens and pushes you back, so really, it is kind of an upgrade over his old utility skill.
TL;DR: Get Rex’s new secondary if you don’t want to do damage to yourself and take his new utility as it is just an upgrade.
How to Unlock Rex’s Loadout
- Bushwhacked – Complete an entire teleporter even while under 50% health.
- Rex: Dunked – As Rex, kill a Clay Dunestrider on Abandoned Aqueduct by throwing it into the pit.
Best Loadout for Loader
The Loader is the most straightforward of all the survivors in Risk of Rain 2. Always get the new Spiked Fist.
Her previous secondary, Grapple Fist, pulled you towards whatever you grappled to. Spiked Fist works the same way, but when you grapple enemies it does 320% damage AND will pull them to you if they are small enough (beetles, Lemurians, wisps, etc.). Literally just an upgrade.
And now the Hidden realms update has added another loadout for the Loader. This one is an alternate Charged Gauntlet that will do AOE damage rather than just single target damage. It is called “Thunder Gauntlet”.
Thunder Gauntlet does do a bit less damage than the original Charged Gauntlet, but only in a single target situation. If there are any more than one enemy around when you hit something, the Thunder Gauntlet is superior and does much more DPS.
You shouldn’t need a tl;dr for this but here it is. GET SPIKED FIST! And, with the new hidden realms update, get the Thunder Gauntlet as well.
How to Unlock Loader’s Loadouts
- Swing By (Spiked Fist) – Reach and proceed through the Celestial Portal in 25 minutes or less.
- Unlock Thunder Gauntlet: Earthshatter – As Loader, land a charged gauntlet hit at 300 MPH or higher.
Best Loadout for Acrid
The newest survivor as of the Hidden Realms update is Acrid, and he has only one choice of loadout to discuss. That choice being between his first utility skill, Caustic Leap, and his second, Frenzied Leap.
The main differences between the two come down to the fact that Caustic Leap poisons while Frenzied Leap does not. The tradeoff being that Frenzied Leap does more damage with a larger AOE and some CD reduction.
Both of them have the same amount of charges and stun all enemies hit, they also seem to leap you the same distance, so there is no mobility change there.
Get Acrid’s Frenzied Leap if you want instantaneous damage, and get Caustic Leap if you’d prefer DOT damage.
Blight is an alternative passive to Acrid’s poison. It does less damage BUT can be applied multiple times and is lethal. This makes it higher single target DPS but sacrifices AOE potential.
Ravenous bite is an alternate secondary attack. It is a melee ability that does more damage to low health enemies. Not really my cup of tea since it does seem weaker, but if you prefer the melee playstyle go for it.
How to Unlock Acrid’s Loadout
- Pandemic (Reference to his skill in RoR1)- As Acrid, inflict poison 1000 total times.
- Blight: Acrid: Easy Prey: Land the killing blow on 50 enemies that have 1 hit point left.
- Ravenous Bite: Acrid: Bad Medicine: Land the killing blow on a scavenger.
Best Loadout for Captain
The best loadout for Captain is:
- Diablo Strike
- Two hacking beacons
You can’t really choose anything else.
Diablo strike is often memed on because of how long it takes to land, but you can skip pillars with it and it is really good at killing bosses/Mithrix. It takes some getting used to, but it is very good once you understand it.
The hacking beacons are just the de-facto best beacons for Captain. No other beacon can give you free legendaries and cut down time spent on stage as these can.
Best Loadout for Bandit
For Bandit, almost all of his loadout is good. Regardless of what you pick, Bandit will be a good survivor. However, I believe this is the best loadout/build for him:
- Burst – Default Primary
- Serrated Shiv – Alt Secondary
- Desperado – Alt Secondary
Burst is a more close-range primary attack which fits my playstyle.
Serrated Shiv is just the thrown version of Serrated Dagger (range > melee).
And Desperado is the only ability in the game that can stack infinitely (resets every stage sadly). So even if you lack damage at the start of a stage, if you kill enough weak things you will eventually be able to kill stronger things. Big brain.
Survivors of the Void DLC Loadouts
In Survivors of the Void, the paid DLC for Risk of Rain 2, we have two new survivors to play with. One, the void fiend, does not actually have a separate loadout, instead void fiend has a different form. So we won’t worry about him here.
Best Loadout for Railgunner
If you want to read about what rail gunner does, it is covered more in-depth in our rail gunner guide, but here is the gist.
When it comes to Railgunner, the build is somewhat simple. You want all of the default skills EXCEPT for the special, which you should take the alternate for.
Her alternate secondary allows her to shoot as much as she wants without reloading, but you lose over half the damage.
Railgunners alternate utility, polar field device, is just plain bad and removes her only mobility so never use that.
And finally, her alternate special does extra damage on her next shot and “freezes” the enemy, much like Artificer. Unlike her default special, Supercharge, Cryocharge doesn’t prevent you from shooting afterward.
The reason that we choose the alternate special for Railgunner is mainly for killing Mithrix. With Cryocharge, it is SUPER easy to kill Mithrix and is mandatory for eclipse climbs.
Personally, I prefer the default special, but I think cryocharge is likely better overall for Railgunners build/loadout.
Cheat Codes for Loadouts (Editor Hack)
Risk of Rain 2 allows you to edit a certain text file to unlock everything in the game. This includes, monster logs, items, and even loadouts. Some people prefer to not cheat and get everything the legit way (we call them sadists), but here is the list of codes for everyone who would rather just have it unlocked for them.
Quick tutorial for those who have no idea how to do it.
1) Navigate to your steam userdata folder [C:\Program Files\(x86)\Steam\userdata\[Number]\632360\remote\UserProfiles]
2) Edit the file in the folder with notepad++ (Or notepad)
3) Find lines that say <unlock> Skills
4.) Add any line from below to that list
Commando:
- <unlock>Skills.Commando.FireShotgunBlast</unlock>
- <unlock>Skills.Commando.ThrowGrenade</unlock>
Engineer:
- <unlock>Skills.Engi.SpiderMine</unlock>
- <unlock>Skills.Engi.WalkerTurret</unlock>
Huntress:
- <unlock>Skills.Huntress.MiniBlink</unlock>
- <unlock>Skills.Huntress.Snipe</unlock>
Loader:
- <unlock>Skills.Loader.YankHook</unlock>
- <unlock>Skills.Loader.ZapFist</unlock>
Artificer:
- <unlock>Skills.Mage.FlyUp</unlock>
- <unlock>Skills.Mage.IceBomb</unlock>
- <unlock>Skills.Mage.LightningBolt</unlock>
Mercenary:
- <unlock>Skills.Merc.EvisProjectile</unlock>
- <unlock>Skills.Merc.Uppercut</unlock>
MUL-T
- <unlock>Skills.Toolbot.Buzzsaw</unlock>
- <unlock>Skills.Toolbot.Grenade</unlock>
- <unlock>Skills.Toolbot.Spear</unlock>
Rex:
- <unlock>Skills.Treebot.Barrage</unlock>
Acrid:
- <unlock>Skills.Croco.ChainableLeap</unlock>
Please take some time to appreciate some of the names of these. I feel like Croco is a perfect name for Acrid.
End
That’s it. Those are my choices for the best loadouts on every survivor in Risk of Rain 2.
Keep in my mind these are my choices and reflect my personal playstyle and preferences. It’s up to you to choose what you think is best.
