Risk of Rain 2 – How to Survive

The Basics-Rainstorm

Note: Credit goes to crab.king274

If you’re new to the Risk of Rain series…then you’re at a disadvantage right now. What you almost always need to do, is run. Run, jump, zig-zag, and don’t look back. The hostile creatures on this planet don’t just let you root through you’re inventory trying to find an effective item. You’ve got to plan out what you’re strategy is before hand, and make the first shot(s). All while never stopping unless you need to pick up an item. What you want to look for is the Teleporter, but don’t think that it’s you’re highest priority. These types of games have a delayed fatal prank in them that you are never aware of from the start. Instead, run around searching for cheap chests or terminals to buy items from. Unlike RoR 1, this game almost requires you to play in multiplayer. Otherwise, you can turn into mince meat rather quickly. Gunning down those annoying flying enemies is the only time you should ever stop sprinting, and sacrifice some health. So after you have at least a handful of items, rush to the teleporter and wait for everyone to join. The strategy for bosses is to stay a fair ways away from it and, you guessed it, never stop completely. With everyone helping, it shouldn’t take that long to defeat the first boss. Ironically enough, probably the most threatening things aren’t the giant bosses, but the SWARMS of enemies spawning. Take all that out and scrounge up some more items with the fat wallet you have now before teleporting, as it will drain all you’re money away.

The Essentials-Rainstorm

If you’re wondering why I’m putting “-Rainstorm” after everything, you’ll see later.

Anyway, this section will talk about some of the items you should seek out. I don’t like using the “Meta” loadout because it makes you soft. And having to switch strategies after some things are nerfed just adds to the difficulty to this game. Which you probably don’t want unless you play Enter the Gungeon. So this is what I recommend.

• Critical chance items like “Lens Maker’s Glasses”
  
• Proc items like “Old War Stealthkit”
  
• Atk speed boosters like “Soldiers Syringe”
  
• Items that can stack in strength like “Tri-Tip Dagger” or “Sticky Bomb”
  
• Just basic helping or healing items like “Foreign Fruit” or “War Banner”
  
• Sometimes shield items like “Tougher Times” and “Personal Shield Generator”

Those are the items that I look out for anyway. Together, you can tank through the intermediate levels with some skill. Finding a printer is even better, because you can exchange garbage as many times as you have garbage.

The Difficulty Gauge-Rainstorm Late

Ever notice that saying in the trailer, “The longer you play, the harder it gets.”? Well they weren’t lying. This is where the delayed fatal prank comes to make you pay the bill. But don’t worry, if you’ve stuck with this strategy of running away like a squirrel, and have picked up a Zelda game set worth of items, then you could have a chance to survive!

This time, you’ll notice that the enemies are spawning as elites and elementals more often. That’s all thanks to that little bar at the top right of your screen. So instead of running around for the items. You’re priority’s gonna switch back to the teleporter. That doesn’t mean that you can stop collecting items though. The game is expecting you to do this, so they tank up as well to stop you from becoming out of control. This is where the game turns into a race between enemies, and your old friend, Stopping for half a second to pick up an item/give your greasy hands a rest. Smack that teleporter interact button and don’t even wait for your teammates. Instead of approaching the boss casually, run to the exact edge of the red charge bubble outline and click your mouse until your neighbors think there’s a robbery.

Congratulations

Congratulations! You beat Arby’s sauce mode.

The bright side is, if you cleared area one 3 times, you unlock MUL-T. Unlike RoR1’s HAN-D, MUL-T is a scrapped Paper Mario toad name literal tank, instead of a combatant. You no longer need precise aiming with Commando, because it has a secondary weapon that is an AoE attack.

If you even made it to the 4th world, you unlock the Huntress. Tired of turning? Then you can just run around with auto aim and an AoE special. The best part is that you can use the primary and secondary attacks while sprinting.

Extra Crispy Mode-AKA Monsoon

Right before you hit that ready button, throw everything I said earlier in the printer, and instead, take this next section title. Even if you carry over the Rainstorm strats to Extra Crispy mode, you will still have a slim chance of survival. Instead, play Enter the Gungeon and come back after beating The Dragun. After obtaining  you know already, use it to backflip your way through the credits and come back after traveling through space-time. You need to become Extra Crispified as well in order to match what this game throws at you. I think you could pass off halfway through, but the PAST way is much more effective. 

Instead of running away barely getting nicked by attacks, you have to grasp your sweaty gun with your slippery grease covered hands before your computer explodes. Kill off every enemy you can pick off, because squirrels simply don’t survive gamma rays. Shoot from the creases like the cockroach you are by now, and sprint straight for the teleporter. If you manage to defeat the giant normal enemy and charge the portal, sprint again for the chests. The enemies don’t spawn after the port is charged, so ration out your wages to whatever items you think look stackable. Go for green over white items, and you can “optionally” pick up red ones if you’re lucky. If you’re not so lucky and die against the first boss, then you can shoot for lunar coins. Lunar coins can be used to open the “newt portal” from newt statues hidden in levels. Just like the red potions in Mario Bros. 2 (Subcon). Charging the portal will act as the final key to travel through an all too familiar space-time. Here you can buy blue (lunar) items. They are like the cursed items in EtG. They give you this for the price of that. If you STILL can’t beat it, then you’re just not blackened enough.

AoE’s, AoE’s Everywhere-Monsoon Mid/Late

If you’ve made it this far, then you’ve shown that you truly are crusty. No, seriously, clean your keyboard! As the section title suggests, you should get a lot of items that have a wide Area of Effect to mop up enemies almost as fast as they appear. This could be green, red, and equipment (orange) items. The ATG missile is a green item. The Happiest Mask is a creepy red item. And the Disposable Missile Launcher is an equipment item. Your character is important too. Or if you want to live at the bottom of the fryer like you’re supposed to, you can select the Mercenary. Unlocked after actually beating the game in optionally Arby’s sauce mode, or even worse, no sauce, Plain Nugget mode. Doing this forfeits your life to Satan, and almost fries your face at the bottom of the fryer, with only a less bubbly seam of RNG to wiggle your nose in. If you can manage your way into Hell, the late game of this mode, you’ll become doomed. As you cross through that layer of space-time…press escape, click “exit to desktop”, and never look back…

If you’re a Plain Nugget of course.

However, if you truly truly YEETED your way through the Crispy Goodness of RoR 2, do as last time…but don’t. Instead of clicking ’till the neighbors hear a gunshot, keep going. Instead of running like a squirrel, run WITH a beetle. If you do all this…you’ll have to just accept your win and wait until the devs release the final boss. But hey, you still broke the game!