Image source: Gearbox Publishing
Risk of Rain Returns is an intriguing take on the roguelite genre in which time progressively makes each stage harder. That means there’s no time for freezing up and plodding around as a newcomer, and it’s definitely challenging to find your feet initially. Here we’ll try and make your initiation a little easier with some Risk of Rain Returns tips for beginners.
Risk of Rain Returns Tips For Beginners
Risk of Rain Returns is a game that rewards tactical decision-making and good pacing. As alluded to above, one key mechanic is the trade-off between time and power. As time passes, your enemies grow stronger, making it a risk to linger in search of more items. This mechanic introduces an interesting dynamic of weighing immediate benefits against potential future difficulties.
Teleporting & Playing With Speed
Our first Risk of Rain tip revolves around the teleporter. Your primary goal in every level is to locate the teleporter, defeat its guardian boss, and beam up. Unlike the original game, you don’t need to defeat all enemies to leave, just the boss. The longer you stay in one level, the tougher your enemies become, so it’s generally advisable to clear levels quickly. Try and clear stages in no more than 5 minutes as a general rule.
Speaking of doing things quickly: in Risk of Rain Returns, movement is critical both when exploring and in combat. You’ll often be outnumbered, and your enemies will usually outmatch you in terms of power and durability. It’s all about constantly moving around and kiting your enemies while dealing damage is a key survival strategy.
Best Risk of Rain Returns Items You Should Always Have
While damage items are tempting, don’t skimp on sustainability items. Your base HP regeneration is relatively low, so obtaining some sustain items early on can significantly boost your survivability. Items like the Mysterious Vial, Medkit, Bustling Fungus, Leeching Seed, Monster Tooth, and Meat Nugget can make a big difference in your game.
Make it a goal to unlock new items every time you go on a run. Also, set objectives like testing out droids or equipment, unlocking specific characters, or reaching a specific level.
Combat Tips
By comparison to the original game, Risk of Rain Returns has enhanced movement during combat, along with a variety of alternate loadouts, challenges, and skins to unlock. The improved combat dynamics make it easier to target and eliminate specific adversaries, reducing the tedium of battling against elite enemies that are less challenging and simply boast a larger health pool. The focus shifts from merely overpowering a massive amount of enemy health to engaging in more tactical encounters as the difficulty increases. Additionally, the increased mobility of enemies presents a more fluid battlefield, minimizing the pile-up of foes and negating the need to tediously maneuver to their location for the takedown.
Melee characters like Acrid or Miner can sometimes be at a disadvantage due to the high damage inflicted by enemies. The key to success with these characters is a combination of smart play, patience, and movespeed.
Do the Providence Trials
If you’re not happy with a survivor’s abilities, the Providence Trials offer a chance to unlock alternative abilities and customize survivors to suit your playstyle.
Risk of Rain Returns introduces Providence Trials as a series of condensed, engaging challenges that serve as a perfect cooldown from the typically extensive gameplay sessions. These trials, accessible immediately after unlocking your first character, begin with a solitary challenge for the Commando. Success in this trial unfolds an array of additional trials, each branching out as new characters are unlocked.
Providence Trials not only offer a refreshing change of pace but also a path to enhanced gameplay through unlocking new abilities or secret bonuses for each character. This feature significantly enhances the game’s replay value, as the new abilities can radically alter a character’s combat style.
Take the Bandit: ordinarily a character specializing in ranged attacks, through these trials, players can obtain an alternative skill that transforms the Bandit into a melee-focused fighter. With approximately 40 trials currently available and more on the horizon, players have ample opportunity to explore and master new strategies.
The trials themselves are distinctive, with each tailored to showcase and develop the skill or item it unlocks. For instance, a trial designed to award a teleportation skill will challenge the player’s agility and mastery of that ability. Beyond skill enhancement, the trials incorporate a competitive angle, recording scores like completion times or points earned, fostering a spirit of competition either personally or amongst peers.
Custom Builds with Artifact of Command
The Artifact of adds another layer of customization to the game, and it’s well worth finding as newcomers.
The Artifact of Command transforms your gameplay by changing how items drop. Instead of random items, you’ll find boxes that allow you to choose your loot, giving you control over which items you add to your inventory based on their rarity. To access this artifact, you need to locate it in the “Hive Cluster” stage.
How to Get the Artifact of Command
The chance to enter the “Hive Cluster” is a toss-up, as it’s one of the potential fourth-level maps you may encounter. Upon arriving, make your way to the upper-right area of the map. Keep an eye out for ethereal pink vines that phase in and out of visibility on a cycle. These vines are your stepping stones to a distant platform that holds the coveted Artifact of Command. Despite their intermittent invisibility, the vines can still be used as a path even when not visible.
To improve your chances of a successful ascent, consider acquiring mobility-enhancing items like the Photon Jetpack or the Hopoo Feather for additional aerial control. Characters such as the Pilot with his parachute, the teleport-capable Huntress, or the Loader with his powerful gauntlet are particularly well-suited for this task due to their unique movement abilities.
After securing the Artifact of Command, it will become an available option in the character selection menu for your subsequent adventures. We actually have a breakdown of how to get all the various Artifacts in the game, too.
That wraps up our Risk of Rain Returns starter guide. As you’ll no doubt be finding, the game can be tough for beginners. But with the right strategies and a keen understanding of its mechanics, you’ll soon find a rhythm that sees you nailing each run.
