All Survivors - Risk of Rain Returns Guide - IGN (2024)

Survivors are playable characters in Risk of Rain Returns that you can unlock by completing certain challenges. On this page, you will find a list of all survivors and how to unlock them so you can play with any survivor you want.

There are 14 survivors in total to unlock in Risk of Rain Returns, two of which are playable from the start.

Commando

Official description: The Commando is a jack-of-all-trades character with the tools to deal with any situation. His high range and rate of fie provide great combat proficiency, while Tactical Dive grants increased survivability and mobility. Commando is an iconic Risk of Rain survivor that comes unlocked already. Commander is a good all-rounder in terms of strength and speed, making him perfect for beginners.

Huntress

Official description: The Huntress is extremely proficient at ‘kitting’ (running and firing while remaining unhurt). Remember that Laser Glaive does the highest damage on the last bounce! Blink can be used to reposition or re-aim abilities, and Cluster Bomb can take out grouped up enemies at range.

The Huntress is the second character that will come unlocked when you begin the game. The Huntress is fast, strong, and nimble. A perfect choice for beginners or those who like to keep moving while dealing damage.

Enforcer

Official description: The Enforcer is a slow, but powerful character. Battling away enemies with Shield Slam guarantees you will keep enemies at a safe range. Make sure to use Protect and Serve against walls to prevent enemies from flanking you.

Enforcer is slower than some of the faster characters, like the Huntress or Commander, for example. But what the Enforcer lacks in speed, it makes up for it in terms of raw power and defense.

To unlock the Enforcer, you have to defeat the Magma Worm, Colossus, and Wandering Vagrant bosses in any order, and in any run.

Bandit

Official description: The Bandit fires Blast faster if you press faster! Use smokebomb to either run away or to stun many enemies at once, followed by Dynamite Toss. Dealing a killing blow with Lights Out allows you to chain many skills together, allowing for maximum damage AND safety.

The Bandit is one of the first characters you will unlock and has the potential to be extremely powerful, particularly once you unlock the whip.

You will unlock the Bandit once you complete the first three stages.

HAN-D

Official Description: NO MANUAL GIVEN FOR HAN-D MODEL.

HAN-D will be a familiar character to anyone who played the previous Risk of Rain title. HAN-D is a returning melee brawler survivor with an incredibly powerful move set, but limited mobility as a result. This can make him difficult to get the hang of, but with enough practice, the power behind HAN-D’s moves more than makes up for his slowness.

HAN-D is one of the strongest survivors, but also one of the hardest to find. You will always find HAN-D inside a damaged shipping container in the final stage.

The container spawns in different areas each time, so keep your eyes open for the cracked shipping container door and interact with it to unlock HAN-D.

Engineer

You have to buy 40 drones to unlock the Engineer. This number builds up over time, so you don’t have to worry about buying all 40 drones in one run.

Miner

Official Description: The Miner is a short range berserker with the ability to fire himself up for increased damage. In order to survive you will have to balance heat gained from Crush with skill usage to maximize the time spent Scorching!

The biggest drawcard for the Miner is its unique Scorch ability. Once you have powered the Miner up enough using primary attacks, it will begin heating up. You can use this heat to power the Scorch ability. While scorching, there is zero cooldown for Drill Charge and To the Stars. The rest of your attacks will also become faster and stronger.

You have to beat a secret mini boss in the Magma Barracks to unlock the Miner.

The boss isn’t available in every Magma Barracks map, but if it is, it will be at the end of a small tunnel in the bottom right corner of the map.

Sniper

Official Description: The Sniper is the ultimate boss killer. A perfect reload and a fully charged Steady Aim, along with Spotter: SCAN, can one shot many bosses. Try to stand in a preferable position where you can charge Steady Aim for as long as possible.

The Sniperis easily the most effective survivor in Risk of Rain Returns, but there is definitely an art to mastering it. In addition to the one-shot-kill ability that can take down any boss in one hit, the Sniper is also invulnerable to enemy attacks while backflipping.These two abilities combined mean the Sniper can provide some of the best offense and defense in the game.

The Sniper is one of the easiest survivors to unlock. All you have to do to unlock the Sniper is complete the game and defeat the final boss. This can be done on any difficulty level.

Acrid

Official Description: Acrid deals huge amounts of damage after stacking poisons from his Festering Wounds, Caustic Sludge, and Epidemic. Try to stun targets inside your Caustic Sludge for maximum damage. Remember that you can fight at both melee and range!

Acrid uses poison and toxin-based attacks to inflict status effects on your enemies. Some of these status effects only last as long as one second, but one second can still be very significant in a game like Risk of Rain Returns.

Acrid is both a close and long-range attacker and can swipe enemies close by with his claws while leaving a trail of poison on the ground to damage other enemies that find themselves caught in it.

Acrid can be found locked in a cage in the top right corner of the Sunken Tombs. Interact with the cage to open it and defeat Acrid in battle to unlock him as a playable survivor.

Mercenary

Official Description: The Mercenary deals fast damage while dodging incoming threats. Whirlwind can be used to stay in mid-air longer. Fit skills between Blinding Assaults to maximize time spent invincible.

The Mercenaryis one of the most satisfying survivors to play, especially if you prefer swords as your weapon of choice. The Mercenary is an excellent choice for those who like fast attackers and prefer to keep moving during battle to evade enemy attacks. Whirlwind is a great ability in that sense, as it allows you to keep the higher ground over your enemies.

You must complete five runs to unlock Mercenary. These runs can be done on any difficulty, but they must be played to completion and you must defeat Providence.

Loader

Official Description: The Loader is a high damage close combatant with a unique skill. Hydraulic Gauntlet can be used to rapidly reposition, to place Conduits far apart. Use Debris Shield as a hit-and-run shield.

The Loaderis a high-risk-high-reward character due to his series of close-range attacks. The Loader’s play style requires you to get up close and personal with your foes, but his attacks also push enemies, helping to prevent you from becoming overwhelmed.

To unlock the Loader you have to collect at least 30 items in one run.

The best way to do this would be to use the Artifact of Sacrifice, which allows you to collect items from slain monsters or to circle back to earlier stages instead of going to the final level when you reach the last teleporter.

Chef

Official Description: The CHEF is extremely proficient at dealing with large groups of customers. Combining a delicious Glaze with a finishing Star is sure to dazzle even the toughest of crowds!

The Chefis one of the flashiest survivors in Risk of Rain Returns, sliding around the battlefield on an oil slick while slicing and dicing foes with his cleavers. The Chef is also, as you can imagine, very proficient at cooking any enemies that get in your way.

Unlocking Chef requires collecting five food-type items in one run. The items you need are the Meat Bugget, Bitter Root, Foreign Fruit, Bustling Fungus, and Sprouting Egg.

The chances of coming across these five items in one run are very slim if you're playing organically. The best way to ensure you will find the items needed to unlock Chef is to use the Artifact of Command to get them.

Pilot

Official Description: The Pilot is an airborne fighter that excels at raining damage from above. With the strong recoil of his weaponry and Rapid Deployment of his parachute, he can leap high into the sky to ready for a precision Airstrike.

The Pilot is a new addition to the roster of survivors in Risk of Rain Returns, and he has one of the most helpful abilities of them all. The Pilot has the ability to deploy a parachute, allowing you to rain fire down upon your enemies without being at risk of retaliation. Unless, of course, there are any flying enemies around. Even the parachute doesn’t save the Pilot from them.

You need to collect 15 Monster Logs to unlock the Pilot survivor. These logs are dropped by enemies as you kill them on your runs.

There is only a small chance of collecting a Monster Log, so the best way to farm them is just to kill as many monsters as possible.

Artificer

Official Description: The Artificer uses her elemental abilities to defeat her enemies with precision. By raising Frost Barriers, she’s able to keep foes at bay in order to prepare Charged Nanobombs, or to escape into the optimal range for her flurry of Flame Chakrans.

Artificer is one of the trickier survivors to master in Risk of Rain Returns. She does less damage than other survivors and has less mobility. The best way to play Artificer is to abuse the Frost Barrier ability to shield yourself from enemies to make good use of her other abilities.

To unlock the Artificer you need to visit 10 unique stages.

There are 10 unique biomes in Risk of Rain Returns in total, and you will need to visit all of them. This usually takes a couple of runs since the first four levels can take you to one of two biomes.

Drifter

Official Description: The Drifter is a resourceful brawler with a uniquely supportive playstyle. Generate scrap with Blunt Force and Suffocate in order to Salvage them into a powerful bundle of temporary items for you or your allies.

The Drifteris a survivor that truly shines in multiplayer. The Drifter has the unique ability to use scrap metal collected from defeated enemies and turn them into temporary items. These items can be quickly scooped up by teammates and used to significantly overpower your allies. They can be used on your own in single-player mode as well, making the Drifter the most resourceful survivor of the bunch.

You have to recycle six drones in one run to unlock the Drifter.

This can be on the more difficult side, since the Drone Recycler, or Scrapper, is a random spawn. Drones are also extremely helpful, so one might not want to scrap six of them in one run.

Robomando

Official Description: Your Robomando model 6 comes equipped with everything it needs to extract resources from hostile environments. It’s patented RE-WIRE allows instant access to any company sanctioned containers or drone utilities.

Robomando is a hidden survivor in Risk of Rain Returns that is very difficult to unlock but very handy when you do. Robomando is very quick and very efficient. The best thing about Robomando is that you don’t have to pay to open chests like you do with other characters, leaving you spoiled for choice in terms of items to boost your build.

Robomando is by far the hardest survivor to unlock in the game. To do so, you have to complete a series of actions over a series of runs.

Step One

The first step on your journey to unlocking Robomando is to begin a run on Drizzle difficulty. You can change your difficulty to Drizzle in the survivor selection screen.

Step Two

Make your way to the fifth stage, the Temple of the Elders. Once you get there, you will have to find a Strange Battery hidden inside an inconspicuous-looking pot. The pot could either be on the left or the right side of the map.

Step Three

Enter the final stage and make your way to the very right side of the map. Jump off the edge and hug the left. Run past the robots jamming out to their tunes and jump into the ledge on the left to make your way to the end of the passageway.

Put the Strange Battery inside the chest at the end of the tunnel.

You will need a movement boosting item like a Hopoo Feather to reach the chest.

Step Four

Start a new run, this time on Rainstorm or Monsoon difficulty.

Step Five

Get to stage two and find the same chest you found in the last run. Collect the Strange Battery from the chest and move on to the next level.

It doesn’t matter what biome you reach at this stage. If you followed the previous steps, the chest will be there whether you end up in the Damp Caverns or Sky Meadow.

Step Six

Reach stage three and activate the teleporter. Once you’ve activated it and defeated the boss, wait until 22 minutes have passed before passing through it.

The timing here is very important. You can only pass through between 22:00 - 22:59.

You can tell how long your run is by checking the timer in the top right corner of the screen.

Step Seven

Pass through to stage four and find and reboot Robomando.

Robomando can be in any number of hiding spots throughout the level, and once again, he will be in whatever map you end up in. You will know when you’ve found him by searching for an object buried in the ground with a green arrow above it.

Interact with Robomando to reboot him and let him kill you to unlock him as a survivor.