Highlights
- The Huntress's Strafe Primary Fire allows her to move and shoot at the same speed, making her excellent at kiting enemies from a safe distance.
- The Chef's Dice Primary Skill hits multiple enemies and can be easily upgraded to deal more damage.
- The Enforcer's Protect and Serve Utility Skill blocks all damage in front, increases attack speed, but reduces movement speed, making it the best defensive skill in the game when used strategically.
The Survivors in Risk of Rain Returns are equipped with different weapons, skills, and abilities to help them navigate through hostile landscapes and deal with the bloodthirsty flora and fauna. Each Survivor has Primary, Secondary, Utility, and Special skills that they use to clear a path towards the Teleporters.
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That said, some of these skills stand out more than others. From Primary Skills that let players run-and-gun, Secondary Skills that grant more offensive angles to attack enemies, to Utility and Special Skills that make traversal and combat more manageable, these skills are the best ones that give its Survivors the edge.
7 Huntress: Strafe
Primary Fire: Fires an Arrow Where She Is Facing That Deals 120% Damage
The Primary Fire is the first line of offense Survivors will unleash on the enemies they encounter in Risk of Rain Returns. While some Survivors compromise their movement when they use their Primary Fire, the Huntress bucks this trend as she can move and shoot at the same speed thanks to her Strafe Primary Fire.
Players can hold the Primary Fire button while using Huntress to release a steady volley of arrows in the direction they are facing. This makes Huntress excellent at kiting enemies at a safe distance, since she can also use her Secondary, Utility, and Special Skills to either thin the enemies chasing her, or escape particularly dangerous scenarios with little to no repercussions.
If there is one downside to Strafe, it would be that Huntress’ arrows do not pierce through enemies. But this can easily be remedied by looking for specific pickups that enhance the power of each arrow to make taking down single enemies faster.
6 Chef: Dice
Hurls a Cleaver that Boomerangs Back and Deals 100% Damage to Enemies on Both Hits
Getting a Survivor’s Primary or Secondary Skill to hit multiple enemies is the goal for many players. Usually, this is done by picking specific items that would allow a Survivor’s Primary or Secondary Skill to pierce through multiple targets. The Chef’s Primary Skill, Dice, does not need items to achieve this effect.
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Chef throws a Cleaver in the direction he’s facing and it returns to him after a set distance. Enemies in the Cleaver’s path are hit during the initial throw as well as when it returns, both for full damage. Dice is excellent when players activate the Teleporter and are bombarded with waves of enemies since this attack hits multiple enemies during the first throw and when it boomerangs back to Chef. Once players have access to the Artifact of Command, ramping up Dice’s damage is easy to do as well, since players can focus on getting items that increase Attack Speed and Damage.
5 Commando: Tactical Dive
Roll Forward and Gain Invulnerability for a Short Duration
For players who are more keen on getting out of dodge when enemies start to cluster around them, the Tactical Dive is an excellent Utility Skill that acts both as a defensive and mobility option. This roll is used by the classic Commando Survivor and is immediately available as his first Utility Skill during runs.
Using Tactical Dive is effective once players activate the Teleporter and enemies begin to spawn around the player and try to overwhelm them. Tactical Diving away from enemy attacks just in time makes for daring escapes and gives players more space to retaliate.
When paired with items that increase the Commando’s movement, the Tactical Dive can even be used to traverse long gaps, though since the Tactical Dive has a low arc when used after a jump, it will need some practice to pull off consistently.
4 Enforcer: Protect and Serve
Braces His Shield, it Blocks All Damage In Front and Gives Him 100% Increased Attack Speed, But Reduces Movement Speed by 25%
For players looking for a more straightforward defensive Utility Skill, the Enforcer’s Protect and Serve ability is the go-to. Once activated, the Enforcer sets his riot shield in front of him and braces for attacks. All attacks that hit the front side of the riot shield will be blocked, and their damage is completely nullified.
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While Protect and Serve is active, the Attack Speed of the Enforcer’s Primary Attack is increased by 100%. This allows him to quickly blow away enemies that are in front of him. However, one compromise between the impenetrable shield and the Attack Speed buff is that the Enforcer’s movement speed is reduced by 25%. On top of this, the Enforcer is particularly vulnerable to attacks behind his shield.
To address this glaring weakness, most players tend to look for a corner, put their backs against it, and use Protect and Serve to mitigate the chances of being attacked from the back. When complemented with defensive items, Protect and Serve becomes the best defensive skill in the game.
3 Pilot: Target Acquired!
Allows the Pilot to Attack Diagonally for 3x115% Damage
As far as Secondary Skills are concerned, few of them allow players to target flying enemies without jumping and lining up their attacks. The Pilot’s Target Acquired! Secondary Skill lets him attack diagonally to ensure any aerial threats are dealt with before they reach their destination.
Using Target Acquired! when on the ground lets the Pilot shoot diagonally upward, while if the Pilot is airborne, Target Acquired! is fired diagonally downward. This makes taking potshots at clusters of enemies when the Teleporter is activated easier to do, especially since players using the Pilot will often use Rapid Deployment to gain some hang time and escape dicey situations.
Given that aiming in Risk of Rain Returns usually relies on where the Survivor is facing, Target Acquired! Still aims in the same way, but is more lenient when shooting from the ground. So long as flying targets are on the screen, Target Acquired! Will home in on the flying enemies and hit them, no matter how far they are from the Pilot.
2 Sniper: Steady Aim
Secondary Fire that Increases Damage the Longer it is Held Down, Up to 2000%, Also Pierces Through Enemies
The Sniper is a Survivor that has an advanced toolkit. He excels in long-range combat and does amazing damage if he manages to charge his Steady Aim Secondary Fire. What makes Steady Aim a great Secondary Fire is how powerful its one shot can be. 2000% damage is nothing to scoff at, and this shot goes in a straight line, piercing through enemies who are in its way.
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Its one glaring downside is that it takes a while to charge the attack, and the Sniper is particularly vulnerable against enemies. Military Training can be used to create distance when Steady Aim is charging, and once fully charged, Steady Aim will decimate swathes of enemies.
That said, utilizing Steady Aim well takes a lot of practice. From getting the timing correct to figuring out the optimal distance enemies need to be to charge Steady Aim without distractions, once players master this Secondary Fire, it is one of the most devastating attacks in the game.
1 Drifter: Salvage
Create 4 Temporary Items by Consuming Scrap Charges
There are tons of useful Special Skills in Risk of Rain Returns, but none brings more impact than the Drifter’s Salvage skill. Given that item drops become harder to come by as the difficulty meter rises during runs, even having temporary items will give the Drifter a significant advantage as he inches closer to the last stage and faces off against the final boss.
Salvage grants the Drifter four temporary items at the cost of spending Scrap Charges, which he obtains by hitting enemies with his Blunt Force Primary Fire. The Drifter needs a full Scrap meter to get the most items: once activated, the items generated are random but are often useful to the current build the Drifter is running with. In a pinch, getting temporary items bolsters the Drifter’s efficiency and survivability in the current stage.
When holding the Ancient Scepter, Salvage becomes Recover, and it now spawns six random items: getting the Ancient Scepter is all up to chance, however, and it can only be unlocked by beating the game using the Mercenary and under the Monsoon difficulty.
