One of the first things I did in Risk of Rain 2 is unlock every character, because doing that gives you even more ways to play the game. Each character is pretty simple to unlock, so I’ll give you a quick breakdown about how to easily unlock each one of them.
This short guide includes all the characters as of Risk of Rain 1.0. For each of these characters, I recommend putting the game on Drizzle difficulty just so you unlock them faster. Once you unlock all of them you can play the game on higher difficulties
Commando
Commando is the only character unlocked by default, so you don’t need to worry about completing any challenges to get him.
Huntress
Huntress though is probably the easiest character to unlock, especially on Drizzle difficulty. All you need to do to unlock Huntress is to reach and complete the third teleporter event without dying.
If you’re playing multiplayer and die during it, it won’t count towards the unlock. Also, if you enter the blue portal on stage 3 instead of activating the teleporter, you won’t unlock her either. Just activate the teleporter like normal and you’ll be able to play as Huntress.
MUL-T
MUL-T is another character that’s insanely easy to unlock. To unlock this tank of a character, you need to complete the first teleporter event 5 times. An easy way to do this is to beat the first teleporter, exit the run, and repeat that 4 times until you unlock him.
You could still just keep playing the game as normal and you’d unlock him pretty quickly anyway, especially on Drizzle difficulty.
Engineer
The Engineer character is where things start to get a little more difficult. To unlock the Engineer, you need to complete 30 stages. This will inevitably happen over the course of your gameplay, so there’s really not a fast way to unlock him other than by playing like you normally would.
Artificer
Artificer is a character that you can get as soon as you have 11 Lunar coins found around the world. Lunar Coins randomly drop from enemies, and you can also get 5 coins for Obliterating at the Obelisk, which also unlocks another character.
Once you have at least 11 coins the first thing you need to do is locate a Newt Altar. At least one Newt Altar spawns in every level, and it takes one Lunar Coin to activate it. Once it’s activated, beating the boss will reveal a blue portal, which takes you to a hidden shop called the Bazaar Between Time.
Head into the shop and to the right of the giant lizard you’ll see an option to “Free the Survivor.” Spending 10 Lunar Coins and freeing the survivor will unlock Artificer.
Mercenary
Mercenary is the character you unlock by Obliterating yourself at the Obelisk, which is pretty easy to do on Drizzle difficulty. If you don’t know how looping works, take a look at this little diagram I made.
Basically, you complete stages 1-4 by activating the teleporter and beating the bosses. Each stage has the chance to be one of 2 random environments. Stage 5 is where you’ll need to decide where to go next.
The teleporter on Stage 5 is called the Primordial Teleporter, and activating it will bring you to the boss by default. You can choose to loop the game by interacting with the prongs around the teleporter, or by completing an artifact challenge.
When you loop the game, you’ll need to complete 3 more stages. After beating the teleporter boss on Stage 8, a new blue portal will appear called the Celestial Portal. Head into this portal and Obliterate Yourself from Existence using the Obelisk at the bottom.
REX
Rex is a character that’s unlocked by bringing the Fuel Array from your escape pod and repairing the damaged REX on Abyssal Depths. To do this, you need to open the panel on the back of the escape pod and take the Fuel Array.
While you have the Array in your inventory, going below 50% health will cause it to explode and kill you instantly. There’s a 50/50 chance you’ll get Abysmal Depths, unless you use the Newt Alter on stage 3 and pick your next stage. This is definitely the best way to do it, or else you may end up getting the wrong stage.
Loader
Loader is another character that requires a specific stage. On Stage 4, the area called Siren’s Call has random eggs scattered around the map. Breaking enough of these eggs will spawn the Alloy Worship Unit, and beating this will unlock Loader.
It also gives a guaranteed Legendary item to every player in your run, so it is always worth beating it for the Red Item.
Acrid
Underneath the Bazaar Between Time, there’s a portal that’ll take you to the Void Fields. To access this portal you need to keep jumping down until you see the tunnel branching off from the main pit. Head further in and you’ll see a portal that takes you to the void fields.
While in the Void Fields, you’ll constantly take damage unless you’re standing inside the bubble surrounding a cell. These cells can be found by looking for the beacon of light.
You need to stabilize all nine cells, and once you do you’ll unlock Acrid
Captain
Captain is the latest addition to Risk of Rain 2, and is somewhat difficult to unlock. It requires beating the Final boss Mithrix and escaping the planet. Make sure you have a lot of good movement accessories and are playing on Drizzle, and you’ll have a much easier time unlocking this character.
