

To unlock: Clear seven levels to reach the Obelisk. Watch your cooldowns and grab some mobility-boosting items and you'll be slinging spells with the best of 'em. This deals heavy damage but has extremely short range, so it's best used on enemies stunned by your lightning orb. Finally, you've got a good old-fashioned flamethrower. The Artificer doesn't have any sort of dodge or teleport, so you'll also need to use this ice wall to control crowds. This ability isn't strong on its own, but it's a potent finisher. Then there's her ice wall, which freezes enemies in place and insta-kills them if they're below 20 percent health. This deals heavy damage and stun on impact, and it will also zap nearby enemies as it flies through the air, so try to aim it between multiple small enemies and toward one big dude. First, she has a lightning orb which she can charge up before releasing to increase its range and power. Her other abilities correspond to specific elements. Once you get used to it though, the Artificer's fireball is incredibly strong.

Your fireballs recharge quickly but this ability can still be disorienting at first, especially if you're used to someone like Commando who can spam his basic attack with impunity. Once you run out of charges, you won't be able to attack. For example, her basic attack is a fireball that works on a charge system. As you'd expect from a mage, her abilities are all about managing cooldowns and combining elements.

The Artificer is a true-blue mage who wields fire, ice, and lightning. You'll find the Artificer in a block of ice next to the big Newt himself. The blue portal to the Newt Shop will open randomly when you clear stages, but you can spend one Lunar Coin at a Newt Altar (before activating the Teleporter) to make it appear. Enemies drop Lunar Coins randomly, so grab them when you see them.
#CELESTIAL PORTAL RISK OF RAIN 2 FREE#
To unlock: Spend 10 Lunar Coins to free her from the Newt Shop. So the ideal Engineer fight looks like this: Find a big group of enemies, place your turrets right in the middle of them, throw down a shield and some mines, and watch those puppies go to work. The thing is, your turrets have a pretty long cooldown, meaning you can't throw them down willy-nilly. This synergy causes some items to scale wildly, with an Engineer fan-favorite being the Bustling Fungus, which basically turns your turrets into healing stations. In other words, if you get an item that boosts your attack speed, it'll also boost your turrets' attack speed. Here's the kicker: They benefit from all the items you pick up. Once deployed, your turrets will automatically attack all nearby enemies for massive damage. Don't get me wrong, he has other cool abilities-deployable proximity mines, a bubble shield which blocks all external attacks, and a basic attack that fires volleys of bouncy grenades-but turrets are his bread and butter.

The Engineer is all about placing and defending turrets. Huntress was my favorite character in the original game, and she's every bit as strong in Risk of Rain 2. This ability sends you where you're aiming, meaning you can also use it like a jump. Finally, Huntress has one of the best escape abilities in the game: a straight-up teleport. This ability is your go-to boss DPS, and holding the charge mid-air can also put you out of range of many ground enemies. Huntress can also lay down a rain of arrows at a target location, dealing damage over time to everything nearby. If you throw it at a lone dude, it'll disappear after just one hit, which is a waste of precious damage. Her secondary ability, a ricocheting glaive, can bounce between up to six enemies, so you should only use it when you know it'll hit at least two enemies. Her auto primary attack is slow and relatively weak, but her abilities are incredibly good at melting groups. Where the Commando excels at single-target damage, Huntress is the queen of AoE. To unlock: Clear the first three levels without dying.
