Risk of Rain 2 Survivor Unlocks

Commando and Huntress are unlocked by default. Other Risk of Rain 2 survivors are unlocked through specific challenges, expansion ownership, or both. The expansion survivors available immediately are Railgunner, Seeker, Operator, and Enforcer with their respective DLCs; Void Fiend, CHEF, False Son, Drifter, and Acolyte require additional objectives.

Heretic is different: collecting all four Heresy Lunar items transforms your current survivor for that run. It does not permanently add a selectable survivor for future runs. Separate that temporary transformation from the permanent survivor challenges below.

Check the complete selectable-survivor checklist

A shared expansion lobby can expose you to its stages and items without granting selectable survivor access to an account that does not own that expansion. Check ownership before treating a locked portrait as a failed challenge.

Earn the early cumulative unlocks while learning stages

Bandit's Warrior challenge requires three stages completed without dying. The condition belongs to a single surviving sequence, so repeated first-stage attempts alone do not replace reaching and completing the third stage.

MUL-T's Verified progress is cumulative. Complete the first Teleporter event five times, defeat its boss, and proceed onward so the stage completion is recorded. Those completions do not have to occur in one run.

Engineer also uses cumulative progress: Engineering Perfection requires 30 completed stages across your runs. You can make progress while pursuing other survivors, rather than attempting a special one-run 30-stage challenge.

These unlocks make a practical early group because normal stage progression contributes directly. Bandit asks for consecutive survival, while MUL-T and Engineer continue building progress across repeated attempts.

The reward is the survivor, not every alternate skill on that character. Once unlocked, inspect the default loadout and the separate challenges for its alternate slots.

Save Lunar Coins for Artificer

Artificer is frozen beside the merchant in the Bazaar Between Time. Freeing her costs ten Lunar Coins and completes Pause.

If you use a Newt Altar to open the Bazaar route, budget one additional Lunar Coin for that activation. The rescue purchase and the entrance cost are separate, so arriving with only enough for the altar does not let you free her.

Complete the stage's Teleporter event and enter the Blue Portal to reach the Bazaar. At the shop, interact with the frozen Artificer rather than spending the entire reserve on other Lunar purchases first.

Keep this goal in mind before buying optional Lunar items. A reserve intended for the rescue can disappear through unrelated purchases, leaving you at the correct location without the ten coins the interaction requires.

Use an Obelisk for Mercenary

Mercenary's True Respite unlock requires obliterating at an Obelisk. Reach A Moment, Fractured through a Celestial Portal, then interact with the Obelisk to end the run through obliteration.

On the standard looping route, the Celestial Portal appears on the third stage after the first loop. Plan to continue the run rather than taking the Moon route before reaching that opportunity.

The action ends the run. If you are also carrying an item for another survivor's delivery, decide which objective you intend to finish first instead of assuming you can return to the normal stages after the obliteration.

Mercenary's survivor unlock is separate from his skill challenges. An objective involving airborne time is not a replacement for True Respite.

Carry Fuel Array carefully for REX

REX's Power Plant objective requires a Fuel Array delivered to REX in Abyssal Depths. Obtain it from the panel behind an Escape Pod at the beginning of the run, then carry it through the intervening stages.

The Array is unstable. Dropping below its health threshold can trigger an explosion and lose the equipment, so the delivery run needs more cautious health management than an ordinary equipment pickup.

Avoid unnecessary fall damage and dangerous trades while carrying it. If the Array is lost, reaching Abyssal Depths afterward does not recover the missing delivery item.

Choose a survivor that actually arrives in an Escape Pod for a solo attempt. Acrid does not spawn from one, so he cannot provide the starting Fuel Array needed for a solo Power Plant delivery.

Summon the Alloy Worship Unit for Loader

Loader's Guidance Offline challenge is completed by defeating the Alloy Worship Unit in Siren's Call. The trigger involves destroying Vulture Nests on the stage until the special boss is summoned.

This is not the same as defeating any ordinary Teleporter boss on Siren's Call. Watch for the summoned Alloy Worship Unit and finish that encounter.

Prepare before forcing the fight if your current build is struggling. Spawning the required enemy is progress toward the objective, but the survivor reward still requires its defeat.

Complete Void Fields for Acrid

Acrid's ...To Be Left Alone challenge requires clearing Void Fields. From the Bazaar Between Time, use the cave below the arrival area and enter the Null Portal.

Complete all nine cell events in Void Fields. The encounters introduce enemies and items, so surviving the first cell or collecting a few rewards does not finish the full unlock.

Follow the active cell objectives and manage the environmental pressure between them. A run that leaves early can retain other progress while still lacking the nine-event completion needed for Acrid.

Once the challenge completes, Acrid becomes selectable for later runs. His Poison and Blight choice is part of the resulting character's loadout progression, not a requirement to select him in the first place.

Finish the escape ending for Captain

Captain's Washed Away objective requires completing the main escape route. Reach Commencement through the Moon-aligned Primordial Teleporter, defeat Mithrix, and complete the escape before the Moon's destruction.

The boss kill alone is not the entire ending. Continue to the rescue ship and finish its defense so the run reaches the escape outcome.

This is a useful distinction when checking an apparently successful attempt that did not unlock Captain. Defeating the boss and then dying before the departure is different from completing the escape.

Choose Void Fiend's boss or wave route

Survivors of the Void makes Railgunner available immediately, but Void Fiend requires Dragged Below. Its two supported endpoints are escaping the Planetarium or completing wave 50 in Simulacrum.

Pick the route you actually intend to finish. Simulacrum is a separate wave-based mode, so ordinary stage count is not progress toward its wave-50 condition.

For the Planetarium route, the objective is the escape outcome there, not simply visiting Void Fields or Void Locus along the way. Those earlier hidden realms are access milestones rather than the final unlock condition.

Complete the Seekers of the Storm deliveries and boss objective

Seeker is available with Seekers of the Storm. CHEF and False Son have additional conditions.

For CHEF, bring Cautious Slug, Bison Steak, and Infusion to the wok by the inactive CHEF in Reformed Altar. The deliveries can be made across several runs and in any order, because the cooking progress is saved. One successful offering is progress, not an instruction to repeat the same item three times.

For False Son, obtain Halcyon Seed by defeating Aurelionite in the Gilded Coast, then carry it to the False Son boss encounter in Prime Meridian. Defeat the boss while holding the Seed to satisfy Purified Freedom.

The Seed requirement makes the route different from simply reaching Prime Meridian and winning an ordinary boss attempt. Confirm the item is in your inventory before committing to the final encounter.

Free Drifter with both Prison Matrices

Alloyed Collective makes Operator available by default, while Drifter requires Lost in Transit.

In Solutional Haunt, defeat Solus Wing. That opens the room containing two Prison Matrices. Bring both to the vault: the first opens the vault, and the second is consumed at the terminal inside to free Drifter.

Do not spend the first Matrix and assume the rescue is complete. Opening the vault is the first interaction; using the second at the interior terminal is the action that frees the survivor.

Revive Acolyte after the Hallowed Concepts ritual

Enforcer is available by default with Hallowed Concepts. Acolyte requires A Broken Ritual in Soulbound Threshold.

For the ordinary Shrine of Descent route, solo play requires at least one N'tormat Page. Teams of two, three, and four need four, nine, and sixteen total Pages respectively. Consumed Pages count; Shredded Pages do not. Meet the requirement before entering a new stage, then activate the shrine before its Teleporter.

Clear the Soul-binding trial, enter the Ritual Portal, complete the realm's four challenges, and defeat both Harvester phases. Interact with the Fallen Acolyte and offer a qualifying permanent Healing or Food-related item. One copy is consumed.

Leaving after the boss kill without that revival does not complete the survivor unlock. Verify the A Broken Ritual result and the newly selectable portrait afterward.

Transform into Heretic during a run

Heretic requires Visions of Heresy, Hooks of Heresy, Strides of Heresy, and Essence of Heresy together. Collecting all four replaces your current survivor with Heretic for the remainder of that run.

The transformation does not make her a permanent starting option. A later run begins with your chosen selectable survivor again, and becoming Heretic requires collecting the four items again.