Complete Risk of Rain 2 Long Road Guide

When it comes to blending loot systems with the game’s core mechanics, such as survivability, exploration, and discovering interactable items, there is no parallel to Risk of Rain 2. The game is a masterpiece that incentives the replay value by offering alternate map rotations, 11 playable characters, and dropping epic loot. As daunting and hard as each run gets, the game tucks away even a tougher challenge involving completing 20 stages in a single run. Risk of Rain 2 Long Road challenge is not for the faint-hearted souls as it throws pressure at every corner while doing the run and demands patience, persistence, and perseverance.

Before embarking on this suicidal journey, I recommend playing the entire game at least a few times. Doing so offers valuable insight into how the loot system, stage rotations, and its completion work. Secondly, you must have unlocked Artificer or Mercenary survivors because both playable classes make the Long Road challenge a breeze. Third, bring a companion if you can; having cannon fodder on your side never hurts.

Risk of Rain 2 The Long Road Challenge Strategy

I mentioned the prerequisites you need to do before hopping on the Long Road challenge bandwagon. To remain alive, you will need to strategize the encounters with bosses and minions to stay alive until you finish the 20 stages in a single go. Here are a few more things that you should know before you begin, you start this challenge.

Drizzle (Easy Mode)

Completing 20 stages in a single go sounds scary. It does not have to be. That is why I recommend going for the Risk of Rain 2 Drizzle difficulty, aka easy mode. Why? Because you need the health bar of enemies as much low as possible, and it is toned down only in the easy mode.

Secondly, the bosses and other in-game unique enemies like twisted scavengers and many others become ridiculously painless to defeat in the Drizzle setting. You need to quickly kill the bosses and minions and keep the progression of the long road challenge rolling. Otherwise, passing more time on a stage at Petrichor V planet only increases the difficulty for you. More on that later here.

Difficulty Scaling

The in-game difficulty increases over time. From the moment you start until the end, time keeps running, making the game tougher. Even in Drizzle mode, spending too much time in one stage adds tension.

For the Risk of Rain 2 long road challenge, allocate 5-7 minutes per stage. Collect items in sight or from Rusty boxes, then keep moving to find the Teleporter. Loader offers excellent mobility, while Rex has the worst. Once found, use a friend as bait (if you have one) to distract enemies while you attack from a distance. If solo, stack specific items to defeat the boss and minions quickly and move to the next stage.

Stage Progression

In stages one to ten, gather as many items and equipment as possible since the difficulty is relatively easier here. Rush through these stages to build your strength.

From stages eleven to twenty, be patient during Teleporter boss encounters. Minions aren’t a problem in Drizzle difficulty, but bosses can be tough. Stay at a distance, land hits, and repeat to safely handle Teleporter encounters and boss fights.

Emphasizing stage progression is vital, as I learned the hard way while playing Artificer. Wasting time in the initial stages made the game difficult. Following the strategy mentioned above helped me complete the challenge efficiently. Now, let’s discuss items.

Essential Items

In Risk of Rain 2’s long road challenge, the items you acquire greatly impact your progression. Here are the top three items I found crucial:

1. Shaped Glass: This lunar item offers a 100% base damage increase but halves your maximum health by 50%. In Drizzle mode, where your survival is more manageable, this item is highly valuable. Pair it with good healing items to counter the reduced health.

   

2. Harvester’s Scythe: This healing item provides 8 health points on critical strikes. Stacking multiple Harvester’s Scythes can significantly boost your healing, as each stack grants an additional +4 health on crits. It’s unique, so obtaining multiple copies is easier.

   

3. Tougher Times: If you’re solo and can’t bring a friend along, Tougher Times is essential. It can block incoming attacks and mitigate damage, making it a valuable defensive item for a long road challenge.

   

Note: Avoid spending too much time searching for legendary items like Alien Head or Soulbound Crystal, as they’re rare and can slow down your progress. For more information on item rankings, consult a Risk of Rain 2 items tier list.

Newt Altar – Blue Portals

To reach the Bazaar Between Time via a blue portal in Risk of Rain 2, you need to find and interact with a Newt Portal. There are 36 Newt Portals in the game, so locating one shouldn’t be an issue. If you’re having trouble, our Newt Altar locations guide can help you pinpoint their exact positions.

Why is this important? In earlier versions of Risk of Rain 2, using a Newt Altar’s blue portal counted as stage progression. This allowed players to exploit the system and complete the long road challenge by repeatedly using Newt Altars to access different game environments. However, this trick is no longer possible, as the developers patched it long ago.

Shrine of Order

Do not, at any cost, interact with a Shrine of Order while doing the long road challenge. Why? Because the shrine can either take your overpowered items and give you weaker ones, or it can do the opposite of it. In any case, gambling your survivor’s items and hoping to get a favorable outcome is too risky for a run that requires you to sit and complete 20-stages in a single go.

Survivor Preferences

As mentioned earlier, you can complete this challenge with any survivor in Risk of Rain 2. All of the playable classes equally benefit in certain situations and take a hit in others. However, melting enemies as soon as possible and moving forward faster are the two critical elements you will need to keep in mind while doing the challenge. Naturally, if you start seeing this process through this lens, you will filter out the survivors best fit for this discourse.

I already mentioned my preferences. You can take my word and start using the survivors, which I selected while embarking on the long road journey. Or, say you are extremely good with Captain, MUL-T, or Engineer, by all means, use them in the run. You can ignore my preference for Artificer, Mercenary, or Loader and pick any class you have already mastered its abilities and playstyle.

Summary For The Long Road Challenge

Here is a rundown of everything I mentioned above.

1. Go for Drizzle mode and do not waste your in-game time.
2. The difficulty scales higher the longer your in-game time goes up.
3. Always prioritize stage rushing and be patient with boss encounters.
4. Go for the items I mentioned and save yourself from the misery of dying and retrying this challenge.
5. Newt Portals is not an option anymore to trick that game that you completed a stage by accessing the blue portal. Stop doing this.
6. Go solo or with teammates with my favorites: Artificer, Mercenary, and Loader.
7. Complete the challenge and unlock ‘57 Leaf Clover’ legendary item.

That is pretty much everything you should know about Risk of Rain 2’s long road. Now that I’ve broken down all the nitty-gritty details, the dos and don’ts regarding the challenge, are you willing to go for it with my suggestions? Or, do you have a better way to complete this journey? Let your thoughts flow into the comments box below.