Risk of Rain Returns Loader [How To Unlock, Abilities, Items]

Loader is one of the melee characters in Risk of Rain Returns. He can be a bit difficult to unlock but can be a useful asset later on. Loader is useful when up against a lot of enemies at once because of his abilities. He can also be used to escape hordes of enemies too. 

How To Unlock Loader

To unlock Loader, you need to get thirty unique items in one single playthrough. 

Items can be obtained by either buying them or by unlocking chests. You need a lot of money to be able to get every single one of the chests in one of the stages. The hard part is that you need 30 items in one single playthrough. There are a few ways you can get the items, and one of them does not require as much gold. 

You can use the following items to get even more items:

• Skeleton Key: The Skeleton Key is a useable item that unlocks all chests in the viewing range. If there is more than one chest in your viewing range, then using the key will unlock all of them without any money. 
• Life Savings: It gives you a flying pig that produces 1 dollar per 3 seconds. If you get more than one Life Saving, it will increase the rate by 1. Now you can make money a lot faster to get more items.

Loader’s Abilities

First of all, here are all the stats of the Loader:

CHARACTER NAME	Loader
BASE HP	115 (+42 per level) Drizzle: 165 (+42 per level)
DAMAGE	10 (+3 per level)
ATTACK SPEED	180
HP REGEN	0.6 HP/sec  (+0.18 HP per level) 2.4 HP/sec (+0.18 HP per level)
ARMOR	0 (+2 per level)

As mentioned earlier, Loader is a melee character that can deal damage using his fists. He is very useful because of how good his abilities are. They can be used to your advantage against hordes of enemies if you get all the right items. 

The following are the four base abilities of the Loader:

• Knuckleboom
• Debris Shield
• Hydraulic Gauntlet 
• M440 Conduit 

Knuckleboom

It is the base attack of Loader. It is a melee attack where Loader uses his fists to damage. Knuckleboom can be chained to three hits. The first two hits will do 120% damage, but the third one will do 240% damage. Furthermore, the third hit is special, as it has the ability to knock away enemies. It makes it very useful when fighting a lot of enemies as this gives you a chance to run away. 

Debris Shield

The Debris Shield is a shield that makes Loader completely invincible to any attack. The shield gives you a full two seconds of invincibility. It also gives you a speed boost as well. The Loader can use the Debris Shield as a way to run away from enemies. It can be very useful when you are being cornered by enemies from two sides.

Hydraulic Gauntlet 

The Hydraulic Gauntlet shoots the fist forward and then launches the Loader toward any enemy it hits. It is useful in case you need to run away from enemies. But it can also be used to do platforming and can be used to reach places you can’t normally. It can also be angled upwards. The Hydraulic Gauntlet can do 210% damage and can also stun the enemy that is hit by it.

M440 Conduit

The M440 Conduit allows the Loader to place a lightning rod on the ground. When you place two rods, a lightning bolt will start surging between them. The lightning will deal 80% damage for a total of 9 seconds. It can be useful during boss battles when there are a lot of enemies. You can place the two rods at a fairly large distance and still get the lightning bolt. That is why it is very useful to use it against a pack of enemies.

Best Items For Loader

As mentioned earlier, the Loader is a melee character which makes him susceptible to damage. He can be killed very easily if he is not well-equipped. One of the reasons Loader is considered one of the best characters in the original Risk of Rain is Debris Shield. But it was because of the 3-second invincibility. Now in the remaster, that has been reduced to 2. But you can still use it more often than you would normally by using the right items. 

The following are the best items you can find for the Loader:

• Ukelele 
• Permafrost
• Wicked Ring
• Alien’s Head
• Warbanner

My Thoughts On The Loader

The Loader can be a bit hard to control, but he is definitely one of the best characters in Risk of Rain Returns. He was broken in the original because you could use Alien’s Head and Wicked Ring to cut short his cooldown. Then, you can spam Debris Shield on very small intervals. In this way, you can be invincible for most of the you play as the Loader. Plus, the speed boost it provides makes it easier for you to spam Knuckleboom. 

Short-range characters like Acrid, Miner, and Loader work really well in Risk of Rain Returns. They are great against bosses and can be even better if you pair them up with the right artifacts. 

Next:

• Risk Of Rain Returns Tier List
• Risk Of Rain Returns: Best Builds
• Risk Of Rain Returns: Enforcer
• Risk Of Rain Returns: Lynx Totem