Most first runs in Risk of Rain 2 do not end because the player could not aim. They end because the player spent too long on stage 2, arrived at stage 4 with half the items they needed, and met enemies that had been levelling up the whole time. The game is a race against its own clock, and once you see how that clock works, the right decisions on a stage become obvious.
This guide answers "what should I do on my first run?" first, then explains the systems behind each answer. Numbers come from the Risk of Rain 2 wiki (wiki.gg) and cover the base game with Survivors of the Void and Seekers of the Storm. Alloyed Collective, the newest expansion, is mentioned where it changes the picture but is not covered in depth.
How to win your first run: the short answer
| Decision | Do this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Survivor | Commando or Huntress | Both are available from the start. Huntress shoots seeking arrows while sprinting; Commando is the clearest way to learn how items trigger. |
| Difficulty | Drizzle for the first runs, then Rainstorm | Drizzle raises difficulty over time at 50% of the normal pace and adds +70 armor. Rainstorm is the normal pace. |
| Stages 1 and 2 | Open every chest on your route | Prices rise with the difficulty coefficient, so chests are never cheaper than they are now. |
| Pace | Never wait for anything | The clock runs every second you are on a stage. Look for the Teleporter while you loot instead of after. |
| Teleporter | Open the chests near it, then start it and stay in the zone | The event locks chests and shrines outside the zone until charging finishes, and charging needs you inside. |
| Gold | Spend it all before you leave | Leftover gold becomes experience at 2 gold per point, a poor trade. |
| Items | Take everything early; scrap before you print | Every copy stacks. A printer eats a random item of that rarity unless you hold scrap. |
| Stage 5 | Go to the moon | A half-built loop is a slow death. Bank the win first, loop later. |
The one rule behind the table: time spent standing still makes everything more expensive and every enemy tougher. Loot along a route, not in a full sweep, and the run takes care of itself on Drizzle and Rainstorm.
Why speed matters: the difficulty clock in plain numbers
Risk of Rain 2 tracks a single difficulty coefficient. In plain words it has two parts:
- Time. Every minute adds a fixed amount: 0.0506 per minute on Drizzle, 0.1012 on Rainstorm and 0.1518 on Monsoon in solo play. Extra players raise both the starting value (+0.3 per extra player) and the per-minute rate.
- Stages. The whole total is multiplied by 1.15 for every stage completed. Hidden Realms such as A Moment, Fractured and Gilded Coast count as stages; the Bazaar Between Time and the Void Fields do not.
That coefficient then drives almost everything:
| What rises | How it follows the coefficient | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Enemy level | 1 + (coefficient - 1) / 0.33 in solo play | Every 0.33 of coefficient is one more enemy level: more health and more damage. |
| Prices of chests, drones and shrines | Base cost x coefficient^1.25 | Grows slightly faster than the coefficient itself. |
| Gold per kill | Proportional to the coefficient | Grows at the same rate as the coefficient, so slower than prices. |
| Enemy spawns | The spawn directors earn credits in line with the coefficient | More enemies, and tougher kinds of enemy, appear over time. |
Same stage, different clock
This is the part most guides skip. Because prices grow with the coefficient to the power 1.25 while gold per kill grows only in proportion, a slow run gets fewer chests per kill, not just tougher enemies. Here is what arriving at stage 3 at two different times looks like, solo on Rainstorm, computed from the wiki's formulas:
| Arrive at stage 3 at | Coefficient | Small Chest price | Enemy level | Gold per kill vs. 12 min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 minutes | about 2.93 | about $96 | about 6 to 7 | baseline |
| 20 minutes | about 4.00 | about $141 | about 10 | about +37% |
The slow run pays about 48% more for each chest, earns about 37% more per kill, and faces enemies three or four levels higher. Nothing it found in those extra eight minutes is likely to make up for that.
The difficulty bar on the HUD
The bar in the top right steps up from Easy through several named steps to HAHAHAHA. The names have no effect of their own: each step marks roughly one point of coefficient (in solo play, Easy covers 1 to 2). On Rainstorm on stage 1 that is about one step every ten minutes, and it speeds up as the stage multiplier grows.
The difficulties compared
| Difficulty | Time scaling | Other changes | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drizzle | 50% of normal | +70 armor; health regeneration starts at 1.5x | Your first runs, learning stages and enemies |
| Rainstorm | Normal | None | The default once you reach stage 5 on Drizzle |
| Monsoon | 150% of normal | Health regeneration starts at 0.6x | After you have cleared Rainstorm |
All three are available from the start. Eclipse is a separate mode that stacks extra modifiers level by level; how each level changes survivor choice is covered in the Survivor Tier List.
The clock stops while you are in the Bazaar Between Time, and the Bazaar does not count as a stage. Shopping there costs you nothing in difficulty.
The stage loop, step by step
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1
1. Loot along a route
Head in one direction and open chests, barrels and drones as you pass them. Barrels give free gold. Do not backtrack across the map for one Small Chest.
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2
2. Find the Teleporter while you loot
It sits somewhere on the stage with a few interactables around it. Knowing where it is means you can start the event the moment you are ready.
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3
3. Open what you want near it
Once the event starts, chests and shrines outside the zone lock until charging finishes. Barrels and scrappers stay usable.
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4
4. Start the event and stay inside the zone
A Teleporter Boss and other monsters spawn. Charging takes at least 90 seconds with every player inside, and slows in proportion to how many players are out of the zone. Solo, leaving it stops the charge.
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5
5. Kill the boss, collect the reward, spend your gold
One green item drops per player when the boss dies. After the charge completes, the locked chests open again, so use leftover gold before you leave.
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6
6. Leave
Interact with the charged Teleporter. Any gold you still hold turns into experience at 2 gold per point.
Shrine of the Mountain makes the next Teleporter event harder (extra bosses, elite bosses or tougher bosses) and adds one more Teleporter item per player for each shrine used. It has to be used before the Teleporter starts charging. On stages 1 and 2 with a decent build it is one of the best item sources in the game; with a weak build it is how runs end.
Everything you meet on a stage
Base prices are what you see at the start of a run; all gold prices then rise with the coefficient.
| Interactable | Base cost | What it gives | Beginner advice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Chest | $25 | White 79.2%, green 19.8%, red 0.99% | Open every one on your route early. |
| Large Chest | $50 | Green 80%, red 20% | Always worth it. |
| Legendary Chest | $400 | A guaranteed red item | Stage 4 onward. Guaranteed on Abyssal Depths, Sundered Grove, Repurposed Crater and Conduit Canyon; save gold for it there. |
| Equipment Barrel | $30 | One equipment (an active item on its own cooldown) | You hold one equipment at a time; a new one drops the old. Take one early. |
| Shrine of Chance | $17, rising 40% per use | 55% success: white 36%, green 9%, red 1%, equipment 9%. Stops after 2 successes | Spare gold only. A failed attempt still costs the gold. |
| Shrine of the Mountain | Free | Harder Teleporter boss, +1 Teleporter item per player per shrine | Only when your build is ahead. Use before the event starts. |
| Shrine of Blood | 50% of your health | Gold | Use at full health, never mid-fight. |
| Drones and turrets | $35 to $350 | Allies that fight for you | Gunner Drone and Healing Drone ($40) are cheap early value. |
| Scrapper | Free | Turns an item into scrap of the same rarity | Scrap what your survivor cannot use. Works during the Teleporter event. |
| 3D Printer | One item of that rarity | A copy of the displayed item | Scrap first. Green printers from stage 2, red from stage 5. |
| Lunar Pod | 1 Lunar Coin | A random lunar item or lunar equipment | Every lunar item has a drawback. Read it before you keep it. |
| Newt Altar | 1 Lunar Coin | A blue portal to the Bazaar Between Time when the Teleporter is charged | Donate before the event completes, or no portal appears. |
| Void Cradle (Survivors of the Void) | 50% of your health | A void item: 60% white, 30% green, 10% red tier | Can release up to 4 Void Infestors. Check what the item corrupts. |
Drones follow you around the stage, and allies that survive come with you to the next one; even the immobile Gunner Turret is placed near your spawn point on the next stage. An early $40 drone keeps paying for itself. Prices: Gunner Drone $40, Healing Drone $40, Gunner Turret $35, Missile Drone $60, Incinerator Drone and Emergency Drone $100, TC-280 Prototype $350. Alloyed Collective adds seven new drones and drone stations, which we do not cover here.
Scrap before you print. A 3D Printer takes a random item of the same rarity unless you hold scrap of that rarity, which is always used first. Walking up to a printer with no scrap can cost you your best white. The item guide explains which whites to scrap.
Two currencies: gold and Lunar Coins
| Gold | Lunar Coins | |
|---|---|---|
| How you earn it | Killing enemies, barrels, Shrine of Blood | 0.5% per kill, halving after each drop that run; 10 from the Voidling, 5 from obliterating at the Obelisk; challenges |
| Carries over | No. Converted to experience at 2:1 when you leave a stage | Yes, between runs |
| Spend it on | Chests, Equipment Barrels, drones, Shrines of Chance | Lunar Pods (1, or 2 in the Bazaar), Newt Altars (1), Lunar Seers (3), Shrine of Order (1), Artificer (10) |
| Beginner rule | Spend it all on every stage | Save 11 for Artificer: 1 for a Newt Altar, 10 to free her |
Item rarities in one table
The colour of an item's border is its rarity. How each one stacks and which are worth taking is in the item guide; this is the map.
| Colour | Rarity | Main sources | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | Common | Small Chests, Shrines of Chance, white printers | Small numbers that add up. Take them all early. |
| Green | Uncommon | Large Chests, Teleporter rewards, green printers | Where most builds come together. |
| Red | Legendary | Legendary Chests, Large Chests (20%), Rusty Lockboxes, red printers | Rare and often run-defining. |
| Yellow | Boss | Each green Teleporter reward has a 15% chance to become that boss's item | Can be scrapped and printed like other rarities. |
| Blue | Lunar | Lunar Pods, the Bazaar | Bought with Lunar Coins, cannot be scrapped, and every one has a drawback. |
| Purple | Void | Void Cradles (Survivors of the Void) | Each corrupts a normal item: picking one up converts all copies of its counterpart. |
| Orange | Equipment | Equipment Barrels, Equipment Multishop Terminals | One active item at a time, used with its own key and cooldown. |
Alloyed Collective also adds temporary items and other new mechanics that are beyond the scope of a first-run guide.
The first survivors to unlock
You start with Commando and Huntress. These come next, in the order most players get them:
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1
MUL-T
Complete the first Teleporter event 5 times. Happens on its own within your first few runs.
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2
Bandit
Reach and complete the 3rd Teleporter event without dying.
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3
Engineer
Complete 30 stages. The count carries across runs. The most forgiving survivor in the game and the best early target.
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4
Artificer
Pay 1 Lunar Coin at a Newt Altar, take the blue portal to the Bazaar, and spend 10 to free her.
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5
Captain
Beat the game once.
Every other unlock, and who is strong on which difficulty, is in the Survivor Tier List.
How a run ends: the route to Mithrix
On stage 5 the Teleporter is a Primordial Teleporter with rings around it. Left as it is, it is aligned to the moon and sends you to Commencement, the final stage. Interacting with the outer rings before the event aligns it with the planet instead, and you loop back to stage 1 with your items and the clock intact.
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1
Commencement: charge 4 pillars
Pillars of Mass (60 s), Design (30 s, pushes and cripples), Soul (30 s, shrinking zone) and Blood (10 s, drains 10% health per second). Charging 4 activates the launch pads to Mithrix's arena.
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2
Mithrix, phases 1 to 3
Phase 1 is Mithrix himself. In phase 2 he leaves and Lunar Chimera Golems and Wisps attack. In phase 3 he returns with an empowered hammer.
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3
Phase 4: he takes your items
He steals every item from you and your allies and is invulnerable while he does. Damaging him releases the items again, so keep shooting.
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4
Escape
When he dies the moon starts to detonate. Reach the Rescue Ship within 3 minutes and stay near it for 1 minute to win.
A blue portal on stage 5 loops you. Whatever the Teleporter's alignment, going through any portal on stage 5, including the one to the Bazaar, sends you back to stage 1 afterwards. If you want the moon on your first run, skip the Newt Altar on stage 5.
Other endings, briefly
Mithrix is not the only way to win. Each of these counts as a victory:
- The Planetarium (Voidling) — Survivors of the Void. Reached through the Void Locus, whose portal appears after you complete all nine cells in the Void Fields or, from stage 7 onward, with a 10% chance after a Teleporter event. Defeating the Voidling pays 10 Lunar Coins.
- Obliteration (A Moment, Fractured) — use the Obelisk on the last island of this Hidden Realm, reached by a Celestial Portal that appears on stage 3 after you have looped. Pays 5 Lunar Coins.
- Prime Meridian (False Son) — Seekers of the Storm. The end of the Path of the Colossus, entered through green portals from Halcyon Shrines or the Gilded Coast.
- Neural Sanctum (Solus Heart) — Alloyed Collective. Accepting the Solus Heart's offer ends the run as a win.
When to loop instead of taking any of these is ranked in Loop or Moon.
Common beginner mistakes
- Full-clearing stages 3 and later. Each extra minute raises prices faster than it raises your income.
- Starting the Teleporter before opening the chests near it. Everything outside the zone locks until the charge finishes.
- Wandering out of the zone during the event. Solo, the charge stops while you are outside.
- Leaving with gold in your pocket. It becomes experience at a poor 2:1 rate.
- Printing without scrap, and losing a random item of that rarity.
- Using a Shrine of the Mountain with a weak build. The extra items are no good if the boss ends the run.
- Keeping every Lunar Pod item blindly. Shaped Glass halves your health per copy; Egocentrism eats your other items over time.
- Taking a portal on stage 5 when you meant to go to the moon.
- Picking Monsoon to "learn faster". Its 150% time scaling punishes exactly the slow, careful play a new player does.
Where to go next
- Which items to keep, print and scrap, and how stacking really works: Item Strategy
- Who to play, unlock next, and take into Monsoon and Eclipse: Survivor Tier List
- Whether to loop at stage 5 and how to survive deep loops: Loop or Moon
- Our verdict on the game as a whole: Risk of Rain 2 review
★Honest Take: the clock is the best idea in the game, and the worst explained
The time-based difficulty is what makes Risk of Rain 2 feel unlike other roguelikes. Every chest is a small bet against the clock, and a good run feels fast because it is fast. The honest criticism is that the game explains almost none of it. Nothing tells you that prices outgrow your income, that the Teleporter locks the chests you were saving for later, or that a blue portal on stage 5 quietly cancels your trip to the moon. Most new players learn those rules by losing runs to them. Once you know them, Drizzle and Rainstorm become very winnable within a few hours, and the game opens up into the item and survivor depth it is known for. If the pressure feels stressful at first, that is the design working; play a few runs on Drizzle and it turns into momentum.
