What builds in Risk of Rain 2 is a blast to play, and which ones will make your runs a cakewalk? 

Risk of Rain 2 currently has 148 items and 38 pieces of equipment in the game. With such a large amount of items, it’s not surprising that there are so many build combinations. Even if you’ve tried out a lot of different builds in your runs, you likely haven’t done all of them. That being said these builds are just guidelines, you can alter any aspect you want to make it work for your run.

Although there is a ton of builds players can do, Risk of Rain 2 is a game with RNG, making it extremely difficult or just downright impossible to get the same build consistently. This is where the Artifact of Command comes in, which allows players to pick and choose which items they want. If you want to try these builds for yourself, be sure to unlock the Artifact of Command for yourself.

5. Huntress Crit Build

I’m sure we all know about the ranged crit build, and huntress the defacto ranged hero is great for this build. With attack speed that compliments her secondary primary ability, and how critical strikes change your attack from 3 arrows to 6. Crit Huntress becomes a simple, yet powerful build. 

You’ll be building damage early by stacking items like Lens maker glasses first, and complimenting that with Syringe and Predatory instinct for more attack speed. You’ll also pick up Backup magazine for the use of your secondary abilities AOE. And Dio’s best friend for your survivability. For your equipment early on you can pick up an Ocular HUD, and later upgrade it for Sawmerang. From there you pick up debuff, damage, health, utility, and AOE as you see fit.

What Huntress Crit Build Excels In:

• High damage from constantly proccing your critical chance, giving you 3 extra attacks which will be able to further proc items in your build. 
• Although this is a glass cannon build, if you pick up Scythe you’ll be able to gain a lot of sustain from your heals. Items like Aegis and Rejuvenation Rack add to this. 
• Since Huntress has good mobility and range for all of her abilities, even if you end up being overwhelmed it won’t be too hard to dodge or retreat while thinning out the herd.

Build details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3H2zcVcZMU

4. Master of Death

One could say the only weakness of On-Kill effects is that the enemy has to die. Well with the equipment Forgive Me Please this is no longer a problem. That’s right, this build is about stacking all of the On-Kill effects and throwing out Forgive Me Please to wipe out the map. If you get the items you need quickly, death will be familiar to your enemies but a foreign concept to you.

You’ll need to get Forgive Me Please as fast as possible since it’s the core of this build. But until then you can work on getting items like Gasoline, Will-o’-the-wisp, and Tri-Tip dagger. For a little sustainability that goes a long way try Monster Tooth, Infusion, and Topaz Brooch. To add more damage to the build go with a Ceremonial Dagger. Your next red can be Brilliant Behemoth for more damage off of your Ceremonial Dagger. From there you’ll just be stacking fuel cells for the cooldown decrease for Forgive Me Please, and getting Gesture of the Drowned if you want to stop pressing the Q button altogether.

What Master of Death Excels In:

• This build provides an insane amount of AOE, to the point in which once it starts working the game starts to play itself as enemies die all around the map. This is possible due to the insane range of Ceremonial Dagger. 
• Since this build doesn’t rely much on the abilities of the character, and more on what items you build. Any hero can try this build with little difficulty.
• The only weakness to this build is the potential to get 1 shot before you can set up Forgive Me Please, this problem goes away once you build Gesture of the Drowned. The second you place your equipment, you’ll be provided with shields and healing to protect you.

Build details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL-aKx3h4DU

3. Squid Turret Build

Have you ever felt as if the Engineer didn’t have enough turrets? That’s where this build comes in, take down bosses with an army of turrets. The Squid Turret build is a fun build that specializes in damage. You use Remote Caffeinator to infinitely stack squid turrets on the map, creating your own automated turret force. And after stacking enough items in this build, you’ll be able to take down every boss in the game with only Voidling giving some difficulty.

You’re going to want Engi’s Shield and TR12 Gauss Auto-Turret on Engineer. First things first, you’ll want to get Remote Caffeinator as it is the core of this build. Then you’ll begin stacking Lysate Cell, Squid Polyp, and Bustling Fungus. Pick up Energy Drink for mobility and Medkit for sustain. You’ll want to pick up Brittle Crown if you plan to fight Voidling, so you have gold to use Remote Caffeinator. Then you’ll be stacking Squid Polyp and Bustling Fungus as that will be your main source of sustain and damage. And Safer Spaces for more survivability. Then you’ll just be picking up items that give you more mobility like Hopoo Feather. Set down your Remote Caffeinator activate it a couple of times and watch bosses melt. 

What Squid Turret Build Excels In:

• Through the use of Engi’s Shield and stacking Bustling Fungus, the player will very rarely ever take damage. As the Bustling Fungus will cover a wide range through your ult, and your Engi’s Shield will protect you from any damage outside of it.
• Since all of the damage is coming from your Squid Polyp, you don’t need to build any damaged items. So you can completely focus on stacking in survivability items.
• Since Squid Turrets have a duration of 30 seconds, which is affected by their declining hp, your Bustling Fungus makes it so your turrets stay for as long as needed. And since enemies don’t really aim for the turrets, you’re not in too much danger early of them getting destroyed. 

Build details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1nUVdbI0_Q

2. God of Lightning Build

Have you ever wanted to smite your enemies with an endless current of lighting? Put fear into them with one look that will eviscerate them. Then the God of Lightning build is the one for you. Collect lightning-based items and equipment that will bounce lightning from one enemy to the other.

First, you’ll want to start stacking Paul’s Goat Hoof for mobility around the map and for dodging enemies. Then you want to pick up a Ukelele and a Royal Capacitor your first lightning item and equipment. You’ll want to find Royal Capacitor quickly as it is a core component of this build. After you’ll need Gesture of the Drowned to auto-activate Royal Capacitor and set it on a lower cooldown. Try to stack as many Gesture of the Drowned and Fuel Cells as you can. Get Tougher Times for survivability. Unstable Tesla Coil will be your first Red item. And Charged Perforator for more lightning procs. Soulbound Catalyst to put your Royal Capacitor at an even lower cooldown, and lastly Little Disciple to proc your lightning even when you’re not attacking. 

What God of Lightning Excels In:

• This build is fantastic for single target damage as Royal Capacitor is one of the strongest equipment in the game, and having it perpetually proc makes it so no boss can tank it for too long. 
• This build also has great AOE from items like Unstable Tesla Coil and Ukelele, and if you pick up Little Disciple you no longer will have to attack to proc your on-hit effects. 
• This is another build that can work on any hero, as all you need is good mobility that you can get through Paul’s Goat Hoof, and enough damage to get you through the early stages which any hero should be able to do. 

Build details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW5DPLcZsX4

1. Engineer Razorwire Build

Most builds focus on dealing as much damage from your attacks as possible. For our last build, I thought something a lot more fun would be interesting. Razorwire is an item that when the user takes damage, explodes sending flying razors towards enemies in a wide radius. With this build, we will be building items specifically to proc Razorwire and nothing else. Meaning Razorwise will be the only damage item we build, but you can build items to increase Razorwire’s damage. 

You’re going to want to pick Engineer for this build because a lot of your survivability will come from Bustling Fungus and your turrets. Along with stacking Bustling Fungus, you’ll also want to stack at least 10 Razorwire as that will be enough to proc and reach as many enemies as you need. After that, you’ll want to get a Forgive Me Please and a few Ghor’s Tomes since you won’t have too much damage, Forgive Me Please can act as a money printer so you can open chests quickly when there are no enemies around.

Then once you have a good flow of gold, start stacking Repulsion Armor Plates to resist incoming damage, you’ll need quite a lot as it’s only per stack. As soon as you can you’ll want to go to the Void Fields. Using your turrets leave them outside of the Cell Vent, which will activate Razorwire destroying enemies around the map automatically. Completely Void Fields will give you a good amount of items, and a red at the end which you can use to get 57 Leaf Clover to print more gold, or Rejuvenation Rack for more healing. After that choose items at your leisure and feel pity for your enemies for not being able to hit you without dying. 

What Engineer Razorwire Build Excels In:

• Survivability, every item in this build is meant to let you live longer so your Razorwire can proc more. You’ll be gathering a lot of sustain items like Aegis, Planula, and Titanic Knurl.
• Even though you’ll mostly be building tanky and healing items, the amount of damage towards enemies once you get the build going is astronomical. And can be further increased by items like Shattering Justice and Lens Maker Glasses.
• Although it has a slow buildup and will be really hard to earn gold in the early game. Though no other build can allow you to destroy enemies without even moving. Even most enemies that will normally 1 shot, have trouble even getting past your initial shield. As long as you are conscious of what enemies have a chance of killing you, you’ll be immortal. 

Build details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJdkGN3k3NM 

You may also be interested in: 

• Risk of Rain Best Character - Who To Choose
• Risk of Rain Best Builds That Are Fun To Play
• Risk of Rain Best Items That Are Powerful (And How To Get Them)
• Risk of Rain Best Lunar Items That Are Powerful (And How To Get Them)
• Risk of Rain Best Artifacts That Are Powerful