Artificer is the magic-wielding survivor of Risk Of Rain 2. She can launch fireballs, charge up a ball of electricity, and shatter enemies with a wall of ice. Artificer plays very differently from the other survivors in the game, so let’s take a look at how to unlock her, her abilities and best items, and some tips and tricks that will help you succeed.
How To Unlock
To unlock Artificer, you have to complete the challenge ‘Pause’ by freeing the survivor suspended in time. To do this, first collect 10 Lunar Coins, then head to the shop in the Bazaar Between Time. Next to the Newt is the Artificer, where you can pay 10 Lunar Coins to free and unlock her.
Abilities
Artificer excels at long-range magic attacks, which she can quickly launch while floating above the battlefield. Here are her default abilities.
Passive: ENV Suit. Holding the Jump key causes the Artificer to hover in the air.
Primary: Flame Bolt. Fire a bolt for 220% damage that ignites enemies. Hold up to 4.
Secondary: Charged Nano-Bomb. Stunning. Charge up an exploding nano-bomb that deals 400%-2000% damage.
Utility: Snapfreeze: Freezing. Create a barrier that hurts enemies for 100% damage.
Special: Flamethrower. Burn all enemies in front of you for 1700% damage.
Alternate Abilities
Artificer has three additional abilities to unlock, replacing her Primary, Secondary, and Special. These abilities require you to complete special challenges to unlock.
Primary: Plasma Bolt. Fire a bolt for 220% damage that explodes in a small area. Hold up to 4.
Secondary: Cast Nano-Spear. Freezing. Charge up a piercing nano-spear that deals 400%-1200% damage.
Special: Ion Surge. Stunning. Burst into the sky, dealing 800% damage.
Best Items For Artificer
Backup Magazine: Besides Flamethrower, Charged Nano-Bomb is Artificer’s main source of damage. Having access to multiple uses of her Secondary significantly boosts her damage output.
Soldier’s Syringe: Usually this item is used to increase the speed of a survivor’s attacks, but in Artificer’s case its application is a little different. Increased attack speed will actually speed up how fast she can charge her Secondary. However, keep in mind that this item has no effect on her Primary ability.
Primordial Cube: This item is very strong on Artificer, allowing her to group up enemies for easy kills with Charged Nano-Bomb. Additionally, a Fuel Cell or two will only make this equipment better.
Hopoo Feather: One of Artificer’s main weaknesses is her lack of mobility in her abilities, so getting a few Hopoo Feathers and other movement items like Paul’s Goat Hoof or Energy Drink will be beneficial to her.
Leeching Seed or Harvester’s Scythe: These items will give Flamethrower a massive additional healing effect. Don’t go overboard with these items though, Artificer’s other abilities don’t really benefit from them.
Rose Buckler: Artificer’s passive allows her to float, which she can sprint during. While her floating passive can be good for avoiding enemies, it also makes dodging Wisp and Stone Golem beams more difficult. Rose Buckler will help with this unavoidable damage as long as you are sprinting.
Armor-Piercing Rounds: Artificer is great at dealing with bosses and enemies with big health pools. Armor-Piercing Rounds will greatly help with her ability to melt bosses, so you can’t go wrong with a few of these.
Alien Head or Brainstalks: Either of these items is great for Artificer, as they reduce her dependency on cooldowns. Using all your abilities at once is sometimes necessary, but it leaves Artificer incredibly vulnerable.
Bandolier: This item is great for Artificer for the same reason as Alien Head and Brainstalks; it can completely remove her cooldowns which is Artificer’s biggest weakness. However, you’ll need a few Bandoliers for its effect to really shine.
Tips And Tricks
Artificer can be tricky to play, especially if you aren’t familiar with how much damage her abilities can do, or how to efficiently manage her cooldowns. Because all her abilities have a cooldown, Artificer can get into spots where she is essentially stuck, which is more often than not what will end your run.
Artificer’s Primary has a bit of travel time, so be sure to lead your shots to land the hit. Additionally, space out your Primary usage, but always have at least one use on cooldown. Don’t burn through them all at once, or you’ll find yourself with no option to attack and enemies aiming right for you. Certain items that reduce cooldowns like Bandolier or Alien Head can remedy this issue, but you can’t always rely on getting those items if you aren’t using the Artifact of Command.
Besides her Passive, Artificer has no other mobility options. Her Utility Snapfreeze should almost always be used defensively to freeze enemies in place and run away. This ability’s second effect is that it will instantly kill low-health enemies, which can be great for taking care of smaller, grouped-up enemies.
Grab a few movement items like Wax Quail and Paul’s Goat Hoof or Energy Drink to help with her mobility problem. Additionally, don’t forget the Artificer can sprint while gliding, which can be a strong defensive tool for escaping sticky situations. However, keep in mind that there is a slight delay after you press spacebar before you start gliding.
Artificer can deal a lot of damage. Charge Nano-Bomb alone can deal 2000% damage when fully charged, which is an incredibly high number. Don’t underestimate how much damage a Charged Nano-Bomb can do, its uncharged damage is most likely enough to kill small enemies like Wisps and Lemurians.
While Artificer’s Alternate Abilities don’t fundamentally change how she is played, their differences are notable. Plasma Bolt is better used in situations where you are facing a lot of enemies on the ground but isn’t as useful as Flame Bolt in all other situations. Because Plasma Bolt’s explosion effect only applies at the location the Bolt lands, it doesn’t help in dealing with flying enemies any more than Flame Bolt does. Overall, Flame Bolt is the better choice because of its much more versatile Ignite effect.
Choosing between Charged Nano-Bomb and Cast Nano-Spear will come down to your personal preference. Charged Nano-Bomb does significantly more damage, but Cast Nano-Spear is a powerful defensive tool that can freeze enemies. Charged Nano-Bomb is the better ability when taking into account Artificer’s playstyle of running around and nuking enemies, but Cast Nano-Spear is also a valid choice.
Similarly, Flamethrower deals a ton of damage at the cost of being not always safe to use because of its short range, whereas Ion Surge deals less damage but gives Artificer some much-needed mobility. Ion Surge is much more difficult to use effectively, and you’ll often be waiting to get to the ground to use it again. Flamethrower is much more versatile and does more damage, so in this case, it’s an easy pick.
