Since Risk of Rain 2 first entered into early access, a wide range of survivors have been added to the game. What once started as a choice between a few survivors has expanded into a roster of unique and exciting options to choose from. There is tons of new content to explore with each update, but first, let's take it back to one of the original characters; the Huntress.

Huntress is a glass cannon. Her base health is incredibly low, but her quick base speed makes up for this. During your first few times playing as Huntress, you may feel like she is weak, but it just takes some getting used to. Fortunately, this guide is here to help you successfully play as Huntress.

Updated November 15, 2023 by Jacqueline Zalace: Huntress is a great option to choose in Risk of Rain 2. To help you fully learn about this survivor, we've added even more information about playing as Huntress.

How To Unlock Huntress

Huntress is unlocked by default. You don't have to worry about unlocking her, but be sure to check out how to unlock every other character in Risk of Rain 2.

Huntress also happens to be one of the original characters from the first Risk of Rain game, so you may remember playing as her back when the game was 2D.

Huntress's Abilities

As her name suggests, Huntress is a hunter who specializes in long-range attacks, relying largely on her bow for damage output. Given her low health pool and lack of melee utility, it is very unwise to get too close to enemies because they can kill her instantly. Below you can check out her default abilities, and what they do.

Unlike other characters, Huntress can use her primary ability while sprinting, although it can only be used when locked onto an enemy.

This is good news if you don't have a great aim. This capability allows her to accurately attack while remaining mobile and taking minimal damage.

Huntress's Alternative Abilities

Through challenges, you can also unlock a new set of abilities for Huntress. The challenges are pretty straightforward and aren't difficult to accomplish if you keep them in mind while doing a run.

In addition to new abilities, you also have the opportunity to unlock a secondary skin for Huntress. Every character has a second skin that can be unlocked by either beating the final boss or obliterating on Monsoon Mode.

Doing this with Huntress unlocks the Arctic skin. This skin gives Huntress an 'icy' vibe, and even comes with a cute fur hood.

Best Items To Obtain

While playing as Huntress, you may notice that some items are better than others. It's hard to know which items you will receive, but when playing with the Artifact of Command, you can pick any item you want, allowing you to create a strong Huntress build. Here are some of the most useful items for Huntress.

Item	What It Does	Why It's Good
Backup Magazine	Gives an additional charge on secondary skills and can be stacked indefinitely	Increase Laser Glaive charges
Soldier's Syringe	Increases attack speed by 15%	Increase speed
Mocha	Increases attack speed by 7.5% and movement speed by 7%	Increase speed
Lens-Maker's Glasses Lost Seer's Lenses will corrupt this item.	Increase the change of a critical hit by 10% per stack	Increase Laser Glaive damage
Crowbar	Grants 75% extra damage to enemies over 90% health	Increase Laser Glaive damage
Rose Buckler	Reduces damage taken while sprinting	Reduced damage while attacking and sprinting
Old War Stealthkit	Turns player invisible if they have under 25% health, and increases their speed by 40%	Negate Glass Cannon characteristics
Ukulele The Polylute will corrupt this item.	Chance to start a lightning chain on up to 3 enemies, doing 80% total damage	Pick off any stragglers after using Laser Glaive
Dio's Best Friend Pluripotent will corrupt this item.	Offers a second chance after death	Provides another life after death
Alien Head	Reduces skill cooldowns by 25% and can be stacked for an additional 25%	Reduce all skill cooldowns
Laser Scope	Critical Strikes deal 100% additional damage	Increase Damage Dealt
Repulsion Armor Plate	Reduce all incoming damage by 5	Negate Glass Cannon characteristics
Bandolier	18% chance to drop an ammo pack upon killing an enemy, which resets all skill cooldowns	Reduce all skill cooldowns

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Any items that increase attack and decrease damage taken work great with Huntress, but some items don't do much.

With the ability Phase Blink, the item Hardlight Afterburner is pretty much unnecessary. The item gives two additional charges to a character's utility. However, Phase Blink already stores three charges and has a cooldown of just two seconds.

Be sure to keep the items that you have in mind while getting additional Void items. These are items introduced with the Survivors of the Void update. Similar to Lunar items, these items will provide a benefit, as well as a negative effect.

Every Void item will corrupt one normal item, so don't forget to double-check every Void item that you come across.

Tips To Play Huntress

Getting a grasp of Huntress's speed is important when mastering her. Huntress is very fragile, so use her utility to your advantage to help you escape any sticky situations.

Similarly, both her Special Abilities teleport her in the air. While this gives you a clear shot of enemies below, it is also a good opportunity to leave a situation if the number of enemies becomes too overwhelming.

Using Arrow Rain or Ballista, followed by Phase Blink will launch Huntress into the air and forward, and can be used for a quick getaway. If a Stone Golem's laser is scary, don't be afraid to teleport out of there.

How To Avoid An Early Death

With barely any items at the start of a run, you may die pretty quickly. If you aren't aiming for a quick run (in terms of time spent on each stage), we suggest taking a step back and attacking enemies from a distance. Rushing into battle may cause you to meet an early demise that could have been avoided.

If you have artifacts unlocked, don't be afraid to use those as well! Artifacts such as the ones for Command and Sacrifice make it easier to obtain items.

As mentioned above, the Artifact of Command lets you choose the item you want, while the Artifact of Sacrifice will cause enemies to drop items. Rather than seeking out chests, you can kill enemies and let the items come to you.

Which Abilities Should You Choose?

Lastly, let's go over some of the best ability choices for Huntress. Keep in mind that these choices aren't essential to win. Overall, choose whichever you like the most!

Utility

There are a few abilities to pick from, and it can be hard to decide what works best. Phase Blink works the best for darting around and has a short cooldown, making it a bit better than the normal Blink ability.

Primary

As for primary abilities, Flurry does more damage, and several items can help boost this damage even further. It comes down to preference, but some skills just end up doing more damage than others. If you are looking to do the most damage, then Flurry is the best choice for the primary attack.

Special

Ballista and Arrow Rain are both great Special Abilities. If you prefer having an AoE Special Ability then you should stick with Arrow Rain. Ballista targets specific enemies, but both abilities still shoot you into the air.

What Survivors Pair Well With Huntress?

There is no 'best' option when considering who to pair with Huntress, but there are some survivors who do synergize well with her. One great option is Engineer; this survivor is very strong and can help balance out the Glass Cannon aspect of Huntress.

More than one player can pick Huntress, but we don't recommend doing this.

Another great pair is Huntress and Bandit. Bandit's passive makes every attack from behind a critical strike, which is great if one player is kiting enemies around as Huntress.

Next: Every Risk Of Rain 2 Character, Ranked