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The Bandit is a fast-paced gunslinger in Risk of Rain 2. This survivor needs high accuracy and skillful timing of abilities to play effectively. As one of the survivors brought back from the original game, players may have a hard time adjusting to the Bandit's overhauled play style.
Risk Of Rain 2: The Ultimate Mercenary Guide
The Mercenary can be one of the hardest survivors to master in Risk of Rain 2, but it's worth the effort! Here are some tips for doing just that.Bandit has a highly defined play style that can be difficult to get the hang of. Let's take a look at each of Bandit's default and alternate abilities, the best items to use, and some tips and tricks for mastering the Bandit.
Updated December 18, 2023: The Risk of Rain series is as popular as ever with the release of Risk of Rain Returns, the console port of Survivors of the Void, and an upcoming mobile game. We've taken this opportunity to update this ultimate guide to playing the Bandit in Risk of Rain 2, with everything you need to know about surviving as this character.
How to Unlock Bandit
The Bandit is one of the easier survivors to unlock. To unlock him, you will need to complete the 'Warrior' Challenge, where you'll need to clear the first three stages without dying. This can be done on any difficulty setting.
Bandit's Abilities
The Bandit excels in mid-range, one-on-one combat. Here are his default abilities.
|
Ability Type |
Ability |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Passive |
Backstab |
All attacks from behind are Critical Strikes. |
|
Primary |
Burst |
Fire a shotgun burst for 5x100% damage. Can hold up to 4 shells. |
|
Secondary |
Serrated Dagger |
Lunge and slash for 360% damage. Critical Strikes also cause hemorrhaging. |
|
Utility |
Smoke Bomb |
Stunning. Deal 200% damage, become invisible, then deal 200% damage again. |
|
Special |
Lights Out |
Slayer. Fire a revolver shot for 600% damage. Kills reset all your cooldowns. |
Bandit's Alternate Abilities
Bandit has three alternate abilities that can be selected in place of his default Primary, Secondary, and Special. These abilities, their effects, and how to unlock them are listed below.
|
Ability Type |
Ability |
Description |
How To Unlock |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Primary |
Blast |
Fire a rifle blast for 330% damage. Can hold up to 4 bullets. |
Complete the "Bandit: Classic Man" Challenge.
|
|
Secondary |
Serrated Shiv |
Throw a hidden blade for 240% damage. Critical Strikes also cause hemorrhaging. |
Complete the "Bandit: Sadist" Challenge.
|
|
Special |
Desperado |
Slayer. Fire a revolver shot for 600% damage. Kills grant stacking tokens for 10% more Desperado damage. |
Complete the "Bandit: B&E" Challenge
|
Best Items for Bandit
The Bandit has a well-defined play style that doesn't heavily rely on certain items. Despite that, there are still several items that enhance Bandit's abilities very well. Listed below are some of the best items for Bandit that you'll want to shoot for each run.
|
Item Name |
Item Description |
Why It's Good |
|---|---|---|
|
Crowbar |
Increases damage towards enemies that have more than 90% of their health. |
With enough Crowbars, Lights Out will deal even more damage, allowing you to one-shot most enemies and refresh your cooldowns. This is one of the best items for Bandit that lends itself perfectly into the survivor's high damage play style. |
|
Paul's Goat Hoof |
Increases movement speed by 14%. |
Getting around faster is good for all characters, both offensively and defensively. You can never go too fast. |
|
Ukulele |
Grants the user a chance to fire a lightning bolt that bounces between nearby enemies. |
Bandit's abilities focus more on single-target damage rather than AoE, making groups of enemies difficult to deal with. Ukulele can remedy this, allowing you to clear pesky Wisps quickly with lightning chains. |
|
Lens-Maker's Glasses |
The user's attacks have a 10% chance to Critically Strike, dealing double damage. |
Although Bandit has guaranteed Critical Strikes from behind, Lens-Maker's Glasses will help when you can't move behind the enemy. Stacking this item will allow you to consistently Critical Strike from all angles. |
|
Kjaro and Runald's Bands |
High damage hits also blast the area with a flame tornado (Kjaro) or ice spikes (Runald). |
Due to Bandit's high emphasis on Critical Strikes, the effects of both Band items can be an added source of damage. These items can proc when enemies are hit with Critical Strikes, and can provide some much-needed AoE to Bandit's attacks. |
|
Hopoo Feather |
Grants the user an additional jump. |
This simple item will give Bandit some added mobility, allowing you to more easily reposition and escape enemies. |
|
Predatory Instincts |
Gain 5% critical chance. Critical strikes increase attack speed by 12%. Maximum cap of 36% attack speed. |
Attack speed works a little differently on Bandit than on other Survivors. For Bandit, increasing your attack speed will instead increase your reload speed, allowing you to shoot more often. Predatory Instincts grants a high amount of Attack Speed as you critically strike. |
|
Hunter's Harpoon |
Killing an enemy increases movement speed by 125%, fading over 1 second. |
Grants a stacking movement speed bonus after killing an enemy, which synergizes well with the one shot, one kill playstyle of Lights Out Bandit. |
|
Shuriken |
Activating your Primary skill also throws a shuriken that deals 400% base damage. You can hold up to 3 shurikens which all reload over 10 seconds. |
Adds a high damage attack to your Primary. Stacking a few Shurikens will ensure you always throw one when you use Burst or Blast. |
|
Shatterspleen |
Critical Strikes will bleed enemies for 240% damage. Bleeding enemies will explode on death for 400% damage. |
While your goal is always to one-shot enemies to refresh your cooldowns as much as possible, this isn't always possible. Shatterspleen will allow to quickly and efficiently stack bleed on high-health enemies later in your run, and will give you some much needed AoE as bleeding enemies explode. |
|
Harvester's Scythe |
Heals the user when they Critically Strike. |
This item has almost no downsides when paired with Bandit's ability to Critically Strike from behind an enemy. You will want to be doing this anyway, so adding Harvester's Scythe will give you some added survivability. |
|
Purity |
Reduces all ability cooldowns by 2 seconds, but all random outcomes are more unfavorable. |
This item may not seem the most useful when compared to Bandit's innate ability to refresh cooldowns with Lights Out, but Purity can be extremely valuable when paired with his alternate Special ability, Desperado. Purity and Desperado will allow you to quickly stack your damage buff, making all your abilities even more powerful. |
Tips and Tricks
At first, Bandit might seem pretty straightforward to play, but there are a few nuances to his abilities that are worth mentioning. Listed below are a few tips and tricks to help you familiarize yourself with Bandit's main goals for success.
Bandit's main goal is to quickly kill low-health enemies with Lights Out, allowing you to consistently refresh your cooldowns. This will additionally allow you to use Smoke Bomb more frequently, and in turn increase your mobility and survivability.
The best way to consistently kill with Lights Out is to target low-health enemies like Wisps and Lemurians that you can easily kill in one hit. If you have a few Crowbars stacked up, the range of enemies you can one-shot expands, giving you more options in combat.
Smoke Bomb is one of the Bandit's most important tools. Smoke Bomb will allow you to escape dangerous situations and reposition to an advantageous location, usually further away from enemies, where you can pick them off at range. This, paired with Smoke Bomb's damage upon entering and exiting invisibility, gives the Bandit some excellent crowd control for dealing with groups of enemies.
You can exit invisibility early by using any other ability. When entering and exiting invisibility, you will bounce in the air slightly. This can be used to your advantage to reach higher places or get above enemies, if timed correctly.
The final thing to keep in mind about Smoke Bomb is that, when used, enemies will target the last place you were. This means you can lure enemies to your previous position by using Smoke Bomb, allowing your allies to focus their attacks on that area.
Risk Of Rain 2: The Ultimate Huntress Guide
The Huntress is the speedy glass cannon of Risk of Rain 2 — this guide will outline the best items to snag and strategies to employ when playing her.As Bandit, you should always be aiming for the backs of enemies. Having guaranteed Critical Strikes against enemies who have their back to you is extremely powerful, and can enable some strong interactions.
Harvester's Scythe and Shatterspleen both have incredibly beneficial effects when Critical Strikes are utilized, and these effects can be maximized by striking from behind.
Also, be sure to capitalize on Serrated Dagger and Serrated Shiv's ability to inflict Hemorrhage when Critically Striking. Using these abilities when exiting invisibility behind an enemy can deal high damage and stack additional damage through Hemorrhage.
Which Abilities Should You Choose?
Bandit has three alternate abilities that you can choose in place of his Primary, Secondary, and Special. If you're having trouble deciding which to choose, consider the following.
Primary
Burst and Blast may seem similar at first, but the effects of these two primary abilities can change Bandit's gameplay significantly. Burst is Bandit's default Primary ability, and will fire a spread of bullets that deals higher damage at close range. On the other hand, Blast fires a single blast of bullets that deals more damage to further enemies, or when aimed accurately at specific targets.
If you need help deciding which to choose, use Burst for added AoE support, and Blast for single target hits. Overall, the choice comes down to personal preference, as both abilities deal roughly the same amount of damage when used effectively.
Secondary
Bandit's default secondary Ability is Serrated Dagger, which deals high damage in melee range. Serrated Shiv instead throws a blade from long range that deals moderate damage. Similar to Bandit's two Primary abilities, his Secondary offers the choice of close-range versus long-range play styles.
Choose Serrated Dagger for a melee AoE option, and Serrated Shiv for a long range ability that emphasizes staying far away from enemies.
Special
Bandit's second Special ability, Desperado, grants tokens when it is used as the killing blow. These tokens stack, giving 10 percent increased damage for each token held. However, the tokens are lost upon advancing to the next stage.
When paired with items like Purity, Desparado can deal more damage, overall, than Lights Out. However, the utility provided by Lights Out's cooldown refreshes is oftentimes too good to pass up. If you're on the fence about which special to choose, we recommend Lights Out over Desperado.
Which Survivors Pair Well With Bandit?
Bandit's core strengths are his high long-range, single-target damage and great mobility. Pairing him with another Survivor that either balances or strengthens these aspects will lead to the best results.
To that end, we recommend using Mercenary or Loader with Bandit. Both of these Survivors have great damage and mobility to match Bandit's, allowing both players to stay at the same pace while killing monsters and searching for items.
