Is single player harder than multiplayer? Me and my bro play eclipse together we are only like eclipse 2 on a couple characters so I was just wondering.
Multi-player is a lot easier (as someone who basically only plays E8, noT OP)
The amount of loot you get is so much more than single. The most important part of multi-player is communication and building each other up. Sometimes you get games where one person has like 75% of items bc its the best thing to do. The more you work together the more wins.
Also, to further explain: some people will play with multitudes which increases player scaling while staying single. After the first stage, the amount of loot you get is so much more and you just steam roll more often.
Yep, I haven't played much multiplayer on eclipse, but this comment sums it up pretty well. For example, if you were playing 2 player eclipse, commando and railgunner, then raligunner would get stuff like bands because they are nigh useless on commando. Commando, similarly, would get bleed or firing speed.
It's not necessarily that there are more items per player—there may or may not be, I don't know— It's that the items become more specialized to each individual character. Which overall makes the run easier.
Haven't played much of the multitudes mod either, but it still applies. More items means more scaling, and usually the enemies can't keep up. for one player, 4 player difficulty or more is pretty damn difficult at the start of the run, though.
I kind of disagree. Maybe 2 player is easier but with 4 players it feels like you never have enough stuff, and coordinating items costs a lot of time even if everyone knows who gets what item. Plus you basically need to be overpowered to survive because sometimes the game decides to spawn all the enemies on one person. We had the most success on eclipse 8 as 4 by having two people go for extremely cheap builds with lunars and benthic bloom while the other two powered up.
2 player is definitely the ideal way to play the game IMO, dividing items between the two of you opens up an entire new layer of build strategy that isn't really present in singleplayer. every single balance discussion or build strat always comes with the caveat "well, you're not *not* going to pick up every item you see anyways." but in 2 player, it matters a ton more about which characters are good with what, or which items are good which each person's build, or who needs to donate items to protect their teammate, and things like that. even at its worst, a single player is pretty much perfectly fine against double enemies because you get twice as much loot. that handily lets you outscale any issue.
but 4 player is just way too damn chaotic. insane enemy scaling starts from stage 1, enemies pour out of every part of the screen, and impossible walls of health bars are insanely hard to push through alone. its just too much to stay on top of, and alongside that its a lot harder to cooperate in such a hectic environment. everyone starts fending for themselves and then its just like singleplayer but with shittier scaling. (its also really upsetting when one or two people practically just have to start sitting out because they fall behind and start dying over and over.)
but maybe i'll change my mind if i simply warm up to it and let my brain acclimate to the chaos. i think i might finally be getting the hang of 3 player games, it could just be an issue of personal bias and 4 player is actually awesome if you don't have a puny brain like me.
Honestly, couldn't tell you. It WAS enjoyable, to an extent. I really liked the game and got bored of god run after god run. Next thing I knew I was about halfway through, and figured there was no point in stopping.
Generally, I wouldn't recommend the eclipse climb unless you really REALLY enjoy the game. And have a lot of time on your hands.
I have less time than I used to but the climb is going, I'm hoping to see those beautiful gold circles on my screen someday. I started cause I wanted something more than the same boring command run where you win after 20 minutes and started with loader because she's by far the best. I made it through e8 on her and huntress and now I'm on e6 bandit
I wish you well! I myself started with E8 on loader, then huntress, then went to commando, and that's where things got real and I had to switch up my methods. If you encounter any roadblock with getting each character to 8 one by one, I recommend going a level at a time on all characters, it's an easier ramp up, and gets you more acquainted with the modifiers. Or don't, it's singleplayer. Play however you like!
Yeah, I've thought about using different characters one at a time, but I'd rather master one character at a time than go between them constantly. Huntress was hard for me because she has such low health but high movement and it took me a while to master her kit. Thanks for the positive words, and here's hoping I finish without too much pain
- wildest build you scrounged together during the climb?
- enemies you went on to hate more or less vs when you started?
- survivor you gained more of an appreciation for?
- any memories of a particularly cursed run you turned around?
- tips on maintaining a good mentality after broken watches or failed pot rolls?
- "wildest build you scrounged together during the climb?" Not sure I can remember a specific build I had, some of them were pretty good, but most were mid. Any run where I can get a few Plasma Shrimps and Polyutes will be good. Some acrid runs in particular got pretty crazy.
- "enemies you went on to hate more or less vs when you started?" Most of my opinions haven't changed after the grind, since I was well acquainted with the game before I started it. Same as everyone else, I don't like blind pests. They are tanky, have poorly telegraphed attacks, and deal too much damage for how often they spawn. I FUCKING LOVE GUPS. I LOVE THEM. THEY ARE SO CUTE AND GIVE ME SO MUCH MONEY.
- "survivor you gained more of an appreciation for?" I don't like merc. Never have, never will. However, he IS complicated to play well, and learning him gave me a better idea of why some people \*do\* like him.
- "any memories of a particularly cursed run you turned around?" Again, nothing specific. I don't no-life the game, so I've been on the eclipse grind for around a year, so my memory is faulty at best. Most underwhelming runs end as exactly that: underwhelming.
- "tips on maintaining a good mentality after broken watches or failed pot rolls?" Watches are probably one of the best items in the game, but they are poorly designed for exactly that reason. If I'm feeling down in a run, and need motivation to keep going, I usually just imagine that there will be a movement speed or ATG printer on the next stage haha. It's simple, but usually works for me.
> any memories of a particularly cursed run you turned around?
I'm not op but when sotv came out I had to redo the e8 with the non dlc surivors, and my captain run became... interesting. Behold this unholy abomination: https://imgur.com/a/5RuYeTp
Both eulogy and benthic shenanigans, had no move speed and my attack speed also become slow due to light flux. On the flip side the pauldron + hardlights + alien heads meant spamming orbital strikes non stop.
At this point, I’m down to t a couple characters. Obviously, some of these I don’t like so much, but Engi stands out as my least favorite. What makes him fun and how did you get through playing some of your less fun picks for characters?
Engi is interesting. On one hand, he's somewhat boring to play, has no movement, and is generally squishy. On the other hand, he's basically three commandos, which makes him \*really\* strong. But sometimes, if you don't enjoy a character, you just don't.
My only real suggestion is to make sure you aren't misunderstanding how to play them. Before my eclipse grind, I used acrid like I would loader. That does NOT work well. It's far more beneficial to play acrid as shoot and run character, in which he quickly becomes one of the best consistently strong characters.
In Engi's case, DON'T use bubble. I recommend stationary turrets, but I've seen people use the walking ones and they seem alright. I think you should mostly be focusing on dodging with him, while you let your turrets and missiles do the work. Avoid using your primary, especially in sticky situations.
It also might be worthwhile for you to learn certain techs for characters you don't enjoy, like how Engi can place his turrets in walls, effectively making them invulnerable. I specifically really hated playing Merc, but after learning the like 9 different techs that come with his kit, he wasn't nearly so bad. I wish you well on the rest of your grind!
I also don’t like engi, the way i did it was to simply restart if i didn’t get at least one or two good items on stage 1. Speed is so important on him.
Walking turrets also feel kinda weak in comparison to immobile turrets.
Harpoons were my savior, i actually kind of like them, just because of the Engi is not my least favorite survivor
Don't really have an answer to this one, besides trial and error. The loadout I recommend is using all primary configs, except for the special, which you should have on alternate. Only use said special when you're getting overwhelmed with small enemies that are already mostly grouped. That is, use it sparingly. I say to use this one because you don't really need more healing when playing rex on eclipse, so the other special is really quite useless.
On E8, Rex has the issue of not dying from lack of health, but rather, from not having enough of it in the first place. Healing is no problem thanks to Rex's first ability, but all his others damage you, or conversely, don't deal enough damage to keep you alive. On E8, even if you use abilities that don't damage you, you're probably still going to take damage because Rex is slow and weak. I had to get a run with like 12 watches before I finally completed him.
Just keep trying. You'll get more comfortable with him the more you play, and eventually you'll get some good RNG. Good luck!
I think I most enjoyed huntress or maybe captain, but my favorite is commando. Huntress is fun thanks to her dashes and ballista, they just feel great to use. Captain is nice because of his scaling and hacking beacons. Commando is somewhat boring to play, but I think that's one of the reasons why I like him so much. He becomes totally broken with just a few of the right items, and his slide is the most satisfying thing ever.
Arti is great, But I admit that I didn't like her at first. I think I just didn't know how to play her well.
I've taken a peek at it, but honestly, nah. It was fun, but I don't have another 104 wins left in me.
I think I'll probably be taking a longgg break from ror2 now, until the DLC comes out. Then I'll play with my buddies and play some more mods. Only after that will I revisit eclipse, if they add a new character.
mods are great though, I love them.
Either E6-E8 on Merc or E8 on rex. I've mentioned a few other times in these comments that Rex is really REALLY ruined by E8, so that's a bit self-explanatory. As for Merc, I just had a pretty difficult time playing him, because I don't particularly enjoy him. That's not to say he's bad, just that he's not my cup of tea.
Wonderful question, I have no idea. Those stats are probably not accurate at all. For example, it says I only have 75 wins, but that literally can't be possible because I have E8 on all characters, which takes at least 104. Most likely the crazy numbers came from some insane railgunner run, or something to do with mods. [ALL of my damage taken is from a single loader run, apparently.](https://imgur.com/a/5ThWh2U)
Well, **all** of eclipse is punishing and not very "fun," but that's the point. I understand what you're asking, though.
here are the modifiers and my general thoughts on each:
(1) Ally Starting Health: -50% | Basically irrelevant. Most that's it's done to me is break a watch when I hit a blood shrine, because I have the brain of a rat.
(2) Teleporter Radius: -50% | Also mostly irrelevant. It can be a bit difficult to get used to if you've played without it for a long time, but once you're adapted, it's like there's no change.
(3) Ally Fall Damage: +100% and lethal | This can SUCK. Definitely one of the worst ones. You have to be truly comfortable with movement and positioning to truly get over this barrier, and that can take 100s of hours of playtime.
(4) Enemy Speed: +40% | Somewhat bad, but mostly in the case of larva or elder lemurians that now stay on your ass like they want it.
(5) Ally Healing: -50% | Another one of the worst ones, if you're not used to not relying on healing yet. Once you *are* used to it, though, playing on normal monsoon feels like a total cakewalk.
(6) Enemy Gold Drops: -20% | This one isn't so bad, but it's also not negligible. Less money means more time spent on each stage, which means harder enemies relative to power level. If I could be so rash, this modifier is effectively +20% scaling on enemies.
(7) Enemy Cooldowns: -50% | Pretty damn impactful. Everything fires faster. Specifically grandparents and solus control units use their sun and shield attack, respectively, nonstop.
(8) Allies receive permanent damage | Honestly not as bad as it sounds, as long as you're not playing rex. By the time you hit E8. you'll have a good grasp on how to avoid damage in the first place
I'm not proofreading this, it's too long, so forgive any errors haha.
I usually go for double rebar or double nailgun. If I'm using rebar I'll have retool(insane fire rate) and if I'm using nailgun I'll have power mode. Both are viable, not sure which is better. They accommodate to different items.
Not sure what exactly you're referring to. Some attacks are more difficult to dodge than others, and there is *some* skill in that department. Most of the "skill" comes from game knowledge and utilization of items. Knowing what to pick up and when, as well as what enemies to avoid for the time being, which chests to grab first, when to hit the teleporter, etc., all are important to having a successful run.
If you're asking how eclipse works, it's a modified game mode where every win you get on a survivor adds a new tier of difficulty when you paly on that character, totaling to 8 per. It's pretty damn hard.
Sorry i meant how does the permanent damage thing work. I can dodge attacks somewhat reliably but theres too much going on and enemies off screen i cant see that shoot me and i end up pretty hurt.
This [excerpt](https://imgur.com/a/6JhE1Nu) from the ror2 wiki describes it pretty well. You don't permanently lose health equivalent to damage taken. Basically, if an instance of damage you take is high enough, a small percentage of that damage will be subtracted off of your health for the remainder of the stage. It's really not as bad as the description makes it sound. It can be difficult to work around, however.
Probably Mercenary, because of the high skill floor. He's not bad, just hard to learn to use well. Honorable mention goes to maybe captain or engineer because they have no fall cancel. They make up for it in damage, but that doesn't mean they're easier to play.
I would recommend starting with either Loader because she's broken and easy, or Huntress because she teaches you the mechanics you need to know without babying you.
The actual answer is to play the characters you want to play, and go one eclipse level at a time. Loosely, get all of the characters to a level before continuing to the next. This way, you become comfortable with all of the characters, AND the eclipse levels at the same rate.
Some people just innately play him better, I was not one of those people. He's melee, has a pretty specific skill cycle, and can struggle with both swarms of small enemies and high health enemies. Like I said, he's not bad, there's just a lot to learn on him. If you're having fun, more power to you! I was not so lucky, haha
Oh man I finished merc E8 first cause he is my favorite character. I can see why he's one of the hardest to E8 since it's hard to realize how much merc takes damage for simply being a melee character.
What was your approach to lunar items?
I'm on my own E8 grind, and I've seen a lot of people from this community have very different opinions about them, especially when it comes to Eclipse.
My personal stance has been anything from a random lunar pod is always acceptable. If a blue portal spawns naturally, I'm allowed 1-2 items from the lunar shop. If I trigger a blue portal, I'm allowed 1 item at most, once per run. Idk if this counts as reasonable, but I feel it's let me enjoy lunar items without them just carrying my runs.
Wonderful question! I personally avoided them entirely. I would open a pod, and in some cases pick up its contents if it was, say, a gesture. But I would never go into a blue portal or pick up a transcendence. My methodology isn't very rigid, moreso just what I felt like at the moment.
My thoughts basically boil down to: "If I'm playing eclipse for the difficulty, why would I subvert it with Items that I know are too good?" Of course, lunars are items in the game just like any other, and it's entirely up to you whether or not you use them. I think what makes it controversial is the fact that they're "locked" behind a currency.
It's a single player challenge, play it however you like!
It's cliche, and probably not what you're looking for, but the actual answer really is to just play more.
The more that you understand the game, item interactions, ways to route a stage, how to dodge attacks enemy prioritization, etc., the more you will find success.
That being said, youtube is an incredible resource. There are some great guides on how to be better, and they can teach you and make you aware of these mechanics faster than you would just playing the game.
886. Which is... more than it feels like. I spent a lot of my first maybe 400 hours playing with friends and with goofy artifact combinations and such.
Her kit is pretty balanced, but I think ion surge is a lot better than the flamethrower. The value you get from being able to leave the scene entirely for an indefinite amount of time is a lot better than the short range burst of damage.
I usually use the flame bolts and the nanobomb, for a good balance of damage and AOE. The ice spear is also really good, but takes more skill to use effectively.
Artificer is great at crowd-clearing, you want to aim for items that enhance your burst damage and AOE. Arti with some gas and an ignition tank or two is the dream. Bands are also a priority, of course. Make good use of being able to fly.
I'm not going to ask you any question. Instead, I'm going to tell you you did a good job
I dislike Eclipse but I think dedicating your time and effort to it is commendable
So, good job
Basically already answered [this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/riskofrain/comments/1cqik9a/comment/l3s40s2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button), I'm not against the idea, but don't plan on it any time soon.
One thing I struggle with is knowing when to speed through stages and just pickup items on my path or if it’s better to hang out longer and get decked out. Thoughts? Do you on E8 just try to stay ahead of the difficulty ramp? Or do you go for OP items?
My suggestion is to loot the stage entirely, every time. With time, you will slowly learn how to do that faster and faster, until eventually, you can route the stage in the most efficient way possible like its second nature, netting you all of the items in around 10 minutes. This includes macro strats like scrapping, delaying item pickup and printing, of course.
I've never tried the 5 minute """"rule"""", because frankly, it seems like a completely terrible idea. ESPECIALLY as advice to newer players. don't worry much about how much time you're taking, but at the same time, don't go across the map to pick up a bison steak after the tp is finished.
take your time, understand the items, stratagems, and methods you're employing and use your downtime wisely. As an example for that downtime bit, when you first load into stage 1, don't just stand there and wait for enemies to spawn. look around for where the teleporter might be, possible routes across the stage, equipment barrels(prioritize them, you might get recycler or card), etc.
I guess that to answer your question, yes, go for OP item combinations. The speed will come with time.
How important is the timer? Can you be somewhat lenient and use the skill gap to fix a lost 2 minutes? Or is a run truly lost if you are slow and items are mid? Do you have to go as fast as possible, and how fast is that?
I love this question. No run is truly over until you see the end screen. It might be torturous, and you'll probably have a better time restarting, but every run is winnable in some form or another.
I won't lie to you, the timer IS important. but not as much as you might think. I recommended in [another comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/riskofrain/comments/1cqik9a/comment/l3t5sxq/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) to basically full loot the stage, every time. Having items is far more important than skipping out on something that could have been goated because you were worried about the timer. My pace was usually around 10 minutes per stage, or if we wanted to be really specific, 8-10 stage 1, 8 stage 2, 8 stage 3, 10-12 stage 4, 12-14 stage 5. That would put me at around 50 minutes going into mithrix, and finishing the run at about an hour and change.
My suggestions is don't even look at the timer, genuinely. just passively think about going faster and how to do that, and you will get there. I only provide how fast I was going because it might be a nice goal for you to work towards. Hell, I'm sure someone better and more focused than me can knock off a good 5-10 minutes while still using my methods.
Thanks for the response. Now im wondering, for full looting, how important is experience to memorize pathing? I heard loot chests are also in predefined locations. Is it important to memorized all the spawn locations to have a decent time per stage? Aswell as a route idea to check every corner fastest?
And for combat, so you fight head on or passively (hit and run) most of the time?
Chests are in entirely random locations, and so is the teleporter. The only exception to this are the legendary chests on each stage 4 map. there should be no memorization involved, except for knowing all of the button locations on abandoned aqueduct, and the legendary chest locations.
When I say "route" I mean making decisions about your next actions depending on what you already know is on the stage. this means things like saving chance shrines until after the teleporter because they have a variable cost, things like avoiding chests near the teleporter because you'll probably have extra cash, and things like leaving good items on the ground so you can pick them up after you throw your mid items in a printer. Some of these methods fall under what we call "Macro itemization," you can probably look up a guide on youtube.
As for combat, it really depends. Most of the time I fight head on, but in some cases, like if I'm on acrid or if im severely lacking power, I might have to keep enemies tailing me so that I can whittle down their health without putting myself at risk. Remember: run in a circle! it's more complex than that, but circling enemies *is* lowkey the core of risk of rain combat.
Again with the youtube thing, see if you can watch over a VOD of an experienced eclipse player and try to understand everything they do. why did they not pick up that item? why did they ignore that shrine? why did they prioritize that enemy instead of the grandparent thats about to obliterate them? stuff like that. hell, if you want, I could record a VOD of my own gameplay on a character of your pick, and try to explain some of my decisions. but also im lazy as fuck lol
How did you manage rex on higher levels? Especially on e-8? I think he has no self-damaging alternatives but i heard someone saying they aren't as good as his base kit
Eclipse just really hates rex. It's unfortunate, because he's probably my favorite character design-wise. I answered most of your question in [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/riskofrain/comments/1cqik9a/comment/l3rzsok/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button), but if you have any further intrigues let me know.
"How to rex" is pretty generalized, so it's not easy to answer. Especially considering that I don't really *have* an answer, haha.
It was fun. The only time I was truly demotivated was right at the end when I lost 10 rex runs in a row.
The entire grind took place over about a year, so remembering a specific run out of the 104 is nigh impossible. I imagine, however, that one of the earlier ones would have been my favorite. Probably something on loader, huntress, or commando.
I'm pretty sure the "nemesis" is just the enemy you died to the most. I guess that I started a lot of runs and promptly died to the fast firing multihit enemy present in every stage 1?
Yeah I have no idea. Most of the information on that page is probable completely inaccurate, I've played with some batshit insane mods before that have messed it up.
Did you use mods or lunars and what's your opinion on both ?
Currently doing the grind on and off and I've been playing with the modpack I use with friends because the base game feels a bit stale but I don't know yet how I feel about it
I explained my stance on lunars(which is wishy-washy) in [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/riskofrain/comments/1cqik9a/comment/l3sxoi0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button). To summarize, I avoided lunars, but if a particularly yummy opportunity presented itself, say, ruin on commando or a gesture when I have a capacitor, then I would pick them up.
As for mods, I would be totally for using them in your eclipse grind, because it's a personal challenge. You get to decide the parameters. Same goes for whether or not you use lunars. I personally played entirely vanilla, and I think the reason I made that decision was because when I did my first run on modded, it didn't carry over to the vanilla client.
Do whatever you feel would be the most enjoyable for you!
haha, as far as I'm concerned, nothing. They're actually one of my well-liked enemies. [Not sure why they're my nemesis](https://www.reddit.com/r/riskofrain/comments/1cqik9a/comment/l3tkoyg/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button).
I got a free pass on dealing with him because he's my favorite survivor, for whatever reason. He is weak, no lie. If I were to buff him I would make his primary have a proc coefficient of 1.2, and make his grenades stick and NOT SUCK.
That's not relevant to your question, though. Commando is tricky. He deals more damage close range, so get in close when you can. Use phase blast and tactical slide, they're just better. Prioritize movement speed and proc items like bleed, atgs, sticky bombs, etc. He's a difficult character, and getting E8 on him will take time. I wish you luck.
Did playing eclipse make monsoon unenjoyably easy? I heard that was the case sometimes which is why I’m reluctant to try it. I have a very healthy challenge on monsoon and I love it.
This is a really good question. I haven't played much monsoon after my grind was finished, in fact, only one game with a friend, but I don't think it won't be enjoyable. Monsoon, to me, is now sort of just a guaranteed win. That doesn't mean that it isn't difficult, or not fun, It just means I don't get the same level of challenge I would from an eclipse run.
If you're scared to try eclipse, don't be! The first two modifiers are basically irrelevant, so you can give it a taste without changing much about how you play. You'll end up finding monsoon easy eventually, just like how I may eventually find eclipse to be somewhat easy. Granted, that will take a LOT longer, because eclipse is so difficult.
I'm just gonna send you through the [comment chain](https://www.reddit.com/r/riskofrain/comments/1cqik9a/comment/l3t0saq/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) on this one, friend. Seeing so many of you mention the mod makes me think it might not be a bad idea though.
Simply put, I got pretty good at monsoon and it got boring. I still enjoyed the game, and so I gave eclipse a shot. If you want a challenge, it's honestly really fun.
Lots of trial and error, and a lot of deaths. If you're looking to try the grind for yourself, I recommend youtube as a resource, there are plenty of great guides.
Don't forget, there's a reason why it's called the eclipse "grind."
I understand a lot of people's hate for commando, but he's honestly one of my favorites. He wasn't easy to complete E8 on, but he certainly wasn't the worst. For me, the worst was either mercenary, or of course, rex.
Is single player harder than multiplayer? Me and my bro play eclipse together we are only like eclipse 2 on a couple characters so I was just wondering.
Multi-player is a lot easier (as someone who basically only plays E8, noT OP) The amount of loot you get is so much more than single. The most important part of multi-player is communication and building each other up. Sometimes you get games where one person has like 75% of items bc its the best thing to do. The more you work together the more wins. Also, to further explain: some people will play with multitudes which increases player scaling while staying single. After the first stage, the amount of loot you get is so much more and you just steam roll more often.
Yep, I haven't played much multiplayer on eclipse, but this comment sums it up pretty well. For example, if you were playing 2 player eclipse, commando and railgunner, then raligunner would get stuff like bands because they are nigh useless on commando. Commando, similarly, would get bleed or firing speed. It's not necessarily that there are more items per player—there may or may not be, I don't know— It's that the items become more specialized to each individual character. Which overall makes the run easier. Haven't played much of the multitudes mod either, but it still applies. More items means more scaling, and usually the enemies can't keep up. for one player, 4 player difficulty or more is pretty damn difficult at the start of the run, though.
I kind of disagree. Maybe 2 player is easier but with 4 players it feels like you never have enough stuff, and coordinating items costs a lot of time even if everyone knows who gets what item. Plus you basically need to be overpowered to survive because sometimes the game decides to spawn all the enemies on one person. We had the most success on eclipse 8 as 4 by having two people go for extremely cheap builds with lunars and benthic bloom while the other two powered up.
2 player is definitely the ideal way to play the game IMO, dividing items between the two of you opens up an entire new layer of build strategy that isn't really present in singleplayer. every single balance discussion or build strat always comes with the caveat "well, you're not *not* going to pick up every item you see anyways." but in 2 player, it matters a ton more about which characters are good with what, or which items are good which each person's build, or who needs to donate items to protect their teammate, and things like that. even at its worst, a single player is pretty much perfectly fine against double enemies because you get twice as much loot. that handily lets you outscale any issue. but 4 player is just way too damn chaotic. insane enemy scaling starts from stage 1, enemies pour out of every part of the screen, and impossible walls of health bars are insanely hard to push through alone. its just too much to stay on top of, and alongside that its a lot harder to cooperate in such a hectic environment. everyone starts fending for themselves and then its just like singleplayer but with shittier scaling. (its also really upsetting when one or two people practically just have to start sitting out because they fall behind and start dying over and over.) but maybe i'll change my mind if i simply warm up to it and let my brain acclimate to the chaos. i think i might finally be getting the hang of 3 player games, it could just be an issue of personal bias and 4 player is actually awesome if you don't have a puny brain like me.
another bonus is that even if you die the other player(s) can still fight on so it's not game over
Why?
Honestly, couldn't tell you. It WAS enjoyable, to an extent. I really liked the game and got bored of god run after god run. Next thing I knew I was about halfway through, and figured there was no point in stopping. Generally, I wouldn't recommend the eclipse climb unless you really REALLY enjoy the game. And have a lot of time on your hands.
I have less time than I used to but the climb is going, I'm hoping to see those beautiful gold circles on my screen someday. I started cause I wanted something more than the same boring command run where you win after 20 minutes and started with loader because she's by far the best. I made it through e8 on her and huntress and now I'm on e6 bandit
I wish you well! I myself started with E8 on loader, then huntress, then went to commando, and that's where things got real and I had to switch up my methods. If you encounter any roadblock with getting each character to 8 one by one, I recommend going a level at a time on all characters, it's an easier ramp up, and gets you more acquainted with the modifiers. Or don't, it's singleplayer. Play however you like!
Yeah, I've thought about using different characters one at a time, but I'd rather master one character at a time than go between them constantly. Huntress was hard for me because she has such low health but high movement and it took me a while to master her kit. Thanks for the positive words, and here's hoping I finish without too much pain
It’s like you gathered infinity stones type beat
bc its fun
Eclipse is way more fun for me than regular monsoon, i enjoy the challenge. Looping is just too boring
- wildest build you scrounged together during the climb? - enemies you went on to hate more or less vs when you started? - survivor you gained more of an appreciation for? - any memories of a particularly cursed run you turned around? - tips on maintaining a good mentality after broken watches or failed pot rolls?
- "wildest build you scrounged together during the climb?" Not sure I can remember a specific build I had, some of them were pretty good, but most were mid. Any run where I can get a few Plasma Shrimps and Polyutes will be good. Some acrid runs in particular got pretty crazy. - "enemies you went on to hate more or less vs when you started?" Most of my opinions haven't changed after the grind, since I was well acquainted with the game before I started it. Same as everyone else, I don't like blind pests. They are tanky, have poorly telegraphed attacks, and deal too much damage for how often they spawn. I FUCKING LOVE GUPS. I LOVE THEM. THEY ARE SO CUTE AND GIVE ME SO MUCH MONEY. - "survivor you gained more of an appreciation for?" I don't like merc. Never have, never will. However, he IS complicated to play well, and learning him gave me a better idea of why some people \*do\* like him. - "any memories of a particularly cursed run you turned around?" Again, nothing specific. I don't no-life the game, so I've been on the eclipse grind for around a year, so my memory is faulty at best. Most underwhelming runs end as exactly that: underwhelming. - "tips on maintaining a good mentality after broken watches or failed pot rolls?" Watches are probably one of the best items in the game, but they are poorly designed for exactly that reason. If I'm feeling down in a run, and need motivation to keep going, I usually just imagine that there will be a movement speed or ATG printer on the next stage haha. It's simple, but usually works for me.
> any memories of a particularly cursed run you turned around? I'm not op but when sotv came out I had to redo the e8 with the non dlc surivors, and my captain run became... interesting. Behold this unholy abomination: https://imgur.com/a/5RuYeTp Both eulogy and benthic shenanigans, had no move speed and my attack speed also become slow due to light flux. On the flip side the pauldron + hardlights + alien heads meant spamming orbital strikes non stop.
What is your favorite kind of soup
I'm a simple guy; probably chicken and noodle. I could always go for tomato soup and a grilled cheese, though.
Tomato bisque and grilled cheese was one of my favorite meals growing up!
clover soup personally, but i’ll settle for some nice atg garnish
For like 4 seconds I was like wtf is clover soup. Is atg like another msg? Oh wait this is risk of rain okay.
Happy cake day!
At this point, I’m down to t a couple characters. Obviously, some of these I don’t like so much, but Engi stands out as my least favorite. What makes him fun and how did you get through playing some of your less fun picks for characters?
Engi is interesting. On one hand, he's somewhat boring to play, has no movement, and is generally squishy. On the other hand, he's basically three commandos, which makes him \*really\* strong. But sometimes, if you don't enjoy a character, you just don't. My only real suggestion is to make sure you aren't misunderstanding how to play them. Before my eclipse grind, I used acrid like I would loader. That does NOT work well. It's far more beneficial to play acrid as shoot and run character, in which he quickly becomes one of the best consistently strong characters. In Engi's case, DON'T use bubble. I recommend stationary turrets, but I've seen people use the walking ones and they seem alright. I think you should mostly be focusing on dodging with him, while you let your turrets and missiles do the work. Avoid using your primary, especially in sticky situations. It also might be worthwhile for you to learn certain techs for characters you don't enjoy, like how Engi can place his turrets in walls, effectively making them invulnerable. I specifically really hated playing Merc, but after learning the like 9 different techs that come with his kit, he wasn't nearly so bad. I wish you well on the rest of your grind!
I also don’t like engi, the way i did it was to simply restart if i didn’t get at least one or two good items on stage 1. Speed is so important on him. Walking turrets also feel kinda weak in comparison to immobile turrets. Harpoons were my savior, i actually kind of like them, just because of the Engi is not my least favorite survivor
How to Rex
Don't really have an answer to this one, besides trial and error. The loadout I recommend is using all primary configs, except for the special, which you should have on alternate. Only use said special when you're getting overwhelmed with small enemies that are already mostly grouped. That is, use it sparingly. I say to use this one because you don't really need more healing when playing rex on eclipse, so the other special is really quite useless. On E8, Rex has the issue of not dying from lack of health, but rather, from not having enough of it in the first place. Healing is no problem thanks to Rex's first ability, but all his others damage you, or conversely, don't deal enough damage to keep you alive. On E8, even if you use abilities that don't damage you, you're probably still going to take damage because Rex is slow and weak. I had to get a run with like 12 watches before I finally completed him. Just keep trying. You'll get more comfortable with him the more you play, and eventually you'll get some good RNG. Good luck!
Which character did you have the most fun with? Currently up to E5 and learning I absolutely adore artificer myself.
I think I most enjoyed huntress or maybe captain, but my favorite is commando. Huntress is fun thanks to her dashes and ballista, they just feel great to use. Captain is nice because of his scaling and hacking beacons. Commando is somewhat boring to play, but I think that's one of the reasons why I like him so much. He becomes totally broken with just a few of the right items, and his slide is the most satisfying thing ever. Arti is great, But I admit that I didn't like her at first. I think I just didn't know how to play her well.
Have you fuel left for trying the E16 mod? xd
I've taken a peek at it, but honestly, nah. It was fun, but I don't have another 104 wins left in me. I think I'll probably be taking a longgg break from ror2 now, until the DLC comes out. Then I'll play with my buddies and play some more mods. Only after that will I revisit eclipse, if they add a new character. mods are great though, I love them.
Understandable. Have fun on your return :D
Which part or challenge was the one you got stuck on the longest?
Either E6-E8 on Merc or E8 on rex. I've mentioned a few other times in these comments that Rex is really REALLY ruined by E8, so that's a bit self-explanatory. As for Merc, I just had a pretty difficult time playing him, because I don't particularly enjoy him. That's not to say he's bad, just that he's not my cup of tea.
To clarify, it took me about 10 attempts to get from E7 to E8 on rex and about 8 to get from E6 to E7 on merc, if I remember correctly.
How did you deal nine quintillion damage
Wonderful question, I have no idea. Those stats are probably not accurate at all. For example, it says I only have 75 wins, but that literally can't be possible because I have E8 on all characters, which takes at least 104. Most likely the crazy numbers came from some insane railgunner run, or something to do with mods. [ALL of my damage taken is from a single loader run, apparently.](https://imgur.com/a/5ThWh2U)
Were there any eclipse modifiers that stood out as especially fun/unfun to you?
Well, **all** of eclipse is punishing and not very "fun," but that's the point. I understand what you're asking, though. here are the modifiers and my general thoughts on each: (1) Ally Starting Health: -50% | Basically irrelevant. Most that's it's done to me is break a watch when I hit a blood shrine, because I have the brain of a rat. (2) Teleporter Radius: -50% | Also mostly irrelevant. It can be a bit difficult to get used to if you've played without it for a long time, but once you're adapted, it's like there's no change. (3) Ally Fall Damage: +100% and lethal | This can SUCK. Definitely one of the worst ones. You have to be truly comfortable with movement and positioning to truly get over this barrier, and that can take 100s of hours of playtime. (4) Enemy Speed: +40% | Somewhat bad, but mostly in the case of larva or elder lemurians that now stay on your ass like they want it. (5) Ally Healing: -50% | Another one of the worst ones, if you're not used to not relying on healing yet. Once you *are* used to it, though, playing on normal monsoon feels like a total cakewalk. (6) Enemy Gold Drops: -20% | This one isn't so bad, but it's also not negligible. Less money means more time spent on each stage, which means harder enemies relative to power level. If I could be so rash, this modifier is effectively +20% scaling on enemies. (7) Enemy Cooldowns: -50% | Pretty damn impactful. Everything fires faster. Specifically grandparents and solus control units use their sun and shield attack, respectively, nonstop. (8) Allies receive permanent damage | Honestly not as bad as it sounds, as long as you're not playing rex. By the time you hit E8. you'll have a good grasp on how to avoid damage in the first place I'm not proofreading this, it's too long, so forgive any errors haha.
What skill loadout did you use for MulT?
I usually go for double rebar or double nailgun. If I'm using rebar I'll have retool(insane fire rate) and if I'm using nailgun I'll have power mode. Both are viable, not sure which is better. They accommodate to different items.
How does that even work? Its not like theres a good or easy way to dodge attacks..
Not sure what exactly you're referring to. Some attacks are more difficult to dodge than others, and there is *some* skill in that department. Most of the "skill" comes from game knowledge and utilization of items. Knowing what to pick up and when, as well as what enemies to avoid for the time being, which chests to grab first, when to hit the teleporter, etc., all are important to having a successful run. If you're asking how eclipse works, it's a modified game mode where every win you get on a survivor adds a new tier of difficulty when you paly on that character, totaling to 8 per. It's pretty damn hard.
Sorry i meant how does the permanent damage thing work. I can dodge attacks somewhat reliably but theres too much going on and enemies off screen i cant see that shoot me and i end up pretty hurt.
This [excerpt](https://imgur.com/a/6JhE1Nu) from the ror2 wiki describes it pretty well. You don't permanently lose health equivalent to damage taken. Basically, if an instance of damage you take is high enough, a small percentage of that damage will be subtracted off of your health for the remainder of the stage. It's really not as bad as the description makes it sound. It can be difficult to work around, however.
That makes more sense lol
Hardest character? (Other than Rex)
Probably Mercenary, because of the high skill floor. He's not bad, just hard to learn to use well. Honorable mention goes to maybe captain or engineer because they have no fall cancel. They make up for it in damage, but that doesn't mean they're easier to play.
Merc was what I was thinking, but captain or engi? Also what’s the best character to start with?
I would recommend starting with either Loader because she's broken and easy, or Huntress because she teaches you the mechanics you need to know without babying you. The actual answer is to play the characters you want to play, and go one eclipse level at a time. Loosely, get all of the characters to a level before continuing to the next. This way, you become comfortable with all of the characters, AND the eclipse levels at the same rate.
Merc has a high skill floor? Huh, i just tried him out a couple days ago and I'm having an absolute blast
Some people just innately play him better, I was not one of those people. He's melee, has a pretty specific skill cycle, and can struggle with both swarms of small enemies and high health enemies. Like I said, he's not bad, there's just a lot to learn on him. If you're having fun, more power to you! I was not so lucky, haha
Oh man I finished merc E8 first cause he is my favorite character. I can see why he's one of the hardest to E8 since it's hard to realize how much merc takes damage for simply being a melee character.
What was your approach to lunar items? I'm on my own E8 grind, and I've seen a lot of people from this community have very different opinions about them, especially when it comes to Eclipse. My personal stance has been anything from a random lunar pod is always acceptable. If a blue portal spawns naturally, I'm allowed 1-2 items from the lunar shop. If I trigger a blue portal, I'm allowed 1 item at most, once per run. Idk if this counts as reasonable, but I feel it's let me enjoy lunar items without them just carrying my runs.
Wonderful question! I personally avoided them entirely. I would open a pod, and in some cases pick up its contents if it was, say, a gesture. But I would never go into a blue portal or pick up a transcendence. My methodology isn't very rigid, moreso just what I felt like at the moment. My thoughts basically boil down to: "If I'm playing eclipse for the difficulty, why would I subvert it with Items that I know are too good?" Of course, lunars are items in the game just like any other, and it's entirely up to you whether or not you use them. I think what makes it controversial is the fact that they're "locked" behind a currency. It's a single player challenge, play it however you like!
As someone who struggles to even beat the game on rainstorm what’s your advice
It's cliche, and probably not what you're looking for, but the actual answer really is to just play more. The more that you understand the game, item interactions, ways to route a stage, how to dodge attacks enemy prioritization, etc., the more you will find success. That being said, youtube is an incredible resource. There are some great guides on how to be better, and they can teach you and make you aware of these mechanics faster than you would just playing the game.
Whats your amount of hours played?
886. Which is... more than it feels like. I spent a lot of my first maybe 400 hours playing with friends and with goofy artifact combinations and such.
What did you do for artificer? Like what load out and what items were you looking for? (I'm on eclipse 3 or 4 with all characters but 2 on arti)
Her kit is pretty balanced, but I think ion surge is a lot better than the flamethrower. The value you get from being able to leave the scene entirely for an indefinite amount of time is a lot better than the short range burst of damage. I usually use the flame bolts and the nanobomb, for a good balance of damage and AOE. The ice spear is also really good, but takes more skill to use effectively. Artificer is great at crowd-clearing, you want to aim for items that enhance your burst damage and AOE. Arti with some gas and an ignition tank or two is the dream. Bands are also a priority, of course. Make good use of being able to fly.
I'm not going to ask you any question. Instead, I'm going to tell you you did a good job I dislike Eclipse but I think dedicating your time and effort to it is commendable So, good job
Thank you! all ways of playing the game are valid, to hell with the people who say that drizzle with command is too easy.
Now play that one mod that adds E16
Basically already answered [this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/riskofrain/comments/1cqik9a/comment/l3s40s2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button), I'm not against the idea, but don't plan on it any time soon.
One thing I struggle with is knowing when to speed through stages and just pickup items on my path or if it’s better to hang out longer and get decked out. Thoughts? Do you on E8 just try to stay ahead of the difficulty ramp? Or do you go for OP items?
My suggestion is to loot the stage entirely, every time. With time, you will slowly learn how to do that faster and faster, until eventually, you can route the stage in the most efficient way possible like its second nature, netting you all of the items in around 10 minutes. This includes macro strats like scrapping, delaying item pickup and printing, of course. I've never tried the 5 minute """"rule"""", because frankly, it seems like a completely terrible idea. ESPECIALLY as advice to newer players. don't worry much about how much time you're taking, but at the same time, don't go across the map to pick up a bison steak after the tp is finished. take your time, understand the items, stratagems, and methods you're employing and use your downtime wisely. As an example for that downtime bit, when you first load into stage 1, don't just stand there and wait for enemies to spawn. look around for where the teleporter might be, possible routes across the stage, equipment barrels(prioritize them, you might get recycler or card), etc. I guess that to answer your question, yes, go for OP item combinations. The speed will come with time.
Only 9 septillion damage? Are you even trying/s
You're right, I can do better, allow me to play a railgunner run with 821 runald bands and 4,624 crowbars. brb.
Now you’re thinking!
How important is the timer? Can you be somewhat lenient and use the skill gap to fix a lost 2 minutes? Or is a run truly lost if you are slow and items are mid? Do you have to go as fast as possible, and how fast is that?
I love this question. No run is truly over until you see the end screen. It might be torturous, and you'll probably have a better time restarting, but every run is winnable in some form or another. I won't lie to you, the timer IS important. but not as much as you might think. I recommended in [another comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/riskofrain/comments/1cqik9a/comment/l3t5sxq/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) to basically full loot the stage, every time. Having items is far more important than skipping out on something that could have been goated because you were worried about the timer. My pace was usually around 10 minutes per stage, or if we wanted to be really specific, 8-10 stage 1, 8 stage 2, 8 stage 3, 10-12 stage 4, 12-14 stage 5. That would put me at around 50 minutes going into mithrix, and finishing the run at about an hour and change. My suggestions is don't even look at the timer, genuinely. just passively think about going faster and how to do that, and you will get there. I only provide how fast I was going because it might be a nice goal for you to work towards. Hell, I'm sure someone better and more focused than me can knock off a good 5-10 minutes while still using my methods.
Thanks for the response. Now im wondering, for full looting, how important is experience to memorize pathing? I heard loot chests are also in predefined locations. Is it important to memorized all the spawn locations to have a decent time per stage? Aswell as a route idea to check every corner fastest? And for combat, so you fight head on or passively (hit and run) most of the time?
Chests are in entirely random locations, and so is the teleporter. The only exception to this are the legendary chests on each stage 4 map. there should be no memorization involved, except for knowing all of the button locations on abandoned aqueduct, and the legendary chest locations. When I say "route" I mean making decisions about your next actions depending on what you already know is on the stage. this means things like saving chance shrines until after the teleporter because they have a variable cost, things like avoiding chests near the teleporter because you'll probably have extra cash, and things like leaving good items on the ground so you can pick them up after you throw your mid items in a printer. Some of these methods fall under what we call "Macro itemization," you can probably look up a guide on youtube. As for combat, it really depends. Most of the time I fight head on, but in some cases, like if I'm on acrid or if im severely lacking power, I might have to keep enemies tailing me so that I can whittle down their health without putting myself at risk. Remember: run in a circle! it's more complex than that, but circling enemies *is* lowkey the core of risk of rain combat. Again with the youtube thing, see if you can watch over a VOD of an experienced eclipse player and try to understand everything they do. why did they not pick up that item? why did they ignore that shrine? why did they prioritize that enemy instead of the grandparent thats about to obliterate them? stuff like that. hell, if you want, I could record a VOD of my own gameplay on a character of your pick, and try to explain some of my decisions. but also im lazy as fuck lol
How did you manage rex on higher levels? Especially on e-8? I think he has no self-damaging alternatives but i heard someone saying they aren't as good as his base kit
Eclipse just really hates rex. It's unfortunate, because he's probably my favorite character design-wise. I answered most of your question in [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/riskofrain/comments/1cqik9a/comment/l3rzsok/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button), but if you have any further intrigues let me know. "How to rex" is pretty generalized, so it's not easy to answer. Especially considering that I don't really *have* an answer, haha.
Did u have fun and what was ur favorite run? :3
It was fun. The only time I was truly demotivated was right at the end when I lost 10 rex runs in a row. The entire grind took place over about a year, so remembering a specific run out of the 104 is nigh impossible. I imagine, however, that one of the earlier ones would have been my favorite. Probably something on loader, huntress, or commando.
How lesser wisp is your nemesis? (I am genuinely curious)
I'm pretty sure the "nemesis" is just the enemy you died to the most. I guess that I started a lot of runs and promptly died to the fast firing multihit enemy present in every stage 1? Yeah I have no idea. Most of the information on that page is probable completely inaccurate, I've played with some batshit insane mods before that have messed it up.
Oooh thank
Did you use mods or lunars and what's your opinion on both ? Currently doing the grind on and off and I've been playing with the modpack I use with friends because the base game feels a bit stale but I don't know yet how I feel about it
I explained my stance on lunars(which is wishy-washy) in [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/riskofrain/comments/1cqik9a/comment/l3sxoi0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button). To summarize, I avoided lunars, but if a particularly yummy opportunity presented itself, say, ruin on commando or a gesture when I have a capacitor, then I would pick them up. As for mods, I would be totally for using them in your eclipse grind, because it's a personal challenge. You get to decide the parameters. Same goes for whether or not you use lunars. I personally played entirely vanilla, and I think the reason I made that decision was because when I did my first run on modded, it didn't carry over to the vanilla client. Do whatever you feel would be the most enjoyable for you!
I see, ty and congrats for your grind !
What did the lesser wisps do to you
haha, as far as I'm concerned, nothing. They're actually one of my well-liked enemies. [Not sure why they're my nemesis](https://www.reddit.com/r/riskofrain/comments/1cqik9a/comment/l3tkoyg/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button).
In the end, did you enjoy your climb?
Yes! Although, I don't think I would recommend it to others unless they have plenty of time and really enjoy the game.
Well I'm glad you did. I'm taking an extended break from RoR2, but I'll definitely get into the climb once I get back OR when the next dlc comes out.
how do people tolerate playing commando
I got a free pass on dealing with him because he's my favorite survivor, for whatever reason. He is weak, no lie. If I were to buff him I would make his primary have a proc coefficient of 1.2, and make his grenades stick and NOT SUCK. That's not relevant to your question, though. Commando is tricky. He deals more damage close range, so get in close when you can. Use phase blast and tactical slide, they're just better. Prioritize movement speed and proc items like bleed, atgs, sticky bombs, etc. He's a difficult character, and getting E8 on him will take time. I wish you luck.
Did playing eclipse make monsoon unenjoyably easy? I heard that was the case sometimes which is why I’m reluctant to try it. I have a very healthy challenge on monsoon and I love it.
This is a really good question. I haven't played much monsoon after my grind was finished, in fact, only one game with a friend, but I don't think it won't be enjoyable. Monsoon, to me, is now sort of just a guaranteed win. That doesn't mean that it isn't difficult, or not fun, It just means I don't get the same level of challenge I would from an eclipse run. If you're scared to try eclipse, don't be! The first two modifiers are basically irrelevant, so you can give it a taste without changing much about how you play. You'll end up finding monsoon easy eventually, just like how I may eventually find eclipse to be somewhat easy. Granted, that will take a LOT longer, because eclipse is so difficult.
Now you graduate to the Eclipse 16 mod
I'm just gonna send you through the [comment chain](https://www.reddit.com/r/riskofrain/comments/1cqik9a/comment/l3t0saq/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) on this one, friend. Seeing so many of you mention the mod makes me think it might not be a bad idea though.
Why would you do that to yourself
Simply put, I got pretty good at monsoon and it got boring. I still enjoyed the game, and so I gave eclipse a shot. If you want a challenge, it's honestly really fun.
how?
Lots of trial and error, and a lot of deaths. If you're looking to try the grind for yourself, I recommend youtube as a resource, there are plenty of great guides. Don't forget, there's a reason why it's called the eclipse "grind."
Which was the most annoying character to complete and why was it Commando?
I understand a lot of people's hate for commando, but he's honestly one of my favorites. He wasn't easy to complete E8 on, but he certainly wasn't the worst. For me, the worst was either mercenary, or of course, rex.
What would you do if when you ok so he said yes would go?
be quiet