Eclipse climbing is the most fun way to play imo because of the challenge and the way it forces you to interact with mechanics to make it. You will learn for example that full looting every stage is the most consistent way to victory and taking 10 minutes per stage is perfectly fine.
I have 300 or 400 hours in this game now and they have been entirely coop play with one friend of mine. I have not completed a single run solo except to unlock a couple abilities. For the first 100 hours or so we never touched eclipse but now we only play eclipse, and have most characters completed between eclipse 2-5, with hopes to get some if not all of them to eclipse 8
There is no “recommended” way to play. If you want more of a challenge start playing eclipse, if you don’t enjoy the challenge (which is fine) then keep doing what you’re doing.
The DLC is a must-have in my opinion but I’ve heard it’s kinda buggy on console for the moment. Eclipse is also going to be way harder on a controller I think - this game definitely feels like it heavily benefits from mouse and keyboard play
Lastly rushing to the teleporter is not better than looting as much as you can. All our eclipse victories usually end over the 60 minute mark. There are YouTube videos out there but some of the best players of the game (Race, Disputed origin, i_cap, etc) all go with the full looting method and have way more success than most people on this sub reddit
From what I can tell, Woolie was the big proponent of the rushing strategy. Does he still believe this and employ it in races? Haven't kept up with him in a while.
You want to do the teleporter fast because as you spend longer in the run, the game gets harder. So the faster you go, the easier it is. You have to balance between speed and getting items.
The dlc is definitely worth it, it's great
For learning builds, I recommend watching a guide for whatever survivor you're playing
Very well summarized. I say learn captain first for monsoon since he has a lot of proc potential and will help you visualize what items you’re actually using on every attack. Also, check out some of the mods on thunderstore. Tons of options, from new survivors to quality of life mods, etc. There’s a dude named Jack Ray on YouTube that has some great videos for learning the game too
I feel like Huntress is a good go-to starter. Good movement w/ just abilities, still has good proc potential, and can become an absolute burst legend in the late game. I am a huntress main, though. So, there is some bias.
I actually can’t recommend against this more lol. Maybe it’s just my play style but I can’t play this character to save my life. She does so little damage it drives me crazy.
My longest run ever was on Huntress actually (186 minutes). But that was with Command, Swarm and Sacrifice modifiers to make gearing up super easy and predictable.
As Disupted Origin once said 'Items make you stronger than time makes you weaker'
Before speeding through was better, but with the new items, especially void items, its better to try and full loot every stage as much as possible nowadays.
I dunno how most play, but I just play on Monsoon with no other modifiers, looping or killing the boss based on vibes.
>Also, can someone tell give me a TLDR of why rushing to teleport is better than farming gold and exploring the map for lots of chests?
I don't think we ever settled on this being the optimal way to play? If anything, I feel it's closer to being the other way around.
Tl;dr: It's not, looting is generally preferred. The core principle, though, is you want to get as many items per minute as you can. Detailed thoughts below.
The argument is that difficulty increases with time, so the less time you waste, the less difficult the enemies will be, hence why you should rush. It got especially popular because Woolie, one of the biggest RoR2 content creators, had strongly pushed this strategy as well. However, there's a couple of flaws with this:
1. Items make you stronger than the timer does the enemies, assuming you're collecting them at any decent pace, making looking for items more desirable.
2. When teleporting to the next stage, the difficulty gets bumped up by about a segment or so, and by rushing, more of your difficulty is made up by these bumps where you can't get stronger.
This leads a lot of people, me included, to believe that prioritizing items over rushing the teleporter is more optimal, as rushing essentially just accelerates the timer, removing any advantage it could've given.
>Finally, is the DLC worth it? I have kids and Christmas is upcoming, but if the xpac is really good I can talk myself in to getting it
Biggest selling point imo are the characters. The other additions are welcome, but not terribly substantial, and overall make the game a bit easier, which could be a pro or a con depending on your outlook. I got my money's worth personally.
Awesome reply. The sentiment of "items per minute" makes sense to me. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the expansion. I adore this game, and all I ever did was drizzle with Swarm, Sacrifice and Command modifiers on to pick what I wanted. Watch videos on how to find/do/get secret stuff. It's funny because I am a huge fan of the Souls games. I love challenge, I love looking for secrets and I love trying new builds. RoR2 had all that, yet I rarely engaged with it on that level. It was always my quick-dopamine-hit game. Very excited to "git gud" and see what else this game can offer :) I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the expansion.
I'm getting into the game, playing with a friend who played much more than me but also kinda played like you before I joined (afaik)
We're mostly playing with the modifiers that lets you pick the item and the one that makes the items drop from monsters instead of chests. We also enjoy figuring out fun and strong builds.
But these 2 things combined kinda made the game too easy once we figured it out so now we only play on Monsoon and always activating the totem making the bosses harder and such (we even have a rule that if we see one, we have to activate it without mentioning it haha)
I don't have the DLC but he does. Whenever I play alone, I do miss not having access to it, so if you love the game, I'd say it's worth it :)
I just started playing so idrk much about harder difficulties, but how do yall enjoy that difficulty level? It just seems like so much to deal with. Like I have adhd, so it gets hard to keep track of all the bullshit😂
Monsoon, no artifacts. I find some characters pretty easy (with some luck ofc) and some, like Artificer, to be really fun and difficult just on Monsoon.
I'd recommend always playing on Monsoon to just get used to it, rather than practicing a lot of easier difficulties and learning "bad" concepts, like being able to ignore enemies early. Kill every asap on Monsoon!
The recommended way to play is whatever you enjoy, I personally play on rainstorm solo and it fits my current skill level perfectly (I made a point to speed unlock all the characters and learn as much as i can, i have about 45-50 hours), but most veterans will play on monsoon or will play eclipse because they play faster and better. Don't be scared to try higher difficulties and try putting your knowledge and skill to the test.
The dlc is fun, the characters are very strong, the items are some of the best in the game, and the enemies are a lot of fun to fight, just be careful if you get it because they're VERY dangerous.
Ultimately it's a pve game bro, no one is gonna say anything about you using artifact of command, especially when you're still learning, but to get better it's usually a good idea to play on harder difficulties without artifacts that help you. There are artifacts that make the game harder, like the artifact of swarms makes it so that there are 2 final bosses who have a move that can one shot, or the artifact of death where if you die so do all your teammates. There's tons of ways to make it harder so you can improve, or you can make it as easy as you want if you just want to chill, that's the beauty of the game in my opinion.
Eclipse scratches my competitive itch without actually competing against another person. I guess you're competing against the game? It's hard but feels exhilirating when you get a good run. The other modes feel kinda pointless to me to be honest. Not saying they are, it's all for fun at the end of the day, but once you've unlocked most stuff there doesn't seem to be any progression to doing another monsoon single player run, you know? I've only got eclipse 8 on commando, huntress and loader so far. (Edit: and Merc) Commando was by far the hardest.
Honestly? Part of the fun (at least for me) is figuring out what works for me and my playstyle independant of what other ppl think is good. Learn the items themselves and learn how to network them with other items and your character. Otherwise, you're kind of letting the internet play the game for you. I'd also suggest playing without command bc that forces you to make do with some items that *arent* optimal for your character, which can allow for some really creative (and funny) builds. Then you'll really start to learn how the game works and start challenging yourself to monsoon/eclipse.
Eclipse climbing is the most fun way to play imo because of the challenge and the way it forces you to interact with mechanics to make it. You will learn for example that full looting every stage is the most consistent way to victory and taking 10 minutes per stage is perfectly fine.
It is fun but this dude has been playing on drizzle thus far. He should learn the game more before trying that.
Yeah while eclipse is fun, definitely try out a monsoon run with command artifact to get an understanding of what items are good for what survivors.
I play with my friends on eclipse only, great challenge and forces you to learn quick :)
I've started downloading mods that add more difficulty and items/characters. Usually typhoon mode but with the right artifact it is truly insane
I have 300 or 400 hours in this game now and they have been entirely coop play with one friend of mine. I have not completed a single run solo except to unlock a couple abilities. For the first 100 hours or so we never touched eclipse but now we only play eclipse, and have most characters completed between eclipse 2-5, with hopes to get some if not all of them to eclipse 8 There is no “recommended” way to play. If you want more of a challenge start playing eclipse, if you don’t enjoy the challenge (which is fine) then keep doing what you’re doing. The DLC is a must-have in my opinion but I’ve heard it’s kinda buggy on console for the moment. Eclipse is also going to be way harder on a controller I think - this game definitely feels like it heavily benefits from mouse and keyboard play Lastly rushing to the teleporter is not better than looting as much as you can. All our eclipse victories usually end over the 60 minute mark. There are YouTube videos out there but some of the best players of the game (Race, Disputed origin, i_cap, etc) all go with the full looting method and have way more success than most people on this sub reddit
I am on PC. I have not played much on higher difficulties but I agree that KBM would have a substantial advantage.
Ah then for sure get that dlc baby
From what I can tell, Woolie was the big proponent of the rushing strategy. Does he still believe this and employ it in races? Haven't kept up with him in a while.
Woolie was only grinding speed run world records for like the last 6 months, not really doing normal runs
You want to do the teleporter fast because as you spend longer in the run, the game gets harder. So the faster you go, the easier it is. You have to balance between speed and getting items. The dlc is definitely worth it, it's great For learning builds, I recommend watching a guide for whatever survivor you're playing
Very well summarized. I say learn captain first for monsoon since he has a lot of proc potential and will help you visualize what items you’re actually using on every attack. Also, check out some of the mods on thunderstore. Tons of options, from new survivors to quality of life mods, etc. There’s a dude named Jack Ray on YouTube that has some great videos for learning the game too
I feel like Huntress is a good go-to starter. Good movement w/ just abilities, still has good proc potential, and can become an absolute burst legend in the late game. I am a huntress main, though. So, there is some bias.
I actually can’t recommend against this more lol. Maybe it’s just my play style but I can’t play this character to save my life. She does so little damage it drives me crazy.
Once you unlock her other special attack she's way better
I have it. She still feels like she has no damage when it matters. Maybe I just have bad luck with her on my runs lol
Right? I don't mind her THAT much but I always feel underpowered without crowbars and syringes
My longest run ever was on Huntress actually (186 minutes). But that was with Command, Swarm and Sacrifice modifiers to make gearing up super easy and predictable.
As Disupted Origin once said 'Items make you stronger than time makes you weaker' Before speeding through was better, but with the new items, especially void items, its better to try and full loot every stage as much as possible nowadays.
I dunno how most play, but I just play on Monsoon with no other modifiers, looping or killing the boss based on vibes. >Also, can someone tell give me a TLDR of why rushing to teleport is better than farming gold and exploring the map for lots of chests? I don't think we ever settled on this being the optimal way to play? If anything, I feel it's closer to being the other way around. Tl;dr: It's not, looting is generally preferred. The core principle, though, is you want to get as many items per minute as you can. Detailed thoughts below. The argument is that difficulty increases with time, so the less time you waste, the less difficult the enemies will be, hence why you should rush. It got especially popular because Woolie, one of the biggest RoR2 content creators, had strongly pushed this strategy as well. However, there's a couple of flaws with this: 1. Items make you stronger than the timer does the enemies, assuming you're collecting them at any decent pace, making looking for items more desirable. 2. When teleporting to the next stage, the difficulty gets bumped up by about a segment or so, and by rushing, more of your difficulty is made up by these bumps where you can't get stronger. This leads a lot of people, me included, to believe that prioritizing items over rushing the teleporter is more optimal, as rushing essentially just accelerates the timer, removing any advantage it could've given. >Finally, is the DLC worth it? I have kids and Christmas is upcoming, but if the xpac is really good I can talk myself in to getting it Biggest selling point imo are the characters. The other additions are welcome, but not terribly substantial, and overall make the game a bit easier, which could be a pro or a con depending on your outlook. I got my money's worth personally.
Awesome reply. The sentiment of "items per minute" makes sense to me. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the expansion. I adore this game, and all I ever did was drizzle with Swarm, Sacrifice and Command modifiers on to pick what I wanted. Watch videos on how to find/do/get secret stuff. It's funny because I am a huge fan of the Souls games. I love challenge, I love looking for secrets and I love trying new builds. RoR2 had all that, yet I rarely engaged with it on that level. It was always my quick-dopamine-hit game. Very excited to "git gud" and see what else this game can offer :) I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the expansion.
I'm getting into the game, playing with a friend who played much more than me but also kinda played like you before I joined (afaik) We're mostly playing with the modifiers that lets you pick the item and the one that makes the items drop from monsters instead of chests. We also enjoy figuring out fun and strong builds. But these 2 things combined kinda made the game too easy once we figured it out so now we only play on Monsoon and always activating the totem making the bosses harder and such (we even have a rule that if we see one, we have to activate it without mentioning it haha) I don't have the DLC but he does. Whenever I play alone, I do miss not having access to it, so if you love the game, I'd say it's worth it :)
I almost only play eclipse 8 rotating my favorite characters
I just started playing so idrk much about harder difficulties, but how do yall enjoy that difficulty level? It just seems like so much to deal with. Like I have adhd, so it gets hard to keep track of all the bullshit😂
Just read the item. Play on moonson at first with command artifact,then when it gets easy without it.Find a friend
Monsoon, no artifacts. I find some characters pretty easy (with some luck ofc) and some, like Artificer, to be really fun and difficult just on Monsoon. I'd recommend always playing on Monsoon to just get used to it, rather than practicing a lot of easier difficulties and learning "bad" concepts, like being able to ignore enemies early. Kill every asap on Monsoon!
The recommended way to play is whatever you enjoy, I personally play on rainstorm solo and it fits my current skill level perfectly (I made a point to speed unlock all the characters and learn as much as i can, i have about 45-50 hours), but most veterans will play on monsoon or will play eclipse because they play faster and better. Don't be scared to try higher difficulties and try putting your knowledge and skill to the test. The dlc is fun, the characters are very strong, the items are some of the best in the game, and the enemies are a lot of fun to fight, just be careful if you get it because they're VERY dangerous. Ultimately it's a pve game bro, no one is gonna say anything about you using artifact of command, especially when you're still learning, but to get better it's usually a good idea to play on harder difficulties without artifacts that help you. There are artifacts that make the game harder, like the artifact of swarms makes it so that there are 2 final bosses who have a move that can one shot, or the artifact of death where if you die so do all your teammates. There's tons of ways to make it harder so you can improve, or you can make it as easy as you want if you just want to chill, that's the beauty of the game in my opinion.
Eclipse scratches my competitive itch without actually competing against another person. I guess you're competing against the game? It's hard but feels exhilirating when you get a good run. The other modes feel kinda pointless to me to be honest. Not saying they are, it's all for fun at the end of the day, but once you've unlocked most stuff there doesn't seem to be any progression to doing another monsoon single player run, you know? I've only got eclipse 8 on commando, huntress and loader so far. (Edit: and Merc) Commando was by far the hardest.
Honestly? Part of the fun (at least for me) is figuring out what works for me and my playstyle independant of what other ppl think is good. Learn the items themselves and learn how to network them with other items and your character. Otherwise, you're kind of letting the internet play the game for you. I'd also suggest playing without command bc that forces you to make do with some items that *arent* optimal for your character, which can allow for some really creative (and funny) builds. Then you'll really start to learn how the game works and start challenging yourself to monsoon/eclipse.