You start with Commando
and Huntress
. The rest unlock through challenges, which the game lists in its menu with what is left for each. The percentage is the share of Steam players who have it: the lower, the more work.
Each survivor comes from a challenge. Here is what to do for each one, in the order they usually come, and how many players have them.
You start with Commando and Huntress. The rest unlock through challenges, which the game lists in its menu with what is left for each. The percentage is the share of Steam players who have it: the lower, the more work.
Bandit · 77.7%
Challenge «Warrior»
Reach the third teleporter of a run and complete it without dying. If it is hard, play on Drizzle
, the easiest difficulty.
MUL-T · 66.3%
Challenge «Verified»
Complete the first teleporter 5 times. No need to win: it counts across different runs.
Engineer · 56.9%
Challenge «Engineering Perfection»
Complete 30 stages in total, across all your runs. It comes on its own.
Loader · 53.9%
Challenge «Guidance Offline»
On Siren's Call, destroy the six Alloy Vulture nests: the Alloy Worship Unit
appears. Beat it.
Artificer · 53.4%
Challenge «Pause.»
Save 11 Lunar Coins. Pay 1 at a Newt Altar so the blue portal appears when the teleporter is done; in the Bazaar Between Time, pay 10 to the crystal to the right of the Newt.
Captain · 52.1%
Challenge «Washed Away»
Beat the game: defeat Mithrix
on Commencement and escape on the ship. How, in the Mithrix guide.
Acrid · 40.6%
Challenge «...To Be Left Alone»
In the Bazaar Between Time, drop into the hidden cave and take the purple portal (Void Fields). Clear all 9 cells.
Mercenary · 45.7%
Challenge «True Respite»
Obliterate yourself at the Obelisk in A Moment, Fractured, reached through the Celestial Portal on the third stage after your first full loop (clear stage 5 and go back to stage 1).
REX · 28.1%
Challenge «Power Plant»
Take the Fuel Array
out of your escape pod on the first stage and carry it to the broken robot on Abyssal Depths. If you drop below 50% health it explodes: you can put it down to fight and pick it up again. Only the player who delivers it unlocks REX.
Railgunner
Unlocked with the expansion.
Void Fiend · 22.4%
Challenge «Dragged Below»
Escape The Planetarium (after Void Fields and the Void Locus) or survive 50 waves in Simulacrum.
Seeker
Unlocked with the expansion.
CHEF · 10.8%
Challenge «Order Up!»
On Reformed Altar, bring three items to the wok: Cautious Slug
, Bison Steak
and Infusion
. Progress is saved between runs.
False Son · 10%
Challenge «Purified Freedom»
Get a Halcyon Seed
on the Gilded Coast and beat the False Son with it on Prime Meridian. In his last phase he steals the seed and calls Aurelionite against you: you only need to kill the False Son.
Operator
Unlocked with the expansion.
Drifter · 7.2%
Challenge «Lost in Transit»
In Solutional Haunt, beat Solus Wing. Take two Prison Matrix
from the two Solus vaults in the cave to the right of the arena: the first opens the vault and the second frees the Drifter.
Enforcer
Unlocked with the expansion.
Acolyte · 2.4%
Challenge «A Broken Ritual»
Activate a Shrine of Descent (it appears next to the teleporter if you carry enough pages of N'tormat) and take the ritual portal to Soulbound Threshold. Beat both phases of the Anima Harvester and give the Acolyte a healing or food item, like a Medkit
.
Heretic · 62.3%
Challenge «Blockade Breaker»
She is not picked at the start. The challenge (kill 15 bosses in one run) unlocks the four Heresy items; carry all four at once (Visions of Heresy
, Hooks of Heresy
, Strides of Heresy
and Essence of Heresy
) and you become the Heretic for the rest of the run. They are in the lunar items guide.
Share of all Risk of Rain 2 players on Steam who have it, from Steam's public stats on 31 October 2026.
Twenty survivors you pick at the start: eleven from the base game, two from Survivors of the Void, three from Seekers of the Storm, two from Alloyed Collective and two from Hallowed Concepts. Plus the Heretic, who is not picked: you turn into her mid-run.
Bandit: just complete the third teleporter of a run without dying. Then MUL-T (complete the first teleporter five times) and Engineer, who comes on his own after 30 stages played.
Obliterate yourself at the Obelisk in A Moment, Fractured. You get there through the Celestial Portal that appears on the third stage after your first full loop (clear stage 5 and go back to stage 1).
In the Bazaar Between Time, pay 10 Lunar Coins to free the survivor trapped in a crystal. To reach the Bazaar, pay 1 coin at a Newt Altar: the blue portal appears when the teleporter is done. 11 coins in total.
Bring three items to the wok on Reformed Altar: Cautious Slug, Bison Steak and Infusion. Not in the same run: progress is saved.
It depends on the challenge. Artificer, REX and CHEF only unlock for whoever pays or delivers the item. Drifter and Acolyte unlock for the whole group with the expansion.
Sources: the game's English text (survivor, challenge and place names), the Risk of Rain 2 wiki (challenges and places) and public Steam stats, as of 31 October 2026. Icons: Risk of Rain 2 (Hopoo Games / Gearbox).