In the sequel Remnant 2, players once again fight monsters spawned by the mysterious Root. The dynamic continuation of the original third-person shooter will send you to alien worlds, show you the dashingly intricate hellish landscapes covered with scarlet crystals. The game is still committed to the genre, similar to Souls-like projects: you will die a lot, often, painfully quickly or slowly, but you will instantly revive, as well as all those opponents that you killed minutes earlier. This is a hardcore gaming experience even for the most skilled gamers.
If you are not familiar with the (already) series, everything will seem extremely confusing. Especially for those gamers who are unfamiliar with the concept of roguelike, since you can miss a lot of the content without even knowing it exists. In general, I tried to collect some useful tips and recommendations that will help all novice explorers adapt.
If possible, play with a friend.
Remnant 2, like the original, can be played solo or in co-op mode with up to three people. You don’t have to bring a partner, but having a friend with an extra gun who’s ready to watch your back can make all the difference. You can also revive each other in co-op multiplayer, although you’ll have to spend a charge of the Dragon Heart (the main healing item). It’s much more comfortable than having to roll back to the last checkpoint and repeat a sector all over again.
An additional benefit of playing in co-op is that you can cover more territory, so you will collect additional loot faster and have a better chance of finding some valuables that you are guaranteed to miss in singleplayer. However, there are some nuances such as the difficulty of opponents – the level of mobs will correspond to the level of the strongest player, so try to play with those who are more or less your level.
Before you can access multiplayer in Remnant 2, you’ll first need to complete the prologue and tutorial.
Choose the right starting archetype
Halfway through Remnant 2’s tutorial sequence, you’ll be able to choose an archetype (essentially a character class). Archetypes have a unique set of passive skills and one of three active skills, all of which scale and improve significantly as you level up. There are four starting classes to choose from – Combat, Dog Handler, Hunter, and Medic (the Marksman is available to anyone who pre-ordered; otherwise, it’ll need to be unlocked, along with other hidden archetypes).
Choosing an archetype is the most important decision you’ll make in the game, so it’s important to get it right. If you’re playing solo, I highly recommend taking the Dog Handler, who is accompanied by a loyal AI-controlled dog. This will essentially be your extra player. He’ll knock back enemies, attract their attention, give him the order to attack certain enemies, and, most importantly, he can revive the Dog Handler if your character is knocked down. If you’re not a dog lover, the Medic is a worthy alternative for single-player play, as he has excellent healing abilities. We continue the ultimate guide to Remnant 2 on the StopGame.Ru website (advice for beginners).
If you’re playing with two players, the Canine Handler and Medic are a powerful combination, providing plenty of ways to keep each other alive in combat. If you’re playing with three players, the maximum number of players allowed in a squad, the Medic, Hunter, and Brawler are a balanced trio, providing access to melee and ranged combat skills, as well as support in the form of healing and buffs.
However, in Block 13 you can buy special items that will allow you to switch between classes at any time, but keep in mind that each class will have its own progress bar. And later you will unlock a slot for a secondary class and get all its abilities, except for the main technique. We talked about this below.
Learn to use your skills to the maximum
As mentioned above, each Archetype has an active skill that can be used to gain an advantage in combat. This skill is actually two abilities combined into one, which have different effects depending on whether you press or hold the corresponding key/button. For example, pressing the Dog Handler skill button will direct the dog companion to a specific enemy (it will attack them). Meanwhile, holding the button down will make the dog howl loudly, which will damage all enemies around it.
As you level up, you’ll unlock new skill variants with different effects. The Medic, for example, has three archetype skills. Wellspring is a starting skill that lets you create a true healing well for yourself and your allies. Healing Shield, which unlocks at level 5, provides additional damage protection. Finally, there’s Redemption, which unlocks at level 10. The Medic unleashes a shockwave that revives nearby downed allies.
Learn to dodge in time
This is obvious, but it’s no less important. Dodging is the primary way to avoid damage in Remnant 2. Like in Dark Souls, dodging not only helps you avoid enemy attacks, but also gives you a short window of invulnerability. Many enemy attacks are designed to force you to dodge early or late, so it’s important to watch what your enemy’s “limbs” are doing before you roll.
Dodging in Remnant 2 depends on the weight of the armor you have equipped. The lighter the armor, the faster you will dodge, so think carefully about your choice of defense. We continue the ultimate guide to Remnant 2 on the StopGame.Ru website (advice for beginners).
Save your ammo
Conserving ammo is crucial in Remnant 2. If you’re hitting every enemy with your primary weapon, you’ll run out of bullets very quickly. Try to use your melee weapons or secondary firearms to take out basic mobs, saving your more powerful ammo for the larger enemies that spawn periodically throughout each world. Overall, the most effective way to conserve ammo is to take out basic enemies with melee weapons. You’ll be taking more risks, of course, but swords, axes, and hammers actually do a fair amount of damage.
Adapt your equipment
The best weapons in Remnant 2 are not always the ones with the best stats. Choosing the right combination of weapons for each combat scenario can have a significant impact on your combat effectiveness. For example, in the realm of N’erud, there will be a lot of flying drones. It is more difficult to destroy them with a semi-automatic weapon, so you need a pistol with a high rate of fire or a shotgun that will allow you to hit enemies due to the large spread of pellets.
For example, the recurve crossbow works like a portable pinball machine, firing a stone disk that bounces off walls and enemies, dealing massive damage. It’s a fantastic weapon, effective against large groups in a confined space, but useless in open areas. Therefore, it’s best to pair it with a weapon that’s effective against single enemies, such as a high-damage revolver or a rapid-fire submachine gun.
Be attentive and look for secrets
The developers of Remnant 2 like to hide loot throughout the level. You can always find rings and tomes of knowledge in the nooks and crannies of dark corridors. You will find many of them if you carefully explore the areas, looking around every corner, but I have two important tips for you. Sometimes you can see a wall, the lower part of which will be destroyed. At this point, you can activate the rarely used crouch in the game to get under the wall and gain access to rare loot. During exploration, you will also come across passages blocked by debris. Roll into the debris or shoot it, and you can open a new path. We continue the ultimate guide to Remnant 2 on the StopGame.Ru website (tips for beginners).
Crafting is an important element of the game
Crafting and upgrading weapons are important components of Remnant 2. Equally important is deciding how to spend the resources you gather during exploration. All weapons require scrap to both craft and upgrade, while base weapons additionally require iron. Boss weapons, meanwhile, are crafted and upgraded using luminescent crystals, which drop from special enemies throughout the worlds. The same resource is also used to craft weapon mods, which can be attached to regular weapons to give them special alternate fire modes.
Therefore, there will always be more crafting options than resources available, so it is important to decide early and correctly what you will be crafting or upgrading. Upgrading your starting weapons should be a priority, as it is the most cost-effective way to improve your gear and increase your character’s strength. The next step is to create a reliable mod for the weapon, as it does not require an upgrade. Boss weapons are the most expensive items to craft and upgrade, so when you create one, make sure you really like it before spending precious crystals on upgrading it.
Set up protection against status effects
Bullets and blades aren’t the only threats to your character. You’re also vulnerable to a range of status effects, from electricity to curses. Some bosses and higher-level enemies inflict multiple and powerful status effects, so it’s important to equip the right gear for them. Check your character sheet and see if you have any resistances. See if you have any armor that provides additional resistance to status effects. Dr. Nora in Ward 13 sells consumables that temporarily increase your defense against these negative effects. Be sure to pay her a visit before your next boss fight!
Be sure to relax near the crystals
Perhaps a hint from Captain Obvious, but regularly resting at crystals is a must. Although it causes all enemies to respawn in the previously completed area, this minor drawback is well worth it. Resting refills your Dragon Heart charges. And while you’ll fill your inventory with other healing items later, at the beginning of the game the Dragon Heart is your only reliable source of hit points. It also refills your ammo, which will run out faster the deeper you delve into the alien world. So when you activate a new crystal, be sure to crouch next to it to refill your supplies.
Don’t hoard consumables – use them!
There are far fewer consumables in the world of Remnant 2 than there were in the original. And you won’t have much scrap, so you should abandon the idea of buying them. But if you run into a problem, can’t get past a specific boss, or need some temporary buff to overcome a difficult challenge, don’t forget that consumables are a really effective and efficient tool!
There are many consumables in the game, and you will have to select the right ones depending on the current combat scenario. Periodically check the “Consumables” tab whenever you get into a difficult scenario, the completion of which seems like an impossible task. We continue the ultimate guide to Remnant 2 on the StopGame.Ru website (advice for beginners).
Close combat has become much better
In the original Remnant, melee attacks weren’t exactly popular. They literally locked you in with their dangerous movement animations, dealt minimal damage, and were used either to clear out trash mobs or as a last resort when you ran out of ammo.
Thankfully, melee combat has been made much more effective in the sequel. While it’s recommended to use weapons with status effects that enemies of a particular type are vulnerable to (like burning), you now have an additional way to fight off any monsters that get too close. There are a number of melee weapons you can use, and like guns, they can be upgraded.
Random walkthrough
One of the features of Remnant 2 that may attract newcomers is that each player starts the action in a completely random place (except for the prologue and visiting Ward 13). Since the game has roguelike elements, instead of traveling through the same starting world, Remnant 2 completely randomly sends you to one of three worlds, and each of them has at least 2 story arcs, different bosses, and so on.
For example, one player might find themselves in the Prometheus-like N’erud Plains, while another player might be traveling through the twisted Yayeshi Tree Grove. I mention this because the difficulty curve, enemy types, and bosses are all very different in each world. So, once you approach the big crystal in the lab with Ford, be prepared for a tough challenge (the tutorial will be complete).
If you’re having trouble getting through the current world, I recommend trying out the multiplayer mode to level up, then return to your journey.
Visit Block 13 as often as possible
The main advice for all newbies is to use every opportunity to revisit Ward 13, where you can teleport from any checkpoint (crystal). You will collect a huge amount of resources, items and crafting materials that can be used to purchase useful upgrades or powerful weapons from Brabus.
This is especially true after boss fights, as they often drop rare crafting parts that can be inserted into weapons to gain new abilities.
Don’t underestimate fashion
If you haven’t attached a mod to your weapon yet, prepare for even more difficulty. There are some great mods that will make certain enemy types easier to take down, while another mod adds a healing projectile.
You can get mods from Ava in Block 13. Check back often to see what’s new in her assortment, whether you can afford the next purchase or craft. Perhaps you have already picked up the necessary part for crafting, which she will easily turn into a new mod. As another small bonus, mods also change the appearance of weapons, and some of them will turn them into a really cool thing or make them absolutely bizarre. In general, there will be something to brag about in the co-op! We continue the ultimate guide to Remnant 2 on the StopGame.Ru website (advice for beginners).
Don’t rely on Dragon Heart
The Dragon Heart in Remnant 2 is basically the most powerful source of healing, if you don’t count the auto-generation when resting at crystals. It’s kind of like the Estus Flask from Dark Souls: you only have a few sips, upgrading it (increasing the number of charges) is expensive, and you can only restore charges by resting at a crystal. Also, the animation for using the heart is pretty slow, and you’ll be vulnerable, enemies can land multiple hits, so you still need to find the right place and moment to use the Dragon Heart.
While the heart is convenient, you should have additional healing options. For example, health can be restored with cheap bandages, and you can equip them to your hotbar. There are also mods and classes, like the medic, that can heal. So save the Dragon Heart for those opportune moments, or if you’re playing co-op, use it exclusively to revive teammates, since there’s no other way to get your KO’d buddies back on their feet.
Some archetypes, such as Medic, can speed up the cast animation of Dragon Heart or another Relic.
Customize Dragon Heart
As for the Dragon Heart, Wally can increase the number of its charges. At the beginning of the game, you will have a maximum of 3 charges, but for one luminescent crystal, their number can be increased by 1. And the further you progress in the story, the more charges you will need in the future.
It’s also worth visiting Dwell, the horned NPC who can be found at the crystal in the center of Block 13 (after your first trip to one of the worlds). You can buy modifiers for the Dragon Heart from him, although you will need the right crafting materials (usually relic dust). However, mods for the Dragon Heart can also be found during your travels through numerous worlds.
Where to look for bosses?
Another piece of information from Captain Obvious for veterans. Going into a boss fight unprepared is a bad idea. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to figure out which turn the strongest enemy is around – the game uses more or less the same layout for levels where you’ll encounter elite opponents.
For example, if there’s a small crystal and a large glowing force field in a doorway, there’s definitely a boss fight waiting for you behind it. The developers also place bosses away from normal mob spawns, giving them a bit of a break before something really challenging. Take a break at the crystal, and then you can rush the boss as many times as you want without worrying about other enemies or replaying difficult sections. Or you can even return to Ward 13, modify your gear, restore supplies, and teleport back to the last crystal you activated.
Most boss fights will involve minions, so keep an eye on the sides or assign one of your teammates to focus on the smaller mobs. We continue the ultimate guide to Remnant 2 on StopGame.Ru (advice for beginners).
Multiclass characters
Finally, the last important piece of information to know when starting Remnant 2 is that you should definitely equip a secondary archetype. Essentially, you will be turning your character into a multi-class character. This will happen once your primary class reaches level 10.
Once this happens, you can equip the secondary archetype by visiting Wally, who grants you access to the secondary class selection. You’ll get everything the archetype has available, except for the primary technique (which is the only one, and comes from the archetype in the primary slot). So, for example, you can mix the elemental buffs of the Alchemist with the tanky abilities of the Brawler. Or the healing abilities of the Medic with the bullet-spewing Marksman. It’s a unique and incredibly useful mechanic that everyone should have, especially on higher difficulty settings, as it will greatly increase your power and effectiveness in combat.