Loader is a burst damage character in Risk of Rain 2. She possesses the strongest armor in the game, the highest health pool, and some nifty abilities that make playing as her an absolute blast.
In this guide, we’ll go over the best loadout and builds for Loader. Additionally, we’ll cover how she can be unlocked, her abilities, and the pros and cons of running with her.
How to Unlock Loader in Risk of Rain 2
To unlock Loader in Risk of Rain 2, you need to complete her respective challenge; Guidance Offline Challenge. In this challenge, you’ll have to defeat the Alloy Worship Unit in Stage 4 (Siren’s Call).
The best survivor to use for this challenge is the Mercenary. He can kill the Alloy Worship Unit faster than all the other survivors in the game.
Attempt this challenge in the Drizzle difficulty – there’s no reason to up the difficulty anymore.
After starting the challenge, play through the stages until you get to Stage 4. Once there, you’ll have to kill five Vulture Eggs.
They spawn randomly around the map, so you’ll need to look around to find them.
After you kill the fifth egg, head to the very center of the map and you’ll encounter the Alloy Worship Unit.
All you need to do is to jump above it and shift into it while you’re above it. Doing this will push the Alloy Worship Unit into the ground.
Once it makes contact with the ground, the Alloy Worship Unit will blow up. Loader will now be unlocked.
Once you have Loader unlocked you can equip her to complete her challenges which include the Thunderdome, Earthshatter, and Swing By. In Thunderdome, you have to kill three Loaders while playing as a Loader yourself, in the Earthshatter, you have to land a charged gauntlet hit at 300mph. To complete the Swing By challenge you must cross the Celestial Portal in 25 minutes or less.
Loader Abilities in Risk of Rain 2
Passive Ability – Scrap Barrier
When you hit an enemy with Loader’s gauntlet, you are given a temporary banner.
The banner granted by this ability makes Loader extremely tough and this passive ability compliments her grappling hook very well as you’ll be falling around a lot while using it.
Primary Ability – Knuckleboom
Swing at nearby enemies for 320% damage. There isn’t much to this ability. Loader punches the opponent in front of her for 320% damage and gets a temporary banner from her passive.
Secondary Abilities – Grapple First or Spiked Fist
For Loader’s secondary ability, you have the option to choose from either Grapple Fist or Spiked Fist.
- Grapple Fist: This ability fires your gauntlet forward, pulling you toward your target.
- Spiked Fist: Loader’s second secondary ability fires your gauntlet forward, dealing 320% damage and stun. This ability also pulls you towards heavy targets, while light targets are pulled towards you.
Utilities – Charged Gauntlet or Thunder Gauntlet
For Loader’s utility, you have the option to choose from either Charged Gauntlet or Thunder Gauntlet.
- Charged Gauntlet: The first utility charges up a punch that deals 2700% damage. The higher your speed when you initiate this attack, the higher the damage you’ll be able to deal.
- Thunder Gauntlet: This attack deals 2100% shock damage to enemies. Like the Charged Gauntlet, this attack also deals more damage when you’re at a higher speed,
The difference between these two abilities isn’t as drastic as it was with her secondary ability.
Charged Gauntlet deals more damage, but it has to be charged up. It also deals less AoE damage than the Thunder Gauntlet.
Thunder Gauntlet seems to be a bit better but it’s mostly up to preference.
Special Ability – M551 Pylon
The special ability for Loader allows her to throw a pylon into the air that damages 6 enemies for 100% damage.
The purpose of this ability is to mainly get rid of aerial enemies which are hard to kill with her other attacks and abilities.
Best Loader Builds and Loadouts in Risk of Rain 2
You can go two routes when crafting a Loader build in Risk of Rain 2. These are the One-Shot Build and the Attack Speed Build. Both builds present unique advantages and disadvantages.
Attack Speed Loader Build
Select the Charged Gauntlet for your utility and the Spiked Fist for your secondary ability.
For this build, you’ll have to acquire the Artifact of command. Additionally, you will also need six or so Lens Markers glasses that will be used for white items. For green items, you’ll need 2 fuel cells and then finally for your legendary, you’ll need a 57-leaf clover.
Next, get three Gestures of the Drowned and a Spinel Tonic from the Bazaar between Time. Also, make your way to the Newt Altar during stage 1 or 2 to get an early legendary item.
The Spinel Tonic Lasts forever when the 3 gestures and 2 fuel cells are combined which can be very helpful for unlocking Loader’s Skin in monsoon.
If you combine the Spinel Tonic with 2 War Horns, you’ll receive a 70% bonus on your attacks, and an additional boost from the tonic itself.
Furthermore, you’ll have to balance your Tougher Times and Lens Maker’s glasses. Doing so will strengthen your defenses.
Next, combine 3 Predatory instincts and add them to the critical chance. Doing so will increase your attack speed.
Infusions are the way to go when you have predatory Instincts. Any legendary will work with this build except Shaped Glass as it will cut the temporary hit points in half.
One Shot Loader Build
For the One Shot Loader Build, make use of the Spiked Fist as your secondary ability, and the Thunder Gauntlet for your utility.
With the one-shot Loader build, you can go full glass cannon as your offensive abilities are pushed to the max in Risk of Rain 2. You can even make use of Shaped Glass because the one-shot protection is pretty overpowered on this character.
Additionally, you can further increase your damage by using Elite Ukulele and Guitar Bands.
Other than that, you can make use of the Will of the Wisps which is good for any character but if you stack crowbars and armor-piercing rounds along with the Old Guillotine, you’ll increase your damage considerably.
How to Play with Loader
In RoR 2, Loader mostly deals burst damage. This means that instead of dealing continuous damage, she dishes out a lot of damage very quickly and then has to wait for the cooldown to be over before she can do it again.
Another thing to note about Loader is that she’s a melee character. However, because she is extremely mobile, this isn’t much of a problem.
Loader’s most powerful move is her utility punch, which deals 2100% base damage and the damage scales up with speed.
This allows you to use your grappling hook to increase your speed as the punch is charging up to dish out a mind-boggling amount of burst damage.
Loader’s primary ability should not be your main focus. You should only use it to finish off weakened enemies. The rest of Loader’s abilities should be the ones being used most.
The following rotation will allow you to use Loader’s abilities in the most efficient way you can.
Increase your speed using your Grapple Hook and charge up your Gauntlet as you’re doing so.
When you’re at the mid-point of the swing with your Grapple Hook –where you’re at the maximum speed – Release the attack to deal an insane amount of damage.
This should be the main attack you do with Loader. It deals so much damage that there isn’t any point in trying anything else.
Best Items to Use with Loader (Tier List)
Risk of Rain 2 has a plethora of items to use with each character. However, some fit certain characters in RoR 2 like Loader. The tier list below presents the best items to use in descending order.
- Lens Maker’s Glasses
- Tougher Times
- War Horns
- Spinel Tonic
- Fuel Cells
- Paul’s Goat Hoof
- ATG Missile
- Crowbar
- Kjaro’s band
- Gasoline
- Wil-o-the-wisp
- Focus Crystal
- Ukulele
Tips and Tricks for Loader in RoR2
- You can latch onto enemies using your Grapple Fist ability.
- While Grapple Fist is active, you can use Knuckleboom, Charged Gauntlet, and M551 Pylon.
- The M551 Pylon can be spawned up to three times.
- Pair Loader with a strong artifact, either the artifact of vengeance or the artifact of command.
