In Hopoo Games’ roguelike Risk of Rain 2, players encounter bosses at the end of each stage before they can teleport to the next. These bosses act as a skill check and appear alongside the teleporter event. In order to charge the teleporter, you have to stay within its area of effect for the duration — not an easy task when a mammoth enemy is trying to annihilate you!
Today’s Risk of Rain 2 boss guide focuses on how to deal with the first set of teleporter bosses you’ll find on early stages. Keep your eyes peeled for future guides on intermediate, optional and final bosses!
Early Teleporter Bosses in Risk of Rain 2
Let’s get right into our breakdown of the early teleporter bosses in Risk of Rain 2!
1. Beetle Queen
One of the teleporter bosses that appears as early as the first stage is the Beetle Queen. This boss’s behavior falls into two categories: damage and minion spawning.
After a short rev up, the Queen will fire several balls of acid in a cone-like trajectory. These projectiles will leave behind damaging pools of acid.
The best way to avoid this attack is to not stay too close to the Queen on the outside of her hitbox. It’s possible to be hit by multiple projectiles at close range, kind of like a shotgun blast. Otherwise, just be mindful of the acid pools.
Her other standard behavior is summoning two beetle guards. These are a standard medium-sized enemy that can become an issue if too many stack up. Clearing this isn’t a top priority, however, since they yield no gold.
Lastly, when the Beetle Queen drops below half health, she begins launching flying beetles. They deal no damage but apply a debuff in an AOE around them. This “Beetlejuice” effect reduces most stats at a stacking value, so it’s highly advised to either kill off these bugs or avoid their zone of control.
General Strategy
The Beetle Queen tends to flood the battlefield with obstacles. This is an issue for the player since the teleporter zone is small and every single one of the queen’s abilities will clog it with hazards.
Characters with good area of effect abilities (REX, Artificer, Captain, Void Fiend ect.) should excel in cleaning up the additional spawning mobs. Additionally, characters with good movement or movement items will do well since the Boss is immobile and telegraphs its attacks. Up front damage can also easily dispatch of the Queen, as she’s fairly easy to hit and has the base health values for a boss.
Items like the Gasoline, Ukulele, Kjaro’s Band, Will-o’-the-Wisp, Unstable Tesla Coil, and Frost Relic trivialize the fight since the mobs will feed the player damage.
2. Stone Titan
The Stone Titan is another potential early-game boss that delivers a surprising amount of damage that can easily catch the player off guard.
The Titan’s primary attack is its massive laser. The red line coming from its eye will slowly hone in on its target, firing after a short delay. The beam will deal heavy damage through its duration, making it deadly for any player especially early in the game.
This on its own can be mitigated by dodging behind terrain, as the beam will not pass through obstacles. The biggest thing to watch out for is getting caught out in the open by the attack. A sustained blasting will easily end a run.
Alongside its primary, the Stone Titan will punch the ground, causing its fist to erupt underneath the player. Being hit by this deals damage and knocks you into the air. Thankfully, this move is extremely telegraphed by a red ring on the ground, allowing for easy dodges. The tricky part is that if the player is in motion, the Stone Titan will attempt to predict where the player is headed.
The Titan’s final move summons additional lasers to fire at the player. These are held inside a glowing core of rocks above the golem’s head before shooting out one at a time.
General Strategy
The Stone Titan summons no additional enemies, so targeting is fairly straightforward. The crux of the fight comes down to if the player can dodge its abilities.
Watch out for the kill combo of the ground punch into the main laser. This usually occurs after you duck behind cover and the stone titan simultaneously strikes with its fist. The resulting scenario is that you’re then launched into the air where you can’t hide from the beam assault.
Since you have to avoid line of sight with the Titan during its main attack, characters that have solid mobility and damage over time excel against it. Abilities like Huntress’ Arrow Rain, REX’s Seed Barrage, and Captain’s Diablo Strike take advantage of the Titan’s low mobility.
Items that deal damage over time — like Tri-Tip Daggers, Gasoline, and Kjaro’s Band — allow the player to keep focusing the Titan even during the unsafe windows. Other debuffs like the Bandit’s Hemorrage and Acrid’s poison are also effective to this end.
3. Wandering Vagrant
Appearing as a massive floating jellyfish, the Wandering Vagrant moves slowly but attacks the player with a barrage of damaging attacks.
The Vagrant’s primary attack is the orb volley, a succession of quick orbs that emanates from the boss, dealing heavy damage. These orbs can be dodged, but are quite fast.
The next attack is the Vagrant’s homing orb. This attack is much slower, but deals high damage on impact. Interestingly, this orb has a pool of heath and can be destroyed before it reaches its destination.
The final attack only occurs when the Vagrant is at low health. Genesis Supernova is as powerful as it sounds. The Vagrant will create a massive eruption, dealing tons of damage in an AOE after a few seconds of delay. This is enough to nearly one-shot anyone without defensive items.
General Strategy
Just like the Stone Titan, the Wandering Vagrant’s attacks can be blocked by terrain. The additional challenge comes from the fact that the Vagrant floats and will pursue the player (albeit slowly). This makes low rocks or debris, which are fantastic in the Stone Titan fight, mostly useless for cover.
Some teleporter zones just won’t have cover, so don’t be afraid to seek cover outside of it once the Vagrant gets low in health.
The homing attack is susceptible to AOE abilities, making them particularly strong during the startup of the move.
Lastly, melee survivors (like Loader, Mercenary and Acrid) can stand on top of the Vagrant while they attack. This dodges most of its attacks besides the explosion.
Join the High Ground
And that’s the in depth guide to the bosses you can expect on the first stage of Risk of Rain 2! Stay tuned for more boss guides and more Risk of Rain 2 content, and be sure to subscribe to the weekly newsletter for more.
Happy gaming!
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