The Loader is a returning melee survivor in Risk of Rain 2. She has one of the highest mobility in the game with Grappled Fist and has only 2 alternate skills to unlock. This guide will be teach you how to unlock all skills for Loader and how she can be utilized better by explaining her builds in detail.
Loader Best Builds to Use
Loader is one of the most flexible survivors in terms of mobility and has the highest damage multiplier skill in the game with his Charged Gauntlet. She has high HP but is quite fragile because of how she needs to take enemies head-on. She has less options on builds but the Crowbar build will be the obvious one to compliment her high multipliers.
Crowbar, Lens-Maker’s Glasses, Backup Magazines, Alien Head, Hardlight Afterburners, and Focused Crystal
This build takes advantage of how high the damage multiplier is from Loader’s loadout. She has multiple skills that can be effective with the Crowbar just like Artificer. The multiplier on Loader’s Charged Gauntlet goes for 600% to 2700% damage which is absolutely mad. That is the highest in the game but it scales with the Loader’s overall speed right before it hits a target. A Crowbar build will basically one-shot anything even large bosses when the Charged Gauntlet is used correctly.
The Backup Magazines help with increasing the speed of the Charged Gauntlet by having the Grappled Fist up every time. Loader is a very technical survivor where you will sling yourself constantly with the Grappled Fist while always charging the Charged Gauntlet on cooldown. The Lens-Maker’s Glasses will add to the one-shot build and is almost overkill at this point. Alien Heads and Hardlight Afterburners will help with the cooldowns because Knuckleboom can be quite unreliable as a primary.
Focused Crystal will help with your overall damage output and is perfect for melee survivors. You can also add a few Harvester’s Scythe for increased survivability with lifesteal because you will be getting hit from all angles with this survivor. Mobility is not a problem for this survivor so do not worry about getting Wax Quail, Paul’s Goat Hoof, Energy Drinks or Red Whips. The overall cooldown reduction on your items will be enough to keep your mobility as high as any other survivor in the game.
Focused Crystals, Lens-Maker’s Glasses, Predatory Instincts, Harvester’s Scythes, War Horns and Backup Magazines
This is an unpopular build but Knuckleboom is still a great skill to build around with. It has a high multiplier with a massive swing radius but it is still a melee skill. These items will focus on increasing the attack speed enough so that it will knock everyone out once you get near them. This is more of an all-around type build with only the obvious weakness of having less range.
The Focused Crystal will be your main damage scaling item and the Lens-Maker’s Glasses will activate Predatory Instincts and Harvester’s Scythe while also giving you double damage. Attack speed and lifesteal will be covered by both and you can increase them more by adding Leeching Seeds and Soldier’s Syringe.
You should pick up an equipment with a low cooldown that can help with either mobility or survivability. War Horns will work better with a lower equipment cooldown and will increase your attack speed at a higher rate than most items. A couple of Backup Magazines will help you swing in and out of enemies by increasing the charges of your Grappled Fist.
How to Unlock Spiked Fist
To unlock the Spiked Fist alternate skill, you need to finish the “Loader: Swing By” achievement. This is completed by reaching the Celestial Portal in 25 minutes or less. The timer is much faster than Commando’s 20 stages achievement because the celestial portal can be access as early as stage 8. There is a time limit for this one which makes it quite a challenge.
Loader can deal with bosses easily but the problem is his durability. As a melee survivor and a bigger hitbox than most survivors, she can be considered squishy especially when she has no range skills to work with. His mobility with his secondary and utility is his saving grace and it is also exciting to play around with. It kind of makes the whole stage his whole playground.
When starting the game, make sure you start on Drizzle difficulty when you are only in it for the achievement run. It is up to you if you want to make it more challenging. Artifacts are optional but Artifact of Command will always make things easier. Once you the game starts, ignore most of the chests you encounter but remember their location. Immediately look for the teleporter’s location and search for the red floating orbs that will lead you to it.
Bosses are easy to kill even without items for the Loader and you should focus more on increasing survivability at the start. You can grapple large monsters and swing at them with Knuckleboom while doing so. Use Charged Gauntlet every cooldown on the boss and finish the teleporter charge. You will be able to farm enough gold for at least 3-4 chests after the teleporter charge and it will depend on how fast you found it.
Only loot the chests you remember and do not spend that much time roaming around looking for them as you should have already encountered a few of them when you were looking for the teleporter. Keep repeating this cycle for every stage and remember to not activate the Primordial Teleporter while it is shifted so you do not get sent to the final stage.
Once you reach the Sky Meadows stage and finished the teleporter, you will finish the first cycle of the run. The Celestial Portal will spawn after finishing the teleporter charge on stage 8. Do not use the teleporter to move to the next level and use the portal that spawned on the side of the teleporter. The achievement should be completed and you can choose to obliterate yourself or keep going through the portal.
How to Unlock Thunder Gauntlet
To unlock the Thunder Gauntlet alternate skill, you need to finish the “Loader: Earthshatter” achievement. It is completed by landing a Charged Gauntlet on an enemy at 300mph or higher. This is tricky because it is not possible to do this with just a full charge right off the bat. It will make your playstyle a bit awkward when you keep trying to do this achievement when I talk about the strategy.
The strategy will be capitalizing on your Grappled Fist to launch you faster or give you a better windup for your Charged Gauntlet. Make sure to always aim at a high location so you can swing farther and gain more speed. You will have to charge the Charged gauntlet before you swing and keep holding it until you can find an enemy at a distance.
Keep doing this strategy on all the stages and you will eventually finish the quest. Another trick is to use the Grappled Fist skill to propel you upwards into the air. You should be charging your Charged Gauntlet before this and you will basically flatten out an enemy straight down once you gain enough speed from falling. Adjust the height enough so the full charge of the Charged Gauntlet hits the enemy at top speed instead of midway through.
It would not hurt to add items like Paul’s Goat Hoof and Red Whips. It can help you increase your movement speed while out of combat and that gives you a little momentum to start with when you start your Charged Gauntlet. With the strategy above, you can finish it as early as stage 1 but you can still do it normally as you play the game. If you are good enough and completely familiar with the Loader’s playstyle, you can even finish the “Loader: Swing By” achievement as well and finish both achievements in one run.
Loader Tips and Tricks
- If you use Grappled Fist at head height, you will just sprint towards the location instead of springing towards it
- Grappled Fist can attach to almost everything and it is a great way to swing around opponents and swing at them with your Knuckleboom when you attach it to a large monster like a Stone Titan
- While the M551 Pylon has a long cooldown, you can still have as much as 3 active at a time. If you manage to reduce your skill cooldowns significantly, it is a great way to deal with a massive number of enemies for area of effect damage.
- You can charge your Charged Gauntlet when sprinting and while using Grappled Fist. You can continue to hold it as long as you can and use Grappled Fist multiple times while charging it.
- You can make your own little swing if you throw your M551 Pylon high enough and immediately use Grappled Fist on it
Conclusion
The Loader is one of the most enjoyable units to play with for the first time. Her Grappled Fist combined with her high damage output kind of reminds you of a very familiar superhero character. Her alternate skills are quite tedious and challenging to unlock but it will also teach you how to use Loader to her full potential.
