Acrid is a poisonous monster who is a jack of all trades with a mixture of deadly toxins and disease. This escaped experiment is a melee-ranged hybrid that sports a mix of self-sustaining melee abilities, crowd control, and ranged poison attacks. If you’re looking for a survivor who can fill any role while specializing in spreading DOTs in a matter of seconds, then Acrid is the right Risk of Rain 2 survivor for you.
How To Unlock Acrid in Risk of Rain 2
To unlock Acrid, you must breach all nine cells of the Void Fields area. To get to the Void Fields, you need to go underneath the Bazaar between time to a cave with a purple portal within it. Once inside, you need to fully charge nine cell vents that prevent you from dying to the toxins outside of the area, similar to the Simulacrum alternate game mode. Once you complete all nine, you will unlock Acrid in Risk of Rain 2.
It should be essential to note that the Void Fields are difficult and heavily reliant on RNG, so if you want to unlock Acrid, we recommend playing on Drizzle with some good items that will sustain you inside combat when traveling between Cell Vents.
How Acrid’s Abilities Work in Risk of Rain 2
Passive
Poison
Acrid’s first passive is Poison, which causes specific abilities to inflict the poison DOT. Poison ticks three times per second over ten seconds and deals up to 10% of the target’s maximum HP. However, Poison is labeled non-lethal and cannot kill on the damage-over-time alone.
The passive must be selected before starting a run and cannot be swapped in the middle of the game. Therefore, double-check which passive you have equipped for your Acrid build in Risk of Rain 2.
Related Guide: Is Risk of Rain 2 Finally Crossplay in 2022?
Blight
Blight is Acrid’s alternative passive. This passive causes any attacks that would typically apply Poison to inflict Blight instead. Blight ticks three times per second for five seconds, but Blight can stack. Blight deals 60% damage per second and can kill, unlike Poison, but additional stacks only increase the damage of each tick rather than adding more ticks.
To unlock Blight, you must finish the Easy Prey challenge, which requires you to land the killing blow on 50 enemies with 1 HP left. This challenge is easy to complete since Poison cannot kill on its own, allow the Poison passive to drain the monster’s HP to one, then follow up with any other attack.
Primary Ability – Vicious Wounds
Vicious Wounds is Acrid’s only primary ability in Risk of Rain 2. It causes him to maul at an enemy in a three-hit chain combo. Each swipe does 200% damage; every third hit is Regenerative and deals 400% damage. The Regenerative effect causes you to heal 10% of your maximum HP over 0.5 seconds. This ability has no cooldown, instead having an attack delay which can be lessened with attack speed items.
Secondaries
Neurotoxin
Neurotoxin is Acrid’s default secondary ability. This ability causes him to spit a toxic bolt that deals 240% damage and afflicts Poison or Blight. Neurotoxin also has no damage fall off and can be used to apply Acrid’s Poison at a safe distance. Neurotoxin can be used while sprinting and during Vicious Wounds without canceling its animation.
Ravenous Bite
Ravenous Bite Is Acrid’s alternate secondary ability. It causes him to bite an enemy for 320% damage. Ravenous Bite also afflicts Poison, deals 2% more damage per 1% of the targets missing HP, and has Regenerative.
Unlocking Ravenous Bite requires completing the Bad Medicine challenge. Finishing this challenge requires you to land the killing blow on a Scavenger, a reference to Risk of Rain 1. It’s worth noting that killing a Twisted Scavenger in A Moment, Whole doesn’t count as the same monster.
Utility
Caustic Leap
Caustic Leap is Acrid’s default Utility skill in Risk of Rain 2. It causes him to leap into the air, dealing 320% damage when he lands. He also leaves an acid puddle that deals minor damage. Caustic Leap stuns enemies, and the acid puddle left behind afflicts Poison. Both Acrid’s Utility leap abilities have two base charges, allowing for back-to-back jumps.
Related Article: How to Win Risk of Rain 2 Using Mul T
Frenzied Leap
Frenzied Leap is Acrid’s second Utility skill, which functions like Caustic Leap. This ability causes Acrid in Risk of Rain 2 to leap into the air, dealing 550% damage. Unlike Caustic Leap, this ability doesn’t leave a pool of acid behind, so it has no way to apply Acrid’s Passive. However, it still stuns enemies, and the cooldown is reduced by two seconds for each enemy hit.
Unlocking Frenzied Leap requires completing the Pandemic challenge. To finish this challenge, you must inflict Poison 1000 times. This challenge is effortless, and possibly the most straightforward in the game since Acrid’s central game mechanic is to spread Poison. The only way you could never complete this challenge is if you prefer Blight over Poison since the challenge doesn’t count the use of the Blight Passive.
Acrid’s Only Special Ability in Risk of Rain 2: Epidemic
Epidemic is Acrid’s only special ability that synergizes well with Poison and Blight passives. Acrid releases a plague bolt, which deals 100% damage and spreads a deadly disease to up to 20 targets if the bolt hits anything. This ability applies both Poison and Blight rapidly and can be used while sprinting.
What Should Your Risk of Rain 2 Acrid Build Include?
Acrid’s basic abilities in Risk of Rain 2 are their best. This is because Poison scales based on health instead of damage. Ravenous Bite and Frenzied Leap force Acrid into melee range late game and scale extremely poorly regarding survivability. Acrid is best played as a hypermobile DOT tank with a hit-and-run mentality rather than sustained fighting.
Acrid has several items that befit their playstyle, but Visions of Heresy, Ukulele, Backup Magazine, Tri-Tip Dagger, and Gasoline synergize directly with their kit. Visions of Heresy removes the need to stay in melee range, Ukulele can activate per each chaining hit of Epidemic, and Backup Magazine provides numerous charges of Neurotoxin.
Tri-Tip Dagger adds a killing dot to poisoned targets, and Gasoline guarantees chaining deaths between hordes of enemies. In addition, Will-o’-The-Wisp functions very similarly to Gasoline.
Related Guide: How to Build Huntress in Risk of Rain 2
Tips & Tricks on How to Play Acrid in Risk of Rain 2
- Picking Blight as your passive will encourage an aggressive playstyle since the damage-over-time can be stacked and cause rapid ramping damage.
- Choosing Poison as your passive allows you to play a more passive playstyle since you only need to apply Poison once and then wait for it to fall off before reapplying.
- In Risk of Rain 2, Acrid takes no fall damage while using Frenzied Leap or Caustic Leap.
- Acrid can use Caustic or Frenzied Leap after falling off the map to avoid taking any fall damage.
- Risk of Rain 2 Acrid synergizes greatly with on-hit effect items such as Atg Missile MK.1 or Ukulele.
- Epidemic still spreads its disease when it hits anything, including terrain, allowing you to miss or aim your shot where enemies are gathered will still cause your Passive to spread.
Wrap Up
Acrid is an otherworldly prisoner who wields the powers of Poisons and Plagues while maintaining the feel of a tanky rabid dog. Although Acrid doesn’t stay within melee range late into the game, the hybridized playstyle makes for a very unique and memorable Survivor with several strengths and weaknesses. Although Acrid isn’t the best character in Risk of Rain 2, they play far different from any other, and that makes them very entertaining.
Are you a fan of Acrid in Risk of Rain 2? We are, and we love to hear from more Acrid fans! Please let us know your tips and tricks using the comment section below. We may even feature your suggestions in a future update. For now, feel free to check out other great Risk of Rain 2 survivor guides, such as our guide on how to play and build Commando in RoR2.
And, if you are having any trouble reaching any of the many endings in the game, you may be interested in checking out our guide on how to beat Risk of Rain 2 (including every ending).
