Risk of Rain 2 – How to unlock the Acrid

Three new characters have been added to the high-octane shooty roguelite Risk of Rain 2 since the last time we talked about how to unlock every survivor, so it’s about time we tell you about them. Here, we’re going to talk about how to unlock the Acrid. This returning character from the first Risk of Rain is a poison-spewing beast that can destroy tankier foes, and he’ll take a bit of work to unlock. Fortunately, if all you’re after is the unlock, you should be able to do this on Drizzle difficulty to lower the challenge and increase your chances. Unlocking the Acrid in Risk of Rain 2 requires you to complete the challenge “… To Be Left Alone.” The rather unhelpful description of this challenge asks you to “Stabilize the Cell in the Void Fields,” so our first task is to get to the Void Fields.

Accessing the Void Fields

After dropping down, you’re looking for this pathway to the side.

To do that, you’ll need to head to the Bazaar Between Time, the shop area that you can access through a blue portal. As noted in the Artificer section of the previous unlock guide, you’ll want to use a Lunar Coin to activate a Newt Shrine to open that portal. Once you’re there, though, you need to make your way to the Void Fields, and that’s tricky by itself.

From the starting position in the Bazaar, look down. You’ll see curved metal beams stretching out: You want to land on these and keep descending. Once you go down far enough, you should see a passageway covered in yellow fog off to one side. Head through that until you reach a portal, and you’ll find yourself in the Void Fields. Don’t worry about falling too far during this section, as time doesn’t advance in the Bazaar, and if you take falling damage you can safely heal up without hurrying.

Unlocking the Acrid in Risk of Rain 2

Unfortunately, this is where things get difficult. Here, you’re looking for Void Cells, little areas denoted by purple beams stretching into the sky. Activating one will start the event, during which you need to charge a total of nine Void Cells.

You’ll take constant damage when not within range of a Void Cell, and a particular enemy type will spawn during that period. However, this is a survival challenge. The Void Cell will continue to charge even if you’re not in range and not killing enemies, so you simply need to stay alive.

When one Void Cell is completed, another will spawn. The completed Cell’s “safe zone” will disappear and you’ll have to move to the next while taking constant damage. As such, when the one you’re doing fades out, keep your eyes open for the tell-tale purple spire of light indicating the next and get over there in a hurry.

When you complete each Cell you’ll get an item, but the more Cells you complete, the more types of enemy that can spawn — and they’ll also get item buffs, with the final one being a Legendary buff. It’s great fun when they get Dio’s Best Friend and resurrect on death. Completing all nine Cells makes the Void Fields safe and unlocks the Acrid.

General tips

You want to survive rather than push out huge amounts of damage, so I’ve found the Engineer to be a pretty good choice for this challenge. Dropping turrets that can attract enemy attention helps out a lot, especially if you’ve got the Bustling Fungus item. This gives a healing aura when you stand still, and as your turrets are stationary, it means they’ll provide a healing aura for you (and each other). Drop some mines around them and you should be fairly safe, depending on what foes spawn with what item buffs.

The Bustling Fungus also seems to out-heal the damage that you’ll take when you’re out of range of a cell, so if you get lost on your way to the next, you can stand still for a bit to heal up. You’re unfortunately at the mercy of RNG there, but anything that can heal you up or attract attention away from you will help keep you alive while the Cells charge up.

Much like the Bazaar, the Void Fields don’t advance time, so you can take as long as you need to prep between Cells as long as you don’t die, and each one has a safe zone even before you activate it. Heal up before activating a Cell, and you should be good to get Risk of Rain 2‘s Acrid.

If you’re looking to unlock the other survivors, you can check out our guide for the launch characters, or find out how to get REX and the Loader on those pages respectively. You can also take a look at our Risk of Rain 2 guide hub for more info.