Risk of Rain 2 – How to unlock REX

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. For this guide we’ll be looking at REX, a new character for Risk of Rain 2. REX is a half-plant, half-robot symbiote that tends to hurt itself by attacking, but heal itself by doing damage. It’s not quite as high-risk/high-reward as that might sound, and it can weaken enemies to reduce their movement speed, armor, and damage. Not as outlandish as some of the other characters, but a fun and useful one to play. To unlock Rex, you need to beat the “Power Plant” challenge, which reads: “Repair the broken robot with an Escape Pod’s Fuel Array.” Here’s how to do that.

Unlocking REX with Power Plant

The Fuel Array is located in a hatch on the back of the Escape Pod you spawn in.

As with many of the others, this Risk of Rain 2 challenge is a delightful mix of simple and aggravating. First, you need to play as any character that starts in an Escape Pod — so no Acrid for you, I’m afraid (unless you’re in multiplayer, at least). Once you’ve spawned in on the first level, go around to the back of the Escape Pod and you’ll be able to take off the hatch and pick up the Fuel Array.

This is problematic for two reasons. First, the Fuel Array takes up your usable equipment slot, so your Q ability is going to do nothing until you’ve completed this challenge. Secondly, the Fuel Array will explode and kill you if you drop below around half health. As such, you’re effectively on a half-health run with no usable equipment. Have fun.

You need to make it to the Abyssal Depths, one of the two possible fourth stages. As with the Loader unlock, if you wind up getting Siren’s Call instead (the other possible fourth stage), you might just want to restart rather than do a second loop.

In the Abyssal Depths in Risk of Rain 2

Simply use it on REX to complete this challenge and unlock everyone’s favorite plant/robot hybrid.

Once you reach the Abyssal Depths with the Fuel Array in tow, you want to head upwards. REX is standing stationary on one of the higher platforms, and all you need to do to complete the challenge is walk up to it and use the Fuel Array. Then the Power Plant challenge is complete.

There isn’t much advice I can give for this except to pick the Risk of Rain 2 survivor you’re best with. You can’t rely on having usable equipment and can’t risk taking much damage, but beyond that you can go any way you like. You can go for mobility and dodge attacks. Self-healing is also an option, or you can just go for outright damage and try to kill things before they kill you. A mix of the three is likely for the best, but you can do this with pretty much any character depending on the drops you get. As usual, you should be able to do this challenge on Drizzle difficulty if you want to ease your pain while going for the unlock.

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 the Loader and the Acrid on those pages respectively. You can also take a look at our Risk of Rain 2 guide hub for more info.