Remnant 2 Starter Guide

Save yourself some time at the beginning of the new Remnant 2 (2023) from Gunfire Games with these helpful tips on starting your gameplay. 

Time Saving Tips Overview

It took me some time and experimentation to figure out this game at first, and there are things I wished I’d known going in. Here are some tips on what to focus on and what to avoid, as well as some general info on the gameplay and multiplayer functions. Hopefully this will help you to hit the ground running! Remnant 2 is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, and Windows. 

(Side note, since this is focused on advice for new players, I won’t delve into aspects from later in the game, like additional special moves or archetypes, just the ones available from the beginning or early on.)

Archetypes

The first thing you’ll do is pick your archetype. There are four to begin with (that is, if you didn’t preorder), although you can gather others along the way. I’ll give you a rundown of the differences between the four before diving into advice on how to go about this decision.

1. Medic

• Passive perk: you get an extra bar that fills up as you heal yourself and your allies. Once the bar is full, you get an extra Relic (health potion).
• Starting special move: drop a healing pool that replenishes health for yourself and your allies so long as you/they are standing in the pool.
• Long gun: XMG57 Bonesaw, very fast machine gun that can hold up to 150 rounds at a time, with up to 300 max ammo (150 in reserves). Individual hits are weak and reload is very slow. Overheats easily.
• Melee: flail, decent speed and moderate damage.

2: Hunter

• Passive perk: dealing ranged weak-spot damage extends the duration of the special move. 
• Starting special move: for a short time, enemies in the area are highlighted.
• Long gun: Huntmaster M1, sniper rifle that can hold up to 7 rounds at a time and up to 42 rounds max (35 in reserves). Shooting speed is slow but individual rounds are very powerful and you can toggle to a scope view to zoom in on enemies. Decent reload speed.
• Melee: sword, decent speed and damage.

3. Challenger

• Passive perk: when you die, you automatically revive at half health. Can be used once every 10 minutes. 
• Starting special move: shockwave that damages and knocks back all nearby enemies. 
• Long gun: AS-10 Bulldog, shotgun that can hold up to 12 rounds at a time and up to 60 rounds total (48 in reserves). Powerful in close combat and can hit multiple enemies if they are close enough, but damage significantly drops for distant enemies. 
• Melee: broadsword, powerful but a tad slower than the other melee weapons.

4. Handler

• Passive perk: dog companion that attacks enemies and will attempt to give you a Relic when you are downed (doesn’t always succeed).
• Starting special move: direct your dog to focus on a specific enemy. Once used, activate it again to deselect the enemy (if unused, the dog will attack whoever is closest).
• Long gun: Blackmaw AR-47, automatic rifle that does more damage than the Medic’s but is a bit slower than that gun (still faster than most other guns). Holds up to 38 rounds at a time and 190 rounds total (152 in reserves). Decent reload time. 
• Melee: clawed gloves, fast but very close range.

Here’s the thing about choosing an archetype up front: it doesn’t matter a whole lot. This is because you have the flexibility to swap out your archetype at any given time, as soon as you have the resources to do so. Each archetype has an item that can be purchased from one of the vendors at Ward 13, your homebase. Once purchased, you just need to visit the NPC Wallace on the docks of Ward 13 to convert it. They cost 1000 scrap each to purchase the item, plus 5 lumenite crystals to convert them.

If you haven’t started the game yet and have no frame of reference for these materials, don’t worry, these are pretty easy to gather. You can gather 1000 scrap pretty much just by going through one or two sections of a level, and you get lumenite most of the time you defeat a harder than average enemy. You can also sell things to get more scrap if needed.

Once you get a second archetype, you can actually have two equipped from then on. There is no level limit to do this, the only requirement is that you have the second archetype’s item converted. Whichever one you have assigned as your primary will be the one with the passive ability, while you won’t have access to the passive ability for the secondary archetype (with the exception of the dog companion, but you lose the healing perk). You can still access both special moves, just mapped to different controls. You can change your primary and secondary archetype at any time so long as you have them, straight from your regular menu, which is super helpful.

All starting weapons, plus a few extra, are also available from the start with the NPC weapons vendor Brabus at Ward 13, so you can mix and match your archetype and weapons pretty early on. Long guns cost 1000 scrap and melee weapons and handguns cost 500.

All this to say, the archetype you pick at the start doesn’t lock you into anything in particular and you don’t have to start over if you don’t end up liking your build, you just need to gather the scrap and lumenite to modify it. With this in mind, the best archetype to start with is whichever has the perk and special move you feel is most valuable to begin with until you collect enough resources to make any changes. That and the outfit you prefer, since your outfit doesn’t automatically change if you switch your archetype later.

Starting Recommendations:

If you’re playing single player, I’d highly recommend starting with Medic, and if you’re playing multiplayer, at least one of your party should be a Medic. Aside from the obvious reasons why healers are helpful, in this game they are especially valuable because Relic usage is very slow and easily interrupted if you dodge, attack, or get stunned (minor damage won’t stop it, but you could die while waiting for it to finish), while the healing pool drops almost instantly – trust me, it’s much better to drop a pool than risk using a Relic, especially if you’re near death. Plus the pool lasts quite a while, so you can stand in the pool while attacking and continue to heal, even if you take damage after you start the move. The cooldown is shockingly fast, so by the time you need it again, it’s more than likely already available.
I honestly hardly even use Relics if I or someone in my party is a Medic. Now, one caveat to this is that you don’t have to be a Medic in order to start the game with a healing mod for your weapon (you get to choose from one of 4 options at the start, and one is a projectile called Healing Shot that heals 30% of the maximum health; it also will wait to activate if no one is near it at first). However, I don’t find this mod to be particularly helpful, and certainly not as useful as the healing pool.

I’d recommend avoiding the Hunter because their perk and special move really aren’t very helpful, especially compared to the others. Occasionally the enemy highlighted vision helps, since they aren’t indicated on the mini map, but usually it’s very clear where they are even without this special vision – especially if there’s a dog companion because he will likely point out enemies that are hiding nearby. The Hunter’s rifle, Huntmaster M1, is my personal favorite, though, but you can always buy this and equip it to some other archetype.

The Challenger is also a good starting class because the special move is very powerful and the passive ability helps a lot, particularly when you’re first getting the hang of the game. However, the AS-10 Bulldog shotgun is not the best weapon, since a lot of enemies are too far away for it to be effective, so if you go with this one, you might want to look into changing your long gun early on. The broadsword is one of my personal favorite melee weapons though, because it has a wide range, it’s strong, and it’s faster than you’d expect. 

The Handler is a decent choice, one I would put above the Hunter but probably below the other two. I find the healing pool and the reviving perk do a better job at keeping you alive then the questionable chance that the dog may or may not heal you. At the very least, while it is a good archetype to have if you have two archetypes active, it might not be the one to focus on when first starting the game and relying on only one archetype to begin with.

Combinations:

As for which archetypes work well together, I’d recommend having either the Medic or Challenger as one of the two. You might as well ignore Hunter, because the perks and moves still aren’t very useful even in combination with other archetypes, but the Handler makes for a good second choice.

If you go with Challenger, your best bet is to have it as the primary, since the revival passive perk only works if it’s in this position. While the Medic and Handler passive perks can be useful, they aren’t as vital so having them as secondary gives you the main benefits without losing much of the functionality of the archetype by sacrificing the passive perk. Since the Medic’s healing pool circumvents the need for Relic usages most of the time, it’s not a huge deal if you don’t replenish your charges with the ally healing bar, and if you are combining the Handler with either the Challenger or the Medic, the dog’s potential revival isn’t as needed because you can either revive automatically with the Challenger or keep yourself from dying in the first place with the Medic.

Weapon Builds:

Different people have different preferences on weapon styles, so I won’t hit this aspect too hard, but there are some things you might like to know before spending money on certain weapons. As can be expected, the higher the damage, the lower the ammo you can have before reloading or as a whole at one time.

While the automatic with 150 rounds may seem appealing, the damage is pretty minimal and it takes forever to load, so if you want a gun that shoots fast but does reasonable damage, I’d recommend the Blackmaw, which the Handler starts with (but can be purchased from the start).

If you prefer higher damage per hit, the Huntmaster sniper rifle seems to be the best one for this. It can take out most standard enemies in 1-2 shots and although it only holds 7 before reloading, it doesn’t take long to reload.

The melee weapons are fairly compatible in speed and damage, so I’d advise going with the weapon type you most enjoy playing. It won’t make a huge difference in the long run and there are very few downsides to any particular option. By the way, although none of the archetypes start with it, there is a set of brass knuckles you can get from the weapons vendor that’s pretty fun to use. 

If you like your long gun enough, you might not even use your handgun all that often, but it’s probably a good idea to balance out your long gun selection. For example, if you go with the higher damage but lower max ammo sniper rifle, maybe think about a quick pistol that can hold a ton of ammo, such as the MP69-R, a swift submachine gun, as you may find yourself running out of long gun ammo from time to time (although honestly, the game does a good job at ammo drop rate). This can be found in Ward 13 by unlocking the chest in the NPC Ford‘s room with the code under the lantern to retrieve a key, then using this key to unlock the door in the container yard.

On the other hand, the double barrel shotgun – found in the mansion in Losomn – is comparable to the damage of the long gun shotgun, so it could be a good option if you have a faster, weaker long gun. However, this one also depends on the enemies being pretty close before it will do the bulk of the damage, and you have to reload after every 2 shots, which can be annoying. 

Collecting Archetypes and Weapons:

One big complaint I have about the game is that the map isn’t super helpful. One reason is that while it indicates where NPCs are, it doesn’t explain who these indicators are for, so here is Ward 13 with the relevant vendors highlighted:

Brabus is the weapon’s vendor, so he can get you any weapon that doesn’t come with your starting class. Wallace is the one who converts your archetype items, so visit him after buying any of the key items. Wallace can also get you additional Relics and an item that allows you to redo your trait points. Here’s a list of the vendor and item you need to collect each archetype you didn’t start with:

1. Medic: purchase the Medic Pin from Dr. Norah
2. Hunter: purchase the Rusty Medal from Brabus
3. Challenger: purchase the Old Metal Tool from Reggie
4. Handler: purchase the Old Whistle from Mudtooth (you have to go through a few dialogue options before you can access his shop, but you can skip through them to get there)

Areas

Remnant 2 is a bit unique in that you don’t have a set path to take when you start. Rather, after the opening sequence (which can be skipped completely once finished the first time, if starting a new character) you are randomly given access to one of three realms, N’erud, Losomn, or Yaesha. If you don’t like the world you’re assigned at the start, you can “reroll” from the World Settings within the checkpoint on Ward 13 to access a different one at random. However, if you’ve started one realm, rerolling will erase your progress in that particular area so you’ll have to start fresh if you access it again later (this does not erase your experience/materials/etc, just the level progress for that specific area). If you progress enough without rerolling, you can eventually access the Labyrinth which will connect you to the other areas.
But to start, here are some tips on how to make this work to your advantage.

I, personally, hate N’erud and would recommend avoiding it until your are stronger. It was the first area I accessed on my first attempt, and I didn’t understand yet how the game worked or that I had other options. I honestly nearly gave up. It didn’t help, though, that I started as the Challenger, so I didn’t have very good long range capabilities and early on you wind up in a section with almost solely flying enemies, making your melee weapon nearly useless. I’ve tried this area again with other archetypes/weapons, but it still is a frustrating area, so I’d highly recommended rerolling if you get this first, at least until you have more experience with the gameplay. Losomn is probably the best one to start with. It’s very straightforward and the enemies are reasonable. It was the first one I completed to proceed to the next area. Yaesha isn’t bad though, and if you do it right, you have the chance to unlock the Summoner archetype while you’re there.

The levels themselves also have a certain level of procedural generation, meaning the level won’t be exactly the same from playthrough to playthrough, or even if you reroll and access the same area again later. However, the overall layout, enemies, and bosses are usually the same, so you don’t really need to worry about getting lost if you’ve figured out where to go before. You just might start from a different location and/or proceed to a different area from time to time. Occasionally the bosses do switch up a bit, so if you’re having trouble with one, it doesn’t hurt to see if you get a different option upon rerolling. 

It’s worth noting that bosses will give you special items like mods, mutators, or weapons, so this can also impact which realm you might want to start with. Losomn has an amazing mod called Voltaic Rondure that sends out a ball of lightning to shock enemies, dropped by boss Bloat King, an annoying but reasonable boss, so that might be worth gunning for early on. On the other hand Yaesha has a good mod called Tremor that sends shockwaves for a while, dropped by Mother Mind. There are some other decent mods in all areas and some mods that aren’t super helpful, but these are the two I’ve found to be the most useful to get early on.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer in this game has a few nuances, some of which differ from some other multiplayer games, so I wanted to take a moment to highlight a few aspects.

Multiplayer is extremely easy to use in this. It doesn’t require certain items to activate it, no one needs to have completed an area first, nothing like that. All you have to do is access a red stone (checkpoint) after the opening tutorial sequence and select Join Game, then pick who you want to join. It’s as simple as that. If you have a particular friend in mind, you can change your setting to Friends Only. Whether on this setting or open to all, you will see your friend listed in the joinable game options.

You can have up to 4 people in your party at a time. If one person dies, whether it is the host or not, they usually will have a window of time where another player can try to revive them using one of their own Relic charges (certain circumstances will cause total death without the chance to revive, though, so it’s not a guarantee, but it is usually the case). However, reviving takes quite a bit of time, so it doesn’t always work. If you’re the one doing the reviving, you can also take damage during this time, so be careful when you start the process or you might end up getting both players killed. If you are a Medic, it helps to drop a healing pool before starting the revival process, to assist you in not dying from any damage that comes during this time. If one player fully dies, but another is still alive, the dead player’s camera will actually follow the other player until they reach a red stone, which is really helpful because you can follow along with their progress until you’re revived. 

One thing that takes some getting used to is that this game has friendly fire, and there is no way to turn it off. This only applies for firearms, so you can melee in close quarters with your buddy and no one will be hurt, but if you accidentally shoot your friend, they will take damage. It doesn’t help that aim assist sometimes defaults to the player, so take a second to check your aim before your fire. At least the reticle turns green in this case, so you have some warning. Mod attacks also won’t usually hurt them, but there are some exceptions to this, like Witchfire which can set you or your allies on fire, so be careful when using that one in a confined space.

Items and materials are shared, so if you see an item glowing in the distance, only one player has to venture that way to pick it up, and everyone in the party will get it added to their inventory. This includes scrap, special items, and trait points. However, ammunition is first come first serve, so if possible, try to communicate with your ally on who needs the type of ammo more, otherwise you might find yourself running low and unable to get more if your ally hogs it all.

In this game, map progress only counts for the host player, so if, for example, you both have Losomn unlocked, but you’re joining the other player in their game, you’ll still have to redo the area on your own account for it to count. However, any special items, like a certain ring that’s always in the same location, can only be picked up once, so if you already picked it up when joining someone else, you’ll just get extra scrap when you pick it up on your own playthrough. 

Conclusion

This game is a blast to play, especially if you have a friend to play with. I love the flexibility you have to change your archetype and weapons as your heart desires. It’s also neat to reroll and see different routes the levels take you each time, so it never really gets boring. It always feels like there’s more to do out there. I hope you enjoy this game as much as I do, and hopefully this guide will help you get off to a strong start.

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Love Nerd Union? Consider supporting us over on Patreon. You’ll get access to early access articles, commercial-free video essays, online discussions and more. Plus, you will be directly responsible for supporting journalism in a field that’s currently being overwhelmed by clickbait focused sites. Supporting us keeps the lights on but it also sets a standard to sites in our field about fair wage practices, citing sources, debunking unconfirmed sources, and helps us investigate stories better. If you want to hear more about our goals and updated ethical standards as a site, you can check out our Editor’s Letter later this month.

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