Risk of Rain 2’s Final Boss and Level Are Pretty Crazy

Risk of Rain 2 is finally out of early access and can be completed. This means a final level and a final boss, as well as a way to escape without, well, dying. Before RoR2 came out of early access, the only real way to end a run was to die or loop once and obliterate or fight a Scavenger. But now we have a final boss that we can kill, as well as some sort of happy ending.

But man, this final boss is a rush.

(Also, spoilers ahead, so be careful out there.)

Getting to the boss isn’t hard.

Thankfully, the final boss is somewhat optional. If you want to loop on forever, you can. But if you want the story-based ending, you’re in luck. All you have to do is get to the fifth level and use the teleporter. Okay, Sky Haven can be a rough level, what with all the bulky, self-healing enemies and random bosses. But it’s totally doable.

When you reach the teleporter, by default, it is pointed at the boss level. You can change the teleporter’s alignment to continue looping if you want.

(This is where the spoilers start.)

Getting to the boss after the Sky Haven teleporter is kinda slow.

Once you take the teleporter, you appear on the moon of Petrichor V. The moon of the planet you are trying to escape from. Everything is massive and collapsing and very ruined. You now have to take the long, long path towards the temple where the final boss awaits. This involves a lot of running and some jumping. If you are a slow character (e.g. Engineer) or don’t have any mobility items, it takes forever.

You’re also presented with a bit of platforming, which can be confusing because of the low gravity. And, again, is a pain if you lack mobility. Luckily though, you can just run past all the enemies. They are fast but they don’t often persist. They don’t join you in the fight either so it’s all good.

Finally, when you are nearly at the end, four jump pads await you, to thrust you up to the final boss.

Mithrix Awakens…

A large, empty platform, with rings of rock and various pillars. And a glowing hemisphere in the middle. As you approach, Mithrix, a strange, stone-like being with a massive hammer awakens, causing the world to ripple with energy.

We get four lovely stages of Mithrix. Well, three, excluding the phase where he disappears, heals up and throws a bunch of moon enemies at you. The moon enemies hit hard but the attacks are slow.

The first stage is mostly just Mithrix chasing you around with a hammer. Mithrix’s hammer hits like a truck. But the move where he teleports to the centre of the arena and creates waves of energy completely nukes you. Actually, everything Mithrix does really hurts should it hit you. Luckily, his moves in the first and second phases are somewhat predictable if you are paying attention.

Then Mithrix takes all your items…

The very last phase of Mithrix’s battle involves him stealing all your items. Until you are just your base character. You have to then fight Mithrix as you are, slowly stealing back your stolen items as you damage him. Meanwhile, Mithrix is now super powered and ranged and using all your items. So you have to whittle Mithrix down and hope he doesn’t heal himself with your items.

Or…

You can just nuke Mithrix AS he steals all your items.

Because Mithrix steals all your items gradually, you can still use some of them, as well as your Equipment item. So if you can deal enough damage quickly enough, you can kill Mithrix before he gets scary.

That’s not the end though.

As Mithrix dies, the world around you begins to blow up. You need to get the fuck off the moon before it blows up. Which means running back through that obstacle course you ran through to get there in the first place. Which is harder than it seems, because you now need to climb upwards rather than downwards. All of the moon enemies respawn and try to kill you, and you are slowed down by blasts of blue, crackling energy. To make things even harder, swarms of Void Reavers appear, attempting to vaporize you as you try to leave.

And the moon does blow up. Well, it… vanishes. Leaving its parent planet unharmed but alone. And taking anyone who was on the moon with it.

Anyway, I am so glad that I had a Milky Chrysalis, because I probably wouldn’t have made it off the planet at all as my slow-ass Engineer. You definitely need more than one or two Goat Hooves or Energy Drinks.

Fun fact: if you fail to escape the moon in time, you get the same message as you get when killed by a Void Reaver.

But wait, who is Mithrix anyway?

Good question. I’m not sure. But he does call out to his brother. Who may or may not be the boss from Risk of Rain 1. Either way, Mithrix is one of the brothers mentioned within a lot of the more… exotic lore entries from various items. It seems as if this planet we landed on is an experimental world, used and abused by beings with more power than we can understand. And we are messing things up.

As for you though? Well, you escape. Just about. Broken and tormented and changed inside. You get off the planet and go home, hopefully never to return.

Actually, saying that, at least we get a bit more information as to how you’re even there. Risk of Rain 2 now has an intro scene, where you appear on a new ship. The UES Safe Travels, a ship that is here to find out what happened to the UES Contact Light, the ship that disappeared in Risk of Rain 1. We’re not so much survivors. We’re not even rescuing anyone. We’re just trying to work out what happened.

Well, I don’t think we really find out. But we do pick up some sweet loot along the way. Goes nice with the terrifying memories of a planet trying to kill you.