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Acrid is a melee Survivor inRisk of Rain Returnsthat uses poison and disease to deal damage over time to groups of enemies. Acrid is one of the strongest Survivors early in a run thanks to his poison damage, but can also scale well into the late game with the right setup.
While Acrid’s abilities may seem simple, he functions pretty differently than other melee Survivors in the game. Below, we’ll take a look at everything you need to know about playing Acrid, including each of his skills, the best items to use, and some tips for surviving.
Description
Festering Wounds
Maul an enemy for 120% damage. The target is poisoned for 24% damage per second.
Neurotoxin
Spit toxic bile for 220% damage, stunning enemies in a line for 1 second.
Caustic Sludge
Secret poisonous sludge for 2 seconds. Speeds up allies, while slowing and hurting enemies for 90% damage.
Epidemic
Release a deadly disease, poisoning enemies for 100% damage per second. The contagion spreads to two targets after 1 second.
Unlockable Skills
You can also unlock the following three skills for Acrid. These will replace hisFestering Wounds,Neurotoxin, andCaustic Sludge.
How To Unlock
Corrosive Wounds(replaces Festering Wounds)
Maul enemies for 80% damage. Targets are corroded, and take 10% extra damage from all sources.
Kill caged Acrid in less than 15 seconds.
Toxic Bubble(replaces Neurotoxin)
Spit out a Toxic Bubble, dealing 60% damage over time, and slowing enemies, exploding for 600% damage after 5 seconds. Can be pushed by attacking.
Collect 300 items as Acrid.
Dissolving Ambush(replaces Caustic Sludge)
Spit out a poisonous blob, forming a puddle that slows and hurts enemies for 100% damage. Use a second time to dissolve into acid and warp to the puddle, dealing 400% damage.
Increases overall survivability and effective health.
The Toxin
Infect enemies on contact for 3 seconds, causing them to receive 30% extra damage from all sources.
Increases damage of poison and damage over time effects.
Increases survivability and health as the run progresses.
Dead Man’s Foot
Chance when damaged to drop a poison mine that deals 150% damage and poisons for x600% damage over time. Chance to drop starts at 15% and increases with low health.
High damage effect that is easy to trigger in groups of enemies.
Toxic Centipede
Infect a nearby enemies on contact for 6 seconds, dealing damage every 0.5 seconds. Bounces to other enemies if the target dies. Recharges every 6 seconds.
Lets you use your skills more frequently.
Aegis
Healing past full grants you barrier equal to 50% of the amount you healed. Increases maximum barrier by 20%.
Drastically increases survivability, granting barrier with excess healing.
Acrid’s skills are very strong anddon’t need much item investmentto do well with, so opting fordefensiveandmobilityitems is a better option. Essentially, any item that boosts these two aspects will be great for Acrid.
How To Play As Acrid
Unlike other melee Survivors, Acrid’s best skills aren’t melee attacks. In fact, the best way to play Acrid is by using your melee Primary attackas little as possible.
Because of the strength of poison and damage over time effects, you canunload your skills on the enemyand then run away, letting the damage tick down while remaining safe from their attacks. This playstyle lets youinvest more in defensive items, letting your poison damage do most of the work when it comes to killing enemies.
To that end, we recommendsticking with Acrid’s default skills, with the option to swapCaustic SludgeforDissolving Ambushif you wantmore mobility. Since you aren’t really going to use your Primary attack, you can choose either one you prefer.
BetweenNeorotoxinandToxic Bubble, the former is much easier to use and provides a more pronounced effect, while Toxic Bubble can be difficult and clunky to accurately use, anddoesn’t have a stun effectthat is vital for interrupting the enemy’s attacks.
Overall, your general strategy is to useNeurotoxinandEpidemicon groups of enemies to apply poison damage, then use Caustic Sludge or Dissolving Ambush tomove away as necessary. Dodge attacks by moving and jumping while your cooldowns refresh, then repeat this process as necessary until the enemy is dead.
