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The Judgment Trial inRisk of Rain Returnsoffers both a final test of skill for Risk Of Rain players and a new game mode that plays very differently from the traditional gameplay experience. It’s similar to quick start or boss rush modes in a lot of other roguelikes.
The biggest change this trial makes over the normal formula is that healing is tightly restricted. Passive healing is disabled and basic healing items are placed on the same rarity tier as the strongest attack items. Enemies do not scale with time so you are encouraged to play slowly and carefully, attacking only when an opening presents itself.
Unlocking The Judgment Trial
The Judgment Trial is unlocked whenall other providence trials have been completed. You do not need to achieve gold ranks. You do have tounlock all characters(except Robomando) as they all have trials tied to them.
By the point you have the judgment trial available, you should have a strong grasp of how every survivor plays and how to use the alternative skills added in the remake.
Unfortunately, you aren’t allowed to use any of those alternative skills here.
The trial can be completed with each character, unlocking an achievement and an alternative skin for each. If your goal is to complete all of them, it is best to start with the easiest characters until you learn the format.
Layout Of the Judgment Trial
The Judgement Trial has you fight through a series of enemies and bosses in a themed arena in each biome. After each level, you’ll be teleported to a shop-like area. You’ll be given four choices between trios of items and a limited stock of full heals.You are only offered five full healsacross a total of ten levels.
If you haven’t already, open the settings menu andreduce the zoom scale to 1x. This will allow you to see the entire arena at all times.
There are two teleporters. The red one will take you through the levels in the intended order, while the blue teleporter will skip you to the sixth level. Unless you’re aiming to set a speed record, you’ll always want touse the red portal.
Enemy Placement and Strategy
Colossus
Stone Golem,Lemurian,Wisp, Trokk, Jellyfish
A second level of the arena above the range of melee enemies.It can be reached by a rope so lemurians can climb up and be fought separately at the top.
You’ll start the level out fighting melee enemies, lemurians, trokks, and stone golems.Prioritise lemurians that can follow you upthe rope, then use hit-and-run tactics to wear down the remainder.
Magma Worm
Sand Crab,Lemurian,Jellyfish, Tuber
There is a raised platform on both sides with ropes leading up.These will start with elite sand crabs, making them dangerous to stand on.
Prioritise clearing the enemies from the raised platforms.The elite sand crabs can teleport, making them a persistent threat until defeated. After this, you’ll want to prioritise the lemurians and jellyfish that can hit you while climbing the ropes, and kite the enemies from left to right and back again while using the rope to dodge the magma worm.
Lynx Totem
Tuber, Mushrum,Spitter,Black Imp, Lynx Tribe
There is a series of smaller platforms at the top of the arena. Enemies on the bottomcannot hit you standing in the middle of the floating platforms, giving you a place to restore your guardian’s heart shields and active items.
Make use of theblindspot on the middle platform, with hit-and-run tactics. The enemies at this level don’t hit hard enough to break your shield, so this level can be beaten without taking damage.
Ancient Wisp
Wisp,child, parent,bramble
Two platforms of different heights are raised over the arena floor. Agile survivors canjump from left to right but not backwards.
Defend a position on the left platform, ready tojump right when the children overwhelm you.If you have the timepiece, use it when forced to move left along the ground to evade the parents and wisps.Prioritise killing the bramblewhen it spawns on the left platform.
Ifrit
Mechanical Spider,Bighorn Bison, Swift,Rock Golem, Lemurian
There areno arena obstacles here.There are also no walls to the sides, so be careful not to fall.
Ifrit spawns at the beginning of this level. Prioritise killing them quickly before too many other enemies spawn. The nextbiggest threat is the bighorn bison, as you have no platforms to hide from them. Use mobility skills and hopoo feathers to jump over their attacks, as they’re one of the few enemies that cannot be evaded with a single jump.
Jellyfish, Sand Crab,Whorl, Clay Man, macrobe
There are two platforms connected byvines hanging from the ceiling.
The whorls and sand crabs can kill you in momentsif you land among them. Fighting from the upper layer you’ll only be significantly threatened by the jellyfish and the vagrant.The jellyfish are bigger threats than the vagrantas long as you keep moving between the two platforms and the vines.
Cremator
Evolved Lemurian, Bighorn Bison, Mechanical Spider, macrobic predator
This arena has alava floor with platformssuspended above it in two layers of scattered platforms. The Cremator will be able to attack the ground floor with its melee charge.
The Cremator spawns at the beginning of this level.If you have high damage and the unstable watch, you can use it tokill him before anything else spawns. Otherwise, you’ll want to keep to the ceiling, using the ropes to dodge the artillery attacks and whittling down enemies one at a time.
Frenzied Toxic Beast
Parent, Evolved Lemurian,Gup, spitter
Two large platforms over the arena floor with a jumping puzzle to get from one to the other.Trying to travel across this gap is liable to drop youto the bottom where the frenzied boss can kill you quickly.
The Toxic Beast spawns at the start of this level and forces you to stay in the upper levels.Stay to the top left until enemies stop spawning.During this time your biggest threat are the evolved lemurians and the gups. The gups take up nearly the entire platform, while the evolved lemurians can strike you even while hanging from the vines.
Temple Of The Elders
Blazing Imp Overlord
Archer Bug, Swift,bramble, clay man, evolved lemurian, elder lemurian, lemurian cavalry,temple guardian, black imp,
Two platforms in the top corners, with astaircase of smaller platforms leading from right to left.
Prioritise clearing the upper left level, so you have somewhere to hide and recharge your shields or cooldowns. This involves killing first the elite temple guard, and then the several brambles. These are the biggest threats at long range and can hit you through floors.
Risk Of Rain
Providence
Survivor Clones (Engineer Han-D / Enforcer Miner / Bandit / Sniper)
A similar setup to the Sky Meadow arena: Two platforms over the arena at different heights that force you tododge in a clockwise direction.
The survivor clones will continuously respawn.The Engineer Han-D clone is the most dangerous, due to its ability to place mines. The mines visually persist after killing them but will no longer be active).This level otherwise plays out as a normal battle against Providence.You’ll fight all four phases.
The order of the levels andenemy placements are the same every time, allowing you to plan around specific areas.
The first area, for example, has two elite enemies spawning on the cliffs to your left and right. Opening with an attack that knocks one back can kill them instantly with fall damage and let you focus on the other.
Best Item Choices In The Judgment Trial
Similar to enemy placement, item choices offered during the trial are the same every time. Before the first level, you’re given a single item.
In almost all cases, you’ll want toobtain the Guardian Heart, because of the ablative shield it gives you. Damage can often be unavoidable and this allows you to leave small gaps in your dodging pattern for counterattacks or cooldowns.
Each level after this offer gives you four items, typically choices within a category (such as damage upgrades, utility items and active equipment). Certain options will be consistently better, while others willvary between survivors.
The most notable options are the early choices, with later options consolidating on earlier strengths or providing flat boosts with minimal difference between the options.
Ancient Scepter, Alien Head,Hardlight Afterburner
Hardlight afterburner
For any character with a mobility move in this slot, the afterburner will greatly improve survivability by letting you string your evades together.Other characters are better off taking the scepter.
Hopoo Feather, Guardian’s Heart, Tough Times
Hopoo Feather
If you already have one guardian heart, the hopoo feather will give you desperately needed mobility.Most enemy attacks can be dodged with a well-timed jump.If your character has enough natural mobility to not need it, take a second heart.
Gigantic Amethyst,Unstable Watch, Sawmerang
Unstable Watch
The unstable watch gives you a long enough time freeze tomove from one end of most arenas to the otherwhile recharging your guardian’s heart shields. The Engineer and Drifter can make better use of the gigantic amethyst.
Golden Gun, Beating Embryo,Rapid Mitosis
Rapid Mitosis
Active Items are very important in this run. The beating embryo gives a chance of equipment activating twice, but this is less consistent than apercentage cooldown reduction from rapid mitosis.
Ifrit’s Horn, Scorching Shell Piece, Imp Overlord’s Tentacle
Ifrit’s Horn
The horn is the most consistent increase in damage. Scorching shell relies on you being hit, which you desperately want to avoid. The Imp minion has a very short distance it will roam from you, meaning that it will do very little when you are trying to keep your distance.
Hopoo feather, Ukulele, Frost Relic
Hopoo feather/Ukulele
Whether you need more damage or mobility is entirely dependent on the survivor you’re playing and how proficient you are at avoiding attacks with the number of jumps you currently have.
Repulsion Armor,Permafrost, Old Box
Repulsion armor
The extra survivability granted by repulsion armor canbail you out of bad situations. Enemies spawn more quickly now, and you won’t be able to clear them before more appear.
Toxic Centipede,Guardian’s Heart, Captain’s Brooch
Guardian’s Heart
This is broadly a straightforward choice unless you want totake a risk on the Brooch. Spawning in chests is the only way toobtain items outside the shop offerings. You’ll earn roughly enough money to activate it twice per stage. The opportunity cost of giving away your unstable watch is too great for most characters.
Brilliant Behemoth, Bustling Fungus, Tesla Coil
Brilliant behemoth/Bustling Fungus
Ifyou’ve run out of heals, the bustling funguscan bail you out here by giving you a consistent heal out of combat. Otherwise, the brilliant behemoth is a nice damage boost.
Repulsion Armor,Rapid Mitosis, Alien Head
The Unstable Watch has a very long cooldown, and you’re very dependent on it with most characters.Dropping a quarter of the item’s cooldown timeis a massive upgrade.
If you aren’t using the Watch, the alien head is a better item than a second repulsion armor.
Fireman’s Boots,Monster Tooth,Harvester’s Scythe
Monster Tooth/Harvester’s Scythe
You’re finally being given ahealing item that works in combat. The monster tooth will keep you alive through waves, while the scythe can do the same during boss fights. Neither can heal more than very basic attrition so don’t get complacent.
Hyper-Threader, Wicked Ring, Ceremonial Dagger
Hyper-threader
There’s only the providence bossfight left.Hyper-threader offers a mild but respectable damage boost. The ceremonial dagger will have only a few enemies to activate it. The Wicked Ring could be a good choice if you’ve picked every critical hit item available so far, but is still character-specific (Pilot will love it).
Beating The Final Providence Trial With Every Survivor
Depending on your goal, you’ll be aiming to beat the judgment trial once with your favourite character to unlock their new skin or once with every character for the achievements given each time you win with a new survivor. Hopefully, your favourite character isn’t Artificer.
Like previous providence trials, you arenot allowed to customise the skill loadoutof your survivor before starting. This means you’ll be using the default abilities of every character.
The easiest characters to complete the judgment trial with have abilities that can negate the trial’s unique obstacles, regenerating health when they aren’t supposed to, or evading enemies well enough to trivialise them.
Engineer
Gigantic Amethyst, Ancient Scepter, time keeper’s secret
Engineer can place turrets and mines and then run away for minutes at a time. Turrets both soak and deal damage, at no cost to health. Taking the gigantic amethyst active item alongside the ancient scepter lets yourespawn turrets on a very short cooldown. With good movement, you’ll never have to engage in combat yourself.
Drifter
Ancient Scepter, Gigantic Amethyst
Drifter’s ability to create temporary items lets them break the curated item economy offered by the shops.Some temporary items can even lead to permanent items,such as the 54-leaf clover and the duo of Life Savings with the Captain’s Brooch. The ability to generate temporary items also gives the drifter better access to healing items not meant to be available during the trial. The ancient scepter to upgrade the drifter’s ability to make items is spectacular, while the gigantic amethyst lets you use it several times more often.
Pilot
Hardlight Afterburner, Backup Magazine, Wicked Ring
Pilot’s sustained airtime can evade the majority of attackers. In a normal game, you’d be punished by the clock if you spend five minutes running away and whittling them down with Target Acquired butthere are no time penalties in this providence trial.Hardlight afterburner greatly increases his airtime, to the point that he doesn’t need hopoo feathers.
The middle-of-the-road characters have good ranged attacking options and mobility to keep out of danger.
Strategy
Ranged attackers (Commando, Huntress, Sniper, Bandit)
These characters all havelong-ranged attacks and a dodge move. Your personal preference will shape which of these is easiest to win with.
Acrid
Acrid’sepidemic and caustic sludge can wear down large groupsquickly, but he has less mobility than the stronger survivors.
Chef
Chef has one of the weakest mobility moves buthis attacks have good wave clearand at least he isn’t a melee survivor.
Robomando
Robomando’s weak skills makes the early levels near impossible without playing the trial dozens of times and learning a perfect (and character-specific) dodge routine. Once the Captain’s Brooch is offered in the shop, they cangenerate infinite items by waiting around. There’s no reward for winning with them outside bragging rights.
The hardest characters to complete the trial have limited agility, few dodges or need to attack from close range.
Agile melee characters (Miner, Mercenary)
Miner and mercenary have agility but are melee exclusive. Even with good play, they’re liable to take attrition damage over time. Mercenary is slightly easier, but a player skilled with miner’s mobility moves will be able to win.
Loader
Loader’s debris shield lets them dive into combatand then retreat before invincibility runs out. Backup mags give more flexibility, and with practise you’ll learn exactly how many attacks you can safely make before needing to retreat.
Han-D
Han-D lacks the mobility of other melee heroes but compensates with healing via his drones.This will make the early levels much easier, but Han-D can struggle against the final providence fight.
Short-range attackers (Artificer, Enforcer)
Artificer and Enforcer operate at just outside melee range but lack the survivability tools of the true melee characters. Enforcer’s shield is a risky proposition asit throttles your movement, and you’ll eventually take a hit from behind.Artificer will be trampled by most enemieswhile trying to channel any of her short-range attacks.
