Okay, so you have been playing some Risk of Rain, and you're doing pretty good. You have a couple characters unlocked and you got some friends to download the game.

You open a multiplayer game and suddenly you realize that you get killed over and over again. What happened?

You were doing just fine in a single player lobby?

This guide is intended to break down the internal mechanics of Risk of Rain and look at the internal workings of the difficulty coefficient (hereby: the coefficient), and how that relates to game difficulty and the scaling used. With a knowledge of how the game tracks difficulty, we can prepare for the inevitable obstacles.

So let us take a dive into the mathematics of Risk of Rain's mechanics, look at how they work, and then methods to counter the curve.

Risk of Rain's spawning system is quite robust and requires several loops of logic. The first thing to look at is the "coefficient", the equation which drives the entire's games internal loops.

The equations used to produce the coefficent look like this:

• The coefficient equation is found here.[riskofrain2.fandom.com]
  
  
• playerCount is the amount of players.
  
  
• difficultyValue represents what difficulty the game is set on, and affects the long-term scaling of the game. Drizzle is 1, Rainstorm is 2, and Monsoon is 3.
  
  
• stagesCompleted is the amount of levels that have been completed, not including the Bazaar Between Time.
  
  
• timeInMinutes is the amount of time that has passed, calculated every second.

The equation can be graphed to produce this.[www.desmos.com]


NOTE: there are no values on the X and Y of the graph. Evaluation is based on visual assessment. If you wish to calculate the values, feel free to do so.

The example graph is set to be for 1 player playing on Drizzle (difficulty 1). On the graph, X represents time passing, while Y represents the amount of levels completed.



For every level that is completed, the difficulty jumps up to the next row upwards. As more and more levels are completed, the larger the gap grows.

Likewise, the more time that passes, the more that the coefficient increases, though not as much as a level completion.

When combined, the affect of level completion and time causes a very quick jump in coefficient progression.

Changing the playerCount (Cp) will drastically change the jumping effect of level completion.


Setting Cp will shift the graph a lot:

Adding players means that the coefficient increases much quicker.

To change the difficulty of the game, simple change the 1 in the Ft equation:


So now, let's make the difficulty of our new 4 player lobby to Monsoon (zoomed out).


Lastly, lets say you are me, and you've got the group together to play a massive 12 person modded lobby on Rainstorm.



Something to note, if you have a keen eye is the amount of space each graph has from the X axis.


Each time a player joins, the entire graph is raised up on the X axis. While this is not entirely visible between 1 - 2 players, using a large lobby will show a significant increase in starting difficulty.

Take some time to mess with the graph and see how changing the player count and difficulty shifts the graph around. Once you have a feel for the way it looks, we will talk about the meaning.

In-game, there is the scrolling difficulty meter on the side of the screen, which will show how hard the game is.

• Easy
  
• Normal
  
• Hard
  
• Very Hard
  
• Insane
  
• Impossible
  
• I SEE YOU
  
• I'M COMING FOR YOU
  
• HAHAHAHA

NOTE: The graph is meant to represent the coefficient gain. This being said, the x-axis extends to infinity up while the y-axis extends to infinity on the right. The laughter level is technically endless, as at that point, the coefficent will keep increasing, meaning that the Directors have more credit to spend on spawning more powerful enemies.


As the page for Risk of Rain 1 states: "Time = difficulty. The higher the in-game time gets, the harder the difficulty gets." Both 1 and 2 have this as a core feature.

Note that staying in one stage and letting time pass does not increase difficulty quickly. To measure time-based difficulty increase, follow the y-axis along a certain point.

In example, staying in stage 1 is the bottom line that runs across the graph. The difficulty will increase, but it does so very slowly.


Each time a level (or stage, as it is called in-game) is completed, the difficulty will jump a little bit. This is measured on the x-axis on the graph.

In example, if lots of stages are run through, then the difficulty will increase very rapidly. This can be dangerous, as each stage completed does not add 1 point, but 1.15. This can compound quicker than the players are progressing.

When doing a solo run, most of this will not be super helpful. Solo runs receive the lowest amount of scaling effect, and thusly do not suffer from accidental mass increases of difficulty. The best run for solo is to take it relatively slow, as completing a lot of levels quickly will unbalance the difficulty.

If playing naturally, I personally recommend taking the time to find all of the chests on the map and opening them.


Small lobbies are where the fun can really begin, as the playerCount variable comes into effect here, though it does not make a huge difference. Small lobbies should be fine to roam as they see fit. With the extra player count, there are also more chests and shrines found on each level.

Taking time to find all the chests and splitting items evenly amongst the crew is the best way to survive. Try to think of item builds for the character classes chosen.


My favorite, personally. Large lobbies push the game's mechanics to the edge. Generally speaking, large lobbies require coordination in survivor choice, as well as coordination in item pick-ups and character builds.

In these lobbies, the playerCount variable will massively swing the difficulty upwards every time a level is ended, which can cause disaster quickly if the players are not ready to move on. Getting all the chests is essential.

I believe the most successful way to run a large lobby is to use a combination of two artifacts: Command [riskofrain2.gamepedia.com]and Sacrifice[riskofrain2.gamepedia.com].

Command makes all items drop as a Command Essence, which will allow for players to tailor their character to their specific role in the group, as a Command Essence allows them to choose the item they wish to receive.

Sacrifice stops the spawns of chests on maps, but all enemies have a chance to drop an item instead. Sacrifice is essential for large lobbies, as it allows for farming on the first level, which will not cause the difficulty to spike.

These items combined means that the group can sit around for ~45 minutes collecting items and building up their strength before moving levels. Being ahead of the difficulty curve means a better chance for survival.

NOTE: I am by no means a pro at all of the characters, which is why only some are written here. I can only discuss my experiences with the characters I have played.

Huntress: fantastic scout with solid short range damage and lots of mobility. Lacks long range damage. Pair with long range damage.

Artificer: Fantastic AoE damage. Low mobility. Pair with mobile scout.

Engineer: Feed about 10 - 15 bustling fungus as soon as possible. The Engineer is the staple of the crew and should stick to one place and hang out. Pairs well with everyone and is pretty much required.

Captain: The special ability to call down healing towers is a good early game skill before the engineer gets their fungus up and running, and the Captain has good damage. Pair with a scout.

Mercenary: High damage to single target, and very mobile. Pair with AoE. Or another scout if you want to scream like madmen while running around.

Acrid: Acrid's poison passive and special ability make it a constant damage dealer. Avoid using the basic attack if possible. Does great if left with the Engineer in the bustling fungus. Can be a good scout if speed is acquired.

My group usually has one or two engineers, a scout, and a damage dealer, minimally. Beyond that, we start to stack one DPS to one scout.

We focus on getting our Engineers the first 10 items each -- all bustling fungus -- to set up healing centers, and then move to a one-a-person pick-up. We like to stay in the first stage for about 30 minutes before leaving. Once we feel that our character is taking shape, we move items to a first-come-first-serve attitude.

Communication is key if you want to survive a large-lobby long game. You will need to coordinate item pick-ups.



If you felt like 16 people was not enough of a challenge, then I recommend you try out Multitudes[thunderstore.io], a mod that allows you to change the amount of people the game thinks are in your lobby.