Captain has arrived! As Risk of Rain 2 gets closer to its final version (now version 1.0.2.0), Hopoo Games has blessed us with one the last characters to be included in the game, Captain. Ever since his release, I've been loving every bit of his move-set and have been working on finding the best way to play him. At the time of writing this guide, most of the comments I've seen about Captain is that he's "underwhelming" and "un-finished", but personally, I've found that he's one of my favorite characters.

Captain can be played two ways, in my opinion. One way is a playstyle where he thrives on being a one-shot monster, much like Loader. If you set-up your abilities right, you can take enemies from 100 to 0, real quick. Another way is where he rapidly stacks DoT on enemies and melts them down, which is especially useful for bosses and tankier enemies. A few shots on any enemy and you could just run off as they wither away. What he lacks in mobility and defense, he certainly makes up for in damage and utility. If completely d e s t r o y i n g mobs and bosses sounds good to you, then give Captain a shot.

Currently, I am the only one working on this guide and would gladly like to hear more tips and advice from others who have played Captain. Feel free to either comment or DM me with suggestions, edits, and more on how to improve this guide :)

With the release of version 1.0 of the game, the way to unlock Captain is to simply beat the game. To do so, you must get to Sky Meadow in your run. There, you are likely to find that the normal Teleporter to exit the map is replaced with the Primordial Teleporter. As you enter the map, a message will pop up in the chat saying something like "Primordial Teleporter is aligned with the moon..." . After completing the Teleporter event, you'll be teleported to a new map, the Moon, where you'll have to beat Mithrix, the final boss. I won't go into detail on how to beat him, as you'll find that somewhere else on the internet. Once you beat the game, Captain will be unlocked.

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Captain's passive is a crucial part to his defense. It gives him the legendary item Defensive Microbots, which will block ranged attacks within 20m every 0.5 seconds and recharge faster with more attack speed (NOTE: Will not block "laser" attacks from Lesser Wisps, Stone Golems, and Stone Titans). These bots are also applied to any drones (or turrets) that you buy, but it is not applied to any other allies you get (i.e. Squid Turrets from Squid Polyp and monsters from Happiest Mask, Halcyon Seed, and Queen's Gland).

This makes buying drones throughout your run much more worth it, as Captain's lack of mobility and defense makes him more vulnerable to projectiles. With enough drones, you won't have to worry about high-damage projectiles like the ones from Elite Lemurs and Greater Wisps. Also, the item equipment "The Back-up" is also especially good on Captain because of this passive.

Make note that Captain's passive is an item, which means that it can be scrapped in a 3D Printer, Scrapper, and Cauldron and multiplied in a "Shrine of Order". You've been warned...
... actually it comes back at the beginning of every stage, so not a big deal if you lose it.

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Vulcan Shotgun is one of your two main damage abilities. It makes itself unique by being able to reduce the spread of its 8 bullets by charging up its shot. The charging rate scales with attack speed, so anything that greatly increases your attack speed will essentially turn your shotgun into a multi-barrel assault rifle. Without attack speed, it takes 1 second to fully charge your shot.

Yeah... it's slow, so if you want to kill things quick (especially in early stages) you should charge up your shots enough so that each enemy takes every single bullet. Early on, one shot is enough to... well, one shot -- at least for smaller mobs, anyways.

Each bullet also counts as it's own "hit", so items with On-Hit abilities (i.e. Tri-Tip Dagger, Shattering Justice) are especially useful when giving an enemy all 8 bullets.

There is also a knock-back that comes with each charged shot -- the more you charge, the more enemies are pushed back. While this is useful for keeping melee-ranged enemies off of you, it is more useful for flying enemies, such as Lesser Wisps, who will take more damage the faster they are sent flying backwards, smacking the wall behind them. Larger elite monsters in the air, like those pesky Brass Contraptions, will also take knock-back damage from this, but are harder to knock-back because they're heavier. [1]

Charging up your Shotgun will also slow you down, but after starting to charge up a shot, you can sprint and hold your shot for the next enemy.

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Here, I see how most people think Captain is underwhelming. A single stun, single bullet, low damage ability isn't very useful, especially if it goes on a 6 second cooldown. If you're lucky, you can stun two enemies next to each other, but it won't happen often.

But... if you're using it to set up your Utility skill, Orbital Probe, then it's an absolutely beautiful ability, a wonderful pairing. While your shotgun takes care of smaller enemies, you still have to worry about larger things like Stone Golems, Elder Lemurians, etc. etc. If you're stacking up Crowbars in your inventory, you can one shot these beasts by stunning them with Power Tazer and following up with your 3 shots of Orbital Probe. Otherwise, it's still a good lockdown ability to land your Orbital Probes or else be something that can interrupt monster's attacks (like Stone Golem's laser).

Also, Power Tazer (M2) can reset the animation of your Vulcan Shotgun (M1) if timed correctly i.e. M1 -> M2 -> M1. This is effective for getting a little more damage out and is useful early on in your run. [6]

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If you loved one-shotting with Loader's Gauntlet, you're gonna love this. Notice how it says that each probe deals 1000% damage. I don't have to say it, but when you add'em up, that's a lotta damage (and each probe stuns!)

The downside to this ability is that it takes a loong time to actually hit. The delay between firing and it hitting the ground is enough time for most monsters to run out of it, so any type of crowd control here would be nice (e.g. your Power Tazer, REX's special Tangling Growth, or Primordial Cube).

While nuking a whole crowd of monsters is fun and all, using this to take down tankier monsters (i.e. with Crowbars) is quite useful. Assuming that you're stacking Crowbars, hitting bosses or tankier enemies at full health with Orbital Probe is the most efficient use of it. Emphasis on full health here, because Crowbar lets you do 150% (+50% per stack) damage when enemies are above 90%. If it doesn't one shot, it'll still do a massive chunk to their HP, enough for you or your team to finish it off.

With more focus on an On-Hit play-style however, this ability is less important, especially as you get longer into your run. Yet, early on, it's still a great damage ability to chunk enemies with.

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In my opinion, this is the most unique ability of Captain and one of my favorite parts about him. In each stage, you get two charges of Orbital Supply Beacon and you get to choose what each charge does. Make note that when using your special, your first choice can be deployed with M1 while your second can be deployed with M2.

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I always run with Beacon: Healing and Beacon: Hacking, but you can pick whichever two fits your play-style (or pick the same one). Here's tips for each:

• Beacon: Healing - If you're low on money and see a Shrine of Blood, this is a nice way to get stacks while staying healthy afterwards. Otherwise, this is best used during a boss fight or for when you and your team are going to be inches away from death.
  
• Beacon: Hacking - The best use of this Beacon is deploying it either on a Shrine of Chance, as you would get two items for free, or on high-priced items like Large or Legendary chests. Also, Hacking is most useful early on in a stage when you're low on money. Later on, you'll most likely have enough money for anything you see. In Abyssal Depths or Sundered Grove, always use it on the hidden Legendary Chest. Anything w/o a monetary price cannot be hacked (e.g. Lunar Coin interactibles)
  
• Beacon: Shocking - If you're with a team and your team lacks AoE crowd control, then this would be nice to get. Otherwise, it's best to use during the boss fight, as more mobs will spawn around you.
  
• Beacon: Resupply - Kind of... self explanatory... and underwhelming... but if you get this Beacon while you're on a team, then you're a real nice guy. You'll definitely get a nice pat on the back. Frankly, I haven't seen much use for this item in solo-runs, but I expect it's a bit more useful with a team.

Fun fact, each Orbital Supply Beacon also does 2000% damage to enemies in it's touchdown radius, so if you want something more potent than your Orbital Probe, here it is. The only downside is that you waste its utility and it takes forever to land, so think twice before using it for damage.

Also, if you accidentally press your Orbital Supply Beacon, you can cancel it by sprinting or trying to deploy it somewhere it can't be deployed (indicated by a red highlight).

If you want the TL:DR, build crit (Lens Maker's Glasses, Harvester's Scythe, Predatory Instinct), build items with chain-damage/AoE (Ukulele, Will-o'-the-Wisp, Brilliant Behemoth), build items that boost attack speed (Berserker's Pauldron, Spinel Tonic), and, most importantly, stack Crowbars.

If you want the opposite, here's a list. I'm organizing it by Damage, Mobility, Utility, and Defense where each item is loosely organized by priority in each category. Each item will also be paired with items similar to it or items that synergize well with it.

• Crowbar, Royal Capacitor: Crowbars are essential to one-shotting with your Orbital Probe when enemies are at near full HP (at least 90%) and not everyone really gets them (or even wants them), so more for you! Royal Capacitor is especially good here, as it will take down full-HP monsters with Crowbar's damage bonus.
  
  
• Runald's Band, Kjaro's Band: Runald's Band is a more consistent one shot in that it doesn't rely on the enemy to be above 90% health, so if it's hard to get Crowbar to work, these are a worthy alternative. A few Runald's bands paired with Crowbar is a deadly combination, so both are essential for a real one-shot build. Kjaro is lots of damage too, but it comes in the form of a fiery tornado that's left behind, so not easy to hit.
  
  
• Brilliant Behemoth, Shattering Justice: Brilliant Behemoth is great, as you're looking for a massive, one-time damage spike on enemies. Plus, it makes it easier to hit farther, higher enemies as each one of your Shotgun bullets will be a nuke. Might be better for other characters, but you can talk it out with them... or just play solo. Shattering Justice is extremely good on Captain as it will proc immediately if you land all your bullets on one target. If you're on a team, it'll be a nice way to boost damage on a tankier target, so you should definitely take it.
  
  
• Hardlight Afterburner: Orbital Probe good. It essential to your damage. Now you get more, on a reduced cooldown. Yay.
  
  
• Lens Maker's Glasses, Predatory Instinct, Harvester's Scythe: Honestly, if you're on a team with characters that do more DPS than you (e.g. MUL-T, Commander, REX, etc), this item is hard to justify. If you are able to get a few, it'll comes in handy when enemies drop below 90% and make Crowbar difficult to proc. Note: Predatory Instinct and Harvester's Scythe gives 5% crit once you get them (doesn't stack), so you only need 9 Lens Maker's Glasses with stacks of the other two items.
  
  
• Spinel Tonic, Fuel Cell, Gesture of the Drowned: Popping Spinel Tonic at the start of a boss fight or a Shrine of Combat is h u g e. Captain's mobility issue is solved, plus extra damage and extra attack speed to charge shots. I also like using Tonic before using my Orbital Probe on full health bosses (w/ Crowbars), for the extra one-shot potential. Fuel Cell lets you use Tonic more and puts it on reduced cooldown, so it's a good pairing. With 4 Gestures of the Drowned and 7 Fuel Cells, you can have Spinel Tonic on an infinite loop, which avoids any chance of getting the Tonic Affliction debuff from it. [2]
  
  
• Old Guillotine, Armor Piercing Rounds: Everyone needs some of these as you get into the later stages (past stage 6) and see more Elites. Guillotine essentially becomes less effective after 7 or 8 stacks of it (diminishing returns). Armor Piercing Rounds lets you melt the end-of-stage boss quicker, but actually doesn't effect damage done to normal bosses spawned by the environment.

• Red Whip, Energy Drink, Goat's Hoof: Captain has no mobility whatsoever, so this is essential towards getting around the map without wasting too much time. Getting a few of these early on would be great. If you get 1-2 Red Whips, you will only need a few Energy Drinks and Goat Hoofs. No more than that, unless you dream of becoming a race car one day.
  
  
• Hopoo Feather, Wax Quail: Everyone needs 1 or 2 Hopoo Feathers and Captain is certainly no exception. Wax Quail is cool too, but personally I never really liked the item, especially if I'm eventually going to get some speed items plus a couple of Hopoo Feathers.

• Backup Magazine: Your Power Tazer is on a 6 second cooldown and only shoots one bullet, so getting at least a few of these will make it more useful and handy.
  
  
• Berserker's Pauldron, Soldier's Syringe: Captain's Shotgun certainly needs a little a boost in attack speed so that he can charge each shot quicker, so a few of either of these are very helpful. Pauldron may require AoE items (Will-'o-the-Wisp, Ukulele, Shattering Spleen (<--- love this item), etc.) to kill multiple enemies and get the attack speed boost it provides. I prefer Berserker's over Soldier's Syringe as you would need a bunch of Syringes, but this can be substituted with several Syringes if Bezerker's is better for others on the team.
  
  
• Bandolier: As you get into later stages, your Orbital Probe is the one thing that will really one shot larger, tankier enemies. Killing smaller enemies to get the instant cooldown refresh from Bandolier is a pretty good idea then.
  
  
• Primordial Cube: Whether you're stacking AoE items or trying to get the most value out of your Orbital Probes, the Cube is the way to go for killing massive waves of enemies. If you're with a team that already has an AoE crowd control (e.g. REX's special, Tangling Growth), this may be redundant... but meh, whatever floats your boat.

• Tougher Times: If you don't have a swarm of drones following you, then you're likely to get hit a few times since your passive can only protect you so much. I recommend 7-10 stacks are good, but the Wiki page[riskofrain2.gamepedia.com] can tell you how many you should stack, so go there to see how much stacking is worth it.
  
  
• Topaz Brooch: Captain lacks damage per second (DPS), so getting a shield every time he one-shots things is essential for survival.
  
  
• Infusion, Titanic Knurl, Monster Tooth: While everyone could use an Infusion or a Titanic Knurl for the extra HP (and regen for the Knurl), Captain has very low defense, low mobility (to dodge abilities), and very low potential for sustain/healing. So, he may need these the most. At least give him a few Monster Tooth...
  
  
• The Back-up (or an army of Drones): Captain's passive, Defensive Microbots, is applied to each drone or sentry so more drones and sentries will protect you very nicely in tough times. In addition, they provide great extra damage in early stages to help build up gold. The only downside is if they get sidetracked and don't follow you closely.
  
  
• Super Massive Leech: While others with more consistent damage or DPS can make better use out of this, Captain's low defense makes him a good contender for Super Massive Leech. With the amount of burst damage you do, this would be a nice way to get back to full from low health. Super fun item.
  
  
• Repulsion Armor Plates: A nice bit of defense against any DoT, such as On Fire. Although, it better early on when you can't kill enemies quick enough to build up shields from Topaz Brooch. [3]

Captain's Primary shoots 8 bullets at a time, so any items with On-Hit abilities are extremely good on him. Your main source of Damage will come from stacking Bleeds on enemies and from being able to apply Death Mark on enemies.

Again, I'm organizing it by Damage, Mobility, and Defense. Items are roughly organized in priority. Each item will also be paired with items similar to it or items that synergize well with it.

• Tri-Tip Dagger: This item is your main damage source, especially late into the run. Tri-Tip Dagger will allow you to stack Bleed to get massive damage-over-time on enemies. In later stages, larger enemies will be somewhat too tanky to one-shot, so this is a reliable source of damage. With the max (9) stacks of Dagger, it allows you to get 8 stacks of Bleed per shot of Vulcan Shotgun. A stack of 8 will do 681 damage/tick for 4 ticks/second. [4]
  
  
• Shattering Justice: Shattering Justice is extremely good on Captain as it will proc immediately if you land at least 5 bullets on one target. If you're on a team, it'll be a nice way to boost damage on a tankier target.
  
  
• Death Mark: Assuming you have Shattering Justice, stacks of Tri-Tip Dagger, and a Chronobauble or two, you can reliably get at least 3 out of 4 debuffs needed for Death Mark, which will give a +50% damage perk when fully stacked. The 4th debuff can come from killing smaller enemies with Gasoline, or else if you're on a team with a REX or Acrid the 4th can come more easily from them. [4] NOTE: The Bleed stack from Tri-Tip Dagger is different from the "Bleed" debuff that Shatterspleen gives, but for Death Mark, they are counted as the same.
  
  
• Gasoline, Molten Perforator, Wake of Vultures: Any of these will help you get the 4th debuff needed for Death Mark. Gasoline is the easiest to proc, Molten Perforator is a bit hard when it comes to the fireballs hitting enemies, and Wake of Vultures requires you to kill either a Fire or Malachite Elite monster.
  
  
• Little Disciples, Ceremonial Dagger: Because most of your damage comes from stacking Bleeds on enemies, it'll be harder for you to kill smaller enemies late into your run. This will not only help you kill them, but also help you stack debuffs on enemies you don't kill as both items proc other items' debuffs. And you don't even have to touch'em, just sprint around.
  
  
• Old Guillotine, Armor Piercing Rounds: Everyone needs some of these as you get into the later stages (past stage 6 or so?). Guillotine essentially becomes less effective after 7 or 8 stacks of it (diminishing returns).

• Red Whip, Energy Drink, Goat's Hoof: Captain has no mobility whatsoever, so this is essential towards getting around the map without wasting too much time. Getting a few of these early on would be great. If you get 1-2 Red Whips, you will only need a couple Energy Drinks and a few Goat Hoofs. No more than that, unless you dream of becoming a race car one day.
  
  
• Hopoo Feather, Wax Quail: Everyone needs 1 or 2 Hopoo Feathers and Captain is certainly no exception. Wax Quail is cool too, but personally I never really liked the item, especially if I'm eventually going to get some speed items plus a couple of Hopoo Feathers.

• Chronobauble: Required for getting Death Mark to proc. Useful during early stages to slow enemies and kite them, but provides no damage, so only get 1 or 2 stacks.
  
  
• Gorug Opus, Bezerker's Pauldron, Soldier's Syringe: Captain stuggles with attack speed and he needs to stack Bleeds on enemies as quick as possible. Bezerker's Pauldron (and Gorug Opus) are great items as both provide a high burst of attack speed (and movement). Opus is nice if you're on a team as well. A few stacks of Syringe will make his Primary fire more consistently and if you're on a team that will need them, you should only take a few anyways.
  
  
• Backup Magazine: Your Power Tazer is on a 6 second cooldown and only shoots one bullet, so getting at least a few of these will make it more useful and handy.
  
  
• War Horn: Another item to get a burst of attack speed from. It's only reliable if you use your equipment often, which I personally do, but this is a situational item according to how you want to play Captain.
  
  
• Forgive Me Please: This item is a bit of a novelty, but it does help with proc-ing Gasoline for the Death Mark buff. Useful if only tanky enemies are around and you can't kill smaller ones to get Gasoline to pop. Super fun item, for sure.

• Tougher Times: If you don't have a swarm of drones following you, then you're likely to get hit a few times since your passive can only protect you so much. The Wiki page[riskofrain2.gamepedia.com] can tell you how many you should stack, so go there to see how much stacking is worth it. I'd recommend 10 stacks.
  
  
• Infusion, Titanic Knurl, Monster Tooth: While everyone could use an Infusion or a Titanic Knurl for the extra HP (and regen for the Knurl), Captain has very low defense, low mobility (to dodge abilities), and very low potential for sustain/healing. So, he may need these the most. At least give him a few Monster Tooth...
  
  
• The Back-up (or an army of Drones): Captain's passive, Defensive Microbots, is applied to each drone or sentry so more drones and sentries will protect you very nicely. In addition, they provide great extra damage in early stages to help build up gold. The only downside is if they get sidetracked and don't follow you closely.
  
  
• Repulsion Armor Plates, Rose Buckler: A nice bit of defense against any DoT, such as On Fire. Although, it better early on when you can't kill enemies quick enough to build up shields from Topaz Brooch. [5] I like getting Rose Buckler because I'm always sprinting around after I stack enough Bleed on enemies.

Here are places where I found most of my information about Captain, along with the info I've gotten from the time I've spent playing him. Shoutout to RobinValentine and Blixtmen, as I used their Mercenary guide to help me organize my own guide. Also shoutout to Woolie, who I found some additional info about Captain from (great Youtuber for everything about Risk of Rain 2). Also, the Risk of Rain 2 Cheat Sheet is a great tool to use as you play the game, especially if you forget what each item does as easily as me :)

https://riskofrain2.gamepedia.com/Captain

https://minmax.gg/riskofrain/

RobinValentine's Mercenary Guide

Woolie's Captain Guide

[1] Thanks to Regretable Acts in 1 Step for info about knock-back.

[2] Thanks to EvolutionKills and Crazy Lasagna for info about Spinel Tonic and Gesture of the Drowned.

[3] Thanks to FelisImpurrator for suggesting Armor Repulsion Plates.

[4] Thanks to Regretable Acts in 1 Step for this info about Tri-Tip Dagger and Trinitrotoluene for the correction.

[5] Thanks to BlueSpiritPesto for the tip about animation cancelling Shotgun with Power Tazer.

If you've gotten this far in the guide, thanks for reading! I'll be slowly updating this guide and responding to comments, so check back in every so often for the most up-to-date info.