Commando: Thoughts

[Nineball]

With the new update out, I've been experimenting with characters I don't often play. Giving the Commando another shot, I noticed that even with the Command Artifact on, he just can't do a solid Monsoon run, and easily gets bodied. I'm thinking that either I'm absolute trash or the Commando is just a little TOO underwhelming. What are your thoughts?

[BananaBadman]

Commando is incredibly item dependent. He starts off a bit crappy but greatly increases in power when he has the right items. If you have command artifact, your runs with him should be super easy once you clear the 2nd stage.

[Nineball]

Originally posted by BadmanNinja:

Commando is incredibly item dependent. He starts off a bit crappy but greatly increases in power when he has the right items. If you have command artifact, your runs with him should be super easy once you clear the 2nd stage.

Maybe, could you recommend an item setup? I might just be trash at building him, or knowing what items do well with his kit.

[TrueEvil]

Originally posted by 9bol:

Originally posted by BadmanNinja:

Commando is incredibly item dependent. He starts off a bit crappy but greatly increases in power when he has the right items. If you have command artifact, your runs with him should be super easy once you clear the 2nd stage.

Maybe, could you recommend an item setup? I might just be trash at building him, or knowing what items do well with his kit.

Syringe + Any On-Hits

[alucard.gaming@*****software.com]

Originally posted by 9bol:

Originally posted by BadmanNinja:

Commando is incredibly item dependent. He starts off a bit crappy but greatly increases in power when he has the right items. If you have command artifact, your runs with him should be super easy once you clear the 2nd stage.

Maybe, could you recommend an item setup? I might just be trash at building him, or knowing what items do well with his kit.

As Evil said, you want to max rate of fire on him to get the most chances of item procs, and use those for your damage. The rocket launcher, the fire and ice rings, tri tip dagger, meat hook, anything that has a chance to deal damage based on an attack. Try to get consistent crits going.

[21's bitch]

I feel the same way, Commando has always been the hardest survivor to play as since he just seems to do lower damage and as others say is very RNG/item dependant so it's hard to get a good run going.

I don't have his alternate secondary ability yet tho so i will make my final judgement after i unlock it and try him out, but so far trying to get his challenges done has been a nightmare.

[Liro Raériyo]

yeah, commando is a little too item dependant, its probably why one of his challenges is to reach stage 20 without lunars, as they could help a lot in this regard

[Lasting Asteri]

Anything that increases attack speed is good for him (though really that's good for all characters), getting 10 Lens-Maker's Glasses combined with some Predatory Instincts is the best way to increase attack speed though it's good to get some Soldier Syringes to speed up the first few attacks when racking up the buffs from Predatory Instincts.

If you haven't unlocked them yet get at least his M2 and CTRL ability variants, personally I really dislike his R frag grenade. I've found that Commando benefits the most from Brainstalks since his skills already have a pretty short use time, unless maybe if you have a fast attacking Artificer.

I remember getting a bunch of Old Guillotines, movement speed and attack speed items in a god run a few months ago and shredding everything to pieces with Brainstalks, I would just spam the R button as much as I could. I would constantly have no cooldowns since I was late game and was constantly surrounded by elites

[Krull]

As others said, unlock his alt M2. That skill alone is completely broken. It's 1600% damage on a 3 second cooldown. If I'm not mistaken, that is at least in top 3 of highest single skill DPS in the game.

[Apoth]

For whites always go for Lens-Maker's Glasses (caps at 10 on its own), Syringes (the more the better), Tri-tip dagger (caps at 7), Sticky Bomb (imo 1 is enought at the start) and Topaz Brooch (2-3 should be enought at the start). Go for some regen tho, without Scythes Commando doesn't have any way of healing.

For greens you could go full on crit with Harvester's Scythe+Predatory Instincts (this combo is a MUST since attack speed+healing is how you play Commando, and stacking PI having 100% crit chance is better than stacking syringes). Ukulele+AtG Missile+Runald's Band will carry you. On the defend part Rose Buckler and Infusion works on every survivor.

Your first red should always, without exception be 57 leaf clover, then maybe Brilliant Behemoth or Aegis (this one only if you already can heal a lot)

With Active item is up to you, I always start with Foreign Fruit, Jade Elephant or Ocular HUD, but eventually change it for the Tonic (2 Gesture of the Drowned + 2-3 Fuel Cell make it so the Tonic is always active)

Also use alt M2 (high close range damage with decent proc coef, will always proc something and with some Backup Magazine can down bosses hp really fast) and alt utility (you can dodge WHILE shooting)

[kameltoes]

I suggest going to RoR2 wiki. It explains in great detail the in's and out's of all items, characters, synergies, base vs total damage, proc coef, and how they all work together. RoR2 has a lot of math calculating in the background and it all changes depending on items, character, and time.

https://riskofrain2.gamepedia.com/Risk_of_Rain_2_Wiki

[Xerc]

The fastest way to turn commando into a powerhouse (or any character, for that matter) is to get spinel tonic with permanent uptime. To do this you need the tonic, 1 gesture and 3 fuel cells. With a little luck you can get it up and running by stage 3.