A Handy Guide To Playing HAN-D

Having a bit of trouble playing as everyone's favorite psychotic mechanical janitor? Well, look no further than this guide for a run-down of his skills and playstyle!

Getting To Know Your Machine

Odds are, if you and I have anything in common, you managed to stumble your way to the last level of Risk of Rain without getting turned into mush just long enough to find a door that said, "Press (whatever key your action key is bound to) to interact." If you pressed this button before an Elder Lemurian ate you, then congratulations! You've adopted your very first homicidal robot!


He hungers for souls

If you're anything like me as well, you immediately got excited about your new character, started a new game with him, fumbled about trying to figure out why nothing around you was dying, and then were promptly nubbed to death by a Jellyfish.

Non-specific rage may or may not have followed. You also may or may not have pledged to yourself that you would never touch HAN-D again, that he is the spawn of the devil and your mortal foe.

Or maybe you didn't do any of that. Either way, HAN-D's a much better character than you might think.


This guide will have a reasonably complete breakdown of HAN-D's strengths, weaknesses, favorite ice cream flavor (no it won't), skill breakdown, and playstyle. Achievements related to him will be covered in these sections rather than seperately. Ideally, you'll come out of the whole experience feeling just a bit better about the cuddly little guy.

System Information and Stats

HAN-D is probably the closest thing to a tank that you're going to find in this game. But he has no extra resistance to damage from base (at least, not compared to the other classes), and although he does have more health per level than the other classes, this isn't necessarily what qualifies him as a "tank."

Here's a breakdown of his starting stats that was completely not shamelessly stolen from the wiki:

• Base Health:
  170 on Easy, 120 on Normal. A reasonable amount to start with, but it rapidly increases.
  
  
• Health Cap Raised Per Level:
  +44, which is higher than any other class.
  
  
• Armor Gained Per Level:
  3, an average amount, although it's on the higher end in comparison to the other characters.
  
  
• Attack Speed:
  Reasonably slow, but there are devices with which to mediate this.
  
  
• Base Damage:
  13, also a bit towards the higher end but reasonably inconsequential from the beginning.
  
  
• Damage Gained Per Level:
  3.
  
  
• Health Regen Base:
  1.9/second. Highest of any character.
  
  
• Extra Health Regenerated Per Level Up:
  +.3/second. Not the most amazing, but reasonable.

HAN-D isn't particularly fast. Aside from his stats regarding health, he doesn't appear particularly fantastic. Again, though, there's more to the machine than one would think.

Circuitry Breakdown

HAN-D has an extreme advantage over the other classes, in that he comes with four skills, which no other class does!

These skills include HURT, DRONE, OVERCLOCK, and FORCED REASSEMBLY. The skills, and what they are best used for, are as follows:

• HURT:
  APPLY FORCE TO ALL COMBATANTS FOR 180% DAMAGE.
  
  HURT is your basic attack. It strikes directly in front of HAN-D at a reasonably slow rate. It cannot stun enemies, but it can knock melee attackers away from HAN-D at a consistent enough rate that they continue to take damage without being able to hit HAN-D. HURT has no recharge time, and can be used to charge OVERCLOCK. As the attack speed is so slow, items such as Soldier's Syringe vastly improve HAN-D's capabilities. This attack is NOT best used in the early levels against the vases that contain Tiny Imps.
  
  
  
• DRONE:
  FIRE A DRONE FOR 190% DAMAGE WHILE ALSO HEALING YOURSELF. GAIN DRONES BY KILLING ENEMIES.
  
  DRONE is basically what makes HAN-D the character that he is. Every time an enemy dies, HAN-D gains an extra drone (up to a maximum of ten). Each time a drone is fired, it automatically hunts down and damages an enemy on the map, no matter where you are and where it is, and then returns to HAN-D to heal him for eight percent of his max health. Extra drones do not carry over from level to level, so be sure to use 'em all up while the teleporter's arming.
  This attack makes healing items much, much less necessary for HAN-D's survival, as so much as killing an enemy will give you the ability to heal from near-death injuries where other classes would only be able to run from enemies while desperately trying to get their health to regenerate. A word of warning, though: If you kill an enemy when you're too far away, you might not get a drone from it. Try to keep whoever you're fighting on the screen if you're hurting.
  Note: DRONE has no recharge time. Thus, you can fire off as many of your little robot offspring as you bloody well please, so long as you have means with which to get more.
  
  DRONE is HAN-D's only long-range attack. It can attack anything on-screen, which would make it opportune for cheesing were it not for DRONE's limit of ten ammo and its tendency to randomly track. If you're trying to get items from Tiny Imps, be sure to leave their altars until the teleporter has finished arming and no other enemies are on the map, otherwise you risk losing the Imps as your drones target other enemies. DRONE does NOT charge OVERCLOCK, or if it does it's such a tiny change that it barely matters.
  Another Note: Tiny Imps do give you Drones on death, which makes them beneficial if you're low on health.
  
  
  
• OVERCLOCK: INCREASE ATTACK SPEED AND STUN CHANCE BY 30%. INCREASE DURATION BY ATTACKING ENEMIES.
  
  OVERCLOCK is a bit of an odd ability. As the description says, your normal attack and FORCED-REASSEMBLY are both made much faster in animation, allowing you to use them more often in a brief frame of time. However, using this ability stuns opponents from time to time, forcing you to move towards them if you want to continue dealing damage. HAN-D can't use his normal attack and move at the same time, which makes this ability actually a bit detrimental, as stunned enemies can't walk into your robot fists, decreasing your damage per second.
  
  OVERCLOCK is best used around large groups of enemies, especially in enclosed spaces, as slapping them over and over increases your time in OVERCLOCK, and you can keep hitting foes without them extending beyond your range. While it doesn't change FORCED-REASSEMBLY's cooldown, OVERCLOCK does make the animation much faster, allowing you to get more damage in. Ultimately, OVERCLOCK is best used against large enemies who can't be stunned or have giant hitboxes, in groups, or on enemies who are against a wall.
  Note: this ability has a seven second cooldown that starts once OVERDRIVE runs out.
  
  
• FORCED-REASSEMBLY:
  APPLY GREAT FORCE TO ALL COMBATANTS FOR 400% DAMAGE, KNOCKING THEM IN THE AIR.
  
  This another defining ability of HAN-D's- and another reasonably odd one. HAN-D materializes a giant hammer (You know hammers, never see a janitor without one), and slams enemies in an arc with it, which sends them airborn. This ability is strange because its range is much greater than the animation seems to indicate. HAN-D can hit enemies directly behind and above him with it, sure, but enemies in front of him can be hit from about three body lengths away, making it a sort of pseudo-ranged attack. While it becomes extremely powerful the more you level up, it is also more dangerous than other attacks. Its hitboxing, as mentioned, is much larger than you might anticipate, and while this is good it can also be quite bad. If an enemy who can't jump up a ledge is below HAN-D, and he uses FORCED-REASSEMBLY, these enemies will be launched into the air. In the air, enemies can move, and can get onto the same ledge HAN-D is standing on where they normally wouldn't be able to.
  
  Ultimately, if it is carefully used, FORCED-REASSEMBLY is a vastly powerful move. Activating it before starting a Tiny Imp altar will allow your animation to start, destroying any Tiny Imps that have spawned. It recharges OVERCLOCK.
  Note: FORCED-REASSEMBLY has a five second recharge- a very quick charge time for such a powerful and wide-ranged move.

Strengths, Weaknesses, and Strategies

• HAN-D is good at:
  
  Taking out large groups, tanking damage by healing after getting hit, and knocking enemies around (Which is good for that "Drown 20 Whorls" achievement).
  
  His abilities can be augmented by items such as Guardian Heart, which allows him to take some extra damage impermanently. Anything that increases his attack or movement speed makes him more powerful as well. His cooldown times are quick enough, and are thus reasonably negligible.
  
  As a melee character, items that give the area around HAN-D damage (Barbed Wire, Tesla Coil) are extremely helpful, as they deal extra damage while he's close to enemies.
  
  
• HAN-D is bad at:
  
  Dealing with ranged opponents (unless he has spare drones), hitting enemies below him without putting himself at risk, and killing certain flying enemies (Archer Bugs). As a melee-only character, he is more prone to getting hit.
  
  Many of his problems can be mediated by buying drones or ranged use-items (Disposable Missile Launcher, Glowing Meteorite). Attack speed is slow, so the War Banner and Soldier's Syringe items also help.
  
  
  
• Main strategy:
  
  If you intend to live while playing as HAN-D, picking your battles is a necessity. Your mobility is minimal at the best of times, so guerilla attacking a couple enemies and then running off, spamming DRONE in your wake, is often a way to success. You can also attack through walls and under platforms with FORCED-REASSEMBLY. Try to keep around two or three DRONE charges on hand, just in case you run into trouble.
  
  While I did suggest "tanking" earlier, it's still an extremely dangerous strategy, especially for a melee class. On the higher difficulties, damage is served quickly and furiously, and isn't always able to be absorbed through the use of DRONE. In a co-op effort, HAN-D is best used to smash up and stun large enemies and large groups of enemies. He'll be in the heat often, so be careful.
  
  
• Achievements:
  
  In the way of achievements, HAN-D is best used for the Whorl achievement (as mentioned) and the dealing-5,000-damage-in-one-shot achievement (if you can't use the Sniper for some reason), as FORCED-REASSEMBLY does 400% damage. For the Whorl achievement, you may have to jump off before the Whorls to get them to follow you in the air.
  As for HAN-D's character-specific achievements, you'll manage to pick up the "Kill ten enemies with FORCED-REASSEMBLY" unlock in the normal course of gameplay. I suggest using it against Lemurians, or just plain old large groups of enemies. The other achievement, "Surviving twenty-five minute at above 70% health" is... a bit different. DRONE charges are even more important than they are normally, and FORCED-REASSEMBLY should be used sparingly (for risk of catapulting an enemy into you on accident). If you dislike challenges, you can also just activate a teleporter, finish it, and go make yourself a sandwich while the timer runs for twenty-five minutes. But where's the fun in that?

Conclusions, Servicing Instructions, Customer Service Contact Information

In the end, HAN-D is a powerful, slow character, with better health and damage stats than any other class. He is ultimately underrated and underutilized, but by no means bad in any meaning of the word. We hope this manual has given you a bit of courage in playing as him.

Please keep him oiled, and clean his servos once every three or four solar cycles.
Don't feed him after midnight. Please do not ask him to clean anything that you don't want viciously annihilated.

If you have any questions or complaints about this manual, please contact Customer Service through the comment section of this guide, and we'll try to help. if we've missed anything, feel free to add it in the comments, and we'll try to get around to adding it!

(Thanks for reading all this, folks, hope it helps)

[Ben Ben]

lol Meta that isn't being a tank that't just being immortal
i've used this strategy plenty of times and it provides an easy way to win if you can manage surviving the first 20 or 30 minutes, just long enough to get enough items to win;
but really thats just cheese

[m e c]

Doens't loader's debris shield (along with 3 alien heads) make him the tankiest?

[Vwert]

also there is the scepter upgraded version of his 4th ability unethical reassembly

[King in Yellow]

You should include recomended items a section, it really helps ;)
Good guide though!

[Nossa ₪]

Dat's some dank guide m8 danks for meaking mi favourite robot janitor popular.

[PixelKind]

Solution to the stunned-knockback-overdrive problem : 4 heaven crackers

[cat who has an apple]

i bet his favorite ice cream flavor is
BaNANO flavored
but when hes overclocked
he likes to eat PISSEDachio

[BanzaiBonsai]

Cheers.

[timtamtom]

Thanks for this guide

[BanzaiBonsai]

DAMN YOU DS66666666666666666666666