How to Unlock the Miner in Risk of Rain Returns

The Miner has received a fiery glow-up in Risk of Rain Returns via the Heat resource that boosts his abilities. Follow this guide in order to learn how to unlock the Miner in Risk of Rain Returns.

While his abilities remain the same as the original game, the Miner now generates Heat and Scorch in combat and uses them to empower both his basic attacks and mobility skills. Fans of the original will be happy to hear that the method of unlocking him remains the same. Let’s go into how.

Risk of Rain Returns: How to Unlock the Miner

The Miner is one of the more complex survivors to unlock but you can also randomly stumble upon him if you enjoy walking across lava. He’s unlocked in the Magma Barracks which is one of the two possible areas for the fourth stage. Here’s how to unlock the Miner in Risk of Rain Returns:

• Once you spawn in the Magma Barracks, navigate to the far bottom right of the area.
• Look for a lengthy lava tunnel as in the picture above.
• You’ll need to walk across lava to the other side so make sure you have enough HP or regeneration.
• Once you reach the other side the Direseeker enemy will await you as in the picture below.
• Defeat this fire-breathing mini-boss and you’ll unlock the Miner.

If the lava tunnel isn’t there, then you spawned in the wrong variation of the Magma Barracks. I experienced this plenty of times, you’ll get lucky eventually. A tip for the Direseeker, he’s just a beefed-up Elder Lemurian. His slow movement and telegraphed attacks make him easy pickings if you maneuver around him with the Huntress, Commando, Bandit, and other ranged characters.

Related: How to Unlock All Characters in Risk of Rain Returns

What Are the Miner’s Abilities?

Hopoo describes the Miner perfectly, a fiery berserker. His playstyle is just that, you fill up your Scorch meter and then spend it to unleash hell upon your enemies and dash around the place. His default abilities include:

• Crush: A melee strike that hits on both sides and generates heat. Heat is stored in a meter below your HP and Crush deals more damage while the meter is Scorching on high heat.
• Drill Charge: Dash through enemies dealing damage at the cost of heat. Incurs no cooldown while Scorching.
• Backblast: Dash backwards and damage enemies dealing more damage when Scorching.
• To The Stars: Jump into the air and damage enemies below you for 20% heat. No cooldown while Scorching.

As you can see, the Miner is one of the most mobile melee survivors in the game if not overall. Balancing heat and using your abilities at the right time for the Scorched bonuses separates a good Miner from a great one. Though he’s primarily melee, I recommend unlocking some ranged abilities for him in the Providence Trials.

For more tips like this one on how to unlock Minor in Risk of Rain Returns, check out our guides hub page for the game. You can find articles like beginner tips on there or how to beat the final boss.