Bandit plays best when you keep moving, attack from a favorable angle, and use kills to extend your momentum. Use Smoke Bomb to reposition or escape, take advantage of his backstab passive against unaware enemies, and choose a special skill based on whether you want cooldown resets or damage that builds through the stage.
How Bandit’s combat loop works
Bandit is a mobile, stealth-oriented survivor. Rather than stand still and trade hits, move into a safer angle, attack, then use Smoke Bomb to disengage or reposition when the fight becomes dangerous. His passive rewards attacking enemies from behind while they are unaware, so look for opportunities to approach from an unexpected direction instead of relying only on direct frontal damage. Risk of Rain 2 Wiki: Bandit
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Use kills to keep the fight moving
Lights Out deals 600% damage, and a kill with it resets all skill cooldowns. When that reset matters, try to finish an enemy you can reliably kill rather than spending the shot on a target that is still far from dying. A successful reset can let you attack again or use a mobility skill to get out of danger. Risk of Rain 2 Wiki: Bandit
Lights Out or Desperado?
Both special skills deal 600% damage, but their kill rewards serve different purposes. Lights Out refreshes your cooldowns on a kill; Desperado grants damage tokens that strengthen later Desperado shots during the current stage. The better fit depends on whether you can secure kills when you need them and whether you want immediate skill availability or damage that accumulates over the stage.
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| Special | Payoff | Time horizon |
|---|---|---|
| Lights Out | A kill resets all skill cooldowns. | Immediate: each qualifying kill can refresh your skills. |
| Desperado | A kill grants a token worth 10% more Desperado damage. | Across the current stage; tokens reset when you advance to the next stage. |
The damage, token, and reset mechanics are listed on the Risk of Rain 2 Wiki: Bandit. Neither option is a universal winner: target access and how dependable a finishing blow is affect how useful each payoff will be.
How to unlock Bandit and his skills
Unlock Bandit
Complete the Warrior challenge to unlock Bandit. Risk of Rain 2 Wiki: Bandit
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Unlock Desperado with B&E
The Bandit: B&E challenge unlocks Desperado. Its requirement is to kill the final boss with Lights Out. Make sure Lights Out delivers the final blow; avoid letting an item or another damage source finish the boss instead. Risk of Rain 2 Wiki: Challenges
Complete Classic Man
Classic Man requires 15 consecutive monster kills with Lights Out. Weaken enemies using other skills, then use Lights Out to finish each one. The Bandit character page also notes that shooting explosive tar pots in Abandoned Aqueduct with Lights Out can help with this challenge. Risk of Rain 2 Wiki: Bandit Risk of Rain 2 Wiki: Bandit
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