There are quite a few Archetypes to choose from in Remnant 2. While these all come down to personal taste and playstyle, we have an idea of how to rank them to give players an idea of what to unlock first. We’ve tried to consider everything from usability when exploring solo to how well an archetype works without a secondary. With that in mind, here is our tiered ranking for the Remnant 2 Archetypes.
For our evaluation purposes, each Archetype is considered by what it has to offer by being your only equipped option. While there are synergies between them, there are instances (such as making a new character) that would have you stuck with only one for a stretch of time.
S-Tier Remnant 2 Archetypes
Handler
Without a doubt, this is the best Archetype in Remnant 2. The dog companion that this Archetype gives is why we were able to beat the game in solo at all. Whatever tasks or purpose you might need a co-op partner for, the dog fulfills. It excellently handled drawing enemy aggression, dealing damage, and can even revive players. Even when you play the in co-op with this Archetype equipped, the dog remains a valuable team player. We stuck to the skill that gave the dog a healing AoE (area of effect) and never turned it off.
Gunslinger
Ammo is a precious resource throughout Remnant 2. While thankfully, the game generously spaces out health and ammo-restoring checkpoints, that doesn’t help for fights between checkpoints. This is where the Gunslinger shines, as its unique trait briefly gives players infinite ammo on skill use. On top of that, one of the best perks spreads a portion of ammo pickups among other players. If you pair up a high-capacity magazine weapon with a Hunter co-op partner using a single-fire weapon, you easily both stay well stocked.
Summoner
It should be obvious that the best classes provide extra helpers to aid in combat. Summoned monsters aren’t necessarily the best feature of the Summoner archetype, either. That honor instead belongs to the unique trait that adds passive health regeneration, up to a maximum of 3 health per second. Every summonable monster is as useful as the next, leaving that entirely to players’ taste. There are even specific rings and amulets that provide helpful bonuses based on summons that don’t really work with any other archetype.
Engineer
After all the trouble it takes to unlock, it shouldn’t be any surprise that the Engineer is one of the best Archetypes in the game. Not only does it get deployable turrets in three different flavors (bullets, flamethrower, impact cannon), but it can also be equipped as a weapon while its specialized ammo pool holds up. While it’s not necessarily as useful as the Handler’s dog, extra damage is always welcomed. Turrets can also be placed out of the way to guarantee they won’t be the first thing targeted while they work through their ammo supply.
Invoker
The greatest asset to the Invoker is its Prime Perk, as there’s not much that tops getting doubled uses of any skill. This makes this specific Archetype synergize incredibly well with every other Archetype in the game, which isn’t something most others can say. It even accounts for the Engineer’s abilities in that instead of dealing with skills, it just gives the weapons much more ammo. All of that, mixed with the enjoyable spellcraft abilities, makes this Archetype one you’ll want to equip.
A-Tier Archetypes
Hunter
There’s no better class for players who want to be a damage-dealing sniper. However, Hunters are too squishy to work solo. For this reason, they can’t be considered for a higher rank. The Archetype is still great and outputs more ranged and weakspot damage than practically any other. It’s just that they need a co-op partner to offset their weaknesses. Enemies in the game tend to swarm at the wrong times, and the Hunter isn’t equipped to handle that.
Invader
The Invader archetype might not be much of an offensive-based class, but they definitely make up for it in survivability. Its main feature revolves around creating decoys to draw enemy attention while you take them down from elsewhere. As for the unique trait, it is called Untouchable and increases the invulnerability window when dodging. Considering the crazy attacks of the game’s bosses, this is one of the most useful Archetype traits you can have.
Medic
Surviving some of the harder Remnant 2 fights can be a monumental task. While the Invader focuses on trickery and skills to survive, the Medic gets helpful healing bonuses to extend survivability. Perhaps the biggest letdown of the Medic is that it isn’t the class that gets any health regen capabilities. Though this evens out, as some of the later perks can refund Relic uses and confer defensive shields to teammates. While you can certainly run a Medic as a solo player, it shines best in co-op.
B-Tier Archetypes
Challenger
Challengers exist for players who want to break the mold and use melee-focused characters. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the Challenger; it just doesn’t play well with other non-Challenger classes. In solo, it can take a little bit to get into a workable state, but it doesn’t pair well in co-op. Remnant 2 features a friendly fire mechanic that cannot be turned off, so it is detrimental to the team if one player shoots while the other gets in the way.
Ritualist
The Ritualist is pretty great if you have already built yourself around dishing out status effects. Not only does it have the means to keep it going, but the second skill causes an AOE that applies every elemental status effect in the game. The only thing keeping this from an A or S rank is that it isn’t so great alone. Sure, status effects can be plenty deadly and great at weakening enemies, but you need the backup of a good Archetype to get the most out of this one.
C-Tier Archetypes
Alchemist
While almost every other archetype has some primary use or feature that makes sense in the normal way you might experience the game, the Alchemist doesn’t quite fit in. A lot of the Alchemist perks deal with consumables, which, for the most part, aren’t cheap or always easy to obtain. The skills that give an essentially free potion are nice additions, but they aren’t better than any active skills for the above classes. On its own, this archetype doesn’t really work. It needs the buffer of a better archetype.
D-Tier Archetypes
Explorer
Considering it takes beating the whole game to unlock the Explorer, you might expect that it changes things dramatically. The sad fact is that it doesn’t. It trades any offensive abilities other archetypes offer for purely loot-based perks and skills. While a slight boost to finding iron types or Lumenite Crystals might be useful, the Explorer has no reason to exist as your lone archetype. If it weren’t for the fact that reaching the max level is practically necessary for finding the Engineer, I doubt we would have bothered with this class.
As dataminers have discovered the existence of an additional archetype that doesn’t yet seem to be in the game, it can be expected that the developers will add more Archetypes in the future. When that happens, we will adjust our Archetype ranking accordingly. For more Remnant 2 guides on the best way to implement these archetypes, check out our links below.
