Risk of Rain Returns is abundantly rich in items that, depending on the setup you use, can make or break your runs, especially on the later zones and higher difficulties.
While a majority of them are meant to be used in action, others serve more mysterious purposes that can be tricky to figure out. Probably the most challenging mystery is that of the Strange Battery. If you’re wondering exactly what it is and what to do with it, here is our handy guide to Risk of Rain Returns Strange Battery – how to get it and what it’s used for.
What is the Strange Battery in Risk of Rain Returns
The Strange Battery is a unique item that’s not necessarily easy to stumble across, even in your first few runs of the game if you don’t know where to look. It serves a very particular purpose, and if you played with Rex in Risk of Rain 2 that should give you a good hint of what to expect.
Similar to that game, the Strange Battery in Risk of Rain Returns is meant to unlock the secret 16th survivor of this game, whose name is Robomando. Adding this robot soldier to your roster, however, is not a particularly easy or straightforward task.
Not only do you need to find the battery, there are several steps that require you to not only do some extra leg work in the final zone of the game, you’ll need to finish that run and start another and complete a few more requirements. Once you do, Robomando will be yours to command.
How to Get & Use the Strange Battery in Risk of Rain Returns
So first off, you need to actually find the Strange Battery. For it to spawn in its designated location, you’ll need to be playing on Drizzle difficulty, so be sure to adjust that before diving in.
NOTE: Also, to be on the safe side DO NOT have the Artifact of Sacrifice equipped for this. As discovered from our attempts, it will cause the container the Strange Battery is found in not to spawn, as well the chest you need to later place it in. However, you can equip the Artifact of Command to get yourself a good number of mobility-oriented items and anything else you feel you need.
Consider a survivor with good mobility, particularly one that’s easy to jump good distances with. We tried a couple different options that seemed popular among players, such as Drifter and Sniper. However, we found that Pilot is an absolute prime choice for this endeavor, if you have them unlocked. If you don’t, we highly recommend getting Pilot before attempting this. It makes the entire process infinitely easier.
With that enacted, the battery can be found in the fifth zone of the game, Temple of the Elders. It’ll either be on the far left or right side of the map, outside the temple on a narrow ledge just outside its walls. You’ll notice a few clay pots sitting on the ground on the ledge, and you need to break them open.
Inside one of them is the Strange Battery, which acts like an Orange-tier item that otherwise has no abilities. Make sure you don’t accidentally switch it out for another item while fighting.
The next step is to head to the sixth and final zone, Contact Light. With the Strange Battery in tow, you’ll want to go all the way up and out across the outside of the ship to the far right side of the map. As Pilot, you can literally parachute glide this entire route.
When you see the front of the ship where you usually fight Providence, jump/glide your way down and then to the left underneath that area to find a secret passage.
Your destination is NOT on the first ledge you see while gliding down that has chests sitting on it with a hole in the side of the ship.
NOTE: That hole is actually where you can out from if you choose the more traditional route. This involves getting a Keycard inside the ship from either a gold container or waiting for an enemy to drop one. After going down the center ladder, you can then use it to access the Cabin area that ultimately takes you out to this spot.
Glide down a bit further past that and you’ll see a narrow opening on the left in the cliff that you need to land in. You’ll know it’s the right one if you see 3 golems huddled around a boombox listening to music. Go past them and you’ll see an indent in the left-side wall. Crawl into it to go through another secret passage.
Come out on the other side of it and hop across to a ledge with a strange-looking gray box on it. It requires you to place Equipment inside of it, and this is where you want to place the Strange Battery. Drop it in, then head back to the main area of the level where you have two choices: either die to mobs or kill Providence to end the run.
You’ll then need to start a new playthrough on either Rainstorm or Monsoon difficulty. Blitz through the first zone and get to Sky Meadow, where you now need to track down the same grey box you had put the Strange Battery in during the previous run. It essentially acts a conduit that transfers the item from one run to the next. Once you find it, open it to reclaim the battery. You’ll be carrying it with your for awhile.
Get to the third zone and complete the challenge to unlock the teleporter. However, DO NOT click on and enter the teleporter until the 22-minute mark. To our knowledge, you must click on it between 22:00 and 22:59, not a second before or after.
If done properly, as you spawn into the fourth zone you’ll be able to find a secret area in the ground that contains what looks initially like a drone. Approach it and you’ll see a green arrow and ‘1 BATTERY’ pop up. Use the Strange Battery on it, and it reveals itself to be Robomando.
The secret survivor will come to life and immediately attack you, with a crown above its health bar denoting it as a special boss. However, you thankfully do not need to defeat him, as he will take away all of your items, and he is absurdly powerful. Rather, your fate here is to let him take you down. Upon your righteous defeat, he will unlock as a playable survivor.
How Robomando Works in Risk of Rain Returns
In case you were worried that Robomando wasn’t worth all the time and effort to unlock him, he definitely is worth it. He may be smaller in stature than just about all the other survivors, but he is no pushover and boasts some seriously insane abilities that may make you rethink who your top picks are.
For instance, his basic attacks deal serious damage on their own, with piercing and stun effects. He moves faster than every other survivor (without item buffs), and his dive maneuver makes him temporarily invulnerable.
What makes him truly stand out though is his Re-Wire ability, which allows players to open chests and activate drones for FREE. Yep, you read that right. If that wasn’t enough, this ability also has a mere 4-second cooldown. It all makes for a super fun time in Risk of Rain Returns, especially on higher difficulties.
That concludes our guide to Risk of Rain Returns Strange Battery, what it is and what it’s used for. We hope you found this helpful, and let us know if you were able to track it down and unlock the secret survivor.
Be sure to check out all of our other guides for Risk of Rain Returns, such as how to unlock all characters in the game.
