Excavation

Excavation

Description

Clear a path for the survivor.

Unlocks

Miner

Excavation is a challenge in Risk of Rain Returns. It is completed by finding and defeating the Direseeker, a unique miniboss variant of the Elder Lemurian that spawns in a hidden location on Magma Barracks. Completing the challenge unlocks the survivor Miner.

Tips

• The Direseeker can be found only on stage variants 1 and 2 of Magma Barracks. On both variants, the player has to traverse a narrow passage filled with lava on the far right side of the map, where they will find a crashed escape pod along with the boss waiting for them.
• Fighting the Direseeker shouldn't prove too much of a challenge, though it is heavily advised to do so before or after the teleporter sequence to avoid being trapped in the lava with a large number of enemies.
• The player must traverse lava to reach the Direseeker, so high mobility and/or a consistent source of healing is advised, especially at higher difficulties. For players having trouble defeating the boss, they should consider using higher mobility survivors or prioritizing items like Hopoo FeatherHopoo Feather
  Gain an extra jump.
  Gain +1 (+1 per stack) maximum jump count., Paul's Goat HoofPaul's Goat Hoof
  Move faster.
  Increases movement speed by 15% (+15% per stack). and MedkitMedkit
  Receive a delayed heal after taking damage.
  Heal for 10 (+10 per stack) health 1.5 seconds after getting hurt. to minimize damage from poor positioning.

Trivia

• Given that this challenge unlocks Miner as a playable survivor, it can assumed that the escape pod located next to the Direseeker belonged to him. This is exceedingly strange, considering Magma Barracks is shown to be very deep underground and the space around the pod is completely enclosed. This would make Miner the only survivor to not land on the surface, having fallen possibly thousands of meters underground to the core of the planet to reach his crash site.