Miner

Miner

Stats

HP	118 (+ 36 per level)
Regen	1.20 (+0.15 per level) hp/s
Damage	12 (+3.20 per level)
Armor	0 (+3 per level)
Speed	28 km/h

Unlock

Clear a path for the survivor.

Ending phrase

..and so he left, adrenaline still rushing through his veins.

Miner

"The Miner is a short range berserker with the ability to fire himself up for increased damage. In order to survive you will have to balance heat gained from Crush with skill usage to maximize time spent Scorching!"
–In-game description

Description

The Miner is a playable character in Risk of Rain Returns.

Miner is a close-range, high-mobility character. Crush, Throwing Axe, and Burnout all generate heat; upon reaching maximum heat, Miner enters Scorching, empowering his abilities and draining heat over time.

Several of Miner's abilities grant him temporary invulnerability, namely Drill Charge, Drill Dash, and Backblast—take advantage of this while maintaining Scorching in order to stay healthy and maximize damage in his incredibly close effective range.

To unlock Miner, you must go to the bottom-right corner of the Magma Barracks. On certain variants #1 and #2, there will be a small tunnel where you must wade through lava to reach a room containing the Direseeker. Kill it, and the character will be unlocked.

Survivor Log

Departure:	Destination:
Holdout Shipping & Receiving, Heartholme, Uranus	Chicago Grand Terminal, United States, Earth

  Travel ID: E4F43444E494755425
Passenger Details: [Civilian Class]

Luggage & Equipment: Passenger boarded with a weather-emergency graded exosuit and standardized heat protection mask, modified for additional vaccuum safety. Exosuit appeared to have taken significiant heat damage, but technically passed inspection. Passenger was warned about potential risk of suffocation in the case of a vaccuum event should the suit deteriorate further. Security personnel has allowed the individual to keep their pickaxe in their carry-on, as it was deemed too awkward to pose a legitimate threat as a weapon. United States identification was long out of date, but the worker's Holdout mining records verified their identity. Additional luggage included a lighter, receipts and a small photo album.

[SECURITY RECALL] [No recorded events.]

Skills

Primary

Crush
Crush nearby enemies for 160% damage. Gain heat on hit. Deals an additional 54% damage while Scorching.

• Editor's note: The in-game description of 45% damage while Scorching is incorrect.

Throwing Axe
Toss a pickaxe for 125% damage. Gain heat on hit. While Scorching, pickaxes pierce, and get thrown more rapidly.

• The arc of the thrown axes is affected by Miner's current momentum.

Secondary

Drill Charge		6s CD
Hold to dash through enemies for 150% damage, spending heat while in use. you cannot be hit while dashing. Incurs no cooldown while Scorching.

• Drill Charge can be tapped repeatedly while Scorching to travel large distances without costing any heat. This is an excellent alternative to holding down the button, which rapidly drains heat and covers less distance.

Drill Dash		5s CD
Dash through the air in your held direction. When contacting an enemy, rapidly drill in place for 150% damage for as long as you have heat.

• Drill Dash can be directed up, down, left, right, or diagonally. Changing direction mid-animation will curve the trajectory of the attack.
• Though not mentioned in game, Miner cannot be hit while drilling on an enemy.
• Drill Dash deals self-damage when directed into the ground, which can trigger items that activate when taking damage.

Utility

Backblast		5s CD
Blast backwards for 200% damage, stunning all enemies. You cannot be hit while dashing. Dash further for 300% damage while Scorching.

• Editor's note: The value of the boosted damage while Scorching is not mentioned in the in-game description.
• Backblast's stun duration is quite substantial, buying Miner some time to build heat with Crush without having to worry about dodging. Be wary of enemies that can't be stunned, though!
• Backblast also has quite a lot of endlag, leaving Miner vulnerable. It can be cancelled into either Drill Charge or To the Stars, skipping the endlag entirely.

Burnout		5s CD
Explode in a large area for 500% damage, stunning all enemies. Damages you for 25% max health and gain 25% heat. Cannot die from self-damage.

• Burnout's self-damage can trigger items that activate when taking damage, such as Fire ShieldFire Shield
  Retaliate on taking heavy damage.
  After taking more than 10% of your health as damage, explode for 400% (+200% per stack) damage, knocking enemies away (+20% force per stack)., Repulsion ArmorRepulsion Armor
  After taking damage, reflect all attacks for 4 seconds.
  After 6 hits reflect incoming attacks for 400% damage and increase armor by 100 for 4 (+1 per stack) seconds.'s charges, and the mine items.

Special

To the Stars		6s CD
Leap into the air, hitting enemies below for 3x180% damage. Costs 20% heat and incurs no cooldown while Scorching.
Ancient Scepter Upgrade your special skill. Upgrade your special skill. Unique to each character. Reduces special skill cooldown by 30% per stack. Starbound Leap into the air, hitting enemies below for 5x180% damage. Costs 15% heat and incurs no cooldown while Scorching.

• To the Stars can be combined with other upwards momentum sources (launchpads, and to a lesser degree, jumping) to send Miner much further into the air.
• Starbound also stuns enemies.

Achievements & Trials

Survivors

Name	Unlocks	Requirement	Alt
Blazing Victory	Panic Mines	Survive the teleporter event without falling below 50% health.
Hot Streak	Shattering Justice	Reach level 10 without being hurt more than once.
Hot Blooded Vengeance	Drill Dash	Kill 8 Elder Lemurians without losing your Scorching status.
New Record	Throwing Axe	Complete Trial "Break the Targets!".	Complete 25 stages as Miner.
Burning Out	Burnout	Complete Trial "Scorching Heart".	Collect 300 items as Miner.
Hivemind	New Skin (Pink)	Complete Trial "Gup Sorting?".

• You cannot use Burnout when attempting to complete the challenge Hot Streak, as unlike the original game, ANY source of damage (including self damage), will count.

Strategy

• As a melee survivor, all of Miner's attacks (except Throwing Axe) require close range to deal damage. Many enemies (and elite types) pose a substantially higher risk in melee range, which will require different play strategies to mitigate compared to longer-range survivors.
• Well-timed use of the invulnerability provided by Drill Charge and Backblast is essential for survival. Learning enemy behaviours and attack telegraphs will help with knowing when to use each ability.
• In dangerous situations, try to prioritise non-primary abilities - even without planning, Drill Charge and Backblast can do a ton of damage, and To the Stars can help with dodging grounded attacks. Don't be afraid to dash away to buy yourself some breathing room and heal up / wait for cooldowns.
• Conversely, thoughtlessly holding down Crush can be very dangerous depending on the enemies you are facing. Watch out for enemies with high burst damage potential!
• Miner's abilities can be combined in interesting ways to solve numerous problems:
  • Backblast has substantial endlag, but it can be cancelled into Drill Charge or To the Stars to skip it entirely.
  • Using Backblast while holding away from the direction you wish to travel, followed by using Drill Charge holding towards your desired direction will let you cover ground more quickly.
  • Jumping and immediately using To the Stars can send you high into the air, letting you grab ropes from higher positions if timed correctly. Note that you can't grab ropes before To the Stars fires its shots, so it's easy to mistime. Practice makes perfect!
  • While Scorching, try grouping up enemies with Drill Charge, then spam To the Stars for substantial, relatively safe AoE damage. Items that give you invulnerability like Prophet's Cape or Shield Generator make this strategy a lot more effective.
• Miner has some of the best mobility in the game, enabling him to traverse stages quickly, duck in and out of combat safely, and tear through enemies with ease. His kit provides a lot of room for flexibility and creativity - try things out and see what you discover!

Item Interactions

• Drill Dash and Burnout deal self-damage, which can be used to trigger items that activate when taking damage. "Mine" related items include Fire ShieldFire Shield
  Retaliate on taking heavy damage.
  After taking more than 10% of your health as damage, explode for 400% (+200% per stack) damage, knocking enemies away (+20% force per stack)., SpikestripSpikestrip
  Drop spikestrips on being hit, snaring enemies.
  When hit, drop spikestrips that snare enemies for 1 (+0.5 per stack) second., Dead Man's FootDead Man's Foot
  Drop a poison trap at low health.
  Chance when damaged to drop a poison mine that deals 150% damage and poisons for x600% (+450% per stack) damage over time. Chance to drop starts at 15% and increases with low health., Panic MinesPanic Mines
  Drop a mine at low health.
  Chance when damaged to drop 1 (+1 per stack) mine that deals 400% damage. Chance to drop starts at 15% and increases with low health., and Old BoxOld Box
  Chance when damaged to drop a jack-in-the-box, fearing enemies.
  Chance when damaged to drop a jack-in-the-box, fearing enemies for 2 (+1 per stack) seconds. Chance to drop starts at 10% and increases with low health..
• Backup MagazineBackup Magazine
  Add an extra charge of your Secondary skill.
  Add +1 (+1 per stack) charge of your Secondary skill. can be stacked for quick stage traversal and for the aforementioned self-damage strategy. Repeated usage of Drill Dash for self-damage will not deal lethal damage, but will leave Miner at dangerously low health. This strategy is extrapolated from this speedrunning guide[1].

Gallery

CSS Sprite

Skins
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Unlocked by default.
Complete Trial "Gup Sorting?".	Complete Trial "Judgement" as Miner.

Crudely-Drawn Buddy Decoy

Multiplayer Drone

Version History

Patch 1.0.4

• Heaven CrackerHeaven Cracker
  Every 4 basic attacks pierce through enemies.
  Every 4 (-1 per stack) basic attacks pierce through enemies. now allows Miner to gain heat and Drifter to generate scrap.
• Miner’s Throwing AxeThrowing Axe
  Primary
  Toss a pickaxe for 125% damage. Gain heat on hit. While Scorching, pickaxes pierce, and get thrown more rapidly.
  Survivor: Miner skill now properly interacts with the Heaven CrackerHeaven Cracker
  Every 4 basic attacks pierce through enemies.
  Every 4 (-1 per stack) basic attacks pierce through enemies..

Patch 1.0.3

• Decreased invincibility frames on Miner's default Secondary Skill.

Patch 1.0.2

• Fixed a possible crash with Miner's alt primary.

Trivia

• To the Stars is a reference to the anime Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
• Starbound is the name of another game published by Chucklefish, who published Risk of Rain (2013).
• Miner's 4th skin (Unlocked by completing the trial "Gup Sorting?") spawns unique bubble particles around the character during gameplay.