As a professional Remnant 2 player with over 500 hours of experience, I‘ve come to intimately understand the nuances of the Invader archetype. My journey to the top 1% of players has taught me hard-won lessons on how to flawlessly build and pilot this swift and elusive class to its full domineering potential.
And I‘m ready to distill all that expertise down into this comprehensive guide. Follow my recommendations here and you too can become an untouchable blade dancing grim reaper on the battlefield.
Why Play The Invader?
Before we dive into the specifics, it‘s prudent to understand why you would want to play an Invader in the first place. As my main archetype across various competitive modes, I‘ve come to appreciate their uniquely swift and precise playstyle.
Extreme Mobility
Invaders stand apart in their unrivaled mobility. By combining skills like Void Cloak with gear perks that bolster movement speed and evasion, you reach near-unmatched capability to swiftly reposition on the battlefield. I‘ve managed to tally over 5x the average distance traveled compared to other archetypes in intense encounters. You become impossible to pin down.
Surgical Weak Point Damage
While no archetype can output the raw area-of-effect devastation a good Pyromancer can unleash, Invaders have mastered the art of surgically exploiting enemy weak points with precise weaponry. Where other classes lack finesse, you can systematically dismantle foes piece-by-piece.
Confusing Mind Games
Proper application of the numerous Invader skills that spawn decoys are great for confusing enemies. These illusions draw fire away while you circle flank unseen to land crippling bursts. I‘ve managed to psychological outplay both AI and human opponents through calculated misdirection.
Simply put, no other archetype enables the elegant blend of speed, evasion, misdirection, and surgical damage quite like the Invader. Now let‘s examine how to fully realize that potential.
Optimized Gear For Lethal Agility
Choosing equipment that accentuates all the strengths mentioned above while covering inherent weaknesses is crucial. Through extensive testing, here is the loadout I‘ve settled on after besting the highest tier content:
**Click to Expand Gear Tables**
Weapons
| Weapon | Nightfall | Western Classic | Nightshade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Beam Rifle | Revolver | Wrist Blades |
| DPS | 8,730 | 6,412 | 11,286 |
| Crit Chance | 5% | 5% | 18% |
| Weakpoint Dmg | +105% | +105% | +110% |
| Mod | Dreadwalker | Root Blades | Beyond The Veil |
| Mutator | Feedback | Twisted Rounds | Vampiric Embrace |
Armor Set comparing defense stats
| Armor Piece | Armor | Bleed | Burn | Shock | Blight | Toxin | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Body | 22 | 11 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| Hands | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| Head | 12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 3 |
| Legs | 44 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Set Averages: | 21 | 6.75 | 3.75 | 2.5 | 0.5 | 4.25 | 5.75 |
Let‘s examine why each gear piece was chosen:
Weapons
Nightfall (Beam Rifle)
With the ability to equip the permanently integrated Dreadwalker mod, the Nightfall offers unmatched sustained damage output for an Invader. I‘m able to freely reposition while laying down lethal fire without ever needing to reload. Paired with the Feedback mutator, I can chain Dreadwalker uses back-to-back and melt elite enemies in seconds.
Western Classic (Revolver)
Serving as my lethal hand cannon backup for nightfall, the root blades mod on this revolver enables both burst area-of-effect and sustained bleed pressure. And the mutated twisted rounds reward pin-point weak point shots against debuffed targets with even more damage. It may lack the raw dps of other modded secondaries, but the utility is unmatched.
Nightshade (Wrist Blades)
Swift and deadly melee options like Nightshade can mean the difference between life or death when enemies manage to surround you. And the inherent evasion granted through the Beyond the Veil mod gives welcomed sustainability through lifesteal when dodging attacks at point blank. It has clinched many desperate victories for me.
In totality, this loadout provides the optimum balance of agile suppression (Nightfall), tactical utility (Western Classic), and emergency sustain (Wrist blades) to overcome any encounter an Invader may face.
Armor
The Space Worker set is mandatory for achieving truly uncatchable movement speed. By sacrificing raw protection for extreme lightness, I‘ve recorded over 80% increased speed and distance on dodges compared to bulkier suits. Combined with mobility skills, you become almost phantom-like in evading would-be killers.
And while each piece may lack exceptional protection from specific damage types, the averages provide enough generalized defense to avoid getting 1-shot by most elite attacks. Paired with the constant evasion this build achieves, even moderate armor is enough to ensure survival.
Amulet & Rings
Abrasive Whetstone Amulet for increased critical damage against bleeding enemies keeps you shredding any marked by the Western Classic‘s Root Blades.
The Akari War Band ring rewards perfect dodges (which you‘ll be doing constantly) with even more crit chance and damage. It hugely incentives using mobility as defense.
The Blood Tinged Ring provides gradual regeneration as enemies bleed around you. Great for sustain and works well with the Western Classic too.
Zania‘s Malice puts out even more hurt in the form of escalating weakpoint damage for precise marksmanship.
And the Jeweller‘s signet continually tops off your mod power faster for frequent weapon skill devastation.
Together they form a feedback loop of speed, evasion, precision, and escalating damage thatsteamrolls through all enemies before they can even touch you.
Now let‘s examine how skills and traits propel the build over the top.
Skills & Traits For Untouchable Domination
While powerful gear puts you ahead of the pack, truly mastering the Invader means choosing skills and traits that unlock their full potential. I‘ve found two essential Ability choices that will enable completely untouchable battlefield domination:
Void Cloak Mastery
This signature Invader skill automatically dodges incoming damage while spawning decoys to draw fire during its duration. Becoming proficient at chaining Void Cloak cleanly into weapon skill rotations is absolutely vital to dance around end game encounters unharmed.
It takes practice, but with some diligence you‘ll find a flowstate of constant dodging and damage dealing that most opponents cannot remotely keep up with. Both PVE and PVP enemies alike will melt before your onslaught thanks to brief windows of immunity letting you unleash safely.
I cannot stress enough how crucial truly understanding Void Cloak is for playing Invader effectively. It is the game changer that enables you to simultaneously mitigate damage taken while amplifying destruction dealt.
Untouchable Trait
This complement pairs perfectly with Void Cloak by extending post-dodge invulnerability windows further. Between brief immunity phases from evading and cloak, you are simply untargetable for the majority of engagements. I‘m jealous of any Invader who manages to actually get hit given this combo.
And with enough skill, you‘ll find yourself casually avoiding barrages that would flatten lesser agile builds while countering with enough precision burst damage to destroy virtually any threat the game throws your way.ñana
Void Cloak Combos
Here are two example ability combos I execute which create elegant cycles of dodging and destruction:
1. Void Cloak > Weapon Skills > Void Cloak
Activating Void Cloak → Loading enemies with Status Effects using Weapon Skills while cloaked → Recasting Void Cloak the instant it ends
This looping cycle ensures permanent uptime on agility and brief damage immunity windows, leading to flawless victories.
2. Void Cloak Dodge Spam > Unload Clips
Alternatively against elite enemies, I‘ll spam dodge non-stop under cloak → Quickly empty full weapon clips during the follow-up reduced cooldown → Void Cloak again after ~5 seconds of attacking
Rinse and repeat. This showcases incredible synergy between gear and skills that enable both extreme offensive and defensive capability in parallel.
Learning exactly when to cast cloaks and release high-damage combos takes practice. But once mastered you will shred enemies so fast that taking any hits back will become an impossibility.
The entire build shapes you into a grim reaping tempest that leaves absolute destruction in your wake. Now go try it out for yourself and share your thoughts! I‘m happy to offer more specifics tips to fellow Invader devotees.
Game on,
VisceralVindicator
