In the world of Risk of Rain 2, players are constantly looking for ways to optimize damage output, fine-tune builds, and understand the mechanics behind every character’s abilities. Acrid, the toxic beast known for his damage-over-time (DoT) playstyle, offers a unique approach to combat that revolves around poison and regeneration. One of the most frequently asked questions among players diving into Acrid’s toolkit is: ‘Can Acrid poison crit?’ Understanding this mechanic is crucial for deciding how to build him and whether critical hit items are worth investing in when choosing him for a run.
Who Is Acrid in Risk of Rain 2?
Acrid is a melee/ranged hybrid survivor who focuses on spreading poison to enemies and letting it tick down their health over time. He uses claws, fangs, and acidic bile to apply damage-over-time effects, making him ideal for crowd control and chipping away at tanky foes. His poison is particularly deadly because it scales with the target’s maximum health, rather than Acrid’s own stats.
While many other characters rely on burst damage and direct crit scaling, Acrid operates differently. His damage model rewards movement, survival, and spreading infection to as many enemies as possible. That leads us to the main question: how do critical hits interact with his poison?
Understanding Poison in Acrid’s Kit
Acrid’s poison is applied through specific skills, notably his alternate utility and special abilities:
- Neurotoxin (Utility): Spits poison that deals damage over time.
- Epidemic (Special): A projectile that applies poison and spreads to nearby enemies.
Poison in Risk of Rain 2 is a unique debuff. It deals a percentage of the enemy’s maximum health as damage over a duration. This means it scales with enemy stats, not player stats. Acrid’s poison is not based on his base damage or critical chance, which makes it fundamentally different from other damage sources in the game.
Can Acrid Poison Crit?
The short and direct answer is:No, Acrid’s poison cannot crit.This has been confirmed by the game’s internal mechanics and testing by the community. Poison is coded as a DoT effect that is immune to critical hit scaling. It will always deal a fixed percentage of the target’s maximum health over time, regardless of your critical hit chance or damage bonuses.
Why Can’t Poison Crit?
To understand why poison doesn’t crit, it’s important to look at how Risk of Rain 2 handles damage-over-time effects. DoT effects in the game generally fall into one of two categories:
- Scalable DoTs: Such as bleed or burn, which can scale with your base damage and can crit if the original attack crits.
- Non-Scalable DoTs: Such as Acrid’s poison, which deals fixed damage based on enemy stats and cannot crit under any circumstance.
Acrid’s poison is designed to be consistent and effective against high-health targets. Allowing it to crit would break balance, especially since its damage output can be substantial when applied to bosses or elites. The game’s developers have intentionally excluded it from crit interactions to maintain fairness and character identity.
What About Acrid’s Other Attacks?
While poison itself can’t crit, Acrid’s other abilities and basic attacks can. Here’s a breakdown of which parts of his kit do benefit from critical hit chance:
- Vicious Wounds (Primary): Melee combo that can crit normally and scales with crit damage bonuses.
- Caustic Leap (Utility): Can deal crit damage on impact and with its pool of acid.
- Epidemic (Special): The initial hit can crit, but the poison effect it applies cannot.
This means critical hit items such as Predatory Instincts, Harvester’s Scythe, or Lens-Maker’s Glasses will still be useful for increasing Acrid’s burst potential through his primary attacks. However, they do not enhance the poison damage, which makes crit builds less impactful compared to characters with fully crit-scaling kits.
Should You Build Crit Items on Acrid?
Now that we’ve established that poison cannot crit, the next logical question is whether critical hit items are worth using on Acrid. The answer depends on your preferred playstyle:
If You Focus on Poison:
If you play Acrid as a pure DoT spreader, prioritizing his poison abilities and letting enemies wither away, then crit items should not be a primary focus. Instead, consider items that boost DoT utility or survivability, such as:
- Gasoline: Causes AoE burn when enemies die.
- Will-o’-the-wisp: Triggers explosions on death, great for wave clearing.
- Infusion: Increases max health for better survivability during prolonged fights.
- Ukulele: Adds chain lightning to spread damage more efficiently.
If You Want Hybrid Damage:
If you enjoy using Acrid’s melee attacks alongside his poison, then investing in a moderate crit build can complement your gameplay. You’ll benefit from faster healing via Harvester’s Scythe and increased burst from critical melee strikes.
In this case, consider combining crit items with on-hit effects to maximize value:
- Tri-Tip Dagger: Adds bleed on hit, which can crit and stack with your melee.
- Harvester’s Scythe: Restores health on critical hits, helping you survive close encounters.
- Predatory Instincts: Boosts attack speed after crits, useful in melee chain attacks.
How to Maximize Acrid’s Poison Damage
Even though poison doesn’t crit, it can still be maximized in other ways. Since poison damage is based on a percentage of the enemy’s maximum health, the more enemies you hit, the more effective it becomes. Consider these tips:
- Mobility is Key: Use Caustic Leap and Neurotoxin to reposition and spread poison quickly.
- Apply to Elites and Bosses: Poison shines against enemies with high HP pools. Always make them your primary targets.
- Synergize with On-Death Items: Since poison kills are often delayed, items that trigger on enemy death will still activate reliably over time.
- Use Equipment Wisely: Equipment like the Royal Capacitor or Preon Accumulator can help finish off poisoned enemies when you need burst.
Understanding Acrid’s Unique Damage Identity
While many survivors in Risk of Rain 2 lean heavily into critical hit builds, Acrid’s poison offers a refreshing and tactical alternative. The answer to Can Acrid poison crit? is a firm no, and that’s by design. Instead of dealing variable damage through crit scaling, Acrid provides consistent, percent-based poison that chips away at even the largest foes. This makes him particularly effective in boss fights and late-game stages where enemies have bloated health pools.
Players who want to master Acrid should focus on spreading poison efficiently, maintaining mobility, and supplementing his kit with on-hit and on-death effects. For those who enjoy hybrid play, mixing in critical hit items for his melee attacks is still a viable strategy. In the end, understanding how poison interacts with game mechanics is the key to unleashing Acrid’s full toxic potential.