Remnant 2 has proven its mettle already, being a remarkably successful AA production during one of the gaming industry’s busiest and most successful years yet. That alone is impressive, yes, but what’s even more impressive is that developer Gunfire Games has dedicated an immense amount of effort into loading Remnant 2 with a mind-boggling amount of secrets, both big and small. On the “big” side of that particular sliding scale sit Remnant 2‘s character archetypes or classes. Indeed, though some are available for players to choose from by default, there are also half a dozen secret archetypes to boot!
This means that most Remnant 2 players will want to invest time and effort in unlocking all of the game’s secret archetypes: from the minigun-toting Engineer to the vicious Summoner, there’s a lot to choose from here. And, since each archetype adds something new and exciting to your character’s ability roster, unlocking secret archetypes is effectively a must-do for endgame progression.
How to unlock secret archetypes in Remnant 2
Before getting into the nitty-gritty of each secret character archetype unlocking, players should be warned that these are—in some cases—lengthy time investments rather than something that could be wrapped up in 30 minutes or so. It’s best to read up on these, then, and keep an eye out for unlocking opportunities whenever they pop up. Remnant 2 is highly randomized, after all, so it’s entirely possible some of these archetypes will be unavailable for a while in some cases.
Summoner
The Summoner is Remnant 2‘s creature-wrangling class. Leveraging the power of the Root itself, the Summoner can call upon three different Root creatures to do its bidding. This particularly comes in handy when the Summoner archetype is combined with the Handler, leading to the player character having their own small army of badass little critters to fight with.
Unlocking the Summoner is fairly straightforward too, though the game won’t highlight this in any meaningful way. While exploring Yaesha, players should be on the lookout for two things:
- Strange crimson orbs floating in the distance
- The Bloodmoon Altar
The gist of it is that you need to shoot 15 of these orbs and then purchase the Faded Grimoire at the Bloodmoon Altar. A more in-depth explanation of how to unlock the Summoner archetype is available here!
Explorer
Remnant 2‘s Explorer, too, is reasonably straightforward compared to some other class unlocks. A perfect match for those who’d like to hoard more resources and find secret loot more easily, the Explorer is an endgame-tier unlock that will work wonders as a support class to some other, more powerful primary archetype.
The long and short of it is that you need to finish Remnant 2‘s main story and defeat Annihilation. One of the rewards you’ll receive is the Broken Compass curio which you should, upon coming back to Ward 13, take to Wallace. One trade later, you’ll have the Golden Compass in hand, which is the Explorer’s archetype engram, making it a selectable class option for your character.
Alchemist
Unlocking the Alchemist archetype in Remnant 2 embodies the game’s core progression philosophy, really. Not only is it almost entirely random, but the whole process of receiving the archetype engram in the first place will seem like little more than a wacky encounter in the middle of nowhere, if the player isn’t in on what’s actually going on.
As outlined in this Alchemist archetype unlocking guide, players should roam around Losomn until a Manticore attempts to drag them through a sewer grate. Do not resist, and allow the monster to pull you in, instead. Then, blast the Manticore to smithereens and take your shiny new Mysterious Stone over to Wallace to unlock the Alchemist’s engram. It is an excellent choice for players looking to juggle numerous unique buffs and concoctions while roaming through Remnant 2‘s many overworld areas.
Engineer
If the Alchemist, Explorer, and Summoner were at least somewhat straightforward and easy to unlock, Remnant 2‘s Engineer takes things in a wildly different direction. Sure enough, virtually anybody can grab the Engineer’s engram whenever they find it, but the issue is that it’s located in a remarkably tricky position that doesn’t seem like it should hold anything of value.
While our previous in-depth Remnant 2 Engineer unlocking guide provides more details on how the process works, players ought to be looking for a very, very particular outcropping on the outskirts of N’Erud. Once located, it’s a mad dash into N’Erud’s killer fog to collect the Engineer’s armor from a nearby corpse and the engram itself, found a dash and a hop away from the corpse. Again, the tricky bit is in knowing precisely where to go and where to turn, and it’s bound to be a bit of trial and error for most players.
Invader
The Invader is the trickster archetype in Remnant 2. Versatile and deadly, a handy Invader will quickly and easily dispatch an entire room’s worth of regular mook-tier enemies. Especially when dual-classing the Invader with, say, a Gunslinger or a Hunter, these combos lead to particularly potent character builds. It certainly helps, of course, that the Invader can also go invisible!
Unlocking such a potent skill set doesn’t come easy, though. As the Invader unlocking guide explains in-depth, players will need several unique items to get the Invader, starting with the Dreamcatcher melee weapon.
Once equipped with the Dreamcatcher, players must head over to Root Earth, specifically the Corrupted Harbor area. Once there, look for the corpse of a Root creature with a strange blue mist surrounding it. Smack the mist with the Dreamcatcher and defeat the Bane boss to get the Wooden Shiv, which can be traded away to Wallace for the Invader engram.
Archon
Finally, there’s the Archon: an infamously complex character archetype that could not be unlocked without data mining. That’s right: the devs included used a fully custom class archetype to dish out a batch of meta-commentary about the current state of data-mining video games. Neat stuff, really, but getting the Archon is no mean feat in Remnant 2.
A more detailed guide on unlocking the Archon is already available, as the archetype itself is tightly tied to the mysterious ‘Corrupted’ status effect you may have already accidentally had, only for it to sputter out to no effect. Well, by equipping just the right combination of items, you could prolong the Corrupted status to access the Backrooms.
These items are as follows:
- Explorer archetype at level 10
- Invader archetype at level 5
- Full Realmwalker set of armor
- Void Heart relic
- Ford’s Scattergun primary
- Cube Gun secondary
- Labyrinth Staff melee weapon
- Leto’s Amulet
- Amber Moonstone
- Black Cat Band
- Anastasija’s Inspiration
- Zania’s Malice
As we said – no mean feat! That said, unlocking the Archon is a worthwhile achievement, as this archetype leans heavily into weapon mods and power generation, making it the go-to option for those who want to use their hard-earned gear as often and as effectively as possible.
