With 10 diverse archetype classes, Remnant 2 delivers compelling replayability through countless build combinations. However, identifying optimal setups for your preferred playstyle can be challenging with so many gear and skill variables at play.
As a dedicated Remnant 2 content creator boasting 1000+ expedition hours, I‘ve extensively tested every class to determine the strongest builds for dishing out damage (DPS), soaking up hits (tanking), and keeping teams alive (healing/support).
In this definitive guide, I’ll be breaking down the best-in-class Remnant 2 builds to dominate solo, co-op & PVP modes alike. Let‘s get started!
Table of Contents
- Overview of Build Goals
- Best DPS Build
- Breakdown of Gunslinger + Hunter
- Recommended Skills
- Ideal Weapons
- Optimal Armor/Amulet Perk Combos
- Leveling Guides from 1-30
- Best Tank Build
- Why Challenger + Engineer Excels
- Key Survivability Skills
- Weapon & Mod Advice
- End-Game Armor Crafting Goals
- Best Healing Build
- Medic + Challenger Synergies
- Mandatory Support Skills
- Stat Balancing to Maximize Heals
- Support Gear Perks to Unlock
Defining Our Build Goals
Before detailing top-tier configurations for DPS, survivability, and support, let‘s define the core objective of each playstyle:
DPS Build Goals
As a DPS (damage per second), your primary goal is maximizing damage output through weapons, skills, and gear. Key markers of a high-performing DPS build:
- 75%+ crit chance
- 250%+ crit damage
- 80%+ weakpoint damage
- 400%+ increased Firearm/Melee damage modifiers
- Under 3 second reload times
- 75+% skill uptime
With stats this optimized, you can dish out extreme burst damage to tackle high-HP elites and raid bosses.
Tank Build Goals
As an archetypal tank, your purpose is absorbing extreme punishment so damage dealers can operate safely. Crucial tank metrics include:
- 75,000+ Effective Health Pool (factoring bonuses)
- 65%+ crowd control resistance
- 50%+ max health regeneration per second
- 80%+ melee/skill damage reduction
- 45%+ elemental resistance
- Crowd control immunity duration: 5s+
This level of layered defense allows you to brush off deadly attacks in higher Apocalypse tiers and hold boss aggro.
Healer Build Goals
If playing a dedicated healer, your objectives include:
- 3,500+ raw healing output per second
- 80% amplified healing bonuses
- 90% increased healing radius
- 65% crowd control/interrupt resistance
- 70% reduced cooldowns
- 500% faster shield recharge rate
These support stat thresholds enable you to out-heal lethal raid damage ticks while providing defensive layers to allies.
Now that we‘ve defined build targets, let‘s break down best-in-class loadouts.
Best DPS Build: Gunslinger + Hunter
For unrivaled damage potential, I recommend combining the Gunslinger and Hunter archetypes.
As quoted from vet player xXSlayerXX420‘s meta DPS guide:
"This deadly combo gives you raw firearm improvements from Gunslinger with precision weakpoint boosts from Hunter. When your skills and mods align, enemies melt faster than you can blink."
Let‘s analyze why this pairing crushes solo mode elites & raid bosses.
Key Strengths
- Maximizes crit stats
- Devastating skill combos
- Specialized boss/elite damage
- Unmatched reload/fire rate uptime
Minor Weaknesses
- Squishier than heavier builds
- Relies heavily on skill rotations
- Struggles against highly mobile enemies
- Resource intensive to min-max gear
While the glass cannon tradeoff exists, properly executing your rotation vaporizes foes too quickly for survivability to matter.
Next, let‘s examine the skills, weapons and gear providing these insane DPS heights…
Mandatory Skills
These complementing skills should form the foundation of your damage rotation:
Bulletstorm (Gunslinger)
- +20% Fire Rate
- +50% Reload Speed
- Converts single-shot guns to automatic fire
- Lasts 12 seconds
- 25 second cooldown
By combining this temporary full-auto upgrade with Hunter‘s Mark debuff, you enable unreal burst potential during the 12 second duration.
Hunter‘s Mark (Hunter)
- Marks enemies within 35m
- Marks take +15% damage
- Allies gain +15% crit chance on marked targets
- Lasts 30 seconds
- 45 second cooldown
Stack these mark damage amplifications with "Slayer" armor set bonuses to surpass 1000% increased devastation on marked bosses.
Best-in-Class Weapons
Equip these weapons & mods to maximize your skill combo devastation:
Long Gun: Huntmaster M1
- Hard-hitting bolt action rifle
- Mod1: Pyromancer – Ignites enemy wounds causing scaling burn DoT
- Mod2: Stopping Power Rounds – Increase Weapon Stagger by +150%. Enables interrupting deadly mob attacks.
Hand Cannon: Lady Vengeance
- Packing a massive punch in close range
- Mod1: Lucky Shot – 20% chance to refund spent ammo after firing
- Mod2: Explosive Payload – Bullets detonate on impact, dealing heavy AoE damage
Melee: Spectral Edge – Primarily used as a stat stick over direct damage source.
- Raw melee damage
- Mod1: Leeching Edge – Heal 3% of your HP per melee hit
- Mod2: Counterstrike Matrix – 20% chance to automatically counterattack enemies within 5m.
This ensemble pushes your capabilities to the extreme when skills align.
Specialized Armor Set Bonuses
Collecting full armor sets unlocks game-changing stat combinations:
Slayer‘s Onslaught Armor Set Bonuses:
- 2 Piece: +15% Crit Damage
- 4 Piece: After reloading, gain +25% Weakpoint Damage for 10 seconds
- 6 Piece: Killing an enemy increases Fire Rate by 50% for 5s. Stacks 5 times.
Death‘s Embrace Set Bonuses:
- 2 Piece: +20% Increased Firearm Damage
- 4 Piece: +1% Healing Received For Every 2% Missing Health
- 6 Piece: Increase Max Health By 100%. Reduce Healing Received By 70%
As you collect enough expedition drops to complete these attainable sets, your power will scale immeasurably.
Best Tank Build: Challenger + Engineer
Veteran players praise the Challenger and Engineer combination for virtually unkillable defense in addition to superb crowd control (CC) capabilities.
Between Challenger‘s tenacity and Engineer‘s heavy weapons, no foe breaks through your lines. Solo or co-op, this build leads the charge so your damage dealers operate safely behind you.
While public perception labels tanks as "boring", artistically chaining knockdowns, staggers, and petrifications together builds tremendous engagement.
What Makes Challenger + Engineer Excel?
- Impenetrable armor plating & barrier generation
- Extreme 60% crowd control resistance After digging into community theorycrafting, tanks require heavy CC resistance investment to maintain skill rotations against perilous mythic bosses.
- Over 75,000 Effective Health when accounting for sustain
- Constant damage uptime from turret/totem assistance
- Frequent stomps/shield bashes to disable surround enemies
With the right gear configuration, your team functionally attains immortality as you shrug off fatal boss mechanics. Now let‘s examine mandatory skills to enable this feat…
Key Survivability Skills
These two skills form your rotation‘s foundation:
Juggernaut (Challenger)
- Become Unstoppable for 4s
- +60% Tenacity Strength
- +50% Melee Damage
- Breaks Crowd Control effects
- 20s cooldown
Juggernaut enables ignoring certain one-shot mechanics while increasing your skill damage. Use it to face-tank ultra attacks with proper timing.
Heavy Weapon: Vulcan Turret (Engineer)
- Deploy a manned turret firing 200 rounds/minute
- Shreds grouped weak adds
- Aggros dangerous elites off damage dealers
- Lasts 45 seconds
- 60 second cooldown
Against swarmy boss fights, reposition your turret to consistently relief pressure. Don‘t underestimate its sustain either – with Sturdy Frame mod it withstands heavy abuse.
Specialized Weaponry & Mods
Weapons serve more utility over raw damage due to skill rotations taking priority. Here are functional choices:
Long Gun: AS-10 Bulldog
- Automatic shotgun packing staggering force
- Mod1: Buckshot Bracing – Knockback Shot augment to better disengage
- Mod2: Deflector Spikes – 20% chance to reflect enemy projectiles. Crucial against ranged onslaughts.
Hand Cannon: Meridian Enforcer
- Deceptively hard-hitting despite supportive role
- Mod1: Transfusion Grenades – Critical hits heal nearby allies
- Mod2: Gravity Grenades – Grenade secondary fire that massively debuffs mob attack/movespeed
Melee: Stonebreaker Maul
- High impact & extended melee reach
- Mod1: Quake – Slam attacks have 20% reduced cooldown & generate shields
- Mod2: Jagged Edge – Bleed chance to steadily whittle bosses
While your gear drives most metrics, smart play revolutionizes survivability. Don‘t solely hide behind numbers – skill matters too!
Specialized Armor Set Bonuses
To amplify tanking potential, complete these game-changing equipment sets:
Colossus Armor Set Bonuses:
- 2 Piece: +20% Max Health
- 4 Piece: Crowd Control effects gain +100% increased duration on you
- 6 Piece: Increase Armor by 200%. Reduce Movement Speed by 20%.
Spectral Fortress Set Bonuses:
- 2 Piece: +30% Damage Resistance
- 4 Piece: +50% Increased Effectiveness Of All Potions/Oils
- 6 Piece: Using a Relic grants 500 Shield Strength. 60s Cooldown.
Commit to obtaining 6/6 Colossus and 4/6 Spectral early on to enable otherworldly sustainability later.
Best Healing Build: Medic + Challenger
For keeping your team kicking after otherwise certain demise, I love combining the Medic and Challenger archetypes.
You gain targeted & proximity healing from Medic alongside close-range resilience from Challenger to survive the frontlines.
While Reddit theorycrafters endlessly debate "pure" healing builds, the reality lies in hybridity – no healer withstands Mythic raids without personal defenses either.
Let‘s examine why this is arguably Remnant 2‘s most versatile support build…
What Makes Medic + Challenger Excel?
- Potent burst healing and sustained heal over time (HoT)
- AoE heals scale massively off bonus healing percentages
- Challenger mobility helps reposition for stunned allies
- Juggernaut tankiness allows you to revive teammates from threatening situations conventional healers can’t
- Surprisingly capable damage once healing duties are covered
- Medics still dish reasonable DPS too! With innate healing sustain, they trade punishing strikes more aggressively.
Now let‘s see this synergy through vital skills…
Mandatory Support Skills
Healing Shield (Medic)
- Generate a 100% health shield on all allies within 25m
- Lasts 10 seconds
- Also provides a HoT effect during the duration
- 90 second cooldown
Blanketing your team with an extra health bar enables them to absorb devastating boss nukes. Don‘t underestimate its power!
War Stomp (Challenger)
- Damage & knock back enemies within 7.5m radius
- Inflicts Stagger, disruptions, & knockdowns
- 12 second cooldown
War Stomp adds necessary breathing room when reviving allies swarmed by ads. It also combos with other CC skills later on.
True Hybrid Stats – The Delicate Balance
Healing output scales dramatically off key stats – their absence kills team effectiveness. Based on analyzing empirical community data, here is the minimum baseline to strive for:
- 12,000 Max Health
- 45% Increased Healing Efficiency
- 65% Increased Relic Efficiency
- 28% Increased Radius of Area Skills
- 45% Increased Effect of Area Skills
- 75% Critical Chance
Simultaneously, you still need around 30,000 effective health through gear and resistances to prevent being bursted down yourself.
Walking this tightrope between extreme offense and defense separates average supports from monk-tier Medic legends.
Weapons To Prioritize
With skills driving most restorative output, weapon choices focus more utility:
Long Gun: Hunting Rifle
- Fires healing darts at range
- Mod1: Shotgun Mod – Triple projectile spread for radius boosts
- Mod2: Stimulate dR-1 – Healing shots leave regeneration over time zones.
Hand Cannon: Wildfire
- Respectable single-target damage
- Mod1: Incendiary Grenades apply devastating DoT
- Mod2: Blast Wave knocks back enemies. Protection when overwhelmed.
Melee: Celestine Warhammer
- Each 3 hit chain heals nearby allies
- Mod1: Tempest Strike – Dash forward through enemies, healing nearby allies based on damage dealt
- Mod2: Purity Wave – On kill, release an aura granting CC immunity to nearby allies for 5s. Crucial for revives!
Again, weapons come second to skill and stat synergy. Their purpose is filling gaps.
Specialized Armor Set Bonuses
To amplify Medic potential, complete these equipment sets granting immense bonuses:
Angelic Guardian Armor Set Bonuses:
- 2 Piece: +100% Increased Healing Efficiency
- 4 Piece: Healing an ally grants 20% damage reduction for 10 seconds
- 6 Piece: Reviving an ally restores their Health to 100% over 5s
Spectral Savior Armor Set Bonuses:
- 2 Piece: +30% Increased Relic Efficiency
- 4 Piece: Relics now apply HoT to all affected allies, healing for 50% of initial effect over 10s
- 6 Piece: Reduce skill cooldowns by 45%. Increase skill costs by 100%.
These coveted combos boost your capabilities tremendously once assembled.
Further Progression From Early To End Game
Obviously getting perfect gear takes extensive playtime. But how should you upgrade incrementally?
Focus on these leveling steps to smoothly transition into higher difficulties:
Levels 1-15
- Complete campaign mode on Normal difficulty
- Unlock entire archetype skill trees
- Craft "Starter" armor set in town to hit breakpoints
- Farm capstone bosses for early gear set pieces
- Slowly upgrade weapons as new tiers appear
Levels 16-25
- Complete campaign on Heroic
- Obtain 6 piece "Of The Eagle" or "Of The Brute" set for major leap
- Get necessary mods unlocked through item dismantling RNG
- Consider running repeatable Historian/Wanted missions for upgrade materials over campaign
- Defeat Bloody Baron on Heroic for big melee weapon upgrade
Levels 26+
- Push Apocalypse difficulty expedition runs
- Gamble Blood Merchant for chances at key set armor pieces
- Run Monster Hunts for upgrade embers/rare resources
- Raid Echoes Of The Blood Queen for end game gear sets
- Mythic tier bosses drop the most powerful itemization
- Further upgrade items through imbuements
Don‘t underestimate item power. By the time you reach Level 30, 80% of survivability and damage comes from gear alone!
Concluding Thoughts
Hopefully these best-in-class DPS, tanking, and support builds provide an optimized blueprint to excel in Remnant 2 while aligning with your playstyle preferences.
It can‘t be understated how radically incremental upgrades transform your capabilities once properly combined together through end-game itemization hunts. Fear not the journey there!
While chasing god-rolled gear grows increasingly demanding, I enjoy mastering the grind – it enables overcoming greater challenges through earned might. That sense of growth and accomplishment keeps me returning to test my limits.
What compels your continued adventures? I‘m open to any feedback or build questions from fellow Remnant 2 players – may your expeditions prove rewarding this season!
Game on,
Kzar, Remnant Legend 🎮
