Drifter is one of the most unique additions to Risk of Rain 2 — a survivor built around scrap, junk, and the wild ability to turn bad items into powerhouse buffs. This guide breaks down everything you need to know: passives, abilities, tech, movement tricks, printer manipulation, and how to use Drifter to absolutely dominate your runs.
Table of Contents
Drifter’s Passive — Scrap Buffs Explained
Drifter’s passive turns every type of scrap into a stackable stat boost, and it’s critical to understand these because they shape her entire playstyle.
- White Scrap → +6% Movement Speed per stack
- Green Scrap → +3 HP/sec Regeneration per stack
- Red Scrap → +30% Attack Speed per stack (insane scaling)
- *Yellow Scrap → 15% Cooldown Reduction per stack
This instantly makes scrapping items better than ever, and hitting the scrapper on something like Aegis has never felt more satisfying.
These buffs come from scrap, not junk. Junk is a different mechanic — and another cornerstone of her kit.
Junk — Drifter’s Second Passive
Whenever Drifter fights, she has a chance to drop junk, which fills a meter in the center of the screen.
- Max storage: 12 Junk
- Junk is consumed by several abilities to deal heavy damage or provide utility
- It’s also earned massively through her Repossess utility skill
Managing junk properly is what separates a standard Drifter from a broken late-game monster.
Primary Attack — Heavy Bag Swings
Drifter swings her giant bag for 170% damage, with every third hit dealing 350% damage and stunning enemies. Each hit can drop junk, making this a great builder for your meter.
Her primary is simple but strong, and the third-hit stun gives breathing room during melee brawls.
Secondary Abilities
Drifter has two powerful secondaries — both great for dealing damage and spending junk efficiently.
1. Debris Volley (4 × 400% Damage + Random Projectile)
This throwable attack launches a burst of debris dealing huge damage, and it also includes a random projectile, which can be:
- Sticky bomb
- Molotov
- Engineer bubble shield
- Healing drone
- And more
Normal cooldown: 6 seconds
Off-cooldown use: Costs 2 Junk
This ability is extremely versatile and great for hybrid melee-ranged combat.
2. Junk Cube (400% Slam + 400% Launch + 800% Explosion)
One of Drifter’s signature skills.
- Slam down a cube for 400% damage
- Hit the cube to launch it for another 400% damage each time
- Can hit it 3 times before it explodes for 800% damage
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Off-cooldown use: Costs 4 Junk
Max cubes active: 4 at once
The cubes do NOT despawn unless replaced. That means you can set up cube traps around arenas.
Movement Tech: Ride the Cube
If you hit the cube while standing on it, it launches you forward faster than sprinting.
This isn’t affected by movement-speed items, so once you’re stacked with speed buffs, sprinting eventually becomes faster.
Still, early-game cube riding is insanely fun and efficient.
Utility Abilities
1. Repossess (Catch & Beat Enemies for Junk)
Drifter lunges forward and grabs an enemy — or an interactable — into her bag.
Once captured, she can:
- Throw the object at enemies or off cliffs
- Beat it to death for guaranteed junk
- Completely disable the threat while capturing it
- Negate fall damage while holding something
- Move shrines, turrets, and interactables closer to the teleporter
Cooldown: 7 seconds
What can be bagged?
Almost everything, including:
- Gunner turrets
- Shrines
- Printers
- Stage objects
- Big enemies (they escape quicker, though)
The heavier the object inside the bag, the slower she moves.
This is one of the strongest utility tools in the game for junk farming and stage control.
2. Tornado Slam
A spinning forward dash dealing:
- 170% damage with a chance to drop junk
- 400% slam damage
- Bounces off heavy enemies for chaining mobility
Cooldown: 8 seconds
This is the more offensive and mobile utility compared to Repossess.
Special Abilities
1. Salvage (Spawn 4 Temporary Items)
Consumes 8 Junk
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Creates 4 temporary items lasting 80 seconds
These items don’t start their timer until collected.
You can:
- Pre-load teleporter events
- Stack buffs before leaving a stage
- Get huge short-term power spikes
A trick:
Temporary rusted keys can give you permanent items from lockboxes.
2. Tinker (Scrapper + Recycler + Debuff Shockwave)
Consumes 8 Junk
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Effects:
- Releases a 100% damage shockwave that stuns and applies a random debuff
- Acts as a scrapper:
- Turns any item into 1 scrap + 1 temporary copy
- This increases passive scrap buffs
- Acts as a recycler for multi-shops & printers:
- Can reroll their contents two times
- Turn a bad printer into something godlike
This is the ability that unlocks crazy Drifter builds — infinite rerolls, scrap stacking, and printer manipulation.
How to Actually Play Drifter
Drifter isn’t naturally overpowered like some survivors, but her item economy, scrap synergies, and printer manipulation can completely break a run.
Here’s how to maximize her power.
Early Game (Stages 1–2)
- Use Junk Cube riding for fast movement
- Use repossess on chests for safe junk generation
- Beat down enemies using cubes for burst
- Instantly scrap bad items into passive buffs with Tinker
- Reroll nearby printers to find what you want
- Get 5–8 scrap per stage to stack passive bonuses
Mid Game Strategy
Focus on:
- Shuriken or AoE items (her biggest weakness is flying enemies)
- Burst-damage items (Crowbar, Bands)
- Defensive items (Opal, Rose Buckler, Repulsion Armor)
- Lysate Cells to use your special more often
Drifter lives in melee range, so damage reduction is a must.
Late Game & Tech
- Use repossess to move turrets, shrines, and blood shrines near teleporter
- Hit a blood shrine right before leaving a stage to carry money over
- Load temporary items at teleporter and grab them at the last second
- Temporary rusted keys, sale stars, and shipment forms still drop permanent loot
With enough scrap stacking and printer rolling, you’ll end up with one of the most optimized builds in the game.
Best Items for Drifter
Must-Haves
- Shuriken (for aerial enemies)
- Crowbar
- Bands
- Focus Crystal
- Lysate Cell
- Tesla Coil (amazing on Drifter)
Defensive Essentials
- Opal
- Repulsion Armor Plate
- Rose Buckler
Synergy Picks
- Items that boost your melee uptime
- Items boosted by temporary versions (via Tinker)
- Anything that benefits from high attack speed (thanks to red scrap)
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Hi, I’m Anshul Patel, author and co-founder of TigerJek.com. I am a long-time Roblox and mobile gaming enthusiast with 6+ years of gameplay experience. I test every method, build, and strategy personally before writing guides for TigerJek. My goal is to simplify complex games and help players progress faster.
