Risk of Rain 2 - Obliterating the Chef on Monsoon
1Okay I have a lot to say about this character. This is the weakest character of the three that were released with this DLC.
I say this as Chef is the most anticipated character that I wanted, but there is a lot off with the kit. The primary fire is okay, you should time the hits so that you can get the double hits and get the debuff so you can get the healing. Oh the healing portion of the kit, you go through so many hoops to get the extra healing, which a regular Monster Tooth would work. The healing drinks that come off the Chef, they don't gravitate as well as the orbs from the Monster Tooth so it frustrates me at critical health points. However the healing is just bonus though can come up.
The secondary fire, oh boy the fire. Instead of like the first Risk of Rain where this attack's took inspiration from, this is a steady flame that burns for negligible damage. In the first Risk of Rain/Returns the fire is a burst that would explode the inked monsters and give you that AoE. Instead we have this fire that ignites when you dump the Glaze on. You have to keep the fire on the enemy that leaves you open to so many attacks, counters and shots. You have to LEAVE it on the enemy and it does not stun, it does not do the good afterburn like the Artificer (you need the Ignite). There are some situations where this is useful, you have items that proc on multiple hits like Plasma Shrimp. There can be good damage to be had with some items but you need to remember not to leave yourself open, you have to cancel it's attack with Roll and not sprint. Why they wouldn't let you cancel it, instead they let Chef sprint with the Sear up.
Glaze is the solid damage where there is a debuff and it's slowing enemies while also weakening. This pairs perfectly with Death Mark because you can get ignite with Sear and then another debuff will just work. Glaze has solid range as well so this is one part of the kit that I do like, it's an interesting reimaging of the oil instead of running through and leaving the slick.
Then we get to Roll, which I think is the strongest part of Chef's kit. You roll and deal some damage while also stunning the enemies. You can continuously get multiple hits on the same enemy if you roll in a proper or small circle. It can also cancel your Sear and while you are in Roll you can access all of your skills. For example if you are in Roll aside from going quickly, stunning on contact you can throw out Glaze. You can also turn on Sear although since it's based on how Chef is facing you will have some difficulty aiming it while also controlling where the Chef is rolling. You can even throw out the primary attack retreating a Roll or approaching an enemy. I really like this utility type of roll.
So how did Chef get to be so weak with a kit like this? Somehow it's very close range, if you get stuck or caught with Vagrant or Xi Construct early on without any additional damage you'll realize a problem. You can't get Sear to do anything it's SO short range it does not have the range of anything pass melee so you would need to get up to the tentacles of the Vagrant which can be difficult. Glaze and your primary fire are the only thing to get rid of flying enemies. Glaze can be inaccurate at larger ranges and while the primary fire is good for taking down small and weak flying enemies with it's double hit once you get to elite or bosses you do not want to waste time just single throwing the primary. For that matter I know it's consistent with how the Chef in the first RoR had a limit number of throws, but when brought into RoR2 not only do you have to time the knife going back, you have such a limited number of throws 3 max that you can find yourself without an attack. With Artificer you can manage the skills cooldown with your other attacks. On Chef you have some of the shorter range skills and they're not all applicable at all times.
Chef manages to feel very squishy by his health pool being low and not having alot of armor like Loader or MULT. That's okay but Chef is also very slow and his primary movement skill needs some buildup and some fine control as you cannot cancel out of it. So if you take a lot of hits with Chef you're gonna need the healing that passively drops if you hit with two skills. Though you also need to stay safe from further hits, I find Wax Quail really good in that aspect to help out with the mobility. Overall while an interesting interpretation of the Chef and a functioning character, it still feels unfinished and very weak. I wish they brought back the comboing feel where you ink an enemy then light them on fire with one burst hit. Since just lighting an enemy with the weak fire does really nothing, it can barely kill weak mobs if you have no bonus damage. I get the balancing, especially since you want to not have overlap with the Artificer's really good flamethrower: but why not just a single blast fire from the upgraded Fire? Still a bit fun though frustrating.
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