Remnant 2 - Introducing the Handler: Surviving The Root with Man’s Best Friend | IGN First

The supernatural wastelands of Remnant 2 can be a lonely place. But for those who would rather not go it alone, there’s the Handler archetype: a character class that gives you an incredibly reliable dog companion. My trusty mutt and I chewed our way through countless baddies, and even a few bosses, before I commanded principal designer Ben Cureton to “sit” and tell me all about the Handler archetype himself.

“The fantasy with the Handler is: I always have somebody that has my back, and we're cooperating, we're working together, we're taking down big enemies. I can draw aggro for it. It can draw aggro from me,” Ben explained.

"Every time I toggled between these options, the dog’s bandana would change color to reflect which role he currently had equipped."

Designed primarily for those who wish to play through Remnant solo, the Handler is a support class that made me a little better at everything with the help of an extremely handy dog. Not only did the dog have a chunky health bar and continuously draw attention away from me during battle and help me take down enemies with his deadly teeth, but he could be toggled into one of three modes depending on which strategy I wanted to deploy. In his Guard Dog mode, he gained the ability to howl and draw aggro from every enemy in the area, while in his Support Dog mode, he could heal me and my allies within an area of effect. Of course, if I just wanted to go on a rampage I could toggle him to Attack Dog mode and give him even more DPS. Best of all: every time I toggled between these options, the dog’s bandana would change color to reflect which role he currently had equipped.

I was also able to direct my companion to different parts of the battlefield using a ping system. If I wanted him to stay close by and defend me, I would call him to my side with the push of a button, but if I was sneaking around preparing to ambush a group of enemies, I could sic the furry boy on my enemies and tell him to run to a certain part of the map to attack.

But that’s just where the awesomeness of the Handler begins, as the class’ most powerful feature is locked behind the Prime Perk – a special ability only available to those who make the archetype their primary character class. “One of the cool things about [the Handler] is its Prime Perk, which is called Bonded,” Ben explained. “And Bonded says anytime the Handler goes down, the companion will come over and, as long as I have a Dragon Heart available, pull it out of my bag and use it on me and revive me, which is super cool.”

I have to say, not having to worry about healing up – since my trusty dog was almost always standing by ready to revive me – was a weight off my mind and made playing solo a lot more palatable. But if I was playing with others, the Handler also has a ton of abilities that allowed me to give my friends some backup. For example, if my Gunslinger ally was getting ganged up on by tentacled aliens, I could direct my dog to run over and fight them off, or at least draw their aggro. I could even have my dog revive allies who had fallen prey to the enemy and were in need of a Dragon Heart.

I typically don’t dig support classes and usually prefer to rely on teammates instead of NPCs, but I’ll admit the Handler won me over. Not only was it a lot of fun to play, but that dog was no slouch and was able to take and deal a ton of damage in the build I played. It makes sense, since Ben told me that he hates it when support classes are underpowered in RPGs. Same, my friend.

We’ll have much more on Remnant 2 as our exclusive IGN First coverage continues all March long!