Named after the demons of Shangri-La, the Rakshasa could be thought of as the stealth/assassin faction. They may not have access to modern extravagances like body armor and gunpowder, but they make up for it with a dazzling array of arcane arts, including the ability to summon animal sidekicks, turn virtually invisible, and send their souls to spy on the living.
Rakshasa Abilities and Gear:
The Bell Tower: If you shut down the tower’s radio transmitter, the Golden Path cannot see you on their mini-maps unless they turn the transmitter back on. And that, it turns out, tends to make a stealth approach quite a bit easier.
Prowling: Rakshasa can “recite a hidden mantra and render themselves harder to detect.” This is the game’s way of saying that crouching turns you virtually invisible.
Animal Charms: Instead of grenades, Rakshasa throw charms that summon one of three animal familiars. The Black Eagle flies overhead and attacks nearby enemies, but gets few kills on its own. The Brown Bear charges enemies and takes a ton of damage to kill. And the Bengal Tiger is faster and deadlier than the bear, but not quite as durable. You earn charms automatically, but you can earn them even faster by executing disabled enemies before they can bleed out.
Elephants: All Rakshasa can ride elephants. And all elephants can flip over technicals and stomp your enemies into paste. You do the math.
Built-in Wingsuit: All Rakshasa can also glide like Ajay in a wingsuit. Or like very large flying squirrels in eyeliner. Take your pick.
Blink Arrow: These special arrows have a shorter range than normal arrows. So why use them? Because they teleport the shooter to their point of impact, granting you tremendous mobility.
Spread Arrow: Just like in Shangri-La, the spread arrow is a wide, five-arrow volley triggered with a single pull of the bowstring. It’s the Rakshasa’s version of a shotgun.
Swarm Arrow: A specialized arrow that summons a swarm of deadly stinging insects to the target. The swarm damages its victim over time, and will also jump to infect nearby enemy teammates.
Syringes: The Rakshasa can also pick leaves to craft three types of syringe:
Ghost Syringe: Crafted from yellow leaves, these syringes enable you to send your spirit on a scouting mission around the map. Your body will still be vulnerable to damage, but your spirit is invulnerable. Your ghost form can tag enemies and detonate nearby mines when it passes over them. Plus, if you’ve also equipped the Ghostwalker skill, you can teleport your body to your ghost’s position. It’s tough to overestimate the freedom and flexibility this grants you.
Healing Syringe: Crafted from green leaves, these syringes heal all your health.
Speed Syringe: Crafted from red leaves, these syringes boost your sprinting speed.
Rakshasa Skills:
Shadow Strike: Increases your movement speed while prowling and boosts the range of your takedowns.
Herbal Guru: Doubles the number of leaves you get from each plant you harvest.
The Good Stuff: Healing syringes give a temporary health boost.
Pack Alpha: Increases the health of any animal you summon.
Top Speed: Speed Syringes provide an even greater speed boost and enable you to auto-fire when not zoomed.
Ghostwalker: Enables you to teleport your body to your ghost’s location when using a ghost syringe.
Friend of the Pack: Reduces the time between animal charms.
Fast Learner: Increased experience gain. Must be unlocked with Uplay points.
Sample Rakshasa Loadouts
Beastmaster
- Spread Arrow
- Swarm Arrow
- Skill: Pack Alpha
- Skill: Friend of the Pack
This build is designed to maximize the utility of your animal friends—even the bees. For the full effect, don’t forget to ride an elephant into battle.
Tower Hunter
- Blink Arrow
- Swarm Arrow
- Skill: Ghostwalker
- Skill: Top Speed
The keys to this build are mobility and stealth. Ghostwalker will enable you to park yourself and check out the enemy’s location, detonating any mines they’ve laid to ensnare you, and even teleport right behind them. Swarm arrow is for those times when you can see the enemy crouched in a corner, just waiting for you to round the corner or stick your head up the ladder. Instead of breaking cover and giving him a free shot at your head, just plant an arrow in his general vicinity and let the swarm force him out of position. However, note that the swarm kills very slowly, so you’ll still want to slide in for a takedown. (Or go with fire arrows instead, which are only slightly less stealthy.)
Heavy Assaulter
- Explosive Arrow
- Fire Arrow
- Skill: Top Speed
- Skill: Large Quiver
Are you tired of waiting for your enemy to get out of the truck before you kill him? Do you think the only good enemy technical is the “just became a smoldering pile of charred, twisted metal” kind? Do you prefer your enemies not only dead, but in pieces? This is that kind of loadout.
Deadly Shadow
- Spread Arrow
- Blink Arrow
- Skill: Ghostwalker
- Skill: Shadow Strike
A loadout for players who like to slink in, get their kill, and disappear again, amorphous as the fog and undetectable as a shadow in the dark.
Mask Hunter
- Swarm Arrows
- Explosive Arrows
- Skill: Large Quiver or Friend of the Pack
- Skill: Top Speed
This build is tailor-made to get you the Demon Mask quickly and stop the Golden Path from getting away if the Mask falls into their hands. Slow the Golden Path down with Swarm Arrows and blow up their vehicles with Explosive Arrows. Use Large Quiver if some extra special arrows sound appetizing or use Friend of the Pack to throw out Animal Tokens faster to keep the Golden Path away from the Mask’s location. Finally, top it off with Top Speed so you can get to the Mask before the Golden Path can even reach their vehicles. Combine all of these elements and you’ll have yourself a speedy technician that keeps the Golden Path down and the Mask in Rakshasa hands at all times. All hail, King Min!
The Miser
- Fire Arrows
- Blink Arrows
- Skill: Friend of the Pack
- Skill: Ghostwalker
If you find yourself spending a lot of time in the Propaganda or Outpost modes, then you might want to consider this loadout for you next battle. Taking the tower and protecting the Outpost and Propaganda sites is the name of the game here. Blink Arrows and Ghostwalker will not only help you climb the tower with ease, but it will also get you into a heavily guarded Outpost or Propaganda site with no problem at all. Use Friend of the Pack to summon your animal friends to help keep the sites you’ve taken, because King Min doesn’t share and neither should you.