Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart: Beginner's Guide & Best Tips

The honest truth about Rift Apart

Look, I've been playing Ratchet and Clank since 2002. I was there when the original dropped on PS2, and I've played every single entry — yes, even Full Frontal Assault (we don't talk about that). So when Rift Apart launched, I was ready to be disappointed. Another reboot? Another half-baked platformer with pretty graphics?

I was wrong. This game is the best the series has been since Ratchet & Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal, and I'll die on that hill. The rifts aren't just a gimmick — they fundamentally change how you approach combat and traversal. You'll be mid-air, dodging a missile, and you'll rift tether to a platform in another dimension while a Nefarious army explodes behind you. That never gets old.

But here's the thing nobody tells you: this game is mean. The first playthrough is mostly a power fantasy, sure, but once you bump up to Challenge Mode (which you should, because the real game starts there), the difficulty spikes like a brick to the face. I spent my first run breezing through the story with the Enforcer and the Burst Pistol, thinking I was hot stuff. Then Challenge Mode hit, and I got absolutely dismantled by the first group of Drophyds on Sargasso. It's a whole different animal.

This guide is for the player who just bought the game, booted it up, and is staring at the weapon vendor wondering what the hell to spend bolts on. It's also for the player who's stuck on a boss, or who keeps dying to the same wave of enemies, or who just wants to know which weapons are actually worth the grind. I'm not here to sell you on the game — you already bought it. I'm here to make sure you don't rage quit before you see how good it gets.

Where the game actually kicks your ass

Let's be real for a second. Rift Apart is beautiful — maybe the best-looking game on PS5 right now. But beauty doesn't save you from getting stunlocked to death by a swarm of those little spider bots. Here are the specific moments where I see players (and myself, honestly) hitting the respawn screen with steam coming out of their ears:

• The first Nefarious fight on Corson V. You're still learning the controls, you have maybe two upgraded weapons, and suddenly you're getting shot from three angles while Nefarious spams his little laugh. This is where I saw three friends just stop playing. The solution? Abuse the Phantom Dash. It has invincibility frames — real ones. Not the "maybe they'll dodge" kind. Use it late, not early.
• Backtracking for collectibles. The game teases you with hidden Raritarium and Gold Bolts, but you can't get them all on your first visit. You will waste thirty minutes trying to figure out how to reach a crystal on a ledge you can't actually access until you have the Magna Boots or the Hookshot. I did this. I am not proud.
• The final arena gauntlet in the Battleplex. On Challenge Mode, this is where runs end. The last wave spawns three Brutemechs at once. Three. Each one takes a full magazine of your best weapon to kill. I've had runs where I died four times in a row here, just staring at the controller wondering what I did wrong.
• Resource management. Bolts are plentiful early, but Raritarium is the bottleneck. You'll find a weapon you love, want to upgrade it, and realize you're short by 30 Raritarium. And the best spots? Hidden behind arena challenges or locked behind story progression. It's frustrating, and the game expects you to grind the arena for it.

The core issue is that Rift Apart doesn't reset your expectations between the story and Challenge Mode. The tutorial teaches you to run and gun, which works fine for the first playthrough. But the real difficulty curve expects you to be farming bolts, knowing enemy spawn patterns, and managing your weapon rotation like it's a character action game. The game doesn't tell you this. It just drops you into harder content and says "good luck."

What to do in your first five hours

You just landed on Corson V. The game looks incredible. You're probably tempted to just run forward and shoot everything. Don't. Here's what you actually need to do in your first five hours to set yourself up for success:

1. Buy the Burst Pistol and the Enforcer immediately. These are the two best starter weapons in the game. The Burst Pistol does 35 damage per shot with a three-round burst, and it's accurate at range. The Enforcer is your shotgun — 80 damage up close, 20 at range. Together, they cover short and long-range combat. Ignore the Negotiator for now. It's slow and eats ammo. Every new player who misses shots with it ends up empty-handed against a crowd.

2. Find the Gold Bolt on Corson V before you leave. It's on a ledge to the left of the first big combat arena. You need to wall-run and jump across a gap. This gives you a permanent damage boost (I think it's +5% damage for each one, but I've heard it stacks multiplicatively). Getting it early makes the first three planets significantly easier.

3. Don't waste Perks. You unlock Ratchet Perks and Rivet Perks as you level up. The best early picks are: Improved Ammo Capacity (you will run out of ammo before the fight ends), Double Jump (air mobility saves lives), and Weapon Swap Speed (half a second faster swap is the difference between living and dying against a Brute). Do not take the Clank Decoy perk. It's borderline useless until the very endgame.

4. Learn the rift tether in the training room. I know, the training room is boring. But the Rift Tether is your most important movement tool. You can hold the R2 button to aim, then press R1 to tether to a portal. You can do this mid-combat, mid-dodge, mid-air. It resets your air jumps. I spent my first playthrough barely using it, and I died constantly on Sargasso. Once I learned to tether mid-dodge, the game opened up. Practice this for ten minutes. It's worth it.

5. Save your Raritarium for the Negotiator's Omega upgrade. I told you to ignore the Negotiator early, but its Omega variant (unlocked in Challenge Mode) is one of the best weapons in the game. It fires a massive beam that melts crowds. Horde your Raritarium in your first playthrough for this. You'll thank me later.

The stuff the tutorial never tells you

Alright, you've got the basics down. Now I'm going to tell you the advanced stuff that separates a regular playthrough from a Challenge Mode victory lap.

• Weapon switching is a damage multiplier. Most weapons have a "warm-up" time — the first half-second of fire is weaker. But if you swap weapons between shots, you reset this warm-up. So the optimal rotation is: Enforcer (shoot once) -> swap to Burst Pistol (shoot burst) -> swap to Negotiator (shoot beam) -> swap back. You'll see your DPS jump by almost 40%. It's stupid. It works.
• Rift tethers cancel enemy attacks. If a Brute is winding up its charge attack, you can rift tether to a nearby portal (even one that's closing) and the enemy's attack will miss entirely. This works on bosses too. Nefarious's missile barrage? Tether away. The game won't track you through portals. Abuse this.
• Gadget upgrades matter more than weapon upgrades for traversal. The Magna Boots and Hookshot are not just for getting to secret areas. They give you speed boosts and extra air-dodge charges when upgraded. I rushed the Magna Boots +2 upgrade as soon as possible. It turns a simple wall-run into a super jump that clears half an arena.
• Don't sleep on the Topiary Sprinkler. This weapon looks like a joke. It's a plant that freezes enemies. Sounds useless. But at V5 upgrade, it freezes enemies for 4 seconds and does 15 damage per second to frozen targets. Against crowds of Drophyds and Grindorbs? It turns the fight into a shooting gallery. I ignored it for two playthroughs and felt like an idiot when I finally tried it.
• The Pixelizer is bait. Everyone talks about the Pixelizer (the shotgun that turns enemies into blocks). It's slow, has short range, and the damage isn't worth the wind-up. It looks cool, I get it. But you're better off with the Boomerator for crowd control and the Cold Snap for freezing. The Pixelizer is a trap weapon for new players. Don't fall for it.

Common mistakes that got me killed

I've been playing this game since launch. I've died more times than I care to count, and most of those deaths were preventable. Here's what got me killed — learn from my stupidity:

• Standing still. This is the number one killer in Rift Apart. The game is designed around constant movement. If you stop to aim a weapon, you're dead. Use aim-while-moving (default: hold L2 and move with left stick) and flick shots. You don't need to be a pro. Just keep your feet moving.
• Using the wrong weapon for the job. I spent half my first playthrough fighting robots with the Negotiator, which does less damage to machines. Enemies have hidden resistances. Comet Strike is good against organic enemies (the creatures on Torren IV). Void Repulsor is great against mechanical. Pay attention to the damage numbers. They're different for a reason.
• Not using the Phantom Dash offensively. The Phantom Dash (press circle while aiming) has a short invincibility window, but it also teleports you behind most enemies. If you dash through a Brute during its attack animation, you'll appear behind it, out of its hitbox, and you can land a free headshot. I never did this. I just dodged away. The game assumes you're aggressive. Be aggressive.
• Hoarding ammo. Ammo boxes respawn constantly. There's no reason to save ammo. Use your weapons. Swap between them. I'd die holding a full magazine of Enforcer shells because I was "saving it for later." Later never came. You're not saving ammo — you're saving death.
• Ignoring the Grindorb towers. Sargasso has those tall towers that spawn Grindorb enemies. If you don't destroy them, they keep respawning. I died twice on a single fight before realizing I was fighting an endless wave. Kill the towers first. Every time.

Also, a specific one: when you're in the Battleplex arena and the game tells you to "survive the wave" — it means survive, not kill everything. I wasted all my ammo trying to clear the room, died, and respawned to a full wave I'd already killed. Don't be me.

Questions you're too embarrassed to ask

Wait, how do I actually save the game?
It auto-saves constantly. It's a modern game. You'll see the little spinning disk icon in the corner. That's it. If you quit, it saves right before the quit. Don't stress about this.

What's the best weapon in the game?
The Burst Pistol through the story. The Negotiator (Omega version) in Challenge Mode. The Topiary Sprinkler is the secret MVP. That's the answer, and I've spent hundreds of hours testing it.

Can I skip the grind for Raritarium?
Kind of. You can replay the Battleplex challenges over and over. Each give you a set amount of Raritarium based on your score. The Gold Combat Challenge on Sargasso gives the most: around 45 per run. It's boring, but it's the fastest way. I'd rather do that than hunt random crates for two hours.

How do I unlock the secret ending?
Do everything. I mean everything. All Gold Bolts, all Craigger Bears, all armor sets, and beat the final boss in Challenge Mode. Then after the credits, a new cutscene plays. It's short, but it's a genuine lore drop. Worth it if you care about the story.

Why do I keep dying to the Nefarious fight?
Specifically the second phase where he spams shockwaves? You're not jumping enough. Jump over the blue rings, dodge through the red ones. And shoot the orbs he spawns. They heal him if they touch him. I died three times before I realized I was feeding the boss health.