Roguelike games have a focus on player skill. Dodging attacks, making critical decisions quickly, and altering your playstyle based on items found are all core aspects of this genre. This is why Risk of Rain 2 is such a popular title.
This roguelike co-op game takes the common 2D zaniness into full 3D with no compromises. To survive for long durations, you will need to keep your eyes peeled for good items. While most items serve a specific niche, some are much better than others and will have a much more noticeable impact on your gameplay. Here are the best items you can use in Risk of Rain 2.
Updated May 5, 2023 by Jacqueline Zalace: Items are essential in Risk of Rain 2. We've updated this list with even more helpful items that you should grab on your next run. Now, you can find 17 great items that you can use to make your way to Mithrix (or the Obelisk).
17 Laser Scope
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Item Effect |
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Critical Strikes deal an additional 100% damage (+100% per stack). |
The Laser Scope is a legendary item added in the Survivors of the Void DLC. If you're lucky enough to find it (or you're having fun using the Artifact of Command), you'll soon be dealing more damage than you know what to do with. Critical Strikes alone already deal twice the damage a normal hit does. With the Laser Scope in tow, your Critical Strikes become life-enders.
For maximum effect, try pairing the Laser Scope with a stack of Len's Maker's Glasses. The Glasses increase the likelihood of landing a Critical Strike in the first place. If you manage to stack ten Lens-Maker's glasses with even just one Laser Scope, Mithrix should tremble before you.
16 Hopoo Feather
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Item Effect |
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Gain +1 (+1 per stack) maximum jump count. |
Don't underestimate the usefulness of the Hopoo Feather. Though it does nothing to increase your character's damage output or enhance how quickly they can recover health, the Hopoo Feather is a godsend when it comes to your mobility. Even having a single extra jump can make the difference between life and death if a boss catapults you into the air, and you can time your second jump right before you hit the ground.
If you consider the changes made to Mithrix's boss area, verticality becomes an issue you'll have to grapple with if you want to complete Commencement. There is no such thing as too many Hopoo Feathers at your disposal.
15 Unstable Tesla Coil
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Item Effect |
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Fire out lightning that hits 3 (+2 per stack) enemies for 200% base damage every 0.5s. The Tesla Coil switches off every 10 seconds. |
Some of the best items in Risk of Rain 2 are the ones that eventually make your character's attacks obsolete. The Unstable Tesla Coil shoots out bolts of lightning that severely damages the nearby monsters it strikes. With every coil you add to your collection, you hit more and more enemies with each activation.
This delightful item does wonders for any characters that are close-range fighters, and it's also handy to have if you're playing Engineer. Your little turrets (which acquire all the items you do) will have their own Unstable Tesla Coils, making the three of you one happy, lightning-dealing family.
14 Shatterspleen
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Item Effect |
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Critical Strikes bleed enemies for 240% base damage. Bleeding enemies explode on death for 400% (+400% per stack) damage, plus an additional 15% (+15% per stack) of their maximum health. |
For a boss item, Shatterspleen is a devastating item that virtually every Survivor can use. This item gives your critical strikes a way to apply a massive AoE explosion by bleeding enemies, dealing an absurd amount of damage. This is easily one of the strongest boss items in Risk of Rain 2. If you get a Shatterspleen, prepare for a fun time.
13 Kill Chain Items
We're going to cheat and include multiple items in this entry, as they all functionally do the same thing. These items all activate some sort of effect after you hit or kill an enemy, and they have a proc coefficient.
In essence, when one of these items activates, it'll damage a target and has a chance of activating other on-hit items you have. This can create a chain reaction of damaging effects that can single-handedly clear levels for you. If you can get a few of these items, you're in for a good run.
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Item Name |
Item Effect |
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AtG Missile Mk. 1 |
10% chance to fire a missile that deals 300% (+300% per stack) total damage. |
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Charged Perforator |
10% chance on hit to down a lightning strike, dealing 500% (+500% per stack) damage. |
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Kjaro's Band |
Hits that deal more than 400% damage also blast enemies with a runic flame tornado, dealing 300% (+300% per stack) total damage over time.
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Runald's Band |
Hits that deal more than 400% damage also blast enemies with a runic ice blast, dealing 250% (+250% per stack) total damage over time.
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Ukelele |
25% chance to fire chain lightning for 80% total damage, chaining up to 3 (+2 per stack) targets within 20m (+2m per stack). |
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Will-o'-the-Wisp |
Killing an enemy spawns a lava pillar in a 12m (+2.4m per stack) radius for 350% (+280% per stack) base damage. |
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Ignition Tank |
Ignite effects 300% (+300% per stack) more damage over time. |
12 Paul's Goat Hoof
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Item Effect |
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Increases movement speed by 14% (+14% per stack). |
Increasing your speed by 14 percent sounds bad on paper, but Paul's Goat Hoof is a common item that can stack on itself. With multiple Hoofs, your character becomes much faster and easier to play.
Most attacks in Risk of Rain 2 are telegraphed either through a melee animation or a traveling projectile. Having a high movement modifier allows you to completely dodge these attacks while looping across stages faster, letting you get further in a run than otherwise. It can also be stacked with a single Energy Drink to provide a massive increase to your sprint speed.
11 Harvester's Scythe
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Item Effect |
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Gain 5% critical chance. Critical strikes heal for 8 (+4 per stack) health. |
Critical hits are common in the later stages of Risk of Rain 2. Capitalizing on those criticals can turn any great run into a god-tier run. Harvester's Scythes are one item that can turn your criticals into life-savers.
With this item, you gain a five percent increased critical hit chance, and you heal for eight health for every critical strike you deal. That sounds rather low, but creating proc-chains with items that all critically hit can result in hundreds of health being recovered in a second. This item can stack on itself to provide further healing, although the five percent critical bonus does not stack on itself.
10 Shattering Justice
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Item Effect |
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After hitting an enemy 5 times, reduce their armor by 60 for 8 (+8 per stack) seconds. |
Armor is a damage reduction stat in Risk of Rain 2, making players and enemies alike take significantly less damage if their armor stat is high enough. Shattering Justice reduces an enemy's armor by 60, increasing the damage all enemies take by a significant amount. Armor can be reduced into the negatives, meaning this is a massive damage increase against every enemy in the game.
9 Gesture Of The Drowned
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Item Effect |
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Reduce Equipment cooldown by 50% (+15% per stack). Forces your Equipment to activate whenever it is off cooldown. |
Most Lunar items come with some negative modifier to offset a major boon. Gesture of the Drowned has a negative that is a blessing in disguise.
While active, your equipment will have half its normal cooldown in exchange for automatically activating. This is fantastic when you stack Fuel Cells to keep short cooldown Equipment always active. With Spinel Tonic, you can permanently boost all of your stats and make any average run into a god run.
8 Lens-Maker's Glasses
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Item Effect |
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Your attacks have a 10% (+10% per stack) chance to critically strike, dealing double damage. |
Few common items can impact a run as much as Lens-Maker's Glasses. While simple, they can provide a massive boost in damage output and the longevity of your run.
Every stack of this item increases your critical hit chance by ten percent. This can stack up to 100 percent, and going past that value does nothing. Critical hits double the damage you deal and activate items that rely on critical strikes, making these Glasses an essential item for any character.
7 Spinel Tonic
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Item Effect |
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Drink the Tonic, gaining a boost for 20 seconds.
When the Tonic wears off, you have a 20% chance to gain a Tonic Affliction, reducing all of your stats by -5% (-5% per stack).
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Spinel Tonic is one of the strongest Equipment items in Risk of Rain 2, but only if you can maintain the buff. In essence, this tonic turns you into an unstoppable killing machine that's much faster than normal. If you lose the buff, you can have all of your stats reduced for the rest of your run. Obviously, that's not good.
This item is so strong because negating Tonic withdrawal is surprisingly easy. A Gesture of the Drowned and a few Fuel Cells are all you need to have this buff up 24/7. If you can maintain Spinel Tonic, you're in for a good run.
6 Shaped Glass
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Item Effect |
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Shaped Glass is another Lunar item that has a powerful effect. Dealing damage is what moves Risk of Rain 2 forward and with Shaped Glass, you can quickly mow down enemies.
Sure, this item reduces your HP, but this can be countered with items such as Tougher Times or any armor-boosting items like the Repulsion Armor Plate. Barriers from items still function with the Shaped Glass, giving you even more extra padding.
5 Tougher Times
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Item Effect |
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15% (+15% per stack) chance to block incoming damage.
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It's important to note that Tougher Times has diminishing returns as it stacks. You cannot reach 100% damage avoidance with Tougher Times, no matter how many stacks of this item you have. Additionally, 57 Leaf Clover doesn't affect this item's proc chance.
With those downsides, why is this item on the list? Well, mitigating any source of damage to zero is absurdly strong, especially with how often Tougher Times does it. This item can single-handedly save your run, especially when enemies start dealing an absurd amount of damage.
4 Ceremonial Dagger
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Item Effect |
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Killing an enemy will fire 3 homing daggers dealing 150% (+150% per stack) base damage. |
The Ceremonial Dagger is a Legendary item, which means that it may be hard to come across, especially if you are early in a run. Its effects are oh-so amazing though. With homing daggers firing upon killing an enemy, you can kill even more.
What happens if there are no other enemies nearby? The daggers will remain in the air for ten seconds until another enemy appears. These homing daggers also share your own critical strike chance, meaning that these pair well with crit-boosting items.
3 Dio's Best Friend
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Item Effect |
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Holding this item will save you from death.
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An item to save you from death; what else is there to say? As with every other roguelike game out there, dying will end the run. To prevent an early demise, Dio's Best Friend will save you.
Of course, an item this good is a Legendary item, meaning that it can be quite difficult to get your hands on. With the Artifact of Command though, you can choose this upon finding any Legendary-tier item.
2 Brilliant Behemoth
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Item Effect |
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All attacks explode in a 4m radius (+2.5m per stack) dealing 60% total damage to nearby enemies. |
Some items affect a certain type of ability or attack, making them a bit situational. With the Brilliant Behemoth, all of your attacks will deal damage in an AoE. All you need to do is attack like normal, and the explosions will follow.
With 60 percent total damage, you can passively kill enemies, making this a great item to pair with the Ceremonial Dagger. Interestingly, the Brilliant Behemoth will cause an explosion when an attack lands on a surface. For example, if you play as Commando and toss out a Frag Grenade, it will bounce a bit. These points of contact will create their own explosion.
1 57 Leaf Clover
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Item Effect |
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All random effects are rolled +1 (+1 per stack) times for a favorable outcome. |
No other item in Risk of Rain 2 comes remotely close to the 57 Leaf Clover's power. If you obtain this Legendary item, you are in for a fantastic run.
This item will reroll any random effect an additional time and use the favorable outcome. It works like the Lucky feat in Dungeons & Dragons, giving almost every item a much higher chance to proc. This does not work on Tougher Times or loot from chests or shrines, but this allows proc-chains to occur much more consistently. If you get more than one of these, the game practically plays itself.