Summary
Items are a very important part oftheRisk of Rainroguelike games, some would even say they’re the most important part. Yes,the Survivor a player chooses to controlhas a massive impact on the way they’ll approach a run ofRisk of Rain,Risk of Rain 2, orRisk of Rain Returns, but the success or failure of their run usually depends on their items.
While white (AKA common) items will end upmaking up the bulk of their build, green items are the second most common and will typically have more of an impact per item than white items do. And then there are red items, of course, but they’re the most difficult to find by design, so focusing on white and green items is probably for the best. With that in mind, let’s go over what green items to look out for inRisk of Rain Returns, what characters they work best for, and why they’re so powerful.
Killed enemies drop 25 percent more gold
+25 percent more gold per stack
Much likehow the Life Savings white itemhas a massive impact on the player’s starting economy inRisk of Rain Returns, Smart Shopper has a massive impact on the entirety of a run’s economy. And, when paired together, these two items will absolutely turn a player into a menacein a multiplayer lobby, as they’ll gain the money to buy all the chests much quicker than everyone else, and may just hog all the items if the host wasn’t careful enough to put the ‘Force Item Sharing’ option on.
Killing an enemy grants +1 Permanent Health
+0.5 HP per kill per stack
Next up is Infusion, an item thatRisk of Rain 2veterans may be surprised to see on a ‘best of’ list. InRisk of Rain 2, Infusion isn’t bad per se, but it’s certainly not amazing. Granted, in that game, the maximum amount of permanent HP players could gain from a single stack of Infusion was 100, but that wasn’t the case in the originalRisk of Rain. Back then, Infusion just gave 1 permanent HP per kill, per stack, and there was no limit. This means that with just a couple of Infusions early on the player’s health could grow to some ridiculously high levels, and that strategy hasn’t changed inRisk of Rain Returns.
Will O' The Wisp
Damage
The player has a 33 percent chance to cause the enemy on kill to explode into a lava pillar that deals 300 percent damage and knocks any nearby enemies upward.
+200 percent explosion damage per stack
Out of all the items across both (technically 3)Risk of Raingames, Will O' The Wisp might be the most satisfying when it triggers. This item, when in the player’s inventory, has a chance to cause enemies to literally explode when they die, dealing massive damage to any other enemies around them and potentially starting a chain reaction of explosions. It’s a fantastic item inRisk of Rain 2but it’s even stronger in the 2D games since enemies group up much easier as a whole due to the lack of an entire dimension.
AtG Missile MK 1
10 percent chance on-hit to fire a homing missile at enemy that deals 300 percent total damage.
+10 percent chance on-hit per stack (max 10 stacks)
Again, this is another item that fans of both the originalRisk of RainandRisk of Rain 2would be blown away if it wasn’t included here. The Anti-Tank Guided Missile MK 1 or ATG Missile MK 1 can turnjust about any Survivor inRisk of Rain Returnsinto a moving artillery.
Though to be fair, this item is much better on Survivors with high-damage attacks on a short cooldown or Survivors with a high rate of fire, butit honestly works on just about anyone(outside of maybe Acrid, but there’s even an argument to be made there). Additionally, when paired with some other on-hit items, it often causes a reaction of on-hit triggers as one ATG Missile triggers a Sticky Bomb which triggers Ukelele which leads to Gasoline that then triggers Will O' the Wisp, and so on.
Each Tough Times' increases the player’s Armor by 14.
+14 Armor per stack
In the originalRisk of Rain, the Tough Times item was a bit misleading, as the original description stated that the item caused the player to take 14 percent less damage, and this was simply not true. In actuality, the item always gave the player +14 Armor, which was still very helpful, but not the same thing.
Then, inRisk of Rain 2, they brought a tattered version of the item back as a white item (AKA Tougher Times) which did actually give players a 14 percent chance to ‘block’ incoming damage. And now, all these years later in theRisk of Rain Returnsremaster/remake, Tough Times is back and it finally has a proper description. In any case, while not as absurdly overpowered as it is inRoR2, Tough Times inRoRRabsolutely goes a long way in keeping the player alive.
Ukulele
20 percent chance on-hit to have chain lightning bounce from main target to up to three targets for 66 percent total damage.
+66 total damage per stack
The Ukulele item is another one that’s been very good in every appearance it’s made, but in the 2D games in particular it shines the brightest since enemies aren’t nearly as spaced out. Of course, this doesn’t include the Void version (the Polylute) that was introduced in theRisk of Rain 2Survivors of the Void update, but that’s really an entirely separate item. In any case, Ukulele is a great grabon just about any character, though it is typically better on characters who benefit more from on-hit items than others.
Prison Shackles
Utility
Slow enemies on-hit for -50 percent movement speed for 1.5 seconds.
+0.5 seconds slowed per stack
A lot of players are sort of ‘relearning’ how the originalRisk of Raingameplay loop worked, and this is where a lot of their perceived ‘unfair difficulty’ comes from. The originalRisk of Raingame is so incredibly different fromRisk of Rain 2, but because they’re the same IP a lot of people forget that.
For example, in the original game, kiting enemies was much more crucial than it is inRisk of Rain 2, due to having an entire extra dimension to easily maneuver around enemies inRoR2. Because of this, Prison Shackles are incredible in helping keep enemies at bay, and they’re one of the best items by far for someone like Acrid.
Guardian’s heart
Health
Gain a 60 Health Shield. Shield recharges when out of danger for 7 seconds.
+60 Shield per stack
Next up is another Health-based and/or survivability item, Guardian’s Heart. This is essentially a better version of the Personal Shield Generator fromRisk of Rain 2, but this one scales by a flat 60 per stack instead of by 8 percent of the character’s maximum HP.
And, one might think that the percentage option sounds better, but Health Values don’t really get all that high inRisk of Rain 2. Say a character has about 550 health at level 4 on the first stage, then their Personal Shield Generator is only giving them a 44 Health Shield. This is all just a roundabout way of saying that Guardian’s Heart is just a very good defensive option.
Gain an extra (+1) jump.
+1 jump per stack
Finally, here’s an item (named afterthe original developers of the IP) that’s better inRisk of Rain 2than it is inRisk of Rain Returns. InRoR2,even having just one Hopoo Feather makes getting around the stages exponentially easier and also trivializes the Mythrix endgame fight.
And, while it’s not quite as good inRisk of Rain Returns, it’s still by far one of the best green items. Remember,jumping in this game is one of the best evasive options, so of course having an extra jump is going to do a lot.
Chargefield Generator
Killing an enemy creates a ring of electricity that deals 50 percent damage every half second to 50 percent of enemies within its AoE. The ring starts at a radius of 4.7 meters and grows 1.3 meters with each kill up to 40 meters total. If the player isn’t currently killing enemies the ring will dissapear after 6 seconds.
+20 percent damage per stack
Here’s anotherRoRRitem that a lot of people are sleeping on, Chargefield Generator. Sure, that damage percentage is pretty low, and sure additional stacks don’t add a lot of additional damage, but the sheer range of this thing.
During the teleporter event alone, a player who is both fighting the boss and killing mobs will notice that their ring very quickly reaches the maximum coverage and will constantly be damaging every enemy in sight. Chargefield Generator is an item that only gets worse as the run progresses, but if players get it early (especially on a melee character) it can help out a ton.
