Summary
Items are everything in theRisk of Raingames. Sure, depending on the game, be itRisk of Rain,Risk of Rain 2, orRisk of Rain Returns, the impact of items can vary slightly.
But, for the most part, items and how they’re used together make up the majority of the builds in these games.Risk of Rain Returnsis a bit of a rude awakening for people who only playedRoR2, as its difficulty is a whole different beast. So to help fans both new and old get used to this game, let’s go over which white items, in particular, are the best.
Generate 1 Gold every 3 seconds. Scales with time.
+1 Gold every 3 seconds per stack.
First up is an item that helps players get things started in a run so much faster. The most tedious part of anyRisk of Raingame is the early parts of the first couple of stages where it feels like it’s taking forever for enemies to actually spawn.
With Life Savings, players won’t need to worry about waiting around as much and will be able to buy chests much faster. The item is a lot less useful as the run progresses, but it’s vital for the first 10-15 minutes of any run.
Headstompers
Damage
When falling, hurt nearby enemies on impact for up to 600 percent damage.
+300 percent damage per stack.
Next up is Headstompers, an item that a lot of people who didn’t play the originalRisk of Rainback in 2013 probably think is bad. They’re entirely wrong, of course, as any fan of the originalRoRgame knows that they’ll be falling a bunch unintentionally and that the damage that comes from Headstompers triggering is actually pretty absurd.
Characters like Pilot, Artificer, and Loader especially will make the most use of this item, but it’s pretty decent on just about anyone.
Rusty Knife
15 percent chance to bleed an enemy on hit for 4x35 percent total damage.
+15 percent chance (Max 7 stacks)
Bleed was the ‘go-to’ build for a long time inRisk of Rain 2, and it remains one of the stronger Status Effects across all three games as long as it’s in the right hands. Bleed builds typically benefit the mostfrom a Survivor who can apply Bleed reliablyand often, such as the Commando, Huntress, Pilot, Chef, Engineer, and so on.
With a 15 percent chance to apply Bleed from just one Knife, it’s an easy recommendation for players to look for at least one in their runs.
Mortar Tube
9 percent chance on hit to launch a mortar for 170 percent total damage.
+170 percent total damage per stack
Mortar Tube, Sticky Bomb, and ATGs have beena staple of overpowered buildsacross all theRisk of Raingames, but inRisk of Rain 2especially. Granted, inRisk of Rain Returns,players don’t have quite as much agency over their builddue to the lack of Scrappers and Printers, but that’s also why the benefits from items are a bit higher in exchange.
With the Mortar Tube in particular, there’s almost never a reason to ignore this item, and the more players stack, the more chances they have to proc on hit effects, and the more they’ll see their damage skyrocket.
Lens Maker’s Glasses
Attacks have a 10 percent chance on hit to ‘critically strike’, dealing double damage.
+7 percent chance per stack (max 14 stacks)
In some games, it is typically okay to ignore Critical Chance builds and just go for raw damage, but that is not the case (for the most part) in theRisk of Raingames. Because of the way damage is constantly calculated with percentages, Critical Strikes are a lot more impactful when they do happen, and a lot of on-hit items take the damage from a Critical Strike and apply that to the on-hit effect as well. So, needless to say,Lens Maker’s Glasses are a must-haveon most characters, except for maybe someone like Acrid or Han-D.
Utility
+7.5 percent Movement Speed & +6 percent Attack Speed.
+7.5 percent Movement Speed per stack & +6 percent Attack Speed per stack
Mocha is an item that was introduced in the new content updates forRisk of Rain 2and was then added to the remaster ofRisk of RainviaRisk of Rain Returns. It’s a half-and-half item that’s meant to put a bit less emphasis on players ‘needing’ to find a Goat Hoof or a Soldier’s Syringe in every run for their build to work.
Mochas work as an in-between, giving players a noticeable buff to both Movement Speed and Attack Speed, which should hold them over altogether or at least until they find the Hoof/Syringe they’re looking for.
Gain 3 percent Crit Chance. Critical Strikes drop 1 Gold
+3 percent more Crit Chance per stack & +1 Gold perk stack
A lot of people are sleeping on Razor Penny, and it’s not entirely clear why. Just from the item description alone, it should be clear as day why the Razor Penny is so good. First, it gives Crit Chance (albeit not a lot). Second, it gives money on Critical Strikes.
Third, each stack of Razor Penny increases both of its beneficial effects. If a Survivor with a high fire rate such as Commando, Engineer’s Turrets, Chef, or Pilot gets a ton of Lens Maker’s Glasses, a single Razor Penny is enough so that they’ll never worry about Gold for the rest of the run.
The Toxin
On contact with enemies, infect them for 3 seconds, causing them to receive 30 percent extra damage from all sources.
+15 percent extra damage per stack
There are only a couple oftrue ‘melee’ charactersinRisk of Rain Returns, with those being the Mercenary, Miner, and Loader. Sure, both Acrid and Han-D have the option of using melee, but their primary builds tend to rely on either waiting on poison to kill enemies (Acrid) or using Drones to melt enemies from a distance (Han-D).
However, on the melee characters that are going to be ‘in the thick of it’ so to say, The Toxin is a fantastic item. Not only does this item make it so that any enemy that touches the Survivor suffers for it, but it’s also one of themost helpful Support items in a multiplayer lobby.
Gasoline
Killing enemies causes the ground beneath them to burn for 60 percent damage.
+40 percent damage per stack
Out of all the iconic items in theRisk of Rainfranchise, Gasoline may be among the top 3. This common item has just been so incredibly strong for a lot of builds in everyRoRgame. Granted, on a 2-D plane, it feels more helpful than ever since enemies have much less freedom to avoid the flaming terrain, but even inRisk of Rain 2Gasoline is a build maker. Absolutely the best item to grab to immediately start melting mobs of enemies that, previously, were very hard to handle.
10 percent chance to ‘evade’ incoming damage automatically.
+10 percent chance per stack (max 6 stacks)
Again, people reading this who are coming fromRisk of Rain 2might be surprised to see that Tougher Times is now a Green item inRisk of Rain Returnsinstead of the White item it was in that game. Because of this,Hermit’s Scarf is now the go-to damage ‘reduction’ itemto grab in the early stages.
Sure Topaz Brooch gives Barrier, but when players pair the Hermit’s Scarf with the Prophet’s Cape, they end up either avoiding or blocking (and then healing from) more than half of the damage coming their way. Plus, when players eventually dostart using Artifacts like the Artifact of Glass, this item tends to help a lot in making those runs last longer.
