There are plenty of interesting damage items in Risk of Rain Returns, and it can be hard to choose the best of the best. Believe me, I know. From new ones to old ones, these are my 10 best offensive items to get in Risk of Rain Returns.
10 Best Offensive Items in Risk of Rain Returns
I don’t have to tell you that Rare items in Risk of Rain Returns are some of the most powerful and useful items in the game. That said, I want to caution that you don’t overlook items at lower rarities, either. There are some truly great Uncommon — and even Common — ones I’ve found that can drastically increase the power of your build. Depending on your survivor, I recommend prioritizing the following items.
10. Warbanner (Common)
The Warbanner is one of my favorite items because of the hectic tactics tied to it, especially in co-op play. It provides a hefty attack and movement speed boost (30%) at the cost of being locked to a specific location. Manevouring around the Warbanner can be useful and fun, balancing risk, rain, and reward.
You get a guaranteed Warbanner when activating a teleporter, and it always provides the maximum attack speed boost no matter the stacks (since the stacks only increase its area of effect). The only issue is that standing in one area is usually dangerous. But if you have a way to gain invulnerability like with the Loader or stop time with the Unstable Watch, it can be an incredibly powerful offensive tool.
9. Lens Maker’s Glasses (Common)
Slap on a pair of glasses and gain a 10% chance to deal double damage with each attack and ability. This bonus increases by a decent 7% with each following stack. That’s a decent stack, especially if you’re using the Artifact of Command. Critical chance is always useful and never situational like the Warbanner.
Furthermore, I find it pairs well with other items that benefit from critical strikes. Examples include the Harvester’s Scythe for heals or the Wicked Ring for cooldown reduction. Unlike some of the following momentum items that benefit from killing groups of enemies, Lens Maker’s Glasses are great for a 1v1 boss battle.
8. Backup Magazine (Common)
While not intrinsically a damaged item, the Backup Magazine adds one charge to your secondary skill per stack. Since secondary skills usually revolve around damage, the Backup Magazine can allow for burst damage in rapid succession. Especially with AoE damage skills like the Commando’s Full Metal Jacket or the Bandit’s Dynamite.
7. Royal Medallion (Uncommon)
Once you get gold rank on at least five Providence Trials, you’ll unlock this bad boy. Essentially, the Royal Medallion increases your attack speed, damage, movement speed, and health regeneration almost every time you hit a boss. I found it’s incredibly effective against characters with high attack speed, like the Huntress or CHEF, alongside the Soldier’s Syringe. Fighting a boss creates a snowball effect where the more you hit it, the stronger you become.
6. Frost Relic/Chargefield Generator (Uncommon)
Here, we have our first momentum items that trigger an AoE damage field around you as you kill enemies. The Frost Relic and Chargefield Generator have similar effects, but the Chargefield Generator is more suited for melee characters while The Frost Relic is useful for melee and ranged ones.
That’s because the Frost Relic deals more damage with each kill, while the Generator’s area increases instead. Passive AoE damage-per-second is almost always useful, except when fighting Providence, who doesn’t have that many mobs around him.
5. Tesla Coil (Rare)
Speaking of passive AoE damage, the Tesla Coil takes the cake. It doesn’t require you to gather any kills. It’s simply a zone of death around you, ticking damage slowly but surely, increasing that damage for each stack. Arguably, it’s a superior version of the previous entry. However, it’s a Rare item after all, so both Frost Relice and Chargefield Generator work in a pinch.
4. Plasma Chain (Rare)
The Plasma Chain can be an interesting one since it requires a bit of skill and maneuvering to utilize fully. First off, it can establish a tether to one enemy, something I find extremely useful already. But any creature in the tether’s range — caught between you and the tethered creature — takes fixed damage per 0.5 seconds.
This means that you can tether to one enemy and then move out of harm’s way while damaging all enemies caught in the path. Indeed, I find it works similarly similar to the Loader’s lightning turret, another one of my favorite items. Multiple stacks aren’t that drastic, as they merely increase the number of creatures you can tether to. That said, this is a good item for fighting bosses 1v1.
3. Hyper-Threader (Rare)
This laser gun requires you to complete the Providence Trial called A Rung Above Providence, but it’s worth it. Hitting enemies naturally produces bouncing lasers that can boost your damage output for basic attacks. Granted, this is only really useful for survivors who rely on basic attacks, but it can shred groups of enemies, earning it a spot in my Top 3 RoRR items. Something else I like? It doesn’t require you to get any kills beforehand.
2. The Ol’ Lopper (Rare)
Ahh yes, a big executioner’s axe unlocked by surviving for 40 minutes. The Ol’ Lopper increases your damage by up to 60% the lower the enemy’s health is. It takes a bit of time to swing and reach its full effect, but The Ol’ Lopper is a reliable damage boost to use against any boss. While not as flashy as other rare items, it proves that sometimes, you just need a tool to get the job done.
1. Ceremonial Dagger (Rare)
The Ceremonial Dagger is slightly controversial — and not just because it gets my top spot on this list. Admittedly, its usefulness depends on how you play the game. If your goal is to face Providence, the Ceremonial Dagger’s ability to spawn damaging knives on kills loses value. Providence simply doesn’t come with many mobs to gain value from this item.
However, if your goal is looping and facing down enemy horde after enemy horde, the Ceremonial Dagger is top tier. Each kill shoots out four daggers, dealing decent damage, but the best part is that the damage is the same for any mob. Boarlings, smaller Lemurians, and other lesser mobs become fuel for your eviscerating damage output.
Those are the best offensive items in Risk of Rain Returns. Any list like this is an opinion to some extent, but these are the items I’ve found the most success with over dozens of hours in the game. Sure, there are other good choices, like Thallium, the Soldier’s Syringe, and improved Arms Race for drones. If you get those, you’re still doing well. We have plenty of other useful lists like our survivor tier rankings, best defensive items, and best equipment items. Check out our RoR Returns hub for more.
