There are various damage-based equipment items in Risk of Rain Returns, but what about those that offer excellent utility? From getting free drones to refreshing your ultimate cooldown faster, some items prove it’s not all about raw damage. These are the best equipment items in RoRR.
The Best Equipment Items in Risk of Rain Returns
While we all like damage-based equipment items, there are great options that can drastically improve your abilities or survivability. When you’re looking for something to generate utility, grant invulnerability, or stop time let you strategize your next move — if for only a moment — you’ll want to keep an eye out for these pieces of equipment.
Drone Repair Kit
One of the equipment items buffed in Returns is the Drone Repair Kit. It still remains situational depending on whether you’re going for drones, of course, but now it also spawns a special free drone whenever you activate it. Combine it with the new and improved Arms Race, which also grants a free drone for a rocket-infested, self-sustained drone build, and you’ll have plenty of support against hordes of enemies.
Related: How to Get Beam Drones in RoRR
Explorer’s Key
This equipment item has massive value when multiple chests are on the screen. Free items are always great, especially when Uncommon item chests and gold chests are exposed. Just note that the Explorer’s Key isn’t the best to carry around all the time. Find it, use it, then switch to a more relevant item.
Safeguard Lantern
There are plenty of survivors — like the Artificer, Huntress, or CHEF — who deal great damage at range but require a tank to pull aggro. The Safeguard Lantern fills a similar role. It repels enemies away from you, allowing you to bombard them with AoE abilities and attack-speed primary shots. Combine it with the Artificer’s taunting Ice Wall for over a dozen seconds of aggro-free shots.
Thqwib
I know I said I’d focus on non-damage Equipment items, but Thqwibs, man. They’re boss killers. Think of them like a 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun full of flying alien pellets. Get into a boss’s face and fire them off, and you’re doing massive damage in short order. They’re incredible with the Artifact of Glass, The Toxin item, and critical strike chance.
Jar of Souls
As for crowd control, the Jar of Souls can be quite powerful when you’re facing a large group of enemies. While ghosts only get 70% of the damage, they’ll still be as numerous as the enemies you’re facing. For 15 seconds, you’ll have an army of your own to help you fight back the tide.
Gigantic Amethyst
The Gigantic Amethyst isn’t the most powerful equipment item for sheer explosive value. That said, it’s highly reliable because of its low cooldown. You can regularly perform various combos with it since it refreshes all your cooldowns, even from your Ultimate ability. Fire off a double Epidemic with Acrid or deploy two Localized Suns with Artificer. There are various combos, too, not to mention alternate abilities.
Shield Generator
If you’ve beaten the third stage with HAN-D without falling below 60% health, then you should seek out this new item. The Shield Generator makes you completely invulnerable for eight seconds, similar to the Loader’s shield. With it activated, you can stand inside a Warbanner and wreak havoc upon your enemies while taking no damage.
Unstable Watch
Similar to the Shield Generator, the Unstable Watch allows you to output as much damage in seven seconds without danger. Time is completely stopped, and enemies can’t move. This is great for taking down otherwise difficult bosses like the Cremator or Providence in his fourth phase. Of course, you’ll have to beat the first stage in under five minutes to get it, but completing that challenge is worth it for this equipment item.
Those are the best equipment items in Risk of Rain Returns. Of course, damage-based ones like the Sawmerang or Glowing Meteorite are cool, but Shield Generators and Unstable Watches are simply on another level. For more lists like best offensive and defensive items or our survivor tier rankings, check out our RoR Returns guides hub.
