As you fight bosses in Risk of Rain Returns you’ve probably noticed that yellow items sometimes drop from them. These are boss items unique for almost every boss in the game and are quite powerful. Here’s our yellow items guide in Risk of Rain Returns.
Risk of Rain Returns Boss Items Guide
There’s around a 15% for an eligible boss to drop a yellow boss item. Bosses that drop yellow items are the Colossus, the Ancient Wisp, the Imp Overlord, the Magma Worm, Ifrit, the Wandering Vagrant, and the Cremator. They’re all decently powerful additions to your arsenal offering both offensive and defensive bonuses. That said, some are more optimal than others so let’s take a look at each one.
Burning Witness
The Magma Worm’s boss item, Burning Witness, allows you to leave a fire trail behind you after killing enemies. The trail deals damage and increases your movement speed. This is an excellent item for melee builds that like to move in and out of combat.
If you’re using the Artifact of Command, I would highly recommend picking this one up on Acrid as it works quite well with its playstyle. HAN-D, CHEF, and the Commando can make decent use of it too as they like sticking to the ground. It’s not the best on survivors who prefer to stick to the skies like the Mercenary or Pilot.
Related: Best Acrid Build Guide in RoRR
Legendary Spark
While launching lightning bolts at your enemies seems incredibly cool, the Legendary Spark dropped by the Ancient Wisp isn’t all it’s hyped up to be. In reality, you have an 8% chance to trigger this effect on a hit.
While it does do decent damage, some survivors don’t like to rely on basic attacks and the proc chance is a bit lower for my taste. However, I found great success with this on the Huntress and Loader as they’re centered around attacking quite fast.
Ifrit’s Horn
Nearly identical to the Legendary Spark, the Ifrit’s Horn has an 8% chance on-hit to fire of a flaming wave. Again, this is a decent boss item on attack speed-based survivors. With that in mind, survivors who don’t rely on basic attacks might have more success with some of the items below.
Colossal Knurl
Become tanky like the Colossus with the Colossal Knurl which increases your health, armor, and health regeneration. Overall, this is a useful item on any build. It’s a combination of Tough Times, Guardian Heart, and Mysterious Vial, albeit to a lesser degree in all aspects. Still, extra defensive bonuses are always welcome, especially on Monsoon.
Related: 10 Best Defensive Items in RoR Returns.
Imp Overlord’s Tentacle
Ever wanted your very own Imp bodyguard? Well, you might get lucky after defeating the Imp Overlord and this item will drop. Essentially, the Imp bodyguard is akin to a ground-based drone with more health, damage, and it can revive itself.
It’s a decent item on lower difficulties but later on, the damage drops off and his health cannot hold up to looping runs and Monsoon in general. That said, it can sometimes draw a bit of aggro off of you making the imp an occasional tank.
Nematocyst Nozzle
The Nematocyst Nozzle is the only Equipment item dropped by bosses, the Wandering Vagrant to be exact. To be fair, while it’s one of the best damage-dealing Equipment items in the game, it’s not the best boss item.
You cannot direct the shots fired from it and focus them on a specific enemy. You’ll also pick up much more useful Equipment items anyway like the Unstable Watch. It does have a decent cooldown, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you have a choice with the Artifact of Command.
Scorching Shell Piece
The Cremator’s Scorching Shell Piece combines a similar defensive bonus of the Colossal Knurl with some offense if the shield you get breaks. As I’ve mentioned in my best RoR Returns items tier list, items that require you to get hit for value are suboptimal. You’re generally looking to avoid getting hit and retaliation damage isn’t reliable on higher difficulties. That said, the 20 health shield you get can sometimes save your life making this not the worst boss item.
Related: 10 Best Offensive Items in RoRR
Overall, while this boss items guide in Risk of Rain Returns has shown us that they can be incredibly fun, some are more optimal than others for playing on higher difficulties. I would recommend the Colossal Knurl as a general jack-of-all-trades pick-up. The Legendary Spark and Ifrit’s Horn can be useful for attack speed-based survivors like the Huntress or the Loader. Lastly, the Burning Witness is excellent for survivors who stick close to the ground and like to kite enemies around the burning trail like Acrid and CHEF.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our yellow items guide in Risk of Rain Returns. For more guides on the game like best equipment or best survivor tier rankings, check out our RoR Returns hub.
