Risk of Rain Returns is an absolutely thrilling roguelike ride that is filled to the brim with so many secrets to unlock, survivors to discover and play as, and more than a few items to wield in battle through each zone of the game. Just as in previous Risk of Rain installments, the items you choose to pick up will make or break your run, particularly on the higher difficulties and with certain Artifacts equipped.
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However, there are simply so many items to choose from, that it can be hard to know which ones are better than others, and of course what they do. If you’re feeling a bit lost of what to pick up and what to leave, here is our very own Risk of Rain Returns Item Tier List.
All Items (Tiered) & What They Do in Risk of Rain Returns
Items in the game are categorized by rarity (White up to Yellow), and some are Equipment types (Orange) that serve as an additional special ability for your chosen survivor for that run, or until you decide to switch it out for another one. Other special items serve specific purposes rather than providing buffs or abilities.
The following is our tiered list of all obtainable items/equipment in Risk of Rain Returns.
Remember that many of these need to be unlocked by completing various in-game challenges with different survivors.
S-Tier Items (Special Items)
| Item Name | Item Type | What It Does | How to Unlock |
| Strange Battery | Equipment (Orange) | Used to unlock Robomando survivor | Inside a clickable vase on Zone 5 (Temple of Elders); must be Drizzle difficulty |
| Keycard | Item | Opens locked security doors | Golden Canisters and Enemy Drops on final level |
| White Undershirt (M) | Item | Gives player +2 STR | Drops from Armored Boarlit on Boar Beach secret area |
| Small Enigma | Item | Reduces cooldown of equipment | Drops instead of equipment with Artifact of Enigma active |
| Big Bison Steak | Meal | Boosts health regen and movement speed | CHEF survivor via their COOK ability |
| Marinated Lizard Loaf | Meal | Boosts damage output | CHEF survivor via their COOK ability |
| Golem Essence on the Rocks | Meal | Gain barrier and increased armor | CHEF survivor via their COOK ability |
| Jelly Brain Salad | Meal | Reduces skill cooldowns by 1 second | CHEF survivor via their COOK ability |
| Fried Eyeball | Meal | Slow down incoming enemies | CHEF survivor via their COOK ability |
Equipment Items
| Item Name | What It Does | How to Unlock |
| Rotten Brain | Throw a brain that bounces in place and damages/slows enemies for 200% x 6 hits | Immediately available |
| Safeguard Lantern | Drops a lantern that inflicts Fear and does 20% damage to enemies | Immediately available |
| Snowglobe | Causes a snowstorm that has 50% chance to freeze enemies for 7 seconds | Immediately available |
| Explorer’s Key | Open all chests on the map within 20 meters | Immediately available |
| Foreign Fruit | Heal 50% of your health instantly | Immediately available |
| Instant Minefield | Drops 6 mines around you that deal 400% damage each | Immediately available |
| Jar of Souls | Duplicate every enemy as a ghost to fight at your side for 15 seconds. They do 70% damage. | Immediately available |
| Carrara Marble | Place a marble gate that acts as a mini-teleport that you can return to by hitting the action again after cooldown. | Immediately available |
| Sawmerang | A saw-shaped boomerang that deals 500% damage to all enemies in its path and causes bleed. | Immediately available |
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| Shattered Mirror | Doubles the damage and effects of all your actions for 15 seconds | Immediately available |
| Disposable Missile Launcher | Fires a barrage of 12 missiles that each do 300% damage | Immediately available |
| Gold-Plated Bomb | Use 50% of your gold to create a bomb that deals 1 damage per gold spent. 20% is refunded to you upon kill. | Immediately available |
| Drone Repair Kit | All acquired drones are fully repaired and empowered for 8 seconds. Also summons a unique drone. | Immediately available |
| Thqwib | Releases a bloom of 30 thqwibs that detonate on impact for 200% damage | Immediately available |
| Dynamite Plunger | Hitting an enemy drops dynamite. Detonate to deal 200% damage. | Immediately available |
| Mace Replica | Swing a mace for 300% damage that also knocks back enemies | Active 3rd teleport as Commando w/o being hit once |
| Gigantic Amethyst | Resets all your cooldowns | Kill an Overloading Magma Worm as Loader |
| Crudely-Drawn Buddy | Blow up a decoy of yourself, attracting and confusing all enemies for 8 seconds | Achieve 15 consecutive perfect reloads as Sniper |
| Prescriptions | Increase damage by 30% and attack speed by 40% for 8 seconds | Stay in Shield Mode for 5 minutes straight (in combat) as Enforcer |
| Shield Generator | Become invincible for 8 seconds | Beat the third stage w/o falling below 60% health as HAN-D |
| Unstable Watch | Stop time for 7 seconds | Complete the first stage in under 5 minutes (any survivor) |
| Lost Doll | Sacrifice 25% of your health to damage an enemy 500% of your max health | Survive a boss with less than 20% health (any survivor) |
| Pillaged Gold | Every hit drops gold for 14 seconds | Kill a boss with Lights Out as Bandit |
| Captain’s Brooch | Call down a chest nearby, and the cost is doubled | Unlock a golden chest on the final level with an Explorer’s Key (any survivor) |
| The Back-Up | Call 4 drones to fight for you for 10 seconds | Have 4 drones active at once (any survivor) |
| Super Massive Leech | Every hit heals you for 10 health for 10 seconds | Spread Epidemic to 25 enemies as Acrid |
| Glowing Meteorite | Summons meteors from the sky that fall and damage both enemies and friends (220% damage) for 8 seconds | Deal 5,000 damage in one shot (any survivor) |
A-Tier Items (Boss Items)
| Item Name | Item Type | What It Does | How to Unlock |
| Scorching Shell Piece | Item | Gain a 20 pt shield that fires projectiles when it breaks | Dropped from Cremator boss on Magma Barracks |
| Ifrit’s Horn | Item | Has a chance to fire a flaming wave | Dropped from Ifrit boss |
| Legendary Spark | Item | Chance to create sparks that smite enemies for 200% damage | Dropped from Ancient Wisp boss |
| Colossal Knurl | Item | Increases health by 40, regeneration, and armor by 6 | Dropped from Colossus boss |
| Nematocyst Nozzle | Equipment | Shoot 6 nematocysts that deal 400% damage | Dropped from Wandering Vagrant boss |
| Burning Witness | Item | Grants trail of fire on ground and 30% movement speed for 6 seconds | Dropped from Magma Worm boss |
| Imp Overlord’s Tentacle | Item | Summon an imp bodyguard that revives after 60 secs. | Dropped from Imp Overlord boss |
B-Tier Items (Rare Items)
| Item Name | What It Does | How to Unlock |
| Thallium | Chance to slow and damage enemies over time | Immediately available |
| Tesla Coil | Passively shocks nearby enemies for 120% damage | Immediately available |
| Old Box | Chance when damaged to drop a jack-in-the-box that inflicts fear on enemies for 2 seconds. Drop chance increases with lower health. | Immediately available |
| Beating Embryo | Current equipment has 30% chance to deal double its effects | Immediately available |
| Permafrost | 13% chance upon hit to freeze enemies for 1.5 seconds while slowing movement speed by 80% for 3 seconds | Immediately available |
| AtG Missile Mk. 2 | 7% chance on hit to fire 3 missiles that deal 300% total damage | Immediately available |
| Happiest Mask | Killed enemies spawn ghosts that last 15 seconds with 100% health and 70% damage | Immediately available |
| Plasma Chain | Chance on hit to tether to 1 enemy while dealing 60% damage to any other enemies in its path | Immediately available |
| Heaven Cracker | Every 4 basic attacks pierces through enemies | Immediately available |
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| Rapid Mitosis | Reduce the cooldown of all equipment by 25% | Immediately available |
| Ceremonial Dagger | Killing an enemy sends out 4 heat-seeking daggers that deal 100% damage | Immediately available |
| Repulsion Armor | After 6 hits reflect incoming attacks for 400% damage and increase armor by 100 for 4 seconds | Immediately available |
| Brilliant Behemoth | All of your attacks explode for an extra 20% damage to nearby enemies | Immediately available |
| Hardlight Afterburner | Add +2 charges to your Utility skill, and reduces its cooldown by 30% | Immediately available |
| Interstellar Desk Plant | Killing an enemy spawns an alien plant that heals 3% of your max health and recharges after 4 seconds. Each plant lasts 15 seconds total. | Sear/Flambe 20 Sand Crabs as CHEF |
| Laser Turbine | Using skills charges up a generator 7.8% per second. At full power a laser fires across the screen for 2000% damage | Have 20 cleavers out at once as CHEF |
| Wicked Ring | Gain 5% critical chance. Critical strikes reduce cooldowns by 1 second. | Collect 4 Keycards (any survivor) |
| Alien Head | Decrease your skill cooldowns by 30% | Obtain 7 Monster Teeth and 1 Guardian’s Heart (any survivor) |
| The Ol’ Looper | Deal bonus damage to enemies with lower health, up to 60% | Survive 40 minutes (any survivor) |
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| The Hit List | Marks an enemy that, when killed, permanently increases damage by 0.5 every time | Reset your cooldown 15 times consecutively as Bandit |
| Photon Jetpack | Hold the jump button to fly for up to 1.6 seconds. Also recharges in 1.6 seconds. | End a teleporter timer with 0 enemies on the map (any survivor) |
| Shattering Justice | Attacks reduce enemy armor by 6 for 2 seconds | Reach Level 10 without getting hurt more than once as Miner |
| Telescopic Sight | 1% on hit to instantly kill enemies (does not work on bosses) | 1-shot kill 10 enemies consecutively as Sniper |
| Fireman’s Boots | Walking leaves behind a fire trail that does 35% damage | Survive in lava for 1 minute straight (any survivor) |
| Hyper-Threader | Hitting enemies fires a laser that does 40% damage and bounces to 2 other enemies | Complete the Providence Trial “A Rung Above” |
| Dio’s Best Friend | Taking fatal damage consumes this item and revives you with 40% health and 2 seconds of invincibility | Die 50 times (any survivor) |
| Ancient Scepter | Upgrades your skill and is unique to each character. Reduces special skill cooldown by 30% | Beat the game on Monsoon difficulty as Mercenary |
| Bottled Chaos | Using your Equipment triggers an additional, random Equipment effect. | Use the same Equipment Activator 5 times (any survivor) |
| Aegis | Healing past full grants you a temporary barrier, along with an increased maximum barrier. | Multi-kill 15 enemies as Artificer |
| Substandard Duplicator | Picked up items yield an additional temporary copy that lasts an additional 10 seconds | Complete the Providence Trial “A Duplicator?!” |
| Classified Access Codes | Summons the Atlas Cannon, which deals damage equal to 40% of the teleporter boss as it spawns | Complete the Providence Trial “Emergency Ejection” |
| Umbrella | Rain begins for 15 seconds upon activing the teleporter. It stuns, damages, and weakens enemies. You are invincible while it’s raining. | Complete the Providence Trial “Meteor Showers” |
C-Tier Items (Uncommon Items)
| Item Name | What It Does | How to Unlock |
| Timekeeper’s Secret | Falling below 25% health stops time for 3 seconds. Recharges in 7 minutes. | Immediately available |
| Smart Shopper | Killed enemies drop 25% more gold. | Immediately available |
| Infusion | Killing an enemy permanently increases your health by 1 | Immediately available |
| Will-O-The-Wisp | 33% chance on killing an enemy to create a lava pillar for 300% damage, also knocking enemies upwards | Immediately available |
| AtG Missile Mk. 1 | 10% chance on hit to fire 1 missile that deals 300% damage | Immediately available |
| Tough Times | Increases armor by 14 | Immediately available |
| Energy Cell | Increases attack speed by up to 40% at low health | Immediately available |
| Rusty Jetpack | Decreases gravity while holding the jump button by 10% | Immediately available |
| Leeching Seed | Attacking enemies heals you for 2 health | Immediately available |
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| Ukelele | 20% chance on hit to fire chain lightning for 66% damage on up to 3 targets | Immediately available |
| Boxing Gloves | 6% chance to hit enemies and knock them back for 100% damage | Immediately available |
| Prison Shackles | Slow enemies on hit for -50% movement speed for 1.5 seconds | Immediately available |
| Guardian’s Heart | Gain a 60 health shield. Recharges when outside of danger for 7 seconds | Immediately available |
| Hopoo’s Feather | Gain an extra jump action | Immediately available |
| Frost Relic | Killing an enemy temporarily surrounds you with 3 icicles that deal 33% damage each every 0.33 seconds | Immediately available |
| Red Whip | Leaving combat for 2 seconds increases your movement speed by 60% | Immediately available |
| Chargefield Generator | Create a ring of lightning after killing an enemy. Lasts 6 seconds. | Eviscerate 50 enemies as Mercenary |
| Arms Race | Drones are equipped with explosive weaponry. Summons a unique drone helper that regenerates each stage | Kill 10 enemies simultaneously with FORCED_REASSEMBLY as HAN-D |
| Golden Gun | Deal bonus damage based on current gold, up to 40% damage | Bank 20,000 gold (any survivor) |
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| 56 Leaf Clover | Elite mobs have a 4% chance to drop items | Kill the Scavenger (any survivor) |
| Concussion Grenade | 6% chance on hitting enemies to stun them for 2 seconds | Kill a boss in 15 seconds or less as Engineer |
| Filial Imprinting | Hatch a strange creature who drops buffs (movement speed, attack speed, health regen) every 20 seconds | Drown 20 Whorls (any survivor) |
| Dead Man’s Foot | Chance when damaged to drop a poison mine that deals damage and poisons over time. Chance increases with low health. | Find the bloated survivor (any survivor) |
| Toxic Centipede | Infect a nearby enemy on contact for 6 seconds. Bounces to other enemies if target dies. | Spread 3,300 feet of toxic sludge as Acrid |
| Harvester’s Scythe | Gain 5% critical hit chance, and critical strikes heal for 8 health | Use a health shrine that drops you below 5% health |
| Panic Mines | Chance when damaged to drop 1 mine that deals 400% damage | Survive the teleporter event without dropping below 50% health as Miner |
| Predatory Instincts | Critical strikes increase attack speed. Buff stacks 5 times. | Defeat the Ancient Wisp without taking damage as Huntress |
| Royal Medallion | 10% chance on hitting a boss monster to drop a buffing wisp that improves health regen, attack speed, move speed, and base damage. | Get a Gold Rank on at least 5 Providence Trials |
| Prophet’s Cape | Briefly blocks all incoming damage upon being struck | Dodge 7 lethal attacks as Commando |
| Locked Jewel | Activating an interactable heals 35% of your maximum barrier and gives 8 gold | Reach max barrier (any survivor) |
| Hunter’s Harpoon | Killing an enemy increases movement speed by 125% for 1 second. Consecutive kills increase the buff up to 25 seconds. | Complete the Providence Trial “A Toxic Path” |
| Insecticide | Chance on hit to spray damage over time. Killing enemies heals for 10 health. | Complete the Providence Trial “Get Off My Lawn!” |
| Decaying Sample | Gain 2 orbiting spheres that hit for 100% damage every 0.25 seconds | Complete the Providence Trial “Main Systems Offline” |
D-Tier Items (Common Items)
| Item Name | What It Does | How to Unlock |
| Meat Nugget | 8% chance on kill to drop 2 meat nuggets that heal | Immediately available |
| Fire Shield | After taking at least 10% damage, explode for 400% damage, knocking enemies back | Immediately available |
| Bustling Fungus | After standing still for 2 seconds, heal for 4.5% of your health every second, and that of your allies | Immediately available |
| Lens Maker’s Glasses | Your attacks have a 10% chance to critically strike, dealing double damage | Immediately available |
| Sprouting Egg | After not being hit for 7 seconds, increase health regeneration by 2.4 per second | Immediately available |
| Headstompers | Hurt enemies by falling feet-first on them for 600% damage | Immediately available |
| Life Savings | Generate 1 gold every 3 seconds; scales over time. | Immediately available |
| Barbed Wire | Hurt 1 enemy within 1 meter for 50% damage every 0.5 seconds | Immediately available |
| Rusty Knife | 15% chance to bleed an enemy on hit | Immediately available |
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| Mysterious Vial | Increase health regeneration by 0.84 per second | Immediately available |
| Mortar Tube | 9% chance on hit to fire a mortar for 170% damage | Immediately available |
| Warbanner | On a Level Up or activating a teleporter, drop a banner that strengthens all allies within 4.6 meters. Raises attack speed, movement speed, damage, and heals over time. | Immediately available |
| Monster Tooth | Killing an enemy heals you for 10 health | Immediately available |
| Soldier’s Syringe | Increases attack speed by 12% | Immediately available |
| Crowbar | Deal 50% extra damage to enemies above 80% health | Immediately available |
| Medkit | Heal for 10 health 1.5 seconds after getting hurt | Immediately available |
| Bundle of Fireworks | Activating an interactable launches 6 fireworks that deal 300% damage | Immediately available |
| Backup Magazine | Add +1 charge of your Secondary skill | Immediately available |
| Topaz Brooch | Killing an enemy grants 15 barrier | Immediately available |
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| Taser | 7% chance on hit to snare enemies for 1.5 seconds | Travel 6,500 meters using the Hydraulic Gauntlet as Loader |
| Paul’s Goat Hoof | Increases movement speed by 15% | Fail a shrine 3 times in a row (any survivor) |
| Bitter Root | Increases maximum health by 8% | Reach 650 health (any survivor) |
| Sticky Bomb | 9% chance on hit to attach a bomb to an enemy, detonating for 140% damage | Detonate 15 Bounding Mines within 5 seconds as Engineer |
| Snake Eyes | Failing a shrine increases critical chance by 7% up to 6 times. Resets at the start of each stage | Pass a shrine 4 times in a row (any survivor) |
| Hermit’s Scarf | 10% chance to evade incoming damage | Achieve 200% attack speed as Huntress |
| Gasoline | Killing enemies burns the ground for 60% damage | Defeat 20 Lemurians in one playthrough (any survivor) |
| Spikestrip | When hit, drop spikestrips that snare enemies for 1 second | Block 2,000 damage total with your Shield as Enforcer |
| Mocha | Increases movement speed by 7.5% and attack speed by 6% | Level up to 20 (any survivor) |
| Voltaic Mitt | Climbing creates an electric trail that deals 50% damage | Complete the Providence Trial “Hot-Rope Hop” |
| The Toxin | Infect enemies on contact for 3 seconds, causing them to receive 30% extra damage from all sources | Find the illegal shipment (any survivor) |
| Mu Construct | Heal by 2.5% of your maximum health every 5 seconds after the teleporter event is activated | Find this item hidden somewhere in the world to unlock it (any survivor) |
| Razor Penny | Increases critical chance by 3%, and a critical strike drops 1 gold | Kill 12 enemies simultaneously using the Gold-Plated Bomb (any survivor) |
| Arcane Blades | Increases movement speed by 30% after the teleporter event is activated | Complete the Providence Trial “Kited Blades” |
That concludes the guide for our Risk of Rain Returns Item Tier List. We hope you find this helpful in your playthroughs, and let us know which items you like to use the most.
Be sure to check out all of our other guides for Risk of Rain Returns, including our official review of the game.
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