Best items in Risk of Rain Returns - character from the launch trailer on a ship's control station.

Risk of Rain Returns best items

Are you looking to equip your character with the Risk of Rain Returns best items? Here are your top available options. With over 100 unique items available, it can be hard to select the best ones for your build. However, some items manage to stand out due to better stats overall. To help you decide on which ones to use, we’ll go through the top 10 items in RoRR.

Best items in Risk of Rain Returns - damaged character from the launch trailer standing in a mushroom field.

These are the top 10 items in Risk of Rain Returns:

  • Crowbar
  • Soldier’s Syringe
  • Harvester’s Scythe
  • Alien Head
  • Brilliant Behemoth
  • The Ol’ Chopper
  • Dio’s Best Friend
  • Red Whip
  • Burning Witness
  • Colossal Knurl

Let’s look at them in more detail.

Crowbar

The Crowbar allows you to deal 50% more damage to enemies over 80% HP. This will cause your first few shots to deal more damage against normal enemies but is also ideal against bosses. It will help you get through their first 20% HP significantly faster. It’s unlocked by default.

Soldier’s Syringe

Solider’s Syringe increases your attack speed by 12%, which is an essential stat overall. It will help you deal with enemies faster and is a great DPS increase. You can unlock it by dodging 7 lethal attacks as the Commando.

Harvester’s Scythe

Harvester’s Scythe increases your critical hit chance by 5% and causes all your critical attacks to heal you for 8 HP. If your build focuses on increasing critical hit chance, this is a must-have item to increase your survivability. You can unlock it by using a health shrine that drops you below 5% HP.

Alien Head

The Alien Head item will decrease skill cooldowns by 30%. It’s a great overall item for almost any character, especially for ones with larger skill cooldowns. To unlock it, collect 7 Monster Teeth and 1 Guardian’s Heart.

Brilliant Behemoth

One of the best items in Risk of Rain Returns is the Brilliant Behemoth. With this item, all your attacks will explode for an extra 20% total damage to all nearby enemies. For grouped enemies, this item will give you some much-needed AoE damage, which is always a welcome buff.

The Ol’ Chopper

The Ol’ Chopper allows you to deal up to 60% more damage to enemies with lower health than you. It’s a great DPS increase against weaker enemies since you’ll be able to take them down much faster. You can unlock this item by surviving in a run for more than 40 minutes.

Dio’s Best Friend

Dio’s Best Friend activates automatically when you take fatal damage. Instead of dying, you’ll be revived with 40% HP and 2 seconds of invulnerability. Overall, it’s a great get-out-of-jail card and it’s always great to have it equipped.

Red Whip

Red Whip will increase your movement speed by 60% when you’re out of combat for more than 2 seconds. While it doesn’t help during combat, it will make traversing the large maps significantly faster, especially if you’re looking for secrets. For instance, it’s helpful if you’re trying to find hidden event bosses in Risk of Rain Returns.

Burning Witness

Burning Witness is a great item to use once unlocked. After killing an enemy, you’ll get a fire trail that deals damage to enemies behind you and also increase your movement speed by 30% for 6 seconds. This item is a Magma Worm drop.

Colossal Knurl

The best item in Risk of Rain Returns is the Colossal Knurl as it will give you all the defensive stats you need. Specifically, it increases max HP by 40, HP regeneration by 1.2 HP per second, and armor by 6. Also, you can get this item as a random Colossus drop.

To summarize, these are the top 10 best items in Risk of Rain Returns, with the Colossal Knurl being considered the best item overall. In general, many more items can be useful depending on your build, so feel free to experiment with the items you’ve unlocked. For more RoRR content, here are all Risk of Rain characters and how to unlock them.

Harry Mourtzanakis

Harry has been a gaming fan ever since the days of Gameboy Advance and over the past 20 years, the one thing that has remained stable is his love for anything video game-related. Nowadays, you'll see him enjoying almost any type of game including FPS, survival, RPG, farming sims, and soulslike titles. Sometimes it’s all about action and intense fights, and others it’s better to relax in a cozy farmhouse. Combined with his Master's in Philosophy, Harry is able to share his passion for gaming through guides, reviews, and more.