Risk of Rain 2 is an absolutely incredible third-person adaption of the original Risk of Rain, only further adding layers upon layers of immaculate gameplay onto the already intricate and detailed item, character, multiplayer, and progression systems in place. Risk of Rain 2 alone has 123 unique passive items to obtain during your runs, meaning that if a player was to only grab only even 3 items, they would have upwards of 302,621 THOUSAND possibilities of combinations!
Now nobody should be expected to memorize the best combinations of those items, as there are far too many to count. Once you start throwing in the potential of party-based combinations too, things can really start to spiral. Fortunately, Shockbyte has got you covered with some of the best Risk of Rain 2 items and characters for your next Risk of Rain 2 dedicated server! Once you start using these combinations, your party will definitely need one, trust me.
Risk of Rain 2 Commando Item Guide
Commando is great at dishing out quick damage and having extremely high attack speed. This makes Commando players the perfect target for items that prioritize wording that says, "on-hit" due to how frequently Commandos are, well, hitting! Some highlights of the "on-hit" item crew include:
- Soldier's Syringe
- Stun Grenades
- AtG Missile Mk. 1
- Ukulele
- Harvester's Scythe
- Sentient Meat Hook
Most of these items you can't go wrong stacking up with, as they all combine wonderfully to dish out absolutely massive on-hit damage when exploding in unison, but there is a single caveat to explain briefly. Items such as "Tough Times" and "Stun Grenades" actually scale Hyperbolically instead of Linearly when you get more than one of them, meaning it's not always beneficial to grab a million of them. Checkout the Risk of Rain 2 Item Stacking Wiki page to read more on it.
Risk of Rain 2 Huntress Item Guide
The Huntress is an extremely unique character among the roster of Risk of Rain 2 for several reasons, with one highlight of her abilities being the unique trait of sprinting while attacking! This opens up several avenues of especially useful items for her alone, as she can functionally perform whilst permanently sprinting! These items include the:
- Energy Drink
- Rose Buckler
- Little Disciple (boss item)
Outside of her sprinting capabilities, items that lower the Huntress' cooldowns, and increase her already high damage output stand above all the rest for her. She can also benefit from more defensive items that would apply to generally all the low-HP characters. These items include the likes of the:
- Crowbar
- Old War Stealthkit
- Infusion
- Bandolier
- Backup Magazine
- Alien Head
Risk of Rain 2 Engineer Item Guide
The Engineer functions similarly to the Huntress in having extraordinarily long cooldowns, making items that shorten them extremely useful. There is also an item that is unknown by new players of Risk of Rain 2 that is the absolute bees knees on Engineer, but pales in comparison on any other character: Bustling Fungus.
This hidden OP item only activates when characters stand completely still, but the Engineer's turrets function AS characters, forming healing areas around them for your team. A few of those and turrets now become the ultimate healing combat medics for your team to retreat to whenever things start to get a little heated. Pair the Bustling Fungus with a Frost Relic and some Razor Wire for an all-out nuclear defense fortress setup by your local Engineer.
Risk of Rain 2 Mercenary Item Guide
Mercenary is much different than the rest of the characters in Risk of Rain 2, being both melee as well as attack speed and on-hit based rather than high damage hitting like Loader or DoT poison of the melee Acrid. This puts the Mercenary into a weird position, as attack speed items don't generally provide a sustainable non-stop damage source for Mercenary, as striking enemies up close can be a quick way to game-end yourself.
Instead, the Mercenary should choose to go with on-hit damage items and cooldown-resetting items to stay invulnerable as long as possible around enemies. This combination of passives and playing safe by stunning enemies whenever close to them is a solid way to keep your damage high and health bar full as you scale into the late game. Oh and getting a few Backup Magazines, Bandoliers, and Hopoo Feathers should keep you from every touching the ground again.
Risk of Rain 2 Loader Item Guide
The Loader is by far the hardest hitting character in the Risk of Rain 2 roster, allowing his massive charged fist punches to slam gaping holes in everything from elite enemies to massive bosses. This opens up an extremely unique angle of items for the Loader player to collect, with the Ukulele being a prime example of harnessing the Loader's extremely high damage output correctly. The Ukulele deals 80% of an attacks' damage to nearby foes, which applies exactly as you'd expect to a fully-charged fist-slam.
On top of the Ukulele, stack up on as many Focus Crystals as you're able to for that sweet flat percentage damage increase on the Loader and you'll be flying around like an anime character toppling buildings in a single blow. While you're at it, grab a Backup Magazine or two and you'll be competing with the Mercenary to see who can stay off the ground the longest.
Risk of Rain 2 Rex Item Guide
REX stands apart from the rest of the playable characters in that he...or it(?) uses it's own health to cast abilities which is great for items that are triggered by HP loss! REX is actually the mixture of a Robot and a Plant...so THEY benefit most from items such as:
- Razorwire
- Medkits
- Lepton Daisies
- and Leeching Seeds
Whenever casting skills that damage enemies, Razorwire will cause REX to explode into an array of spiky death, shortly healing them afterward due to the Medkits any remaining HP the player is missing after the Leech Seed has also healed from the initial ability. Repeat this process for an extremely unique character and playstyle; just be sure not to accidentally run yourself out of health in the early game.
And that's all for today!
There is a handful of other survivors in the Risk of Rain 2 squad, but we won't be covering them here today. Many of them fortunately fall into one of the previously outlined builds above, whether that's attack-speed on-hit focused like Commando, or high-damage cooldown reduction like the Huntress, so definitely try out one of their builds if you aren't sure what to do! Until next time, grab your closest allies, and GET TO THE PORTAL!
About Shockbyte
Shockbyte is a game server host for Risk of Rain 2, Minecraft, Rust, and more.
Do you want to start your own Risk of Rain server? Click here to view our Risk of Rain 2 server hosting plans.
