Best items in Risk of Rain 2 come down to decisions, not raw numbers. Each pick below earns its tier from four questions. How well does it stack? When does it come online? How does it fit a build? How reliably does it help across survivors?
How this tier list is ranked
Tiers measure decision value, not damage on a spreadsheet. An item climbs when it stays useful after a tenth copy, when it works without setup, and when most survivors can use it.
An item falls when it needs one exact partner, when it pays off late, or when its effect is too small to matter. The S tier holds items you want in almost every run. The C tier holds items that need a narrow reason to pick up.
The full tier list
The table below lists each item with its tier, rarity, and the reason it sits there.
| Tier | Item | Rarity | Why it ranks there |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | Soldier’s Syringe | Common | Raises attack speed, so every on-hit item triggers more often. It needs no setup. |
| S | Lens-Maker’s Glasses | Common | Adds crit chance. Crits feed other items, so a small stack lifts the whole build. |
| S | Ukulele | Uncommon | Chains lightning between enemies, so one hit spreads damage across a crowd. |
| S | AtG Missile Mk. 1 | Uncommon | Fires a homing missile on hit and scales with attack speed. |
| S | 57 Leaf Clover | Legendary | Improves the odds of every random effect you own, which steadies a stacked late run. |
| S | Tougher Times | Common | Gives a chance to ignore a hit outright, and it scales as the run grows. |
| S | Dio’s Best Friend | Legendary | Revives you once, which turns a fatal mistake into a second chance. |
| S | Brilliant Behemoth | Legendary | Adds explosions to your attacks, so single-target damage also clears the adds. |
| A | Tri-Tip Dagger | Common | Hits can cause bleeding, which keeps damaging an enemy after the hit lands. |
| A | Crowbar | Common | Deals more damage to enemies at high health, which speeds up the opening of a fight. |
| A | Hopoo Feather | Uncommon | Grants an extra mid-air jump, which widens your dodge and escape options. |
| A | Will-o’-the-wisp | Uncommon | Kills set off an explosion, so a build that clears crowds keeps clearing them. |
| A | Predatory Instincts | Uncommon | Crits grant a burst of attack speed, and it pairs with crit chance. |
| A | Harvester’s Scythe | Uncommon | Crits heal you, so a crit build turns damage into survival. |
| A | Alien Head | Legendary | Shortens cooldowns, which helps survivors that lean on abilities. |
| A | Old Guillotine | Uncommon | Finishes off weakened elites, and elites are the fights that eat the most time. |
| B | Infusion | Uncommon | Kills raise your maximum health for the rest of the stage. |
| B | Fuel Cell | Uncommon | Adds equipment charges and shortens the wait between uses. |
| B | Ceremonial Dagger | Uncommon | Kills launch homing daggers at other enemies. |
| B | Backup Magazine | Common | Adds a charge to your secondary ability. |
| B | Stun Grenade | Common | Hits can briefly stun an enemy and interrupt its attack. |
| B | Medkit | Common | Heals you a moment after you take damage, which rewards a quick disengage. |
| C | Bustling Fungus | Common | Heals you while you stand still, so it only pays off in parked fights. |
| C | Leeching Seed | Common | Turns a slice of your damage into health, but the trickle is slow. |
| C | Berzerker’s Pauldron | Uncommon | Kills grant a short window of faster attacks, so it needs constant kills. |
| C | Happiest Mask | Legendary | Kills can raise a short-lived ghost, and its effect is hard to steer. |
| C | Shattering Justice | Legendary | Hits build toward armor reduction, which asks for a long, steady fight. |
Tiers describe how often an item deserves a pickup, not how flashy its effect looks.
S-tier items
These items earn a slot in almost any build. Soldier’s Syringe raises attack speed, so every other on-hit item fires more often.
Lens-Maker’s Glasses add crit chance, and crits feed items like Predatory Instincts and Harvester’s Scythe. Tougher Times keeps scaling as the run grows, because each copy adds another chance to shrug off a hit.
Ukulele and AtG Missile Mk. 1 both turn one hit into extra damage, and both improve with attack speed.
57 Leaf Clover makes every random trigger more reliable, which matters most in a long run with many items. Dio’s Best Friend buys you one mistake, and Brilliant Behemoth adds splash, so single-target damage also clears the adds.
A-tier items
These items are strong with a small condition attached. Tri-Tip Dagger and Crowbar reward fast kills and steady uptime, so they shine early in a fight.
Hopoo Feather adds an extra mid-air jump, which widens your escape routes on any survivor. Will-o’-the-wisp turns a kill into an explosion, so a build that already clears crowds clears them faster.
Predatory Instincts and Harvester’s Scythe both need crit chance to shine, and together they turn crits into speed and healing.
Alien Head shortens cooldowns, and Old Guillotine finishes off weakened elites, the fights that cost the most time.
Best items for long runs
Long runs reward items that keep growing after every pickup. Soldier’s Syringe, Lens-Maker’s Glasses, Tougher Times, and 57 Leaf Clover all get better as the pile deepens.
A deep run also needs healing and a second life. Harvester’s Scythe covers the first, and Dio’s Best Friend covers the second.
Ukulele and Brilliant Behemoth matter more once the screen fills with enemies, because both spread damage across a crowd.
Best items for beginners
New players want items that work without a plan. Tougher Times, Medkit, and Hopoo Feather forgive small mistakes, so they keep an early run alive.
Soldier’s Syringe and Lens-Maker’s Glasses add value from the first stage and ask for no setup.
Skip items that demand tight timing or a fixed partner until the basics feel steady.
Items that need a specific build
Some items are strong only inside one build, and weak everywhere else. Predatory Instincts wants crit chance to trigger, so it sits idle on a build with no crit items.
Harvester’s Scythe heals on crit, which means it needs the same crit chance to do anything. Bustling Fungus wants a survivor who can hold ground, and it wastes a slot on a mobile kit.
Infusion and Ceremonial Dagger need a steady stream of kills, so they reward a build that clears fast.
Items to avoid
Not every item earns a slot, and a wasted pickup costs gold and time.
Happiest Mask rarely turns a fight, and its effect is hard to steer toward a target. Leeching Seed heals too slowly to rescue a build that takes heavy hits.
Shattering Justice asks for a long, steady fight before its payoff arrives, which few runs can spare. These items are not useless, but they need a narrow situation to matter.
A search for the best items in Risk of Rain 2 runs into the same follow-ups. Which items stack best? What is worth chasing on Monsoon? The answers shift with your survivor and your build, so treat this tier list as a starting point.
Compare a few picks against item stacking math, then browse the full item index or review Monsoon and Eclipse.