Gear inDeathboundhas a pretty big impact. You really only have three slots for Gear in this game, despite technically playing as 7 characters at all times. You get two slots for Rings, and an Artefact Slot, and that’s all of your gear. So, picking the right Ring is pretty important in this Soulslike game, even more so when you take the Mystic and Ancient Upgrade Effects into consideration. To elaborate, you essentially have two different ‘paths’ you may go down with each Artefact or Ring inDeathbound.
you’re able to either invest in the Mystic Effect of the item or the Ancient Effect, both of which are active at all times while the item is equipped. However, the more you invest in one side, the more expensive it is and the fewer upgrades the opposite side has available to them. So, the game is basically forcing you to commit to a specific function for your Rings if you want to upgrade them, and with that in mind let’s talk about the best Rings and, by extension, upgrade paths for a melee build in particular.
Disclaimer:As you upgrade Rings, their effects get stronger, so ‘X’ in their effect descriptions stands for whatever the number/percentage would be in-game.
Ancient Effect
Ring Taken From Remains
Every X percent Health lost from attacks grants +X percent Sync.
+X percent Spell Power.
First up is a Ring found very early on inDeathboundand one that most of you will have equipped for a large portion of your playthrough, the Ring Taken From Remains. While the Ancient Bonus Effect of this Ring obviously doesn’t help out melee builds at all, the Mystic Bonus Effect absolutely does.
The Sync generated from HP loss even at the base upgrade level for this Ring is pretty noticeable, and when it’s been upgraded even a few times this Ring makes Morph Dodges, Morph Strikes, and Ultra Morph Strikes a lot more readily available during combat. While Morph Strikes and Morph Dodges obviously benefit anyDeathboundbuild, for a melee build they’re especially important sincethe more Morph Strikes you may do, the longer you can keep up the onslaught of attacks.
Dealing Physical Damage reduces Essence’s Heat by +X percent.
+X percent Max Poise.
Next up is the Zealot’s Ring, and this inclusion should be fairly obvious at a glance, given the Ancient Bonus Effect for it. The Mystic Bonus Effect really only mattersfor characters that utilize Heat, two of which aren’t melee Essences, but the Ancient Bonus Effect is amazing for any build. More Poise means it’s more difficult for you to get knocked out of your attack animations, allowing you to sort of ‘full send’ a barrage of attacks at enemies while using Morph Dodges and Morph Strikes to actively avoid damage while doing so.
But, unless you time each Morph Dodge/Morph Strike perfectly, you’re going to take a couple of hits using this strategy, and this is where the Zealot’s Ring comes in. Most of the time inDeathbound, we’ve found that full-sending it is better than playing too cautiously, and this is why the Zealot’s Ring is so good for a melee build, as it enables that specific playstyle.
+X percent Defences against projectiles.
Gain +X Sync when performing a Perfect Block.
The Commander’s Ring is the first one on here where both effects are purely beneficial for a melee build. The Mystic Bonus Effect is obviously great at just making projectiles less of a problem while the Ancient Bonus Effect rewards you for utilizing the defense mechanics ofDeathbound. In particular, we found the Ancient Bonus Effect the most beneficial, so if you’re wondering which one to put more upgrades into, we’d say prioritize that one. Perfect Blocking inDeathboundis something that3 of the 5 melee characters can utilize, and it’s incredibly helpful against certain enemies and certain bosses with brutal attack chains or, frankly deceptive, attack hitboxes.
Alter Ring
+X percent Morph Strike. Morph Strike hits may apply Random Effects to both you and the target.
Morph Strikes and Dodges have an X percent chance to grant +X Sync.
The Alter Ring is found about midway throughDeathboundand is a piece of gear entirely focused around Morph Strikes. We’ve already gone over just how amazing Morph Strikes are in this game, so a Ring that makes them even better is obviously going to be pretty useful. The Mystic Bonus Effect of this Ring is a bit of a risk-reward option, as the Random Effects will also apply to you, but a lot of the time it ends up being worth it. Meanwhile, the Ancient Bonus Effect is universally fantastic, so we highly recommend putting as many upgrades into that rather than investing too heavily into the Mystic Effect side of this Ring. Overall, while it won’t trigger every single Morph Strike or Morph Dodge, it happens enough that it makes constantly Morphing between Essences mid-fight a lot more viable, which in turn makes the game a lot easier as a whole.
Every X percent Health lost from attacks decays X Heat.
+X percent Defence and Damage when fighting multiple enemies.
And finally let’s take a look at the Circle of Freedom, a Ring that you won’t find until the later half ofDeathbound, and one that seems bad, at a glance. However, if you really think back to your playthrough ofDeathboundso far, you’ll realize just how often you end up fighting against multiple enemies at once, especially in the late-game areas. Because of this, the Ancient Bonus Effect of this Ring is fantastic, as it’ll almost always be active. More Defence and more Damage while fighting multiple enemies is an obvious buff to any melee build, but it also works on just about any build, though we’d recommend investing a bit into the Mystic Bonus Effect too if you’re going to use this Ring alongside the two mage-type Essences.
