As of August 30th, 2024, theSeekers of the StormDLC forRisk of Rain 2is, well…in a pretty rough state to put it lightly. The DLC, whileintroducing a whole lot of new content, new playable survivors, and a bunch of new items, is incredibly buggy and flawed at its core.
There’s a bit too much to get into at the moment but at the very least the items that Gearbox added toRisk of Rain 2have some serious issues. While the Void Items introduced in theSurvivors of the VoidDLC forRoR2were an ingenious way to add new items without ‘bloating’ the item pool, theSeekers of the Stormitems are not nearly as ingenious. That said, while a lot of them are pretty forgettable or just straight-up detrimental, thereare still some items worth mentioning, so let’s go over the best examples now.
Chance Doll
Utility
20 percent chance to get higher rarity items from chance shrines on success (+8 percent higher item rarity chance per item stack).
Starting off with probably the most inoffensive new item and one of the most overpowered in the right build. At a glance, the Chance Doll seems like it’ll be pretty ‘alright’ compared to the rest ofRoR2’sitems. It’ll make stopping to gamble at Chance Shrinesa bit more worthwhile, and rarely it can even lead to more red items popping out of these Shrines.
However, once players realize that 57-Leaf Clover also works with Chance Doll, it’ll become immediately clear why this is one of the best new items in the DLC. In fact, the next item on this list is also on here purely because of how absurd it gets when combined with the 57-Leaf Clover. All in all, the Chance Doll is one of the most fun items added in theSeekers of the StormDLC, even if it does need a bit of an adjustment (it being able to spawn Boss Items is a bit much, for example).
Sale Star
Gain an extra item on the first chest opened per stage. Each additional Sale Star refreshes the initial effect for the stage and increases the chance of getting more items on the first chest opened per stage by +5 percent (per item stack).
Next up is the Sale Star, a green item that is most players' favorites among the entirety of the new DLC items, and for good reason. Who doesn’t like the idea of opening a chest and getting two items instead of one? That’s exactly what the Sale Star does. When obtained, the next chest the player opens (a chest of any variety, including Legendary Chests) will now drop two items instead of one. This can only happen once per stage unless the player finds another Sale Star and picks it up, as this will refresh the item and make the next chest drop 2+ items as well.
However, this item doesn’t scale as one would expect, as additional copies of it only increase the chances of more items dropping from the affected chest, and the math for calculating these additional items is actually pretty complicated. Regardless, it’s an incredibly fun item to have and it makes players more aware of chest placements or even saving up to use it on the Legendary Chest on the Stage 4 variants, and just like the Chance Doll the Sale Star also is affected by 57-Leaf Clover.
Chronic Expansion
Damage
Increases the Survivor’s damage by 10 percent (+5 percent damage per item stack) for every 5 enemies killed, lasting as long as the Survivor remains in combat.
Chronic Expansion is the first and only common rarity item on here, and it’s one that can be a bit confusing to understand at first. Essentially, after a Chronic Expansion has been picked up, once the player kills 5 enemies, their damage is buffed, and it continues to get buffed again and again with every additional 5 kills (10 percent at 5 kills, 15 percent at 10 kills, and so on), as long as the player stays in combat. This doesn’t matter all too much in the early stages of a run, but in the mid to late stages of a Monsoon run or especially when looping, players are almost always able to stay in combat (especially melee characters such asthe new secret unlockable character), which lets this item stack its buff to a seemingly infinite degree.
Additionally, with more copies of Chronic Expansion, the damage buff given per 5 kills is increased by a shockingly large amount (5 percent per stack), which can lead to some truly absurd damage numbers in the right circumstances. And, this isn’t even mentioning its innate synergy with the Forgive Me Please Equipment, though the scale to which this Equipment/Common Item synergy buffs the player’s damage output is likely too much and will hopefully be adjusted in a future patch.
Luminous Shot
Using the Survivor’s Secondary ability charges the next Primary ability, dealing 150 percent damage (+25 percent damage per item stack) per charge to 5 times (+1 charge maximum per item stack).
A lot of the new items inSeekers of the Stormhave interesting effects but aren’t all that interesting creatively. This is to say, none of the new items compare to the pure dopamine rush of using Plasma Shrimp for the first time and seeing all those missiles fly out because of it.
Still, Luminous Shot is probably the most ambitious item in the DLC in terms of creativity. The overall DPS of the item obviously needs some adjustment, as it’s a bit weak in its current state for the level of investment it needs, but the idea of this item is pretty unique and enables a type of playstylewith certain charactersthat no other item has enabled previously. The funniest part is, out of thethree new characters this DLC introduces, this item really only synergizes with one of them (maybe two if we’re talking about the Seeker’s alternate Secondary option).
Electric Boomerang
Damage/Crowd Control
15 percent chance on hit to fire an electric boomerang that travels a short distance before returning, dealing 30 percent (+30 percent per item stack) damage and Stunning all enemies hit.
Moving on to the first red or ‘Legendary’ item on here, Electric Boomerang. To be frank, all of the new red items introduced with theSeekers of the StormDLC are, at the very least, interesting (outside of War Bonds, which is just bad). However, the Electric Boomerang is not only interesting, it’s just plain fantastic on most characters (save for maybe Loader).
With this item equipped, a player with even a decent fire rate can keep a group of enemies eternally stunned, similar to a build that has a couple of Tentabaubles equipped. However, unlike Tentabauble, an item that only affects an enemy hit by the player’s projectiles, the Electric Boomerang actually sends out a physical boomerang when it’s triggered, allowing it to hit (and stun) multiple enemies at once either on the departure or return flight trip of the boomerang.
Seed of Life
Equipment/Utility
Revives the user automatically when killed or, when activated manually, revives dead allies. Consumed on use.
For the only Equipment item on here, and the only new Equipment added in the DLC, the Seed of Life is pretty incredible. This is another item that, at first glance, might seem overpowered, but it really just makes multiplayer runs with friends a bit more enjoyable overall, as it helps prevent those times where a friend dies early and just ends up eternally behind in terms of power scaling for the rest of a run.
Sure, with Seeker, Dio’s Best Friend,a Shrine of Shaping, and the Seed of Life, players can potentially revive 4+ times in a single stage, but the chances of all the happening in a single run are incredibly low, and if their health or damage is lacking, no amount of extra lives are going to help them beat that Teleporter Event Boss.
Sonorous Whispers
When a large monster (AKA a ‘Boss’ Monster) is killed it will always drop an item. All Elite Monsters have a 15 percent chance of dropping an item (+5 percent more drop chance per item stack).
Of all the new items added in the DLC, Sonorous Whispers feels the most like a poorly executed item made by a modder. Don’t misunderstand, the item is a blast to use, but it’s obviously way too strong in its current state. As anyone knows, even halfway through a Monsoon run, a good half or more of the enemies that spawn end up being Elites of some variety, which gives this Legendary Item way too many chances to trigger.
On a single test loop with this item equipped, for example, we obtained 20+ items just from enemy drops alone, and we even rushed to the Teleporter right away. And, once again, this is another item that 57-Leaf Clover effects, so any player who has both of these items in their inventory is pretty much guaranteed to clear their run unless things go incredibly wrong.
