15. Hunter’s Grenade

The Hunter’s Grenade is a unique skill, if an enemy has a blueprint that you haven’t unlocked yet you can throw the Hunter’s Grenade at them to transform them into an Elite enemy, and they’ll have a guaranteed chance of dropping the blueprint! Normally enemies have a very low chance of dropping a blueprint, sometimes even as low as a fraction of a percent, so this item saves you from hours of grinding

What we love about the Hunter’s Grenade

• Allows you to unlock new weapons and mutations way faster than you normally would
• Lets you skip the tedious grind of waiting for blueprints to drop
• Even if it doesn’t provide you with any damage or support, it offers something that no other item in the game can give you

How to get the Hunter’s Grenade

• Found at The Specialist’s Showroom in the Prisoner’s Quarters

14. Giant Whistle

The Giant Whistle calls The Giant to assist you and take out a single enemy. It’s up to the Giant to decide which enemy he’s going to attack, but he’ll generally target the strongest one on screen. This skill is great for single target damage, which is something that Survival builds generally struggle with

What we love about the Giant’s Whistle

• Deals massive amounts of damage to a single target
• It might feel like you have no control over what The Giant hits, but if you stand close to the target he’s more likely to hit that one
• Even with the randomness, it’s always hilarious watching The Giant smash an unlucky rat

How to get the Giant’s Whistle

• Drops after beating The Giant for the 3rd time

13. Cleaver

Cleaver places saws on the ground that inflicts bleed to any enemies that walk over it. There are several skills in the game that inflict bleed, but out of all of them Cleaver is the most effective. That’s because it has the potential to inflict bleed to several enemies at once, apply multiple stacks of bleed to each one, and since it’s a deployable there’s no limit to how much damage it can deal

What we love about Cleaver

• Great for crowd control, since it’s applied to an entire section of the ground and damages everything that walks over it
• Has a cooldown of only 8 seconds, it’ll recharge before you’re even done using the first one!
• When playing Brutality, your skills are often limited to single-use items. Cleaver is the exception, being one of the few Brutality-scaling deployables

How to get the Cleaver

• Drops from Runners in the Promenade of the Condemned

12. Phaser

Phaser instantly teleports you behind the nearest enemy, and has the shortest cooldown out of any skill at a mere 2 seconds. Using this skill makes you feel like a ninja, teleporting from enemy to enemy and landing a devastating blow on each one! Generally, being right behind an enemy is the best place to be, and the mobility you get from teleporting can help you traverse biomes quickly

What we love about Phaser

• Has a very low skill cooldown, setting up a synergy with Scheme or Ranger’s Gear
• Can be used with weapons that have a crit condition when attacking an enemy from behind, namely Assassin’s Dagger and Blowgun
• Great for boss fights, since being right behind them is the safest place to be, especially when fighting The Hand of the King

How to get Phaser

• Drops from Runners in the Promenade of the Condemned

11. Wolf Trap

Wolf Trap sends out a pair of traps that lock enemies in place and cause them to take extra damage. Straightforward as it is, it’s incredibly useful for dealing with powerful opponents. Bosses and Elites are rendered helpless when they’re stuck in the trap, so do your worst!

What we love about Wolf Trap

• Wolf Trap is essential for getting past those early game boss fights. It makes the Concierge and Conjunctivius much fairer fights for new players
• There are several enemies that charge at you, and this skill is a great way to deal with those dangerous foes
• While an enemy is stuck in the trap you have the freedom to deal with them any way you like. You can take them out now while they’re vulnerable, or save them for later while taking care of everyone else in the encounter

How to get Wolf Trap

• Unlocked from the start

10. Face Flask

Face Flask does nothing but deal 5 damage to yourself, and at first that might sound totally useless, but what makes it so good is what you can do with that 5 damage. With the Vengeance mutation you’ll deal extra damage and have some resistances after getting hurt, and Spite Sword is a weapon that deals critical hits after taking damage. Face Flask is a way to safely activate both of these useful items!

What we love about Face Flask

• It’s very likely that you come across a Face Flask with affixes that create a toxic cloud, cover the ground with oil, or another Damage over Time effect
• Can safely trigger the effects of Vengeance and Spite Sword without ending your killstreak or causing death by curse
• Is a reference to the game Blasphemous, another excellent souls-like metroidvania

How to get Face Flask

• Found in a lore room in the Prisoner’s Quarters

9. Heavy Turret

Heavy Turret is a deployable that slowly fires projectiles that stun enemies and gives you a damage buff while you’re near it. Its role in an encounter isn’t to be the main damage dealer, instead it enables you to deal even more damage. Mobs are at their most vulnerable while they’re stunned, and the extra damage you get is enough to make the difference between needing one or two hits to kill an enemy

What we love about the Heavy Turret

• Even with the slower fire rate, it deals similar damage to most other turrets, on top of the support that this gives you
• The damage boost stacks with the Support mutation, making you even stronger when you’re near it
• Stuns enemies on hit, making them vulnerable

How to get the Heavy Turret

• Drops from Slashers in the Ossuary

8. Corrupted Power

Corrupted Power increases the damage you deal by 50%, but also causes you to take 30% more damage. It may be risky, but that extra damage is incredibly powerful! While it’s active you can take down beefy enemies with just a single hit and knock off entire chunks of a boss’s healthbar. It’s like being on steroids!

What we love about Corrupted Power

• It’s just a straightforward damage buff, but that’s powerful by itself. You can do some real damage while this is active!
• While you do take more damage while it’s active, if you can stay aggressive you can kill every enemy before they even get a chance to hit you
• It can’t be understated how strong you become with Corrupted Power, I’ve seen bosses die with a single hit thanks to this skill!

How to get Corrupted Power

• Drops from Protectors in the Promenade of the Condemned

7. Great Owl of War

The Great Owl of War is a pet that will follow you around and attack enemies, similar to a turret. You can activate the Owl again to make it fire quicker, but as soon as you take any damage the Owl disappears. However, it’ll be sticking around for a long time. That’s because the Great Owl does a fantastic job of covering your weaknesses and gives you excellent support, taking out enemies that would otherwise cause problems

What we love about the Great Owl of War

• The Owl works similar to a turret, firing shots at enemies, with the advantage of following you around
• It does a great job of taking out smaller enemies that would otherwise slip through the cracks and land a devastating blow, like Kamikaze Bats
• If you have the Menagerie aspect, the Owl also doubles your damage output

How to get the Great Owl of War

• Drops from Knife Throwers in the Prisoner’s Quarters (Only at 1BC and up)

6. Wave of Denial

Wave of Denial does exactly what you think it does, it’s a shockwave that “denies” enemies, pushing them back and dealing extra damage if they hit a wall. It can also reflect explosives, and with a 5 second cooldown you’ll get a lot of mileage out of this skill! Playing Tactics makes you a glass cannon, and having a defensive ability like this helps you stay alive longer

What we love about Wave of Denial

• Tactics gives you the least amount of HP out of any of the stat colors, so having a strong defensive ability can make the difference between life or death
• Has a very low cooldown with only 5 seconds, setting up a synergy with the Ranger’s Gear mutation
• Instantly creates space between you and your enemies. That’s already helpful, but can also be used with the Marksman’s Bow or Tranquility mutation to take advantage of their conditions

How to get Wave of Denial

• Drops from Bombardiers in the Clock Tower

5. Ice Armor

Ice Armor gives you a temporary protective layer that negates all damage and freezes nearby enemies after you take a hit. You can also activate the freeze effect on demand, or if you went 8 seconds without taking any damage. It essentially acts as a safety net, saving you from a potentially devastating hit and even preventing curses from killing you, all while giving you an opportunity to strike back!

What we love about Ice Armor

• At higher difficulty levels where even a single hit has the potential to end your run, Ice Armor can be a literal life saver
• Freezes nearby enemies when the armor shatters, giving you the opportunity to start a counterattack
• Even though it’s a Survival-scaling skill, it’s just as useful when playing the other two stat colors

How to get Ice Armor

• Drops from Ground Shakers in the Cavern

4. Tesla Coil

Tesla Coil is a deployable skill that attacks nearby enemies with lightning and inflicts shock damage. What separates it from your other turrets is that it inflicts damage in an area of effect and can damage several enemies at once. This makes it excel at taking out crowds of enemies, something that most other deployables struggle with

What we love about Tesla Coil

• Has a very wide range and can attack through walls and floors
• Deals damage in an AoE, making it great for taking out crowds of enemies
• Against single targets and bosses, the damage over time is very powerful on it’s own

How to get the Tesla Coil

• Drops from Living Barrels in the Derelict Distillery

3. Cocoon

Cocoon essentially works as a shield in your skill slot, when activated it parries all around you, and a successful parry resets the cooldown. Shields are an absolutely vital part of most builds, but you don’t always have that secondary weapon slot available. Maybe you’re using a two handed weapon, or you need the utility from your off-hand weapon. If that’s the case, Cocoon lets you have your cake and eat it too!

What we love about Cocoon

• Sometimes the opportunity cost of a shield is too much for another option to be viable. With Cocoon, you can try out all those weapon combinations you would’ve otherwise passed up on
• Unlike shields, which only parry in one direction, Cocoon parries all around you! You can defend yourself on all sides with this item
• Even though it’s in a skill slot instead of a weapon, you don’t necessarily have to relearn that muscle memory to use Cocoon. Instead, you can go into settings and bind it to your secondary weapon button

Where to find the Cocoon

• Found inside the Rune Doors in the Undying Shores. To get in there, find the right combination of runes, which can be found on small tapestries throughout the biome

2. Scarecrow’s Sickles

Scarecrow’s Sickles lets you use sickle attack from The Scarecrow’s boss fight. It’ll summon two sickles that float across the screen in an arc and deal more damage with every enemy they hit. If you touch them they’ll disappear, so you’ll need to dodge them like you do in the boss fight, but if you can avoid them they can wipe out entire enemy encounters just by running away!

What we love about Scarecrow’s Sickles

• The damage you deal increases with each hit, and you start dealing critical damage after 5 hits. This means it has insane damage potential
• You can keep the Sickles active for a theoretically infinite amount of time, as long as you keep dodging them
• Overall, the only limit to the Sickles usefulness is your own skill. They’re your most powerful ability if you can manage to keep dodging them for as long as possible 

Where to find Scarecrow’s Sickles

• Unlocked after beating The Scarecrow for the 1st time

1. Diverse Deck

Diverse Deck is a set of passive abilities that you can cycle between as needed. Depending on the card you have active, it can give you bonus health, add poison damage to your melee attacks, summon electrical orbs to circle you, and tank a hit without taking any damage! Each of these powers are useful in their own right, but can be used in tandem with each other to make you unstoppable. Not to mention the fact that it’s colorless, meaning you could use it with any build you want!

What we love about Diverse Deck

• Barricade, the first card of the deck, gives you bonus health every time you parry. This makes your strongest defensive move do even more to protect you
• Catalyst, the second card in the deck, adds poison damage to your melee attacks. It adds a lot of power to your weapons, especially with the right modifiers
• Electrodynamics, the third card in the deck, summons electrical orbs to circle you and inflict shock damage to enemies. This is great for taking out weaker enemies and inflicts DoT to everything you come across
• Foresight, the fourth and final card in the deck, lets you take a hit without taking any damage. This can help you tank otherwise devastating hits, and can even protect you against curses

Where to find the Diverse Deck

• Found in a lore room in the Prisoner’s Quarters

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