The Laser Scope is a Legendary item introduced into Risk of Rain 2 alongside the Survivors Of The Void expansion. This item synergizes with the Railgunner, which was released alongside the DLC. Although the effect of this item is strong, it isn’t meant for every situation. Oddly, this legendary item does not increase the stat that it benefits from. If you pick up a Laser Scope in Risk of Rain 2, a careful selection of items makes it very potent.
What the Laser Scope Does in Risk of Rain 2
The Laser Scope adds 100% critical strike damage to your current damage. Except for Railgunner’s passive, the Laser Scope is the only item in Risk of Rain 2 that can increase your critical damage. If you were to have 3 Laser Scopes, you would have a 300% bonus critical strike damage. Crits naturally do double damage, so this number multiplies that bonus damage.
This item works very similarly to Railgunner’s passive, where she has a 0% critical chance. Still, when she does crit, the amount of bonus crit she would’ve gotten gets converted into critical damage. This works because she is guaranteed to deal crits when she hits an enemy’s weak point. Picking up a Laser Scope on your Railgunner build in Risk of Rain 2 is equivalent to picking up 10 Lens-Maker’s Glasses.
What Critical Strikes Benefit from in Risk of Rain 2
As opposed to other forms of items, Proc Coefficient does not affect crits. Bleed chance, for example, multiplies the proc coefficient from the Bleed chance provided from items. On the other hand, critical strikes always have the same chance of occurring. This is true no matter what damage source it links to.
While only a handful of items give survivors a critical chance, the damage increase doesn’t apply to everything. Items such as Ukulele have a separate proc chance which follows up with added base damage from the item.
If the initial damage was a crit and also procs Ukulele, the chain lightning effect will also yield critical damage. Items that have to rely on other sources of damage to activate, such as AtG Missile Mk.1, only crits if the source of damage crits before activating it. Items that deal damage by themselves, such as Egocentrism in RoR2, can critically strike entirely without relying on other sources of damage.
Damage over time (DOTS) cannot result in crits whatsoever. Whether it’s a bleed, burn, slow, or armor breaking, you cannot critically strike with status effects. Thus, items that apply status effects are not great to pair with the Laser Scope in Risk of Rain 2.
Related Guide: Is Transcendence Good in Risk of Rain 2?
Items that Pair Well with the Laser Scope and Grant Crit to the Survivor
Items that give you additional critical strike chance pair very well with the Laser Scope in Risk of Rain 2. Anything that can increase your chances of applying that massive damage bonus is what you should look for.
Lens-Maker’s Glasses
The simplest of all critical items has to be the Lens-Maker’s Glasses. Every stack of this item grants your Survivor a 10% critical strike chance atop their natural 1% critical strike chance. Each item gives you a large boost to the damage offered by the Laser Scope in Risk of Rain 2.
Having more than 10 Lens-Maker’s Glasses is useless unless you play Railgunner, where the chance indefinitely stacks into damage.
Harvester’s Scythe
The Harvester’s Scythe grants your Survivor a 5% critical chance and a flat 8 health heal every time you crit. Each subsequent stack of this item increases the flat health by 4 but doesn’t impact critical chance at all. Having this item instead of the Leeching Seed as a healing source is by far more effective if you have a high crit chance.
This is a good item that pairs well with the Laser Scope in Risk of Rain 2, which also provides decent healing. You don’t want to just to so single-minded that you only focus on damage output.
Predatory Instincts
Predatory Instincts is a strange item that grants temporary attack speed every time you crit. The item gives you a similar base 5% crit chance like how Harvester’s Scythe does. It also grants the temporary 12% attack speed buff with each subsequent crit.
Having one stack of this item allows you to get this buff stacked three times in one go, getting a temporary bonus of 36% attack speed. Getting more stacks of this item allows you to stack 24% extra attack speed on top of your current buff cap, meaning you can stack it two more times.
This is a fantastic item to pair with the Laser Scope in Risk of Rain 2. Just make sure you get additional critical chance from other items, such as the Lens-Maker’s Glasses.
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Shatterspleen
Possibly the most complicated of all critical hit items, the Shatterspeen can only be obtained from a Boss item printer or slaying an Imp Overlord during a teleporter event or with a Trophy Hunter’s Tricorn. This item grants you a 5% critical hit chance and permanently makes it so that as long as you have a stack of this item, all your crits will inflict a 2.4x base damage bleed.
Not only is this already a lot, but the item provides a 4x base damage explosion on each bleeding-enemy death, and that explosion also deals 15% of their maximum health. Subsequent stacks of this item benefit the explosion, adding 15% maximum health damage and 400% of your raw damage onto every explosion.
Irradiant Pearl
The Irradiant Pearl is one of the two items you can get by converting a Lunar Item into a Boss Item in a cleansing pool. The Irradiant Pearl has a 20% chance of dropping and buffs Health, Health Regen, Movement Speed, Damage, Attack Speed, Armor, and Critical Chance.
Ignoring the other stats, which all get buffed by an effective 10%, the chance of getting a crit from this item is equivalent to two Lens-Maker’s Glasses. Unfortunately, this item is tough to get, and it would be easier to max out your crit build with Laser Scope in Risk of Rain 2 using the other items, instead.
Wrapping Up our Comprehensive Guide to Using the Laser Scope in Risk of Rain 2
That’s our short guide on everything you need to know about the Lazer Scope in Risk of Rain 2. We recommend seeking out this item on high base damage burst survivors, such as Railgunner, Bandit, or Mercenary. These survivors benefit more from critical chance than the rest of the survivors.
Do you have any experience using the Laser Scope in RoR2? What do you think of our guide? Do you have any other additional tips, tricks, or item pairings you’d like to recommend? Let us know in the comments below.
For more insights into how to beat Risk of Rain 2, check out our tips on using the Shrine of Order and other Shrines throughout the game.
