Void Oryx Idea Item Drops

[SirPoogle]

A while back on Reddit (and more recently here on the forum Void Oryx (by SirPoogle and Sonhud) ) I posted the Void Oryx Manifesto and sprite assets created by me and Sonhud, but it was incredibly unfinished. Most notably were the scrapped items that were planned and balanced on Haizor, but were lost when Haizor went offline.

I’m happy to say that after getting back into RotMG and experiencing the newer item design features, and finally learning how to use RotMG Sandbox, I have finally brought the item designs back.

I’ll cut to the chase, and reveal the designs in order of this sprite sheet

The first row begins with the sword, Nightmare.

Nightmare (sword)

Description

A slab of obsidian-like umbra. It is hardly sharp at the edge, and yet, it cuts through foes like a warm knife through butter. The weight makes it feel more like a monolith with a handle. You fear what this weapon may make you become.

960-1000 (980) base damage
27% rate of fire
~4 tiles range
Shots hit multiple enemies
8% fame/xp bonus
1200 feed power

Nightmare’s Shot animation

Balance Discussion

The DPS of Nightmare is nearly identical to Divinity, only it sacrifices Divinity’s better DPS on low def and the AOE effect for better DPS at high def. Divinity is likely better for all-around usefulness, but Nightmare makes up for it with big damage on endgame content. Either way, how good it is is up to preference.

Art/Design Commentary

The design itself was based off of the sprite of the earliest Void Oryx design. Back then, Void Oryx was known by the codename ‘Nightmare,’ and the sword itself was known as Oblivion. After the name Nightmare went unused, it was decided to name the sword Nightmare after the original design it was made in conjunction with. You may notice a few items with 1-word names, and that’s because a 1-word name stands out in the sea of “Staff of the Cosmic Whole” style names.

As for the sword design itself, I wanted to make the sword feel like you were chucking stone monoliths through enemies. In the real game engine, I’d imagine the shots would be a bit bigger than showed in the sandbox gif.

Primal Fear (shield)

Description

A shield which embodies fear itself. It conjures the deepest fear of the enemy, and traps them in it for a while. Its creation is entirely beyond what anyone can comprehend. Use it wisely, lest you become the very nightmare you fear.

On equip: +3 atk, +8 def, +3 spd, +3 dex
140-260 (200) base damage

6 shots
130 MP cost
~3.5 tiles
Shots hit multiple targets
Shots ignore enemy defense
Shots inflict Stunned and Paralyzed for 3 seconds
8% fame/xp bonus
1500 fp

(shots are depicted with 1 tile more range than intended. Shots would stop about 1 tile earlier in practice.)

Balance Discussion

Primal fear makes up for its sub-par Damage/MP cost ratio with some potentially busted utility. A simultaneous stun and paralyze makes it easier to land the next shield bash. It also comes with some powerful DPS stats and speed, making Knight a bit more agile and threatening at the cost of some survivability. The shots also have a bit of amplitude, frequency, and deceleration. This makes the shield a bit harder to land on a moving target, but the wide angle of the shots help reduce that risk.

Art/Design Commentary

As for the item’s aesthetics and creation process, it was actually fairly straight forward. I always liked the idea of shields that can lock onto your forearm. I also wanted it to oppose the “holy light” motif of the Escutcheon, hence the dark color scheme and flipped cross. I combined both design ideas, and bam, primal fear was born. This was designed with smart-shots in mind, which gives the projectiles the effect of being snapping jaws, but it’s currently a lost feature in RotMG sandbox.

Oblivion (heavy armor)

Description

A shadowed set of plate mail, adorned by a glowing core of other-worldly light. The core seems to empower you, using the energy you generate to create a blast of pure light energy.

On equip: +18 def, +8 dex, +10 vit
Effect: Your weapon fires an additional shot directly towards your cursor. This shot deals 85 armor-piercing damage, and hits multiple enemies, and ignores cover.

8% fame/xp bonus
1000 fp

Balance Discussion

Calculating DPS for this item is pretty difficult, however, I calculate it to be about half as good as putting a Primal Arcana on a melee, which is still pretty solid. Any 100+% ROF weapon can make the most of the extra shot, but slower weapons make more use of the 8 dex than the projectile itself. This means it is situational, though still a solid choice in most circumstances.

Art/Design Commentary

The process for coming up with this idea was heavily inspired by the early designs of Void Oryx’s fight. A laser phase was planned to have 4 rotating light beams with a similar sprite to this item’s shot, which would rotate in circles for a whole phase. I thought it’d be sick to wield a beam of light like Void Oryx could, so using Primal Arcana as a cheat sheet, the idea for oblivion was born. The sprite for the armor itself isn’t my best work, but it’s grown on me over the years. I’ve tried re-spriting it to have a larger color palette to avoid things like banding, or low-contrast issues, but always found my way back to this sprite. I also like how it takes up almost an entire 8x8 canvas, because there are few items that ever have. I think it’s funny to have a giant square in your inventory, a la, the placeholder “art” texture.

Ring of Dark Epiphany

Description

You hear faint whispers, urging you to give in to your darkest desires. Whatever dwells in this ring, it wants blood.

On equip: +120 HP, +3 dex, +3 def, +3 atk
Effect: when below 50% max hp, you gain +13 atk, and +13 dex for 5 seconds. 20 second cooldown.
8% fame/xp bonus
1100 fp

Balance Discussion

Technically the highest DPS ring in the game with the procs, however, it is an Achille’s heel item which requires you to put yourself in danger to get such DPS. This is also likely to put you in combat, which means you will have less access to abilities. Since items like Overclocking Amulet exist and don’t define the entire meta, this ring likely won’t be any different. It’d combo well with Cuiress, taking advantage of the invincibility to get your big damage in.

Art/Design Commentary

The item’s sprite is nearly identical to the Ring of Malevolence in one of my older ideas, which I jokingly said would do anything to get it in the game. You can see the original ring sprite hidden at the bottom of the Void Oryx sprite sheet if you’re curious to see the similarities yourself. It may be considered ‘tacky’ by most digital artists to use pure black next to a saturated color tone, but I just love using it as a rule-breaking tool. Some items can break the rules of pixel art and become fan-favorite items all the time, like Dirk of Cronus, Sword of the Colossus, and Helm of the Juggernaut.

Seal of the Nonbeliever

Description

The seal of none, for there is none to be known other than yourself. The power within the soul is possibly stronger than that of a god, but requires intense introspection to even fathom. This seal is a key to that power, granting you brief visions of immortality.

On equip: +50 HP, +5 def
100 MP cost
On ability use: give players within 4.5 + [ (wis - 50) / 10) ] tiles HP Boost [ 70 + 2(wis - 50) ] and Damaging for 3.5 + [ (wis - 50) / 10 ] seconds.
Buff on self: gain Invincible for 2 seconds.
5 second cooldown
Effect: when hit, fire a 75-125 shot towards the direction you were shot from with 4 tile range. Shots pierce armor.

8% fame/xp bonus
1500 feed power

Balance Discussion

This item is incredibly similar to the Seal of Blasphemous Prayer, though it has a few key differences that make it much better for team play, but much harder to use. For starters, this seal gives the same buffs as the T6 seal does, with the exception of Healing, and having a cooldown shorter than the minimum buff duration. This means you can consistently use this item to become invincible with 3 seconds of guaranteed downtime and give a decent survivability and damaging buff for the party to make use of. The first flaw of this item is the 2 seconds of invincibility with no wismod scaling. This means the window of invincibility is incredibly short, and thus not reliable for cheesing entire phases. This also means the added E.Y.E-like effect is less powerful, but since it is built into the seal itself, requires less working around to get to work. Overall not the best seal for support, but might be the best for personal damage if you get hit enough,

Art/Design Commentary

The seal notably looks a lot like oreo, since this item was originally intended as a better version of Oreo, but as the Void Oryx project left the “hardmode dungeon” territory and into its own thing, decided to make this item more different. One of the first prototypes after said change, was a seal that created a bullet nova around you on use, but thought that would essentially force the item into swapout territory.

Guillotine (sheath)

Description

This sheath is said to be the judgement of a higher being, using their power to rule the foe for execution via guillotine. It is said that this was once used to execute chaotic gods before the time of the realm.

On equip: +6 def
250-2000 base damage
120 MP cost
Dash distance: 1-7 tiles
Trail damage: 500
Stat multiplier: 10/12/16/20/28% def increase
each stack lasts 10 seconds
max dashes: 2

The guillotine blade deals the bulk of the damage, dealing 2000 damage alone. The rest of the links deal a total of 1400 damage, totaling at 3400 damage.
8% fame/xp bonus
1500 feedpower

Balance Discussion

This sheath sacrifices damage stacks and trail damage, for insane shot damage. The stat multiplier also starts at 10%, serving as a solid defense boost while fighting a single target. While it may suffer in long-term DPS against atk-stacking sheaths, it can be great for hitting vulnerable phases really hard and really quick. The defense boost is also solid for tanking bullets after, allowing you to go in for damage more often.

Art/Design Commentary

This item has probably received the biggest visual upgrade since the last sprite sheet, completely overhauling the bullets to be much cooler. Guillotine previously only used 8x8 shots, and had less thought about how it would functionally work, since I had no knowledge or experience with Kensei class. As for the item sprite itself, I chose a similar look to Irradiance Sheath instead of the other designs, as the simpler design appealed to me more, but it could have been a missed opportunity to add a chain to the end of the handle. Chains in 8x8 sprites are pretty difficult, which is why most amulet items tend to look tiny, as chains are really tough to portray on such a small canvas. Maybe even a guillotine blade itself could be the sprite, though it wouldn’t read as a sheath so easily. Either way, I just took the simpler route, and just made a simple sheath sprite.

Now onto the blue phase themed items.

Scythe of the Zealous Angel (spellblade)

Description

A spellblade unlike any other, formed by the angel of death herself. It strikes with a divine might, yet it burns ever so coldly.

3 shots:

1. 110-125 damage
   4.08 tile range (hits multiple enemies)
   
2. 65-80 damage
   ~4 tile range (ignores defense)
3. 65-80 damage
   ~3.92 tile range (ignores defense)
   
   (sprite for both shots #2 and #3)
   70% rate of fire
   8% fame/xp bonus
   1200 feed power

Balance Discussion

A very good spellblade that sacrifices range for more damage. Its DPS is comparable to the T14 spellblade or Steam Pipe. It beats Superior at 32+ defense, and T14 staff at 6 defense. It is outclassed by Steam Pipe, but that’s assuming you land all 4 shots, which requires a 0-2 tile distance to land them all. A 4 tile true range is still pretty small, but more consistent. It serves as an excellent choice for high defense, and pairs incredibly well with Superior.

Art/Design Commentary

The design of this item was decided after the Angelic Majesty phase was created, inspired by the very scythe that Void Oryx uses. Instead of spinning slash shots, the Scythe of the Zealous Angel uses a layered slash attack. Earlier designs included a 3 shot spinning slash sweep, but with the advent of more complex RotMG weapon technology, deserved a rework to include such technologies. It was also made to mimic the effect of some enemy shot patterns, most notably Tezcacoatl the Great Basilisk from the Secluded Thicket dungeon.

Division (tachis)

Description

They got their name from how cleanly they cut through opponents. Together, they reduce enemies into the pixels from whence they came.

2 shots
65-95 (80) base damage

150% rate of fire
~4 tiles range
Shots hit multiple enemies
8% fame/xp bonus
1200 feed power

(like tachis, the start positions of the shots are offset about a tile forward and apart, and then angled inward. RotMG Sandbox just doesn’t have that technology yet.)

Balance Discussion

The DPS is close to enforcer on low defense, but quickly falls off with more defense. It also beats Valor until 26 defense, and T14 tachis until 34 defense. It’s a solid piercing katana for low defense. It is beat out by Enforcer, but enforcer doesn’t hit multiple enemies, and Division requires very tight spacing to land both shots. This leaves it a really solid option for low defense and crowd control, but may be outclassed by Enforcer for single-target damage, and Valor for high defense.

Division is one of my favorite items to have sprited. It’s considered tacky to use pure white and black on the same art piece, but the contrast between blinding light and pure void made for a rather neat effect. The name “Division” was also made to break item conventions, replacing the fantasy or worldbuilding motifs with one vague word concept. It’s like giving a sword the name “Tim” so you know it’s the strongest thing in the game.

Shroud of Reality (robe)

Description

The robe envelops you in a state of complete calm. It draws up power from the world around you, harnessing the very fabric of reality itself to channel you power. Whatever power is left around you is absorbed back into the robe, and then into you.

On equip: + 120 MP, +10 def, +4 spd, +10 wis
Effect: Grants 15 MP on ability use with a 1.5 second cooldown
8% fame/xp bonus
1000 fp

Balance Discussion

Shroud of Reality would be the definitive robe for spamming abilities. It gives a 15 MP bonus on ability use every 1.5 seconds, basically shaving 15 MP off of any ability’s MP cost with a bit of timing to it. The wisdom is also notable, with a +10 wisdom bonus alone. It combos well with Gemstone, taking 15 MP off an already reduced cost. This effect may lose out in overall MP cost reduction compared to Robe of the Mad Scientist when using high MP cost abilities, but the robe makes up for it on lower mana cost abilities. Twilight Shroud technically beats it out in terms of MP per second, but Shroud of Reality can be used alongside your pet’s mana heal outside of combat to give some incredibly consistent MP restoration.

Art/Design Commentary

The design process was very simple. Using other popular robes like Watersilk or Diplo as a reference, I wanted to make something very simple, yet very alien. My mind kept jumping to what I imagine hyper-sophisticated aliens would wear as a sort of bohemian casual robe seen in sci-fi media. I removed the sleaves to evoke more peculiar fashion the future may have, and voila. This item was also called “Fabric of Reality” in development, but changed it to avoid the pure over-the-top sci-fi cheese that was already enveloping the naming motifs of the items.

Arcane Spell Gauntlet (ring/accessory)

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Description

Gauntlets are rumored to be capable of magic conjuring, though metal tends to block the connection between the caster and the resulting spell. This gauntlet transcends that issue, as it is made of the very arcane energy that makes the spells possible in the first place. This power is forced into a stable state, but if the time is right, it can unleash magic energy like never seen before.

On equip: +80 HP, +120 MP, +8 def, +10 wis
effect: when hit below 60% max HP, gain +200 wisdom for 3 seconds, cooldown of 25 seconds.
8% fame/xp bonus
1100 fp

Balance Discussion

A very volatile ring, which gives decent defense and HP bulk, as well as lots of wisdom and mana. Its proc, however, is extremely powerful in the right hands. Any class that uses wisdom for damage like Sorcerer, Assassin, and Necromancer can potentially deal insane damage in this short period of time. Also buffing classes can use this boost to give an incredibly boosted buff, which could potentially lead to incredibly technical support potential. It is ultimately still a wismod-centered item, and thus not that good, but the proc can absolutely be a trump card on certain classes.

Art/Design Commentary

This item was among the simplest to design. I mostly took the bracer design, and then tweaked it to be thinner in the sprite. The idea for a spell gauntlet actually came from the TV show Adventure Time, where there’s all kinds of whimsical fantasy regarding magic items, and the gauntlets were always my favorite. As for the design ethos for the items, I mostly did it because I thought it would be funny to make a temporary +300 wisdom item just to make wisdom good.

Null Zone (spell)

Description

A glowing rune on a sheet of unknown alloy. It uses the power of null, deleting the very pixels that compose the enemy. The spell leaves an empty void in its wake.

On equip: +60 MP
110 MP cost
180 damage 16 shot bullet nova on cursor on ability use

Additionally, a single stationary shot is created on the cursor on ability use.
This shot deals 500 damage, hits multiple enemies, and pierces armor.

8% fame/xp bonus
1500 fp

Balance Discussion

A solid spell for single-target damage, while being easier to land shots than Tablet of the Forgotten King. Because of the longer lifetime of the shots, it can be used as a minefield of sorts. Its DPS is higher than the Penetrating Blast spell and T7, but is outclassed by Tablet in terms of pure damage. It is still a solid choice for their unique properties, and easier time aiming compared to more traditional spells.

Art/Design Commentary

This spell might have the goofiest design of all the items, shooting ∅ symbols and all. It’s the kind of spell that shows how cool it is when using it, or imagining how it works, rather than examining the sum of its parts. I designed it to be a zoning tool, and as such, using it can clear a bit of area. It was planned to have all shots pierce multiple enemies, but I decided to let Penetrating Blast have its forte. It’s already a rare enough item as is, it shouldn’t be outclassed in its own niche so easily, but it would have made for a better zoning tool.

I’ll be updating this with the other designs periodically. I’m just nearing the character limit I think, so I’ll start with just these for now. More are coming in the near future.

Changelog

Balance edit 1:
Reduced Primal Fear’s range, damage, defense bonus, and stun duration.
Replaced Primal Fear’s paralysis with slow
Reduced Ring of Dark Epiphany’s cooldown from 30 seconds to 20.
Increased Seal of the Nonbeliever’s ability use cooldown to 5 seconds.
Reduced Shroud of Reality’s wisdom and speed bonuses.
Increased Shroud of Reality’s effect cooldown by 1 second, and reduced effect by 5 MP.
Reduced Arcane Spell Gauntlet’s defense bonus.
Reduced the Arcane Spell Gauntlet’s effect from 300 wisdom to 200, and duration from 5 seconds to 3.

Balance edit 2:
Decreased Nightmare’s max damage by 20
Added back Primal Pear’s paralysis and added 10 to MP cost

edit: Reduced average FP and added varying FP based on item’s rarity.

All items now feature their shiny sprites, and shiny shot assets.

All posts now feature optional drop-down buttons for things like item balance commentary, and commentary and information on the item designs and art, and changelogs.

[Binguslad]

cool asf submit this to fan content rotmg blog thing

[Mathician]

I’m too YouTube poop goofy aah short attention span to read all of this, so I’ll just talk about the stuff I found cool (and not cool)

Nightmare

okay on a more serious note, “Nightmare” is badass and edgy as it should be, and I like the implication of the description

Guillotine

Guillotine, again dark and edgy, plus the compensation of big shot damage for lower stat stacks and trail damage seems nice

Scythe of the Zealous Angel

Scythe conceptually seems cool, but I think the colors of the handle and blade blend in a bit too much, I thought it was some weird curvy flail or singular tachi at first

Division

speaking of tachis, Division has a simple and cool name without being overly edgy, though I do think its description, along with a few others in the list, kinda push it with breaking the fourth wall, I think something better without removing the edge (pun intended) would be like “A pair of blades capable of slicing any opponent into mere atoms. They are most effective when used to divide and conquer.”

Arcane Spell Gauntlet

I like the idea behind Gauntlet, but I think it needs a bit of balancing. Maybe lower the base wis/remove it altogether so that the proc is more meaningful, along with maybe lowering the proc to like 200 so it’s not that op. Also lower the duration so like 3 seconds since 5 is a lot of time to spam space/right-click.

Also also, I have a lot of respect for you tagging this item as both a ring and accessory, like bro you do not wear a crown on your finger it’s not tiny are you a giant or somet

I’m no UGC member but I like most of these ideas and their sprites, they definitely need some balancing tweaks but conceptually and visually they seem cool

[Oijfdpofds]

The sprite work for most of these is amazing and I like it very much. The guillotine’s Guillotine projectiles in particular, look phenomenal.

Now regarding their effects:

Nightmare: It’s an interesting sword with a multi hit projectile. I’m unsure of its DPS vs a T14 so if it doesnt trample on a T14 then its a good sword to use. Hard to hit but shouldnt be too strong that it beats a non-multi hit weapon (T14).

Primal Fear: This one seems particularly overpowered. It gives good stats, it has high damage, huge range, shots Ignore Armor, inflicts Stun AND Paralyzed for 3.5 seconds.
For comparison: Tiered shields inflict Stun for 3 seconds, have less range and dont pierce armor.
It beats every shield basically, aside from niche uses of other shields.

Oblivion: Its a cool concept for an armor.

Ring of Dark Epiphany: A worse lean for dps (without procc) providing 3 def instead but insane with the procc active. I like the less than 50% idea, it makes the item a very high risk but very high reward.
I think it would be nice if you explored the concept of making an ability that lowered the HP of the user in return for some other effect. This could synergize with this ring (but of course with the care to not make the combo busted or it would just beat everything).
Something that i thought of on the spot would be an on hold ability that inflicts Sick & Bleeding for …

Seal of the Nonbeliever: This one I dont like. I know you said it was supposed to be a direct upgrade to the oreo but I dont find the concept of making better versions of some whites (especially realm whites) something appealing. There are many ways to make a new item and it doesnt have to step on the toes of already existing ones. And specifically realm whites should be the ones that dont get similar ones anywhere as their effect is one of a kind.

Guillotine: I like it. Makes kensei rely on the shot damage instead of the dash for damage. Seems like it would be a really good weapon to use on bosses that are hard to dash over.

Null Zone: I dont like this one much either due to how much it strictly upgrades over other spells. Multi-hit, Armor Piercing, higher DPS than T7, Penetrating Blast Spell and is much easier to land the shots on the target? Due to how easier it is to hit its basically a better tablet that ignores armor and hits everything. Completely busted. I really dig the spell sprite tho.

All of the others seem alright.

The Arcane Spell Gauntlet seems pretty busted tho. Its base stats are already strong and that passive takes it a step further. 5 seconds is a long time.

From the looks of it this seems to be a dungeon of o3 / shatters difficulty, maybe higher, judging from the high FP and XP Bonus. Ill await for the others items.

[SirPoogle]

I appreciate the criticisms, and I really like the other ideas! I was actually planning for the scepter to reduce HP, but since it’s the last item, it’d take a while to get there unfortunately. I think it’d be nice on other classes though, so I might use that idea for a few more items coming up.
T14 actually beats Nightmare until around 18 defense, and is much easier to land hits with, so I bet T14 would still be heavily used if Nightmare were introduced. It is admittedly pretty close though, so I may consider a nerf.
I’ll probably nerf Primal Fear quite a bit. Was considering a 150 MP cost, and reducing the shot damage to very little to account for the double debuff. Also forgot that tiered shields only have 3 second stun, thought it was 3.5, my bad.
NB seal was meant to be a more party-centric invulnerability item, not necessarily a better Oreo. Still though, if it makes Oreo obsolete, I agree it should be changed. I can edit the original post once the next set of items are done, and hopefully fix a lot of these mistakes.
As for spell gauntlet, I’ll bump down the wisdom to 150 and for 3 seconds. I still want it to recover a high amount of MP and superboost abilities, but idk what I was thinking with 300 wis for 5 seconds lol.

Just to clarify about Null Zone: Only the stationary shot at the center of the nova pierces through multiple targets and ignores armor. The other null symbol shots do not pierce, otherwise pene spell would be gone. Tablet still beats it as far as overall damage goes. Null zone is just easier to hit with because the bullets basically spellbomb twice much like tablet, and thus is hardly easier to use over Tablet. I meant to put “shots pierce multiple enemies” under the stationary shot graphic, my apologies for any confusion.

[Herwin]

On equip: + 120 MP, +10 def, +6 spd, +25 wis
Effect: Grants 20 MP on ability use with a 0.5 second cooldown
8% fame/xp bonus
1600 fp

bro this robe is disgustingly op, gemstone is already the best item in the game imo and making one of the most busted classes(sorc) even better with this robe isnt a good idea.

Sure it isnt bis on a lot of classes but 40 mp per second (probably a liilte over a second but it isnt hard to learn a timing like that) on any ability focused classes is super good. I wouldnt run it on mystic, bard or summoner or main it on wiz but it would be way to good on sorc and t0 tome/fungal priest.

t0 tome, reality and gem sounds so fun that i kinda want the robe to be added just for that, infinite and constant decent heals even in combat for the whole group, fungal for the more convenient heals.

[SirPoogle]

I was already planning to nerf the robe actually. I’ll balance a lot of these items after the next batch is posted, which shouldn’t be too long.

[SirPoogle]

I forgot to add the morning star to the post before finishing the first 2 rows, so I’ll add that now.

Sirius the North Star (morning star)

Description

The north star, as powerful as it is ever present. It is another constant in every realm, a marker to help all navigate. It is said to be the Deiva above all, leading the nexus from above. The light of this star will lead you out of the dark.

2 shot types

1. 90-110 (100) base damage
   Hits multiple enemies.
   

2. 45-60 (52.5) base damage
   

On equip: +4 wis
1st bullet: Type 1, 100% fire rate, 1 shots
2nd bullet: Type 2, 90% fire rate, 2 shots 10° arc gap
3rd bullet: Type 2, 75% fire rate, 2 shots 22° arc gap
4th bullet: Type 2, 75% fire rate, 2 shots 34° arc gap
~5 tiles range, ~2.3 tiles true range
8% fame/xp bonus
1200 fp

(RotMG Sandbox doesn’t have working fire-rate splitting on weapons with multiple attacks, so this would actually look more like the other morning stars currently in-game. I promise it’d look cooler and more balanced with desynced firing speeds.)

Balance Discussion

The shots slow down after a bit, and with their high lifetime, you can create a minefield of shots for your enemies. It deals really good single-target damage when you sit on the enemy with low defense, beaten only by Lumiaire and Earthen Ward. This morning star, much like Cheerful Chipper, is still a really good main damage option with some minefield and stagger-sitting utility. There is 1 piercing shot, but alone it is even substantially less damage than a t12 wand, but the other shots make up for the total DPS.

Art/Design Commentary

The design process for this one was, again, rather simple. I took the current design for Morning Stars, and I put a round star on it instead of a pointed one to look different from the rest. There are still old designs featuring a pointed star, but the rounded star made for a more unique appearance. It gets its name from the north star in real life, which also happens to be the closest neighboring star to our solar system. As the brightest star in the sky, it is only fitting to make it shine.

Following the blue phase-themed items is the pink phase-themed items.

Photon Shredder (dagger)

Description

The blade is a jet of photons that carries the momentum of the holder, resulting in weightless and deadly slashes. A weightless blade is one that can be swung as fast as the user can move, and an incredibly deadly one.

105-145 damage

shots hit multiple targets
4.5 tile range
160% rate of fire
8% fame/xp bonus
1200 fp

(hard to tell cause gif compression, but the shot has a speed of 200 and frequency of 3.5. It’s very fast, but still harder to aim.)

Balance Discussion

The DPS is slightly above Cdirk on 0-5 defense, but falls off rather quickly with more defense. Although the damage is alright, the main draw is the piercing and crowd control this dagger provides, and the very fast shot speed for keeping pace with mobile bosses like Oryx 3, or The Forgotten King’s first phase. It is a solid option in its own right, but has a few drawbacks that keep it a well-rounded weapon, and not a definitive BIS item.

Art/Design Commentary

The item sprite was directly copied and pasted from some old reskin ideas of mine, swapped the colors with the new item palette, and left it as is. I just really like the cdirk reskin sprite, and since Cdirk is obviously irreplaceable, I decided to keep the sprite itself as another item idea. Still one of my favorite sprites, despite how overly-simple it may be. This item also received a slight visual upgrade from the Void Oryx imgur album, replacing the darkest purple tone with a cooler magenta to give a more “glowey” feeling, and making the shots less diamond-like.

Flask of Quark Plasma (poison)

Description

The contained plasma is hot enough to give lasting burns, from heat and radiation. Thankfully the flask protects you from the burns, but once broken, it wreaks havoc on all that it touches.

On equip: +6 atk
On ability use: throw poison grenade at cursor, dealing 900 damage on impact, and 600 or (600 + 10(atk - 60 if atk is 60+)) damage over 4 seconds.
Its radius is (1.5 + 0.1(atk - 60 if atk is 60+))
The damage bonus is (8 + 0.1(atk - 60 if atk is 60+)) % increase
120 MP cost
0.8 second throw time
8% fame/xp bonus
1500 fp

Balance Discussion

With one of the highest damage-to-mana ratios of any poison, it packs quite a punch with 12.5 damage per mana. In addition to the high poison damage, the damage boost isn’t bad either. 4 seconds of 9+% increased damage on a maxed character is pretty nice compared to most poisons. Both of these strengths are made up for with the lower scaling, and the small radius of the poison. This means the poison requires good aim to land the single AOE. The 120 MP cost also requires some building around to throw a ton, and since the atk scaling is what it is already built around, you may settle for throwing this poison less often than other builds. It competes with Murky for best poison for DPS, but since they both scale from different stats at different rates, the best in slot depends on the build and not necessarily the poison.

Art/Design Commentary

The design process of the item danced around a lot of other ideas. I considered giving it armor break, expose, curse, or pretty much any other debuff imaginable. I decided to let the other poisons have their support fortes, and built the poison around atk. The sprite was heavily inspired by the Virulent Venom poison.

Plate of the Star Traveler (leather armor)

Description

This armor is sealed tight, protecting you from even the vacuum of the void. It can transfer some external forces, like getting hit from attacks, into a usable form of energy. The mechanic behind such an armor would be fit to travel the great beyond.

On equip: +23 def, +4 spd
effect: upon taking at least 20 damage, you gain a stacking +5 dex and +5 wis boost for 5 seconds. No cooldown.
8% fame/xp bonus
1000 fp

Balance Discussion

This armor is more defensive, relying on taking multiple shots to boost your own DPS. If the shots put you into combat, then it may actually harm overall DPS to deliberately take hits, as lower mana regen means less ability uses. It still serves as a solid option for DPS and survivability depending on your playstyle and skill.

Art/Design Commentary

This item was another sprite recycled from an old idea, this one being a dungeon contest submission that was never completed. I gave it a more futuristic steel look, heavily inspired by the chestpiece from the Euphotic set from Starbound. I struggled for a while to come up with a functional ide for the armor that either wasn’t redundant, or didn’t have to compete with other power-creep items. Early versions used a 20% mana discount, but that was before the Syndicate armor was released, so it was further changed to what it is now.

Ring of Nebulous Power (ring/accessory)

Description

This ring was made with stardust from distant nebulae. It conjures cosmic dust to shield the user from foes.

On equip: +80 HP, +80 MP, +4 atk, +4 def.
Effects: Your ability costs 10 MP more to use. On ability use: Create a 12 bullet nova on yourself. Shots deal 64-88 (76) damage a shot (Shots boomerang, shots ignore defense)

8% fame/xp bonus
1100 fp

(shots are slower, and last much longer than shown in the gif)

Balance Discussion

This ring gives an insane 912 damage to any ability, but requires you to stand on the target in question, or to lure them into the deadly cloud. This ring is more powerful the cheaper the ability you use it with, so it can multiply the damage of a t0 spell by 9 times alone. This also gives classes that don’t have many offensive abilities to add more flat damage using their ability. The tradeoff is that it costs 10 more mana per cast, doesn’t provide the best stats, and requires some working-around to get to effectively use. Think of this as the anti-gemstone, where gemstone pays off the more a spell costs, Nebulous pays off the cheaper the spell is.

Art/Design Commentary

This ring used to be a purely defensive ring, which had insanely high HP and Vit. I reworked it to something more unique and less boring, and thus it was made as an EP spellbomb ring for all classes. It may require more tweaking, as all my testing shows that pretty much any endgame ring is better, but the ability still feels really strong. May buff the shots in the future, or even change the ability to an on-hit proc of some kind.

Star Shooter (longbow)

Description

A bow commissioned by an ancient king of the distant past. The king wanted to shoot the stars out of the sky to bring an age of darkness. They gathered their most powerful mystics together to create this contraption. It could not destroy the stars, but it destroyed the armies that opposed the kingdom of darkness.

On equip: -3 spd
360-440 damage
Burst: 3 shots (one 0.2 tiles to the left, one normal, one o.2 tiles to the right. Converges about 5 tiles away.
Burst delay adds up to about 55% rate of fire. Burst delay is reduced by dex to a minimum speed of 0.3 seconds.
5.6 tiles range

Effect: If moving while shooting, -64 atk +126 dex for 1 second with a 0.5 second cooldown (effect does not stack).
8% fame/xp bonus
1200 fp

Balance Discussion

This longbow is good for both high defense, and low defense, depending on whether or not you are moving when you shoot it. The DPS of the slow mode is comparable to clockwork repeater, but clockwork repeater both hits multiple targets and outpaces it at higher defense. The fast mode is close to t14 at 0 defense, but t14 is still better at all defense levels. Overall, it’s a well-rounded bow option that fares well on all defense levels, but is outclassed by other options at all defense levels. A jack of all trades, and master of none.

Art/Design Commentary

This item was initially planned to work like Deathless Crossbow before the extra types were added. It was speculated around the time that the second bow slot item type would be Crossbows, but was later revealed to be longbows, and thus required the item to be reworked. The idea of moving to swap modes was there since the idea was posted, but wasn’t planned to be a longbow until somewhat recently. I still think this is one of the coolest item designs of the bunch, but one that may require the most new technology to get to work.

Gamma Ray Burst (shortbow)

Description

A release of the string releases a wave of cosmic light, tearing into any adversary that crosses it. The power is strongest at the point of release, forming an arrow of immense power.

2 shot types:

1. 135-175 (hits multiple targets)
   7.68 tiles range
   

2. 25-45 (hits multiple targets, ignores enemy defense)
   ~4.5 tiles range
   

shot patterns:

1. type 1 shot, 1 shot, no arc gap
2. type 2 shot, 2 shots, 14° arc gap
3. type 2 shot, 2 shots, 30° arc gap
   0-1 tiles true range
   85% rate of fire
   8% fame/xp bonus
   1200 fp

Balance Discussion

The DPS is arguably the best in the game when you land all 5 slots, but since it has a low true range, it is mainly good for the spread of piercing damage, and the high range of the main shot. If you land only the main shot and 2 smaller shots, its dps is more comparable to Coral Bow and Leaf Bow, so the T14 is still better in most kiting circumstances because of the T14’s more consistent true range. Gamma Ray Burst is still incredibly powerful in its own right, and the faster shots could mean you land more than you could with another bow.

Art/Design Commentary

This bow as also planned to be a longbow at some point. The sprite is also heavily influenced by the Deathwind bow from Terraria Calamity Mod. This one used to use the same design ethos as the old tiered bows, where it was just a lot of arrows with a wonky arc gap. Thankfully added more projectiles using newer item design tech to a much better effect.

Now onto the Shadow phase-themed items.

Skull of the Unending Abyss (skull)

Description

The skull of an old avatar of the abyss. Whatever this thing used to be, it was so powerful that the remaining corrupted remnants can conjure the very void itself without surrendering full control to it.

On equip: +12 def
On ability use: Create a blast of 700 [+ (12(Wis - 50)) if wisdom ≥ 50] damage, radius of 4 tiles and ignores 90 defense, on the cursor. Leeches 90 damage, and heals allies within 7 tiles range.
Gives the user Darkness for 2 seconds on ability use.
110 MP cost
8% fame/xp bonus
1500 fp

Balance Discussion

Without a doubt the strongest skull for damage, and arguably best for healing, it is incredibly strong. The catch is that the darkness effect can completely throw off your playstyle if unprepared. While inflicted with Darkness, it caps the skull’s usable range to around a 3 tile radius, meaning it is best used up close and personal. The skull assists this playstyle with a whopping +12 defense on equip, boosting its defenses about as much as a T6 shield. It can still regularly be used outside this radius if you wait out the 2 seconds, acting almost like a pseudo 2 second cooldown. It doesn’t outclass other skulls in terms of DPS stats like Momento Mori, nor does it heal more than T7 skull, but its strengths make it a great choice so-long-as you can play around the faults.

Art/Design Commentary

The design for this skull was heavily inspired by the works of H.R. Giger. Their works tend to meld flesh to metal, creating cold and terrifying pieces. I wanted to meld metal and bone to create the remains of something incomprehensible, yet undeniably human. It admittedly looks very similar to Momento Mori, but the skull design itself has a number of differences that help distinguish them. Also had Diplomatic Robe in mind with the darker color choices, so it’d look much better in sets I’d reckon.

All-Black blade (waki)

Description

A blade as dark as night, imbued with the dark arts forbidden by samurai of the past. One stroke of the blade coats the opponent in an inky cloud of darkness, rendering the user invisible. It is unknown where the techniques originated, and how they came to this blade.

On equip: +5 spd, +5 atk
On ability use: Create 2 walls of 8 shots that converge on the cursor, each shot dealing 645-825 damage, piercing multiple targets, going over cover, and inflicting Exposed for 4 seconds.
Gives the user Invisible for 3 seconds.
Cooldown of 4 seconds
Max cast range of 4 tiles, minimum of 0
120 MP cost
8% fame/xp bonus
1500 fp

(Shots would start closer to the player and swivel inward)

Balance Discussion

This waki sacrifices overall DPS, and the standard waki cooldown, for some utility and big crowd clear. It should also be noted that it is nearly impossible to land more than 70% of the shots at a single time. Realistically you’d be landing around 50% of the total shots on 1 big target, making this waki about on-par with Wakizashi of the Eastern Winds in terms of damage. The invis utility can be really powerful if used right. You can go invis and get nice and close for big damage, assuming nobody else is taking the enemy aggression of course. The +5 atk and +5 spd is also notable for weapon DPS, but is still beaten out by wakis like Sentinel’s Sidearm, T7, and Multitool.

Art/Design Commentary

Probably have the least to say about this sprite, as it is pretty much a T0 waki with a couple changes. The weapon was designed to mimic Void Oryx’s shadow phases with both blade slashes, and some with walls of black shots. The name is a reference to the song “Everything Black” by Unlike Pluto.

Shadestep (cloak)

Description

A cloak woven from the void that existed before everything. A rogue who wears this may become a being of shadows, phasing through attacks with ease. It was so powerful that all rogues sought to replicate it in the form of techniques, though none could truly compare.

On equip: +4 dex,+3 spd, +4 atk
On ability use: dash 1-5 tiles
Gives the user Invisible for 4.5 seconds. User gains 2 charges of dash
Max dashes: 2
Trail damage: 1600
6 second cooldown
130 MP cost
8% fame/xp bonus
1500 fp

Balance Discussion

Easily one of the best cloaks for damage, and the only cloak for invincibility. Like other cloaks, it has a long cooldown to ensure there’s never perma invis. The dash is possibly the best part, as it deals 1600 damage on its own, and lets you escape nasty situations. Like other sheaths, this comes at the cost of it being really easy to accidentally kill yourself. You also have to aim to make the most of the damage AND keep yourself alive, so using this cloak over something like Cloak of Cubic Enigma is purely a matter of skill. It still loses out to Bloody Cloak for raw weapon DPS stats, and is about 800 damage short of equal footing with the Cloak of Cubic.

Art/Design Commentary

Honestly surprised there isn’t a sheath-like cloak yet, nor was one revealed in the near future. It’d be really cool in my opinion, and would make Rogue a lot more fun to play. It’d make Rogue less fragile in group play, where getting shot at while invisible wouldn’t a death sentence. I think Rogue should have more options outside of funny cloak items, but that’s a conversation for another day. The design itself is an homage to the Shade Cloak from Hollow Knight.

Slabs of Forbidden Knowledge (tome)

Description

The inscriptions are written in a long-lost language. The symbols slither and squirm, as if written in worms. Somehow, you think you can read it, but you really rather wouldn’t again. It’s an account of a past war so horrific, so deadly, that it conjures an unfathomable image into your mind. Perhaps some records are best left forgotten.

On equip: +5 def, -5 wis
On ability use: Summon a monolith on yourself. The monolith inflicts all enemies within 16 tiles with bleeding (100 damage over 5 seconds) every 0.6 seconds for 6 seconds. The monolith gives all allies within 16 tiles healing for 3 seconds every 0.6 seconds for every 6 seconds.

-60 HP on ability use
6 second cooldown
120 MP cost
8% fame/xp bonus
1500 fp

Balance Discussion

On paper, the item looks incredibly weak compared to other tomes, but it comes with a few notable strengths that hide just below the surface. For 1: there’s nearly permanent uptime on healing buff in a 16 tile radius, and a bleed that quickly stacks up until around 1000 damage total. A 32 tile diameter zone of faster regen and 1000 guaranteed damage on enemies is pretty good when layed out like that, but remember it comes at a steep cost. For 1, other tomes can give much more health in the short term, some tomes can easily do more damage, and other tomes don’t actively hurt you.

Art/Design Commentary

Still unsure about this design. If anything is going to be reworked again in the future, it’s this one. The first designs were like a big fungal tome with a longer cooldown, or a Tome of Pain crossed with a fungal tome, and I’m still not entirely opposed to those ideas. The item sprite was initially planned to have a trickle of blood coming out of the tablets, but decided to simplify it to the current sprite. Since the item was also conceived before the tome rework of September 2020, so the oldest sprite was made on a diagonal. I actually found one of the original sprites, and it looks like this.

The design of the monolith is a bit of a homage to my past as a pixel artist. It’s a bit of an inside joke for my art elsewhere on the internet; that I always sneak a monolith in my works.

The Maw (trap)

Description

A product of the void claiming a human soul. Its inky and morphing form is very flexible, and seems capable of assuming whatever shape it desires. It looks at your foes with a predator’s gaze. You think it’s… Hungry?

On equip: +5 atk, +5 def
On ability use: Summons The Maw on your cursor. The maw follows the nearest enemy target, or is controlled by the cursor using the “control summons” hotkey. The maw takes 3 seconds to arm. Once armed, they can strike whenever an enemy gets within 2 tiles range of The Maw. The Maw’s attack deals 3000 damage within a 2 tile radius. All hit enemies are paralyzed for 4.5 seconds. The Maw disappears after attacking, or after 9 seconds without attacking.

Max number of summons: 1
Summoning another Maw replaces the first one on the new position.
110 MP cost
8% fame/xp bonus
1500 fp

Balance Discussion

One of the strongest traps for solo damage in the game, but it comes with a pseudo 3 second cooldown. It also aims itself, unless you decide otherwise, making it a really safe damage investment. The ‘cooldown’ does throw a wrench in the works, meaning Vile Trap and Cave Dweller Trap still outclass it in overall DPS, but The Maw comes with utility. A 4.5 second paralyze, effectively being a perma-paralyze trap if you can consistently cast within the 1.5 second window. It does have a small active radius though, so it is best used on 1-2 very close targets. Ctrap is still cheaper, doesn’t have a 3 second cooldown, and has a larger radius of paralysis, so I doubt it would go out of use with the addition of The Maw.

Art/Design Commentary

Easily one of my favorite item designs. Inspired by the Symbiote from Spiderman media. It’s made with direct inspiration from a past creation of mine, Mouldred, a creature made of stem cells that can transform from a soft slime mold, into a hard spike of bone tissue through a target at will. I hope I’m not the only one who finds the black soul slushy monster at least a little bit cute. Thankfully they aren’t the only void + soul creature in this set of items.

Mace of the Void Homunculus (mace)

Description

After the singularity, and the converging of light and dark, the void had an odd effect on the souls of your fallen brethren. The reaction created new entities that fall somewhere between human, and the void. These creatures slowly grow, amassing power over time, but hold an unstable form that won’t last long without care.

On equip: +5 def
On ability use: Summon a Baby Homunculus. The baby can be hit by enemy attacks, but has 500 HP and 0 defense. The baby emits a 1 tile AOE that deals 1 damage and slows for 1.5 seconds every second.

If the Baby Homunculus survives for 5 seconds, they become a Homunculus Kid. The Homunculus Kid can be hit by enemy projectiles, but has 750 HP and 5 defense. The Homunculus Kid creates a 1.5 tile AOE that deals 100 armor-piercing damage and slows enemies for 1.5 seconds every second. The Homunculus Kid also fires 1 shot with a bit of amplitude a second at the nearest enemy target within 6 tiles range, dealing 150-250 damage each.

If the Homunculus Kid survives for 5 seconds, they become an Adult Homunculus. The Adult Homunculus can be hit by enemy projectiles, but has 1000 HP and 10 def. The Adult Homunculus emits a 2 tile AOE that deals 250 damage and slows for 1.5 seconds every second. The Adult Homunculus also fires 2 shots with a bit of amplitude a second at the nearest enemy target within 6 tiles range, dealing 550-750 each. The Adult Homunculus lasts 5 seconds before despawning.

2 second cooldown
100 MP cost
8% fame/xp bonus
1500 fp

Balance Discussion

The highest DPS mace in the game if your summons survive 10 seconds dealing a total of over 6000 damage a summon, but considering how flimsy they can be, that is a challenge in its own right. Instead of controlling just the player character, you also have to dodge with your summons to get the most out of them. Thankfully they fully heal every time they evolve, becoming easier to manage after every 5 second interval. You can also use the summons to block shots for you, but because of their low HP and 2 second cooldown, it would be difficult to manage consistently. Something else of note is the consistent permanent slow debuff if you can keep your summons alive, but assuming you’re keeping then in a 1-2 tile radius the whole time, good luck keeping them alive for long.

Art/Design Commentary

Another one of my favorite items. I think it’d be so cool to have a risk/reward item that requires you to essentially dodge twice as much to get the full reward out of it. The homunculi were heavily inspired by the void fragment, void shade, and greater void shade dynamic. Always thought it’d be sick to summon little voidlings like you’re playing the Zerg in Starcraft. I feel like the massive weaknesses of this item balance some of the overwhelming strengths, but it may require some more balancing changes.

Next batch will be the last, and will cover some of my favorite designs of them all. Until then, I’ll be editing the current 2 pages to make some balance changes and taking in suggested changes.

Changelog

Edit: Fixed major formatting and grammar errors
Edit 2: Reduced average FP and added varying FP based on item’s rarity.
Edit 3: Buffed the base damage from 500 to 700 and armor-piercing of Skull of the Unending Abyss from 50 to 90, reduced Ring of Nebulous Power’s MP cost from 20 to 10, increased the range of the Slabs of Forbidden Knowledge’s monolith to 16 tiles, and changed Shadestep from invisibility from first dash to on ability use before dashing and lowered trail damage from 2000 to 1600.

[SirPoogle]

Chained Core (flail)

Description

The core of a neutron star, bound by a chain designed to suspend the core’s gravity. It becomes impossible to control such a massive flail for a mortal, so spinning is the only stable state for combat.

3 shots:

1. 455-525 (490) base damage, hits multiple targets
   4 tiles range
   
2. 80-100 (90) base damage, hits multiple targets, ignores enemy defense
   ~2.666 tiles range
   
3. 80-100 (90) base damage, hits multiple targets, ignores enemy defense
   1 tiles range
   (same sprite as shot #2)

After shooting, all shots rotate around the point of origin at their max ranges. Each shot completes 1 rotation at the same time, and then despawns.
115% rate of fire
effect: on shoot, gain unstable for 1 second. While unstable, this weapon aims in random directions around the player.
8% fame/xp bonus
1200 fp

Rotating shot pattern demo (seizure/headache warning)

Balance Discussion

On paper, this item is the best sword slot item for weapon DPS over Dblade, Chipper, and even Pixie. It does come with a few major setbacks though. For starters, shooting immediately gives you the unstable effect. Unstable not only removes your ability to aim this weapon, but can negate certain abilities from working, or makes them harder to aim. You can still use this weapon while fleeing from enemies, as it acts as both a 4 tile spacing tool, but also a minefield that you can drag enemies into. If you only hit with the core at the end, the DPS is more comparable to an acclaim. Landing the chain shots makes-or-breaks this item, leaving it in the EP swapout grey area, but is still at least a little usable during chasing/dragging phases.

Art/Design Commentary

I designed this weapon after Void Oryx’s spinning flail phases. I got the idea after seeing flails and swiveling shots after getting back into the game somewhat recently. Items like the old Steam Pipe, or the Earthen Ward, got me thinking if the swiveling shot technology worked with weapons with multiple shot types and patterns. This item may require more balancing in the future, as its one of those item designs that are either beyond strong, or incredibly weak depending on how it works in practice. The Makakoyumi of sword slot items.

Death Ray (katana)

Description

A focused laser beam given form, melting all it touches. The laser looks like something from out of this world, defying the current understanding of magic and technology. Be careful, you might lose a finger… or leg…

80-80 (80) base damage

230% rate of fire
6 tiles range
shots ignore enemy defense
8% fame/xp bonus
1200 feed power

Balance Discussion

A very solid option for single-target damage on high defense. It sacrifices piercing and a small amount of overall DPS for more range and consistency. Its main competitor as a high-def specialized katana is Valor, which has a shorter range but pierces, and more DPS but at the cost of losing 10 atk in combat. Death Ray loses against it until 92 defense out of combat, but in combat, Death Ray outclasses it on all defense levels. It pairs incredibly well with Enforcer or T14 Tachis, filling in for the weaknesses of both items.

Art/Design Commentary

Probably my least favorite item design of all of them, as it started as a buffed Ray Katana. It still keeps a lot of the Ray Katana DNA with the laser projectiles and blade design, but still kinda wish I did something more original with it. Still think Death Ray was badass though, hence why it’s still here instead of any other design, and I do think armor-piercing is needed among endgame katanas. If ray katana finally gets a buff or forge upgrade, this item could do with being replaced by a different design entirely.

Helm of the False God (helm)

Description

Is… Is its eye still in there? No matter, for you are the usurper of the throne. A new mad god… For now…

On equip: +6 def, +6 atk, +6 spd
On ability use: give nearby allies Berserk for 3.5 + (0.1(wis-30) if wisdom is ≥ 30) seconds, over a 5 + (0.1(wis-30) if wisdom is ≥ 30) tile radius. Gain 1 dash charge.
If ability is used when charged, you dash without the party buff.
Max dashes: 1
Trail damage: 1000
Upon dashing: Creates 6 shots to the right and left that deal 15 armor-piercing damage and inflict Exposed for 3 seconds.

Leave behind a trail of blasts that deal 200-250 damage every second for 6 seconds.
100 MP cost
cooldown of 6 seconds
8% fame/xp bonus
1500 feed power

Balance Discussion

A powerful helmet for burst damage, for party buff utility, and for temporary invincibility. It doesn’t do as much personal damage as Vanguard’s Visage, but it makes up for it by being a great “get out of jail free” card for nasty situations. The buff lasts longer than Vanguard’s Visage, and has the largest radius of any helm, but its long cooldown makes it difficult to perma-buff.

Art/Design Commentary

This helm was initially planned as a Helm of the Juggernaut upgrade, and was then redesigned to be a Cloak of Cubic Enigma-esque DPS helm, and then finally reworked into this unholy abomination. I like the uniqueness of this helm, as it can theoretically fill in multiple roles at once, but its overall DPS is below Vanguard’s Visage and has an inferior buff to t6/7 helm, but makes up for it with utility and survivability. Might be a bit overtuned and may require more balancing changes.

Arrow of Light (quiver)

Description

More of a battery than a quiver. It super-charges the bowstring with energy, and the energy is released with a swift pull of the bowstring, releasing an energy arrow blast at the speed of light. Pray you never end up between the arrow and its target.

On equip: +60 MP +3 spd
1700-2000 (1850) damage

10 tiles range
1 shot
90 MP cost
shots hit multiple targets and ignore defense
8% fame/xp bonus
1500 fp

(the shot would be much bigger in-game)

Balance Discussion

An incredibly powerful bow for pure damage. It loses in overall DPS to Quiver of the Shadows assuming you land all 6 shots. Quiver of Light, however; has a very high range and shot speed to hit enemies at further distances. Arrow of Light and Quiver of the Shadows would be the 2 best quivers in the game for damage, but both fulfill different roles within their niche. Rather than strictly using one or the other, using both can help archer do massive damage at close and far range.

Art/Design Commentary

This one is nearly identical to the first conceived design, but the shots got a massive visual upgrade. The sprite itself was also touched-up, but remains very similar. The new arrow sprite was heavily inspired by theoretical physics involving an object moving at the speed of light. It is theorized that light has its own doppler effect when being reflected off an object moving at the speed of light. If the object is moving towards you, you would perceive the object as electric blue, as blue is the fastest frequency of visible light. As the object moves away from you, the object would look red, as red is the slowest frequency. The name and concept is also inspired by the Light Arrows in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

Horn of Nidhogg (ring/accessory)

Description

The horn of a monster so powerful, it once threatened reality itself. The being of destruction was defeated by the powers of creation, allowing all to exist.

On equip: +140 HP, +10 vit
Effect: On shoot when in combat, gain +10 atk for 1 second
8% fame/xp bonus
1100 feedpower

Balance Discussion

Pretty much an anti-horn, as in it helps in recovery and damage when hurt, rather than defense and damage when unhurt. They still perform similar niches, but are good on different classes. Melee classes can’t use horn as effectively as others, because they get hit a lot more than the average class. Horn of Nidhogg is different though, thus is actually better on melee than ranged classes. The boost to attack is also notable for Sorcerer, but would override the more optimal boost from Vesture of Duality.

Art/Design Commentary

This horn was mostly made as an homage to the Exalted God’s Horn, and was initially planned to be the ring for the original void oryx UT set from early in development. The name and lore is in reference to the creature from Norse mythology, but most uniquely the interpretation of Nidhogg from the Forgotten Realms TTRPG book series. That version of Nidhogg is much more powerful than most other fantasy books, as they are even more powerful than the all-powerful gods that orchestrate the universe itself. That concept of a beast of unfathomable power is very appealing to me, like the very nature of entropy in the form of a monster.

Chains of Agony (staff)

Description

The tether to an ethereal chain from a higher dimension. The chain shears away at the target with a physical and spiritual burn. The chain requires time to return, and then is ready to be cast once again. This chain was made to bind something in another dimension… but what is it, and is it now free?

On equip: -3 vit
95-135 (115) base damage

Burst count: 6
minimum/max burst delay: 0.3 sec / 0.9 sec
Rate of fire: 150%
8% fame/xp bonus
1200 feedpower

Balance Discussion

Again, Sandbox does not have burst weapon functionality unfortunately, so calculating the DPS is incredibly difficult. I tried to make it in the realm of other low-def DPS staves like Spirit Staff and Superior, only with a different set of quirks to deal with. It has a smaller than average range, burst firing, and -3 vit on equip, but in exchange gives high damage, boomeranging shots, and high frequency to ensure you land more shots.

Art/Design Commentary

The weapon was designed to take advantage of an optical illusion with weapons that use high-frequency bullets. The double helix pattern when paired with longer shot sprites results in something that looks like a chain. When paired with boomeranging shots, it looks even more like a chain that returns. This was an effect I discovered while experimenting with Void Oryx’s shot patterns early on in development, and some of those phase designs made it into the final document.

With that, we get to the last set of items themed around the Singularity Phase of Void Oryx.

Accretion Disk (star)

Description

A singularity surrounded by a disk of plasma rapidly spinning around its equator. It safely levitates away from your touch, but has no problems tearing into enemies. Maybe it likes you?

On equip: +6 spd +6 vit
While holding ability key: slows all enemies within a 4 tile radius for 2 seconds every second. Spawns a stationary projectile on the player every second while key is held, that deals 500 damage. Costs 25 MP/second

On ability use: Fires a projectile at the cursor.
1000 damage

5 tiles range
80 MP
All shots ignore defense and pass through cover
8% fame/xp bonus
1500 fp

Balance Discussion

This item serves a really odd purpose among other stars. Rather than assisting rushing with speedy, they slow nearby enemies and leave a deadly trail of shots to chip away at enemies chasing you. It also isn’t that bad for personal damage compared to tiered stars, but is swiftly beat out by most other endgame stars. Where this star excels, is as a minefield tool. If you can predict where the enemy will go, you can stack up shots on their path and do max damage without having to land perfect shuriken shots. It also is a good option on high-defense enemies like Avatar of the Forgotten King, and Ethereal Shrine.

Art/Design Commentary

This item has remained virtually the same over time, only I traded the speedy for an AOE slow effect, and gave it a massive shot sprite. It was considered that you could charge the shuriken by holding down the ability key, and then releasing to increase the range, size, and power of the shot. That idea was ultimately scrapped because it would require completely new item technology, but it is still something I’d love to see. The item also looks cool using the smaller shot sprite, so if the large sprite is a bit too much, the smaller sprite works just fine.

Event Horizon (prism)

Description

A catalyst containing a super-massive singularity. It conjures its gravity, creating small black holes that pull in enemies. The catalyst also provides a gravity shield, reducing the damage of attackers. Don’t get sucked in if you enjoy not being spaghetti.

On equip: +4 dex, +4 def
On ability use: Spawn a Black Hole decoy on yourself

Decoy lasts 6 seconds
5 tile range
1.2 second move time
If used when moving, spawns a moving decoy in the opposite direction
If used when standing still, spawns a moving decoy in a random direction
Decoy emits a 4 tile radius effect blast every 0.6 seconds, and a 400 armor-piercing damage 1 tile radius effect blast. The larger blast inflicts Slowed for 1 second, and the smaller blast inflicts Paralyzed for 1 seconds.
Effect: On ability use, gain +10 defense for 5 seconds. 10 second cooldown.
100 MP cost
4 second cooldown
8% fame/xp bonus
1200 feed power

Balance Discussion

A prism with a solid decoy time of 6 seconds (albeit with a 4 second cooldown) whilst also being a decent crowd control tool. The +10 defense is nothing to scoff at either, as trickster is a squishier class than most others. The big drawback is the lack of teleport and the high MP cost. It can pack up to 40 damage per mana, but it is unrealistic to consistently land the 1x1 blast, especially since some enemies prefer to keep a little distance from the target. It is still incredibly powerful for both crowd control, survivability, and decoy utility.

Art/Design Commentary

This design has remained virtually unchanged for the past 2-3 years. I wanted it to be a black hole decoy that sucks enemies in and paralyses them, and it works just fine at that. I like the idea of more damage or utility-centered prisms, but the issue with most of the current prisms is the short decoy durations, bad-moderate damage output, or weak utility. An Orb of Aether-like prism would make for a great utility swapout. Orb of Aether will still be good, because its paralysis radius is 2.5x the size, and more consistent. May still require balancing to reduce powercreep of other utility prisms.

Wand of Particle Collision (wand)

Description

A wand that conjures the kinetic energy of particles, creating a cluster of particles that create singularities on impact with other material. This process takes up a massive amount of energy, and needs time to recharge.

666-899 (782.5) base damage

25% rate of fire
8.75 tiles range
Shots ignore enemy defense
8% fame/xp bonus
1200 feed power

Balance Discussion

This wand has a very high range, base damage, and speed, making it great at keeping a distance and still doing good damage to high-defense enemies. The super slow shooting speed, and fast projectile, means it requires a lot of skill to land shots consistently. If you can pull it off, this wand easily becomes one of the best in the game, beating out Lumiaire at around 90-96 defense depending on your build. It is beat out by Laser Pointer until around 50 defense, but is slightly better than it from that point onward. Overall one of the best wand options for high defense enemies, but requires a lot of skill to land shots consistently.

Art/Design Commentary

This design was inspired by an old idea of mine, that being an event white wand that drops from Cube God. This design was made to feel like a railgun. I went all in on damage, range, and shot speed just to get the effect that you’re sniping enemies with a super-charged projectile. Wands were already regarded as the sniper-like weapons, but I found the speed and feel of the shots left a lot to be desired. It was considered very late in development to be a spellblade-like wand with nearly the same stats as this, only one shot pierces and goes through cover, and the other armor-pierces and doesn’t go through cover. If this item requires a rework for balance reasons, that’d probably be my first step.

Ring of the Dying Sun (ring)

Description

The core of a red giant contained in a catalyst. It burns bright with a dying rage, continuing to exist only through its will to wreak havoc. The ring burns you, but the power it offers in return is hard to deny.

On equip: -32 vit, +80 HP, +80 MP, +6 def, +6 dex +6 wis, +6 atk +6 spd
8% fame/xp bonus
1100 feed power

Balance Discussion

This ring offers 80 HP/MP, 6 defense, 12 DPS stats, 6 wisdom, and 6 spd at the cost of 32 vitality. On an unmaxed character, this ring may cause them to lose HP while equipped, as the vitality stat can go far into the negatives. This ring also increases the amount of time you’re in combat through the vit debuff, making it a truly skill-cap ring. The DPS buffs aren’t the best compared to rings like Chrysalis, Crown, or Overclock, but in combination with the other stats, makes it a great option on most-if-not all classes. This comes at the steep vitality cost of course, but it’s still something that can be worked around. It also combos well with the Scepter of the Scarlet King or the Bloodbath blade coming with the realm rework in the near future, as it increases the amount of time you’re at low HP to maximize damage boosts.

Art/Design Commentary

This ring was initially planned to be a reskin of the Omnipotence Ring, but was changed not long after conception. A couple of these items play around the concept of being stronger the lower your HP is, so a ring like this that can somewhat safely keep you at low HP is a great item to combo with said concept.

Binary Stars (dual blades)

Description

A pair of stars in orbit of each other. Before their time as weapons, they spent eons in a delicate dance. One never lost influence on the other, locking both into an embrace that lasted millions of years.

2 shots

1. 140-215 (177.5) base damage
   
   shots ignore defense and cover
   4.2 tiles range
2. 120-175 (147.5) base damage
   
   shots hit multiple enemies
   4.2 tiles range
   frequency of 2, amplitude of 0.8

60% rate of fire
8% fame/xp bonus
1200 feed power

(shots would be offset a little to the left and right of what’s shown in this demo, like most other dual blades)

Balance Discussion

Arguably the best dagger in the game for high defense. Its main competitor is Mischief, but Binary Stars beats it at 60 def. The 2 make a great duo for hitting on low defense and high defense, but both are strong in their own right. It beats Avarice and Cutter around 45 defense, cdirk at 35 defense, and Moonstone Blades around 20 defense.

Art/Design Commentary

This item received one of the best reworks of all the items thus far, and is possibly my favorite. It fills a really cool niche in daggers of hitting endgame defense pretty well, since we all know that Stinger isn’t gonna cut it. It sacrifices a bit of ease of use for very powerful overall damage, competing with top-tiers like Mischief and Avarice. It may look OP on the surface, but remember that daggers like Avarice exist, and that this isn’t much better than anything below it.

Song of the Stars (lute)

Description

The raddest guitar in the known universe. Shredding on this guitar creates arcs of lightning. The lightning grows more powerful the longer your solo lasts. Bring peace among the stars with your radical tunes.

On equip: +3 dex +3 wis

On ability use: allies within 4 tiles gain Inspired for 5.5 seconds.
Lightning: 200 + [(wis - 65) x 5 if wisdom is ≥ 65] damage
Targets: 3 + (1 for ever 10 wis over 65)
Cone: 45°
Range: 8.5 tiles
Shockblast damage: 100 + [(dex - 65) x 10 if dex is ≥ 65] damage
Shockblast targets: 1 + (1 for every 5 dex over 65)
Shockblast range: 2 (+ 0.1 for every 5 dex over 65) tiles
Shockblast triggers: 1 + (1 for every 10 dex over 65) times
100 MP cost
Effect: Continuous Solo
For every 2 seconds out of combat, gain +1 dex. The effect stacks, and has a maximum of +15 dex over 30 seconds.
Effect: Fumbled Riff
When in combat, gain Dazed for 2 seconds. 30 second cooldown.
8% fame/xp bonus
1500 feed power

Balance Discussion

Another item that’s hard to calculate, as the current DPS calculator tech doesn’t allow for custom damage formulas yet. I expect it to be somewhat close to giving a bard a stronger Honey Scepter Supreme along-side a +15 dex boost. The DPS calcs look close to it being the best lute in the game, but again requires the player to stay out of combat for 30 seconds to get the full boost. Robe classes also lack options for dex-boosting robes, so the best robes for DPS wouldn’t scale the ability’s strength that much. It also gives Inspired to the party, albeit a weaker one, so the bard can still somewhat help with party play. All of this is balanced out by the higher MP cost, and sacrificing the HP/def/atk stats that other endgame lutes provide.

Art/Design Commentary

Also one of my favorite items. This one went through several different designs over time, but it was always meant to use lightning, and dex/wis scaling for damage. It was initially planned to fire stars in some way, but couldn’t find a way to balance it all without making it overtuned. It was also initially called Swan Song or Universal Swan Song, but eventually decided to go all-in on the hipster rock vibes. While some of the other item designs here reward taking damage in controlled amounts, this one does the opposite, rewarding good play with more and more DPS. It was made partially in reference to the Ukulele items in Risk of Rain 1 and 2.

Solar Flare (orb)

Description

A sphere containing a small sun. It conjures it as a deadly casting sphere, but when manifested, the young star is unstable. It can be cast out all at once, or can be divided into smaller forms for a defensive formation.

On equip: -6 vit, +6 atk
Ability Mode 1:
On ability use: Summons a Volatile Star on the cursor. The Volatile Star lasts for 5 seconds. It emits 2 effect blasts every second. The first blast has a range of 5 tiles, deals 100 damage, and inflicts Exposed for 3 seconds. The second blast has a range of 2 tiles, deals 300 damage, and inflicts Armor Broken for 1 second.

5 second cooldown
130 MP cost
Ability Mode 2:
On ability use: Summons a Small Volatile Star that quickly rotates around the player for 6 seconds before disappearing. Each star zaps the nearest target within 6 tiles for 300 damage and inflicts Curse for 2 seconds every second. Upon despawning, Small Volatile Stars gives healing for 3 seconds to all party members within a 3 tile range.

80 MP cost
8% fame/xp bonus
1500 fp

Balance Discussion

A very powerful utility orb, providing decent damage, and the incredibly strong Armor Break debuff. 5 seconds of Armor Break is nothing to scoff at, but it is limited to a smaller area that cannot be controlled once placed. This means its use is limited to enemies that are stationary, or have limited movement. Armor Break can be invaluable on Mystic, as staves are usually best on 0 defense with few exceptions. The secondary mode is also powerful in its own right, hitting a single target with decent damage and curse, and even healing the player and nearby party members.

Art/Design Commentary

This item was also massively reworked from the older version. It was initially planned to work like a Scorchium Stone, just shooting projectiles that do decent damage and curse, but it felt too boring. It was also known as Supernova back then. I wanted the design to mirror Orb of Aether, where it is a sentry utility ability, only it provides offensive debuffs and damage instead of crowd control. Armor Break on mystic might be a bit much, but I think it’d give Mystic a cool niche outside of just curse and vigor/arcana DPS. The second mode was added later on to give in more uses outside of sentry utility, which is why it is fairly underwhelming compared to options like Arcana.

And finally,

Scepter of the Crimson King (scepter)

Description

The Crimson King demands blood. Let there be blood.

On equip: +12 vit
On ability use:
Lightning: 200 + [(wis - 65) x 8 if wis is ≥ 65] damage
Targets: 1 (+1 for ever 10 vit over 65)
Cone: 25°
Range: 7.5 tiles
Shockblast damage: 200 + [(max HP - current HP) x 10] damage
Shockblast targets: 1
Shockblast range: 1.5 + (0.2 for every 10 vit over 65) tiles
Shockblast triggers: 1 times
80 MP cost
Effect: Blood sacrifice
Reduces the user’s current HP by 30 (does not reduce max HP) and gives the user Bleeding for 3 seconds on ability use. The HP reduction effect cannot reduce the player’s HP below 1.
8% fame/xp bonus
1500 fp

Balance Discussion

The ultimate glass cannon build item. Assuming the user has max HP exalts and a full HP build (with mantle and deca) and use the ability to lower your HP to 1, you can deal a whopping 9,530 damage per cast on a single target. The potential is absolutely insane, but of course, comes with the threat of instant death when being hit by a single shot. The lightning isn’t great compared to the insane shockblast, but still scales pretty well with the proc from mantle, albeit much less than the Tezutsu Hanabi.

Art/Design Commentary

This item was heavily inspired by a similar item in RotF from back in the day. I also have seen videos of player Lucasmitao doing no-hit or near-no-hit runs of some endgame bosses. I think it would be cool to add items that assist in only having 1 HP to help with goofy challenges like this, while also providing substantial benefit to make the experience more volatile. The name is a reference to the Scarlet King from SCP lore. The sprite is also made in reference to the Spear of Longinus from Evangelion.

At long last, that is all the item designs. My work is not done, however; I will be making numerous balancing and formatting changes to prepare it for submitting. Feel free to tell me if something needs some work. I’m still keen on respriting some item assets to make them feel badass, but I won’t make any promises.
Thanks for all the kind words and criticisms thus far, I appreciate it!

[SirPoogle]

Oh and because I forgot, here’s the sprite sheet where all the new and improved stuff is.
8x8:

16x16:

[system]

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