Defiant Gouge

The  is a lunar item in Risk of Rain 2. It causes all Shrines and Cleansing Pools to summon enemies (more enemies per stack) when activated, much like a Shrine of Combat would.

Stacking this item will cause enemies to be more difficult, as if it were used at a later time in the game. This also means that those enemies are worth more money and EXP when they die.

Just like Shrines of Combat, the difficulty scaling of the enemies spawned by this item is based on the difficulty when the player enters the level, not when the shrine is activated.

The Defiant Gouge will stop working after the difficulty gets too high per amount of item, similar to Shrines of Combat, because of the extreme cost of each enemy that needs to be spawned. See Directors for more.

Version History

 * Anniversary Update
 * Major Content
 * Added lore entry
 * Gameplay Changes
 * 🌧 Monster Spawn Points: 100 (+100 per stack) ⇒ 40 (+40 per stack) Developer Notes: A single Gouge would spawn way too many monsters. Now, having 1 or 2 Gouges should be a reasonable option.


 * Early Access Content Update 5
 * Major Content
 * Added New Lunar Item: Defiant Gouge