Helfire Tincture

The  is a lunar equipment in Risk of Rain 2.

When activated, a sphere of blue flames surrounds the holder for 12 seconds, continuously inflicting the invisible Helfire debuff on everything within 15 meters (including the holder and their allies). Once a character leaves the fire or the Tincture's effect expires, the Helfire debuff persists for an additional 3 seconds.

The Helfire debuff deals damage 5 times per second. Each tick deals 0.5% of the holder's max health to themself, 0.25% of their max health to other allies, and 24% of their max health to enemies. This means that the damage per second is 2.5%, 1.25%, and 120% of the holder's maximum health to themself, to allies, and to enemies, respectively.

The Helfire debuff is nonlethal to the holder, so it will never bring them below 1 HP.

Beneficial

 * can block self-damage ticks.
 * reduces the damage taken while on fire, and because it ticks extremely fast for low amounts, it's easy to reduce burning damage taken to 1.
 * Combining Armor Plates with the can result in a steady healing over time effect, although the Planula's relative scarcity can make this theoretical synergy unfeasible in practice.
 * Since the is a global damage increase, it will increase the damage done to burning enemies. However, its range is slightly smaller than the flames' area of effect (13m versus 15m), so the player will need to get slightly closer to enemies to reap the benefits.
 * This item can also be a double-edged sword, as its damage boost applies when the player's allies are too close.
 * will activate each tick of burning, firing 5 times per second and rapidly triggering on-hit effects.
 * Pairing the Razorwire with on-hit healing from the or  gives the player automatic healing as long as enemies are within the Razorwire's range.
 * An can add a considerable amount of barrier with enough on-hit healing.
 * Stacking Tougher Times will occasionally prevent the Razorwire from activating. If the player wishes to mix these different survivability options, they must maintain a delicate balance between Tougher Times, Razorwire, and on-hit healing.
 * ,, and increase the damage dealt by the flames while simultaneously increasing survivability.
 * Having more max health increases the damage dealt, but likewise increases the damage taken, so more Repulsion Armor Plates are necessary. Taking 1 Repulsion Armor Plate per 1000 max health reduces each self-damage tick to 1.
 * helps the player automatically heal when close to enemies, and inflicts to slow them down and keep them in the burning area. It also pairs well with the Focus Crystal, draining even more health.
 * Having two allows the player to stand still and recover HP at a higher rate than the Tincture burns them. Additional Fungi make recovering from combat damage easier as well.
 * All of the above healing strategies are greatly enhanced by the.
 * The recovery ceiling is lower than the self-injury inflicted by the Tincture, and still affords the bonus healing that the Rejuvenation Rack does. However, in exchange, the Corpsebloom prevents the player from healing excessively, so the Aegis will virtually never activate and combat damage becomes much more difficult to recover from.
 * will make all burn damage negligible, as the player's max health becomes 1.
 * The same effect happens upon killing a Elite while holding the.
 * A lesser effect happens when the player gains the buff by killing an Overloading Elite while holding the Wake of Vultures, where half of their max health becomes shields. This means that, for the duration of the Overloading buff, all damage taken from and dealt by the Tincture is halved.

Detrimental or useless

 * is near-useless because of how rapidly the burn damage ticks, constantly resetting the 2 seconds necessary to recover. The only way to make use of a Medkit is to proc Tougher Times many times in a row.
 * The barrier from is consumed almost instantly, and—in the late-game—the stack requirement becomes too high to be sustainable.
 * and all shield effects do not increase the damage dealt, and shields require 7 seconds without taking damage to replenish.
 * will never activate because the player is constantly taking damage.
 * can reduce incoming burn damage, but the effect is considerably smaller than a single Repulsion Armor Plate. The armor granted is still useful for approaching enemies, but sprinting also means that Bustling Fungus becomes unusable.
 * should be avoided as the damage from this item is based on max health, not base damage, and so it will halve the damage that the Helfire Tincture deals.

Version History

 * Anniversary Update
 * Bug Fixes
 * Fixed Helfire Tincture’s burning effect being offset


 * Early Access Content Update 5
 * Gameplay Changes
 * Helfire Radius: 10m ⇒ 15m
 * Helfire Duration: 8s ⇒ 12s
 * Improve VFX and SFX


 * Early Access Patch (Build ID No.3731106)
 * Gameplay Changes
 * Increase radius from 6m to 9m.
 * Bug Fixes
 * Improve collision detection of Helfire aura