Gold

Gold is a currency found in Risk of Rain 2 that the player uses to buy items from Chests and Shrines of Chance, as well as activate certain interactables.

Gold is primarily collected by killing enemies, but there are several items and interactables that can also provide gold.

The following is a complete list of all items and interactables that can be used to obtain gold faster:

• Barrels and Stalks
• Shrine of Blood
• Shrine of Combat
• Survivors of the Void - DLC Content
  Roll of Pennies is part of the Survivors of the Void DLC. It is only available if the DLC is enabled when starting a run.
  Click for more info. Roll of PenniesSurvivors of the Void - DLC Content
  This content is part of the Survivors of the Void DLC. It is only available if the DLC is enabled when starting a run.
  Click for more info.Roll of Pennies
  Gain gold on taking damage.
  Gain 3 (+3 per stack) gold on taking damage from an enemy. Scales over time.
• Ghor's TomeGhor's Tome
  Chance on kill to drop a treasure.
  4% (+4% on stack) chance on kill to drop a treasure worth $25. Scales over time.
• Brittle CrownBrittle Crown
  Gain gold on hit... BUT surrender gold on getting hit.
  30% chance on hit to gain 2 (+2 per stack) gold. Scales over time.
  
  Lose gold on taking damage equal to 100% (+100% per stack) of the maximum health percentage you lost.
• Defiant GougeDefiant Gouge
  Using a Shrine summons enemies nearby.
  Using a Shrine summons enemies (stronger per stack) nearby. Scales over time.

When the player activates the Teleporter to leave a stage, all gold collected on that stage will be converted into experience in a rate of 2:1. More specifically, for each player it computes a gold conversion burst of $\lceil money / 8 \rceil$, which is then continuously converted to $\lfloor burst / 2 \rfloor$experience and awarded to every player. Due to the round up effect of the burst calculation, the 8th burst will only deduct enough money to reduce it 0. This conversion process lasts for 4.5 seconds, but can be extended if the player receives more money in the meantime. After this process has completed, the player will remain on the stage for another 2 seconds, during which time any gold income will be kept for the next stage.

Gold Farming Strategies

Items effects and interactables aside, how fast the player gains gold is primarily based on monster spawns. The Directors determine the rate, quality, and gold rewards for every enemy that spawns. See the Directors page for more detailed information, but the results are summarized below:

Enemies that are spawned before the Survivor first arrives on a stage are worth the least. Counter-intuitively, although monsters spawn fastest during the Teleporter event, those enemies are worth significantly less than enemies that spawn before the Teleporter is activated. This is especially true for the Teleporter boss, who will drop hardly any gold. The most valuable and cost-effective naturally-spawned enemies are therefore the ones that spawn around the Survivor while the Teleporter is inactive. Unnaturally-spawned enemies (like from a Shrine of Combat) are worth even more, although these may be significantly more challenging to defeat as well.

In conclusion, the most optimal gold-farming strategy is to wait to start the Teleporter until the funding goal is almost met. Starting the Teleporter too soon means the player will have to leave the radius and spend more time farming lower-value enemies, while starting the Teleporter too late will result in a surplus of gold.

Visual Effect

Barrel coin visual effects

When the player kills a monster or opens a barrel, a visual effect of the reward is depicted by increasingly bigger coin sizes for values of 1, 5, and 25 gold respectively. At 150 it starts displaying gold bars and at 500 money bags.

The Shrine of Blood and the gold nugget from Ghor's Tome do not show this.

The Brittle Crown and Roll of Pennies show 5 coins of value 1 coming out from either the player or the hit monster, irrespective of how much gold the player is about to earn or lose.

Notes

• Monsters that were not interacted with by a Survivor or their minions prior to their death won't give gold.
• Gold from killing enemies and opening barrels is shared between players.
• Gold from the Shrine of Blood, Brittle CrownBrittle Crown
  Gain gold on hit... BUT surrender gold on getting hit.
  30% chance on hit to gain 2 (+2 per stack) gold. Scales over time.
  
  Lose gold on taking damage equal to 100% (+100% per stack) of the maximum health percentage you lost., Ghor's TomeGhor's Tome
  Chance on kill to drop a treasure.
  4% (+4% on stack) chance on kill to drop a treasure worth $25. Scales over time., and Survivors of the Void - DLC Content
  Roll of Pennies is part of the Survivors of the Void DLC. It is only available if the DLC is enabled when starting a run.
  Click for more info. Roll of PenniesSurvivors of the Void - DLC Content
  This content is part of the Survivors of the Void DLC. It is only available if the DLC is enabled when starting a run.
  Click for more info.Roll of Pennies
  Gain gold on taking damage.
  Gain 3 (+3 per stack) gold on taking damage from an enemy. Scales over time. is not shared between players.