"Receive flat healing when attacked. Heal from incoming damage for 15 (+15 per stack)." Planula is a boss item dropped by the Grandparent. Every hit you take - including DoT ticks, fall damage, and self-inflicted damage - heals you for 15 HP immediately before the damage is applied. It can prevent death. Void Fog is the only damage source that bypasses it.
Drop Chance
15% from Grandparent
Heal Per Hit
15 HP (+15/stack)
How to Get Planula
Grandparent - Aberrant Caretaker
Planula has a 15% chance to replace the normal Uncommon teleporter reward when the Grandparent is the Teleporter Boss. The Grandparent spawns primarily on Sky Meadow (Stage 5). It can also appear naturally on later loops and on any stage with Artifact of Dissonance active.
Multiple Planulas can drop in a single run if multiple Grandparents are defeated as Teleporter Bosses across different stages.
Boss Item Drop Rules
Boss items only drop if their specific boss spawned as the Teleporter Boss. Defeating a Grandparent that spawned naturally (not as the Teleporter Boss) does not drop a Planula. Shrine of the Mountain can force additional boss spawns, increasing the number of Grandparents during a teleporter event and each one has the 15% drop chance.
How It Works
Healing applies before damage is processed. The order of events is: Planula heals you first, then the damage is applied. This means it can prevent death on hits that would otherwise be fatal by pushing you above the damage threshold. You will not be at full health after the hit - the net is damage minus 15 HP per stack.
Triggers on every individual damage event. Each DoT tick, each projectile hit, each fall damage instance - all trigger Planula independently. Against a Grandparent's burn attack ticking every 0.5 seconds, Planula heals 30 HP per second (1 stack) continuously.
Self-inflicted damage counts. 
Helfire Tincture burn ticks, Shrine of Blood HP costs, REX skill HP costs, and fall damage all trigger Planula. This makes it uniquely valuable on builds that deal self-damage.
Void Fog does not trigger it. The only damage source that bypasses Planula is Void Fog from the Void Fields. This is an intentional exception - Void Fog explicitly cannot be blocked or reduced by damage-mitigation items.
Scales linearly and falls off at high difficulty. 15 HP per hit is impactful early game and against rapid low-damage enemies. By late game or post-loop, enemy hits deal hundreds of HP and the flat 15 heal becomes minimal. Stacking helps but the item is fundamentally outpaced.
Stacking
| Stacks |
Heal Per Hit |
Note |
| 1 | 15 HP per hit | Good vs rapid hits early game. Falls off vs heavy hitters. |
| 2 | 30 HP per hit | 30 HP per hit - solid mitigation against multi-hit attacks. |
| 3 | 45 HP per hit | 45 HP - meaningful on survivors with frequent incoming hits. |
| 5 | 75 HP per hit | 75 HP - strong with Rejuvenation Rack (doubles to 150 HP per hit). |
Best Survivors for Planula
REX
Every HP-cost skill activation triggers a Planula heal. Seed Barrage, Bramble Volley, and Tangling Growth each cost HP and each proc a heal. Dramatically reduces the net HP cost of skills.
Seeker
One ability costs 25% HP per second during use. Each tick triggers Planula, recovering some of the cost. Good sustained value on a survivor designed around HP management.
Loader
Melee range means many small hits land frequently. Planula per-hit healing compounds over a long fight. Also immune to fall damage - no Planula proc there, but strong otherwise.
Best Item Pairings
Repulsion Armor Plate
Flat -5 damage per hit. Stacks the same way Planula does - both are flat numbers per hit. Together they reduce net damage taken by more than either alone. REX + Planula + Repulsion Armor Plate can nearly cancel the HP cost of skills.
Rejuvenation Rack
Doubles all healing. Planula heals 15 HP per hit - with Rejuvenation Rack it becomes 30 HP per hit. Each additional Rack stack doubles again. Transforms Planula from a minor heal into a serious defensive layer.
Aegis
Converts excess healing into temporary barrier. With Rejuvenation Rack + Planula, healing per hit can exceed damage taken, generating barrier continuously.
Helfire Tincture
Burns everything including you. Each burn tick on yourself triggers a Planula heal. On a fast build the self-burn ticks quickly and Planula largely cancels the self-damage.
Infusion
Permanent HP per kill scales your max HP. A higher max HP makes Planula's flat 15 heal a larger percentage of your total health, extending its relevance into later stages.
Tips
Best vs rapid multi-hit enemies. Clay Templar rapid fire, Lunar Chimera Wisp spam, and any DoT-heavy enemy all trigger Planula many times per second. The more hits you take, the more value you extract.
Use Shrine of the Mountain to force Grandparent spawns. Activating a Shrine of the Mountain on Sky Meadow can add more Grandparents to the teleporter event - each one has a 15% chance to drop Planula. More Grandparents = more Planula chances.
Pair with Repulsion Armor Plate for REX. REX's skills cost HP directly. With Planula + Repulsion Armor Plate, part of each HP cost is immediately healed back. Stack both to make REX skill costs nearly neutral.
Does not scale well past mid-game without support. A flat 15 HP heal is meaningful at Stage 2-3 but irrelevant against a Mithrix hit dealing 600+ damage. Build around it with Rejuvenation Rack or accept it as a minor passive benefit late.
Void Fields: Planula does not help with fog. The constant Void Fog suffocation damage in Void Fields specifically bypasses Planula. Do not rely on it as a fog mitigation tool - bring actual healing or barrier items for Void Fields.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Planula do in Risk of Rain 2?
Planula is a boss item that heals you for 15 HP (+15 per stack) immediately whenever you take any damage. The heal is applied before the damage is processed, meaning it can potentially prevent death. It triggers on all damage sources including DoT ticks, fall damage, and self-inflicted damage from items like Helfire Tincture - but not Void Fog.
How do you get Planula in Risk of Rain 2?
Planula drops from the Grandparent boss. When a Grandparent is the Teleporter Boss, there is a 15% chance it replaces the normal Uncommon item reward with a Planula. The Grandparent spawns primarily on Sky Meadow (Stage 5). With the Artifact of Dissonance enabled, Grandparents can spawn in any environment.
Does Planula trigger on DoT damage?
Yes. Planula heals 15 HP on every single DoT tick - burn, bleed, collapse all trigger it. This makes it excellent against the Grandparent's own Overheat burn attack, and extremely strong with Helfire Tincture where each burn tick becomes a 15 HP heal. The only exception is Void Fog, which does not trigger Planula.
Does Planula prevent death?
It can. Because Planula's healing is applied before the incoming damage is processed, a hit that would otherwise be fatal may be survived if the 15 HP heal brings you above the damage threshold. However, you will still not be at full health after the hit - the net result is damage minus 15 HP per stack.
Is Planula good in Risk of Rain 2?
Planula is strong early game and against rapid low-damage enemies but falls off significantly at higher difficulties where enemy damage output dwarfs a flat 15 HP heal per hit. It scales well with stacking and is excellent on REX (HP-cost skills trigger heals) and Seeker. Pairing it with Rejuvenation Rack doubles the heal to 30+ HP per hit per stack, dramatically improving its value.
What survivors benefit most from Planula?
REX benefits most because every HP-cost skill activation triggers a Planula heal - essentially recovering part of the health spent on abilities. Seeker's 25% HP/s ability cost also triggers heals constantly. Loader and Mercenary benefit as melee survivors who take frequent hits. Generally any survivor that takes many small hits benefits more than those taking infrequent large hits.
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