"Healing past full grants you a temporary barrier for 50% (+50% per stack) of the amount you healed." Excess healing at full HP converts to temporary barrier. Passive regen does not trigger it - only active heals (proc items, on-kill, equipment). Barrier decays exponentially. Best with Rejuvenation Rack, Harvester's Scythe, and Transcendence. No unlock challenge required.
Conversion
50%/stack of overheal
Passive Regen
Not triggered
1 Stack Upkeep
20%+ HP/s heal
Transcendence
Excellent synergy
How It Works
Only triggers on active healing - not passive regen
Aegis only fires when you receive an active heal while at full HP. Passive regeneration from base regen, Cautious Slug, regen items, and similar sources does NOT trigger Aegis - that healing is simply wasted while at full health. The item rewards healing sources that fire on-hit, on-kill, or on-use.
At full HP, every active heal flows into barrier instead. The barrier gained is 50% of the heal amount per Aegis stack. 1 stack: half your overheal becomes barrier. 2 stacks: all of it becomes barrier. 3+ stacks: barrier grows faster than the heal amount.
Barrier cap is max HP plus max shields. You can never hold more barrier than your combined max HP and shields. Items that increase max HP or add max shields raise this cap.
Barrier decays exponentially. Since the Alloyed Collective update, barrier decays faster when high and slower when nearly depleted. With 1 Aegis you need to generate healing at 20%+ max HP per second to outpace decay entirely.
Shaped Glass synergy. Barrier can exceed your current HP total up to the cap. With Shaped Glass halving your HP, Aegis-generated barrier can effectively double your functional HP pool during combat.
Barrier Conversion by Stack Count
| Stacks |
Barrier Per Overheal |
Practical Effect |
| 1 | 50% of overheal | Half your overheal becomes barrier |
| 2 | 100% of overheal | All overheal becomes barrier (100%) |
| 3 | 150% of overheal | 150% - barrier grows faster than overheal amount |
| 4 | 200% of overheal | 200% of overheal as barrier per burst |
Key Synergies
Rejuvenation Rack S Tier
Doubles all healing. More healing = more overheal = more barrier. Keep Aegis and Rack stacks roughly equal (Aegis can be up to 2 higher, but not 3). This is the direct multiplier for Aegis barrier output.
Transcendence S Tier
Transcendence replaces HP with shields, making healing items useless - you're always "full." Aegis rescues those wasted heals, converting every proc heal into barrier. The heals that Transcendence would throw away all go to barrier instead.
Harvester's Scythe A Tier
Heals 8 HP (+4/stack) per critical strike. With high crit chance every hit generates a heal. At full HP, each crit heal flows directly into Aegis barrier. High attack speed + crit = near-continuous barrier generation.
Engineer + Bustling Fungus A Tier
Turrets with Aegis + 3+ Bustling Fungus stacks heal each other constantly. Since turrets are always near full HP, the Fungus overheal converts entirely to barrier. At 3+ stacks the positive barrier gain outpaces decay, making turrets nearly unkillable.
Leeching Seed B Tier
Heals 1 HP per hit. At full HP with Aegis every hit generates 0.5 barrier. Weak per stack but fires constantly. With high attack speed and many stacks, consistent low-level barrier trickle.
Shaped Glass B Tier
Glass halves max HP. Barrier can exceed current HP up to the full cap. Aegis-generated barrier can effectively double your functional health beyond the halved Shaped Glass floor, partially restoring the survivability lost.
Best Healing Sources to Trigger Aegis
Harvester's Scythe: 8 HP per crit (+4/stack). Scales with crit chance. At 100% crit every hit triggers Aegis.
Leeching Seed: 1 HP per hit (+1/stack). Fires on every attack hit. Weak per hit but extremely consistent.
Monster Tooth: On-kill: heal orb drops. Burst healing on kill chains flows to Aegis barrier.
Foreign Fruit: Equipment: heal 50% max HP instantly. Huge single burst - all overheal goes to barrier.
N'kuhana's Opinion: Stores healing as soul energy, fires skulls. The stored healing itself triggers Aegis on receipt.
Bustling Fungus: Percentage-based regen: does NOT trigger Aegis effectively. Near-zero healing with Transcendence.
Cautious Slug / Base Regen: Passive regeneration: does NOT trigger Aegis at all. Wasted at full HP.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Aegis do in Risk of Rain 2?
Aegis converts excess healing (healing received while at full HP) into temporary barrier at 50% efficiency (+50% per stack). 1 stack converts half of every overheal into barrier. 2 stacks converts 100%. Barrier decays exponentially over time and caps at max HP plus max shields. Passive regeneration does not trigger Aegis - only active healing sources like proc items and on-kill heals.
Does passive regen trigger Aegis?
No. Passive regeneration (base regen, Cautious Slug, regen items) does not trigger Aegis. Only active healing events trigger it - on-hit heals (Leeching Seed, Harvester's Scythe), on-kill heals (Monster Tooth), equipment heals (Foreign Fruit), and similar non-regen sources.
Does Aegis work with Transcendence?
Yes, and this is one of its best uses. Transcendence converts all HP to shields, making healing items nearly useless since you're perpetually at "full HP." Aegis converts all that wasted healing into barrier instead. Every heal from Leeching Seed, Scythe, and similar items flows into barrier rather than being discarded. Note: Bustling Fungus with Transcendence still heals too little (percentage of 1 HP) to generate meaningful barrier.
How fast does barrier decay in Risk of Rain 2?
Barrier decays exponentially since the Alloyed Collective update - it decays faster the more barrier you have, and slower as it depletes. Previously it decayed at a flat 3.33% of max HP per second. To outpace barrier decay with 1 Aegis stack you need to generate healing at a rate of at least 20% of your max HP per second.
What is the best combo with Aegis?
Rejuvenation Rack is the cleanest pairing - it doubles all healing, doubling the overheal that feeds into Aegis. For maximum barrier generation, keep Aegis stacks equal to Rejuvenation Rack stacks (or up to 2 more Aegis). Harvester's Scythe with high crit chance creates frequent healing bursts that each convert 50%+ to barrier. Engineer turrets with Bustling Fungus become near-unkillable at 3+ Fungus stacks.
Does Aegis help with Shaped Glass?
Yes. Shaped Glass halves your max HP, making you fragile. Barrier can exceed your current max HP up to the cap of max HP + max shields. With Aegis generating barrier from overheal, you can temporarily have more effective HP than your crippled max health allows - barrier can restore you to near-normal effective HP even with Shaped Glass active.
Other Risk of Rain 2 Items
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