Remnant: From the Ashes has only been out for a few weeks now but it has already become a notorious Souls-like video game not just for its difficulty but also its difficulty spikes. One moment you could be walking around one-shotting pawn enemies and then get trashed by the boss in the next area. Much of this is due to the intricate enemy scaling system in Remnant.

The developers used math– evilmath, to ensure that the players always get a nasty and humiliating butt-kicking upon entering a new zone. Luckily, they also gave you the tools you need to survive this and while the weapons and armor are pretty standard fare, what really makes a huge yet subtle difference are the accessories. These are the rings and amulets you wear to give you that slight edge which is pretty much the difference between victory and defeat. Here are the best of those accessories.

15 Blessed Necklace (AMULET)

The Blessed Necklace reduces the amount of damage you take after consuming a Dragon Heart. If you’re in a sticky situation and need to heal, you won’t immediately lose more health after taking the Dragon Heart. All incoming damage will be reduced by 30 percent while you recover and take control of the fight.

This is a DLC accessory that comes with Subject 2923. To acquire it, you have to find the NPC Krall Mother and save her child.

14 Menders Charm (AMULET)

If you’re playing the game with friends most of the time or even just for one occasion, equipped Menders Charm. With this amulet equipped, when you heal yourself with a Dragon Heart, it will also heal your entire party completely. This can instantly save everyone’s lives at once and saves the rest of your team Dragon Hearts.

If there’s one friend who’s better at staying alive, they should use the Menders Charm. On harder difficulties, it’s best to have your teams back. Menders Charm can be bought from Wud, an NPC in Rhom who lives in a broken airplane.

13 Black Cat Band (RING)

This ring gives you one more life, relating to cats who are said to have nine. If a hit that you take is meant to instantly down you, the ring will activate and give you one single bar of health while increasing your movement speed greatly for ten seconds. This allows you to make a quick escape and heal where you would have already been dead.

Black Cat Band is a DLC item for the expansion Subject 2923. It’s received after completing the challenge of defeating every boss twice in survival mode. This is the best ring in Remnant: From The Ashes if you find yourself constantly on the verge of going down.

12 Spirit Stone (RING)

You will want to use this ring at all times if you rely on your weapon mods. The Spirit Stone ring increases mod regeneration by 25 percent and increases weapon mod damage. Not only will your weapon mods instantly regenerate in crucial battles, but they will pack an extra punch. This is especially helpful if you’re going for harder difficulties.

Pairing this with the Cultist armor set would be unstoppable. The Cultist armor set increases the duration that your weapon mods stay active for and increases its regeneration. Spirit Stone is a drop found in Yaesha.

11 Cleansing Jewel (AMULET)

The Cleansing Jewel is as useful as Menders Charm. It’s another accessory that is largely beneficial when playing with other players. With the Cleansing Jewel equipped, Dragon Hearts will not only heal you but will remove all negative side effects from both you and your party. Each map has a corresponding negative ailment that its enemies can inflict upon you, so you’re bound to start racking up ailments and be in need of tonics and bandages.

With the Cleansing Jewel, you can cure the entire party at once and keep moving forward. Cleansing Jewel and Menders Charm are arguably the best amulets in Remnant: From The Ashes if you’re playing co-op.

10 Root Circlet (RING)

The Root Circlet ring is one of the earliest accessories you’re going to get in Remnant and it’s surprisingly useful for such an early item. The ring gives the wearer a 20 percent increase in melee weapon attack speed. No matter what weapon or character class you pick, you’re going to need some quick melee strikes especially when swarms of enemies get too close and you’re still reloading.

Other than that, the item’s practicality is also crucial for some melee builds. Yes, there are melee builds in a game like Remnant, and most of them are made viable with the Root Circlet. Lastly, it’s a well-known fact that heavier sharp sticks do more damage but swing slower, Root Circlet addresses that shortcoming and lets you have the best of both worlds.

9 Braided Thorns (RING)

A quick search and comparison of some of the best character builds in Remnant: From The Ashes and you can conclude that a lot of them feature a crucial build element: Critical chance. Its purpose here is the same as in any other roleplaying game; it gives you a roulette wheel’s chance of dealing extra damage to an enemy.

That’s why the Braided Thorns ring is quite a beast when it comes to dealing crit after crit both in normal encounters and in boss fights with plenty of summoned minions. After killing a foe, you get 15 percent more Crit Chance for six seconds. That’s on top of your weapon or any other bonus you have. This makes Braided Thorns essential for most crit builds.

8 Heartseeker (RING)

The beauty in Remnant: From the Ashes is that it’s a Souls-like game that gives you more playstyles than any other. Stealth, for that matter, is very much a viable playstyle in this game - unless you’re fighting bosses. Still, if you want to eliminate a target before they can even catch a glimpse of your shadow, then the Heartseeker ring will be your bread and butter.

When worn, the ring automatically gives you 100 percent Crit Chance against non-aggressive enemies (those who have not seen you or were alerted to your presence). Additionally, you also get a flat 15 percent more crit damage. This makes it an ideal pair for Braided Thorns especially for crit builds.

7 Hunter’s Band (RING)

Another ring that would suit long-range crit builds well would be the Hunter’s Band. Once you wear it and enter combat, you’ll deal an additional 25 percent more Weakspot damage to any enemy weak spot hit from 15 meters or further. Of course, for this to happen, you’ll need a long-range weapon, typically a long gun like the Sniper Rifle or other similar guns.

Pair it with either the Heartseeker or the Braided Thorns and you’ll be an unstoppable sniper who can kill enemies from far away. As it currently is, Weakspot damage builds are overpowered right now in Remnant: From The Ashes. That might change in the future after some patches and updates, though.

6 Devouring Loop (RING)

Last but not least for crit builds is a monster of an accessory called Devouring Loop. If you’re running crit-centric items, that means your Crit Chance ought to be high already. In that case, the Devouring Loop would be the cherry on top. It gives you a 10 percent chance for critical hits to do 300 percent damage or three times the usual damage of your weapon.

That is also on top of the critical damage a critical hit does. Depending on how high your Crit Chance is, any non-boss enemy you hit can die in mere seconds after you shoot them. While 10 percent might look low, it’s high enough to make you overpowered especially with fast-firing weapons.

5 Stone Of Balance (RING)

Often in a Souls-like game, the build with the best damage-per-second is the most optimal. After all, the best defense is a good offense. That’s why accessories that give you flat and unconditional damage increases can be preferable to the more specialized tools. For that matter, the Stone of Balance is a remarkable DPS increase.

It’s a ring that gives the wearer an increased ranged and melee damage by 10 percent. It may not be much at least it’s always on no matter what you do. No need for special actions or reliance on the chance to get more damage. Getting it might be more difficult, though, as its appearance can be random.

4 Brutal Mark (AMULET)

Despite packing in some serious firepower and all the items to increase your specialized damage output, you can still encounter some tough enemies which you can’t cheese or kill in one or two hits. Bosses are an occasional example of this in Remnant. Luckily, amulets like the Brutal Mark make the ordeal of dealing with bullet sponges a lot quicker.

To be more specific, the Brutal Mark lets the wearer deal an increased 15 percent overall damage to enemies with 50 percent or less health. It wouldn’t matter much against enemies that die in one or two hits but it’s a noticeable change when you’re fighting bosses especially since they tend to enter their “berserk” mode once they reach a certain health threshold.

3 Galenic Charm (AMULET)

The Galenic Charm amulet is not exactly a DPS weapon, it’s more of a utility weapon for enhancing your mod power or rather the rate at which you generate mod power. Galenic Charm rewards you 50 percent of the damage your enemies take as mod power. Paired with the correct weapon, you’ll never run out of mod power.

It just so happens that some mods are simply overpowered such as the Ruin rifle’s mod, Undying; it basically revives you every time you die. Keeping such a mod topped up with power can ensure that your character never dies. That’s easy to do with the Galenic Charm.

2 Gunslinger’s Charm (AMULET)

Reload speed or reloading, in general, is a dreaded action in a game like Remnant. That’s because your character is most vulnerable when they run out of bullets to fire. For that matter, reload speed is a trait or metric you’ll surely want to improve. The Gunslinger’s Charm is a lifesaver in this regard.

The amulet increases your fire rate by 10 percent and the reload speed by 20 percent. The better part is that you actually get this amulet near the start of the game and it will accompany you until you transition into more focused builds. Moreover, it makes shotguns and high-damage but low-ammo capacity guns more enjoyable to use.

1 Pocket Watch (AMULET)

Like reload speed, stamina is also a pivotal mechanic in Remnant. Running out of stamina while being attacked can be a straight path to death - because even with all the heavy and protective armor you can wear in Remnant, dodging remains the best defense you have. So making sure that your stamina is more manageable with the Pocket Watch is the best character upgrade you can do.

The Pocket Watch amulet increases your stamina regeneration by 15 per second while simultaneously reducing the stamina cost of all actions by 15 percent. It is, without a doubt, one of the most useful items in the game and you can obtain it quite early on Earth. Once you have it though, replacing it might get difficult.

NEXT: Remnant: From The Ashes: The Most Powerful Weapons, Ranked