Monster Sanctuary: The Weapon/Accessory Guide

Monster equipment is just as important to overall performance as having the right skills, so in this guide, I’ll be breaking down all the equipment in the game, talking about situations where you might want to use each one, and rating each equipment based on its versatility and performance.

A few notes and general disclaimers before we start:

For the sake of simplicity, all of the information in this guide is assuming all of your equipment is at +5 and your monsters are level 40. Most of this information will be relevant at any point in your journey, but there are a couple of notable exceptions: Crit in general is much less good at low levels and low equipment upgrades, because it scales quadratically. Crit chance and Crit damage are multiplied together, which means having less of both will hurt your performance a lot more than having less Attack and Magic which scale linearly. Secondly, there are a few pieces of Unique equipment who’s passive effects double when upgraded: Restoring Wand, and Pandora’s Box, for example, have half the effect until they reach a certain upgrade level, which renders them significantly worse in the early game.

Note also that this discussion assumes you have access to any number of copies of whatever weapons you want. For any piece of equipment that mentions being outclassed by a unique alternative, you can absolutely use it as a substitution if you don’t have the equipment mentioned, and in most cases won’t lose significant efficiency.

Currently, the most effective way to build almost every damage dealer monster is to take advantage of Crit. You can easily get to around 40% Crit Chance and 100% Crit Damage from equipment, food, and the natural 10% chance and 50% damage, which will increase your damage by much more than maximizing your attack or magic. Because Crit is more effective in general than attack or magic for damage builds, and support monsters often want defense and utility stats more than some extra attack or magic, equipment that primarily gives attack or magic is relegated to the relatively niche role of non-crit damage dealer, except in specific cases.

Most monsters don’t have the ability to repeatedly use the highest levels of their moves throughout a battle, and thus make use of some amount of mana from their equipment to keep them able to perform their function longer. There are two different stats in this game that deal directly with having enough mana, Mana and Mana Regeneration, and choosing which one is best for you depends largely on what content you’re doing, and how quickly you can expect to clear that content. Discounting possible support for each stat, flat mana usually provides more total mana for the first three turns of a battle, while mana regeneration provides more starting around turn 4. Unless you’re a heavily optimized aggressive strategy or have mana cost reduction effects like Channel or Aging, mana regeneration will usually serve you better.

While I do my best to ground my assessments in fact, these assessments are my opinion, and your assessments may be different depending on circumstance. You’re encouraged to have your own opinion.

With that information out of the way, let’s go over the equipment.

Weapons are quite different from accessories in that, without the dark shift passive Dual Wield, you can only use one of them. So while the “second best” accessories are often commonly used alongside the best to stack useful stats, there’s not really a place for the second best weapons. This leads to a few super common weapons that are run on almost every monster in a role, and many weapons that see practically no use. Dual Wield gives some weapons a small niche as offhands, though since it’s almost exclusively used on damage dealers, its existence only really impacts weapons that are designed for that role.

Morning Star: 250 Attack, 70 Defense

Outclassed by the Trident, which will provide more overall bulk with its 600 health than this will with its 20 extra defense.
Rating: 1/10

Claws: 250 Attack, 40 Mana Regen

There isn’t a physical equivalent to the Scepter, so a physical support monster could consider using this if they have trouble with mana sustain, but would be giving up a more useful passive to get it.
Rating: 3/10

Katar: 250 Attack, 12% Crit Chance

Outclassed in all cases by the Katana (and mostly outclassed by the Scythe as well), but is a reasonable second choice for pure physical Dual Wielders.
Rating: 1/10 (Standalone), 6/10 (for physical Dual Wield Monsters)

Wand: 250 Magic, 70 Defense

For a support that’s commonly using non-damaging moves, the Restoring Wand’s effect is much more useful than this weapon’s extra stats, but for a support that often attacks, doesn’t use crit, and wants some defense, this could be okay. That’s a pretty narrow use case though.
Rating: 2/10

Orb: 250 Magic, 40 Mana Regen

In general, magical monsters that want mana from their weapons are better off taking Scepter, as it will take 5 turns before 40 mana regen will be worth more than 80 mana and 18 regen. (since regen only happens starting on turn 2) Raw mana is also generally a more useful stat, though some passives like Transfusion and Mana Charging would prefer the extra Regen.
Rating: 2/10

Staff: 250 Magic, 12% Crit Chance

Magic-based damage dealers will prefer the Scythe, but if you have a pure magical support that’s very focused on crit chance (To trigger passives like Critical Boon), you could use this. This would also be the best offhand for a pure magical Dual Wielder, but currently none of those exist.
Rating: 3/10

Cestus: 220 Attack, 220 Magic, 70 Defense

For a hybrid support monster that doesn’t want crit, this can be a reasonable option, and isn’t directly outclassed in the way Morningstar and Wand are. While tanky hybrid non-crit support monsters aren’t the most common, they certainly do exist, and for such a monster, you could do worse.
Rating: 4/10

Kunai: 220 Attack, 220 Magic, 40 Mana Regen

Similarly, a hybrid non-crit support monster that also has issues with mana sustain could take this weapon, and do alright by it.
Rating: 3/10

Shuriken: 220 Attack, 220 Magic, 12% Crit Chance

Damage dealers will prefer the crit damage from Scythe, and crit-based supports might want the defense and mana regeneration from Hammer, but for a very crit-focused hybrid support monster, this could see some use. It’s also the premier offhand for hybrid Dual Wielders.
Rating: 3/10 (Standalone), 9/10 (for hybrid Dual Wield monsters)

Abyssal Sword: 240 Attack, 240 Magic. When attacking or being attacked, 60% chance to gain a random buff or inflict a random debuff

While the lack of crit stats makes this unlikely to work on a damage dealer, it can be very solid on a support that attacks, especially a high priority one that the enemy will want to be attacking. It might also see use on a monster that regularly uses (full) protect, or other methods to force enemies to attack it. Assuming you’re regularly triggering this twice per round, it can be good value.
Rating: 5/10

Bow: 230 Attack, 210 Magic. Each attack triggers an additional 30% damage hit

One of the best weapons for all support monsters that attack, adding an additional hit means more combo, and more chances to proc any passives that are applied on hit. A 30% damage hit isn’t worth the damage loss from no Crit stats on a damage dealer though.
Rating: 7/10

Fishing Rod: 205 Attack, 235 Magic. Non-damaging actions apply one random buff

An excellent tool for support monsters that don’t attack, especially those that rely on buff actions, for whom this will provide extra combo. Buffs are excellent, and getting one for free on top of your action’s normal effects is a very nice increase.
Rating: 8/10

Hammer: 190 Attack, 170 Magic, 46 Defense, 28 Mana Regen, 8% Crit Chance

How many crit-based support monsters are there that want defense and mana regen? A surprising amount, actually, and this weapon offers an excellent balance of utility stats. No other weapon provides even two of defense, mana regen, and crit chance, which allows Hammer to carve out a solid niche for itself on any monster that plans to utilize Critical Healing, Critical Boon, or both.
Rating: 7/10

Harp: 220 Magic, 18 Mana Regen, increases healing skills (active and passive) by 20%

Faces stiff competition from Fishing Rod, Hexing Rod, and Restoring Wand, which provide buffs, debuffs, and debuff removal, respectively, on top of your healing, but getting more healing is solid as well, and mana regeneration is a good secondary stat.
Rating: 5/10

Heavy Mace: 265 Attack, non-critical damage is increased by 15%

While non-crit damage dealer builds are rare on account of how good crit is, there are some monsters that can make it work, and if you are a physical non-crit damage dealer, this is the weapon you use.
Rating: 6/10

Hexing Rod: 150 Attack, 235 Magic. Healing, Buffing, and Shielding actions apply a random debuff to a random enemy

A good effect for a support in a debuff team, similar to the passive Hexing Support. This has the interesting distinction of not specifying non-damaging actions, so a monster with this item could use a hybrid attack/buffing action like Charge Beam to add extra debuffs, though there aren’t many cases where that’s the most useful.
Rating: 6/10

Katana: 200 Attack, 15% Crit Chance, 20% Crit Damage

A staple for any physical crit monster, either a damage dealer or a crit-based support. Faces some competition with the Scythe, which offers better crit damage and the same attack in exchange for less crit chance, but Katana is usually better.
Rating: 9/10

Large Shield: 110 Attack, 110 Magic, 140 Defense, provides full defense in the offhand

For dedicated tank monsters and those spamming Protect, the Shield offers a massive amount of Defense. A tank with only physical attacks may want to consider the Trident instead, as the 600 health may be worth more than 90 defense, but the Shield still remains competitive, and is by far the better option for hybrid/magic builds. The fact that it provides full defense with Dual Wield is interesting, and might enable some bulky attackers or extremely high defense builds.
Rating: 5/10

Moon Sword: 300 Attack, 300 Magic

The highest attack or magic stat of any weapon, and you get both, but you get nothing else. The only use for this weapon is on a hybrid non-crit damage dealer, and even in that role, it’s not nearly as good as the Heavy Mace and Summoned Sword are for physical and magical respectively.
Rating: 3/10

Pirate Hook: 210 Attack, 210 Magic, 10% Crit Chance, heal for 500 on the first crit of an attack

500 simply isn’t that large of a heal in the endgame, where having 3000 health is considered low (The effect is probably less than half as good as the Auto Heal passive). While the hook offers reasonable stats for a crit-based attacking support, it’s simply not worth losing the stats from something like Hammer to get this passive.
Rating: 2/10

Restoring Wand: 190 Magic, 35 Defense, Healing, buffing, and shielding actions additionally remove 2 debuffs

The premier weapon option for almost every support monster, other weapons need to justify themselves compared to the immense utility of passively cleansing two debuffs, and most of them don’t. Comes with Defense to boot.
Rating: 10/10

Scepter: 240 Magic, 80 Mana, 18 Mana Regeneration

For a magic-based monster that just can’t get enough mana. 80 mana and 18 regen will help keep your high-level spells flying. However, you’re likely giving up a more useful weapon passive for this mana sustain, so it’s only really worth considering if mana is a serious issue to you and you expect fights to go longer than a couple of turns. Or if you’re Tengu.
Rating: 4/10

Scythe: 200 Attack, 225 Magic, 7% Crit Chance, 25% Crit Damage

The staple weapon of magical and hybrid damage dealers, and worth consideration on crit-based magic/hybrid supports that care about crit damage (perhaps for Critical Healing). Also worth running in the offhand of physical monsters with Dual Wield.
Rating: 10/10

Summoned Sword: 265 Magic, non-critical damage is increased by 15%

The magical equivalent to the Heavy Mace, and useful in the same circumstance: a magical non-crit damage dealer.
Rating: 6/10

Thorn Tendril: 230 Attack, 230 Magic, 20% Crit Damage, apply a bleed stack on attackers equal to 500% of your crit damage

Monsters with passives that synergize with crit damage can easily get almost 200% crit damage ,which means this proc will deal 1000 damage. That’s a respectable amount, especially on Bleed Out teams that utilize Critical Defense tanks.
Rating: 5/10

Trident: 220 Attack, 50 Defense, 600 health, 70 Mana

The premier tank option for a physical support, with some decent mana to boot. You’ll likely be giving up a useful passive for these stats, but they’ll certainly help keep you alive.
Rating: 6/10

Shell: 100 Defense

Even for a monster whose goal is to be tanky, the Shell doesn’t offer enough compared to other defense options. The one time it might be worth consideration is on a build based on the Shield skill, as that scales off defense, but even then, you’re likely not getting enough to make this worth it.
Rating: 2/10

Vital Ring: 1000 Health

Similarly to the Shell, the items that grant both defense and health are more efficient than this which gives pure health, and there are enough of them that this is redundant. This also faces competition from Slime Skin, which will offer better toughness a lot of the time. It is a ring, which means some Mimic builds might consider it.
Rating: 2/10

Mana Ring: 120 Mana

It’s not common for a monster to need mana so much that they devote an entire accessory slot to getting it, especially with the comparatively poor stat efficiency of Mana Ring. Unless you’re Tengu, in which case this is almost 100 Attack and Magic.
Rating: 2/10

Sustain Ring: 60 Mana Regeneration

It’s often not worth using an accessory slot just on mana sustain, as you can get it more efficiently as a secondary stat on other accessories.
Rating: 2/10

Crit Ring: 15% Crit Chance

For a crit-based damage dealer, this is often the fourth best accessory after Cape, Fin, and Fang, which means it’s not included normally but often finds its way into Equipment Mastery builds. It’s also run on every Mimic build, because of Ring Focus.
Rating: 4/10

Impact Ring: 30% Crit Damage

Because the food for crit builds adds crit damage, getting crit chance from accessories is usually more valuable than more crit damage, barring builds that take advantage of Sure Strike/Precision, and again, Mimic.
Rating: 3/10

Bandanna: 70 Mana, 10% Crit Chance

Mostly outclassed by Brooch, which gives 55 Defense in exchange for 2 less crit chance and 10 less Mana, but if you’re running a build that really wants both of those stats, maybe a Koi with critical boon and double Mana Overload, you could consider running both.
Rating: 2/10

Belt: 75 Defense, 15% Crit Damage

Generally not worth running as a bulk option on a crit-based damage dealer compared to better options like Fin and Frozen Tear, and there’s no monster, even with access to critical defense, in which this is usable as a purely defensive item.
Rating: 2/10

Bracelet: 55 Defense, 40 Mana Regen

If you expect your battles to be going longer, Bracelet is a good option for any support, providing a large amount of mana sustain and some defense to boot.
Rating: 6/10

Bracer: 60 Attack, 60 Magic, 650 Health

A reasonable amount of health and some good attack and magic, this is worth considering on any hybrid monster that wants a bit of bulkiness, and especially good on monsters with (double) Life Overload. Faces steep competition from Crit items for a damage dealer, though.
Rating: 4/10

Cape: 10% Crit Chance, 20% Crit Damage

One of the staples of any crit-based damage dealer, providing both of the stats you want most in high amounts. Indispensable.
Rating: 10/10

Coat: 10% Crit Chance, 700 Health

Good for crit-based damage dealers who want some extra bulk and are already using Fin, as well as a staple for crit-based support monsters.
Rating: 6/10

Diadem: 62 Defense, 85 Mana

An excellent source of defense for monsters with Mana Stability, and a solid option in general for anyone wanting these two stats, who is already using Crown.
Rating: 5/10

Fang: 50 Attack, 50 Magic, 10% Crit Chance

Another staple accessory on crit damage dealer builds, especially hybrid ones, though this is often the accessory that gets cut if you’re looking to build a more bulky crit-based damage dealer, or if you have access to Gray Pearl or Infinity Flame.
Rating: 8/10

Feather: 36 Mana Regen, 11% Crit Chance

The best crit chance of any accessory after the Crit Ring, as well as high mana regen. If you’re building a monster that wants to crit but doesn’t care about crit damage, or even a damage dealer who just needs more mana, this can be a solid option.
Rating: 7/10

Gauntlet: 65 Defense, 10% Crit Chance

While Evasion tanks aren’t nearly as common as Critical Defense tanks, dodge and damage reduction do stack with each other without diminishing returns, so getting some defense on top of your crit chance is nice. If you’re a crit damage dealer looking for some bulk and have high health and low defense, you could consider this, as well as if you’re a crit-based support.
Rating: 5/10

Helmet: 60 Attack, 60 Defense

If you’re a non-crit physical damage dealer, you don’t have a ton of great accessories, so getting some defense alongside the standard 60 attack is solid.
Rating: 4/10

Hide: 65 Defense, 700 Health

The staple accessory for all tanky monsters, this provides a ton of bulk to any monster that equips it. If you want your monster to survive hits, it should probably have a Hide.
Rating: 9/10

Needle: 60 Attack, 60 Magic, 70 Mana

An option for some non-crit Hybrid damage dealers, and essential for Tengu.
Rating: 3/10

Ribbon: 750 Health, 70 Mana

While Crown provides 55 defense at the cost of 150 less health and 10 less mana, and is better for it, this is a fine accessory to run alongside Crown on monsters that care about Health and Mana.
Rating: 3/10

Scroll: 50 Magic, 48 Mana Regen

That’s quite a bit of mana regen, so this could see use on a mana-hungry non-crit damage dealer, or even a support that particularly wants Magic
Rating: 4/10

Tome: 70 Mana, 40 Mana Regen

All it offers is mana, but it is a lot of mana. If you find your monster running out of mana all the time, this may be the accessory you want.
Rating: 3/10

Wizard Hat: 60 Magic, 60 Defense

Similarly to the helmet, this is run on non-crit magical damage dealers and not much else.
Rating: 4/10

Blood Vessel: 10% Crit Chance. Whenever an ally applies Bleed, regenerate 5 mana

In order for this to be better than Feather, you need to apply Bleed 8 times every turn. That’s probably too much to ask unless your team is entirely built around Bleed, but in such a team, this can provide incredible mana sustain. The fact that each proc of this is a separate instance of mana being regenerated matters for Transfusion, as each application of bleed will cause a 10 point heal, triggering skills like Assistance and Warlock Healing.
Rating: 5/10

Brooch: 55 Defense, 60 Mana, 8% Crit Chance

A staple of crit-based support builds, providing them some crit chance as well as defense and utility. A bit too utility-oriented to seriously consider as a bulk option on damage dealers, but still sometimes worth taking if you need all of these stats.
Rating: 5/10

Buckler: 60 Defense, 7% Crit Chance. Allows the monster to receive an additional stack of Sidekick and Barrier

A solid item for crit-based support builds. Defense and Crit Chance are two things you want, Barrier buffs are useful for any monster, and if you’re a crit-based support, you’re probably doing at least a little attacking, and would like an extra Sidekick buff. I’d only run this on teams where I could reliably provide one or both of those buffs, and only on a crit-based support, but if you meet those conditions, this item will serve you excellently.
Rating: 5/10

Cauldron: 25 Magic, 50 Mana. Unique Aura: Debuffs are 10% more effective against enemies

This is an item you might run even if it had no stats, as the boost to the effectiveness of debuffs is excellent in a debuff team. Deciding which monster will hold this might be hard, but it’s a decision you will be making, because you definitely want one on any debuff team. It also has stats, which is cool.
Rating: 7/10

Charging Sphere: 600 health, 25 Mana Regen. Gain 3 Charge Stacks at the start of every turn

For a damage dealer, even one in a heavily Charge Stack focused team, 3 stacks probably isn’t enough to justify an item that doesn’t give any offensive stats. Where this item really shines is on charge stack supports. Slap it on your Leadership users to buff your teammates for free, run it on your healer Skorch to buff its heals while providing solid health and mana sustain, or use it to make use of Charged Banner and its ilk. This item also gives great stats for a support.
Rating: 7/10

Crown: 55 Defense, 600 Health, 60 Mana

It’s a second Hide, that you can use in addition to Hide, to get another Hide. It even gives Mana, which is a nice thing to get on top of your Hide.
Rating: 9/10

Drum: 65 Defense, Healing skills (active and passive) increased by 15%

Giving up an accessory slot to get this effect is a lot less of an ask than giving up your weapon slot for Harp. A great choice for all healers.
Rating: 8/10

Dumbell: 60 Attack, 500 Health, allows the monster to receive an additional stack of Might and Regeneration

Worth running on non-crit physical damage dealers simply due to lack of competition for accessories, but shines especially on teams that can stack Might, Regeneration, or both.
Rating: 6/10

Fin: 600 Health, 8% Crit Chance, 15% Crit Damage

It’s another Cape. If you use Cape, you use Fin as well. It even gives some health, which means it’s used on more defensive crit-based damage dealers and the occasional critical healing support.
Rating: 10/10

Frozen Tear: 600 health, 60 mana, 15% Crit Damage

A bit of a strange assortment of stats, could work well for a Critical Defense based tank build, and is also a staple on bulky Elderjel, because of how much it likes Mana and Crit Damage.
Rating: 4/10

Gray Pearl: 80 Attack, 80 Magic, 80 Defense, 850 Health, 100 Mana, 15% Crit Chance. Can only be equipped by unshifted monsters

Honestly, an entire article could be written about this item. It basically turns unshifted into a third shift, who’s passive is “you can use Gray Pearl”. There are some monsters where that is better than either of their shifts, especially for damage dealers. This item gives great attacking stats and crit chance, while also adding on a better Hide and almost a Mana Ring. Of course, you lose the stats from shifting as well as the passive, but sometimes, that’s a trade worth making
Rating: 8/10

Hourglass: 400 Health, 35 Mana. Unique Aura: Age stacks are 33% more effective

Another item that you would run even if it gave no stats, getting that boost to all of your Age stacks is essential for any Aging team. 400 health and 35 mana aren’t anything to write home about, but they’ll go farther than normal because of the defense and mana cost reduction from your now boosted Age stacks.
Rating: 7/10

Infinity Flame: 40 Attack, 40 Magic, 600 Health, 65 Mana, 10% Crit Chance. Can only be equipped by Spectral Familiars

Since this is limited to four monsters, I’ll go over each one:

• Spectral Wolf is a hybrid crit-based damage dealer, and has double Life Overload, so is getting 58 Attack and Magic from this before Hybrid Mastery, on top of the other stats. Always run this.
• Spectral Toad Not having Defense on it makes this maybe not worth running on a support Toad, though the rare offensive Toad would definitely want this, and getting some extra magic for your heals isn’t bad.
• Spectral Eagle is a hybrid crit-based damage dealer, though doesn’t have any passives that synergize with the other stats, so you’re losing 10 Attack and Magic compared to a Fang to get the Health and Mana. On all but the most absolute diehard glass cannon builds, that’s a trade you’ll definitely make.
• Spectral Lion is a hybrid crit-based damage dealer, and has one instance of Life Overload, so is getting 49 Attack and Magic from this before Hybrid Mastery, on top of the other stats. Always run this.

On all but Toad, Flame is pretty much a must-run, and even Toad has some cases where you would run it.
Rating: 9/10

Lightning Sphere: 75 Magic, Every hit has a 5% chance to apply Shock or Armor Break

The most magic of any accessory outside of Gray Pearl, and a fantastic passive for any offensive support with proliferate. Extra debuffs mean more hits, extra hits mean more chances at debuffs. While it’s worth considering for any attacking support, as Shock and Armor Break are great things to apply, you lose a significant amount of defense and utility by running this, so it’s a tradeoff.
Rating: 7/10

Medallion: 55 Defense, 25 Mana Regen, 20% Crit Damage

If you’re a crit-based monster who wants some defense and mana regeneration, this item provides great value for the slot. It’s also excellent for Critical Defense monsters, providing excellent mitigation as well as some regen.
Rating: 8/10

Ocarina: 85 Mana, Healing skills (active and passive) increased by 15%

Same passive as Drum, but Mana is generally a less desirable stat to have than Defense. Of course you could run both on your healer, or just run this on a healer who has some mana troubles.
Rating: 5/10

Omni Ring: 380 Health, 50 Mana, 18 Mana Regen, 5% Crit Chance, 10% Crit damage

On a damage dealer who’s willing to trade a bit of damage for some Health and some Mana sustain, this is a solid option, it’s also a great fourth accessory for Equipment Mastery builds, and because it’s a ring that gives offensive stats, Mimic runs it.
Rating: 5/10

Ornate Pipe: 25 Attack, 15% Crit Damage, 10% Dodge Chance

The only equipment that gives Dodge Chance, this is a way to give any monster effectively 10% “damage reduction”, which is a difficult feat to match even with full defense items and synergistic passives, but it’s subject to RNG. Dodge suffers from diminishing returns, so this will actually be less effective on a monster who already has dodge chance, but will still offer plenty of effective toughness, as long as you aren’t unlucky.
Rating: 6/10

Pandora’s Box: 60 Defense, receive 2 random buffs at the start of combat, which don’t count towards your maximum stacks of those buffs

A solid option on any support monster, the chance of rolling a defensive buff like Barrier can help you survive attacks. It’s even better on monsters with Buff Sharing (Shared Might, Sorcery, Regeneration, Barrier), as if you roll the buff you share, that’s even more buffs. It’s not worth using on a damage dealer except in two cases: If you’re doing Champion score runs, or another activity where you can reset a fight over and over, you can keep resetting until you roll, say, Sorcery and Glory, which is better than any other accessory can give you. Also, if you’re running a triple Enlightened team, then every monster should have Pandora’s Box.
Rating: 7/10

Poisoned Dart: 75 Attack, every hit has a 5% chance to apply Poison or Weakness

Another Debuff equipment, another mainstay of debuff-based offensive supports. Keep those Proliferate chains going. Sometimes run on physical non-crit damage dealers just for the high attack.
Rating: 7/10

Shield Generator: 90 Mana, shield self for 100% of max Mana at the start of every turn

You want above average base Mana and maybe a Crown to go alongside this, and also to be in a team that plans on having long battles, but this item can provide a huge amount of sustain over time.
Rating: 4/10

Slime Skin: 750 Health. When getting attacked, 35% chance to apply Weakness to the attacker

The stack of weakness is applied before the attack’s damage is calculated, and so a slime skin proc can save a monster from an otherwise lethal attack. It also checks separately for each slime skin on your 3 monsters if an enemy uses an AOE, and any of them up to all of them can proc, if your team supports multiple weakness stacks. In single player, this is an incredibly effective defense item. In PvP it adds the same benefit of Taunt: your opponent doesn’t know if it’s coming until they’ve already committed to their attack. It’s an absolutely fantastic defensive item.
Rating: 9/10

Spark: 40 Defense, 25 Mana Regen. When getting attacked, 35% chance to apply Burn to the attacker

Burn, on the other hand, is a much less useful debuff to apply, and especially a much less useful debuff to have a chance to apply by surprise. A tank on a dedicated burn team might want this, but that’s about it.
Rating: 2/10

Sun Pendant: 32 Defense, 7% Crit Chance. Shield Self for 150 when receiving a buff

In order for this to be better than Shield Generator, you’ll need to be receiving about 3 buffs every turn. If you can pull that off, it’s reasonable, and if you can do way better than that, it can be incredible.
Rating: 6/10

Tarot Card: 60 Magic, 500 Health. Allows the monster to receive an additional stack of Sorcery and Channel

Dedicated Sorcery teams can definitely set up a ton of Sorcery stacks in a hurry, so if this item is granting you an additional sorcery buff most of the time, it’s very much worth having. It’s not as necessary for Channel teams, but still good, and essential if your team uses both.
Rating: 6/10

Thermal Reactor: 7% Crit Chance, 15% Crit Damage, every hit has a 5% chance to apply Burn or Chill

The third piece of the debuff trifecta, this one applies the worst debuffs, but has the best stats for a damage dealer. Proliferate combo builders will run it because it can apply debuffs, regardless of what those debuffs do, and damage dealers with slight debuff leanings, especially those that support Burn or Chill, can run this as a solid crit accessory.
Rating: 7/10

Totem: 48 Attack, 48 Magic, 500 Health, shield self for 1000 at the start of combat

This item effectively gives 1500 health, which is by far the most of any item. If you’re seriously concerned about a monster that’s critical to your team’s strategy getting taken out on the first turn before you’ve had a chance to protect and shield it, this could help. In the long run though, you’re better off with a more balanced defensive option.
Rating: 3/10

Ancestral Medal: 55 Attack, 55 Magic, Monster starts combat with 1 age stack and 5 charge stacks

The new item added in 1.2 is a powerhouse. Providing solid attack and magic along with an age stack and 5 charge stacks. It’s worth running on any monster that uses either of those stacks.
Rating: 8/10

Each monster can consume up to 3 food items, with each one providing a stat bonus. Since these are pure stats, and there’s no real competition from Food with similar effects, the use cases for these are pretty clear:

Raspberry: 10% Crit Damage

For crit-based damage dealers, run 3

Cookie Mushroom: 3% more damage dealt

For non-crit damage dealers, run 3

Banana/Peanut: 250 Health/25 Defense

Each of these increase overall toughness, and are included together in the “toughness” foods. In general, unless you have specific synergies with Defense (like Shield skills), triple Banana is better at improving overall toughness.

Orange: 32 Mana

Only commonly seen if you’re looking to hit a specific mana breakpoint to use a key active an additional time, or if you’re really focused on Mana (maybe with Mana Potential). It’s not even run on Tengu, as Cookie Mushroom adds more damage. It does see some use on Proliferate combo builders, as they have three great accessories they want to run and thus not much room for mana, but you forgo a lot of toughness from losing those Bananas

Spectral Toad is an excellent tanky support and healer. This build uses Restoring Wand as its weapon for passive debuff removal, and the defensive suite of Hide, Crown, and Bracelet along with three bananas for high bulk and enough mana to cast its important spells.

Fungi is one of the best Proliferate combo builders, using Curse Chain, Toxin, and Weakening Crush to spread debuffs to the enemy team and build more combo. Bow gives it an extra hit, while it uses all three debuff accessories to give each hit the highest chance to add an extra debuff. For food, Bananas are run for extra health.

Draconoir benefits from its Equipment Mastery passive to get even better crit. It runs Scythe as its weapon, since it needs attack and magic, with Cape, Fin, and Fang all providing high crit stats. Omni Ring is run in the fourth equipment slot for more crit and a bit of mana sustain.

Koi is an excellent example of a crit-based support monster. It can use Critical Healing, Critical Boon, and Critical Buffs to apply buffs and charge stacks to its teammates while healing them with Healing Wave, so it runs as much crit chance as it can, but no crit damage, relying on the 50% you get naturally to power up its heals and instead getting as much defense and mana as it can.

Thanks to the Static and Static Mass passives alongside high attack, Darnation makes a strong non-crit damage dealer. This build uses Heavy Mace for the bonus non-crit damage, Dumbbell and Helm provide 60 attack each along with some bulk, and Needle adds attack and Mana. Cookie Mushrooms are the food of choice for this build.