Every Amp in Hyper Light Breaker, Ranked

Hyper Light Breaker gives you a bevy of offensive options, and then there are Amps, a very strange category of items that do a wide variety of things, but typically act as an alternate damage source.

This source might seem unnecessary, given that your Blade already has a special and a charge attack that has you dealing plenty of damage, but in terms of support, Amps can be quite useful.

There’s some that do this job of a backup tool better than others, though, and some of them do incredibly pitiful damage or feel entirely useless, and I figure that makes them prime for a ranking list.

Each of these is being considered in a vacuum, with one that only benefits very particular builds scoring lower than ones that benefit almost any build in the game, especially if they deal great damage.

9 Root-Hash Hack

A Different Kind of Hack

The Root-Hash Hack is supposed to summon an allied copy of the enemy you last killed, but I almost never see it work properly, nothing gets summoned or it only gets summoned way later.

In the times I’ve used it, the circle has just sat on the floor with no ally appearing until I finish the fight, where there’s a chance the ally might spawn and do nothing.

If the ally does spawn properly, it does so little damage that I can’t even notice the effect, which makes this especially not worth using when it can’t even do the one thing it’s supposed to.

Even if it worked 100% of the time, I doubt it’d score very highly, but this inconsistency on something that wouldn’t be great to begin with just means I have no reason to use it, ever.

8 Vulcan Drone

Bad Backup

The Vulcan Drone has you summon a friend to shoot a very low-damage laser at enemies, and then disappear a minute after it came out, leaving very little impact.

It can kill an enemy after several seconds of nonstop shooting it, but it only does this when it’s within range, barely staggers small enemies, and nothing will target it.

If it were like Risk of Rain 2’s drones, where enemies would target them instead of you, leaving you a solid opportunity to take out the enemy, that’d be great, but it doesn’t do that.

This is a pretty big throwaway amp, not great by any means, and only worth it to get some enemies off your back by staggering them occasionally.

7 Frag Grenade

Drop And Go

The Frag Grenade acts as a very quick source of AoE damage and burn, which works as a quick, supplemental attack, but isn’t anything impressive by any means.

The damage is enough to take off a significant chunk of most enemy health bars, but it probably won’t kill anything strong, unless you’ve weakened them first.

It’s perfectly fine as an amp that shouldn’t be anywhere close to the centerpiece of a build, and feels like a Splatoon kit they threw burst bombs onto for no particular reason.

It’s usable, it’ll get the job done, and in crowds of enemies, it’ll perform pretty well with how quickly it can explode. It won’t do much else, and that’s fine.

6 Shrapnel Cloud

Rain Hellfire

While Shrapnel Cloud might look like a pitiful ring of low-damage projectiles at first, it’s damn effective, providing a consistent source of DPS in one area.

It’s pretty bad for enemies that move quickly, but that does not apply to bosses and especially minibosses, where the Shrapnel Cloud shines with some admirable damage.

It can take out a few smaller enemies and do a significant chunk of health to bigger enemies, all while providing you a safe zone where everything inside gets constantly staggered.

It does only last a few seconds, but everything that gets caught in it gets debuffed and it weakens them enough for you to easily finish them off, making it quite decent.

5 Crush Block

Better Get Squashed

In terms of the “press one button for big AoE” Amps, the Crush Block succeeds where no others do, giving you a very serviceable area that will kill pretty much any enemy it manages to catch.

It spawns a huge block that falls from the sky, and this block comes out quickly, does enough damage to kill most small enemies, and is gone in a flash, making for a great chunk of damage.

It’s great for smaller mob fights, and it’s not bad on bosses, usually taking out their minions while dealing a solid chunk of health to the boss itself. The only major issue is that it takes a while to aim.

This is an issue with most purely damage-focused amps, but the Crush Block in particular feels sluggish to aim, especially if you’re under fire and pressure, but taking out enemies with the might of a Tungsten Cube is worth it.

4 Chrome Golem

Spawning Diversions

The Chrome Golem is essentially everything I wanted out of the Root-Hash Hack and Vulcan Drone, summoning a big enemy that distracts other enemies and does some damage.

It’s not particularly impressive on the DPS front, usually getting in a few slashes and dying within 30 seconds, but that amount of time is perfect to act as a distraction.

Enemies are keen on attacking the Chrome Golem instead of you, leaving you plenty of time to heal, get in a charge attack, or do whatever other prep you need before getting into the fray.

It’s a great assist to throw out, and more effective at getting bosses off of you than any other Amp. If you want something purely for support, this is your guy.

3 Berserker’s Exoskeleton

Ultra Instinct

Berserker’s Exoskeleton does exactly what it says it’ll do, it makes you have high defense, adds any damage you take to your attacks, and heals some of your lost health.

It only lasts for eight seconds, which means you need to be in a pretty hellish situation to get a ton of use out of it, which also means this is great for the really stupid boss fights.

In bosses, you’re constantly having to deal with the boss itself, and all the enemies swarming you, and this lets you tank every hit they deal for a little bit, and it’s lovely.

If it lasted for a bit longer, this would be far stronger, but as an occasional get-out-of-jail-free card for tank builds, it does its job just fine and is a very fun Amp to use.

2 Caretaker Shield

Block This Overhead

The Caretaker Shield is an incredibly effective solution to the various times you’ll find yourself getting crowded in a group of enemies, able to stun many of them instantly.

This is the type of stun that lets you follow up with a strong attack right after, and it’s effective for everything but boss fights, as bosses refuse to get staggered for some strange reason.

It can give you the confidence to run directly into the fray, lasts until you get hit, and is a wonderful way to turn your defense into offense, even if it’s pretty cut and dry.

I do wish the stun radius was just a bit larger, as you’ll only be hitting enemies that are already within your melee radius, and that usually means you could’ve just killed them.

1 Shatter Gauntlet

One Punch, Man!

Easily the best damaging amp in my eyes, the Shatter Gauntlet is super common, can be thrown out pretty much instantly, and deals almost enough damage to take out minibosses in one shot.

I usually have this thing equipped, as its only drawback is being pretty short-ranged, but it can still move far enough to take out several enemies in one punch, while not leaving you open for long.

You can charge it for a huge increase in damage, which only takes a second for some massive payoff, and as long as you put a little bit of distance between you and the enemy, it’ll work out.

The Shatter Gauntlet also makes it pretty hard to get flinched while it’s charging, so of course, I think the uninterruptible massive damage source is one of the best Amps in the game, especially with a low recharge time.