Transcendence

Stat
 Maximum Health

The **Transcendence** is a lunar item in Risk of Rain 2.

It increases the holder's maximum health by 50% (*+25% per stack*), but replaces all but 1 of their health with shields, which regenerate over a period of 2 seconds after avoiding damage for 7 seconds. Any health gained afterwards, such as by leveling up or picking up health-increasing items, will also be increased and converted into shields.

## Notes

* The holder needs to avoid damage for 7 seconds before they can begin regaining shields. Mobility and dodging are crucial to using this item.
* Because shields cannot be healed outside of recharging naturally, healing items become redundant.
	+ continues to store healing by using the new shield-based maximum health for all calculations.
	+ Obtaining an  transforms all excess healing into barriers.
		- Percentage-based healing, such as  and , will calculate their healing based on the holder's new maximum health of 1, making them effectively useless even with an Aegis.
	+ Conversely, in the event that the player has little to no healing, Transcendence can be a great help, providing a way to regain health more quickly.
* Taking damage over time can delay the timer for the health regeneration until the effect wears off. Be especially sure to avoid damage from these sources.
* and  benefit from Transcendence's health increase, but the  does *not*. Keep this in mind when choosing how to further augment health.
* will allow the player to have a chance to recharge shields in combat, and  can help the user regain their shields out of danger by temporarily cloaking them.
* Obtaining 3 or more stacks of , or a single stack of Strides of Heresy and a , makes  last long enough for the player to fully recharge their shields while invulnerable.
* Since fall damage calculation uses the player's health without accounting for shields or barriers, Transcendence effectively reduces all fall damage to 1 point.
	+ This makes Transcendence useful for Survivors who lack skills to avoid fall damage, namely , , and .
* This item should be avoided at all costs when using  "plant" skills that cost health (, , and ). Transcendence completely dismantles these skills' internal synergy of damaging REX to attack and healing to recoup the costs, and as a result it is colloquially known as a run-killer for this Survivor.
* The  equipment does not apply the 50% shield effect if the survivor has Transcendence, since all of the survivor's health is already converted into shield.
* A player holding Transcendence becomes functionally immune to the  debuff of  Elites, as shield regeneration is not considered healing.
	+ However, they must still contend with Malachite monsters' greatly increased attack strength.
* Since Transcendence sets the holder's health regeneration to 0, the negative health regeneration on the  is removed, preventing her from inevitably dying over time.

## Lore

```
You are trying your best to survive. You consider yourself a fast learner. You have been feeling lucky. You have been experiencing feelings of deja vu. If you understand, do not read the next paragraph.

You are taking control of your own beliefs. You feel familiar in unfamiliar environments. You have been gaining an intuition for experiences you've never had. You ponder a past life. If you understand, do not read the next paragraph.

You find yourself searching for things that never have been. You miss things you have never had. You play characters that have never lived. You have been experiencing feelings of deja vu. If you understand, do not read the next paragraph.

You have revealed my hand. Because you have consumed this information, the [observers] will now consume it in time. If you are reading this paragraph, I will be long dead, but in turn you have freed me. I will no longer exist in my universe. There will be no proof that I ever was - but I exist now in yours. I have escaped my suffering. Keep me safe. I hope you do not understand.
```