TOPIC: Best in Slot Items

David Zych wrote:

NightGod wrote:

David Zych wrote:

Endgame wrote: here is the 100% general list

Generally +1 everything Endgame said above, except that I would additionally highlight for certain classes:

Charm of Spell Swapping (always top 3 for Druid, sometimes for other casters)
Lenses of Divine Sight (always for Cleric, sometimes for Druid)
Relsa’s Ring of Supreme Focus (for Cleric/Druid)
Necklace of the Songbird (for Bard)

In fairness, he mentioned CoSS for casters

There is no "CoSS" anymore. Endgame mentioned CoSSt, I am mentioning CoSSw

Oops! You're 100% right there (and I agree with you)

The Long Answer

While there may be a general list, there is nuance in some slots, and the why is generally going to be as important as the answer of "which token". So here goes for a MUCH longer post with some thoughts behind each slot.

Major Caveat When running a dungeon multiple times, best in slot becomes fluid based on the dungeon. Shirt of Shielding (no retribution version) went from overlooked and unpopular to a $50 token when a VTD run included retribution damage. Another example would be any run that is element damage typed - Topaz Sphere is a useless token when there is no darkrift damage in a dungeon to a truly amazing token when there is darkrift damage. The list and descriptions below are aimed at a first run, where you have no idea what is coming at you.

Back
Pharacus’ Greater Cloak of Destiny
Getting the most saves possible in a single slot makes Pharacus' the winner. However, when saves get to a certain point, (generally speaking, high enough you pass on a 2+ roll on a given difficulty), adding more no longer becomes valuable. This makes Cloak of Shadowskin the strong runner up (important when considering Charm of Brooching) instead of the relic Greater Cloak of Destiny . Getting +2 saves and getting to negate a single large hit is generally going to be better than pushing your saves even higher past the typical DC check of saves. This varies by class a bit, because the high base saves on Druid and Paladin make shadowskin even more useful, while the low base save Rogue may want to add more saves from a Greater Cloak of Destiny.

Bead
Bead of the Lucky Traveler +2 all saves combined with Free action really makes this one stand out. Spell casters that have otherwise pushed saves very high may consider Bead of Focus, but then they still probably want to find Free Action elsewhere and there aren't many convenient options for FA in other slots.

Charm (give 3)
1. Charm of Awakened Synergy This depends on number in party, but +10 initiative is critical to winning initiative rolls (which can mean quite a bit of damage saved from the party). The +10 HP is quite awesome as well. This token drops quite a bit if you're the only one wearing one.

2. Charm of Glory Rings are basically one of the most powerful slots around for boosting damage. A Charm of Glory will net at least 2 extra damage as a 3rd ring for most classes. However, for versatility, and assuming unlimited budget, Charm of Glory can also enable +6 AC, or +6 reflex save and improved evasion, or a whole bunch of damage reduction from a Supreme Ring of Elemental Command. Even at the low end, the Charm of Glory, when paired with Ring of the Drake is functionally equivalent to Draco-Litch Charm

3. Charm of Brooching / Charm of Spell Storing (spell caster) / Charm of Spell Swapping (spell caster)
Generally speaking, the Charm of Brooching to add a Cloak of Shadowskin is probably the best option for 3rd charm. Its more saves as well as the ability to negate a single hit. That said, if you already have high saves, a spell caster may value burst damage / healing provided by the Charm of Spell Storing or Charm of Spell Swapping to trade spells that don't scale difficulty very well for spells that do. In almost any case, a spell caster will not have to choose though, given slot expanders, so they can use both.

Ear
Arcane Earcuff or Earcuff of Orbits
This will come down to what charms or Iouns you have available, but assuming unlimited budget, Charm slots are generally less available. High end builds will already be using a Charm of Avarice and a Charm of Awakened Synergy leaving only 1 charm slot available. Given the minimal competition in the ear slot, nearly every build will just use both expanders anyway.

Eyes
There is no clear cut general winner in eyes that all classes will use, so it boils down to class and build.

Melee classes will generally use Goggles of Instant Analysis, but I can't discount the fact that some builds will have a +hit is so high they will hit most monsters on a 2. In this case, Corsair Eyepatch (yes, the common), may be best in slot for the extra damage.

Damage Spell Casters are likely to see Lenses of Hunting as the best option - they don't slide to hit for some spells, and other spells are generally sliding to hit a 2, so a pure damage buff is best.

Missile Users (Ex, primary attack is Bow / Thrown Weapon) are probably looking at Goggles of the Deadshot / Sniper Spectacles. +3 to hit in a single slot is equivalent to 6 dex. There is some competition from damage eye slots, but for missile weapons, I think either of these stand above Lenses of Hunting.

Healers are basically slot locked into Lenses of Divine Sight. With a limited number of healing spells, and a very large + heal at the top end of builds, splitting your healing to cover more party members is critical.

A Rogue that wants to sneak attack at range is almost certainly going to use Lenses of Agility, but may use Lenses of Vital Sight if they want to sneak attack with Thor's or some other non bow weapon.

Feet
Boots of the Four Winds This is one of the clear cut winners. It's one of the highest damage boosts available in any slot that works for any class, and gives a level + more damage + healing if you have another eldrich item.

Figurine
This one varies by class, and since FoPs are single use, I think you'll see a lot of variety here because its not THAT critical of a slot. The best generic FoP is probably FoP Moon Dog given incorporeal is generally only once per dungeon and its very easy to get. Other notable FoPs:
Healer: Figurine of Power: Phoenix
Rogue: Figurine of Power: Raven
Melee: FoP Rhino
Saves:Figurine of Power: Pixie / Dragon / Tortoise

Finger
Muk’s Greater Ring of Havoc
The highest generic damage boost available in a single token. The only tokens with higher damage boosts are class specific (such as bogs), and Muk's can be used for melee, missile, or spell damage. Given combats are decided by dealing damage, its pretty tough to beat +6 in one slot.

That said, there is an honorable mention for Relsa’s Ring of Supreme Focus since its the highest healing option available. A Cleric is likely to take Relsa's before Muks, and it's probably a toss up for a Druid.

Hands
Another slot where there isn't a clear cut winner. The stand outs are:

Melee:
Death Knight Gauntlets or Gloves of the Brute Gloves of the Brute really only factor in if you need the odd Str to round out the value, and you can live with -2 dex.

Missile
Gloves of Greater Archery. +4 damage is generally going to outweigh the attack bonus from Gloves of the Deadshot . Given that the eye slot has +3 to hit available in 2 tokens ( Goggles of the Deadshot / Sniper Spectacles) its probably better to focus on damage in the hand slot.

Damage Spells: Blessed Tempest Gloves The highest damage option for spell damage, and its only 1 point of damage behind Gloves of Greater Archery. Given Blessed Tempest Gloves tend to be fairly inexpensive, they could easily be used instead of the more expensive Gloves of Greater Archery.

Head
In general across multiple classes, I think there is a winner in this slot:
Cranston’s Helpful Hat. It provides +2 damage for missiles and Spells, AND it adds an extra eye slot. The +2 damage across all spells is close in effect to Crown of Expertise and you have an extra eye slot to use for more damage, more +hit or both.

For melee users, Cranston’s Helpful Hat enables the second eye slot to gain +1 hit and see invisible with Lenses of Heimdal Sight and it still adds ranged damage in the off chance it comes up.

Cranston’s Helpful Hat does block the use of a helm for the Redoubt set, so someone wishing to gain that set bonus will be using a Redoubt helm of some rarity. It's not a clean sweep, but Cranston's is likely to gain power over time as more eye slot items are released.

Ioun Stone (give 3)
There are a few categories of Ioun Stone - Saves, HP, Attribute, Damage, Other.

I don't think any of the "Other" IS (like Iridescent Spindle) rate as best in slot.

#1 - I find the saves category to be the first category I use in IS, so my ioun I'd go with is IS: Mystic Orb, assuming you're also equipping Skull of Cavadar. Without the skull, it's IS: Topaz Trilliant.

#2 - After adding a save IS, I've been leaning toward Attribute, in particular strength, but sometimes Dex. I'd use the new IS: Champion's Choice as the second best Ioun given the flexibility in attribute selection. This isn't 100% a lock as the number 2 best Ioun, but it's so flexible it gets my vote.

#3 - A toss up based on your build. If you really need HP, the Elfstone Shard has the highest HP value and basically wins by default. If you're really dedicated to healing, the new IS: Fluorite Sphere is the only Ioun that adds healing, so it would be #3 for a healing build. If you have enough +hit, then a damage Ioun is the best choice. I'd rank Bashee Prism as the best damage Ioun, as it works for both missiles and spells, but specific to melee IS Jasper Ellipsoid is probably the best melee damage option given it's untyped.

Legs
Kilt of Dungeonbane Highly flexible, and possibly adding Eldrich set item bonuses, the kilt of Dungeonbane is basically the best option here.

Mainhand (weapon)
For a generic weapon, I'd go Thor's Hammer as everyone can use it and its a +5 weapon that works both in melee and range, AND it has expanded crit range.

If we're going more build specific, Drue's +5 Baton of Focus and Drake's +5 Staff of Focus are the default choices for their respective casters, and any 2H melee build is going to use Averon's +5 Death Cleaver, as it's the only 2H option available. Io's is the default choice for a primary bow user as well.

Basically, Thor's is the best generic option, but specific builds have better options.

Neck
Each Classes Legendary Neck item is likely to be best in slot here. If a class doesn't have a legendary neck, it will be hard to beat the flexibility added by Charm Necklace.

Specific to Bard, Necklace of the Songbird is probably the top option. Saves added to Bard song for party support and free action lore checks.

Offhand
The Rare Brawler's horn and its +2 hit for melee is a solid all around offhand item. It's very solid at multiple rarity levels. I've used the Brawer's Horn instead of shields for most of my 1H melee builds, and generally only break out the shields to complete set bonuses (which says a bit about the state of AC as well). I'll give the Blessed / Giln's Redoubt Shield and the Scholar an honorable mentions here as well. The Redoubt shield is necessary to complete the set and its probably the best 3 piece armor set, while Shield of the Scholar enables Prayer + FA Bless Scroll as many times as you can cast Prayer (Dreugar's allows this to a limited extent, but not with the ease that Shield of the Scholar does).

Runestone
Runestones aren't that powerful in general, and they basically add a single point of damage. The eldrich Runestone is likely best in slot here, though I've been using the common Rabbit runestone on all my builds to buff out Ref Save a point on the cheap.

Shins
Venomguard Greaves
Poison damage reduction is hard to find anywhere else, and at lower rarity levels, Venomguard Greaves reduce the damage from Gauntlets of the Midgard Serpent. Given the state of the greaves slot, Venomguard gets my vote.

Shirt
We can talk about several shirts in print, but since this post was released in conjunction with the 2023 token discussion, I think we can safely say the Arcanum Shirt is going to be the best in slot option.

Torso (armor or robe) [divide into classes if possible]
Aron’s Sunhide Robe is the best general choice. Everyone can equip it and +9 dex goes a long way to covering Ref save and Ranged hit, while also enabling the ability to equip Thor's Hammer for all builds.

If you're not wearing Aron's in a BiS conversation, it's probably because you're a (Dwarf) Fighter / Paladin / Cleric using Byr’s Anointed Redoubt Plate or a Barbarian using Sill’s Anointed Redoubt Mail to complete the Redoubt Set. It's hard to make a compelling case for the legendary redoubt set to be honest. Most classes don't really care about AC, and the +2 str and +5 hp from the set bonus can be replicated by other tokens in the same slots. For example, you could equip some combination of Crown of Might, Cranston's Helpful Hat, Lucky Plate, Death Knight Armor and Lucky Shield and get basically the same performance as the Legendary Redoubt set with various other abilities.

For a melee Ranger / Rogue, the +2 Str provided by Death Knight Mail is likely to be your BiS option.

Waist
Melee: Surtr’s Girdle of Fire Giant Strength gives the largest boost to Str available in the slot.

Ranged: Belt of the Deadshot. For hit and damage, you can't beat Deadshot, and for spells that either auto hit or slide against a static AC, its basically the same damage bonus as Surtr's, but in a budget Ultra Rare form.

Honorable Mention:Orion's Belt 2 Iouns and 1 Charm offer flexibility, but all around the damage dealing tokens listed above edge out Orion's. Furthermore, depending how slot expansion is handled on for Ioun Stones on future tokens, Orion's may become obsolete. If you can get +3 or +4 ioun stones in a single slot, equipping Orions will put you over the cap, thus wasting its expansion capability.

Wrist
Luna's Greater Charm Bracelets. 4 charms means that Luna's can outperform any damage bracer, can add enough dex to tie TaMor’s +4 Mithral Bracers in AC (and get the other benefits of Dex as well), and it will only get better over time as more charms are released.

Here's my opinion. Some tokens might be missing based on a build going melee vs ranged vs throwing etc, for example Ranger is best as melee, and Monk is best as the Benrow's throwing build, so those tokens are below but perhaps not tokens for a Ranged Ranger.

Back 1 - Pharacus' Greater Cloak of Destiny
Back 2 - Greater Cloak of Destiny, Cloak of Shadowskin

Bead 1 - Bead of the Lucky Traveler
Bead 2 - Master Ale Drinker's Bead
Bead 3 - Bead of Focus (casters), Bead of Guided Strike (Fighters/Rogue), Bead Cleric's Piety, Bead of the Dire Bear

Charm 1 - Charm of Awakened Synergy
Charm 2 - Charm of Brooching
Charm 3 - Charm of Glory
Charm 4 - Draco-Lich Claw Charm
Charm 5+ - Some combination of: Greater Onyx Charm, Onyx Charm, Charm of the Fire Newt, Lucky Charm, Charm of Targeting, Charm of the Wind, Greater Quicksilver Charm, Charm of Quick Strike, Questor's Charm of Luck, Charm of Enlightenment, Charm of Spell Swapping, Charm of Spell Storing

Ear 1 - Earcuff of Orbits
Ear 2 - Earcuff of the Ravager (melee), Arcane Earcuff (everyone else)

Eyes - Many builds have 2. Options: Lenses of Divine Sight (Cleric/Druid), Goggles of Instant Analysis (melee), Lenses of Hunting (casters), Lenses of Agility (ranged/Rogue), Sniper Spectacles (ranged), Goggles of the Deadshot (ranged), Psyferre's Spectacles

Feet - Boots of the Four Winds

Figurine - Cat, Panther, Reaver, Horror

Finger - All BIS builds have 3. Select from: Supreme Ring of Elemental Command, Muk's Greater Ring of Havoc, Relsa's Ring of Supreme Focus (casters), Ring of Greater Focus (casters), Ring of the Eel (melee), Ring of Brilliance (Barbarian), Ring of the Yeti (ranged), Rolland's Ring of Protection +6 (Paladin)

Hands - Gloves of the Brute (melee), Mithral Gauntlets OR Death Knight Gauntlets (melee), Blessed Tempest Gloves (spell ranged), Gloves of Greater Archery (physical ranged), Gauntlets of Linked Fury (Barbarian)

Head - Pern's Redoubt Helm (Cleric/Fighters/Paladin), Blessed Redoubt Helm (Barbarian), Crown of Might (Ranger), Cranston's Helpful Hat

Ioun Stone - Some combination of: Topaz Trilliant, Infernal Fire Prism, Onyx Cube, Elfstone Shard, Jasper Ellipsoid, Mystic Orb, Banshee Prism, Quicksilver Cube, Sapphire Prism

Legs - Kilt of Dungeonbane

Mainhand (weapon) - Drue's +5 Baton of Focus (Cleric/Druid), Drake's +5 Staff of Focus (Wizards), Averon's +5 Deathcleaver (Barbarian), Welfor's +5 Slayer Sword (Fighters), Asher's +5 Viper Strike Fang (Rogue/Monk/Ranger), Ava's +5 Holy Avenger (Paladin), Thor's +5 Returning Hammer of Smiting (Bard), +2 Assassin's Crossbow (Rogue)

Neck - Each class Legendary, except for: Medallion of Valhalla (Melee Ranger), Amulet of Guarding (Paladin), Necklace of the Songbird (Bard)

Offhand - Giln's Redoubt Shield (Fighters, Paladin, Barbarian in ranged), Blessed Redoubt Shield (Cleric), Shield of the Scholar (Druid), Orb of Might, Lucky Shield

Shins - Any rare

Shirt - Shirt of the Oaf (melee), Shirt of Blessed Strength (melee), Shirt of Focus (casters), Viper Strike Shirt (Ranger/Monk for set bonus), Shirt of the Panther, Shirt of the Nimble

Torso (armor or robe) [divide into classes if possible] - Byr's Anointed Redoubt Plate (Cleric, Fighters, Paladin), Sill's Anointed Redoubt Mail (Druid, Barbarian, Ranger), Aron's Sunhide Robe (Wizards, Rogue, Monk, Bard)

Waist - Surtr's Girdle of Fire Giant Strength (melee), Belt of the Deadshot (ranged)

Wrist - Luna's Greater Charm Bracelets

Slot expanders, TES, basically trump everything. After those lv5 and stuff that enables a quirky power like Shadowskin or libram. Then for dps stack saves and your relevant hit/damage.

For casters saves, whatever enables more spell casts, your relivent damage.

For healers healing.


In terms of the universally OP

Back - greater cloak/shadowskin or lucky
Bead - lucky traveler
Charm (give 3) - synergy of some form, damage or spell swapping
Ear - orbits/arcane
Eyes -
Feet - boots of 4 winds
Figurine -
Finger -
Hands - str gloves/tempest
Head -
Ioun Stone (give 3) - mystic orb/any +2 saves stone
Legs - kilt of dungeon
Mainhand (weapon) -
Neck - sadly always your class neck
Offhand -
Runestone - anything damage
Shins -
Shirt - focus or arcane shirt component
Torso (armor or robe) [divide into classes if possible] - lucky or dearhknight for melee
Waist - frost giant/legendary, belt of the brave, deadshot or arcane for healers.
Wrist - charm bracelets

I dont feel like the slots I left blank have universal answers.

That Taborlin’s Key isn’t getting mentioned surprises me, yes I know it is very rare but that doesn’t change its status as a very powerful charm. Though it does not have to potential to soak up the damage of shadowskin for melee or missile it does handle spell damage which shadowskin does not. Though not better than CoAS or the CoSS’s for casters, definitely makes a top 2 charm for non casters imo.

jedibcg wrote: That Taborlin’s Key isn’t getting mentioned surprises me, yes I know it is very rare but that doesn’t change its status as a very powerful charm. Though it does not have to potential to soak up the damage of shadowskin for melee or missile it does handle spell damage which shadowskin does not. Though not better than CoAS or the CoSS’s for casters, definitely makes a top 2 charm for non casters imo.

Taborlin's is definitely good, and I agree it seems surprising that it isn't getting much love. But, I think that may partly be because we've just had a module that feels like it was designed to nerf the usefulness of Taborlin's (as well as Shadowskin). There were no monsters that dealt large amounts of damage in a single hit, and several monsters that dealt multiple smaller hits that added up. So, using Taborlin's in VTD9 likely only gave you half the value that it is theoretically worth. So, it doesn't seem surprising for people to be focused on tokens that they "know" they will get full value out of.

Endgame wrote: The Long Answer

While there may be a general list, there is nuance in some slots, and the why is generally going to be as important as the answer of "which token". So here goes for a MUCH longer post with some thoughts behind each slot.

Major Caveat When running a dungeon multiple times, best in slot becomes fluid based on the dungeon. Shirt of Shielding (no retribution version) went from overlooked and unpopular to a $50 token when a VTD run included retribution damage. Another example would be any run that is element damage typed - Topaz Sphere is a useless token when there is no darkrift damage in a dungeon to a truly amazing token when there is darkrift damage. The list and descriptions below are aimed at a first run, where you have no idea what is coming at you.

Back
Pharacus’ Greater Cloak of Destiny
Getting the most saves possible in a single slot makes Pharacus' the winner. However, when saves get to a certain point, (generally speaking, high enough you pass on a 2+ roll on a given difficulty), adding more no longer becomes valuable. This makes Cloak of Shadowskin the strong runner up (important when considering Charm of Brooching) instead of the relic Greater Cloak of Destiny . Getting +2 saves and getting to negate a single large hit is generally going to be better than pushing your saves even higher past the typical DC check of saves. This varies by class a bit, because the high base saves on Druid and Paladin make shadowskin even more useful, while the low base save Rogue may want to add more saves from a Greater Cloak of Destiny.

Bead
Bead of the Lucky Traveler +2 all saves combined with Free action really makes this one stand out. Spell casters that have otherwise pushed saves very high may consider Bead of Focus, but then they still probably want to find Free Action elsewhere and there aren't many convenient options for FA in other slots.

Charm (give 3)
1. Charm of Awakened Synergy This depends on number in party, but +10 initiative is critical to winning initiative rolls (which can mean quite a bit of damage saved from the party). The +10 HP is quite awesome as well. This token drops quite a bit if you're the only one wearing one.

2. Charm of Glory Rings are basically one of the most powerful slots around for boosting damage. A Charm of Glory will net at least 2 extra damage as a 3rd ring for most classes. However, for versatility, and assuming unlimited budget, Charm of Glory can also enable +6 AC, or +6 reflex save and improved evasion, or a whole bunch of damage reduction from a Supreme Ring of Elemental Command. Even at the low end, the Charm of Glory, when paired with Ring of the Drake is functionally equivalent to Draco-Litch Charm

3. Charm of Brooching / Charm of Spell Storing (spell caster) / Charm of Spell Swapping (spell caster)
Generally speaking, the Charm of Brooching to add a Cloak of Shadowskin is probably the best option for 3rd charm. Its more saves as well as the ability to negate a single hit. That said, if you already have high saves, a spell caster may value burst damage / healing provided by the Charm of Spell Storing or Charm of Spell Swapping to trade spells that don't scale difficulty very well for spells that do. In almost any case, a spell caster will not have to choose though, given slot expanders, so they can use both.

Ear
Arcane Earcuff or Earcuff of Orbits
This will come down to what charms or Iouns you have available, but assuming unlimited budget, Charm slots are generally less available. High end builds will already be using a Charm of Avarice and a Charm of Awakened Synergy leaving only 1 charm slot available. Given the minimal competition in the ear slot, nearly every build will just use both expanders anyway.

Eyes
There is no clear cut general winner in eyes that all classes will use, so it boils down to class and build.

Melee classes will generally use Goggles of Instant Analysis, but I can't discount the fact that some builds will have a +hit is so high they will hit most monsters on a 2. In this case, Corsair Eyepatch (yes, the common), may be best in slot for the extra damage.

Damage Spell Casters are likely to see Lenses of Hunting as the best option - they don't slide to hit for some spells, and other spells are generally sliding to hit a 2, so a pure damage buff is best.

Missile Users (Ex, primary attack is Bow / Thrown Weapon) are probably looking at Goggles of the Deadshot / Sniper Spectacles. +3 to hit in a single slot is equivalent to 6 dex. There is some competition from damage eye slots, but for missile weapons, I think either of these stand above Lenses of Hunting.

Healers are basically slot locked into Lenses of Divine Sight. With a limited number of healing spells, and a very large + heal at the top end of builds, splitting your healing to cover more party members is critical.

A Rogue that wants to sneak attack at range is almost certainly going to use Lenses of Agility, but may use Lenses of Vital Sight if they want to sneak attack with Thor's or some other non bow weapon.

Feet
Boots of the Four Winds This is one of the clear cut winners. It's one of the highest damage boosts available in any slot that works for any class, and gives a level + more damage + healing if you have another eldrich item.

Figurine
This one varies by class, and since FoPs are single use, I think you'll see a lot of variety here because its not THAT critical of a slot. The best generic FoP is probably FoP Moon Dog given incorporeal is generally only once per dungeon and its very easy to get. Other notable FoPs:
Healer: Figurine of Power: Phoenix
Rogue: Figurine of Power: Raven
Melee: FoP Rhino
Saves:Figurine of Power: Pixie / Dragon / Tortoise

Finger
Muk’s Greater Ring of Havoc
The highest generic damage boost available in a single token. The only tokens with higher damage boosts are class specific (such as bogs), and Muk's can be used for melee, missile, or spell damage. Given combats are decided by dealing damage, its pretty tough to beat +6 in one slot.

That said, there is an honorable mention for Relsa’s Ring of Supreme Focus since its the highest healing option available. A Cleric is likely to take Relsa's before Muks, and it's probably a toss up for a Druid.

Hands
Another slot where there isn't a clear cut winner. The stand outs are:

Melee:
Death Knight Gauntlets or Gloves of the Brute Gloves of the Brute really only factor in if you need the odd Str to round out the value, and you can live with -2 dex.

Missile
Gloves of Greater Archery. +4 damage is generally going to outweigh the attack bonus from Gloves of the Deadshot . Given that the eye slot has +3 to hit available in 2 tokens ( Goggles of the Deadshot / Sniper Spectacles) its probably better to focus on damage in the hand slot.

Damage Spells: Blessed Tempest Gloves The highest damage option for spell damage, and its only 1 point of damage behind Gloves of Greater Archery. Given Blessed Tempest Gloves tend to be fairly inexpensive, they could easily be used instead of the more expensive Gloves of Greater Archery.

Head
In general across multiple classes, I think there is a winner in this slot:
Cranston’s Helpful Hat. It provides +2 damage for missiles and Spells, AND it adds an extra eye slot. The +2 damage across all spells is close in effect to Crown of Expertise and you have an extra eye slot to use for more damage, more +hit or both.

For melee users, Cranston’s Helpful Hat enables the second eye slot to gain +1 hit and see invisible with Lenses of Heimdal Sight and it still adds ranged damage in the off chance it comes up.

Cranston’s Helpful Hat does block the use of a helm for the Redoubt set, so someone wishing to gain that set bonus will be using a Redoubt helm of some rarity. It's not a clean sweep, but Cranston's is likely to gain power over time as more eye slot items are released.

Ioun Stone (give 3)
There are a few categories of Ioun Stone - Saves, HP, Attribute, Damage, Other.

I don't think any of the "Other" IS (like Iridescent Spindle) rate as best in slot.

I find the saves category to be the first category I use in IS, so my #1 ioun I'd go with is IS: Mystic Orb, assuming you're also equipping Skull of Cavadar. Without the skull, it's IS Topaz Trilliant.

After IS, I've been leaning toward Attribute, in particular strength. At the #2 Ioun spot, I'd use the new IS: Champion's Choice given the flexibility.

The #3 spot is a toss up based on your build. If you really need HP, the Elfstone Shard has the highest HP value and basically wins by default. If you're really dedicated to healing, the new IS Fluorite Sphere is the only Ioun that adds healing, so it would be #3 for a healing build. If you have enough +hit, then a damage Ioun is the best choice. I'd rank Bashee Prism as the best damage Ioun, as it works for both missiles and spells.

Legs
Kilt of Dungeonbane Highly flexible, and possibly adding Eldrich set item bonuses, the kilt of Dungeonbane is basically the best option here.

Mainhand (weapon)
For a generic weapon, I'd go Thor's Hammer as everyone can use it and its a +5 weapon that works both in melee and range, AND it has expanded crit range.

If we're going more build specific, The +5 Baton and +5 Staff of Focus are the default choices for their respective casters, and any 2H melee build is going to use Averon's, as it's the only 2H option available. Io's is the default choice for a primary bow user as well.

Neck
Each Classes Legendary Neck item is likely to be best in slot here. If a class doesn't have a legendary neck, it will be hard to beat the flexibility added by Charm Necklace.

Specific to Bard, Necklace of the Songbird is probably the top option. Saves added to Bard song for party support and free action lore checks.

Offhand
The Rare Brawler's horn and its +2 hit for melee is a solid all around offhand item. It's very solid at multiple rarity levels. I've used the Brawer's Horn instead of shields for most of my 1H melee builds, and generally only break out the shields to complete set bonuses (which says a bit about the state of AC as well). I'll give the Blessed / Giln's Redoubt Shield and the Scholar an honorable mentions here as well. The Redoubt shield is necessary to complete the set and its probably the best 3 piece armor set, while Shield of the Scholar enables Prayer + FA Bless Scroll as many times as you can cast Prayer (Dreugar's allows this to a limited extent, but not with the ease that Shield of the Scholar does).

Runestone
Runestones aren't that powerful in general, and they basically add a single point of damage. The eldrich Runestone is likely best in slot here, though I've been using the common Rabbit runestone on all my builds to buff out Ref Save a point on the cheap.

Shins
Venomguard Greaves
Poison damage reduction is hard to find anywhere else, and at lower rarity levels, Venomguard Greaves reduce the damage from Gauntlets of the Midgard Serpent. Given the state of the greaves slot, Venomguard gets my vote.

Shirt
We can talk about several shirts in print, but since this post was released in conjunction with the 2023 token discussion, I think we can safely say the Arcanum Shirt is going to be the best in slot option.

Torso (armor or robe) [divide into classes if possible]
Aron’s Sunhide Robe is the best general choice. Everyone can equip it and +9 dex goes a long way to covering Ref save and Ranged hit, while also enabling the ability to equip Thor's Hammer for all builds.

If you're not wearing Aron's in a BiS conversation, it's probably because you're a (Dwarf) Fighter / Paladin / Cleric using Byr's or a Barbarian using Sill's to complete the Redoubt Set.

For a melee Ranger / Rogue, the +2 Str provided by Death Knight Mail is likely to be your BiS option.

Waist
Melee: Surtr’s Girdle of Fire Giant Strength gives the largest boost to Str available in the slot.

Ranged: Belt of the Deadshot. For hit and damage, you can't beat Deadshot, and for spells that either auto hit or slide against a static AC, its basically the same damage bonus as Surtr's, but in a budget Ultra Rare form.

Honorable Mention:Orion's Belt 2 Iouns and 1 Charm offer flexibility, but all around the damage dealing tokens listed above edge out Orion's. Furthermore, depending how slot expansion is handled on for Ioun Stones on future tokens, Orion's may become obsolete. If you can get +3 or +4 ioun stones in a single slot, equipping Orions will put you over the cap, thus wasting its expansion capability.

Wrist
Luna's Greater Charm Bracelets. 4 charms means that Luna's can outperform any damage bracer, can add enough dex to tie TaMor’s +4 Mithral Bracers in AC (and get the other benefits of Dex as well), and it will only get better over time as more charms are released.

Very nice analysis Endgame. This is very useful for those working to improve their builds.

Endgame wrote: The Long Answer

While there may be a general list, there is nuance in some slots, and the why is generally going to be as important as the answer of "which token". So here goes for a MUCH longer post with some thoughts behind each slot.

Major Caveat When running a dungeon multiple times, best in slot becomes fluid based on the dungeon. Shirt of Shielding (no retribution version) went from overlooked and unpopular to a $50 token when a VTD run included retribution damage. Another example would be any run that is element damage typed - Topaz Sphere is a useless token when there is no darkrift damage in a dungeon to a truly amazing token when there is darkrift damage. The list and descriptions below are aimed at a first run, where you have no idea what is coming at you.

Back
Pharacus’ Greater Cloak of Destiny
Getting the most saves possible in a single slot makes Pharacus' the winner. However, when saves get to a certain point, (generally speaking, high enough you pass on a 2+ roll on a given difficulty), adding more no longer becomes valuable. This makes Cloak of Shadowskin the strong runner up (important when considering Charm of Brooching) instead of the relic Greater Cloak of Destiny . Getting +2 saves and getting to negate a single large hit is generally going to be better than pushing your saves even higher past the typical DC check of saves. This varies by class a bit, because the high base saves on Druid and Paladin make shadowskin even more useful, while the low base save Rogue may want to add more saves from a Greater Cloak of Destiny.

Bead
Bead of the Lucky Traveler +2 all saves combined with Free action really makes this one stand out. Spell casters that have otherwise pushed saves very high may consider Bead of Focus, but then they still probably want to find Free Action elsewhere and there aren't many convenient options for FA in other slots.

Charm (give 3)
1. Charm of Awakened Synergy This depends on number in party, but +10 initiative is critical to winning initiative rolls (which can mean quite a bit of damage saved from the party). The +10 HP is quite awesome as well. This token drops quite a bit if you're the only one wearing one.

2. Charm of Glory Rings are basically one of the most powerful slots around for boosting damage. A Charm of Glory will net at least 2 extra damage as a 3rd ring for most classes. However, for versatility, and assuming unlimited budget, Charm of Glory can also enable +6 AC, or +6 reflex save and improved evasion, or a whole bunch of damage reduction from a Supreme Ring of Elemental Command. Even at the low end, the Charm of Glory, when paired with Ring of the Drake is functionally equivalent to Draco-Litch Charm

3. Charm of Brooching / Charm of Spell Storing (spell caster) / Charm of Spell Swapping (spell caster)
Generally speaking, the Charm of Brooching to add a Cloak of Shadowskin is probably the best option for 3rd charm. Its more saves as well as the ability to negate a single hit. That said, if you already have high saves, a spell caster may value burst damage / healing provided by the Charm of Spell Storing or Charm of Spell Swapping to trade spells that don't scale difficulty very well for spells that do. In almost any case, a spell caster will not have to choose though, given slot expanders, so they can use both.

Ear
Arcane Earcuff or Earcuff of Orbits
This will come down to what charms or Iouns you have available, but assuming unlimited budget, Charm slots are generally less available. High end builds will already be using a Charm of Avarice and a Charm of Awakened Synergy leaving only 1 charm slot available. Given the minimal competition in the ear slot, nearly every build will just use both expanders anyway.

Eyes
There is no clear cut general winner in eyes that all classes will use, so it boils down to class and build.

Melee classes will generally use Goggles of Instant Analysis, but I can't discount the fact that some builds will have a +hit is so high they will hit most monsters on a 2. In this case, Corsair Eyepatch (yes, the common), may be best in slot for the extra damage.

Damage Spell Casters are likely to see Lenses of Hunting as the best option - they don't slide to hit for some spells, and other spells are generally sliding to hit a 2, so a pure damage buff is best.

Missile Users (Ex, primary attack is Bow / Thrown Weapon) are probably looking at Goggles of the Deadshot / Sniper Spectacles. +3 to hit in a single slot is equivalent to 6 dex. There is some competition from damage eye slots, but for missile weapons, I think either of these stand above Lenses of Hunting.

Healers are basically slot locked into Lenses of Divine Sight. With a limited number of healing spells, and a very large + heal at the top end of builds, splitting your healing to cover more party members is critical.

A Rogue that wants to sneak attack at range is almost certainly going to use Lenses of Agility, but may use Lenses of Vital Sight if they want to sneak attack with Thor's or some other non bow weapon.

Feet
Boots of the Four Winds This is one of the clear cut winners. It's one of the highest damage boosts available in any slot that works for any class, and gives a level + more damage + healing if you have another eldrich item.

Figurine
This one varies by class, and since FoPs are single use, I think you'll see a lot of variety here because its not THAT critical of a slot. The best generic FoP is probably FoP Moon Dog given incorporeal is generally only once per dungeon and its very easy to get. Other notable FoPs:
Healer: Figurine of Power: Phoenix
Rogue: Figurine of Power: Raven
Melee: FoP Rhino
Saves:Figurine of Power: Pixie / Dragon / Tortoise

Finger
Muk’s Greater Ring of Havoc
The highest generic damage boost available in a single token. The only tokens with higher damage boosts are class specific (such as bogs), and Muk's can be used for melee, missile, or spell damage. Given combats are decided by dealing damage, its pretty tough to beat +6 in one slot.

That said, there is an honorable mention for Relsa’s Ring of Supreme Focus since its the highest healing option available. A Cleric is likely to take Relsa's before Muks, and it's probably a toss up for a Druid.

Hands
Another slot where there isn't a clear cut winner. The stand outs are:

Melee:
Death Knight Gauntlets or Gloves of the Brute Gloves of the Brute really only factor in if you need the odd Str to round out the value, and you can live with -2 dex.

Missile
Gloves of Greater Archery. +4 damage is generally going to outweigh the attack bonus from Gloves of the Deadshot . Given that the eye slot has +3 to hit available in 2 tokens ( Goggles of the Deadshot / Sniper Spectacles) its probably better to focus on damage in the hand slot.

Damage Spells: Blessed Tempest Gloves The highest damage option for spell damage, and its only 1 point of damage behind Gloves of Greater Archery. Given Blessed Tempest Gloves tend to be fairly inexpensive, they could easily be used instead of the more expensive Gloves of Greater Archery.

Head
In general across multiple classes, I think there is a winner in this slot:
Cranston’s Helpful Hat. It provides +2 damage for missiles and Spells, AND it adds an extra eye slot. The +2 damage across all spells is close in effect to Crown of Expertise and you have an extra eye slot to use for more damage, more +hit or both.

For melee users, Cranston’s Helpful Hat enables the second eye slot to gain +1 hit and see invisible with Lenses of Heimdal Sight and it still adds ranged damage in the off chance it comes up.

Cranston’s Helpful Hat does block the use of a helm for the Redoubt set, so someone wishing to gain that set bonus will be using a Redoubt helm of some rarity. It's not a clean sweep, but Cranston's is likely to gain power over time as more eye slot items are released.

Ioun Stone (give 3)
There are a few categories of Ioun Stone - Saves, HP, Attribute, Damage, Other.

I don't think any of the "Other" IS (like Iridescent Spindle) rate as best in slot.

I find the saves category to be the first category I use in IS, so my #1 ioun I'd go with is IS: Mystic Orb, assuming you're also equipping Skull of Cavadar. Without the skull, it's IS Topaz Trilliant.

After IS, I've been leaning toward Attribute, in particular strength. At the #2 Ioun spot, I'd use the new IS: Champion's Choice given the flexibility.

The #3 spot is a toss up based on your build. If you really need HP, the Elfstone Shard has the highest HP value and basically wins by default. If you're really dedicated to healing, the new IS Fluorite Sphere is the only Ioun that adds healing, so it would be #3 for a healing build. If you have enough +hit, then a damage Ioun is the best choice. I'd rank Bashee Prism as the best damage Ioun, as it works for both missiles and spells.

Legs
Kilt of Dungeonbane Highly flexible, and possibly adding Eldrich set item bonuses, the kilt of Dungeonbane is basically the best option here.

Mainhand (weapon)
For a generic weapon, I'd go Thor's Hammer as everyone can use it and its a +5 weapon that works both in melee and range, AND it has expanded crit range.

If we're going more build specific, The +5 Baton and +5 Staff of Focus are the default choices for their respective casters, and any 2H melee build is going to use Averon's, as it's the only 2H option available. Io's is the default choice for a primary bow user as well.

Neck
Each Classes Legendary Neck item is likely to be best in slot here. If a class doesn't have a legendary neck, it will be hard to beat the flexibility added by Charm Necklace.

Specific to Bard, Necklace of the Songbird is probably the top option. Saves added to Bard song for party support and free action lore checks.

Offhand
The Rare Brawler's horn and its +2 hit for melee is a solid all around offhand item. It's very solid at multiple rarity levels. I've used the Brawer's Horn instead of shields for most of my 1H melee builds, and generally only break out the shields to complete set bonuses (which says a bit about the state of AC as well). I'll give the Blessed / Giln's Redoubt Shield and the Scholar an honorable mentions here as well. The Redoubt shield is necessary to complete the set and its probably the best 3 piece armor set, while Shield of the Scholar enables Prayer + FA Bless Scroll as many times as you can cast Prayer (Dreugar's allows this to a limited extent, but not with the ease that Shield of the Scholar does).

Runestone
Runestones aren't that powerful in general, and they basically add a single point of damage. The eldrich Runestone is likely best in slot here, though I've been using the common Rabbit runestone on all my builds to buff out Ref Save a point on the cheap.

Shins
Venomguard Greaves
Poison damage reduction is hard to find anywhere else, and at lower rarity levels, Venomguard Greaves reduce the damage from Gauntlets of the Midgard Serpent. Given the state of the greaves slot, Venomguard gets my vote.

Shirt
We can talk about several shirts in print, but since this post was released in conjunction with the 2023 token discussion, I think we can safely say the Arcanum Shirt is going to be the best in slot option.

Torso (armor or robe) [divide into classes if possible]
Aron’s Sunhide Robe is the best general choice. Everyone can equip it and +9 dex goes a long way to covering Ref save and Ranged hit, while also enabling the ability to equip Thor's Hammer for all builds.

If you're not wearing Aron's in a BiS conversation, it's probably because you're a (Dwarf) Fighter / Paladin / Cleric using Byr's or a Barbarian using Sill's to complete the Redoubt Set.

For a melee Ranger / Rogue, the +2 Str provided by Death Knight Mail is likely to be your BiS option.

Waist
Melee: Surtr’s Girdle of Fire Giant Strength gives the largest boost to Str available in the slot.

Ranged: Belt of the Deadshot. For hit and damage, you can't beat Deadshot, and for spells that either auto hit or slide against a static AC, its basically the same damage bonus as Surtr's, but in a budget Ultra Rare form.

Honorable Mention:Orion's Belt 2 Iouns and 1 Charm offer flexibility, but all around the damage dealing tokens listed above edge out Orion's. Furthermore, depending how slot expansion is handled on for Ioun Stones on future tokens, Orion's may become obsolete. If you can get +3 or +4 ioun stones in a single slot, equipping Orions will put you over the cap, thus wasting its expansion capability.

Wrist
Luna's Greater Charm Bracelets. 4 charms means that Luna's can outperform any damage bracer, can add enough dex to tie TaMor’s +4 Mithral Bracers in AC (and get the other benefits of Dex as well), and it will only get better over time as more charms are released.

As one of the few mainline Ranged Rangers out there, I would like to add a couple small opinion differences...

Mainhand/OH combo - Stu's +3 Handy Stein and +2 Mug of Battle - given that the times when a ranged ranger must focus on melee are few and far between, these 2 slots are most beneficial when their effects provide bonuses outside of melee damage

Head - Far and away Cranston's Helpful Hat, which is not controversial by itself, but does support my argument for the eye slot since we would assume a BiS Ranged Ranger will be using 2 eye slots.

Eyes - Sniper Spectacles and Lenses of the Fae - the argument here being Fae over Deadshot for the 3 DEX and Incorporeal creature insurance vs 3 to hit, especially since our BiS 5th level is coming from the Eldritch set, so the Deadshot set bonus is unnecessary (For the record I didn't speak out against the Deadshot set bonus last year because I like UR only level builds to have more access to the level boost)

Bead - as a 2nd tier option, Bead Cleric's Piety since Will Saves are harder to attain naturally.

Other than when situational circumstances occur, I generally agree with all the feedback already stated. A lot of this feedback is really good. I just want to make sure newer players understand that BiS is not necessary to enjoy the game or successfully complete a run, even at Epic level.

I went ahead and edited my long post and fixed a bunch of the formatting.

Also, while multiple posters are generally on the same page, we are getting some variety based on "what is best" since there isn't a universal definition of best build. If we change focus a little to "what cost unlimited build generates the most damage" we can get a clearer picture of where the classes stand and what is "best" in slot by comparing builds across each other. The person looking at the "Highest damage" build can also decide what compromises they would like to make to the damage to align the build to their definition of best. An example may be sacrificing some damage to increase Saves or HP, or equip Charm of Quickstrike and hope you roll well on the initative roll, or drop charm slots to always crit with Bracers of Guided Strike.

I present some sample "highest damage" builds below, with some minimal commentary. If people find this valuable, I'd be happy to add more builds and more discussion, but it's a non trival amount of extra work to do if no one really cares, or doesn't agree with the premise that we need a common, well defined starting point.

For all builds, assume all slotless items are equipped. I have only included the ones that affect the character summary for better comparison between builds.

Barbarian:
Most contentious selections in this build are likely to be Helm of the Boar and Corsair Eyepatch.
tdcharactercreator.com/#/character/edit/b7a26834-7a66-4ce8-9b6e-e94bc56f9459

1H Fighter:
I only provide the 1H fighter, as the 2H build can basically duplicate the Barbarian build. Furthermore, Dwarf Fighter and Fighter are the same build for max damage, the Dwarf just does less since the Dwarf has less Str.
Most contentious selections in this build are likely to be Helm of the Boar and Corsair Eyepatch.
tdcharactercreator.com/#/character/edit/e9493a91-912c-4fe4-b061-5e532454e504

Paladin:
Basically the same as the fighter, but with a different Neck item. I also used Ava's over Welfor's, though Welfor's may deal slightly more damage (I need to check the damage wheels)
tdcharactercreator.com/#/character/edit/631dc6a0-1b4c-4a5d-bb45-e743fa4b7825

Melee Ranger:
Continues the trend of using the Corsair Eyepatch, but switches head to Crown of Might given that Helm of the Boar is not available.
tdcharactercreator.com/#/character/edit/aff464e1-c06a-401f-8e06-63bce026e4cc

Ranged Ranger
Interestingly does not equip Luna's charm bracelets, as max damage is achieved using Supreme Bracer's of Archery (all damage charms can be equipped without needing Luna's. Hunter's leather armor is likely not a choice most people would make over Sunhide Robe.
tdcharactercreator.com/#/character/edit/4e124147-7d10-4099-912f-4ada4a3682d3

Melee Monk:
Similar choices as above, though may also benefit from swapping Gloves of the Brute for Flying Fist for most builds. Alternatively, the Thrown Weapon Monk will deal slightly less damage, but with better saves and HP.
tdcharactercreator.com/#/character/edit/06cd6f1b-2aa8-4698-aefe-ae33e8614c96

Spell Damage Wizard
One balancing issue with wizard in particular for "max damage" was how to handle hp. Since a wizard can use HP as a resource, do you get more damage by using lucky cloak + charm to gain +5 all saves and 5 hp, or might it be better to go for shadowskin which may, or may not, save you extra HP? If you go shadowskin or Relic cloak, the lucky charm can be dropped for charm of spell swapping, which may add more damage over time, depending on number of combats.

On a similar issue, technically, a wizard will get a higher +spell damage value by using pants of focus instead of kilt of dungeonbane. At the same time, the 15 extra HP from the kilt can be used by the Medallion, which may net more damage than the +1 damage to each spell

tdcharactercreator.com/#/character/edit/8d060c12-6d51-4746-b3e8-8a6dabe85ec2

Poly + Spell max Damage Druid:
To completely maximize damage, I've included spell damage in the build and am using ring of quick blessing and charm of spell storing. In other words, I've dropped maximum poly melee damage by about 6 points to allow 3 rounds of melee attack + free action casting freezing orb, and 1 round of melee attack + free action cast of spell surged call lightning. Note - this means that the hybrid poly + spell druid deals more damage over a whole adventure as long as there are fewer than 30 rounds of combat.

tdcharactercreator.com/#/character/edit/465c64f8-0a9e-4075-ada1-b3769e74685a

Back - Pharacus' Greater Cloak of Destiny
Bead - Bead of the Lucky Traveler
Charm (give 3) - Charm of Awakened Synergy, Charm of Glory, Charm of Brooching
Ear - Arcane Earcuff/Earcuff of Orbits
Eyes - Goggles of the Deadshot (Ranged) / Goggles of Instant Analysis (Melee) / Lenses of Hunting (Spells)
Feet - Boots of the Four Winds
Figurine - Figurine of Power: Cat, or class-specific FoP: Owl / FoP: Phoenix
Finger - Muk's Greater Ring of Havoc (Melee/Ranged) / Relsa’s Ring of Supreme Focus (Spells)
Hands - Death Knight Gauntlets (melee), various options for others.
Head - Cranston's Helpful Hat
Ioun Stone (give 3) - Ioun Stone Champion's Choice, Ioun Stone Mystic Orb, Ioun Stone Topaz Trilliant
Legs - Kilt of Dungeonbane
Mainhand (weapon) - Any legendary depending on class / Assassin's Crossbow or Nightshade's +2 Short Sword for Rogues
Neck - Any legendary Class-specific neck item.
Offhand - Multiple options for Melee depending on class and build. +2 Mug of Battle for non-melee builds with an available offhand slot.
Runestone - Anything which increases damage.
Shins - Multiple options, any damage type not covered by Supreme Ring of Elemental Command or Skull of Cavadar is good.
Shirt - Shirt of the Oaf (Melee) / Shirt of the Nimble (Ranged) / Shirt of Focus (Spells)
Torso (armor or robe) [divide into classes if possible] - Aron's Sunhide Robe
Waist - Surtyr's girdle of Fire Giant Strength (Melee) / Orion's Belt (Ranged / Spell)
Wrist - Luna's GreaterCharm Bracelets

Exbalz wrote:

Endgame wrote: The Long Answer

While there may be a general list, there is nuance in some slots, and the why is generally going to be as important as the answer of "which token". So here goes for a MUCH longer post with some thoughts behind each slot.

Major Caveat When running a dungeon multiple times, best in slot becomes fluid based on the dungeon. Shirt of Shielding (no retribution version) went from overlooked and unpopular to a $50 token when a VTD run included retribution damage. Another example would be any run that is element damage typed - Topaz Sphere is a useless token when there is no darkrift damage in a dungeon to a truly amazing token when there is darkrift damage. The list and descriptions below are aimed at a first run, where you have no idea what is coming at you.

Back
Pharacus’ Greater Cloak of Destiny
Getting the most saves possible in a single slot makes Pharacus' the winner. However, when saves get to a certain point, (generally speaking, high enough you pass on a 2+ roll on a given difficulty), adding more no longer becomes valuable. This makes Cloak of Shadowskin the strong runner up (important when considering Charm of Brooching) instead of the relic Greater Cloak of Destiny . Getting +2 saves and getting to negate a single large hit is generally going to be better than pushing your saves even higher past the typical DC check of saves. This varies by class a bit, because the high base saves on Druid and Paladin make shadowskin even more useful, while the low base save Rogue may want to add more saves from a Greater Cloak of Destiny.

Bead
Bead of the Lucky Traveler +2 all saves combined with Free action really makes this one stand out. Spell casters that have otherwise pushed saves very high may consider Bead of Focus, but then they still probably want to find Free Action elsewhere and there aren't many convenient options for FA in other slots.

Charm (give 3)
1. Charm of Awakened Synergy This depends on number in party, but +10 initiative is critical to winning initiative rolls (which can mean quite a bit of damage saved from the party). The +10 HP is quite awesome as well. This token drops quite a bit if you're the only one wearing one.

2. Charm of Glory Rings are basically one of the most powerful slots around for boosting damage. A Charm of Glory will net at least 2 extra damage as a 3rd ring for most classes. However, for versatility, and assuming unlimited budget, Charm of Glory can also enable +6 AC, or +6 reflex save and improved evasion, or a whole bunch of damage reduction from a Supreme Ring of Elemental Command. Even at the low end, the Charm of Glory, when paired with Ring of the Drake is functionally equivalent to Draco-Litch Charm

3. Charm of Brooching / Charm of Spell Storing (spell caster) / Charm of Spell Swapping (spell caster)
Generally speaking, the Charm of Brooching to add a Cloak of Shadowskin is probably the best option for 3rd charm. Its more saves as well as the ability to negate a single hit. That said, if you already have high saves, a spell caster may value burst damage / healing provided by the Charm of Spell Storing or Charm of Spell Swapping to trade spells that don't scale difficulty very well for spells that do. In almost any case, a spell caster will not have to choose though, given slot expanders, so they can use both.

Ear
Arcane Earcuff or Earcuff of Orbits
This will come down to what charms or Iouns you have available, but assuming unlimited budget, Charm slots are generally less available. High end builds will already be using a Charm of Avarice and a Charm of Awakened Synergy leaving only 1 charm slot available. Given the minimal competition in the ear slot, nearly every build will just use both expanders anyway.

Eyes
There is no clear cut general winner in eyes that all classes will use, so it boils down to class and build.

Melee classes will generally use Goggles of Instant Analysis, but I can't discount the fact that some builds will have a +hit is so high they will hit most monsters on a 2. In this case, Corsair Eyepatch (yes, the common), may be best in slot for the extra damage.

Damage Spell Casters are likely to see Lenses of Hunting as the best option - they don't slide to hit for some spells, and other spells are generally sliding to hit a 2, so a pure damage buff is best.

Missile Users (Ex, primary attack is Bow / Thrown Weapon) are probably looking at Goggles of the Deadshot / Sniper Spectacles. +3 to hit in a single slot is equivalent to 6 dex. There is some competition from damage eye slots, but for missile weapons, I think either of these stand above Lenses of Hunting.

Healers are basically slot locked into Lenses of Divine Sight. With a limited number of healing spells, and a very large + heal at the top end of builds, splitting your healing to cover more party members is critical.

A Rogue that wants to sneak attack at range is almost certainly going to use Lenses of Agility, but may use Lenses of Vital Sight if they want to sneak attack with Thor's or some other non bow weapon.

Feet
Boots of the Four Winds This is one of the clear cut winners. It's one of the highest damage boosts available in any slot that works for any class, and gives a level + more damage + healing if you have another eldrich item.

Figurine
This one varies by class, and since FoPs are single use, I think you'll see a lot of variety here because its not THAT critical of a slot. The best generic FoP is probably FoP Moon Dog given incorporeal is generally only once per dungeon and its very easy to get. Other notable FoPs:
Healer: Figurine of Power: Phoenix
Rogue: Figurine of Power: Raven
Melee: FoP Rhino
Saves:Figurine of Power: Pixie / Dragon / Tortoise

Finger
Muk’s Greater Ring of Havoc
The highest generic damage boost available in a single token. The only tokens with higher damage boosts are class specific (such as bogs), and Muk's can be used for melee, missile, or spell damage. Given combats are decided by dealing damage, its pretty tough to beat +6 in one slot.

That said, there is an honorable mention for Relsa’s Ring of Supreme Focus since its the highest healing option available. A Cleric is likely to take Relsa's before Muks, and it's probably a toss up for a Druid.

Hands
Another slot where there isn't a clear cut winner. The stand outs are:

Melee:
Death Knight Gauntlets or Gloves of the Brute Gloves of the Brute really only factor in if you need the odd Str to round out the value, and you can live with -2 dex.

Missile
Gloves of Greater Archery. +4 damage is generally going to outweigh the attack bonus from Gloves of the Deadshot . Given that the eye slot has +3 to hit available in 2 tokens ( Goggles of the Deadshot / Sniper Spectacles) its probably better to focus on damage in the hand slot.

Damage Spells: Blessed Tempest Gloves The highest damage option for spell damage, and its only 1 point of damage behind Gloves of Greater Archery. Given Blessed Tempest Gloves tend to be fairly inexpensive, they could easily be used instead of the more expensive Gloves of Greater Archery.

Head
In general across multiple classes, I think there is a winner in this slot:
Cranston’s Helpful Hat. It provides +2 damage for missiles and Spells, AND it adds an extra eye slot. The +2 damage across all spells is close in effect to Crown of Expertise and you have an extra eye slot to use for more damage, more +hit or both.

For melee users, Cranston’s Helpful Hat enables the second eye slot to gain +1 hit and see invisible with Lenses of Heimdal Sight and it still adds ranged damage in the off chance it comes up.

Cranston’s Helpful Hat does block the use of a helm for the Redoubt set, so someone wishing to gain that set bonus will be using a Redoubt helm of some rarity. It's not a clean sweep, but Cranston's is likely to gain power over time as more eye slot items are released.

Ioun Stone (give 3)
There are a few categories of Ioun Stone - Saves, HP, Attribute, Damage, Other.

I don't think any of the "Other" IS (like Iridescent Spindle) rate as best in slot.

I find the saves category to be the first category I use in IS, so my #1 ioun I'd go with is IS: Mystic Orb, assuming you're also equipping Skull of Cavadar. Without the skull, it's IS Topaz Trilliant.

After IS, I've been leaning toward Attribute, in particular strength. At the #2 Ioun spot, I'd use the new IS: Champion's Choice given the flexibility.

The #3 spot is a toss up based on your build. If you really need HP, the Elfstone Shard has the highest HP value and basically wins by default. If you're really dedicated to healing, the new IS Fluorite Sphere is the only Ioun that adds healing, so it would be #3 for a healing build. If you have enough +hit, then a damage Ioun is the best choice. I'd rank Bashee Prism as the best damage Ioun, as it works for both missiles and spells.

Legs
Kilt of Dungeonbane Highly flexible, and possibly adding Eldrich set item bonuses, the kilt of Dungeonbane is basically the best option here.

Mainhand (weapon)
For a generic weapon, I'd go Thor's Hammer as everyone can use it and its a +5 weapon that works both in melee and range, AND it has expanded crit range.

If we're going more build specific, The +5 Baton and +5 Staff of Focus are the default choices for their respective casters, and any 2H melee build is going to use Averon's, as it's the only 2H option available. Io's is the default choice for a primary bow user as well.

Neck
Each Classes Legendary Neck item is likely to be best in slot here. If a class doesn't have a legendary neck, it will be hard to beat the flexibility added by Charm Necklace.

Specific to Bard, Necklace of the Songbird is probably the top option. Saves added to Bard song for party support and free action lore checks.

Offhand
The Rare Brawler's horn and its +2 hit for melee is a solid all around offhand item. It's very solid at multiple rarity levels. I've used the Brawer's Horn instead of shields for most of my 1H melee builds, and generally only break out the shields to complete set bonuses (which says a bit about the state of AC as well). I'll give the Blessed / Giln's Redoubt Shield and the Scholar an honorable mentions here as well. The Redoubt shield is necessary to complete the set and its probably the best 3 piece armor set, while Shield of the Scholar enables Prayer + FA Bless Scroll as many times as you can cast Prayer (Dreugar's allows this to a limited extent, but not with the ease that Shield of the Scholar does).

Runestone
Runestones aren't that powerful in general, and they basically add a single point of damage. The eldrich Runestone is likely best in slot here, though I've been using the common Rabbit runestone on all my builds to buff out Ref Save a point on the cheap.

Shins
Venomguard Greaves
Poison damage reduction is hard to find anywhere else, and at lower rarity levels, Venomguard Greaves reduce the damage from Gauntlets of the Midgard Serpent. Given the state of the greaves slot, Venomguard gets my vote.

Shirt
We can talk about several shirts in print, but since this post was released in conjunction with the 2023 token discussion, I think we can safely say the Arcanum Shirt is going to be the best in slot option.

Torso (armor or robe) [divide into classes if possible]
Aron’s Sunhide Robe is the best general choice. Everyone can equip it and +9 dex goes a long way to covering Ref save and Ranged hit, while also enabling the ability to equip Thor's Hammer for all builds.

If you're not wearing Aron's in a BiS conversation, it's probably because you're a (Dwarf) Fighter / Paladin / Cleric using Byr's or a Barbarian using Sill's to complete the Redoubt Set.

For a melee Ranger / Rogue, the +2 Str provided by Death Knight Mail is likely to be your BiS option.

Waist
Melee: Surtr’s Girdle of Fire Giant Strength gives the largest boost to Str available in the slot.

Ranged: Belt of the Deadshot. For hit and damage, you can't beat Deadshot, and for spells that either auto hit or slide against a static AC, its basically the same damage bonus as Surtr's, but in a budget Ultra Rare form.

Honorable Mention:Orion's Belt 2 Iouns and 1 Charm offer flexibility, but all around the damage dealing tokens listed above edge out Orion's. Furthermore, depending how slot expansion is handled on for Ioun Stones on future tokens, Orion's may become obsolete. If you can get +3 or +4 ioun stones in a single slot, equipping Orions will put you over the cap, thus wasting its expansion capability.

Wrist
Luna's Greater Charm Bracelets. 4 charms means that Luna's can outperform any damage bracer, can add enough dex to tie TaMor’s +4 Mithral Bracers in AC (and get the other benefits of Dex as well), and it will only get better over time as more charms are released.

As one of the few mainline Ranged Rangers out there, I would like to add a couple small opinion differences...

Mainhand/OH combo - Stu's +3 Handy Stein and +2 Mug of Battle - given that the times when a ranged ranger must focus on melee are few and far between, these 2 slots are most beneficial when their effects provide bonuses outside of melee damage

Head - Far and away Cranston's Helpful Hat, which is not controversial by itself, but does support my argument for the eye slot since we would assume a BiS Ranged Ranger will be using 2 eye slots.

Eyes - Sniper Spectacles and Lenses of the Fae - the argument here being Fae over Deadshot for the 3 DEX and Incorporeal creature insurance vs 3 to hit, especially since our BiS 5th level is coming from the Eldritch set, so the Deadshot set bonus is unnecessary (For the record I didn't speak out against the Deadshot set bonus last year because I like UR only level builds to have more access to the level boost)

Bead - as a 2nd tier option, Bead Cleric's Piety since Will Saves are harder to attain naturally.

As ranged ranger, EndGame and Exbalz nails it... this is consistent with my feeling with the IO-Charm Of Shadowshot (and then +2 archer buckler) being my combo for ranged combat. The cost of loss of the potion for the animal plus the variability makes the 6pt constant on shadowshot the clear winner to me.

With cranston in play, my combo of Psyferre, Reaver, Horror puts a straight 10-6-15 pts damage on any monster...I usually do this before the last monster to deal with any damage reduction that has been on the bosses as of late.

I always equip Stu's Stein because +3 works ( I bought battle mug just in case there is a contention)...and Brawler horn in the offhand.