All Characters Guide: Starting Loadouts & Traits

Enter the Gungeon has multiple playable characters. Four are available from the start; four more are hidden and must be unlocked through gameplay. A further second-player character, Geheimnisvoller Begleiter, is exclusive to local co-op (see Co-op Character). Each character has a distinct set of starting weapons and items, plus passive bonuses that change how you approach every run.

Starting Characters

Marinesoldat

The Marinesoldat is the most beginner-friendly character.

He starts with one extra point of Rüstung and carries Militärausbildung — a passive that improves accuracy, reload speed, and charge speed for every gun. His active item Nachschublieferung drops an ammo crate at his feet, refilling his held gun (it cannot be used when that gun is already full).

The Marinesoldat rewards steady, unhurried play: stand still to get tighter shot groupings, and lean on the steady ammo supply to keep firing from a safe distance.

• Starting gun: Marine-Seitenwaffe (infinite ammo)
• active item: Nachschublieferung — drops an ammo crate at your feet
• Passive: Militärausbildung — better accuracy, faster reload and charge
• Starts with 1 extra Rüstung

Strafgefangene

The Strafgefangene hits hard right out of the gate, starting with two guns for strong early damage.

Her Billig-Revolver is reliable, and the Abgesägte Schrotflinte shreds anything at close range. The Wütend machendes Foto passive briefly auto-reloads her gun and boosts damage after she takes a hit. The Molotowcocktail can zone enemies or set up consistent burn damage.

The Wütend machendes Foto only pays off once she has been hit, which is why the Strafgefangene is built for players who like high-risk, high-reward offense.

• Starting gun: Billig-Revolver (infinite ammo) + Abgesägte Schrotflinte
• active item: Molotowcocktail — thrown fire bomb
• Passive: Wütend machendes Foto — brief auto-reload and damage boost when hit

Jägerin

The Jägerin brings a reliable toolkit and excellent utility.

The Armbrust deals high single-target damage and can one-shot many early enemies, and the Rostige Seitenwaffe provides a consistent fallback. Her Hund companion digs up extra dropped items after clearing a room and barks near disguised Nachahmers.

That bark saves a lot of Schlüssels: when a chest looks suspicious, walk the Hund past it before deciding to open it. Some of the Jägerin's value does depend on luck, so the payoff is not consistent.

• Starting gun: Rostige Seitenwaffe (infinite ammo) + Armbrust
• Passive: Hund — barks to identify Nachahmers, digs up extra room-clear loot
• The dog also acts as a companion that can interact with certain NPCs

Pilot

The Pilot has the weakest early combat but the best long-term economy.

Verlässliche Dietriche open chests with a 50% chance without spending a Schlüssel. Entwaffnende Persönlichkeit gives a 15% discount at all shops. Geheimfach adds an extra active item slot, letting him carry two active items at once, and raises max ammo by 10%.

He scales dramatically once he gets items — but the Gauner-Spezialwaffe is mediocre, so early floors demand careful play.

• Starting gun: Gauner-Spezialwaffe (infinite ammo)
• active item: Verlässliche Dietriche — 50% chance to open a locked chest without a Schlüssel
• Passive: Entwaffnende Persönlichkeit — 15% shop discount
• Passive: Geheimfach — extra passive item slot

Hidden Characters

Roboter

The Roboter is a high-skill pick: once you understand Rüstung management, he is extremely powerful.

He replaces health with Rüstung entirely — he has 6 Rüstung containers and no heart slots. Hearts and healing items restore nothing for him (they convert into a small amount of Hülsen instead), and picking up a Meistergeschoss grants him one piece of Rüstung. His Batterie-Patronen passive turns some shots electric and makes him immune to damage from electrified water. Kühlmittelleck drops a pool of liquid that slows enemies.

Most importantly, picking up Müll gives him a stacking +5% damage boost each (Goldschrott counts too) — so never drop or sell it. With no healing available at all, keeping Rüstung topped up is everything.

• Unlock: the Schrott-Fernseher only appears in the Eigentlicher Gungeon elevator shaft once you have opened that floor's shortcut with Bastler; carry it down to the Schmiedin in the Schmiede and let the hand-over cutscene finish (Pilot's Geheimfach makes carrying it easier)
• Starting gun: Rechte Hand des Roboters (infinite ammo)
• active item: Kühlmittelleck — creates a slow-field liquid patch
• Passive: Batterie-Patronen — some bullets become electric; immune to electrified water
• Has 6 Rüstung instead of hearts; each Müll picked up grants +5% damage

Patroner

The Patroner plays completely differently from everyone else.

The starting weapon Blasphemie is a melee sword — he attacks by swinging it, not shooting, and swings can also destroy incoming enemy bullets. At full health, his swing fires an extra wave of light. The Lebende Munition passive causes dodge-rolling through enemy bullets to absorb them and heal a small amount of health, and he takes no contact damage during dodge rolls.

With practice you can negate almost all bullet damage through movement and melee — close-range safety is his defining strength — but it demands deep knowledge of enemy bullet patterns.

• Unlock: after defeating at least one Past with any character, Red-Caped Bullet Kin rarely appear in random rooms (they wander and don't attack); let 5 of them despawn (spare them) to unlock the Patroner
• Starting weapon: Blasphemie (melee sword, infinite 'ammo')
• Passive: Lebende Munition — dodge-rolling through bullets absorbs them and restores a small amount of health
• No contact damage during dodge rolls; melee fires a light wave at full health

Paradox

The Paradox has no Past of its own and starts every run with a randomized loadout.

That loadout is a random starting sidearm taken from the other Gungeoneers (excluding the Heldenknarre), another random gun, and a random passive item. These random starting items do not count toward Magnificence (unless dropped and picked back up) — see What Is Magnificence?.

That amounts to roughly two chests worth of advantage right from the start, so the Paradox usually opens stronger than average — but every run is different and you have to improvise around whatever you are dealt.

• Unlock: after defeating at least one Past, cosmic rifts appear with a 20% chance in random rooms of the Eigentlicher Gungeon, Schwarzpulver-Mine, and the Hollow; step into a rift to gain the paradox effect and finish that run to unlock
• Starting loadout: a random sidearm from another character (excluding the Heldenknarre) + a random gun + a random passive item
• Strength: starts with about two chests of gear, so it plays above average
• Cost to play: 5 × Hegemonialer Credit

Gunslinger

The Gunslinger is the hardest character to unlock and is the pre-mortem form of the Lich.

His starting gun, the Heldenknarre, can be thrown at enemies for damage when reloading, but his real strength is the Lichaugen-Patronen passive — it makes every gun automatically trigger all of its synergies.

Paired with items that form synergies, any build is hugely amplified, and the Gunslinger late-game firepower is unmatched.

• Unlock (hardest in the game): as the Paradox, defeat the Lich in Bullet Hell to start a Gunslinger run; during that run you must get the Patrone, die die Vergangenheit abschießen kann from the Schmiedin in the Schmiede and kill the Gunslinger's Past to unlock him permanently
• Gunslinger cannot be unlocked on a blessed run (Blessed Mode)
• Starting gun: Heldenknarre (infinite ammo)
• Passive: Lichaugen-Patronen — every gun automatically triggers all of its synergies
• Cost to play: 7 × Hegemonialer Credit

Co-op Character

Geheimnisvoller Begleiter (called the Cultist in Enter the Gungeon) is the second-player character exclusive to local co-op — you cannot pick her in single-player; she is controlled automatically when a second player joins. She has no unlock path of her own, but she does have a Past you can challenge, and her whole kit is built around co-op.

She starts with the Freundschaftskeks, which revives a downed partner, and the passive Nummer 2, which raises her movement speed and damage while her partner is dead. Her starting weapon is the Pfeilpistole — low damage but infinite ammo.

Nummer 2 keeps her from being helpless when soloing, but her growth is steady and slow, so she relies on pickups to scale.

• Local co-op only: used automatically when a second player joins; cannot be selected in single-player
• Starting weapon: Pfeilpistole (infinite ammo)
• Active: Freundschaftskeks — revives a downed partner
• Passive: Nummer 2 — boosts movement speed and damage while the partner is dead (co-op exclusive; unobtainable in normal play until unlocked)
• Has a Past you can challenge: shoot yourself with the Gun That Can Kill The Past to enter it (the Schmiedin will not give her the Patrone, die die Vergangenheit abschießen kann, but it is not needed); reaching her Past unlocks Nummer 2 and the Sonnenlichtspeer

Still not sure who to start with? Beginner's Guide & Tips covers recommended starter characters and the basics worth knowing on your first runs.