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, Étrange complice, 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

Marine

The Marine is the most beginner-friendly character.

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

The Marine 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: Arme de poing des Marines (infinite ammo)
• active item: Ravitaillement — drops an ammo crate at your feet
• Passive: Entraînement militaire — better accuracy, faster reload and charge
• Starts with 1 extra Armure

Condamnée

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

Her Revolver pas-cher is reliable, and the Canon scié shreds anything at close range. The Photo furieuse passive briefly auto-reloads her gun and boosts damage after she takes a hit. The Molotov can zone enemies or set up consistent burn damage.

The Photo furieuse only pays off once she has been hit, which is why the Condamnée is built for players who like high-risk, high-reward offense.

• Starting gun: Revolver pas-cher (infinite ammo) + Canon scié
• active item: Molotov — thrown fire bomb
• Passive: Photo furieuse — brief auto-reload and damage boost when hit

Chasseresse

The Chasseresse brings a reliable toolkit and excellent utility.

The Arbalète deals high single-target damage and can one-shot many early enemies, and the Flingue rouillé provides a consistent fallback. Her Chien companion digs up extra dropped items after clearing a room and barks near disguised Mimiques.

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

• Starting gun: Flingue rouillé (infinite ammo) + Arbalète
• Passive: Chien — barks to identify Mimiques, digs up extra room-clear loot
• The dog also acts as a companion that can interact with certain NPCs

Pilote

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

Matériel de crochetage open chests with a 50% chance without spending a Clef. Personnalité désarmante gives a 15% discount at all shops. Cache de contrebande 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 Spécial Pilote is mediocre, so early floors demand careful play.

• Starting gun: Spécial Pilote (infinite ammo)
• active item: Matériel de crochetage — 50% chance to open a locked chest without a Clef
• Passive: Personnalité désarmante — 15% shop discount
• Passive: Cache de contrebande — extra passive item slot

Hidden Characters

Robot

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

He replaces health with Armure entirely — he has 6 Armure containers and no heart slots. Hearts and healing items restore nothing for him (they convert into a small amount of Douilles instead), and picking up a Balle de conquête grants him one piece of Armure. His Piles-balles passive turns some shots electric and makes him immune to damage from electrified water. Liquide refroidissement drops a pool of liquid that slows enemies.

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

• Unlock: the Télévision cassée only appears in the Gungeon elevator shaft once you have opened that floor's shortcut with Réparateur; carry it down to the Forgeronne in the Forge and let the hand-over cutscene finish (Pilote's Cache de contrebande makes carrying it easier)
• Starting gun: Main droite du robot (infinite ammo)
• active item: Liquide refroidissement — creates a slow-field liquid patch
• Passive: Piles-balles — some bullets become electric; immune to electrified water
• Has 6 Armure instead of hearts; each Ferraille picked up grants +5% damage

Balle

The Balle plays completely differently from everyone else.

The starting weapon Blasphème 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 Emballement 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 Balle
• Starting weapon: Blasphème (melee sword, infinite 'ammo')
• Passive: Emballement — 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 Tolero), 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 Gungeon, Mine de Poudre à canon, 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 Tolero) + a random gun + a random passive item
• Strength: starts with about two chests of gear, so it plays above average
• Cost to play: 5 × Crédit hégémonique

Gunslinger

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

His starting gun, the Tolero, can be thrown at enemies for damage when reloading, but his real strength is the Balles Œil-de-Liche 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 Liche in Bullet Hell to start a Gunslinger run; during that run you must get the Balle Qui Peut Tuer le Passé from the Forgeronne in the Forge and kill the Gunslinger's Past to unlock him permanently
• Gunslinger cannot be unlocked on a blessed run (Blessed Mode)
• Starting gun: Tolero (infinite ammo)
• Passive: Balles Œil-de-Liche — every gun automatically triggers all of its synergies
• Cost to play: 7 × Crédit hégémonique

Co-op Character

Étrange complice (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 Cookie de l'Amitié, which revives a downed partner, and the passive Numéro 2, which raises her movement speed and damage while her partner is dead. Her starting weapon is the Pistolet à fléchettes — low damage but infinite ammo.

Numéro 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: Pistolet à fléchettes (infinite ammo)
• Active: Cookie de l'Amitié — revives a downed partner
• Passive: Numéro 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 Forgeronne will not give her the Balle Qui Peut Tuer le Passé, but it is not needed); reaching her Past unlocks Numéro 2 and the Javelot solaire

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