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, Companheiro misterioso, 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

Soldado

The Soldado is the most beginner-friendly character.

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

The Soldado 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: Arma Reserva do Soldado (infinite ammo)
• active item: Remessa de Suprimentos — drops an ammo crate at your feet
• Passive: Treinamento Militar — better accuracy, faster reload and charge
• Starts with 1 extra Armadura

Condenada

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

Her Revólver Barato is reliable, and the Cano cortado shreds anything at close range. The Foto Irritante 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 Foto Irritante only pays off once she has been hit, which is why the Condenada is built for players who like high-risk, high-reward offense.

• Starting gun: Revólver Barato (infinite ammo) + Cano cortado
• active item: Molotov — thrown fire bomb
• Passive: Foto Irritante — brief auto-reload and damage boost when hit

Caçadora

The Caçadora brings a reliable toolkit and excellent utility.

The Balestra deals high single-target damage and can one-shot many early enemies, and the Arma Reserva Enferrujada provides a consistent fallback. Her Cachorro companion digs up extra dropped items after clearing a room and barks near disguised Mímicos.

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

• Starting gun: Arma Reserva Enferrujada (infinite ammo) + Balestra
• Passive: Cachorro — barks to identify Mímicos, digs up extra room-clear loot
• The dog also acts as a companion that can interact with certain NPCs

Piloto

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

Chaves Improvisadas Confiáveis open chests with a 50% chance without spending a Chave. Personalidade Irresistível gives a 15% discount at all shops. Compartimento Secreto 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 Especial de Ladino is mediocre, so early floors demand careful play.

• Starting gun: Especial de Ladino (infinite ammo)
• active item: Chaves Improvisadas Confiáveis — 50% chance to open a locked chest without a Chave
• Passive: Personalidade Irresistível — 15% shop discount
• Passive: Compartimento Secreto — extra passive item slot

Hidden Characters

Robô

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

He replaces health with Armadura entirely — he has 6 Armadura containers and no heart slots. Hearts and healing items restore nothing for him (they convert into a small amount of Cápsulas instead), and picking up a Bala Mestra grants him one piece of Armadura. His Balas-Pilha passive turns some shots electric and makes him immune to damage from electrified water. Vazamento de Resfriador drops a pool of liquid that slows enemies.

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

• Unlock: the Televisão Avariada only appears in the Balabirinto - Interior elevator shaft once you have opened that floor's shortcut with Consertador; carry it down to the Ferreira in the Forja and let the hand-over cutscene finish (Piloto's Compartimento Secreto makes carrying it easier)
• Starting gun: Mão Direita do Robô (infinite ammo)
• active item: Vazamento de Resfriador — creates a slow-field liquid patch
• Passive: Balas-Pilha — some bullets become electric; immune to electrified water
• Has 6 Armadura instead of hearts; each Lixo picked up grants +5% damage

Bala

The Bala plays completely differently from everyone else.

The starting weapon Blasfêmia 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 Munição Viva 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 Bala
• Starting weapon: Blasfêmia (melee sword, infinite 'ammo')
• Passive: Munição Viva — 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 Lança-pistolas), 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 Balabirinto - Interior, Mina de Pólvora, 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 Lança-pistolas) + a random gun + a random passive item
• Strength: starts with about two chests of gear, so it plays above average
• Cost to play: 5 × Crédito da Hegemonia

Gunslinger

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

His starting gun, the Lança-pistolas, can be thrown at enemies for damage when reloading, but his real strength is the Olhos de Lich 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 Bala que Pode Matar o Passado from the Ferreira in the Forja and kill the Gunslinger's Past to unlock him permanently
• Gunslinger cannot be unlocked on a blessed run (Blessed Mode)
• Starting gun: Lança-pistolas (infinite ammo)
• Passive: Olhos de Lich — every gun automatically triggers all of its synergies
• Cost to play: 7 × Crédito da Hegemonia

Co-op Character

Companheiro misterioso (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 da Amizade, which revives a downed partner, and the passive Número 2, which raises her movement speed and damage while her partner is dead. Her starting weapon is the Arma de Dardos — low damage but infinite ammo.

Número 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: Arma de Dardos (infinite ammo)
• Active: Cookie da Amizade — revives a downed partner
• Passive: Número 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 Ferreira will not give her the Bala que Pode Matar o Passado, but it is not needed); reaching her Past unlocks Número 2 and the Lança Solar

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