Once upon a time, on the planet Gunymede, four unlikely heroes (aka The Gungeoneers) decided to Enter The Gungeon, hell-bent on killing their regrets and getting over their embarrassing pasts. How? By traveling through five floors of sentient bullets and defeating five furious, gun-pun bosses in order to collect the parts needed to build The Gun That Can Kill The Past.
Throughout the multiple, multiple, multiple runs needed to eventually conquer this literal Bullet Hell, the heroes equip many a fun-named weapon. Ranging from lower-case r’s that shoot the word “b u l l e t” as actual bullets to bullets that shoot small guns that shoot even smaller bullets, Enter The Gungeon has quite the arsenal. But which guns are the most helpful in defeating The Ammoconda?
Updated September 2, 2021 by Jerrad Wyche: Despite initially being released back in 2016, Dodge Roll’s Enter The Gungeon continues to be a smash indie game hit 5 years after it was originally released. In that time the game has come to several other platforms including the Nintendo Switch. There was also a mobile game spin-off title called Exit the Gungeon which was released in 2019.
10 Raiden Coil
The hardest part of any bullet hell-type game, especially Enter The Gungeon, is clearing the screen to get some breathing room. Quickly taking out an arena chock-full of enemies is a key skill to master. Luckily, with the Raiden Coil, no skill is needed. A rather obvious callback to the Raiden arcade cabinets of yesteryear, this gun shoots out a nice, thick, juicy homing laser of destruction. The beam even chains through multiple enemies, becoming a gigantic hungry snake, looking to eat lots of lead. A wonderful room clearer, the Raiden Coil does little against bosses, however, and it only has one mediocre synergy.
9 Eye Of The Beholster
Beauty is in the eye of…this gun. Of course a gun modeled after one of Enter The Gungeon’s bosses —the giant eyeball that is The Beholster — would make a best-of list. What really sets this gun apart from the others, outside of its aesthetic, is the fact that the last bullet of the 12-round magazine will spawn a friendly Beadle — a floating eyeball with tentacles — to fend off attackers.
This is especially helpful in rooms with hoards of enemies for clearance, or in tough boss battles where any extra damage is helpful. Particularly useful when artful dodging is needed, as the Beadle can whittle down boss health while the Gungeoneer dodges all sorts of gunfire. Just make sure not to reload prematurely and lose out on a new friend in the process.
8 The Scrambler
Winner winner, chicken gunner. While it only shoots one egg before a reload is needed, the lil’ homing baby chickie bullets that explode out of the original eggshell bullet more than make up for the lack of a magazine. The range and addition of those seekers coming out of the original round help players maintain some distance from enemies while still dishing out massive amounts of punishment. The Scrambler also features many useful synergies, with five items granting additional benefits. The lack of ammo in reserves, however, is something to keep an eye on. The real question still remains: What came first; the gun or the bullet? Enter The Gungeon may never give us the answer.
7 Stinger
Who doesn’t love a good rocket launcher? They’re pretty much required parts of any self-respecting shooter’s arsenal. How can one of the biggest and best weapons of all time get better? Why, add bees! Of course! The Gungeoneer who is bee-stowed a Stinger is sure to have a much easier time with bosses. On top of the initial rocket impact and three accompanying bees causing damage, the exploding rocket will release an additional five bees. The eight drones then attack the closest target from the impact site, dealing decent damage over time. The limited ammo count and synergies keep this from being the best, but the Stinger is still always a reliable and helpful ally against even the biggest of foes.
6 BSG
Rip, Tear, et cetera. A game as culture-savvy as Enter the Gungeon would be hard-pressed to explain an absence of any Doom references. Outside of the entire Marine character, here we have the Big Shooty Gun, heretofore referred to as the BSG. Just like the cyberdemon destroyer it is based on, this is a massive room-and-boss killer.
Sure, the BSG has a not-insignificant wind-up, but once the giant projectile is let loose, it will cascade across arenas, damaging enemies it touches, before exploding and inflicting further pain on all enemies in the room. Just save the measly 25 rounds for when your poor Gungeoneer really needs them as Enter The Gungeon can be rather unkind and cruel.
5 Dragunfire
Technically only available to those Gungeoneers who have bested the final boss at least once, the Dragunfire is certainly worth all the effort. The Dragunfire is nigh-perfect, featuring a deep ammo bag, hefty fireball bullets that are sure to hit even the smallest piles of slime, hefty knockback, and a 12% chance of setting enemies on fire. Any further attempts at trying to go even deeper into the Gungeon and sniff out secrets — of which there are too many to list — should certainly try and feature this as a star player. Just…good luck beating Enter The Gungeon first. Players will need it.
4 Prototype Railgun
Not to be confused with the sellout cousin, simply titled Railgun, even if both are modeled after Fortune’s Rail Gun from Metal Gear Solid 2 aka one of the coolest boss guns from that series. The Prototype’s whopping 150 damage per shot drastically overshadows the standard model’s 50. The Prototype has the same ammo count of 40 rounds, too, so who knows what happened there. All Gungoneers need know is that the Prototype Railgun can literally disintegrate enemies and destroy bosses in just a few shots. The only thing the main model has over the prototype is bouncing bullets. Both will pierce, but the Prototype only has one incredibly powerful beam. If used properly, one beam is all that’s needed.
3 AU Gun
“A duel between titans. My AU Gun against your Gungeon. Each of us, a 50-50 chance.” James Bond fans rejoice, as of course Enter the Gungeon wouldn’t dare forget about everyone’s favorite spy from everyone’s favorite Nintendo 64 game, Goldeneye! While Enter The Gungeon’s AU Gun isn’t quite as one-hit-kill as Goldeneye’s, Gungeoneers would be remiss to overlook this boss killer.
A whopping 100 damage per shot is nothing to snuff at. However, the 25 rounds certainly give one pause. This is a dangerous weapon, but in the right hands, the High Dragun is as good as dead. Oddjob’s Hat would have been a great addition, too, but perhaps players would consider it too cheap.
2 Vulcan Cannon
Bosses usually wield the best guns in games, right? Originally encountered through the Gatling Gull boss at the end of the first level, the Vulcan Cannon truly is a sight to behold. The biggest benefit is the 900 round ammo capacity. A major downside is an unenviable spread, so close-quarters combat is required. The upside is that, due to the extreme fire rate, the Gungeoneer won’t need to be near enemies for very long at all, since this cannon will shred through entire rooms and bosses, making it extremely useful. The five synergies are worth a gander, too.
1 Fightsabre
“Use the gun, Luke!” That may not be how that quote goes exactly, but it certainly applies to this, quite possibly the most useful gun in the entirety of Enter The Gungeon. A reference to Star Wars and its many lightsabers (and the many other games featuring one), the Fightsabre is in the highest tier of Enter the Gungeon weaponry. Outside of the 2 additional curse the Fightsabre grants, the benefits of being able to deflect almost any attack in the game heavily outweighs any corrupted bullets you may encounter. That’s right: during the reloading animation, your Gungeoneer will reflect attacks back, even from the final boss. With a high 500-round ammo count, almost 30 damage per second average, and the aforementioned attack reflection, the Fightsabre — after nailing the timing on reloads, of course — is one of the most ultimate tools in Enter The Gungeon.
NEXT: TheGamer News Team’s Roguelikes Of The Decade
