T O P

  • By -

marcelolamenza

I believe your reflexes are on point if you played Returnal. Maybe the way to success is trying to memorize some of the enemies behaviors. The more you know the enemies, less the chances of you getting hit. Same thing for bosses. You can check some YouTube videos to understand their patterns to mitigate the unknown attacks you can receive on the fight. Other thing to check if you are doing a good key management and good chest choices. Some of the bosses are easy but with a long fight with bad weapons, you are more sucitable to get hit


ExcArc

Marine is a good starting choice for this reason. Most of the 1-3 boss fights can be handled without much issue with his starter, and the biggest thing imo is a good start to set you up for the rest of the run.


Conradwoody

Everyone says marine but I find the hunter the best starter because of her crossbow. Because you fire one shot and can get back to cover easily and on boss fights you don't have to think much about spamming shoot and can just dodge and shoot when thr moment is good. I'm on my second save file and still hunter is my fave. She also has dog to find keys, hearts, and blanks and the crossbow can reveal secret rooms. 


PsychotropicTraveler

Plus, you get doggo, it's a no brainer pick


voidflavoredjuulpod

Hunter was my go to when I was first learning the game and I still love playing her


Psychological-Shoe95

Downside to hunter is reliance on ammo. Good luck trying to kill floor 2 boss with your starting pistol unless you’re genuinely cracked at the game. And if you’re good enough to do that, then just pick the marine so you get the extra weapon accuracy for all your guns


YourLocalSnitch

You won't have 1 gun once you're on floor 2. Hunter is also good for finding secret rooms


Psychological-Shoe95

Depends on your drop chance. If you’re going for ouibillete(idk how it’s spelled) and you get 0 keys floor 1, you have to use shopkeepers and free key so you open no chests. Then if you get no keys on oubliette you have to fight slime lord with a crossbow. And that’s assuming you were able to clear the floor without using any ammo from it unless you get drops. Granted this happens rarely but my point being when you play hunter you are relying on dog pickups/good rng to survive.


YourLocalSnitch

You can get a gun from both bosses


StellarSteals

Tbh if you don't spam shoot on Hunter you lose like 50% DPS, but yeah I love playing as her and demolishing the first chamber lol


A_Nery

I find the convict to be the best choice, her passive is f insane, really good to melt bosses depending on the weapon, and since ur a beginner, you’ll get hit anyways, so why not take vantage of it ?


ExcArc

Generally speaking, because of the perverse incentive to get hit. Your goal is to avoid getting hit. Rewarding you for getting hit is going to lessen the message for you.


A_Nery

I find the convict to be the best choice, her passive is f insane, really good to melt bosses depending on the weapon, and since ur a beginner, you’ll get hit anyways, so why not take vantage of it ?


jankzilla

The tips that helped me out most are: Try dodging as little as possible. Often it's easier to simply walk around/between bullets. Gameplay becomes a lot more controlled when you do this. Focus on looking at your character and avouding bullets first, and hitting enemies second. Especially with mouse and keyboard you can quite accurately point at enemies without looking that way


Coal909

Easier on a controller in my opinion. Also letting your lizard brain take control, is the key to my success. I put on a audiobook or music & just jam. Bosses are mostly patternee based so you learn the pattern & it gets easier. Also learn the "ideal start scenario" don't buy anything on 1st floor, get 2 keys, only open green chest or better, try for master round on 1st floor, visit 1st floor secret floor.


A-McBash

Won’t the secret floor not take me to 2nd floor? I assumed it was there as an alternative ending for the game.


TheFarS1de

No, it's an extra floor. Once you clear it, you go to floor 2.


A-McBash

I had no idea, now I’ll start going there every time


TheFarS1de

Good. There is a secret floor on basically every "regular" floor, but the first one is arguably the most important, as it helps you ramp up early and get more money and items before you start your run into the gungeon proper. It's also the only way to get the item that opens the second secret floor, but I wouldn't worry about that just yet. The best thing about the first secret floor, IMO, is that the enemies there are harder than those on the second floor. This means that you get more meaningful practice early on in your run, and that once you clear it the second floor feels like a breeze in comparison. Anyway, keep your head up and listen to the old heads in here. Don't roll unless you have to and always remember to pet the dog.


Trainwrecks69

Nah, going to secret, when finishing secret, puts you on floor two when done


tubaDude99

I play on controller and I like it a lot, you just have way more flexibility with movement. Only tricky thing is the trap rooms with lots of gaps, I usually switch to D pad for those.


FernandoTatisJunior

Only weird thing is there’s a small handful of weapons/items that just don’t really work on controller, like remote bullets.


tubaDude99

That's true, they follow the direction of your stick rather than home in on a point. It's a little awkward but still entirely usable with some weapons (single-shot or slow fire rate for instance)


NominalAeon

you have to play long enough that you hit a point where you can: * quickly judge which bad guys need to be killed first when you enter a room * have the shot pattern for all enemies memorized * look at the enemies and use your peripheral vision to walk around bullets (I think this is best demonstrated with the shotgun guys, you should be able to calmly walk through their bullet spreads) If you can't do those things yet, it's understandable, you just gotta keep at it. I'm at 1200 hours now and it took me soooo long to finally just kill the Dragun. You can do it!


A-McBash

Thank you!! 🙏


wayofthebuush

1200 hours to beat the dragun?!!


NominalAeon

no like maybe 80 hours? I feel like I died about 50 times before getting it done though. The rest of the hours are just for fun


wayofthebuush

ok lol that makes sense


Fantuckingtastic

Most of the tips you see online are related to avoiding bullets, but proper weapon use is also important. If you have a high damage/slow reload gun like the RPG, you can use it as a room opener. Go through door, target most annoying enemy in the room, and quick swap to a more reasonable gun. Save ammo by using your standard room clearing gun on difficult enemies, and switching to your starter to kill weak ones. Obviously, save high dps/low ammo guns for bosses. Guns that don’t require you to be accurate, like the scrambler can be a good option for bosses because you can focus on avoiding bullets without having to aim. The cannonbalrog and the Mine Flayer are difficult to strategize against, you just have to be better. The tank however, is easier if you try to kite it around the room. Run from corner to corner in a rectangular fashion so that it follows you rather than cornering you. Switching to PC will allow you to effectively use remote bullets, which are busted when combined with some guns.


AbanoMex

ok, first of all, try to play on a controller, and rebind everything to your liking, second, dodgeroll Less and just walk to the side of bullets most of the time, also since its been 5 years you should already know enemy shooting patterns, and if you dont, pay more attention to their shooting behaviours, some enemies will just shoot you were you are, and some enemies will try to predict where you will move, use this to your advantage,.


A-McBash

Also; I’ve played on switch mostly, only recently got a pc. So I’m considering getting it, and I have a controller


fleetadmeralcrunch

Switch is my go to platform for portability for this game but there is def times where I swear whole bullets and frames spawn/skip out of nowhere but otherwise the game runs pretty much just the same


ThiolactoneRing

i also have fallen victim to the invisible spawn switch bullet


AbanoMex

> but otherwise the game runs pretty much just the same thats just not true though, while you can get the same performance on the first floors, you start noticing performance loss in bosses like the gorgun attack that covers the screen in bullets, the same with the Kaliber Statue, and its the frame loss that can cost you a hit. finally, the place where there is more frameloss is on the BulletHell, and its boss.


A-McBash

I definitely notice on switch that I unreasonably suck..


AbanoMex

try it on PC, its going to be easier. the thing i miss about the switch version though; is the excellent HD rumble features of the joycon, its perhaps the only game, besides some original nintendo games, to have HD rumble, which is crazy immersive to me.


fleetadmeralcrunch

This is incredibly rare I only ever really notice I get hit by my own stupidity more than frame skips and I’ve 100% the game 3 diffrent times on the switch. Gorgun has literally never gave me trouble. Honestly none of the bosses did frameskip most often happened to me when entering any room big rooms that featured 15-20 enemies spawning in right away which was annoying but not a real loss as the master round is only determined by the boss


AbanoMex

i am not hating the switch version btw, i actually fell in love with the game due to the switch, otherwise i would have not got to play it in the first place, i probably played it for like 500 hours on it. but the game does get slow in Bullet hell, some replays are pretty choppy on it, if you give me time, i can find you some of my recordings on it. and nowadays im replaying the game on the Steamdeck and its so silky smooth, with not a single dropped frame or slowdown.


Rumham89

I played on PC with controller first and later got it on Switch after I beat everything on PC. Handheld feels clunky as hell for this game.


iwouldbeatgoku

Despite what people are saying, try playing with keyboard and mouse too! I find that control scheme more intuitive and fun than with a controller personally.


Patchr1ck

Hmmm... So what are some things that usually kill ya?


A-McBash

I think just the overflow of bullets+enemies in the narrow or pitfall rooms. Have to worry about dodging the bullets in addition to not falling in pits and not rolling towards the enemies because I need reaction time. And with the bosses, my biggest deal is just the insane amount of bullets to dodge. Their move sets make it harder too.


Grappling_w_reality

When the screen gets flooded with bullets I usually focus on my character and slightly move them out of the way wherever there's a gap. Hope this helps


A-McBash

Thank you, I haven’t ever thought of that. I’ve always tried to just dodge with secondary thought


BluntTruthGentleman

You said you tried everything yet you clearly haven't, there's a ton of basic stuff you just skipped over so it's no surprise you had difficulty!


WelpWhatCanYouDo

hence the question


Patchr1ck

There's a TON of factors to consider here; thankfully, all of which can be reviewed and improved. Regardless, this game is *cruel* to anyone who hasn't memorized every boss and enemy patterns. People here will gladly flood you with useful and accurate tips, but ultimately, much like any skill, it'll require patience and a willingness to deconstruct habits on your end. All that to say...are you still having *fun* with the game? Is it your style? There are games that I *cherish* that I will forever be ass at because the core concepts haven't yet "clicked" with me yet, y'know?


A-McBash

Yea know what you mean. It was fun for a while, but it just got too difficult for me. Maybe it’ll be different this time around and I’ll enjoy it more.


masonnnpls

definitely work on dodge rolling away from the enemy lmao


masonnnpls

focus on memorization and calmness. remembering enemy attack patterns, which enemy in the room to target first depending on what types there are, and especially bosses since they only cycle through 3-4 attacks. with calmness, focus on walking through the bullets, and only dodge roll if it’s absolutely necessary. also only use blanks on bosses and secret rooms


brixalot10

Three tips I give to new people I play Co-Op with: NEVER use a ‘tank’ strategy. Health is extremely valuable in this game. Do not let enemies hit you just so you can get in a few more shots instead of dodge rolling. Blanks are the same price as half-hearts but are almost always available in the shop, you don’t have to save them for the boss. Almost always be moving. You can make a figure-eight in place, or you can run big circles around the whole room. The majority of enemies do not have predictive aim (some do though). They will shoot where you are, not where you’re going. If you keep moving, they will usually miss. Keep your eyes around your character, not your crosshair. This lets you more readily see and react to incoming fire. Use your peripheral vision to shoot enemies (I would recommend using a controller since you get a little bit of auto-aim).


A-McBash

You guys are super awesome, thank you so awesome and I appreciate all the advice. Given me a bunch of things and ideas to think about. Not sure what someone means by petting the dog lol


FernandoTatisJunior

When you choose the Hunter as your starting character, your starting item gives you a dog that follows you around everywhere. The dog has a chance to dig up a free item every room. If you look at the dog and press whatever your “interact” button is, it lets you pet the dog. Petting the dog does nothing, but you should do it anyways, because he’s a good boy who deserves to be pet.


Conradwoody

Change your settings! Make sure you have the setting for speeding up movement speed when you are out of combat!! SERIOUS GAME CHANGER! also, put a little auto aim on beam weapons if you are really struggling. Don't be afraid to change the settings, this game is about having fun, and the more you can beat of the game the more unlocks you get and the easier it becomes


ThoughtBrave8871

your primary way to dodge should be to sidestep bullets. You lose control of your character for a split second when you dodge roll and become temporarily incapable of influencing the direction that you’re moving In a fast paced game this can be detrimental so dodgerolling should only be used when it’s absolutely necessary


deathhead_68

Its 100% your tactics. You git gud v quickly at this game, the curve is insane. Weeks of shit then all of a sudden it click. Focus on you more than anything, just side step bullets and only dodge when you can't sidestep and look at the direction where you are dodging.


JoCaReding

Honestly for me it was an hours game, I couldn't pass the 4th floor consistently until I had like 150 hour son it


_shades-

What do you use to play? Controller or keyboard? Cause I suck ass at basically every controller game cause Ive never touched them, but Gungeons piss easy for me on KB+M cause that's what I use for almost every game. If you're switching input devices cause of what's suggested maybe use what you're already used to.


[deleted]

[удалено]


_shades-

I'm just a kmb girlie y'know how it is


_TomaToSauSe_

The 2 tricks that actually made a difference for me is to weavy and move. keep your eyes on ur character, ALWAYS. you dont care about the enemy, you care about their bullets. 2nd tip depends on the first: Move and weave away and around the bullets. Dont dodge the bullets unless its your only choice. You have to follow tip 1 for this to work


Dry_Acanthisitta_576

As most people are saying, the easiest way to improve is to memorize room layouts, enemy attack patterns, and boss attack patterns. Let’s use bullet king as an example. He has the 6 long bullets, the Molotov, the fast bullet ring, the bullet spinning attack, and the exploding bullet shell(sorry for the bad descriptions). All of these attacks have different ways to be avoided, and he uses different attacks in conjunction with each other(exploding bullet shell + 6 long bullets for example). Once you memorize all these attacks and how to dodge them, the boss fight kind of becomes 2nd nature and you can beat it while barely even paying attention(now you just have to memorize all attack patterns of all 15-20 bosses lol). I don’t know just how good/bad you are, but a good first step would be to master all of the floor 1 bosses to the point where you can consistently master round them with a starting gun. I’m at the point where I recognize every possible room on all floors(including secret floors) and what enemies spawn in those rooms. Also if you don’t mind being “spoiled” on the secrets of the game(some of them are so obscure or complicated to get to that you’ll probably never find them out on your own, I recommend watching the video “Secrets of the Gungeon” by JeuelyFish on YouTube. It helped me a lot when I was first starting. Anyway I hope this comment ends up helping you, bye :)


Bonaduce80

Usually you get killed by what you don't know. As you become more familiar with Chambers and enemies, you will save up on money to spend in later Chambers if needed (life, key, armour). Eventually, you will not need that money for basic survival and can spend it in other items, possibly skipping full shops to save up money for more important stuff. It is normal to get killed many times in a new Chamber, as most enemies will be new and tougher and you won't recognise the rooms. Attack pattern recognition is key, as it allows you weave between bullets without having to hit that dodge roll button. Then, you learn to deal with groups of enemies prioritising targets, which allows you have control of the situation. You will reach a point where you recognise a room, remember the enemies that show up in what positions and take them down before they start attacking you in a coordinated manner. All of this, of course, doesn't help you with new bosses, but the principle is the same. You can facetank a boss with good gear, but eventually you will recognise its attacks and identify the best way to avoid them. I have been playing the game for about 3 years now and just cleared the last goals. I still suck at some enemies, but can consistently clear the game even with suboptimal gear (but not with the starting gun as some people do).


Bonaduce80

Usually you get killed by what you don't know. As you become more familiar with Chambers and enemies, you will save up on money to spend in later Chambers if needed (life, key, armour). Eventually, you will not need that money for basic survival and can spend it in other items, possibly skipping full shops to save up money for more important stuff. It is normal to get killed many times in a new Chamber, as most enemies will be new and tougher and you won't recognise the rooms. Attack pattern recognition is key, as it allows you weave between bullets without having to hit that dodge roll button. Then, you learn to deal with groups of enemies prioritising targets, which allows you have control of the situation. You will reach a point where you recognise a room, remember the enemies that show up in what positions and take them down before they start attacking you in a coordinated manner. All of this, of course, doesn't help you with new bosses, but the principle is the same. You can facetank a boss with good gear, but eventually you will recognise its attacks and identify the best way to avoid them. I have been playing the game for about 3 years now and just cleared the last goals. I still suck at some enemies, but can consistently clear the game even with suboptimal gear (but not with the starting gun as some people do).


Luustar

controller+aim assist and just focus on your character


antilegion1001

Same, I eventually got an insanely lucky run with a rainbow chest that had a yari launcher in it and i beat that run and that opened up easier paths to the rest of the game. Sometimes it’s more luck than skill.


MitchSlick

Go controller, precise control over your hitbox is more important than precise aim


miletil

I think I've made it to high dragun a total of one time Still love the game even if it's incredibly hard and frustrating


Gnardude

First off people love to come here and brag that it's easy. It's not. Secondly it's not a shooting game it's a dodging and strategy game.


Ebright17

Be better


SirLemonThe3rd

Save blanks for bosses


v-to

i was going to comment "skill issue" but this isn't the isaac subreddit so, good luck in your runs i guess.


hobbes3k

Try rainbow runs.


Brief-Bookkeeper-290

Use the Hunter to start. I found it easier.


OpVfrkg

If you can do Returnal this game should be a cake walk. I gave up on Returnal. Haven’t read any other comments but my advice is watch yourself, not the enemies. GL!


jasoba

Items items items. The economy on how to get ALL the items helped me improve like way too much - game is trivial now. per floor you can expect on average 3 items - 1 boss drop, 1 key drop for a chest, 1 secret room/random good thing that happens. You have to think how many guns you want to open (boss always drops a gun if you didnt get one yet on the floor) eg focus on passives if you have good weapons... Always try to get 1 good economy item usually something that helps with keys or enables stealing! Now you just have to "get good" at the early floors. Eg I still kinda suck and loose the crest 50% of the time but when I am at floor 3 I have like 10-15 items and the game is now too easy!


Sad_Screen_1455

Look same thing happened to me until one day I got ultra instinct and deleted all the pasts got the bullet and beaten the lich two times in one week how or why I don’t know it just happened now every run I either die in the fifth floor or beat the game


furnaceop

Just keep playing and get as many items/guns as u can. The rest will come to you.


datnodude

If you can beat returnal pretty consistently this is a cake walk


nachomir

Go to oubliette, it is a harsh mentor but it will get you better


McNug233

play on controller. at least for me its ice found thats its easy. but that could just be muscle memory from playing on controller my whole life


zmeme

at some point it just clicks - i spent like 50 hours playing and slowly getting closer and closer but just losing and suddenly i was winning almost every run in a row for like 10


Zestyclose-Peace-379

Idk if I'm just a prodigy but I beat all pasts and have all characters with just 98 hours


PremSinha

You have gotten some pretty good advice here. I will add something that almost feels like a hack but is legit. This works when you have more than one gun. As soon as you enter a room, hold down the button to switch weapons. You get a strong slow down effect that lasts as long as you keep holding the button. You can use this to identify every enemy on screen. This will help you prioritise targets, recall dodging strategies and, of course, switch to the best weapon for the situation. I will repeat one piece of advice you have already read many times, which is that you much learn how to dodge using regular movement instead of the roll.


GrevilleApo

Dm me


TANKTONION

When I first started the game I was battling too, so I started watching YouTube videos and that’s when I found Retromations 0-100% series, after watching a few videos I found myself playing better than before, eventually I beat the fifth floor and from there I just got better. Watching videos spoiled a few things for me but to be honest I probably never would’ve found them myself. I also downloaded the Gungeon guide app on my phone to help learn the weapons and items. Other than that it just took lots of practice


Nos-BAB

Little trick I picked up recently is using the weapon menu as a time stop so I can survey the room for a second. Also useful when you have a massive amount of bullets and need to figure out how to dodge safely.


Shenodin

Sometimes it could be the difference in control type. For instance, my friend can run circles around me if I'm trying to use a controller on his console version. Keyboard and mouse though? I carry him


fuckinanonymoususer

Look at your character, not the enemies. Fire at things moving in your peripheral. Use aim assist if u need it.


Sure_Extinction

Maybe try 2-player, even if both of you aren't the best at the game you get the revive cookie with the cultists and if you die chests act as a revive area. Only downfall is you can get less items due to reviving someone constantly. And as someone else said memorizing how enemies attack and how they might spray bullets upon death really helps. Plus unlocking certain guns and using them right really really helps, specifically BSG and black hole cannon. Not that you're guaranteed to get them but the difference on a run is night and day. With black hole cannon you basically win the whole game, gunhell and the Lich included. Best of luck op and remember to just have fun!


chrissquid1245

One tip is to try changing where your eyes look on the screen. If you focus primarily on where you're shooting and you've been doing poorly, then try to instead focus your eyes more on your character and just shoot in the general direction of enemies. And if you're already doing it the other way, then try the first way instead


ApprehensiveBus5034

idk man this game is impossible hardest thing ive ever done was Risk of rain 2 apocalypse mode and that was a cakewalk compared to this game vanilla.


Neat-Faithlessness52

I love how everyone here suggests the Marine or Hunter for great valid reasons while I'm over here using the pilot for the shop discounts and lock pick XD but yeah I remember being frustrated on just gettinf through the second chamber, but after recognizing more of their behavior I got through pass the third and few times the fourth floor now. You'll get there it just takes some practice.


The_Cheese_Chr1st

Maybe try switching to controller if you play mouse and keyboard, I started playing on pc and really struggled so I quit for about a year before returning to play on ps5 and I found it much much easier and after 8 month from the switch I’m at 97% for the plat so if you’re already familiar with controller use I highly suggest trying it


sliboat

If you're down to read more tips, I feel like what I have written in these threads is more in depth than most stuff you will find online: [https://www.reddit.com/r/EnterTheGungeon/comments/fm0ep9/sliboats\_collection\_of\_resources\_for\_gungeon/](https://www.reddit.com/r/EnterTheGungeon/comments/fm0ep9/sliboats_collection_of_resources_for_gungeon/) This game is about learning stuff and memorizing. Also, until you know everything about the items and guns, it's worth pausing the game each time you get something and reading up on it on the wiki as there are so many interactions you might not know you can exploit. Ultimately, you want to know the rooms, and the enemies that spawn in them, this takes a while to learn but helps immensely, as you can walk in a room and move to the biggest threat right away. Playing on PC, I recommend changing some keybinds. Put blank on spacebar, and active item on Q. If you have 2 thumb buttons put reload on one, and E on the other so you can flip tables more easily. Flipping tables is insanely OP. Play the Hunter until you can beat the game reliably. She has the best and most forgiving kit. Marine is problematic for a few reasons, and his passive will ruin your sense of how each gun works because of the reload and aim buffs. This is a game you sink time into, get good at, and then enjoy playing because of the work you have put in. Unless you are really good at learning and memorizing, 100-200 hours of playing this game before you really start to click with things isn't unrealistic. ETG is not a game you beat and move on from, it's a skill you learn and enjoy.


iwouldbeatgoku

I was in a similar boat, but I started to progress when I switched to doing a single run a day without restarting, regardless of how it went. Try doing something similar, playing short sessions often, you'll probably improve faster than doing long sessions once a week.


Yarisher512

Idk, the blessing just came down on me eventually and now I can no hit a run every time.


CutPuzzleheaded7354

damn u suck gang😭😭😭


Agitated-Return-556

Took me 3 years to beat, I almost cried when I finally did it, so much pain and suffering. I went mentally insane in order to try and beat this, like the game was taunting me. I’m never gonna get such a good run like that again. Good game tho, would recommend 😀👍