The 10 Best Enter the Gungeon Tips for Beginners

New players to Enter the Gungeon can often get frustrated by the lack of progress due to the game being somewhat difficult compared to a lot of roguelike games around at the moment. Even experienced players get stuck in the game, so there’s no shame to it.

To make things easier, though, we’ve compiled a list of 10 helpful Enter the Gungeon tips to help beginners in the game get that first dub.

Related Posts:

How to use the Prime Primer in Enter the Gungeon

The best online browser dungeon crawlers

The best characters in the Binding of Isaac

Tip 1. Use Your Blanks!

Use your Blanks!
Use your Blanks!

Perhaps the most useful Enter the Gungeon tip that helped me get better at the game was to not hoard the Blanks in the game and, instead, use them liberally!

In fact, the Blanks almost certainly played a big role in my first ever victorious run. If you’re running low on health in a room with multiple enemies hunting you down, keep the Blanks at the ready and don’t be afraid to activate them to get you out of a pickle. 

Don’t forget – if you have less than 2 blanks after completing a chamber, you’ll get an extra blank on the next floor, too. 

Tip 2. Fireplace Secret Room

Fireplace Secret Room
Fireplace Secret Room

On the first chamber, you’ll always come across a room with a fireplace in it. You’ve probably walked past the fireplace on multiple occasions and thought nothing of it.

Behind the fireplace, though, there is a secret switch that unlocks a separate secret room containing the trap door to the Oubliette

This Enter the Gungeon tip is also related to the empty altar that you find on the second chamber. Read our guide on how to use the Altar in Enter the Gungeon.

Tip 3. Health ‘Save for Later’

Gungeon heart pickups - Save for Later
Gungeon heart pickups – Save for Later

It took me a while to realise this one, so hopefully it can be one of the better Enter the Gungeon tips for you, too. When you have full health and you hover over a full or half-heart pickup, you will have the option of interacting with them in order to ‘Save for later’.

I did this a number of times before realising that you CAN actually retrieve those hearts from the special heart dispensers that appear either in the shop or by the elevators. This can be extremely handy after tackling a particularly troublesome boss. 

Tip 4. Shoot The Chests

Ser Junkan in Knight Form
Ser Junkan in Knight Form

This tip is really 2 Enter the Gungeon tips for the price of one. Before you open any chest, fire it once before unlocking it. This is because occasionally the chests will actually be mimics that not only eat your key but also start attacking you. They can be a tricky customer, too, if you’re not prepared. 

The second part of this tip is for when you have chests left in the chamber after completion, but not enough keys to open them all. When I first started playing, I would just think “hard cheese” and then waltz on down to the next floor. You shouldn’t do this, though. Destroying chests instead of leaving them is a better option, as they can yield pickups, Junk, and even a cool junk companion

Tip 5. Use Dodge Roll As A Weapon

Dodge Rolling as the Bullet
Dodge Rolling as the Bullet

This tip is rather context specific, but it is possible to use the dodge roll as a weapon. It tends to only work against the tiny blobs as the damage dealt from the roll is small, but it can get you out of a pickle if you’re being chased down by a number of little blobs. 

Just roll over them, and they’ll melt into nothingness so you can be on your merry way. 

This Enter the Gungeon tip is particularly useful if you have the Armor of Thorns. This item renders you immune to contact damage and also increases the damage dealt by the dodge roll. 

Tip 6. Save Your Best For The Boss

Enter the Gungeon - Gatling Gull
Enter the Gungeon – Gatling Gull

Did you know that if you beat a boss without taking any damage you get a health upgrade and a special Master Round passive item? I didn’t for a long time. In fact, getting these Master Rounds is essential for progressing further in the game, too. 

If you think you can empty the pre-boss rooms using your starting gun, you should most definitely do it, even if it takes you longer. Save all your powerful weapon pickups for an easy boss kill, and you could be on your way to more health and more hegemony credit. It’s also a good idea to save at least one Blank for the bosses, too, just in case you find yourself in a tight spot. 

Tip 7. Flip Tables

Flip Tables for Protection
Flip Tables for Protection

Tables are a great way to augment your defense in the Gungeon, and some passive items (such as Table Tech Sight) even turn tables into an offensive upgrade, too.

That’s not all tables are good for though. The action of flipping a table also grants you a brief moment of invulnerability. If you time it right, you can evade incoming bullets or attacks by flipping a table at just the right moment. It’s tricky at first, but something that is definitely worth practicing to get right.  

Tip 8. Use Blanks To Open Hidden Rooms

Crack in the wall reveals a secret room location
Crack in the wall reveals a secret room location

It’s quite hard to find secret rooms in the Gungeon, but it can be done and they’re often very beneficial to a run. Secret rooms are usually found next to chest rooms or by the elevators after a boss defeat, but that’s not always to say that they’ll be there. 

One way to identify a secret room location is to shoot the wall with a limited ammo gun (this can’t be done with a starter gun) in order to reveal cracks in the wall. Once you’ve done that, use a blank and the entrance to the secret room will reveal itself. 

Tip 9. Hidden Coolness Stat

Enter the Gungeon - The Gorgun
Enter the Gungeon – The Gorgun

Knowing about the coolness stat in the game is one of the best Enter the Gungeon tips you will read in this list. The coolness stat lowers the cool down time of active items in the game, as well as a whole host of other things. In fact, because the precise benefits of the stat are never broached in-game, there is plenty of discussion about what coolness actually gives you in the game. 

One thing is for sure, though, it will make your run stronger. Some items that increase your coolness include Cigarettes, Ballot, Heart of Ice, and Sunglasses. 

Tip 10. Hidden Curse Stat

Cursed enemies appear red in gungeon
Cursed enemies appear red in gungeon

The last of our Enter the Gungeon tips relates to another hidden stat found in the game – the Curse stat. Being mindful of your curse stat can help you decide which items to take, or not to take. 

The higher your curse level, the more cursed enemies (“Jammed” enemies) appear. These enemies will be red and do more damage to your character. They’ll also drop more loot, though. 

Some of the items that increase your curse are the Blood Brooch, Cursed Bullets, Knife Shield, and the Shelleton Key, among others. 

Get in Touch

We hope you enjoyed reading about our 10 Enter the Gungeon tips for beginners. Have you completed your first gungeon run yet? Let us know in the comment section below!

Related: The best games like Slay the Spire

For any enquiries, contact me at richard@blogofgames.com, or join our gaming group on Facebook. To help out our site, subscribe to the Blog of Games YouTube channel.

Once you’ve taken heed of all of our Enter the Gungeon tips, you might be able to defeat all the bosses without taking damage like in the video above!

Leave a Comment