Enter the Gungeon Beginner's Guide: Keys, Blanks, and the Bullet That Can Kill the Past
How to decide which chests to open, manage Blank replenishment and Master Rounds, rescue NPCs, and collect the four components of the Bullet That Can Kill the Past. A guide to Chambers 1–5 in a normal run.
Scope: For normal runs in the PC base game. Mechanics were checked for Advanced Gungeons & Draguns and later. Conditions specific to Rainbow Runs, Challenge Mode, and co-op are treated separately.
Rules checked: October 4, 2026
Your first goal is to clear the First Chamber while taking little damage. Avoid spending every key on the way, use Blanks against the boss to aim for increased maximum HP, and work on NPC rescues and component deliveries that carry over to later runs.
19 / 19 entries
How to work through the First Chamber
When keys are scarce, keep your options open by checking the shop and the other chest before deciding what to open, rather than opening the first chest you find.
- Check cover and escape routes when you enter a room. Walk through gaps you can clear on foot, and roll across bullet lines only when the landing spot is safe.
- Use your starting gun for most regular rooms, and check how much ammo a strong new gun has left for the boss. Take advantage of automatic reloading while another gun is equipped.
- When you find a chest, keep your distance and watch the lid and its reactions. Carelessly opening a Mimic starts a fight immediately.
- Compare the shop's keys, healing, and guns with the floor's chests. If you lack guns, prioritize a source that will actually improve your next fight.
- Check HP, ammunition, and Blanks before the boss. Use a Blank before taking a hit when the bullets cut off your escape, and aim for a hitless kill.
- After the fight, collect the rewards and check unexplored rooms, cells, and chests you intend to open before descending.
Firing inside the shop angers the shopkeeper. Leave the shop before testing a new gun.
What to compare before spending a key
Chest color indicates the quality tier of its contents. Lower-tier items can still be useful, so do not discard usable equipment based on color alone.
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| Situation | Decision order | Easy to overlook |
|---|---|---|
| You have one key and have not found the chests | Check the other chest and the shop, then compare your options | Spending the key may prevent you from opening the other chest |
| Brown, blue, green, red, and black chests | Consider both the color's quality tier and the guns or items you currently lack | Quality tiers are brown D / blue C / green B / red A / black S. This is not an absolute ranking of strength |
| A chest with a fuse | Deal with its impending destruction before following your usual exploration order | A chest that explodes when left alone cannot be compared later |
| A chest inside a locked room | Check whether both the room and chest need a key | The total keys needed can differ even for the same chest |
| You picked up a cell key | Return to the cell on that floor and rescue the NPC | It has a different use from a normal chest key |
| You want to enter a hidden floor | Prepare the First Chamber fireplace, water, and two keys for the entrance | Combining this with a beginner's normal progression can leave you short of keys |
No rows in this table match. Shorten the search or clear it to restore every row.
Breaking a chest can cost you its contents. Do not destroy every chest before comparing your options just because you lack keys.
Blanks and Master Rounds
Blanks are an emergency defensive resource. Using one in a boss fight does not itself prevent you from earning a Master Round.
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| Mechanic | Condition or effect | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Normal replenishment | If you have fewer than two when entering a new chamber, your stock is replenished to two | There is no need to take a boss hit just to save your remaining zero or one Blank for the next floor |
| Using a Blank | Clears enemy bullets in the room and opens secret walls | Use one before bullets surround your feet. If any remain after the boss, check for secret rooms |
| Master Round | Appears when you defeat the corresponding boss of Chambers 1–5 without taking a hit | Watch the space around you rather than the boss's remaining HP, and clear patterns you cannot dodge |
| Maximum HP | Adds a maximum heart container for normal characters | This is more than healing; it makes the rest of the run easier |
| Exceptions | Falling into pits or taking damage through armor still breaks the hitless condition | Do not assume armor lets you keep the condition intact |
No rows in this table match. Shorten the search or clear it to restore every row.
Some equipment increases Blank replenishment, so this section covers normal conditions without equipment modifiers. Do not confuse hidden boss rewards with the rewards for Chambers 1–5.
Progress that survives into the next run
Separating runs for gathering equipment from runs for expanding your hub options makes it easier to achieve something even in a failed run.
- If a cell key drops on a floor, find the cell and rescue the NPC. Afterward, check for newly added shops or features when you return to the Breach.
- Hegemony Credits from bosses are used for hub unlocks. Think of purchases as expanding the possible item pool, rather than directly bringing equipment into the current run.
- When you obtain a component of the Bullet That Can Kill the Past, aim to deliver it to the Blacksmith in the Fifth Chamber. The four components can be delivered on separate runs.
- If you die before reaching the Blacksmith, you must collect any undelivered component again in another run. Picking it up does not complete its delivery.
Bullet That Can Kill the Past: where to find the four components
Clearing the Fifth Chamber once does not mean you have completed each hero's past. Finish the bullet, collect it from the Blacksmith, and continue onward.
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| Component | Location or condition | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Prime Primer | The Second Chamber shop. Costs 110 | Save enough money to buy it, then deliver it to the Blacksmith in the Fifth Chamber |
| Arcane Gunpowder | The Third Chamber room with a large pit and minecarts | Use the minecarts on invisible rails, changing carts to reach the other side |
| Planar Lead | The Fourth Chamber room with an invisible path | Fire and reload, using the casings that fall at your feet to locate the invisible path. Falling changes the route, so search again after a fall |
| Obsidian Shell Casing | The Fifth Chamber, after defeating the High Dragun | Break the remaining skull, take the component, and return to the Blacksmith |
No rows in this table match. Shorten the search or clear it to restore every row.
Delivered components do not need to be delivered again. On runs after completing it, still talk to the Blacksmith to receive the bullet and carry it to the end.
If you start taking more hits in the Second Chamber
Do more than react and shoot: reduce the sources of dangerous attacks first.
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| Enemy or situation | How to recognize it | Response |
|---|---|---|
| Snipers | The laser aimed at you changes just before they fire | Break line of sight with walls or tables; in open areas, deal with them one at a time |
| Lead Maiden | Attacks do not connect while it is closed | Do not keep firing into its closed body. Dodge the returning bullets and shoot when it opens |
| Enemies that lead their shots | Their bullets target the direction you are moving | Instead of running in one direction continuously, change direction as they fire |
| Bullet patterns cut off your escape | Even the roll's landing spot is covered in bullets | Use tables, cover, or a Blank instead of forcing an unsafe roll |
No rows in this table match. Shorten the search or clear it to restore every row.
FAQ
Should I save Blanks for the next floor?
Normal replenishment brings a stock of fewer than two back to two. If you have a chance at a hitless boss kill, consider using them instead of saving them and taking a hit.
Do all four bullet components need to be carried in one run?
Deliveries to the Blacksmith can be split across runs. Check whether the component you picked up actually reached the Fifth Chamber.
Should I visit the hidden floor right away?
The entrance uses two keys, which competes with obtaining equipment on normal floors. First get consistent at the first boss, then try it on a run where you can spare the keys.