Tips on how to get better?

[Sokol]

Okay so I really suck at this game. After about 30 tries I got 1st time to the Forge, where I got my ass handed to me. I also feel like this game is really random, if you don't get good weapon it's really hard. So question is how to maximize my chances? Which character should I play for best chance for success? What to do except getting better at not getting hit? I bet even best players get hit sometimes, there has to be something that I am missing. Any tips?

[Quaz]

You're not wrong that this game has a heavy rng influence. Bad luck can really screw you over, that being said, there are videos on YouTube of people beating the game with nothing but they're starting gear so, take from that what you will.

In my opinion, I would say the Marine is the best for when you're still learning and getting better at the game. Once you beat it with him, then you can try out the other characters. The reason for that is the Marine has the best starting gear, with his pistol, a thing that makes him more accurate and he also starts with 1 piece of armour, which is essentially a little bit of extra health. The best character overall imo is the Pilot, his lockpicks give you a chance to not use a key and he gets discounts, but his weapon sucks so rng can screw you over.

In the end, all that really matters is your skill. Take the time to learn how enemies attack, learn bullet patterns, etc. Learn not to rely on the dodge roll. If you can move out of the way of bullets, don't dodge. Only dodge when you have to, and don't be afraid to use blanks when you need to. That's pretty much it really, there's not really any "trick", it's just practice at the end of the day. It's a bullet hell game, so it will be hard but with time and practice you can conquer it.

[Sokol]

So I followed your tip with the Marine and I got to the Forge again. But I got really lucky with 3 health container drops from chests and map maker, also I got AWP which melted bosses. Forge is just too difficult. Hard enemies, traps, hands trying to grab you, hammers, lava...

I have other question now. Is it worth it to go to oubliette? I had 2 keys and went for chests but I wonder if going for the secret floor is beneficial, I died couple of times there (harder than Gungeon Proper imo) but is it worth it to ditch chests and use keys for trap door?

[Quaz]

Originally posted by Sokol:

So I followed your tip with the Marine and I got to the Forge again. But I got really lucky with 3 health container drops from chests and map maker, also I got AWP which melted bosses. Forge is just too difficult. Hard enemies, traps, hands trying to grab you, hammers, lava...

I have other question now. Is it worth it to go to oubliette? I had 2 keys and went for chests but I wonder if going for the secret floor is beneficial, I died couple of times there (harder than Gungeon Proper imo) but is it worth it to ditch chests and use keys for trap door?

You can get a decent item that changes your dodge to a teleport if you can avoid being hit, and of course it is a chance to get more items. It's not an easy floor though, so it's up to you. If you think it's worth the risk to get more items, then go for it. If not, then don't. That's really all the advice I can give you for that.

[ＩＤＲＡＧＹＯＵＴＯＨＥＬＬ]

I would say just keep playing and practice, I can't really give tips since I think the problem you have is your individual skill so really just practice and the best starting character I think would be the hunter since she has a secondary weapon a crossbow, and her dog can find treasure like hearts or ammo and I think also keys upon room clear but ofc it's only a chance that the dog finds it so I recommend using her as your starting character for improving.

[spaps]

A trick that actually helped me a ton is looking at yourself, and not the enemies when you need to dodge a lot of bullets. It helps you keep track of the bullets and makes walking around them wayyy easier.

[ExaltedDuck]

30 tries to get there isn't bad. I think I was at around 40 hours when I first beat the 5th floor, and had the 4 pasts done around 52 or 55 hours. Last time I started over (with around 400 hours), I had the 4 pasts done in 5 runs, and consistently getting past the forge after that.

My best advice is don't get fixated. If you focus on the details of the action, you'll lose track of something else and get hit. Some do this by watching their character, I find it is easier to relax and focus on nothing, taking in the whole scene and just moving with the overall flow of action. (and that's when the game goes from fun to great... I find it kind of meditative). And I still have some days where I can barely make it to the 3rd floor, usually related to poor sleep or job stress preventing me from getting into that zone.

[cool_shadow]

Playing with a controller rather than with keyboard and mouse is actually easier, especially if you enable auto-target in the settings. This way you don't have to ever aim at anything and can solely focus on not getting shot while you mindlessly spam the shoot button.

[Quaz]

Originally posted by cool_shadow:

Playing with a controller rather than with keyboard and mouse is actually easier, especially if you enable auto-target in the settings. This way you don't have to ever aim at anything and can solely focus on not getting shot while you mindlessly spam the shoot button.

i prefer mouse and keyboard personally, but each to their own i guess.

[MarcoPants]

Originally posted by cool_shadow:

Playing with a controller rather than with keyboard and mouse is actually easier, especially if you enable auto-target in the settings. This way you don't have to ever aim at anything and can solely focus on not getting shot while you mindlessly spam the shoot button.

I use controller, but not for the aim assist. I use it mainly because I can control my dodging better on a controller rather than being limited to eight directions like k+m. Blanking also feels more intuitive on controller than k+m to me (though I will admit that whenever I play Winchester's game, I use a mouse to aim bc I have all the time in the world to aim with pixel perfect precision)

[Kai]

Originally posted by Sokol:

Okay so I really suck at this game. After about 30 tries I got 1st time to the Forge, where I got my ass handed to me. I also feel like this game is really random, if you don't get good weapon it's really hard. So question is how to maximize my chances? Which character should I play for best chance for success? What to do except getting better at not getting hit? I bet even best players get hit sometimes, there has to be something that I am missing. Any tips?

Practice using the dodge roll as minimally as possible. Learning how to weave through bullets helps a ton

[Quaz]

Originally posted by Smough:

Originally posted by Sokol:

Okay so I really suck at this game. After about 30 tries I got 1st time to the Forge, where I got my ass handed to me. I also feel like this game is really random, if you don't get good weapon it's really hard. So question is how to maximize my chances? Which character should I play for best chance for success? What to do except getting better at not getting hit? I bet even best players get hit sometimes, there has to be something that I am missing. Any tips?

Practice using the dodge roll as minimally as possible. Learning how to weave through bullets helps a ton

yeh, basically treat it like Touhou or any other game and treat dodge roll as a rare resource. that should help with learning how to avoid bullets without having to think about it too much

[iNERTiA]

Not sure if you are really looking at this post anymore, but I just want to say that even making it to the forge within 30 attempts is actually very good. This game is extraordinarily difficult in terms of rogue-lite games.

Don't listen to people saying that you should have the fifth floor beat within 30 attempts or whatever, those are the insane people who have been playing bullet hell and rogue-lites for years before playing this game. In fact, the vast majority of people who play this game never even make it to the forge.

I am the kind of person that doesn't really go by attempt count because I tend to start runs over a lot when they aren't going well so I couldn't tell you how many it took me in terms of that metric. What I can tell you though is that it took me just short of 100 hours to beat my first past. After that though everything started to click and I had the rest of the pasts beat by the 110 hour mark.

It really is just A LOT of practice, outside of the general tips people here gave (roll only when you need to, use a controller if possible, etc) you just need to get used to patterns and how to weave between them.

Don't give up! The game is incredibly rewarding once everything clicks, its why it is my favorite rogue-lite despite how long it took me to get into the swing of it.

[Sokol]

Yeah, I still watch the post. I managed to beat the Dragun 2nd time. But it is really difficult to progress more, I try to get Prime Primer to the forge, but no luck yet. Not spending money on other things makes it more difficult. I guess I need to wait until good chest drops carry me.

[Kai]

Originally posted by Sokol:

Yeah, I still watch the post. I managed to beat the Dragun 2nd time. But it is really difficult to progress more, I try to get Prime Primer to the forge, but no luck yet. Not spending money on other things makes it more difficult. I guess I need to wait until good chest drops carry me.

If you want to speed up the process you can utilize rainbow runs. gives you one rainbow chest each floor. not really recommended for getting better

[Sokol]

Is it just that? Or is there something making it more difficult?