Essential Unlocks for New Players!

Have you started playing and feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices in unlocks you have? Well don't fear because this guide intends to help with that! I'm going to go over what I feel to be "The Essential Unlocks" that you are going to want to have going into your runs. There will be some minor spoilers for unlocks going forward however I will not spoil any other content such as how their blueprints are unlocked.

The Big Five

These are the 5 biggest unlocks in the game. These are the things that are going to be game-changing and stuff you absolutely want ASAP.

• Chainmeter:
  This unlock is huge. It allows you to gain more souls by being quick and not getting hit. Definitely a must-grab

• Recycle:
  I bring this one up with caution. Many new players will fall into the trap of recycling too much and feeling very weak and having few relics. Usually having a relic is better than not having it, however that being said, recycle is still a very powerful ability. What else is Bomb Grub meant to be used for.

• Cursed Choice:
  This is quite possibly the most powerful unlock in this game. It lets you choose between two curses whenever you receive one. Make sure you are taking curses so you get this unlocked and make sure you unlock this as soon as you have the blueprint.

• Tickets:
  The only unlock that could possibly stand up to cursed choice. I'm not going to go very in depth into tickets but they essentially allow you to start with items, pickups, stats etc. In exchange they will give you downsides such as health or curses. However they also allow you to play daily and weekly runs which are great sources of soul coins and extremely fun.
  
  
• Shop Expansion #1
  It's another item slot per shop. Need I say more?

Machines and Pickups

For the machines I'm simply going to put the order I would suggest unlocking them in. However, most of these unlocks are rather scattered and will likely be pretty far apart. That being said I think all are very powerful upgrades and should be prioritized.

• Recycle Machine
  
• Claw Machine
  
• Health Machine
  
• Vending Machine
  
• Fortune Machine
  
• Chance Machine

As for pickups my order goes as follows:

• Glass Chests
  These chests are so remarkably powerful. Losing a half max hp often is a very minimal price to pay because filling an empty heart versus finishing a half max hp is the same cost. The loot in these chests are also really really good, and to top it all off you can see what will be in them!
  
• Heart Chests
  If you have played Isaac these are your eternal chests. They are so so powerful in this game and really really worth investing into.
  
• Silver Chests
  Extremely powerful, I don't think much explanation is needed
  
• Golden Strings
  Golden strings are so so strong. Being able to get a rare relic where it would normally be a common and a legendary where it would normally be a rare is so insanely powerful. Notable remarks: It will be consumed by a statue even if you cant afford the item. It also is a guaranteed legendary if you enter a rare merchant with one.
  
• Double Hearts
  They are a very simple yet powerful pickup. I have had them save many runs before.
  
• Key Chests
  Key chests are quite strong honestly. They will very frequently have a heal or more worth of souls and multiple pickups. They also sometimes have relics! If you don't need your keys in the immediate future they are 100% worth it.
  
• Cursed Chests
  They are okay, decent loot but much weaker than many of the other new small chest variants.
  
• Double Chests
  Much more situational than the other chests imo. Still can be worth it sometimes but only if you have a good amount of keys.
  
• Talismans
  Talismans open up a lot of opportunities for some playstyles but can also have less impact for others. I would recommend saving them for a bit because its very important for new players to learn curses.

Soul Torches

I would say these are all valuable upgrades and generally worth getting if you can. I would prioritize the unlocks above more but if you have nothing else great to unlock they are very helpful.

Rooms

There are many rooms waiting to be unlocked through the Tinkerer! Honestly most of these rooms are rather powerful in the correct situation. Some are definitely more powerful than others though.

• Crossroads
  While not technically a room per say, this allows rooms to spawn as choices. This is really powerful because many times it will be a choice between a room which costs a key and one which doesn't. Typically the one that doesn't key is the correct choice because of how powerful keys are.
  
  
• Challenge rooms
  You know how I mentioned how powerful keys are? Well imagine a room that doesn't cost a key and has a high likelihood of giving you two pickups or a relic out of it. Challenge rooms are very good.
  
  
• Observatory rooms
  Probably the best use of a key other than your shop. Celestial weapons are really good! A heart or a 10% damage up is really good! Observatory rooms are really good!
  
  
• Arcade rooms
  This is essentially a second, worse shop. It is very powerful and will typically give you back your key you spent to enter it.
  
  
• Giants room
  Basically a chest with a choice. Pretty strong but there are definitely better things to spend a key on.
  
  
• Corrupted room
  Grants you a rare or better relic and a curse. This room is also quite strong. The reason I have it lower than Giants here is because you likely will not have cursed choices unlocked yet which makes this room much worse. However, once cursed choice is unlocked this room is pretty good.
  
  
• Hotspring room
  This one is hard for me to say. While the effect of healing all your missing health is powerful sometimes, I really don't think the hotsprings are all that good. The reason is usually you will be at a high hp in proportion to your max health if you are upgrading intelligently. It certainly has its uses sometimes but I feel generally it is not worth it.
  
  
• Lucky Well
  The lucky well is pretty good but certainly is a little scary. It allows you to toss a relic in with a very high chance that relic is upgraded. Its essentially a better relic hammer. However it has an extremely low chance to consume the relic and not give it back. Is it usually worth your key, probably not. Is it nice when it upgrades a legendary, sure.
  
  
• Cat room
  Ah yes the cat room. The room where i get to spend a key for a random 20% stat up and a 10% stat down. This room is... quite frankly bad. Its a not very high chance at a good stat up and a stat down. I feel that having a stat in the negative is more impact than a stat in the positive. What i mean by this is -10% range is very bad while +20% range is only kinda good. I just don't think this room is worth your key ever. Definitely the last room I would unlock.

Relics

Last on this list are relics. Some important things to note. As a brand new player i would recommend starting every run with at least 1, usually 2 relics. If you want to get farther just grab 2 great relics going into every run and you will do great. If you would rather see new other unlocks then maybe you just grab one cheap relic per run and you are content with that. Either way, here are some the unlockable relics I would say are the cream of the crop. These are not in order of strength but I promise every single one of these is a really strong item.
Common:

• Moldy Cheese
  
• Life Fruit
  
• Cute Doll
  
• Broken Nail
  
• Simple Package
  
• Lava Lamp
  
• Reinforced Shield
  
• Moon Locket
  
• Frogun
  
• Stinger
  
• Energizing Drink
  
• Boomerang
  
• Giant's Fang
  
• Mace
  
• Gift Card

Rare:

• Time Capsule
  
• Poisoned Apple
  
• Glass Cannon
  
• Hot Chocolate
  
• Damaged Ammo
  
• Rancid Cloud
  
• Tormented Soul
  
• Snowlad
  
• Wax Wings
  
• Water Gun
  
• Bursting Bubble
  
• Equality
  
• Silver Bell
  
• Hive
  
• Laser Diode
  
• Planetary Ring
  
• Mercenary's Mark
  
• Bag of Greed
  
• Morals
  
• Forgiveness
  
• Practice Target
  
• Gold tooth
  
• Back Shield
  
• Orbital Shields
  
• Bugspray
  
• Tiny Spider
  
• Dried Shroom
  
• Joker Card
  
• Raincloud
  
• Black Hole (best on not explosives or constant lasers)
  
• Starry Orb
  
• Skull Pendant
  
• Sparkler
  
• Curved Hook
  
• Butcher's Knife
  
• Glitch
  
• Gold Nugget
  
• Bouncy Ball

Legendary:All of them are fantastic and can make a run way way stronger!

Again there are all sorts of amazing items and synergies and I bet you that you will love some relics that I hate. Just buy everything! Try new stuff!

Thanks for reading!

Hopefully this helps you out to explore all the awesome content this game has to offer! Enjoy!

[Funguy101]

triple shot is a default unlock! so doesn't need to be on the list. Great item tho :)

[Gamer T.n]

Could you please add Triple Shot? In the recent update the spread was greatly reduced, and now it's been quite op with snipers.

[Funguy101]

The last one is likely the fishing rod for which you need all fish.

[a harrisong]

Do you know how to unlock all the different celestial weapons? I'm currently at 11/12.

[Funguy101]

Yes! Secret rooms will change the music when you are next to them and you can shoot the wall to break it. They have multiple visual indicators too that you will pick up on once you start to find them. You do need to shoot it during combat however, because it wouldn't be very fun to have the game just be wall shooting simulator :)

[Mr. Meeseeks]

Coming from Gungeon and just started out, so many thanks :) Are Secret Rooms a thing too?

[Funguy101]

I believe tickets are unlocked after beating your first run! I dont think that is said anywhere ingame which is a bit odd.

[philmcrotty]

You are 100% correct about your name being there. My phone was being slow and didn't load the whole page except the guide (and ads of course cuz priorities lol) so that "written by" part didn't show up the first time.

My advice if you ever have money issues just pull an Amber Heard and sue them with doctored photos that remove your name and be like "they stole my stuff" lmao

[Funguy101]

Hah they totally didn't ask me but I don't really care lol. There is a thing at the bottom that says written by Funguy but the guide is also an old un-updated version. Thanks for showing me though haha

[philmcrotty]

Unless it's also your account on that site then feel free to ignore lol but if not then it definitely looks like one of those copy paste but only change a couple words to say "it's not plagiarism"