Tips and Tricks for Beginners
GUNS
-You can hold two guns
-Every gun has specific traits that will never change about it, but have many stats that are random (called Inscriptions.)
-Some guns always have a specific elemental damage, and sometimes guns that are normally element-less will have a random element
-Guns will have a +X in their title indicating how much they are upgraded, and this stat is purely a damage increase
-Guns can be unlocked (Information on how can be found in the Armory at the main menu)
-Guns use different ammo types. Normal (Green), Heavy (Blue), Special (Yellow)
-Some weapons have alternate fires, used with RMB. You can see all of your weapon’s stats, infusions, and alt-fires by pressing TAB and hovering over your weapon.
**Critical Hits and Lucky Shots are different!!**
-Shots to a monster’s weakpoint (typically the head) result in Critical hits, which do extra damage.
-Lucky Shots are what most RPGs consider a critical hit, which is a random shot that does a ton of extra damage. You gain Lucky Shot Chance from scrolls and weapon effects
-Crits can be gained through aiming and knowledge, whereas Lucky Shots are purely random.
SCROLLS
-Scrolls are upgrades to your character that will persist through the entire run unless specifically stating otherwise (i.e. scrolls that give you revives and break after an amount)
-Scrolls can have strong upsides along with strong downsides, and any scroll that you pick up from a chest of enemy drop can be discarded in the inventory
-Scrolls have different rarities, increasing in power as they increase in rarity
-Cursed Scrolls have only downsides and they cannot be discarded, but can only be gained through certain chests that specify a chance to drop them
ABILITIES
-Your character has three abilities, your Special (E), your Grenade (Q), and your dash (SHIFT)
-Grenades have no cooldown but rely on green-sphere ammo pickups, while your Dash and Special have timed cooldowns and no ammo
-Certain scrolls and upgrades can grant abilities more “charges,” which just means the ability can store another copy of itself. Grenades start with 3 charges, and your other abilities have one unless upgraded
CHARACTERS
-The game currently features two character: The Crown Prince (the cat) and Ao Bai (the dog)
-Their stats are slightly different, Ao Bai has more max health and less shields, and Crown Prince has more shields and less health. Ao Bai is also very slightly faster than Crown Prince
-Each hero has a specific line of upgrades for that hero alone
-Crown Prince is meant to focus on his energy orb and dealing heavy elemental damage. His E is an energy orb that deals damage and stuns enemies, and his grenade lays down a corrosive field. His goblet upgrades are all based around elemental damage and shields, so if you are playing Crown Prince try to take advantage of elements
-Ao Bai is built around being a brute force fighter, having the ability to wield both of his weapons at once. His grenade is a regular explosion, and his E is the Dual Wield. His upgrades are more focused around killing-sprees, grenade synergies, and Dual Wielding. Playing Ao Bai, you want to focus on dealing as much raw damage as possible, focusing on heavy explosives and bullet spraying guns to maximize damage
-There is a third character that appears on the loading screen of the third level, who appears to be a bird. The bird character is holding the golden bow, and it can be assumed it will be a sniper class, which would not only fit flavor wise, but would make sense since neither Crown Prince nor Ao Bai are fit at all for sniping effectively
CHESTS
-Chests are boxes that can contain scrolls, weapons, and golden goblets
-Golden Goblets give you 3 options for random character upgrades
-Red / Orange (talking) chests offer trades for various upgrades, commonly Occult Scrolls and weapon tweaks. Occult Scrolls are guaranteed Epic / Legendary scrolls. If a chest offers you a cursed scroll, it is a permanent debuff that you cannot get rid of unless you have other occult scrolls that negate them
-If a red chest offers trades that aren’t specified (i.e. trade an occult scroll, gain a weapon inscription), it will then prompt you to CHOOSE what you would like to trade/gain. Otherwise, it will list what you will be trading/gaining
-Chests also contain ammo, money, and Soul Essence
-Vaults are colored cracks in the wall that contains a room with a challenge and a chest at the end. The vault portal will not change the stage, and are simply side-missions to the stage you are on. Some vaults and stages have an extra challenge that will display at the top-right of the screen
NPCs
-There are currently two vendor NPCs in Gunfire, which are the Craftsman and the Peddler
-The Peddler is a small green frog-like shopkeeper who ALWAYS sells a Magic Bun (heal a small percent of health), ammo refills, and grenade refills. Additionally, he will sell a few random guns, and will sometimes sell rare scrolls
-I highly recommend trying to get the scroll that gives you one free Peddler purchase per Peddler, as you will be able to usually get about 300 coins worth of value each time you visit a new Peddler
-The craftsman is a bulky lad who trades your copper coins for weapon upgrades. You can upgrade a total of two times for each craftsman you find. Purchasing these upgrades the +X value of your gun (damage boost), and if your weapon has a Gemini Inscription (unlocked through the left side of the talent tree), you can reforge the inscription into another one.
-The craftsman is very cheap early on, and it can be a valuable tool for upgrading your Foundry (starting pistol) as it matches the level of your LOWEST power weapon. If your weapon is +0 or +1, the costs are 50 and 100 copper respectively and I recommend you take this upgrades unless you hate the weapon, in which case just drop it and upgrade the one you like. After that though, the upgrades get costly and I would recommend only spending these high prices on weapons that you really like, and/or have good inscriptions. If it isn’t a gun you love or if it has lackluster inscriptions, be patient and wait for a better one from a random drop or Pedder, as it could save you a LOT of money
ENEMIES
-There are 3 types of enemies, normal enemies (typically noted by having a short, regular name), elite enemies (high health, adjectives before normal name), and bosses (end of each level)
-Different Elements do more damage to different enemy defenses. Corrosive damage deals bonus to Armor (Yellow healthbars), Lightning damage deals bonus to shields (Blue Healthbars) and Fire damage does bonus to flesh (Red healthbars)
-It is critically important to prioritize stronger enemies first, such as the snipers of the sand level or Longbowmen of the first level
TALENTS
-Talents are permanent upgrades that follow all characters through runs, even after death
-Talents are purchased after death using the blue currency “Soul Essence” gathered through the run
-Your Talent Level is the amount of talents you’ve purchased, no matter the price of the talent (A talent that costs 100 essence gives just one Talent Level)
-Soul essence can also be used for one self-revive during play (This cost increases significantly in each level)
UNLOCKS
-Various weapons can be unlocked through specific conditions found in the Armory tab on the main menu
-Additionally, the game features a second character named Ao Bai who is unlocked by reaching level 30
-Check out what each weapon needs to be unlocked, as some have specific requirements, and it would benefit you to tweak your build to accommodate them
-For instance, entering the sand level with a Fire and Corrosive weapon allows you to make progress towards the Fire Dragon, Golden Bow, and Blunderbuss weapon
-I recommend using the Prism dagger weapon to get Critical Hits on Bandit Retainers, and deal corrosive damage to Rogue Villains
MULTIPLAYER
-Items are clientside, meaning your partner(s) will not see the items that drop for you, so you aren’t able to snatch up items from your friends. You don’t have to worry about taking anything from anyone. However, you can discard guns and scrolls from your inventory to drop them on the ground for anyone to take
-If your partners die, they have a relatively short time of being downed, where anyone on the team can revive them by tapping F on them and waiting. You cannot move while reviving or else it will be cancelled
-If a teammate dies and isn’t revived in time, they will die for the rest of the stage and will come back with their items in the next one
-I highly recommend saving your soul-essence self-revive for absolute emergencies
TIPS
-Gaining additional ability charges is very powerful, especially if you can grab other scrolls and upgrades that synergize with that ability (i.e. gaining dash charges along with gaining crits after dashing)
-In single-player, it is important to have element diversity to make sure you can take down different types of enemies, but in multiplayer it can be quite fun and powerful to specialize into one element using the +40% damage upgrade goblets
-Focus on a weapon’s inscriptions more than its +X stat, since you can always spend gold to upgrade your weapon at the tinkerer
-Past the first stage, don’t be ashamed to let a run die. Typically revives cost nearly 60 soul essence as you get later into the run which could mean losing out on very strong talent(s) with that essence
-Don’t be afraid to play slow in the Sand level. The enemies in the stage have very long range, and can sometimes one-shot players. Find some cover, take shots, and keep your shields high
**DO NOT IGNORE YOUR FOUNDRY!!!**
The Foundry, your starting weapon, is actually quite versatile! It has unlimited ammo, and its damage matches your lowest power weapon, so if both of your primaries are +4, your Foundry will be too!! The Foundry does good crit damage, good body damage, and is EXCELLENT at clearing small enemies like Beetles and Bombers. Early on in the run, it can be beneficial to keep one primary that you upgrade at the Craftsman to +2 or +3, and use your new overpowered Foundry until you get further into the run.
