Gunfire Reborn – Beginners Guide

A few tips and suggestions for players just starting on their Gunfire Reborn adventure.

Introduction

Note: Credit goes to Dread Doctrine

In this brief guide, I’ll be walking you through some tips, tricks, and helpful advice as you begin your adventure in the dungeons and demonic realms of Gunfire Reborn.

Please note that while this guide aims to help you in your quest, it is not a comprehensive breakdown of game mechanics, a build guide, or a tier list.

Startup Options

• Before you start your adventures through the demonic realms, make sure to review the gameplay options within the menus.
  
  • In particular, you should customize your crosshair to your liking, turn on low ammo sound effects, change your FOV if necessary, and re-bind any actions to other keys you prefer. Personally, I’ve switched “Use” to E, and Mouse 5 to “Special Ability” while keeping everything else the same. It’s made the game much easier for me to control, but as with any customization option, your mileage may vary.
  • Additionally, if you’re already using any kind of headphone virtualization software (Dolby Access, DTS X, HeSuVi, etc.) be sure to disable the in-game spatial sound or turn your software off. Keeping both on creates a tinny, awful sound that makes the environment harder to gauge accurately.

Glossary of Terms

• Chests – Chests contain Occult Scrolls, Golden Goblets, and an assortment of ammo, Copper, and Soul Essence. There are three kinds of Chests in the game:
  
  • Blue Chests – These are standard chests unlocked at the end of each level. They contain a Golden Goblet (see below), ammo, Copper, and some Soul Essence.
    
  • Green Chests – Found at the end of Vault’s (see below), Green chests offer a selection of three different Occult Scrolls. You may choose one of these scrolls.
    
  • Peculiar Chests – These red chests are found throughout levels and Vaults alike and are some offer high risk/reward options to adventurers. This could be in the form of offering Copper for more inscriptions on a weapon, obtaining a Cursed Scrolls (see below) in exchange for a very powerful Legendary Occult Scroll, exchanging Copper for regular Occult Scrolls, exchanging Copper for increased Health or Armor at the cost of Health or Armor, and several other options.
  • Remember, you do not have to take anything from a chest. Peculiar Chests should especially be used cautiously and only when the benefits strongly outweigh any potential pitfalls.
• Copper – Currency acquired through combat that is used to upgrade weapons at the Craftsman and buy weapons/scrolls/consumables from the Peddler. Can also be used at certain Peculiar Chest’s (red chests).
  
• Cursed Scrolls – As the name implies, these scrolls are cursed with a penalty of some kind: damage reduction, health reduction, crit chance loss, etc. However, many cursed scrolls also have a trade off where something else is significantly buffed. There are also regular Occult Scrolls that can negate the effects of Cursed Scrolls or even give you advantages for having more Cursed Scrolls (this is a pretty advanced strategy and I would strongly discourage new players from trying a Cursed build). In short, weigh obtaining a Cursed Scroll with a high level of scrutiny.
  
• Demonic Aura Diffusion – Also known as a Challenge Event, these events are random modifiers to enemies that generally make them harder to kill or deal with. There are several kinds of Demonic Aura’s and once the challenge is completed either a Chest will unlock or a Demonic Diffusion gem will drop, which will explode into Copper, Ammo, and a random Occult Scroll.
  
• Elemental Status Effects – As the name implies, these effects apply elemental damage to enemies or yourself. There are three main types of elemental damage and the effects they can trigger:
  
  • Fire | Burning
  • Lightning | Shock
  • Corrosion | Decay
• Elite Enemies – These enemies are souped up versions of standard enemies and will often have status effect inflicting weapons, additional health, or other buffs that make them difficult to deal with. Elite Enemies will almost always drop some kind of reward, be it in the form of a powerful weapons or, rarely, Occult Scrolls. Elite Enemies will spawn at the end of a Demonic Aura Diffusion event, or randomly at higher difficulty levels.
  
• Fusion Effects – The combining of two elements to make a stronger status effect. Fusion Effects can only be triggered on enemies and not you. There are three Fusion Effects that can trigger with the right combinations:
  
  • Combustion – A combination of Burning and Decay. Creates a staggering effect and deals 200% damage instantly.
    
  • Manipulation – A combination of Burning and Shock. Causes the enemy to attack other
    nearby enemies for five seconds. Elites and Bosses are immune to Manipulation.
    
  • Miasma – A combination of Shock and Decay. Miasma triggers a massive damage-over-time effect (DoT) that damages 12% of an enemies health per second. Shields and armor go first, then base health. Miasma is one of, if not the best, Fusion Effect in the game and can make mincemeat of virtually any enemy, including Bosses, with the right build.
• Golden Goblet – The reward at the end of each stage that contains a choice of three Hero talents. Can rarely drop from Elite enemies.
  
• Inscriptions – The unique features of a weapon. Inscriptions range in rarity and quality from:
  
  • Normal (Green)
  • Rare (Blue)
  • Exclusive (Orange)
  • Gemini (Faded when not active or compatible, Purple when activated). Gemini inscriptions are unlocked through the talent tree and require a little more explanation than this guide intends to cover. Briefly, they add an extra dimension of synergy between both of your weapons. Both weapons require the same inscription in order to activate and function.
• Lucky Shot – Lucky Shot is different than a standard critical hit. It is a random chance to multiply damage by a certain amount. Lucky Shot damage and chance can increase well above 100% granting garatuneed Lucky Shots with a chance for even higher damage. Lucky Shots will override the yellow color of standard critical hits:
  
  • Orange text is 2x damage.
  • Purple text is 3x damage.
  • Red text is 4x damage.
• Occult Scrolls – Your primary means of enhancing your character throughout a run. Occult Scrolls are acquired through chests and some bosses.
  
  • Additional occult scrolls will be acquired by completing milestones in the Logbook. I.e. killing enemies a certain number of times, doing x amount of damage to a certain enemy with a specific weapon type, etc.
    
  • These scrolls will drop immediately the first time you unlock them. In other words, when you kill an enemy X amount of times and get notified that you’ve unlocked an occult scroll, that scroll will drop in-game. This is very advantageous early on as you’ll unlock several scrolls in the beginning portions of the game.
• Reforge – Unlocked upon obtaining Gemini Inscriptions, reforging allows the Craftsman to change the Gemini Inscription of a weapon for 300 Copper.
  
• Soul Essence – The currency with which you unlock talents while at the Inn.
  
• Talents – Passive bonuses bought and unlocked with Soul Essence after a playthrough via the Talent menu. Talents range in usefulness from negligible to completely overpowered. We’ll cover talents more in-depth later on. Note well that each Hero also has a small talent tree that increases their abilities significantly with each talent.
  
• The Vault – A special room located within each level that provides a variety of challenges and rewards, namely in the form of a Green chest.
  
• Weapon Upgrades – For a fee, which increases with each successive upgrade, the Craftsman will level up your weapon. This increases its base damage. However, there are significant diminishing returns on weapon upgrades. As such, it’s more important to have high quality inscriptions versus raw damage output. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t upgrade your weapons, but around the +8 to +10 mark returns become so vanishingly small that the ROI (return on investment) simply isn’t worth it.

There are other terms and concepts within the game, but this broad overview will serve you well on the first steps of your journey!

Your First Playthrough

• After you complete the tutorial levels you’ll be ready for your first real playthrough.
  
• Your starting hero, the Crown Prince (AKA in-game as “Cat”) is actually one of the most robust, easy to play, and powerful characters. Don’t be in a hurry to leave him behind.
  
• I strongly recommend looking at the Crown Prince’s (and any character for that matter) Hero tree and getting a sense of what he/she/they are capable of. Start thinking about what kind of builds excite you and match your preferred play style.
  
• As weapons start to drop from enemies, carefully examine their inscriptions and choose ones that synergize well with the build you’re trying to accomplish. You never have to marry yourself to one weapon, so don’t be afraid to change things up.
  
• You will eventually encounter a glowing wall with cracks in it. This is the The Vault and it’s where you’ll gain the majority of your Occult Scrolls. However, you cannot access The Vault at this time, so don’t worry about it for now. You’ll unlock it once you finish this run.
  
  • There is a Vault on virtually every stage in the game. Slow down and check your surroundings. Even in Multiplayer, insist on your squadmates slowing down and looking around. Eventually you’ll learn map layouts well enough to where they might spawn, but for now, slow and steady wins the race.
• Once you’ve cleared a stage, you’ll unlock a Blue Chest. This contains a Golden Goblet that has a choice of three different Hero talents. Choose carefully! Since this is your first playthrough, I would strongly encourage going for elemental talents. Elemental weapons and abilities are the strongest in the game and the Crown Prince excels at them. In particular, corrosive and lightning damage can combine to create Miasma, a very strong damage-over-time effect that will melt enemies as your damage output rises.
  
• Eventually, around the third stage of Longling Tomb, you’ll encounter Longbowmen. More than likely, your first death will come from these jerks. Longbowmen don’t have a lot of health but their shots are homing and do a tremendous amount of damage.
  
  • The best way to avoid Longbowmen arrows is to dash diagonally away from the arrows and toward the Longbowman himself. This might seem counter-intuitive, but the arrows have a curve to them that allow you to dash dodge them well with good timing and moving forward circumvents their trajectory entirely.
    
  • You will encounter several other similar enemies throughout your journey: Bandit Retainers, Bandit Tacticians, and more. While they function a little differently, the same rule applies: dash dodge out of the way and move forward.
• With some luck and skill, you’ll find yourself at the Longling Tomb boss: Lu Wu! Don’t be upset if he kills you; it happens and death is not the end! This guide won’t provide any specific strategy, but generally speaking, watch for his patterns and dodge dash right before an attack to avoid it. Keep your distance and lob grenades when you have them and make sure to use your special ability!
  
• If you beat Lu Wu, congratulations! You’ll earn a new weapon, a new Occult Scroll, a bunch of Soul Essence, Copper, and other goodies. Be sure to spend time reviewing all the weapons Lu Wu dropped as well the Occult Scroll and Legendary Occult Scroll that drop. When you’re ready, head through the portal to the transition stage.
  
• From here, I would strongly recommend returning to the inn and unlocking the Vault talent along with some survivability talents, if possible. Yes, you can unlock talents in the Inn and return to your playthrough!
  
• After that, head back into the game and into the Anxi Desert. This guide won’t cover this section, but suffice it to say, the challenge only increases from here. Don’t be shocked if you die within seconds of being in the desert. You’ll more than likely have to run Longling several times and increase your Talents and own skill level before conquering the desert.

Other General Advice

• Don’t be afraid of death.
  
  • Dying is a natural part of this game and while it can be frustrating, take it as a learning experience. What happened to put you in that position to die? Was it truly just dumb luck or was it a read you didn’t make or a bomb barrel you didn’t see?
• Don’t be afraid to switch it up.
  
  • Don’t like a weapon even though it as some good inscriptions? Toss it anyway. You won’t be any good to anyone, most important yourself, if you don’t jive with the tools for the job.
    
  • On this same note, don’t be afraid to leave a weapon behind because you’ve invested upgrades into it. If something else comes along with better inscriptions but less damage, go with the inscriptions. They often make up for the lack of raw damage in spades
• Don’t force a build.
  
  • While it’s always tempting to just brute force an elemental build of the Crown Prince, don’t. If elemental talents aren’t dropping, start thinking of other ways you can utilize his skills. For my money, if I can’t be elemental, investing in the smoke tree does wonders. You can still corrode enemies with your grenades and if you have a lightning based weapon with a decent chance of inflicting elemental status effects, you can still pull off an amazing Miasma build.
    
  • As with weapons, don’t be afraid to switch it up! Maybe you don’t care for elemental based gunplay. Go with the Crown Prince’s specialty ability or become a master of smoke and poison. The most important thing is to find a playstyle you jive with, as that will exponentially increase both your enjoyment of the game and how much progress you make in the early game.
• Unlock survivability talents first.
  
  • As the old saying goes, “defense wins championships”, and Gunfire Reborn is no exception. The more health and shield you have, the harder you are to kill; it’s that simple. Put points into survivability until you can no longer do so and start unlocking other talents that fit your playstyle or interests best.
    
  • On this same note, opt for defensive talents during your playthrough if nothing else is compatible or works well with your build. The more health you can get the better.
• A.B.U.G. (Always Be Using Grenades)– Pretty self-explanatory. You should be chucking your grenades/secondary ability as often as you can. There are talents that greatly enhance and augment your secondary ability to ludicrously powerful heights. Well placed grenades and other secondary abilities can wipe out entire packs of enemies in one shot.
  
• Don’t be overly concerned with playing Ao Bai (AKA in-game as “Dog”)
  
  • The game will eventually prompt you to unlock your second Hero, Ao Bai. While he’s a great Hero in his own right, you’ve spent much more time getting to know the Crown Prince and his skill set. Ao Bai has new abilities, new strengths and weakness, and new complexity that should be tackled after you’re familiar with your first character.
• Don’t forget to use your special ability!
  
  • While your secondary ability is great at crowd control, your special ability is usually a show stopper and can change the direction of an entire fight if used well. Don’t use it recklessly, but don’t forget to use it at all. There are numerous Occult Scrolls that augment and enhance special abilities.
• Take it slow – It’s not a race. Especially as you’re first starting out, take time to slow down and smell the tombs; investigate nooks and crannies for chests, Peddler spawns, and other odds and ends. Look for the Vault carefully.