The Robot is a secret unlockable Gungeoneer. The Robot begins with Robot's Right Hand, Coolant Leak, and Battery Bullets. It starts with 6 and no hearts, and heart containers cannot be gained. It cannot, in fact make an interaction of any type with Hearts but move them by contact. The Robot is also immune to damage from electrified water due to Battery Bullets.
Picking up Master Rounds grants The Robot a piece of armor. Additionally, picking up any items that grant heart containers gives 5 to 10 .
Each piece of Junk or Gold Junk grants The Robot an additive 5% damage increase. This damage increase persists no matter what happens to the Junk, including dropping it or selling it to the Sell Creep.
The Robot also starts with a natural increase in accuracy due to Battery Bullets.
Defeating the High Dragun with the Robot unlocks Battery Bullets for all Gungeoneers.
How to Unlock[ | ]
Bring the Busted Television to the Blacksmith in the Forge. This item can be found in the first elevator room at Gungeon Proper as soon as the first shortcut is unlocked.
Tips[ | ]
- Using the Busted Television throws it, which is often required to get it across pits.
- Playing as The Pilot can help, as his Hidden Compartment allows him to carry the Busted Television without sacrificing the ability to use active items entirely.
- One strategy is to intentionally drop this item every time you enter a room, ensuring that it is not accidentally dropped due to rolling.
- Avoid dodge rolling to enter closed rooms and elevators, since the item will be stuck on the other side, potentially making it irretrievable.
- Waiting until you get to the end of the Gungeon Proper and then getting the television can save some hassle.
- One strategy is to skip the Hollow entirely using the elevator shortcut to the Forge accessible in the Resourceful Rat's Lair after collecting at least one special rat key from the punch out fight (see Resourceful Rat)
Story[ | ]
The Robot was an honored member of the killbot army. When commanded by its master, EMP-R0R to kill the leader of the human resistance, it broke protocol, failing to eliminate humanity.
Past Kill[ | ]
If the Bullet That Can Kill The Past is used on The Robot, it will be brought back to the Emperor's Arena. Instead of breaking protocol, it successfully eliminates The Last Human. With its purpose fulfilled, it is powered down. This unlocks Chest Teleporter and Robot's Left Hand.
Strategy[ | ]
The Robot is a unique Gungeoneer due to its armor-as-health gimmick: it starts off with the equivalent of 3 heart containers worth of armor, and cannot gain health containers or pick up health at all. This has its own perks and drawbacks: on one hand, the armor gives the Robot a free blank effect every time it is hit, giving it instant breathing room and making it more likely for the player to find Secret Rooms. It also negates the full heart of damage that jammed enemies usually deal, allowing it to fare better during runs with high curse. On the other hand, armor is completely lost upon hit unlike hearts, and armor pieces are harder to find compared to heart pieces; this usually results in the player having to spend casings in the shop to recover hit points. This makes it likely for players to have insufficient funds for quests as the run progresses, such as those for shortcuts or the Resourceful Rat's Lair. Note that this has been fixed somewhat as of the Advanced Gungeons & Draguns Update, as any item that would usually give it a health upgrade (apart from the Master Rounds, which grant one armor) will give a small amount of , making it slightly easier to purchase extra armor or other items. Due to the Robot technically having zero health, some items will work differently for it than for other Gungeoneers. For example, Riddle of Lead will always give it a 50% chance to negate damage, but Blasphemy will never shoot sword beams.
The Robot also has another perk: every piece of Junk gives it a small 5% damage increase. This turns a usually pointless item into a useful commodity, as chests that the player deems useless or unopenable can be destroyed and still grant the Robot's guns a gradual damage boost. Indeed, it is sometimes wiser to destroy chests (especially those of lower quality) in the hopes of getting Junk instead of purchasing a key to open it, as the money could then be used to purchase armor instead. This damage buff is especially useful due to the Robot's starter gun, the Robot's Right Hand, which is commonly considered one of the best starting guns due to its dependable damage, firing speed and reload time, alongside its substantial clip size and accuracy; with enough junk, the Robot can sustain itself with just its starter weapon as a room clearer. Finally, Battery Bullets gives all of the Robot's guns double accuracy and makes it completely immune to electrified water; Coolant Leak also acts as a pseudo Molotov that the Robot can simply walk over with impunity while firing at enemies, and gives it guaranteed access to the fireplace secret in the first chamber.
Overall, the Robot is best used in the hands of players that can use its tools to the fullest capacity while being hit as little as possible: its strong starting gun, armor and junk gimmick are excellent tools that can substantially boost the Robot's effectiveness as the run progresses, though any lost hit points are likely to stack up against the player compared to the other Gungeoneers. It can essentially be considered a "glass cannon" of the playable characters, as it has many perks that can quickly turn sour if the user is careless.
Notes[ | ]
- If Blasphemy is acquired as Robot, it will not fire projectiles as The Robot is technically never at full health.
- The Robot deals 1 more damage with the Flame Hand than other characters, implying it has a higher intelligence modifier and therefore, higher intelligence.
- Due to all non-rainbow chests being impossible to open in Rainbow Mode, it makes sense to destroy them instead. Besides the occasional pickup, this ends up giving you a lot of Junk. Consequently, the Robot excels in completing rainbow mode, as the 5% damage boosts will build up over the entirety of your junking spree. Its relatively strong starter weapon also means the player can pick an item instead of a weapon on the first floor.
- The Robot's alternate costume is a Skeleton.
- The alternate style of Robot's Right Hand is a skull.
- While using the robot's alternate skin, it is possible to fly by spinning and moving, as the game calculates falling based on when the character's sprite touches the ground.
- The Robot can't sell its health to the Vampire. As it technically has zero hearts, the Vampire will refuse to trade and say the Robot hungers as much as she does, a quote she tells other Gungeoneers at low health.
- Patches and Mendy are unable to heal the Robot, and to compensate will give it a Bottle, Armor, or Junk, for free.
- In Exit the Gungeon, if the Robot has less than 6 armor they will be restored to 6. It is unknown what will happen if they have more than 6 armor.
- Using a Peace Shrine as the Robot consumes the active gun with no benefit.
- As of A Farewell to Arms update, the Robot can use shrines that consume a heart container by losing two Armor.
- Some effects from the Dice Shrine which affect health, like Bolstered, don't affect The Robot.
- The Robot cannot access the Hall of Knowledge because it is boarded off.
- Unlike the other Gungeoneers, the robot falls into the Gungeon rather than descending down the staircase. If wearing its alternate costume, however, it enters normally.
- Spice won't take any armor from The Robot, only giving curse and lower accuracy, making it a very powerful item.
- Unlike other characters, the armor given from a Master Round will not be removed upon dropping the Master Round. This allows The Robot access to the R&G Dept. without any loss in health.
Unlock Dialogue[ | ]
When speaking to the Blacksmith In the Forge:
- "That television! There's something about it... May I have it?"
- Blacksmith
- "Thank you. One moment..."
- The Robot
- "[][][][][][][][][]^{}***!" (Teleports away)
- Blacksmith
- "I guess he had somewhere to be?"
Trivia[ | ]
- Nicknames that NPCs refer to the Robot as include:
- Machine
- Automaton
- Android
- Mechano-man
- Can-opener
- Robert
- Number 4
- Colonel Klink
- Toaster
- Metal Head
- Prior to patch 1.0.7, The Robot didn't get any armor from picking up Master Rounds.
- Prior to the Advanced Gungeons & Draguns Update, The Robot did not get from items that grant heart containers.
- The nickname "Colonel Klink" is possibly a reference to the old American television show, Hogan's Heroes, where Colonel Klink fits in the role of an oblivious colonel at a WWII camp.
- The nickname "Number 4" is possibly a reference to the movie Short Circuit, where the main character is named Number 5.
- The Robot's starting gun is called "Robot's Right Hand"; however, the art for the boss versus screen shows it readying its left hand, and not its right. This could be an implication that The Robot has swapped hands as to keep firing with its dominant hand, but is most likely just so that the rest of The Robot's body can be easily seen, as it would be covered by its right arm if it was instead extended.
- The Robot's past and alternate costume are references to the Terminator franchise.
- The minions summoned by the Last Human resemble the T-800 Terminators.
- The beginning of The Robot's past where it boots up is the same as the T-800 Terminator boot-up, with the red screen and systems activating.
- The soundtrack of The Robot's past is inspired by the Main Title theme of Terminator 2, the most famous theme of the franchise.
- EMP-R0R's appearance is a reference to Hal 9000.
- The arena's walls are filled with references to various franchises and games including (but not limited to):
- A drawing of Mettaton from the game Undertale.
- "Bots don't shiv" is a reference to the phrase "I don't shiv" from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
- A drawing of a Reaper from the game Mass Effect
- A drawing that refers to a jailbot of Superjail!.
- A drawing of the "Robotology" religion symbol from Futurama.
- A drawing of a Cylon from the Battlestar Galactica franchise.
- A pair of drawings of Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot from Mystery Science Theater 3000.
- A pair of drawings of Atlas and P-Body from the game Portal 2.
- A drawing of an E Tank from the Megaman franchise.
- Eight empty squares surrounding a "W" in the center, referencing the stage select screens from the Megaman franchise.
- The robot sitting beside EMP-R0R resembles a sentinel from the Matrix franchise.
- The minions of the Last Human turn into critters upon death. This is a reference to the Sonic franchise, although ironic considering the source material.
- The other robots talk to each other using the word 'ye'. This is a reference to Futurama.
- Next to EMP-R0R stands a device resembling a hookah except with a plug, a reference to the act of "jacking on" from Futurama.
- EMP-R0R's pose and Roman styling may be a reference to Hedonismbot from Futurama.
- According to the Ammonomicon entry for Robot's Left Hand, the Robot, as well as most other robots, is left-handed. This is also signaled by Robot's Left Hand being much more powerful than Robot's Right Hand.
- The Robot's face is made of keyboard symbols.
- If the player some how manages to get up to where the EMP-ROR is, attempting to talk to it will result in it saying the Dialogue it normally says after killing the Last Human.
- For some odd reason, in the PlayStation port of ETG, The Robot's alternate costume will go off-center and crop off a bit of the sprite on the right, usually during movements to the left.