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The Paradox Icon (Semi-Final Version)

The Paradox is a Gungeoneer added in the A Farewell to Arms Update. It costs 5 Hegemony Credit to play, and has no past. The Paradox starts with a random starting sidearm from the other gungeoneers (excluding the Slinger), as well as another random gun and a random passive item.

How to Unlock[ | ]

The method to unlock the Paradox can only be accessed after killing at least one Past. In the Gungeon Proper, Black Powder Mine and the Hollow, there is a 20% chance that a cosmic rift will appear in a random room, which the player can walk into and interact with to receive a paradox effect. Killing the character's past (Or killing the Lich if their past is already killed, otherwise it won't unlock) with the effect active will unlock The Paradox.

Multiple cosmic rifts can appear in one run, and they can also appear during a Rainbow Run.

Saving and quitting the game will no longer remove the effect as it did previously. Dying and respawning with a Clone will also retain the effect.

Notes[ | ]

  • Until the Gunslinger is unlocked, it is impossible to reach the Gun That Can Kill The Past with the Paradox. Although the entrance to Bullet Hell will be closed, the Lich will always grab the Paradox as they walk past and bring them to the next chamber unless Bullet Hell has not been unlocked by killing the past of the main 4 Gungeoneers.
    • Once the Gunslinger is unlocked, the entrance to Bullet Hell is open as normal and the Gun That Can Kill The Past is accessible.
    • However, if Bullet Hell has not been unlocked, then the Paradox is forced to end the run with the Gun That Can Kill The Past, as the Lich will not pull the Paradox into Bullet Hell. The credits will show as if using the Gun That Can Kill The Past without the Bullet That Can Kill The Past.
    • The Paradox can also reach the Gun That Can Kill The Past during a Bless run. This means that unlocking the Gunslinger is not possible during bless runs.
  • The Paradox cannot take the Bullet That Can Kill The Past.
  • The Paradox can start with a starting weapon from a Gungeoneer that has not been unlocked yet, such as Robot's Right Hand.
    • It is also possible to get a weapon skin that has not been unlocked yet.
  • In versions prior to v2.1.6, The Paradox can start with the Old Crest.
  • In versions prior to v2.1.5, The Paradox can start with the Bullet That Can Kill The Past.
  • Rifts can appear in Shortcuts.
  • The Paradox is necessary to unlock The Gunslinger.
  • The Paradox's appearance changes to a random Gungeoneer and outfit every time they dodge-roll, flip a table, or roll a barrel.
    • It is likely that the unused character Eevee was made to prototype this behavior.
      • While forcing the game to select Paradox as a character through modded clients, the name Eevee itself is used in place of Paradox, which supports this theory.
    • Sliding over a table does not change the appearance of The Paradox.
    • If The Paradox picks up an item that changes their appearance (e.g. Clown Mask), that appearance will be added to the pool of outfits they can change into.
  • The Paradox uses the sprite of all other Gungeoneers with the same shadowy filter when fighting the Resourceful Rat.
    • If the Paradox has low health during the Resourceful Rat's third phase, their avatar will constantly "glitch" between all other Gungeoneer's avatars and a blue screen of death.
  • The items the Paradox has are chosen when you select the character. You can check what guns they have in the Breach, but the item will not appear until the run starts.
    • If you are given a cursed gun when selecting the Paradox, the curse animation will play over them while you are still in the Breach.
  • Quick Restarting from the menu will start the new run as the player's selected default character if they don't have enough Hegemony Credit.
  • Playing in Co-op will cause The Cultist to have a randomized loadout different to the one The Paradox has.
    • If doing a quick restart, The Cultist and the Paradox will have identical loadouts.
  • If The Paradox respawns with Clone, they will not obtain another item.
  • If the Bullet That Can Kill The Past is acquired through any means, such as cheating, it will still have no effect when the player uses the Gun That Can Kill The Past.
  • If The Paradox spawns with the Gunknight Armor, Gunknight Helmet, Gunknight Gauntlet, or Gunknight Greaves, The Paradox will start with two shields instead of one. This is because you obtain these items in the breach, which is chamber 0 in the game code.
  • If you kill the Lich while in Rainbow Mode, and you don't have Gunslinger unlocked, you will start as Gunslinger from the beginning to unlock them, but the Rainbow mode will still be active.
  • Playing The Paradox with a blessing will not carry over onto the Gunslinger.
  • Killing the Lich as The Paradox without having unlocked Gunslinger does not count as an actual Lich kill, and will not add his respective entry to the Ammonomicon nor will it unlock his respective unlockables.
  • It is unlikely but not impossible for The Paradox to spawn with a synergy between its gun and its item.

Bugs[ | ]

  • For some unknown reason, for some players The Paradox might not even have the glitching effect when playing them, instead it will just roll through the Gungeoneers and their alternate skins when rolling or interacting with something like usual.
  • While playing as the Paradox, skipping a chamber can sometimes result in the Paradox not starting out with a passive item.
  • In Co-op mode:
    • If the Paradox drops their starter item and then dies, they'll be given another starter item, the same one they started out with. The Cultist can pick up the duplicated starter items and possibly stack its power.
    • Using the Save Button resets both players' loadouts. If either dies, they will respawn with a new starter item and weapon and drop their old ones. This enables one player to collect multiple starter guns.
    • If either player dies while Riddle of Lead is in their loadout, their ghost's health will be restored by its healing effect. This makes them unable to be revived. If the other player dies, both players continue to play as a ghost at the same time. In this state the game cannot be lost but is very prone to becoming softlocked.
      • If any of the players die with an item that increases heart containers, the killed player will never be revived. All chests that are opened from the remaining player will play the revival animation on them and recover their health. This can be fixed by saving and exiting to the next floor which will cause the killed player to be revived with less than full health, drop the item and sometimes their starting gun if killed again, and switch to a new starter item. This works if the killed player is the Paradox.
  • If Macho Brace gets activated by a dodge roll, but a shot is not fired before the time limit, then the glow will not fade away (the actual damage increase will still disappear however). This can be fixed by activating Macho Brace again and firing a shot before the time limit.
  • If you switch to The Paradox during a run using the Mod The Gungeon command console, you will not be charged credits to play the character.
    • The screen will be all black apart from the gun, map, health, shells, keys, and blank GUIs. This can be fixed by pausing and returning to the game.
    • The map icon and will not be changed.
    • You will have to use the command 'character eevee' rather than 'character paradox'

Trivia[ | ]

  • Nicknames that NPCs refer to the Paradox as include:
    • Whatever you are
    • Time blob
    • Glitch
    • Temporal horror
    • Purple ghost
  • On Switch, when changing controller while playing as The Paradox, the character name will instead appear as STRING_NOT_FOUND.
  • Although the Blacksmith will speak with the Paradox, they will not give them the Bullet That Can Kill The Past.

Gallery[ | ]

See also[ | ]

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