Ammonomicon

This article is about the ingame lore codex from Enter the Gungeon. For its digitised replacement in Exit the Gungeon, see Diginomicon.

The Ammonomicon is a magical book that appears in Enter the Gungeon, and serves as the players primary repository of information on the guns, items, enemies, and bosses that they will encounter while traversing The Gungeons chambers. As an in-universe item, the Ammonomicon serves a similar purpose to Gungeoneers seeking to plunder the Gungeon for its treasures.

Layout

The Ammonomicon is comprised of several tabs, each denoting a different section. The left page of the Ammonomicon consists of different indexes displaying enemies, guns, items, etc, while the right page shows an image and description of items selected on the left page.

• If the player ended their run in victory rather than death, the Killed By field on the end page of the Ammonomicon will read Nobody. You did great!.
• In co-op mode, the end page of the Ammonomicon will display additional tallies showing how many times each player perished during the run.

Equipment	This tab shows all the items and guns held by the Gungeoneer during their current run in the Gungeon. It serves as a quick reference index to swiftly find and examine descriptions of held items and guns.
Guns	This tab shows a scrolling list of nearly every gun in Enter the Gungeon, starting with the starter guns of various Gungeoneers. Guns that have not been unlocked will appear as a question mark symbol, while guns that have been unlocked but never touched will be grayed out. The descriptions of Guns can only be accessed once they have been picked up at least once.
Items	This tab shows a scrolling list of nearly every item in Enter the Gungeon, both passive and active. Some pickups such as Blanks and Hegemony Credits are also documented here. Items that have not been unlocked will appear as a question mark symbol, while items that have been unlocked but never touched will be grayed out. The descriptions of Items can only be accessed once they have been picked up at least once.
Enemies	This tab shows a scrolling list of most common enemies in Enter the Gungeon, including minibosses. Most enemies only appear here once they have been slain at least once, although some invulnerable foes such as Dead Blows and the Lord of the Jammed need only be encountered for their entry to be unlocked.
Bosses	This tab shows a scrolling list of most bosses in Enter the Gungeon, represented by special miniature icons unique to the Ammonomicon. Bosses only appear here once they have been defeated at least once. The only bosses absent from this section are Agunim and Cam Clarke as Agunim.
Death	The most info-rich of the Ammonomicons tabs, this tab is only available after a run has ended- either in victory or in death. It displays what Gungeoneer the player is using, what location they perished/succeeded in, how long the current run was played, how much they accumulated, how many enemies they had slain, the name of their killer, the items and guns they possessed, and the number of times they have perished on the current save file. This tab is unique in that it takes up both the left and right pages of the Ammonomicon, and does not allow the player to open any item or gun descriptions.

Lore and Symbolism

The exact nature of the Ammonomicon is unclear. It seems to be a self-updating tome of information collected by Gungeoneers throughout their explorations. It is implied that each Gungeoneer possesses a copy of the book.

The very first time on a save file that the Ammonomicon is opened, it will display a longer opening animation- its cover gleaming with golden light and revealing a number of hidden symbols within the chambers of the large embossed cylinder. These symbols are;

• A skull atop a pyramid, which resembles the design of The Gungeon in Pre-Alpha versions of Enter the Gungeon, and is used in various places as a symbolic representation of the Gungeon.
• A crescent moon, symbolism unclear
• A skull, likely symbolizing death and the danger to be found within The Gungeon
• Three dots arranged in a triangle, symbolism unclear. May be related to the 'therefore sign' (∴) used in logical discussions of causality, or an abbreviation symbol used in Freemasonry.
• An Infinity Symbol, likely representing the infinite nature of life within the Gungeon, unable to die or leave.
• In inverted pentacle, possibly representing the various forms of unholy evil within the Gungeon.

In the center of these symbols is a snake eating its own tail, coiled around an hourglass. The snake eating its own tail is an ouroboros, a symbol of infinitely repeating cycles- particularly life, death, and rebirth. The eternal cycle of death and life a Gungeoneer may encounter within the Gungeon is likely represented in this ouroboros. The ouroboros coiling around an hourglass may represent how this cycle is related to the manipulation of time itself, forever being sent back by The Gun and allowed to die and live again.

The Ammonomicon description of the unused Dread Book enemy states that the Dread Book is made out of a copy of the Ammonomicon which previously belonged to a fallen Gungeoneer. Since the Dread Book is unused, this information is of debatable canonicity.

Physical Version

The Physical Ammonomicon is a real-world version of the Ammonomicon produced as limited edition Enter the Gungeon merchandise. As part of a collaboration between Dodge Roll and (now defunct) Special Reserve Games, only 3500 physical ammonomicons were ever printed, going on sale in November 2018. The book contains the Ammonomicon entries of all guns, items, enemies, and bosses up to and including the Advanced Gungeons & Draguns Update. As the book was released before A Farewell to Arms, content from that update is not included.

In addition to the ingame item descriptions, the Ammonomicon also contains 'doodles' in its margins, drawn by various members of the Dodge Roll team. These range from humorous caricatures to subtle hints to the lore of Enter the Gungeon. Cataloguing every doodle on this page would be futile, however pages for individual items and guns may note the sketches that accompany their physical Ammonomicon entry, and link here.

Notes

• Ammonomicon copy 666 is personally owned by Dodge Roll lead designer Dave Crooks.
• According to Dave Crooks, a physical print of the Ammonomicon was always at the forefront of internal discussions regarding Enter the Gungeon physical merchandise, however it was a difficult prospect and impractical without the assistance of Special Reserve Games.
• According to Crooks, a leather-bound re-release of the Physical Ammonomicon has been considered. This consideration has not led to anything publicly as of 14/12/2024.

Gallery

• 

  Ammonomicon copy 666, owned by Dave Crooks

Unused and Cut Content

• There are several unused tabs for the Ammonomicon, either lingering in the assets of Enter the Gungeon or spoken about publicly by Dodge Roll;
  • Synergies Tab - According to Dave Crooks, a tab in the Ammonomicon dedicated to Synergies was considered for a time, but was ultimately scrapped due to the impracticality and scale of the undertaking.
• Despite the Ammonomicon being replaced by the Diginomicon in Exit the Gungeon, an icon for the Ammonomicon still exists in Exit the Gungeons assets.

Notes

• Instead of being conventionally opened, the player appears to shoot the Ammonomicon open every time they access it.
• The name Ammonomicon is a portmanteau of the words ammo and Necronomicon. The Necronomicon is a famous tome of forbidden knowledge which was first written about in the works of H. P. Lovecraft, and has been referenced in innumerable works of fiction in the years since.
  • The name Necronomicon is composed of the Greek words nekros (dead) and nomos (law). It has variously been translated as meaning "Book of the names of the dead", "Book of the laws of the dead", "Book of dead names" or "Knower of the laws of the dead".
  • Following the same proposed translations of necronomicon, ammonomicon may be translated as "Book of the Laws of Ammo" or "Book of the names of Ammo".

Gallery

• 

  An icon of the Ammonomicon from the assets of Exit the Gungeon, likely unused
• 

  The dedicated Ammonomicon UI button in the Chinese Mobile Version of ETG^CMV

See Also

• Gungear