Dodge Roll (Move)

The Convict doing a dodge roll to go through some bullets

"You must master the dodge roll if you wish to master the Gungeon." - Ser Manuel

The dodge roll is an ability in Enter the Gungeon, Exit the Gungeon, and Enter the Gungeon: House of the Gundead. It is the prayer of the Gungeoneer, and a necessary maneuver for avoiding the onslaught of projectiles found within The Gungeon.

Enter the Gungeon

A dodge roll is performed by pressing the dodge button (Right Click on Keyboard & Mouse, or LB on a Gamepad by default) while moving in a direction. The total dodge roll lasts about 0.7 seconds, and the player cannot change their movement direction after committing to a roll.

For the first half of the dodge roll, the player is invulnerable to all damage and will not connect with enemy projectiles, while for the second half of the roll the player continues moving but becomes vulnerable to gunfire. This makes the dodge roll an a valuable but inherently risky method of avoiding damage. In order to effectively dodge roll, the player must be aware of their surroundings enough to know whether or not committing to a roll will put them in more danger than they started in. In essence, effective mastery of the dodge roll includes knowing when not to use it.

An unused tutorial graphic showing the vulnerable and invulnerable sections of the dodge roll.

Dodge rolling into an enemy deals 3 damage to them and knocks them back slightly. While the player is immune to contact damage during the first part of their roll, this is extremely risky and often not worth the trouble. The player will take contact damage if they are still touching the enemy during the second part of their roll. The Robot inherently does 4 damage instead of 3 with its dodge rolls, although this different is negligible.
Non-jammed Bullats, Shotgats, and Grenats can be killed with dodge rolls in early chambers as they have 3 or less health. Blobulins and Poisbulins can be killed with dodge rolls regardless of the current chamber, or whether or not they are jammed.

• With keyboard-and-mouse controls the player can only dodge roll in the 8 cardinal directions, while with gamepad controls the player has 360° control of their roll direction using the movement stick.
• Dodge rolling reduces the damage meter of the fire status effect on the player, eventually putting out the fire. This is necessary to avoid burning to death, and is a reference to the common fire safety technique Stop, Drop, and Roll.
• While in the air during a dodge roll, the player is immune to floor hazards such as spikes, goop, or pits.
  • After hitting solid ground during their dodge roll, the player is immune to falling into pits until the dodge roll is fully completed. This is to prevent the player from rolling over one pit, onto a platform, and having their momentum carry them straight into another pit.
• If the player kills an enemy by rolling into them, their momentum will not be affected.
• Dodge rolling interacts in special ways with minecarts found in the Black Powder Mine;
  • Pressing the roll button while inside a minecart without holding a movement direction will cause the player to roll on the spot, while staying in the cart.
  • Pressing the roll button while inside a minecart while holding a movement direction will cause the player to dodge roll out of the cart. Coming into contact with another minecart during this disembarkation roll will cause the player to automatically enter this second minecart.

Sliding

A special type of dodge rolling is known as sliding. Dodge rolling into an unflipped table will cause the player to slide over its surface landing on their feet on the other side. If multiple tables are positioned in a line, they can be slid over in one go. Because the length of a table is usually shorter than the length of a full dodge roll, sliding over a table causes the player to regain control of their movement much quicker than a normal roll.

Sliding over a table deals a small amount of damage to the table, with enough slides destroying the table outright. Attempting to dodge roll again while in the process of sliding over a table will instantly destroy the table and return control to the player- but will not start another roll.

Exit the Gungeon

As Exit the Gungeon is available on a number of different platforms, there are numerous ways to trigger a dodge roll depending on the users platform and input method of choice. For Keyboard and Mouse or Gamepad users, the controls remain mostly the same as in Enter the Gungeon for dodging left and right.

Item Interactions

Damage

• Live Ammo^ETG - Increases dodge roll damage by 500%, to 15 damage per roll (20 for Robot).
• Armor of Thorns^ETG - Increases dodge roll damage by 700%, to 21 damage per roll (28 for Robot).
• Blast Helmet^ETG - Increases dodge roll damage by 300%, to 9 damage per roll (12 for Robot).
• Ruby Bracelet^ETG (Post Upgrade) - Moving constantly without rolling or taking damage for 4 seconds charges up the players dodge roll, indicated by a pink aura. Charged rolls deal 300 damage.

Speed

• Riddle of Lead^ETG - Increases dodge roll speed by 15%.
• Cloranthy Ring^ETG - Increases dodge roll speed by 15.8% and increases the length of time during a dodge roll that the player is invulnerable.
• Sunglasses^ETG - Increases dodge roll speed and distance by 25% in the wake of an explosion.

Other

• Roll Bomb^ETGXTG - Dodge rolling drops a bomb that explodes on a small delay, dealing damage to nearby enemies.
• Macho Brace^ETG - After dodge rolling, the player briefly gains a yellow aura for 0.4 seconds. The first shot fired with this aura will break it, but deal 30% more damage.
• Easy Reload Bullets^ETG - Dodge rolling reloads a single bullet into the magazine of the players currently held gun.
• Bloodied Scarf^ETG - Replaces the dodge roll with an instant teleport blink that functions differently.
• Cat Bullet King Throne^ETG - Dodge rolling shoots bullets in all directions.
• Jetpack^ETG - Prevents dodge rolling while active.
• Busted Television^ETG - Dodge rolling automatically drops the television item onto the ground.
• Springheel Boots^ETG - Dodge rolls can be interrupted by a second, mid-air dodge roll, extending the length and invulnerability time of the roll and allowing the player to alter their trajectory.
• Bug Boots^ETG - Dodge rolling leaves a trail of poison goop underneath the player.
• Gunboots^ETGXTG - Dodge rolling fires a shotgun blast of bullets in the opposite direction of the roll.
• Rolling Eye^ETGXTG - Dodge rolling through enemy bullets reflects them back at their owners.
• Resourceful Sack^ETG - Dodge rolling through enemy bullets destroys them, and gives 1 ammo to the sack.
• Wax Wings^XTG - Replaces the ascending dodge roll with the ability to slow time.

Notes

• In the lore of the Gungeonverse, the dodge roll is a maneuver that should be impossible- rolling into bullets to emerge on the other side unscathed. Despite appearing to roll over the bullets ingame, canonically the bullets actually pass harmlessly through the roller. Several NPCs comment on the miraculous nature of the maneuver.
  • While Ser Manuel claims that the dodge roll only works in The Gungeon, it can be observed working perfectly fine during the events of the past. The Pilot is even able to apply the principles of the dodge roll to maneuvering an entire spaceship.
• The development studio behind the Gungeonverse are so fond of the dodge roll as a game mechanic that they named themselves after it.
• Gun Cultists are capable of employing a dodge roll to escape the players attacks- however their use is clumsy and often little more than an annoyance. The Resourceful Rat also appears to dodge roll when retreating at the end of his first phase.
  • High Gunjurers have animations for an unused dodge roll ability that was never implemented.
  • Prior to his official implementation in the AG&D update, the unused Resourceful Rat boss entity also made heavy use of the dodge roll.
• According to Enter the Gungeon game designer Dave Crooks, the dodge roll was the second core mechanic added to the game- only predated by the ability to shoot.
• The dodge roll is primarily in reference to the mechanic of the same name in the Dark Souls franchise, a famously necessary maneuver to avoid the punishing attacks of enemies in the games. It is also inspired by the 'polarity' mechanic of the game Ikaruga, where the player can change the colour of their ship to become invulnerable to bullets of that same colour.