The Cultist

The Cultist
Face Card
In-Game
Boss Splash Screen
Starter Guns	Dart Gun
Starter Items	Friendship Cookie Number 2
Map Icon:
Death Page:
Voice: coop
In-Game
Boss Splash Screen
Starter Guns	Dart Gun
Starter Items	Banana Jam Hands
Nicknames:	Somebody Some guy Rando Extra Guy next to the protagonistETG Assistant gun user Additional set of hands Filler characterXTG
Aliases:	Mysterious Companion Child of the Gungeon Coopcultist (Internal) Purple guy (Internal)

This article is about the Gungeoneer. For the enemy, see Gun Cultist.

The Cultist is one of the Gungeoneers in the games Enter the Gungeon and Exit the Gungeon. In Enter the Gungeon, they are only accessible as part of the co-op mode. In Enter the Gungeon, NPCs will never refer to this character as 'Cultist', always using either a random nickname or the name Mysterious Companion.

Story

"the cultist was born to be p2" - Dave Crooks

The Cultist is a child of the Gungeon, implied to have been born there. It is suggested that they may wish to obtain the Gun That Can Kill The Past so that an (otherwise unmentioned) sibling takes the blame for spilling grape juice on a couch, however this is never mentioned outside of a hypothetical.

Over the course of accompanying another Gungeoneer through the Gungeon, they slowly grow jealous of the protagonists importance, and are mistreated and demeaned by various NPCs. Eventually, The Cultist decides that they will defeat player one, and take their place in the role of protagonist.

Past Kill^ETG

If The Gun That Can Kill The Past is used on The Cultist, they will be brought back to The Breach earlier that same day. The Cultist will tell the protagonist that they are sick of being referred to as "Number 2" and will then challenge them to a duel over who the game's story will focus on. Two pedestals each carrying a Magnum will have spawned, one behind the protagonist and one behind The Cultist. The two players are then allowed to move around The Breach, pick up a Magnum and fight each other to the death. Each player has 3 hearts and 2 blanks. The Breach is completely devoid of any of the usual NPCs at this time and all doorways, including the entrance to the Gungeon, are blocked off. A few tables are also scattered around, as to provide cover during the fight. If The Cultist wins the duel, they declare themself the hero only to realize that their actions could very well make them the villain.

Regardless of who wins the duel, the Cultist's alternate costume will be unlocked.

Escape Route^XTG

For a more detailed breakdown of each elevator, see; Routes#The Cultist's Route

Like all characters in Exit the Gungeon, the Cultist's escape route up through the Gungeon features a series of unique elevators.

The Forge	The Hollow	Black Powder Mine	Gungeon Proper	Keep of the Lead Lord
Six individual two-layer platforms each carried by a balloon. Falling Arrowkin will periodically pop these balloons and cause the platform to fall until the balloon respawns.	Standard two-level elevator with additional higher platforms. Periodically, a skull will appear and fire a wave of arrows which must be avoided.	A horizontal sidescroller in which the player must navigate through several obstacles while a mechanical wall of sawblades chases them. Touching the sawblades deals damage.	No elevator. The player must climb a series of rickety platforms to keep pace with an auto-scrolling camera.	Same for all characters. A free-moving rocket powered platform which bounces around the elevator shaft.

In The Halls of Knowledge ^XTG

The Cultist
Statistics and Information
Health:	25
Location:	Halls of Knowledge

In Exit the Gungeon, the Cultist appears in a Bullet Kin costume in the Halls of Knowledge, where he acts as an assistant to Ser Manuel. He aids Ser Manuel by demonstrating the dodge roll, and serving as a moving target to be gunned down by the player with the Pea Shooter.

During the brief combat segment, the Cultist is treated as an enemy, meaning that they are targeted by controller auto-aim, and deal contact damage to the player. Despite this, the Cultist makes no attempt to actually attack the player.

If the player enters the Halls of Knowledge and speaks to Ser Manuel while playing as the Cultist, Manuel will refuse to perform the tutorial for them, saying; "Oh... it's you, Cultist. I'm not wasting my time running through this thing again with you. Send one of the others in if they want.".

The Cultist does not have an entry in the Diginomicon.

Unlocks

Enter the Gungeon	Exit the Gungeon
Number 2 Reach the past Sunlight Javelin Reach the past	Banana Jam Hands Exit the Gungeon Broccoli Exit the Gungeon The You Decide (Hat) Defeat the Gloctopus

Skins

Main Page: Skins

Skins are special unlockables that change the appearance of a playable Gungeoneer. In Enter the Gungeon, they are unlocked by killing the Past, meanwhile in Exit the Gungeon they are unlocked by exiting the Gungeon, and purchasing them from Snails. Skins do not change the appearance of the player's map icon, boss splash screen image, or dialogue portrait.

Cultist
Enter the Gungeon Exit the Gungeon
	Game(s): Enter the Gungeon, Exit the Gungeon Interactible:	"What's under that purple robe?" - SnailsNotes The default appearance of the Cultist.

Apple
Enter the Gungeon Exit the Gungeon
	Game(s): Enter the Gungeon, Exit the Gungeon Interactible: Unlock(ETG): Reach the Past. Unlock(XTG): Purchase from Snails for 50.	"You've been working on your core I see." - SnailsNotes Named Apple in Snails' shop in Exit the Gungeon.

Cooltist
	Game(s): Exit the Gungeon Interactible: N/A Unlock: Purchase from Snails for 200 after exiting the Gungeon as The Cultist.	"...whoa. Toughened up finally?" - SnailsNotes Appears to be wearing the Number 2 headband as part of the costume. This is the most expensive skin in Exit the Gungeon.

Other Appearances

The Cultist in the Instruction Booklet, page 12

• The Cultist is the subject of Enter the Gungeon Steam Trading Card 3, titled Cultist.
• The Cultist appears in the animated launch trailer for Enter the Gungeon.
• The sleeve for the 2022 special edition vinyl release of the Enter the Gungeon soundtrack includes an illustration of The Cultist by artist Joseph Harmon.
  • The Cultist also appears in the inside art of the sleeve, again illustrated by Joseph Harmon.
• The Cultist appears in key artwork for the Payday, Advanced Gungeons and Draguns, and A Farewell To Arms Updates, illustrated by Max Grecke.

Notes

• NPCs in The Breach and the Gungeon shopkeepers will refuse to talk to The Cultist, declaring that they will only speak to the protagonist. The full list of rude rebukes is as follows;
  • "Who are you? Go away."
  • "I don't want to talk to a sidekick."
  • "Is that a toy gun? Are you kidding?"
  • "Why are you speaking to me?"
  • "Get out of here, kid."
  • "No one likes you. Don't talk to me."
  • "I'm not here to babysit."
  • "I only want to talk to the protagonist."
• If either player has stolen something, in the Cultist's past, the Cultist may refer to the main character as "thief". This may be a reference to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.
• When entering another Gungeoneer's past, the Cultist will usually only have a Dart Gun. The exceptions to this are the Bullets Past, where the Cultist begins with nothing and will gain a duplicate Wooden Blasphemy at the same time as the Bullet, and the Pilot's Past, where the cultist appears as a purple copy of the Pilot's spaceship.
• In the timefall sequence after using the Gun That Can Kill The Past, the Cultist appears as a tumbling skeleton. This is the default timefall animation for characters who do not have proper sprites for the sequence.
• If the option "Increase Speed When Out Of Combat" is activated, the speed of both players will be increased during the Cultists past. This is because the criteria for being 'out of combat' depends on the presence of enemies, and does not account for pvp combat.
• The guns in the cultists past can run out of ammo, despite the game not showing the ammo counter. If out of ammo, the Magnum can be thrown to deal a half heart of damage. Thrown magnums can be picked back up by either player.
• The Cultist's blanks and armor will carry over into their past, giving them an advantage over the protagonist during the final duel.
• It is possible for one player to take both guns in the past for themselves, rendering the other player defenseless.
• The Cultist cannot begin the speedrun timer. This makes it theoretically possible to beat the game with 0 seconds on the timer if Player 1 can be killed in the first room.
• The only NPC that will not meet the Cultist with a rude dismissal is Winchester when encountered in the Gungeon. If spoken to in the Breach, he will be as flippant as the rest of the NPCs.
• If the Cultist is alive during the Punch-Out phase of the Resourceful Rat bossfight, he will not be able to help, being tied up and helpless next to the bomb.
• ^XTG In the tutorial of Exit the Gungeon, if the player dodge rolls before the Cultist is finished performing their dodge roll demonstraion, the Cultist will stop and begin to cry before teleporting away.
• ^XTG The Cultists boss splash screen portrait appears to show them with purple painted fingernails, and a pentagram on the back of their right hand.
• The Cultist's Dart Gun resembles a purple version of the Nerf "Maverick".
• The Light Gun and 3rd Party Controller are implied to be former possessions of The Cultist.
• The Cultist is likely modelled after the Gun Cultist enemy.

Cut Content

• In the asset files of Enter the Gungeon, there exists a boss splash screen portrait and map icon for the Cultist in grey robes, looking far more like a Gun Cultist enemy and carrying a real gun.
• In Alpha versions of Enter the Gungeon, the Cultist started with the Rusty Sidearm instead of the Dart Gun.
• There are several unused UI text strings related to the Cultist, dating back to a Pre-Alpha period in development where starter Gungeoneer loadout was represented with text rather than images. These various strings suggest that the Cultist's loadout underwent a number of changes throughout development. What these items did, and whether they were early versions of their current loadout or not is unknown.
  • #CHAR_CULTISTPOWER with the value Friendship.
  • #CHAR_CULTISTACTUAL with the value Envious.
  • #CHAR_CULTISTACTUAL2 with the value Sidekick.
  • #CHAR_CULTISTWEAPON with the value Toy Gun. (May be an early name for the Dart Gun)

In Other Media

• The Cultist appears as a cosmetic mask in the game PAYDAY 2, added as part of the Payday 2 Crossover Update. This mask is unlocked by finding five hidden Cultist trophies in the Hoxton Breakout Heist or the Diamond Store Job.
  • Unlocking the Cultist mask also earns the achievement The One Who Declared Himself the Hero.
  • The description of the mask reads "Always being referred to as "Number 2" the Cultist will challenge anyone that gets in his way. Armed with with a Dart Gun, this challenger shouldn't be taken easy!"

Gallery

• 

  The Cultist during the boss splash screen.

• 

  Steam Trading Card

• 

  Steam Trading Card, Full Art

• 

  The Cultist in the launch trailer for Enter the Gungeon.

• 

  The Cultist on the sleeve of the 2022 special edition soundtrack vinyl. Illustration by Joseph Harmon.

• 

  Ditto, on the inside art of the sleeve

• 

  The Cultist in key art for the Payday Update, by Max Grecke

• 

  The Cultists dead body atop an altar in key art for AG&D, by Max Grecke

• 

  The Cultist in key art for A Farewell To Arms, by Max Grecke

In Other Media

• 

  The Cultist mask in PAYDAY 2

• 

  A hidden cultist trophy in PAYDAY 2. Collecting five unlocks the mask, and achievement

• 

  The One Who Declared Himself the Hero achievement in PAYDAY 2

See also

• Gungeoneers