The Paradox
The Paradox is a Gungeoneer in the game Enter the Gungeon. Added in the A Farewell to Arms Update, it costs 5 
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.
The Paradox is part of the unlock method for The Gunslinger. Killing the Lich with the Paradox while the Gunslinger has not yet been unlocked will immediately start a second run as The Gunslinger. Continuing this run and killing The Gunslinger's past will unlock him permanently.
Story
The Paradox is a consequence of the other Gungeoneers recklessly using the Gun That Can Kill The Past, and serves as a physical representation of the temporal paradoxes which would invariably result from carelessly wounding the timestream.
Unlocks
|
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| The Fat Line Defeat the High Dragun |
The Gunslinger Defeat the Lich, and then kill the past on the subsequent run as Gunslinger. |
How to Unlock
If at least one past has been killed, there is a 20% chance that a cosmic rift will appear in a random room on the Gungeon Proper, Black Powder Mine, or Hollow. Interacting with this rift will cause the player to take on the cosmic texture of the paradox. Killing the past or the Lich while coated in this paradox goop will unlock The Paradox.
Notes
- The Paradox's appearance changes to a random Gungeoneer and outfit every time they dodge-roll, flip a table, or roll a barrel.
- 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.
- If Bullet Hell has been unlocked, it is impossible for the Paradox to reach the Gun That Can Kill The Past until they unlock the Gunslinger. While the entrance to Bullet Hell will appear closed, the Lich's hand will always appear and drag the player to hell.
- The Paradox can also reach the Gun That Can Kill The Past during a Blessed run. This means that unlocking the Gunslinger is not possible during blessed runs.
- 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.
- 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.
- Although the Blacksmith will speak with the Paradox, they will not give them the Bullet That Can Kill The Past.
- Quick Restarting from the menu will start the new run as the player's selected default character if they don't have enough .
- 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.
- 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 possible for The Paradox to spawn with a synergy between its gun and its item.
- If the Paradox starts a run from the Breach, and randomly spawns with the Gunknight Armor, Gunknight Helmet, Gunknight Gauntlet, or Gunknight Greaves, they will enter the first chamber with two armor instead of one. This is because travelling from the Breach to the first chamber is considered a level transition.
- Nicknames that NPCs use to refer to the Paradox include:
- Whatever you are
- Time blob
- Glitch
- Temporal horror
- Purple ghost
Trivia
- 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.
- On Switch, when changing controller while playing as The Paradox, the character name will instead appear as STRING_NOT_FOUND.
Bugs
- On Switch, when changing controller while playing as The Paradox, the character name will instead appear as STRING_NOT_FOUND.
- There is a chance for the Paradox to spawn without it's glitch shader.
Co-op Bugs
- 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 likely to become 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.
Gallery
The Paradox costume in-game.
The Paradox's changing avatar in resourceful rats Punchout phase
