Summary
Gunfire Rebornis an FPS roguelite RPG where players battle through random levels and fight bosses in single-player or with up to four players in online co-op. Including DLC, the game currently features ten playable characters. With the broad variety of the roster, it can be hard for those still new to the game to pick one to focus on, especially when playing with a group.
What makes it so hard to pick a hero is the fact that each one is made up of several layers; their ascension perks, their stats, and their abilities. All of these aspects need to be learned to use each hero successfully, so picking the right one to sink hours into is no small feat, especially for those looking to beat the game quickly.
Updated July 04, 2025, by Mehrdad Khayyat:Four years after its launch, Gunfire Reborn still remains one of the most enjoyable roguelike shooters with co-op support, offering fast-paced gunplay with a purely addictive progression system that encourages players to come back for more.
The game has received a few more DLCs since its release, each introducing new heroes to the game. Currently, there are 12 heroes in Gunfire Reborn, each one offering a different playstyle with unique abilities and skills.
12Xing Zhe
The Buff Monkey Master
ThisGunfire Reborncharacter mainly focuses on buffing his abilities (Soul Strike or Essence Chain) and weapons. Xing Zhe’s primary ability (Soul Strike) releases a projectile that creates a clone of himself, striking enemies within a 10m radius. Soul Strike’sdamage depends on the currently equipped weapon(and Ascension skills). For example, having a Launcher equipped will transform every Soul Strike hit into an explosive one, while using a shotgun will add an extra three projectiles.
Unfortunately, despite Xing Zhe having lots of potential as a damage dealer, his damage depends highly on the weapon used. Players that want to do well with this character will have to use Launchers, whicharen’t the most effective weapons to use in the late-game. Xing Zherequires a specific buildto shine in normal gameplay (similar to Qing Yan), making him weaker than most charactersin the game.
Tips For Co-Op
Xing Zhe works fairly well in co-op, especially when paired with more reliable, consistent damage dealers. Since players can revive each other in online co-op, the rest of the team can carry Xing Zhe until he gets hold of a solid weapon. This makes Xing Zhe much less of a risk, though it does mean that the rest of the team will have to carry him through the early game.
11Ao Bai
The Dual-Wielding Dog
Ao Bai isone of the tankiest heroesinGunfire Reborn, which means players can soak up a lot of damage without worrying about dying. But the problem with most tank-like characters inGunfire Rebornis that they often suffer fromlow damage output, making Ao Bai a poor choice for players looking to complete the game solo. Furthermore, Ao Bai hasone of the lowest Shield stats, so despite having a lot of HP, he loses it faster than most heroes.
Ao Bai does have a few skills that make up for his lack of damage. For example, his primary ability allows him todual-wield any weapon(similar to theGunzerker fromBorderlands 2) anddeal explosive damageto enemies, but this skill must be used carefully as theseexplosions also damage the player. Overall, Ao Bai is a useful hero to use with other players, butfalls short if played alone.
Because Ao Bai is such a competent tank, he’s a great addition to any co-op team. Ao Bai is perfect for front-lining a team, tanking damage, and dealing with weaker enemies with his AOE ability, “Explosive Grenade”. However, players must ensure they bring a reliable DPS to counteract Ao Bai’s typically low damage.
10Momo
The Elusive Master Of Ink
Momo is one of the attack-focused heroes in Gunfire Reborn who comes with significant mobility abilities, allowing him to deal damage even when he is not firing. Momo has a passive skill that allows him to deal 75 Ink Damage using a ring of aura around him. This damaging passive still remains available when the hero uses his Ink Form, the primary ability that turns Momo into a significantly quick spirit who can traverse quickly around the enemies and deal special Ink Splash damage to them, on top of the ring damage.
That being said, Momo loses access to his weapon when using the Ink Form, but if the player uses an auto-firing weapon, the gun will still keep firing during the Ink Form, giving Momo yet another source of damage during his 16-second Ink Form movement.
When playing with other players, Momo can come in handy as a great crowd-control hero. It’s best to pair him with melee-focused or Shield-heavy heroes as they can pick up the 1v1 fights while Momo uses his ability to stagger the enemies and make the fight easier for other players.
9Zi Xiao
The Occult Owl
Zi Xiao’s main strategy is to use luck toimprove the effects of his skillsand improve his weapons.This can have really powerful effects, especially when combined with his abilities “Falling Star” and “Astroforecast”, and his ascensions also help with this.
However, due to the fact that Xiaorelies heavily on “Occult Scrolls”, he is extremelyweak early on, especially without ascensions. This makes the early game harder when using Xiao, making hima relatively difficult character, especially for beginners.
Similarly to Xing Zhe, Xiao is a brilliant pick for cooperative runs inGunfire Reborn. This is because Xiao is a slow-scaling character that, as mentioned, relies heavily on finding Occult Scrolls. If players build around protecting and carrying Xiao, they can easily carry the team into the late game.
8Lei Lou
The Thunder Tiger
Fatal Current and Chain Lightning are twopowerful AOE abilitiesLei Louhas that can wreak havoc on hordes of enemies, making them the ideal room clearer. Fatal Current also boosts Lei Lou’s Movement Speed and Shield Recovery Rate, both of which are essential in some levels ofGunfire Reborn. Lei Lou’s secondary ability, Chain Lighting, not only affects several enemies at once but also boosts the damage of their shots.
However, Lei Lou hasvery low Health and Shield pools, making them a relatively unforgiving character to play, especially in single-player, and whilesome Occult Scrolls can mitigatethat downside, they can only boost it so much. Overall, Lei Lou isa powerful glass cannonwho’s too squishy to use at higher levels butexcels in the early stages of a run.
Because of Lei Lou’s aforementioned low Health and Shield stats, they can be taken down fairly quickly. However, in online co-op, this glass cannon is much more powerful, as players can always revive them if they go down. Furthermore, Lei Lou is great in the early game, making them perfect for teams with slow-scaling heroes.
7Qian Sui
The Brawler
Players who like getting up close to enemies will enjoy using Qian Sui, as he’s arguablythe best close-quarters hero inGunfire Reborn. His secondary ability, Striking Punch, punches enemies with a powerful force that can push or knock them back. On top of that, his primary ability also allows Qian Sui to create a barrier that makes himimmune to damage for a short time. This ability also boosts his Movement Speed and enables him to hurtle enemies.
However, players need to remain in front of enemies to make full use of Qian Sui’s ability.A significant downsideof his primary ability is that it reduces theplayer’s field of vision,exposing them to being attacked from the sides or behind. These two reasons prevent Qian Sui from being a truly powerful hero, though he remainsuseful as a support characterin co-op.
As mentioned above, one of Qian Sui’s most significant weaknesses is the reduction of his FOV when using his primary ability. However, this downside is mostly alleviated when playing in online co-op, especially when playing with players who communicate effectively. This is due to the fact that players can easily cover Qian Sui’s blind spots as he uses his primary ability, making him much more powerful as part of a team.
6Crown Prince
The Alchemist
Crown Prince was the first playable hero released forGunfire Rebornand continues to be a top pick for players. The Crown Prince isthe ideal hero for using Elemental Weapons,since he applies Decay on them and allows them to shoot two different elements. Furthermore, his Smoke Grenade and Energy Orb skills can clear several enemies simultaneously in a large radius.
Unfortunately, the main issue with using Crown Prince is that he hasone of the lowest Movement Speed stats, making it harder for players to avoid enemy damage. Players can boost their Movement Speed by allocating points to their Ascension Tree (a prominent feature in most rogue-lite RPGs), but if built to focus on his elemental buffs, like Wildfire and Elemental Rage, Crown Prince can becomean extremely powerful hero.
The Crown Prince is a great pick for beginners toGunfire Reborn, but he also has his uses in an experienced team. For teams lacking in area-of-effect and crowd-control abilities, the Crown Prince is a great choice.
5Lyn
Fast And Shield-Heavy From Frozen Lands
Lyn might be a little bit overwhelming for a newcomer toGunfire Reborn, as she really shows her true power when the abilities are used in conjunction with each other to deliver the maximum effectiveness.
Known as Weak Spots, Lyn’s first passive ability allows her to get yellow highlights on enemy body parts, which indicate the weak spots of the target, and aiming at those spots will deal critical damage. So, it’s pretty obvious that Lyn players should be good at aiming so that they can be effective with the hero.
The second passive is a result of successfully landing a critical shot, which has a chance of Unbalancing the enemy. An unbalanced enemy is more like a stunned enemy, as their movement and attacks get disrupted for a brief period. Lyn is slightly faster than most other heroes in the game and she has a few good Ascensions to control the chaotic scenes in the battlefield.
It’s great to have heroes along Lyn that can deal damage to multiple targets simultaneously. Although Lyn’s frost grenades have significant AOE, but she still is not a master of crowd control and works best when focusing on single targets.
4Qing Yan
The Ninja Bird
Qing Yan is the only playable hero inGunfire Rebornwho doesn’t have a Shield; instead, they have Armor, which doesn’t recharge but can be recovered by using Qing Yan’s primary ability, Leap, which alsoprovides players with a good movement option and source of damage. Players can also upgrade Leap to reduce its cooldown, allowing Qing Yan to recover his Armor faster.
On top of that, his secondary ability deliversa powerful melee attack within long range. However,players will need to play aggressivelyif they want to use Qing Yan at his full potential, so it’s best to use them only after learning the basics of the game, sinceplaying aggressively can often lead to taking more damage if players are inexperienced.
Because Qing Yan is such an agile character, they’re perfect in online co-op for assassinating enemy snipers. This ability to leap across the arena and take out high-threat enemies makes Qing Yan a consistently useful teammate in online co-op.
3Nona
The Engineer
Nona is an extremely powerful hero, especially in single-player, as they havea companion that can help greatly in combat. Nona’s play style mostly revolves around coordinating with their companion, Iron Wing (also acting as their primary ability), who can take on two forms: a melee tank that can help to draw enemies away, or a ranged missile turret that can provide covering fire andsuppress larger groups. Nona also has weapon Ascensions that focus on pistols and critical hits.
Despite Nona’s potential power,players must micromanage Iron Wing properly to be successful. Failing to coordinate correctly will often result inNona being left vulnerable and typically dying quicklydue to their low shields. This makes Nonamore difficult to play for new players, as Iron Wing can end up as more of a burden than a help, but once players have mastered how to play Nona, they can be one of the most powerful heroes in the game.
Although Nona is a higher-priority pick for players running through the game in single-player, she’s still a great part of anyGunfire Rebornteam. It could even be argued that, like manyGunfire Rebornheroes, Nona becomes more powerful in online co-op. This is because the vulnerability she would suffer from when failing to micromanage her Iron Wing is negated when part of a team, as her teammates can cover her and allow her to get out of situations she’d otherwise be doomed in.
