Playing a very fast-paced roguelike like Gatekeeper can lead to very interesting results, depending if your skill is up for the challenge, if RNG gives you a variety of good Artifacts, or if you choose the best character there is in the game. Well, let’s rank every single character – or Gatekeeper – in Gatekeeper. Just remember this is all subjective, so don’t you light up those torches yet!
All Gatekeepers ranked from worst to best
Nidum
| Empty Hands | Circular | Cleaver | Ritual | Bloodlust |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nidum’s Faithful Claws. | Nidum clasps his claws together and hurls them, creating a fiery vortex. Damage: 200%. | A dash to the selected point, ending with a fiery burst. Damage: 150%. | Summons 12 crows that randomly select a target within a radius of 40 units and attack it. Damage: 200%. | Any skill damage, with a 10% chance, increases base damage by 10% for 5 seconds stacks up to 5 times. |
Nidum is everything Hybrid isn’t – don’t worry, this will make sense later. A lack of range, a lack of speed, and skills that, while helpful, fail in comparison with the arsenal presented by the rest of the Gatekeepers. If you choose Nidum, then you should worry about picking the best Artifacts that the game can provide since you will need them to counter its slow Circular attack. Moreover, while would you pick Nidum if you have…
Bastion
| Dawnbreaker | Earthshatter | Valiant Charge | Roar | Rising Fury |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two-handed hammer strikes. Damage to stunned enemies: +100%. | Bastion strikes the ground with his hammer, creating a wave of energy around him. | A short dash in the direction of movement, dealing 200% damage to everyone it passes through. | Stuns enemies within a 20 unit radius for 3 seconds. Deals 200% damage. | Every enemy within a radius of 10 units from the Bastion increases its damage by 10%. If the Siren is within the radius, the damage is increased by 100%. |
While I do enjoy the increased health that Bastion carries from the get-go and the Valiant Charge feels great to use, Bastion ultimately becomes an improved version of Nidum, with everything that it may entail. The lack of speed for all of his skills will end up making Bastion a very difficult character to master, but I can see how it can be part of a larger party as a tanky character that can be used as bait.
Echo
| Pulse | Harmonic Explosion | Breach | Consonance | Resonance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selected enemy receives 150% damage, and sound wave blasts around them. The wave deals 100% damage to impacted enemies. | Creates a bubble of concentrated sound that explodes after 2 seconds, dealing 300% damage within a radius of 10 units and pushing enemies away. | Throws a disk that deals 300% damage on contact. Reusing the ability moves Echo to the disk. | Creates a tuning fork. When Pulse is used on it, the tuning fork emits Amplified Pulse. Enemies around it are affected by Resonance. | Enemies affected by Resonance extend the wave from the first skills. |
Echo just fell a bit flat given how restrictive its Pulse ability feels given its distance requirement. However, Consonance will provide a great AoE attack that will combine itself greatly with Resonance. But again, Pulse will not allow you to interact with it as much as you would like, at least at the beginning of your run. You are better off playing Echo given the similarities they both share.
Tech Hunter
| Shotgun | Vacuum | Trace | Onslaught | Hunter’s Luck |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fires a shotgun shell at medium range. Each projectile deals 75% damage. | Throws a grenade that pulls enemies in and deals 450% damage within a radius of 16 units. | Leaves a trail to which returns when reused. Pushes enemies at the point of return. | After 2 seconds, orbital fire starts around the tagged enemy. 460% damage for each hit. 6 hits. | Killing an enemy has a 3% of dropping a random Modifier. |
Mastering all planets and clearing them once – and choosing to rerun the game – will unlock Tech Hunter, a perfect middle ground that provides good ranged attacks while also packing a punch. Hunter’s Luck is perhaps what will provide the most fun out of all Gatekeepers since it will spawn Modifiers from time to time. Trace will also become useful if you are in trouble, allowing you to teleport back to a set point in the map if you find yourself outmatched by your enemies.
Pandora
| Luminary | Emission | Healing Dash | Lightning Conductor | Haunting Luminary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Concentrated light projectiles. | A straight-line impulse, instantly dealing 500% damage. | A dash that creates an area at the destination point, inside which the health of the gatekeepers is restored at 8% per second. Duration 5 seconds. | Creates an area on the ground with a radius of 9 units that slows all enemies down by 50%. It deals 400% damage per second to all targets within the area. The duration is 5 seconds. | Primary attack projectiles have a 25% chance to bounce to a random enemy within 13 units of the target. |
Pandora is a very well-crafted Gatekeeper that provides quite a decent ranged attack with Luminary but also features abilities such as Lightning Conductor and Haunting Luminary that will take care of mobs quite easily. Healing Dash doubles as a dodge skill and a healing one that will certainly counter Pandora’s limited starting health points. If you don’t mind having a slower fire rate with Luminary, then you should definitely give Pandora a chance.
Mediator
| Cranium Scatter | Pain Conduit | Ghostwalk | Harvest | Purification Rite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Throws a projectile that deals 100% damage within a radius of 4 units. On impact, the projectile splits into 3 additional projectiles. | Casts a curse on the selected enemy. Subsequent attacks will deal 80% damage within a radius of 11 units. Lasts for 10 seconds. | Enters an immaterial state for 6 seconds. Any action other than moving takes you out of the immaterial state. | Harvests souls from enemies within a radius of 25 units around the Mediator. Flying Soul deals 400% damage to all impacted enemies. | Certain properties of cursed artifacts become more advantageous for the Mediator. |
Coming in second place, we have the Mediator. While you will have to amass a staggering 60 locations clears in the game – making it the longest unlockable character -, it features several of the best collections of attacks that previous Gatekeepers had like Pain Conduit – area of effect damage increase – and AoE attacks. But what does it for me is the Ghostwalk skill. It will turn the Mediator completely invulnerable for a decent amount of time, allowing you to heal and escape from conflict – which will become a lifesaver skill as long as you activate it on time.
Hybrid
| Shells | Whisper | Blink | External Bios | Replicant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard shot. Every third shot deals 150% damage. | A Wisp that explodes upon impact, dealing 500% damage in an 8-units radius. | Quick dash in the direction of movement. Helps avoid damage | Throws a disc that bounces off the nearest enemies up to 20 times. Damage: 200%. | In the event of death, Hybrid is given a second chance. Works once per run. |
Maybe it is my constant infatuation with the default class in every single game I play, but Hybrid is just flawless. Not only does it feature an array of ranged skills that will elegantly do the job, but your main skill – Shells – has a significantly faster rate of fire than any of the previous Gatekeepers. The External Bios will deal huge amounts of damage when thrown at enemy groups and your Replicant ability will give you a second chance to complete the run if you drop dead. The most balanced and maybe basic skills in the game by far, but they are extremely effective and easy to learn and put into practice.
