Crown of Guns
	Area:	Preloop Vaults
	Pro:	More Weapon Drops
	Con:	No Ammo Drops

Sprites:
Selection	Idle	Walk

Tech

• Enemies give a flat +8% chance to dropping weapons.
• This is a flat increase that includes enemies with a 0% drop rate.
• Select enemies will never drop weapons under any circumstance. These include Maggots, Rad Maggots, Rats, Wolves, Bonefish and Hostile Horror.
• Heavy Heart more than doubles (210%) the chances of a weapon dropping, and will stack on top of the Guns modified drop rate.
• Props are not effected, with the exception of The Throne's generators.
• Giant orb attacks used by Crown Guardians and The Throne can drop weapons, as well as both giant orb attack variants used by Throne 2.
• Ammo pickups will no longer spawn.
• While HP drops are normally converted from ammo drops, they will still spawn as intended.
• If an exit portal opens an ammo chest, it will still spawn two ammo drops as intended.
• Despite that IDPD Chests directly spawn ammo pickups under the player, they still work as intended.
• Lucky Shot will still give ammo as normal, as well as the temporary ammo boost from Last Wish.
• Steroids' Thronebutt and Robot's active/Regurgitate still give ammo as well.
• Fish's Confiscate will not drop ammo chests, as it needs ammo drops to convert from.

Strategy Guide

Crown of Guns is considered to be one of the worst crowns in the game as the loss of ammo drops is severe. The main method of regaining ammo is through weapon drops, however these are random and not reliable - meaning that the player can easily find themselves in a vulnerable position without any ammo.

The main workaround for the lack of ammo drops will be to run one ammoless melee. While damage output may inevitably be lower, this can be done to avoid any situations where the player is out of ammo completely.

Preloop will see new weapons being added to the drop pool with each new area, so weapons can constantly be swapped out for other ones and viewed as temporary. Any weapon with high ammo consumption will be unviable for the long haul, but the player can temporarily pick it up for the duration of a level to clear it out, swapping back to another weapon before progressing. An ideal loadout would be a decently strong ammoless melee to chip away at most enemies, and a weapon with reliable damage to handle bosses.

If trying to unlock Crown of Guns it's recommended to only take the crown upon entering the 5-2 vault rather than 3-2, in order to minimize levels having to use it for.

The Throne fight will be a particularly tricky roadblock due to the lack of ammo drops, so be prepared for a longer fight. Generators and orb attacks both can drop weapons; so quickly swapping to freshly dropped weapons and exhausting their ammo can speed the fight up. If not directly in front of the Throne (such as where the generators are), the Throne will spam its giant orb attack - while risky, the player could momentarily stand there to ensure orb attacks for more drops.

Throne II will similarly always be a difficult roadblock if looping. The orb attacks can also drop weapons but only if they are directly over ground where the player can stand. Constantly following Throne II may cause its attacks to be always right outside of this, so staying at a medium range is suggested when lacking weapons to use. Patience is the name of the game for both of these fights.

Loop is where Crown of Guns can become particularly frustrating to play with, especially without an amazing mutation build. Gameplay may slow down substantially compared to a normal run as the lack of ammo is very noticeable - either the player can hold on to a reliable weapon hoping for weapon drops to recharge its ammo, or constantly be swapping their secondary weapon out which may include suboptimal choices. Some ammoless melee, while decent, will struggle heavily against bosses and elite IDPD spawns without a proper secondary weapon.

Labs can be farmed at any point if wanting to get a desired weapon drop. Freaks can repeatedly be killed and then revived again, and while they will only have the flat 8% chance of dropping a weapon, most melee can reliably kill multiple at a time.

As for meta play (loops 3+), the run will be primarily carried by Ultra Shovel as the ammoless melee. SPC may struggle in viability due to the amount of ammo needed to fire it again,, which is especially a problem during boss fights. For this reason changing out secondary weapons can be worth it for weaker characters, though some can slightly offset the ammo loss as listed below.

Character/Mutation Notes:

• Lucky Shot is higher priority mutation, even if it gives an ammo type randomly.
• Heavy Heart synergizes well with Crown of Guns but requires extra mutations to be taken. Best for fun builds.
• Open Mind is very useful for preloop runs trying to unlock the crown; overshadowed by most other choices by loop.
• Pairing Scarier Face with Gamma Guts can help preserve ammo and gives decent defense, especially for preloop.
• On a smaller note, Back Muscle can help have ammo saved up for more dangerous levels, but is much more limited than normal runs.
• Robot is the best character for Guns as they can eat excess weapon drops for ammo. Both ultras work well here.
• Fish with Gun Warrant is also great at counteracting Guns downside for most areas. Starting loop with Guitar is an immense advantage as well.
• Rebel can lean into an ally build for damage that makes her a decent pick.
• (Skeleton can directly trade health for damage if a run happens to include him.)
• In loop Horror can lean heavily on his rad beam for damage where needed, and has three good ultra picks that reduces threats. (Especially Anomaly)
• To a lesser extent, Chicken can lean into her Determination ultra and lean entirely into throwing weapons for damage. This will play particularly slow.