Spelunky is all about items you have, I think. If you can have full set of items and plenty of bombs, this game is not a quite big deal, and the one easiest way to get the items is to rob the shop. So all it matters are how to rob and fight shopkeepers safely.

There are some simple ways to rob shopkeeper.

• Shooting him with shotgun 3 times.
  
• Shooting him with freeze ray and stepping on him.
  
• Put a sticky bomb one block below where he's standing.
  
• (Boomerang and machete could work, but I don't like it.)

These are simple and nice but the chance doesn't come always. Shotgun might not be in the shop or freeze ray either, and the shop's floor could be thicker than one block. So what I want to suggest are these.

Bombing

The basic strategy is to lure him out and place a bomb just outside of the shop.

He doesn't get out of the shop unless he get angry, but It's possible to make him come out to edge of the shop floor. You can see, there a sign in the shop, and one block outside of the sign belongs to the shop. (block type doesn't matter)



To lure him to the edge, first, make him stand center of the shop, then pick any item and walk to one block outside of the sign and jump there. If you step out little bit more then he will shoot you back be careful.
If he didn't come out close enough, lure him back and do it again.



Then put the item back and place a bomb just outside of the shop. That's all.
Putting a bomb can be tricky because the point will be different if you're using sticky bomb. If the bomb rolled into the shop or it wasn't close enough, then this mission is failed.

>>>[ Click to see the video ]<<<[cfile26.uf.tistory.com]

Stepping on him

1. Pick any throwable item (expect guntype, boomerang, machete or camera),
2. Walk to the edge of the shop. Make sure he is standing below the sign.
3. Check if you can jump there.
4. Jump and throw the item while you are falling, one block high above the ground.

Then you will step on shopkeeper and pick shotgun quickly and shoot him.
Three times.

>>>[ Click to see the video ]<<<[cfile29.uf.tistory.com]


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+ And here is another way to deal with shopkeer. (from Bananasaurus Rex)
I think this is one of the finest way, especially when there is no ledge outside or the shop is blocked by blocks.

There are three ways to handle shopkeepers, shooting, bombing and just escaping.

Shooting

Keywords for shooting him down with shotgun is "Horizontal and Distance."
Explode the wall covering shopkeeper with bombs(throwing sticky bomb is good) and
shoot him at the same altitude.
It is good to shoot him as soon as exploding closest wall to him.
And It's often very useful to shoot on the rope. It is easy to stay on a point and prevents knock back when shooting and also useful to climb up when things go bad. I even recommend to use the rope rather than shooting in midair using jetpack.



Don't forget shotgun's bullets spread. It's often useful
And keep distance!
And .. don't turn off the music. It helps you to check out whether he's dead or not from a distance.

Bombing

Keyword for bombing him down is "Diagonal."
It's efficient to throw bomb diagonal-down direction.
You can also throw bombs straight forward if you have Pitcher's Mitt.
There's nothing much to tell about this.

Escaping

When you don't need to fight shopkeeper, you can just exit through the gate.
It's useful especially at the mine and jungle.



In the mine, gate often appears in 2-blocks wide narrow hall.
You can shoot him by exploding the wall aside
or explode wall over the head and step on him and just exit out quickly.
Don't get hit by the shotgun that he drops.



In the Jungle, gate often appears below one-block thick floor.
It's good blow out center of the floor.
And hang on the ledge and fall down right after a shopkeeper's gunfire, you may be able to exit out easily.

Keyword for escaping is "Vertical."

Robbing black market is a big deal. Without visiting black market, you cannot enter city of gold and hell.
And you can also get items you couldn't get before.

The most dangerous moment is when you entered the black market.
If you are already wanted by shopkeepers, you can be attacked as soon as you entered there and can be killed in 5 seconds. So here is the strategy.


1. Rope up at the starting point where the ceiling is highest.
2. Blow up the entrance of market with throwing sticky bomb on the rope.
3. Wait on the left wall until all shopkeepers go down to lower floor.


* Alternative

If you don't have sticky bomb. cut some blocks and you can shoot inside.


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and next thing, you should check this youtube videio.

If you are not wanted situation when you entered the Black market, buy a shotgun
or get one by a shopkeeper at the top floor, then things will be same.

+ There might be better, alternative ways to fight shopkeepers. You may find them on replys or youtube channels, good luck :)