Quick thing: I was watching an LP vid earlier, and the player grabbed the "don't take any damage" probation. He went into the very next room, which was one of those rooms without enemies but with spikes and turrets, and promptly stomped on a bunch of spikes, taking both shield and HP damage. The probation condition didn't activate here... it persisted anyway. In the next room, with actual enemies, it did respond to another hit he took there.
So.... not sure what's up with that.
So they're only supposed to shoot back after you hit them? I'll have to keep that in mind but I swear they all start firing as soon as I hit one of them, and it's literally just a room full of nothing but projectiles at that point. The only way I've been able to get through it so far was one run where I was so powerful I could pretty much one-shot them and killed them all within about 2 seconds.
Well, even just one Banshee fires *alot* of bullets and can fill an area with pain. That's why you have to be so careful with them. After enough practice, you'll find they're actually not nearly as tough to deal with as they look.... plenty of other enemies are more dangerous. But their pattern is definitely intimidating. When it's too much, just remember that a single missile can completely stop it if you hit the bullet that's forming in front of them.
The biggest risk though is if you have the sort of robot familiar that attacks things automatically. In any situation with Banshees around, this can set them off when you're not ready.