One of the biggest appeals of The Binding of Isaac: Repentance is its large cast of characters. Not only are there 17 characters in the base game — each starting with their own stats, items, and methods of attack — but there are also alternate "Tainted" versions of these characters that provide unique gameplay twists.
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Since The Binding of Isaac officially implemented mods with the Afterbirth+ DLC, the community has exploded with original character ideas. While some of these ideas stay true to the feeling of the game, others re-imagine some of the game's major mechanics like movement, firing tears, and picking up items.
10 Mei: Control Tears With Telekinesis

Mei was one of the first character mods for the Binding of Isaac and she is still a delight to play. Rather than firing tears like bullets, Mei uses her telekinetic powers to manipulate a handful of tears that levitate around her. By standing still, the tears will expand their orbit outward and gain speed, allowing you to hit distant enemies. Moving the tears in a certain direction will make them travel in an oval-shaped orbit. Every time you kill an enemy with a tear, you'll temporarily gain another small one.
Mei's tear mechanics give her synergies that feel both unique and powerful. Her Tainted version uses her telekinetic powers to instead manipulate the weather, causing rain to fall on her enemies.
9 Sodom And Gomorrah: Jumps And Stomps

Much like Jacob and Esau, Sodom and Gomorrah come as a pair. Instead of moving normally, they're forced to jump to get around the floor, but since their bodies are invulnerable, they can use these jumps to stomp on enemies. This doesn't mean the characters are immune to damage though; both are chained to a heart that will take damage when hit.
To better protect the heart, Sodom and Gomorrah can use their "pocket" active item Stop to lock one character in place. They can also fire tears normally as a last-resort defensive option. Since Sodom and Gomorrah change the game's movement and attack mechanics on such a fundamental level, learning to play as them can be tough, but it's very rewarding.
8 Andromeda: Orbiting Tears And Reality Shifting

Andromeda's mechanics embody the odd and mysterious qualities of space. While holding the fire button, you create a tight ring of tears around yourself, and when you release the button, the tears spread out into a wider ring. And if you use Andromeda's "pocket" active item, Gravity Shift, your tears will freeze in place.
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But the unique tear effect is only the beginning. Andromeda has an increased chance for a Planetarium room to spawn, and they can encounter more than one in a run. They have a new transformation activated by collecting four astrology or Planetarium items, plus a Tainted version and many unlockable items. If you use Gravity Shift in certain rooms, you may find that you can also shift reality itself.
7 Bertran: Throw Your Head

Bertran is a character that makes you use your head. Literally. Instead of firing tears, you attack by launching and spinning Bertran's spiky head. Bertran also has a ranged attack in case you ever need it: every time you hit an enemy with your head, you charge a special bar that, when filled, lets you perform a powerful and far-reaching slam attack. You can gain a permanent damage bonus if you hit enemies with the slam attack enough times on a floor.
By holding Control after an attack, Bertran's head will stick to the ground and allow you to fling yourself through enemies. With so many ways to deal damage and many unique synergies, you're bound to have a great time playing Bertran.
6 Job: Less Damage For More Tears

Job was made to be Judas's counterpart, so instead of starting with high damage, Job starts with a high tear rate. Similar to Judas, whose active item, Book of Belial, gives you a big damage increase when you use it, Job's active item, Book of Despair, dramatically increases your tear rate when you use it.
Book of Despair synergizes well with items that modify your tears, especially that are luck-based, since the more tears you fire, the more often those modifiers will appear. Unlike many character mods, Job's mechanics are simple, which makes him feel like a natural extension of the game.
5 The Deleted: Glitched Items On Command

Is that a virus on your computer? Nope, it's The Deleted! After the release of the Repentance DLC, players quickly latched onto the TMTrainer item, which, when acquired, turns all future items into chaotic glitched items. The Deleted was made to be a smaller, more controllable version of that chaos.
The Deleted starts with the "pocket" active item Bit Flip. When used, Bit Flip makes all items in the room glitched, giving them a few random effects. These effects can be anything from spawning an enemy each time you pick up a coin, using a random active item when you walk into a room or generating a ton of poops when you take damage. The best part of the mod is that there are over a dozen alternate versions of The Deleted that have their own flavors of chaos.
4 Car: Everything Dies In One Hit, Including You

Instead of playing as a crying child, the Car mod lets you play as a car that has somehow found its way into Isaac's basement. You shoot no tears, pick up no items or pickups, place no bombs, and take no damage. Instead, you kill enemies by plowing through them, and you're constantly moving, which forces you to crash through walls to get to other rooms.
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Be sure to regularly use your brakes by hitting the bomb button, because if you hit a wall not connected to another room, you will instantly die. If you've ever wanted to play an Isaac-inspired racing game, Car is as close as you'll get.
3 Samael: The Original Melee Character

It wasn't until 2018, a year after The Binding of Isaac got official mod support, that the developers added the game's first melee character, The Forgotten. In that year before The Forgotten's release, mod creator GhostBroster Connor had the idea to make their own melee character, Samael.
This fallen angel lets you reap the souls of your enemies using a deadly scythe, much like the Grim Reaper. Dealing damage charges Samael's "pocket" active item Malakh Mot, which increases your attack speed for a short time when used. When you inevitably need to use a ranged attack, you can also charge up the scythe to send forth a scythe beam.
2 The Hollow: Attacking With Flies

Instead of firing tears, The Hollow generates a limited number of blue flies from the gaping hole where their face should be. These blue flies throw themselves into enemies, dealing double damage and applying all the tear effects from items you've picked up. The Hollow also has a red locust that returns to them, allowing you to deal more consistent damage.
Since The Hollow can't have red hearts, they will automatically turn all red hearts you pick up into blue spiders. And when you get an item that increases your red hearts, The Hollow will permanently increase the number of flies they can generate at a time. The Hollow plays very differently from the The Binding of Isaac's core characters but still manages to feel intuitive.
1 Epiphany: A Third Set Of Alternate Characters

The Epiphany mod's goal is to create a third set of alternate characters, called Tarnished characters, that build upon or reverse the gimmicks of the Tainted characters. For example, since you can't pick up items as Tainted Cain, you have to place pickups into his Bag of Crafting to craft items.
With Tarnished Cain, you can pick up items normally, but you can't fire tears - you can only deal damage to enemies by swinging and throwing bags. To generate bags as ammunition you can place any two items into his "pocket" active item Throwing Bag. Many items give the ammunition bags special effects, so crafting is still his main mechanic.
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FAQs
Who is the best character in TBOI? ›
- 8 Cain.
- 7 Magdalene.
- 6 Isaac.
- 5 Eve.
- 4 Judas.
- 3 Azazel.
- 2 Bethany.
- 1 Samson.
Lazarus stands as one of the easiest characters to unlock, although it may take a bit of doing. Players need to have 4 Soul Hearts or Black Hearts at once. Soul Hearts aren't that hard to come by, but players will need to be careful about how much damage they take, as Soul Hearts are always lost first.
How many characters does repentance add? ›Repentance also added an alternate 'tainted' version of all 17 characters, unlockable in the expansion's final endgame area. Each tainted character maintains the same general theme as the original incarnation, but twisted or taken to an extreme.
What is the rarest enemy in The Binding of Isaac? ›Dross. Henry appears only in a single rare room within the floor. When Isaac enters the room, Henry smiles and then gets flushed down a drain. Isaac can fire tears at it, but due to its high HP it is extremely difficult to kill, and would be pointless anyway as its only behavior is killing itself.
Who is the best character in repentance? ›- 6 Magdalene.
- 5 Samson.
- 4 Eve.
- 3 Cain.
- 2 Azazel.
- 1 Isaac.
Apollyon is a character added in The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth †. He is unlocked after defeating Mega Satan for the first time.
How do you unlock Jacob? ›Both Jacob and Esau will automatically use all pills, cards, and runes they pick up. Jacob and Esau are unlocked by defeating The Witness for the first time.
What does killing hush unlock? ›Defeating Hush for the first time spawns a Final Boss Chest. Moving into the chest unlocks Ending 17 and ends the run. Chaos Card only kills one of its phases. If it is thrown upwards during its first phase, it can kill both phases if timed correctly.
How do you fight hush? ›Some items that are very useful against the Hush are the Stop Watch, as they will make him, his tears, and all his spawns very slow. Gnawed Leaf combined with items such as Daddy Longlegs and Ludovico Technique can also be used as a way (albiet very slow) to kill the boss.
How do you unlock poop in Isaac? ›- This item is used in BRAINS! ( challenge #27) and. Scat Man (challenge #36).
- In the flash version, The Poop was unlocked by defeating. Mom's Heart 10 times.
- A rare closet exists in Downpour and. Dross with The Poop as a guaranteed item. If Isaac has already found The Poop, the item in the closet does not change.
Which Isaac DLC is the best? ›
“The Binding of Isaac: Repentance is the ultimate version of Binding of Isaac, featuring all content from the Rebirth, Afterbirth and Afterbirth+ expansions, plus hundreds of new features and improvements.
How do you unlock Azazel? ›How To Unlock Azazel. Azazel can be unlocked by making three Devil deals in a singular run. He's fairly simple to unlock but he's also a pretty powerful character. With Azazel, you start with flight, a short-range Brimstone, and even The Fool card.
Will there be another DLC after repentance? ›The Repentance DLC is officially announced to include the Antibirth mod alongside a ton of other new content - Edmund affirms it is "the FINAL (for real this time) DLC for Isaac".
Is Isaac a girl binding of Isaac? ›Isaac is genderfluid, or at least gender confused.
What is the strongest item in Isaac? ›1 Brimstone
Possibly the most famous powerful Isaac item, the Brimstone changes your default tears into a large beam that must be charged first. The beam has spectral and piercing effects, and it excels at melting through multiple enemies at a time.
Azazel is OP because he represents Isaac embracing his perceived demonic side instead of rejecting it, which allows him to finally access all the powers which grant him the "easy" path to victory.
Who does the most damage in Isaac? ›Judas has the largest damage multiplier (1.35) while Eve has the smallest damage multiplier (0.75).
Who is the final boss of Repentance? ›Players will need to defeat all four of the Ultra Harbingers to trigger the fight with the final boss of The Binding of Isaac, The Beast.
Will Edith be in Repentance? ›Edith does not appear in Repentance, but VII - The Chariot? has a small chance to briefly turn the character into similar-looking statue. Additionally, Tainted Forgotten seems to be a balanced version of Edith, which throws an immobile body to attack enemies and wears a similar cloak.
What is the highest tear rate in Isaac? ›With a tear delay of 1, the maximum achievable rate of fire is 15 tears per second (every 2 frames).
Is mother or delerium harder? ›
Delirium is strongest - unless you have tons of damage and way to restore hp, he's ubeatable. Because he has no strategy - he moves chaotically filling whole room with bullets. Mother is second but mostly because you need to suffer whole way going to her.
How many hours to beat Isaac? ›When focusing on the main objectives, The Binding of Isaac is about 11 Hours in length. If you're a gamer that strives to see all aspects of the game, you are likely to spend around 139 Hours to obtain 100% completion.
What did Apollyon want? ›Last of all, Apollyon says that the only thing she wants is for everyone to realize who they are: wolves. Succumbing to her wounds, she collapses to the floor, lifeless.
Why does Apollyon want war? ›Apollyon was a warlord whose sole intention was sowing conflict to perpetuate war ad infinitum. She firmly believed that constant total war is the true nature of proper humans - the ones she calls "wolves".
What weapon does Apollyon use? ›Broadsword: Apollyon wielded a gigantic broardsword as her weapon of choice.
How is Judas unlocked? ›Judas (ユダ, Yuda) is an unlockable character in The Binding of Isaac. He is unlocked by completing The Womb or Utero for the first time. Judas starts with The Book Of Belial, higher than average damage and only one heart container.
How do you unlock the prophet? ›Earning all 100 points will also unlock Prophet with his Sight skin as a soldier. Earning just 20 points will reward you with two Credit Crates, which gives you anything between 50 and 500 Credits, and earning 40 points grants you the SMRS – Hearts launcher.
How do you beat Mother Isaac? ›Troll Bombs will attempt to spawn near Mother, and bombs in Repentance will deal 100 damage and ignore the armor. Around 43 bombs would be able to kill her, which corresponds to about 6~7 times of damage. This will be affordable if you have more than 10 hearts in total. Bombs will also help.
Can Delirium turn into hush? ›It is unable to properly transform into Hush's true form.
How do you unlock Greedier mode? ›Greedier Mode is a mode added in Afterbirth ♰. It is unlocked by depositing 500 coins in the Greed Machine.
How do you unlock blue baby? ›
???, also known as The Blue Baby, is an unlockable character in The Binding of Isaac. He is unlocked by completing the game 10 times, after which Isaac will find him locked in a chest during the ending cutscene.
Who kills Hush? ›Hush is then accidentally impaled and killed on a Bat-Wraith when Terry throws him off of the real Grayson, the clone being impaled by a Bat-Wraith coming out of a pit that it had previously fallen into before both fall back into the pit.
How did Hush become a villain? ›However, unlike in the original story Hush was revealed to not be Tommy Elliot. Instead, it was revealed that Hush was an alter-ego created by the Riddler as a means of proving himself a better super-villain after receiving mockery within the rogues gallery.
How do you unlock the lamb? ›- The Lamb can be reached before The Negative is unlocked by taking the trapdoor in a Black Market from. Sheol if one shows up.
- The Lamb can be reached before. The Negative is unlocked if a Sacrifice Room is used 12 or more times.
Rainbow Poop
Causes a rainbow to appear on the screen when destroyed; pauses the game for a second while playing a jingle. Restores all of Isaac's heart containers.
Secret Rooms are found in between normal rooms and are accessed by bombing an empty space on the map that is surrounded by several normal rooms. The secret room must also be accessable from all sides, meaning there cannot be any empty pits or rocks where the door to the Secret Room would be.
How do you become a Leviathan in Isaac? ›Leviathan. The player turns into the Leviathan transformation by picking up at least three demonic items.
How many endings are in Isaac? ›There are 16 endings in Rebirth, with 2 more added in Afterbirth, 2 added in Afterbirth+, and another 2 added in Repentance. They can be unlocked by killing the boss at the end of chapters 3-6. They can be viewed in the 'stats' section of the menu. The credits are played after any ending.
What DLC is the forgotten in Isaac? ›Hidden within Binding of Isaac: Rebirth's Booster Pack #5 is a secret character known simply as The Forgotten. A peculiar character, The Forgotten does not fire tears to harm enemies.
What item gives the most damage in Isaac? ›Abaddon gives Isaac, damage up, speed up, black hearts (removing red hearts), and even a chance to shoot fear tears. It is a definite pickup, barring a few builds that would hurt from losing their red hearts, and is undoubtedly one of the strongest items in the game.
Can Azazel get red hearts? ›
Tainted Judas, Azazel can still obtain Red Heart containers with items.
Why is Azazel so hard? ›While Azazel doesn't block by itself, it does have auto-block properties most of the time, even while performing special moves, making it extremely hard to hit in higher difficulties. Azazel also cannot be thrown.
Who is Azazel Sandman? ›Azazel is one of Lucifer Morningstar's co-rulers of Hell; part of the triumvirate formed by Beelzebub, Lucifer, and Azazel after a civil war in Hell destabilized the realm. It returned in Season of Mists. After Lucifer evacuated and closed Hell, he left the key to the gates to Dream.
Can I play DLC after Tartarus? ›Probably not. Before beginning your last mission on Tartarus you are warned this is the point-of-no-return and asks for you to manually save before continuing (do this if you want to continue on the DLC with your character) on with the final quest.
What DLC was after forsaken? ›There have thus far been five major expansions released for Destiny 2—Forsaken in September 2018, Shadowkeep in October 2019, Beyond Light in November 2020, The Witch Queen in February 2022, and Lightfall in February 2023.
Can you unlock the forgotten in repentance? ›Using Mom's Shovel while standing on the dirt patch unlocks The Forgotten. If the Grave Room is exited before the soul reaches the top of the screen, The Forgotten may not unlock.
Who is the main character in Binding of Isaac? ›Isaac is the main and titular character of The Binding of Isaac and The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. He is the default and only character a new player can select to play as and is a fairly basic character with balanced stats.
What is BFF Isaac? ›BFF stands for Best Friends Forever. This item is used in The Family Man (challenge #19) and. Scat Man (challenge #36).
How popular is TBOI? ›Despite the game's age and indie status, it has remained immensely popular throughout the years and has retained a loyal, dedicated fanbase. Although Binding of Isaac's addicting gameplay loop played a large part in its success, much of it can also be attributed to its accessibility and community.
What does rotten baby do in Isaac? ›Effect. Spawns a familiar which spawns friendly Blue Flies in a room with monsters when Isaac holds down a fire key. The initial blue fly will target a monster once nearby, in which Rotten Baby will lock its blue flies automatically onto the same one, immediately heading towards and damaging it until it dies.
What gender is Isaac? ›
Gender: Isaac is traditionally a masculine name.
Does Isaac have a dad? ›...
Isaac | |
---|---|
Isaac digging for the wells, imagined in a Bible illustration ( c. 1900) | |
Spouse | Rebecca |
Children | Esau (oldest twin son) Jacob (youngest twin son) |
Parents | Abraham (father) Sarah (mother) |
Source material. Eden is one of the playable characters of the video game The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. They are non-binary.
What is luck for in Isaac? ›Luck influences many different elements: Room drops: For calculating room drops, luck is capped between 0 and 10, with higher luck not only resulting in higher amounts of drops but also higher quality drops such as chests. 33% of heart-type drops, replacing them with nothing.
What does Binky do in Isaac? ›Increases the pitch of Isaac's voice.
What does God head do in Isaac? ›+0.8 Tear Falling Speed. Grants homing tears. Tears gain a damaging aura.
How long does it take to 100% TBOI? ›When focusing on the main objectives, The Binding of Isaac is about 11 Hours in length. If you're a gamer that strives to see all aspects of the game, you are likely to spend around 139 Hours to obtain 100% completion.
What is Isaac short for? ›...
Isaac (name)
Pronunciation | /ˈaɪzək/ EYE-zək |
Gender | Male |
Origin | |
---|---|
Word/name | Hebrew |
Meaning | "(he) will laugh" |
The Repentance DLC is officially announced to include the Antibirth mod alongside a ton of other new content - Edmund affirms it is "the FINAL (for real this time) DLC for Isaac".