First strategies...
You should try and find the treasure room before the boss. On latter floors, were any given room could have multiple bosses hiding in it, head straight to the boss room.It’s best to save your coins until at least you have cleared out every room. Same goes for keys and bombs.
Leave soul hearts til last...
Unless you’re terribly low on health, the blue temporary hearts you can pick up are best left ignored until you’re ready to face the boss..
Carefull dealing with the devil...
After defeating a boss, sometimes a room opens where you can sell a bit of your soul in exchange for a powerful item. It’s often worth considering (and even just going to take a look, and shooting the fires out whilst you are there), but because you are paying with some of your health bar, unless you’ve upgraded your health plenty, you’re taking a big risk.
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FAQ
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How do I get more heart containers?
There are a few ways of getting more heart containers. The first way is to find an upgrade item that increases your max HP. Such items can be found from Item Rooms, Shops, Beggars, or as a drop from a Boss. The second way is to find the pill for that playthrough that increases your HP. This can be difficult, as there are many pills, and only a couple will give you more heart containers. Finally, if you're brave, lucky, or have a bit of spare health already, you can donate blood. A blood donation machine has a small chance to drop a blood bag (destroying the machine), which restores 5 HP, and increases your max HP by one. A good tactic is to use it in an Arcade, as both of the other games in that room have a chance to dispense hearts to replace the ones you donate.
How do I get across these gaps without a ladder?
Bombing a rock adjacent to a gap will blow the rock into the hole, plugging it and making a bridge. However, the bomb must be on the opposite side of the rock.
Several items allow you to fly over or cross gaps: Trancendence (collectible), Lord of the Pit (collectible), Ladder (collectible) can cross 1-block gaps, The Bible (charged item), The Pony (charged item, but allows this permanently), Shears (charged item), and The Hanged Man (card). The Magnet (item) will pull items across gaps to you.
How should I prioritize using Items, Keys, and Bombs?
Items that increase your health are very, very important, and you should pick them up whenever you get the chance.
Conserve at least one key per level to get into Item Rooms , free items are much better than a few coins or having to buy items.
If you have enough coins, and already have an active item you like, try using a key on the shop, because there's a high chance you'll be able to buy a key there.
Keep bombs for entering Secret rooms , bombing X Rocks and for bombing the various slot machines and blood donation machines, you'll make much more from those as opposed to bombing chests or single coins.
How do I copy my save?
The game's save data is contained in two files, both of which need to be moved between computers in order to get everything migrated properly.
These files are so.sol and serial.txt. I have a Mac and a Windows machine, so I'll go ahead and list the location of said files on both platforms (if anyone has any Linux info, feel free to chip in).
On the PC:
serial.txt: Can be found in the game's steam installation folder, something along the lines of
C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\the binding of isaac\
so.sol: Can be found over at
%appdata%\Macromedia\ Flash Player\#SharedObjects\<some random string>\localhost\
The "random string" bit is some combination of letters and numbers which is impossible to predict. Assuming you've ever run the game, simply search for "so.sol" at "%appdata%\Macromedia\ Flash Player#SharedObjects" (you can type this in your run prompt to get there).
On the Mac:
serial.txt: Can be found in the game's steam installation folder, something along the lines of
~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/the binding of isaac/
so.sol: Much like the PC, only over at
~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/ Flash Player/#SharedObjects/4UUE5CSF/localhost/
On Linux:
so.sol: Much like the PC, only over at
~/.macromedia/Flash_Player/#SharedObjects/randomstring/localhost/so.sol
As a final note, you need to move both files, and to launch the game at least once on the target machine to know where they should go.
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Tips & Useful Things to Know:
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§ The darker stones (marked with a faint X) that sometimes show up can be blown up (with a bomb). This yields items, such as bombs, soul hearts, keys, coins, the 'small rock' pickup or reveals a golden chest.
§ Destroying poo piles and extinguishing fire sometimes yields a coin or a half heart.
§ Early on, it's better to save your keys rather then opening up the shop door when you don't have enough coins to buy anything.
§ You can use bombs to destroy slot machines , blood donation machines , beggars and the cup game NPC to get items from them. Bombs can be used to open a door in a monster-filled room to escape if you can't handle it (This doesn't work if the door needs a key) but when you return to the room, all of the enemies will respawn. Bombs can also be used to move items surrounded by spikes away from the danger. This does not work for items surronded by holes or pits.
§ You can use items that grant you invincibility including Book of Shadows, The Gamekid, My Little Unicorn, and The Chariot to use blood donation machines multiple times without losing health.
§ If you beat the boss on the current level with full health and there are extra hearts laying around, you can use a blood machine the exact number of times equal to the number of extra half-hearts. For example, if there are 2 full hearts and one half-heart, you can use the blood machine 5 times, collect the extra hearts and still have full health.
§ Having a Ladder/ Transcendence / Lord of the Pit /Horse item can protect you from any melee enemies if you stand over a gap. Keep these items in high priority to get, especially in later floors like The Depths where there are Knights. Bible and Hanged Man can grant flight for one room as well. If you also have the Ouija Board along with a flight item, you can even fly over a rock and shoot enemies while immune to both melee and any non-piercing projectiles.
§ The secret room of each level is almost always in the space with the most adjacent rooms. For example, if the dungeon features a U shape, the 'hole' of the U will have 5 adjacent rooms and will be most likely to be the secret room. Using this tactic eliminates the need for X-Ray Specs or the Spelunker Hat.
§ How to setup a joypad for Binding of Isaac:
Download Xpadder-
www.softpedia.com/...
Recommended Settings:
w, a, s, d - Move up, left, down or right. Set to Directional Pad and L3.
↑, ←, ↓, → - Shoot up, left, down or right. Set to R3 and 4 buttons.
space - Use current activated item.Set to R1.
shift, e - Set to L2 and R2.
q - Use single use item, either a tarot card or a pill. Set to L1
p - Pause the game. Note that when paused, p resumes while esc offers to quit. Set to Start.
f - Toggle fullscreen. Set to Back/Select.
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Items
bindingofisaac.wikia.com/...
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Boss Strategies
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************
The Basement:
************
#Monstro# - A large head with a cleft pallet.
Attacks:
Spews a wave of blood, easy to dodge, often miss. Large shots deal 1 heart
damage, small shots deal 1/2.
Jumps around attempting to hit the player for 1/2 heart damage.
Jumps into the air off screen, crashing down and sending blood flying out in
all directions. 1/2 Heart damage, 1 if hit by large shots.
Alterate forms:
Dark/Grey - Increased size and HP, cannot leap off screen
Red - Smaller size, reduced HP, appears in pairs.
Strategy: Monstro, in terms of bosses in the Basement is difficult for a first
boss, especially if this is your first time playing, though overall he's a
pushover if you know what you're doing.
Monstro's attacks are all weak and rarely hit you, but he's a tank, so you'll
have to weigh either a very long or slightly dangerous fight. Your best bet is
to circle him and attack constantly, backing off only when he pauses for an
attack that he will telegraph with plenty of time to avoid. Just play it safe
and he will die, eventually.
#Larry Jr.# - A long, segmented work
Attacks:
Randomly moves around the room, rarely directly attacks the player,
occasionally drops piles of poop blocking your movement.
Alternate Forms:
Green - Reduced HP, can randomly fire blood shots in whatever direction it is
facing for 1/2 heart of damage, easy to dodge.
Blue - Increased HP, larger in size. Will not leave behind poop. He will not
split until he is at low HP. Drops a soul heart when killed.
Strategy: Larry is one of the most common bosses in the game, and is one of the
easiest too. Just keep a distance and take them out one at a time. Larry will
typically spawn with 2 or 3 bodies, each one at a random length. As Larry
weakens, segments will be destroyed and he will be "cut" shorter. A push-over
and easy to avoid and defeat.
#The Duke of Flies# - A large floating head stuffed with flies.
Attacks: Coughs up flies and attack flies, as well as special Large Attack
flies that deal 1 heart of damage.
Can deal contact damage while floating around.
When the number of flies around the Duke reaches its max, he will send the
flies flying towards you with a big push.
Alternate Forms:
Blue - Faster movement
Orange - Faster, spawns attack flies and suckers instead of normal flies and
attack flies.
Green - Spawns Moters instead of normal flies, coughs up a ring of blood every
so often.
Strategy - The Duke is pretty easy as a whole, but can get out of control if
managed wrong. Keep his flies in check, taking out only the ones that attack
you directly. Timing your shots can bypass his fly defenses. Overall he has
incredibly low HP and can sometimes be instantly killed with a bomb if used
properly (practice required). Just play it safe and he'll be easy, if you see
an opening in his defenses, circle around it and focus there.
#Gemini# - A pair of conjoined twins, connected by an umbilical
Gemini is actually 2 seperate bosses, always found together in one battle.
Sometimes one or both can be champion/alt colored.
Gemini Sr. - Will follow you around the room, occasionally charges at you at
high speed after which point he will stop to catch his breath.
Gemini Jr. - Attached to Gemini Sr., will regularly spit blood at Isaac until
he is disconnected or his brother is killed, at which point he will turn red
and fly towards the player to hit them (and will stop spitting)
Alternate Forms:
Blue - unknown effects, +Max HP?
Green - May start the battle detached, Jr. will only become enraged when Sr. is
killed
#Famine# - See the Riders Section
#Steven# - A black Gemini
Unlocked by completing the Basement (chapter 1) 25 times
Very similar to Gemini, though the tether between the two is tiny, so the two
appear to be stuck to each other (a reference to a game by Edmund McMillan,
"Time Fcuk")
Little Steven attacks more frequently.
Boss AI is much more aggressive.
When the boss is reduced to 2/3 of its max HP, Little Steven will seperate and
attack directly instead of spitting blood.
When either Steven is killed, he will explode into a spray of blood in all
directions at high speed.
Steven, despite seeming easy, is far more difficult in that he can be hard to
predict at times. If possible, focus on one Steven at a time, though their
close proximity makes this very difficult. You will more than likely be faced
with both Stevens attacking you, which always results in getting hurt one way
or another. Expect the blood spray when one dies and be ready to get hit or
dodge. Keep your distance and always leave an avenue of escape should Steven
get too close.
Always drops either "Little Steve" or "Steven" items. Unlocks "Little Steve"
when killed.
*********
The Caves:
*********
#Chub#
An enlarged charger, he looks like a massive segmented worm.
Chub, out of all of the bosses in the caves, is probably the easiest. Though he
has a decent amount of HP, Chub is easy to dodge and eady to manage as he's
fairly predictable.
Chub has two basic attacks:
Charge; he will open wide and come dashing towards you. While Chub can slightly
adjust his path on the way, as long as you keep a fair distance from him this
shouldn't be a problem. Furthermore, you can use this to your advantage in two
ways. One, his charge will also hurt enemies in the room, so allow him to
gobble up anything you don't feel like killing yourself. Second, his charge
will also consume any lit bombs in his path. Doing so will stop him and after a
brief pause the bomb will detonate in his stomach dealing normal bomb damage
(also to you if you're too close). As a last resort this not only stops his
charge, but hurts him AND makes him vulnerable to any other bombs you may
decide to lay next to him.
Spawn: Chub can stop and spawn enemies from his backside (yuck). Depending on
Chub's color/variation he can spawn smaller chargers usually to a maximum of
about 3 total in the room. Feel free to let him spawn to the max as this will
cause any future spawning attempts to simply do nothing, leaving Chub
vulnerable.
So as for strategy, just lead him around the room, taunt him into attacking and
just play things safe. He should be pretty easy to take care of.
Alternates:
Blue: Chub is slower but bulkier. Additionally he will spawn special Boils
instead of chargers. Deal with the boils first as they can become very
dangerous and difficult to dodge!
Green: Chub will spawn Spitties instead of chargers and will always spawn 2 at
once. There will be a max of 3 Spitties at any one time.
Orange: Chub gets smaller, maybe a bit weaker, but gets a noteable speed boost
and a more erratic AI so he's a lot more difficult to dodge or deal with
otherwise.
"Fixed": This will never appear as a normal boss, though in certain situations
Chub will spawn without his final segment. In these situations he will never
spawn any enemies at all.
#Fistula#
A giant ball of flesh and tumor and who knows what else. This monstrosity
floats around the room much like Envy, bouncing off walls and pits for some
reason. This thing has no real attack and will never attack you directly,
though he can become dangerous if you let him get out of hand.
Hurt Fistula enough and he will split into 4 medium parts, each of which will
also split into 2 small parts when hurt enough. As a result Fistula gets faster
and can have up to 8 parts at once. Individual parts can be found in rooms as
early as the Caves.
After killing a small Fistula, the part destroyed will immediately spawn a
Charger which can attack you. Chargers can sometimes take more punishment than
Fistula itself so be careful!
Alternate form:
Dark-Fistula: Darker colored and usually a bit bigger in size. This version
will initially split into 3 instead of 4 making a maximum of 6 total parts at
the end. Each destroyed part will release a Boom Fly or Bloat Fly instead.
#Peep#
Everyone's favorite piss-spraying blob of... disgust. Peep is one of the more
difficult bosses in the caves and can often cause a bit of pain if not taken
seriously or carefully!
Peep slides around and attacks occasionally;
His normal attacks include releasing a puddle of urine which hurts you if you
walk over it for a full heart of damage.
Peep is also able to hop up slightly and, upon landing, will spray out a dense
circle of piss balls, each of which does 1/2 heart of damage.
Finally, Peep can jump off screen Monstro-style and will land wherever the
player was when the attack starts tracking you, so he shouldn't land on you if
you move. Landing will cause him to release another circle spray of urine at
you.
When Peep reaches 66% and 33% HP he will lose one of his eyes which will go
floating out and will now bounce off walls in a bishop-pattern. These will do
touch damage.
Dealing with Peep isn't too hard, but avoiding getting hurt is. His circle
spray is fairly common and will require the player to back off to dodge, so
keeping a constant distance from Peep always helps. Use the room's natural
cover (if there is any) to help avoid attacks and remember that touching his
piss puddle hurts you more than anything else. Once he loses an eye or two keep
in mind that they will block your shots AND hurt you if they get in your way,
so make dodging them your first priority and take your time while playing
things safe.
Alternate forms:
Green: Peep will lose both eyes right off the bat! Now you get to fight this
guy while dodging 24/7.
Yellow: Peep will constantly leave behind a trail of piss that will hurt you,
even while he is jumping around though he is physically smaller in size.
#Gurdy#
By far one of the harder bosses in the game, and definitely one of my least
favorite. Gurdy is a massive pile of flesh and fat and who knows what else...
with a face. Gurdy stays stationary in the center of the room and typically
starts the battle with a pair of Boils and some flies in the room.
Being immobile, Gurdy makes use of a larger variety of attacks and abilities:
Blood wave: Gurdy will crawl into her body mass and pop out on either the front
or side (depending on where the player is), then immediately spew out a 5-part
spray of blood balls which become rather difficult to dodge.
Spawn flies: Gurdy will spew out attack flies behind her. After some time they
will move towards you.
Spawn Pooters: Gurdy will raise her arm and release a pooter from her armpit!
Spawn boils: Gurdy raises both arms and spawns a pair of boils in front of her.
Gurdy has a ton of HP and takes the longest to kill. All you need to know to
kill her is that you must remain diligent at all times! Kill the boils first
and make them your priotity if they appear. Ignore her other summons if
necessary and never stop shooting. When in danger, laying bombs in front of her
will speed the battle along.
Alternate:
Dark-Gurdy - Bigger, stronger, more HP... she can't spew blood anymore but
spawns far more frequently. Perhaps this version of Gurdy is slightly easier
than normal. Why? Well in this form she still has her spawn limits and the
player can camp the far side of the room and go largely unharmed through the
whole fight. Just don't fall asleep.
#Pestilence#
See Riders section
#C.H.A.D.#
C.H.A.D. is a living blob of blood and clots, and an unusually happy one to
boot.
C.H.A.D. behaves identically to Chub with a few primary differences:
C.H.A.D. spawns suckers instead of chargers.
He will shrink in size as you hurt him and increase in speed.
C.H.A.D. always drops Little C.H.A.D. when defeated. For an easy fight you get
an ok reward, though he becomes largely useless when you get enough soul hearts.
**********
The Depths:
**********
#Loki#
Another rare boss, you'll typically see Monstro II more often than Loki until
you reach chapter 5 where he *might* appear in doubles.
Normally, Loki is a little red imp who floats about and attacks randomly. Loki
mirrors chaos perfectly in that, at any time there is a lot going on with him.
Loki's room will hav a single floating poky in the room which will be cause for
some wariness on your part. Keep an eye on it.
Loki himself can either:
Teleport elsewhere in the room.
Send an 8 way attack of blood balls at you.
Launch a 4 way + pattern, then a 4 way X pattern then another 4 way + pattern
Or summon a Boom or Bloat fly, which, if a Boom fly, can be used to hurt him
back.
Knowing what Loki will do in advance is impossible, but knowing what he can do
helps. Simply deal with each individual attack one step at a time and you can
finish this battle unscathed.
#Monstro II#
Monstro's back with some improvements this time! Probably one of the easiest
bosses in the game if handled correctly.
Monstro II has a few simple upgrades from Monstro:
His bloody spray us now a blood beam that triggers if the player is in a
horizontal line from Monstro II
Monstro II will always super jump twice consecutively, each time either firing
an 8 way pattern of large blood balls or spawning 4 suckers.
Killing Monstro II the easy way!
Simply stand directly across from the beast and let him prepare his blood beam
which he will telegraph with a smile. When he does, strafe in a semicricle
around him attacking on the way and stopping directly in range of his blood
beam, BEHIND him. If done properly, Monstro will turn around and prepare to
roast you with another blood beam. Lather, rinse and repeat and you can come
through without even a scratch. Should he instead decide to super jump, just
dodge, kill any enemies spawned and get back to provoking him again.
Overall Monstro II is rather rare since there is only one boss in the Depths
besides the guaranteed one (see below) and his alternates are even rarer.
For the most part, one form will cause him to spawn less but move more, another
will make him more buff overall, though the same strategy applies either way.
#War#
See the riders section
#Mom#
It's time to face your fears and confront MOM!!!
Now is your first real milestone, and completing this boss will unlock the rest
of the game.
Mom's room is special, it has randomly scattered rocks and 4 boss room doors in
each of the cardinal directions.
The fight begins with Mom's Foot crashing down in an attempt to crush you,
dodge this.
From here on out, Mom has 4 parts/forms that will appear randomly all at once.
Mom's Foot: Will occasionally track you (a shadow will appear) and stomp down
on the ground, creating a bomb explosion, destroying rocks, enemies and
anything else in its wake.
Mom's Eye: Pops out of a door, it is defenseless so attack it to hurt Mom more!
Mom's Flesh: Pops out of a random door, spawns an enemy to defend itself and
eventually disappears. Hurt it like Mom's eye, but keep a tab on the enemies it
spawns, you'll need to take them out to keep alive.
Mom's Hand: If you stand too close to a door, open or closed, Mom's hand may
quickly pop out to smack you. Keep a distance from the doors to avoid this!
To make this battle predictable would be impossible, but to make it easier is.
For starters, Mom will telegraph her foot stomp with a grunt, so let the foot
land where it will do some good, such as on rocks or enemies. As for whatever
the flesh spawns, know that there is a total spawn limit, but you'll want to
control anything that will shoot at or chase after you, ESPECIALLY Globins.
When an eye appears, attack it. When the leg appears, attack it. When a peice
of flesh is exposed, attack it. Don't miss any easy opportunities and be
careful if you can. If this is your first time, be more concerned with making
sure Mom dies before you do, if you have unlocked the ability to go deeper, try
and preserve your hearts if possible.
#Gish#
Gish is a replacement for Monstro II once unlocked. He resembles a massive
black glob of tar and fights accordingly.
Gish behaves identically to Monstro/Monstro II.
He spews out a black tar bomb that explodes on impact. This leaves behind a
trail of tar that slows you if you walk through it (thats all the tar does,
it's safe to touch)
Gish's super leap is identical to Monstro II, being two leaps successively. The
first one does nothing, the second will spawn two Mini-Gish enemies.
Otherwise, Gish is probably almost as easy as Monstro II save for the fact that
the Mini Gish enemies spawned can occasionally be a hassle and his AI is not as
easy to manipulate, but he's rather harmless for the most part.
Killing him nets you the Little Gish familiar.
********************
Chapter 4 - The Womb:
********************
#Scolex#
Scolex is the weakest boss in the Binding of Isaac. He has the least HP of any
boss and can sometimes be instakilled if hit with a bomb or a powerful attack.
Scolex is a large tapeworm and has a weakspot on his tail. Hitting him
elsewhere will do nothing.
Scolex will leap in and out of the room a few times, after which point he will
either stick out his head or tail (ATTACK!) and then dive back in again. His
head will spew out three blood bombs that will explode on contact with the
ground, his tail will spew a random cloud of blood balls.
Just hit his tail with good timing and you'll be done in no time at all!
#Blastocyst#
Blastocyst, unlick Scolex, can actually be hard at times.
This fellow is a single "Embryo" enemy (you'll have seen a few of them by now
at this point) within a blob of jelly.
He will bounce around a lot, spraying random bits of blood around and
occasionally will fire out an 8 way pattern of blood.
Killing him will cause him to split into 2 medium parts which will no longer
spray blood but can still fire 4 way X or + patterns of blood. Each of these
will split into 2 small parts when hurt, which can now only spray + patterns of
blood.
Finally, killing the smallest part yields a single embryo which can do...
nothing. Just kill it.
To deal with this uncommon fellow, just break him down to his second form as
quick as possible, then again into his third form. Doing so eliminates his
ability to attack diagonally which makes dodging all the easier. If you only
manage one at a time, the remaining half can still attack on diagonals so your
ability to work out a safe spot in the room is hampered a bit. If there are 4
small versions, however, you typically can work out an area in which you can
predict who will attack where and dodge accordingly, leaving that nice little
Safe Haven, often in the middle of the room, where you can catch your breath
and pick them off one by one.
#Death#
See the riders section
#Mom's Heart#
This is it! Another major milestone for you and Isaac!
Mom's Heart, unlike Mom herself, is a stationary boss. Killing it is likely
EASIER than killing Mom at times. At the start of the battle, Mom's Heart will
be flanked by two eyes. Take these out first. No exceptions.
Mom's Heart has a predictable behavior: If there are enemies with it, the Heart
will rise offscreen and hide. If there are no more enemies with the Heart, the
Heart will descend and summon more. After a few seconds, the heart will rise
away again.
Once all of the enemies spawned are killed, the Heart will return and summon
more. This can continue forever if you don't focus on the Heart while it is
vulnerable. When the Heart is down, concentrate on it! Hurt it as much as you
can, THEN kill its minions.
Once the Heart is down to about 33% of it's HP, Mom will scream out Isaac's
name erratically (you'll know it when you hear it) and from this point forward
the battle gets a bit more intense. Instead of hiding, the Heart will now stay
down and summon enemies, all the while sending blood bombs flying in random
directions, exploding and leaving blood pools. These can hurt enemies too, but
don't count on it. Just kill the Heart as quickly as possible to avoid getting
too hurt.
At this point, you shouldn't need too much more advice, just kill the heart and
if you have all your heart containers full, be ready to have the chance to go
deeper!
#It Lives!#
Once unlocked (after beating the Heart/Satan a cumulative total of 9 times) you
will unlock It Lives! It Lives will now ALWAYS replace Mom's Heart and simply
ups the difficulty by spawning bosses instead of normal enemies.
The only difference between Mom's Heart and It Lives is the difficulty of the
enemies (bosses and knights and such) which get spawned. Otherwise, the only
difference is aesthetic and that much I won't spoil for you.
*****************
Chapter 5 - Sheol:
*****************
#Satan#
This is it! The final battle! Satan is ready to punish Isaac for his sins and
boy is he going to put up a fight.
This battle consists of 3 phases and I highly recommend you stock up on HP
before you fight him if possible. Lastly, if by some rare chance you're
carrying the Bible item, use it BEFORE even entering the room as using it in
front of Satan at ANY time will instantly kill you.
Part 1:
Satan will summon The Fallen flanked by two exploding leeches. Focus on the
leeches first as they can hurt The Fallen if detonated properly. A well timed
bomb before these minions appear can wipe out both leeches and put a dent in
The Fallen though this is difficult to pull off.
See the Fallen's section for more info on him, there's no other twist here
besides the 2 leeches and the natural Full Heart damage pentalty in the level.
Part 2:
Clearing out Satan's minions will cause The Fallen angel himself to face Isaac.
Satan will rise from his pedastal and transform into a massive demon.
Satan's first form will hug the back wall and will travel back and forth with
no real pattern. He will frequently cough up two consecutive fans of large
blood balls, which obviously do 1 damage each. The fans will always be pointed
directly at you and are densest when first fired. Strafing is always an option
but Satan has a problem with that too. Passing in front of Satan may trigger a
very quick attack in which he will either spew a blood beam from his mouth or
fire two beams from his hands (leaving room in the middle). Thr reaction time
required to dodge either attack is VERY quick so avoid passing in front of
Satan and additionally try not to stop there when doing so!
This battle doesn't change at all for the entire duration, so play things safe
and chip his HP to 0.
Part 3:
When Satan his 0 HP he will fall to the ground, but the get back up and leap
offscreen, laughing.
Now comes the most chaotic part. Play this by ear and avoid getting hurt too
much, but balance this with the fact that you want to get done ASAP!
This is the VERY end so be prepared to come within an inch of your life.
In this new form Satan, from his invisible perch above, will send his massive
feet crushing down on you in an attempt to crush you just like in your battle
with Mom. The feet will display a shadow before falling, will land and release
an explosion (splash damage will happen!). The legs will come crashing down one
after the other, raising up to come crashing down again. All the while, Satan
will constantly summon Exploding Leeches (up to 2 at a time) which can cause
plenty of trouble if you aren't careful since you usually don't see them spawn.
I cannot tell you what weapons you'll have, nor how you should approach this
battle (offensive or defensive) but at this point use your best judgement and
remember, at this point you either win or lose.
***************************
The Riders and other Bosses:
***************************
@Famine@
Famine is the starved out horseman of the Basement. He can replace any boss in
the basement once unlocked.
Like all riders, he has 2 phases and in each phase has different attacks.
In his normal form, Famine will either spawn pooters (up to 2 at a time) or, if
the player is within his direct horizontal line of sight, he will telegraph a
charge attack where he will charge at you, head offscreen and return on the
opposite side.
His second form will cause Famine to but cut down to only his head, at which
point he will float lazily around and cough up fans of 3 blood balls
periodically, aimed at the player.
General strategy: In his first form, Famine is easiest in that you can provoke
him to attack by charging, which will destroy any pooters he hits and will also
prevent him from spawning more pooters in the meanwhile. Keep him charging and
you can chip him down to his second form without a scratch! In his second form,
do whatever you want, just avoid getting hit when he does attack (which gives
you reasonable time to dodge).
Your reward is your first Cube of Meat.
#Pestilence#
Pestilence is the rider of the caves. He will float around on his horse and
summon chargers and spitties below him. Pestilence leaves a trail of sickly
slime which will hurt you if touched. His final attack is a ball of goo which
he lobs at you and which explodes on contact with the ground, leaving more
slime and hurting anything in its blast radius (enemies included, though not
the rider himself).
When he is hurt enough, he will lose his head, at which point his horse will
cough up flies and he will continue firing goo balls at you.
Not too difficult really, a relaxing break in comparison to, say, Gurdy.
Pestilence can be dealt with by simply ignoring the enemies he spawns and
instead paying more attention to his goo trails and lobbed goo grenades. Allow
Pestilence to take care of his own minions! When his head comes off, he's
nearly dead, though the flies that get coughed up can annoyingly block your
shots. At this point you shouldn't have any difficulty claiming your next cube
of meat.
$War$
War is the rider of the Depths
While War is rather hard to encounter, he is not too hard to fight, though most
certainly isn't as easy as Monstro II.
War's normal attacks are generally harder to dodge, though taking him to his
second form will eliminate all of that danger.
On his horse, War can:
Fire a circular spray of fast moving blood balls (hard to dodge!)
Fly into the air offscreen and release 6 troll bombs throughout the room
When provoked into a charge, War will attack horizontally once, then again
about 1/2 a room lower and again 1/2 a room lower until he finally returns to
his original starting position (the result is 3 consecutive nonstop charges
from the top to the middle to the bottom, or the middle to the bottom to the
top or the bottom to the top to the middle depending on where he starts).
When War takes enough damage, he will lose his horse and chase you Lust style,
in which form he is a pushover. Hurting him enough will trip him briefly.
Not too hard, just watch out for his charges and definitely be prepared for an
unexpected attack.
Killing him nets another Cube of Meat
%Death%
The final rider! Death appears in Chaper 4: the Womb!
Death can summon scythes to attack you from across the room, either in a pair,
which will track you, or a quartet which will travel across the room. These can
be shot down if needed. Additionally, Death may unleash his Hourglass which
will slow you and your attacks down, making dodging tougher.
Once wounded to about 50% HP, Death will dismount his horse which will enter a
charging pattern like War, but will continue nonstop until destroyed (necessary
to finish the battle!)
Death will now summon knights in pairs (and occasionally knightmares in the
place of a knight) which will behave normally once summoned. Taking out Death
or his horse will still leave the other to deal with.
To fight off Death, try to simply avoid his scythes, attacking only those that
will hurt you and focusing more on Death himself. Chopping him down to his
final form will force you to take out both him and his horse individually, so I
recommend you focus on Death first. His charing horse can and will hurt knights
spawned in the meantime, so just pay attention to where enemies are moving.
Killing Death and his knights only leaves the horse which will continue
charging until you kill it. It has a bit of HP so don't underestimate it.
Death will present you with your final cube of meat.
*The Headless Horseman*
The Headless Horseman is a special boss, like The Fallen and can replace ANY
rider when one is encountered (the Rider will be rolled for first when you
enter the boss room, and if a rider is to be fought then the game will roll
again to see if the rider is replaced).
This means the HH can appear in the Basement 1!
Unlike the riders, HH has both forms at once and is actually a fight against
two bosses at once (both parts can be found in Sheol when you get there,
sometimes in multiples!)
The body behaves a lot like the second form of Pestilence, coughing up blood
balls that leave behind damaging pools of blood.
The head behaves like a cross between War and Famine and will float around,
coughing up a fan of 3 blood balls, as well as occasionally performing War's
3-run charge.
I recommend taking out the body first if you can, especially if the head is
busy charging. Killing the body prevents the room from getting bogged down with
blood. Once he's out, kill the head, watching out for the blood he spews at you.
Killing the HH will either yield "a Pony" or sometimes a normal Cube of Meat.
The Pony is well worth the dangers if you get it early!
/ The Fallen\
This dark angel can appear in any boss room on ANY floor and in the basement,
like the Headless Horseman, can be a game ender easily!
The Fallen flies around the room and will spit two successive fans of blood
balls (first 3 then 4). The Fallen will also occasionally stop firing and
charge at you like Gemini, after which point, instead of taking a breather, he
will stop and release a + pattern of blood beams.
At 50% HP The Fallen gets tougher as he splits into 2 smaller versions of
himself who behave identically. Take them out one at a time if possible.
Circle strafing is recommended for this guy, but his blood beam attack will
force the player to take cover in a safe place.
This tough fellow will always reward an item from the Devil's Room list, for
FREE! Rerolling this item will always yield another Devils room item as well.
Worth the trouble if you can survive.
+Krampus+
Krampus randomly appears in the Devil's Room upon entering INSTEAD of Satan
with two special sales.
At first glance, Krampus behaves identically to The Fallen with a few minor
changes:
Krampus fires an extra blood ball per fan attack.
Krampus will never chase you, nor will he split when hurt.
Standing in a straight line with Krampus may prompt him to fire off a + pattern
of blood beams.