The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ is an expansive expansion to the popular roguelike game, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. It introduces a plethora of new items, each adding unique abilities and strategic depth to the game. For both new players and veterans, understanding these items is crucial for mastering the game. This article provides an in-depth look at some of the most significant items in The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+, offering tips on how to best utilize them.
Understanding the Item System
In The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+, items are essential for progression and survival. They come in various types, including passive items, active items, and trinkets. Passive items provide continuous effects, active items can be used manually to trigger powerful abilities, and trinkets offer minor but useful buffs.
Notable Passive Items
- The D6
- Effect: Allows Isaac to reroll items in item rooms, treasure rooms, and shops.
- Strategy: This item is particularly useful for players looking to optimize their build. It allows rerolling undesirable items, giving players a chance to get powerful combinations.
- Brimstone
- Effect: Transforms Isaac’s tears into a continuous laser beam.
- Strategy: Brimstone is a game-changer, providing immense damage output and piercing capabilities. Pair it with items that increase damage or modify tears for devastating effects.
- Sacred Heart
- Effect: Significantly increases damage, grants homing tears, and boosts health.
- Strategy: Sacred Heart is one of the most coveted items due to its substantial damage boost and homing effect, making it easier to hit enemies.
- Polyphemus
- Effect: Massively increases tear damage while reducing tear rate.
- Strategy: This item is ideal for players who prefer high damage per shot. Combining it with items that increase tear rate can mitigate its downside.
- Magic Mushroom
- Effect: Provides an all-stat increase, including health, damage, speed, and range.
- Strategy: A well-rounded item that benefits any build. The health boost also adds an extra layer of survivability.
Key Active Items
- The Book of Belial
- Effect: Temporarily increases damage.
- Strategy: Useful for tough boss fights or challenging rooms. Pair it with items that reduce active item cooldowns for more frequent use.
- The Nail
- Effect: Temporarily increases damage, grants a soul heart, and allows crushing rocks.
- Strategy: Provides both offensive and defensive benefits. Use it strategically to gain extra health and navigate through rocks to uncover hidden rooms.
- The Book of Shadows
- Effect: Grants temporary invincibility.
- Strategy: Ideal for dangerous rooms or dodging challenging enemy attacks. It can also be used to safely interact with sacrifice rooms or blood donation machines.
- The D20
- Effect: Rerolls all pickups in the room.
- Strategy: This item is perfect for maximizing resources. Use it in rooms with many pickups to potentially create more valuable items like chests or batteries.
- The Black Candle
- Effect: Removes curses and grants a black heart.
- Strategy: Removing curses is incredibly valuable, as they can significantly hinder gameplay. The additional black heart adds a layer of protection.
Essential Trinkets
- Cancer
- Effect: Greatly increases tear rate.
- Strategy: An excellent trinket for boosting damage output, especially when paired with items that already increase tear rate.
- Curved Horn
- Effect: Provides a significant damage boost.
- Strategy: A straightforward yet powerful trinket that enhances overall damage. It’s beneficial for any build focusing on offense.
- The Tick
- Effect: Reduces the health of bosses by 15% and heals Isaac when entering a boss room.
- Strategy: While it cannot be removed once picked up, the Tick’s benefits in boss fights are substantial. Use it to make boss battles quicker and less taxing.
- Mom’s Pearl
- Effect: Increases the chance of finding soul hearts.
- Strategy: This trinket is perfect for maintaining high health levels, particularly for characters with low health pools.
- Flat Penny
- Effect: Grants a key for every coin picked up.
- Strategy: Ideal for ensuring you never run out of keys, which are crucial for opening item rooms, shops, and chests.
Synergies and Combos
One of the most exciting aspects of The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ is discovering item synergies. Combining certain items can lead to incredibly powerful or unique effects. Here are a few notable synergies:
- Brimstone + Tammy’s Head
- Effect: Fires a ring of Brimstone lasers in all directions.
- Strategy: This combo can clear rooms instantly, especially when Tammy’s Head is recharged every room.
- Polyphemus + 20/20
- Effect: Doubles Isaac’s shots while maintaining high damage.
- Strategy: This synergy significantly boosts overall damage output, making it easier to handle tougher enemies.
- Sacred Heart + Homing Shots
- Effect: Enhances homing capability and damage.
- Strategy: Combining Sacred Heart with other homing shot items ensures that your tears almost never miss their target.
- Magic Mushroom + Libra
- Effect: Balances all stats, resulting in a massive all-around boost.
- Strategy: This combination maximizes the benefits of Magic Mushroom, providing balanced and substantial stat increases.
- The D6 + 9 Volt
- Effect: Reduces the D6’s recharge time.
- Strategy: Allows for more frequent rerolls, increasing the chance of finding optimal items.
The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ offers a rich and varied item system that significantly enhances gameplay. Understanding and strategically using these items can greatly improve your chances of success in the game. Whether you’re a new player or a seasoned veteran, mastering the intricacies of these items and their synergies will elevate your gameplay experience, making each run through the game’s procedurally generated levels unique and exciting.