The Binding of Isaac

I'd like to know what the Lucky Foot actually does.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I'd like to know what the Lucky Foot actually does.

Changes the odds in the slot machines, item rooms and the cup game. The cup game goes from paying out 1 in 3 to paying out 1 in 2. And googling reveals you only get positive pill effects which I hadn't noticed

shoptroll wrote:
DanB wrote:

Ignore the fact that she starts with Whore of Babylon and the bird, don't play to maximise their use. Hope you get lucky with a dmg power up or 2 in the first 2 levels and meticulously grind out the blood bag from any blood donation machines. Try and maximise the the number of free items you get as quickly as possible. I usually find, irrespective of character, that opening the item room, the secret room, the store and the challenge room (roughly that order of importance depending on how much cash you have on you) is the best plan of action. As keys are more rare than bombs I'd usually always use a bomb to get to a key to be able to open the item room, secret room and store. In the first 6 levels if bombs and keys are in short supply I'll usually clear every room in a level out so I can see exactly how many keys, bombs and money I can get to before making decisions about which rooms to open, which blocks to detonate etc... Usually by the 5th and 6th level your supply of keys is usually not and issue so I tend to be a bit more ad hoc about it.

That's basically how I play anyways, although I skew more towards abusing the arcade for dollar -> blood bag -> skatole sometimes to a detriment.

I totally do this too, although I play for the blood bag first and then use the spare change for the dollar afterwards. I figured you'd already be on that tip so it didn't bear explaining. Also when you have spare cash always feed the beggars in preference to slot machines; they have better drops for better odds ratios.

e2a: the blood bag is way more important than the dollar because health is rarer, there is actually plenty of cash around usually and there are no shops in the last 2 (3) levels.

shoptroll wrote:

The farthest I've gotten with Eve is Womb 1 and that was the first real attempt. Last night was trying to abuse the bird and whore and didn't get much in terms of luck and it leaves you way too vulnerable. I'll take your advice/sanity check and fall back on my standard routine and instincts with the character.

The biggest problem is the lack of damage and it certainly feels like the game is going out of it's way to hand me speed/range items vs. HP/dmg with each boss kill.

I'd say my only tip there is that you need to play the rooms very a great deal of care for at least the first 2 or 3 levels. Eve's lack of power means you spend more time in each room so you need to play with the safest most boring strategy, don't take any risks don't try and speed through. Unless you're really unlucky with items you should be able to relax into a more normal mode of play around level 4.

shoptroll wrote:

I noticed a similar trend with Judas, so I'm starting to wonder if the RNG weighs certain groups of items higher depending on character/# of mom kills. I'm pretty sure I got a lot more +HP items with Isaac/Maggy in my first mom kill. But that's all anecdotal so without a significant amount of data mining it's hard to say.

Well the lucky foot complete changes the drop/rolls chances for things. Switching between ? ? ? and Isaac I think I noticed that you get loads more of the explodable item rocks playing with Isaac, but that might be anecdotal too.

DanB wrote:

I totally do this too, although I play for the blood bag first and then use the spare change for the dollar afterwards. I figured you'd already be on that tip so it didn't bear explaining. Also when you have spare cash always feed the beggars in preference to slot machines; they have better drops for better odds ratios.

Yeah I think I dropped into this habit as well after it was pointed out somewhere else that the beggar payout was more frequent. General strategy is to feed the blood machine every time a heart is won and alternate between the beggar/slot and blood machine until something goes boom (usually it's the blood machine).

DanB wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

I'd like to know what the Lucky Foot actually does.

Changes the odds in the slot machines, item rooms and the cup game. The cup game goes from paying out 1 in 3 to paying out 1 in 2. And googling reveals you only get positive pill effects which I hadn't noticed

Ah. Well I usually get something out of the cup game every time I play, because I pay for my turn with a bomb.

shoptroll wrote:
DanB wrote:

I totally do this too, although I play for the blood bag first and then use the spare change for the dollar afterwards. I figured you'd already be on that tip so it didn't bear explaining. Also when you have spare cash always feed the beggars in preference to slot machines; they have better drops for better odds ratios.

Yeah I think I dropped into this habit as well after it was pointed out somewhere else that the beggar payout was more frequent. General strategy is to feed the blood machine every time a heart is won and alternate between the beggar/slot and blood machine until something goes boom (usually it's the blood machine).

I assume that you've worked it out but do you know the rule for finding the secret room?

DanB wrote:

I assume that you've worked it out but do you know the rule for finding the secret room?

I've noticed that it's always adjacent to at least two rooms.

pseudointellectual wrote:
DanB wrote:

I assume that you've worked it out but do you know the rule for finding the secret room?

I've noticed that it's always adjacent to at least two rooms.

It's (almost) always the blank space that is adjacent to the greatest number of regular rooms. I assume the procedural generation ensures that it is a minimum of 2 but you can usually pick it out exactly. In later levels there might be 3 or 4 spaces that have 3 adjacent rooms but that at least cuts down your search space.

DanB wrote:

I assume that you've worked it out but do you know the rule for finding the secret room?

Yup. Pretty much the best way for getting money in this game.

Tried another Blue Baby run. In one of the first levels I was lucky enough to get Brimstone from Satan, shortly followed by A Pony (best activated item EVER!) from the headless horseman and the Relic in a shop. Put all that together and I could ignore room layout entirely and obliterate groups of enemies in a single shot, and I'd gain another spirit heart every 4 rooms. By the time I got to Mom I had more hearts than would fit on the screen, and I cleared the... fetus... thing with about 8 hearts left, unlocking The Die. The next floor obliterated me. When they start throwing two sins in with the normal enemies in a single room, that's a bit much for me.

I don't think I'm going to play as the Blue Baby again unless I decide to go Sheol hunting. I got what I was looking for.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Tried another Blue Baby run. In one of the first levels I was lucky enough to get Brimstone from Satan, shortly followed by A Pony (best activated item EVER!) from the headless horseman and the Relic in a shop. Put all that together and I could ignore room layout entirely and obliterate groups of enemies in a single shot, and I'd gain another spirit heart every 4 rooms. By the time I got to Mom I had more hearts than would fit on the screen, and I cleared the... fetus... thing with about 8 hearts left, unlocking The Die. The next floor obliterated me. When they start throwing two sins in with the normal enemies in a single room, that's a bit much for me.

I don't think I'm going to play as the Blue Baby again unless I decide to go Sheol hunting. I got what I was looking for.

Darn you, none of my blue baby runs have been half as successful. Gotta say I love the pony, not a huge fan of brimstone though I don't really like any of the press-and-hold shot power ups.

I loves me some brimstone. The positive aspects--LOTS of damage, insta-kill for most types of enemies, hits several enemies at once, even more if you're cleverly strafing, hits everything in its path unlike the laser eye, which is blocked by obstacles--IMO outweigh the time it takes to charge up. Nothing clears a room full of jumpers, flies, or maggots quite like brimstone. Some of the bosses, e.g. the snake-thingies, can be beaten within seconds, which comes pretty handy in the late levels where you can encounter them anywhere in the dungeon.

double post

I just might have to start trying brimstone these days...

I've been trying for a good 2 weeks without luck on the no-damage runs of Depths and Womb, and I was hoping it would be with something like a Technology + attack speed/damage/piercing combo, but I just plain haven't been getting those combos, even though brimstone keeps popping up.

I'm starting to think that I have to reset my progress to get it easier as well, Everything's Terrible seems to make it really tough to even take no damage in Depths, never mind Womb.

jollyeskimo wrote:

I just might have to start trying brimstone these days...

I've been trying for a good 2 weeks without luck on the no-damage runs of Depths and Womb, and I was hoping it would be with something like a Technology + attack speed/damage/piercing combo, but I just plain haven't been getting those combos, even though brimstone keeps popping up.

I'm starting to think that I have to reset my progress to get it easier as well, Everything's Terrible seems to make it really tough to even take no damage in Depths, never mind Womb.

Move your save file first. Also there is a sweet spot probably around completing the game twice where you've unlocked enough useful stuff and the game isn't too hard.

DanB wrote:

Darn you, none of my blue baby runs have been half as successful. Gotta say I love the pony, not a huge fan of brimstone though I don't really like any of the press-and-hold shot power ups.

To be fair, this was like my 10th attempt.

Spunior wrote:

I loves me some brimstone. The positive aspects--LOTS of damage, insta-kill for most types of enemies, hits several enemies at once, even more if you're cleverly strafing, hits everything in its path unlike the laser eye, which is blocked by obstacles--IMO outweigh the time it takes to charge up. Nothing clears a room full of jumpers, flies, or maggots quite like brimstone. Some of the bosses, e.g. the snake-thingies, can be beaten within seconds, which comes pretty handy in the late levels where you can encounter them anywhere in the dungeon.

Forget all that: it can penetrate a knight's armor. SOLD.

DanB wrote:

I don't really like any of the press-and-hold shot power ups.

I picked up chocolate milk on one of my more recent runs and I'm really not a fan of it either, despite the potential power boost with lasers (which I think was finally nerfed in the xmas update).

LobsterMobster wrote:
Spunior wrote:

I loves me some brimstone. The positive aspects--LOTS of damage, insta-kill for most types of enemies, hits several enemies at once, even more if you're cleverly strafing, hits everything in its path unlike the laser eye, which is blocked by obstacles--IMO outweigh the time it takes to charge up. Nothing clears a room full of jumpers, flies, or maggots quite like brimstone. Some of the bosses, e.g. the snake-thingies, can be beaten within seconds, which comes pretty handy in the late levels where you can encounter them anywhere in the dungeon.

Forget all that: it can penetrate a knight's armor. SOLD.

I really don't mind the knights but the Leaper's (the little guys who jump to where you are and then spit shots in 4 cardinal directions) drive me up the wall, for just about every other mob I have a decent strategy but I just can't find a consistently successful way to deal with those guys.

DanB wrote:

I really don't mind the knights but the Leaper's (the little guys who jump to where you are and then spit shots in 4 cardinal directions) drive me up the wall, for just about every other mob I have a decent strategy but I just can't find a consistently successful way to deal with those guys.

Just keep moving and be sure to extinguish any fire in the room is the only way I've been able to handle them. Halo of Flies and Meat Cube help a lot. They're definitely one of the more annoying mobs in the game.

shoptroll wrote:
DanB wrote:

I really don't mind the knights but the Leaper's (the little guys who jump to where you are and then spit shots in 4 cardinal directions) drive me up the wall, for just about every other mob I have a decent strategy but I just can't find a consistently successful way to deal with those guys.

Just keep moving and be sure to extinguish any fire in the room is the only way I've been able to handle them. Halo of Flies and Meat Cube help a lot. They're definitely one of the more annoying mobs in the game.

The lesser ones that just bounce around, which you usually find with the fires, are fine. It's the ones that leap to your position.

LobsterMobster wrote:
DanB wrote:

Darn you, none of my blue baby runs have been half as successful. Gotta say I love the pony, not a huge fan of brimstone though I don't really like any of the press-and-hold shot power ups.

To be fair, this was like my 10th attempt.

Whoo, I totally beat the fetus with ? ? ? and saw sheol for the first time and got to the end boss and killed it's first form. Then it totally destroyed me. whooo!

It took me a while to get up to speed on Sheol, but now I've got Sheol runs done with everyone but Eve and the blue baby. I don't think there's an achievement yet for beating Satan with the blue baby though, so when I get my Eve run done that should get me Golden God
Brimstone is awesome, but you really need a flying item (preferably Transcendence since it's a passive buff) to take full advantage of it.
Any time you get the Battery and the Book of Revelations by at least mid-game should make for an easy Sheol run. If you're careful you can get a new soul heart for every room with enemies.
Farming for the Blood Bag is a great strategy. Don't underestimate the beggar either. Feed him enough and he'll drop an item. Getting health buffs for five or six coins is really satisfying. Along with this: save your XX Judgement cards if possible for the Womb and Sheol where you'll still get coins but won't have many opportunities to spend them.
A quick anecdote: I come to a Satan fight with Cain and damage and tears maxed, a full compliment of regular hearts, Lil Gish, and the Parasite. I'm doing really well, and get past his second form without taking a single hit. I have the third form down 3/4 and a hit from a hoof knocks me through the door and out of the boss room!. At this point I'm about 3/4 health and no useable items left. There was no point in giving up so I head back into the boss room and have to start Satan over from scratch. I cruised through first and second forms again and got the kill with four hearts left. That was a very satisfying run

Yeah I discovered the bosses can knock you through the doors when a Larry Jr knocked me out the room on my successful blue baby run.

w00t! a succesful Sheol run with isaac, all hail the D6. Final config was brimstone, triple shot, full red hearts, the ladder, map and the bible.The 3x slowed charge on the brimstone-triple shot is a pain but you can one shot just about everything when a room starts. Insta-killed both mom forms with the bible and literally cruised through The womb. The map allowed me to find satan room before I lost too much health and he was a piece of cake, his second form only took a couple of shots with the triple shot brimstone.

Another neat trick I found with Satan: if you have three Pretty Flies protecting you, his first form can't hit you with his normal shots.

Eve Mom Kill Get!

Stuck with my gut instincts and played Eve like a normal character and managed to take it all the way to the womb again. Got a healthy dose of +HP items from the game along the way which allowed me to hit the devil's room three times and I still have 5 or 6 heart containers by the end. Thanks again for the advice and reassurance DanB!

The Die kind of breaks things. Ever since I've unlocked it, I've always been able to beat Mom and Mom's Heart every time I've played as Isaac.

I'm not sure I should call that "breaking" if it lets me play the whole game.

LobsterMobster wrote:

The Die kind of breaks things.

I suppose that is why it is one of the last item unlocks though.

Now that I've done Mom's heart/foetus with the blue baby Sheol always seems to be unlocked, has that just been luck of is that supposed to happen? I killed satan with Maggy the other day but haven't managed to have a successful set of pick ups for any of the other characters.

I could be entirely wrong about this, but I think that you always get to Sheol by beating Mom's heart/fetus, but that Satan rooms sometimes include a shortcut. The last time I beat the fetus I got a Satan room that contained nothing but the Satan statue and a door. I jumped in and it brought me to Sheol. Of course the same thing would have happened had I taken the door in the boss room so I'm not entirely sure how that works.

Sheol spawns randomly (as a Satan deal room) until you've got ten Mom's Heart kills, at which point it's always there after Mom's Heart. I also have my Eve Satan kill, so now all I'm missing is the blue baby.
Lobster - The Die helps a ton, but I was already making it to Sheol consistently by the time I unlocked it. It's one of the more powerful items in the game, but there are others that will almost always guarantee a Mom's Heart kill (e.g. Book of Revelations).
Here's a helpful tip: Chocolate Milk and Brimstone do not mix well. I think it's a bug, but picking up Brimstone after you've got Chocolate Milk significantly reduces the damage from Brimstone, to the point where it takes two or three full hits to kill most monsters. It does allow insta-firing of the Brimstone beam, but the damage is so low compared to either alone that it's just not worth it.