By Ryan Thomas Bamsey
The Binding of Isaac: Repentance adds all-new, powerful items for players to use, and here is a look at the best ones.
The massive cult classic The Binding of Isaac broke its own record for concurrent players on Steam lately thanks to the release of the hotly awaited new DLC; Repentance arrived on March 30, 2021 and features a ton of new content: players can expect to enjoy new items and trinkets to use, new bosses to face, and new floors to explore.
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With some tough new challenges to face and even two new characters with interesting gimmicks to learn, players will be relieved to learn that Repentance not only turned up the difficulty but also blessed them with some fantastic new tools to play with.
10 4.5 Volt
The battery items in The Binding of Isaac are known for their passive utility and are really only sought out when the player stumbles upon some truly powerful active item. 4.5 Volt is a new battery item that has really impressed the player base and can lead to some terrifying outcomes.
This item allows Isaac to charge his active item simply by dealing damage to his enemies. This means that against enemies with a lot of health such as bosses, Isaac may be able to use his item twice, thrice, or even more times per room. Pair this with items like Box of Friends, Book of Revelations, or Sulfur and it becomes very difficult to lose.
9 Freezer Baby
Freezer Baby is a wonderful familiar that players can pick up simply for how it can turn scary moments into moments of relief. It fires icicles in the same direction as Isaac's tears and these can both damage and freeze enemies.
Frozen enemies are considered defeated by the game, and there's a neat interaction where they shatter if they strike an obstacle. When these ice statues explode, the resulting fan of icicles can damage and even freeze other enemies causing a helpful chain reaction.
8 Sulfur
Brimstone is one of the most powerful items that you can pick up in the game, it's barely debated. The problem is it costs two entire heart containers to pick up from a Devil Deal and that can be a problem for frail characters. Sulfur however is a quick-charging item that grants you Brimstone beams for a whole room, and only costs one heart container.
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One very cool feature of Sulfur is what happens if you can manage to activate it twice in a single room: Isaac will fire off gigantic beams of Brimstone that do tremendous damage. Note that this is the normal stacking effect of Brimstone, so it can be worth investing in both for regular huge beams of damage.
7 Revelation
Items that grant Isaac two nice buffs are highly valued by The Binding of Isaac players. Items that grant Isaac three nice buffs are amazing. Revelation note only grants two useful Soul Hearts upon pickup, but it also allows Isaac to fly. Flight is super-useful for picking up some hard-to-reach items and avoiding enemies.
Revelation's main draw however is the Brimstone-like beam of light that shoots out from Isaac after a decent charge-up. It can boost a player's damage output massively and it is set apart from Brimstone in that Isaac still fires his regular tears while charging up.
6 Lemegeton
While unlocking Lemegeton can be quite a chore as it is hidden behind some very high-level bosses and a difficult ending, it is a very quirky and powerful item that can easily ramp up Isaac's power levels in a significant fashion.
Lemegeton spawns special wisps that have the appearance of other classic items found in The Binding of Isaac, and they will each grant Isaac the power that they represent. They even block shots, boosting the player's survivability. While these wisps disappear when they get struck enough, taking their powers with them, Lemegeton only requires charges to use.
5 R Key
This item is a little unconventional but can enable some of the most successful runs in the history of The Binding of Isaac. R Key is simple in what it does: it resets the run just like when a player holds down the R key on their keyboard. However, resetting using this item lets Isaac keep every single item, trinket, and pickup that he's accrued so far.
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This is a fantastic utility item that lets players stack up a ton of items, giving them more chances to snowball into a monstrously powerful being capable of taking down even the toughest super-bosses of the game.
4 Psy Fly
While so simple in theory, Psy Fly is undoubtedly a top-tier item that players wereshocked to learn is unlocked from the very start of the game. The item grants Isaac a fly follower that protects him from all enemy bullets, and it does that job almost too well.
Psy Fly buzzes into projectiles and hurls them back at enemies with so much efficiency that some players worry it may be nerfed in a future update. Right now though, it can give players easy wins against tough enemies, even the usually incredibly hard Hush fight.
3 Glitched Crown
If players enjoy having less luck affecting their runs and prefer to pick out a build that suits them perfectly, they'll be hoping to pick up Glitched Crown every single time. This powerful passive item makes every single item pedestal cycle between five different items from that room's item pool.
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Players will have to be quick to get the item they have their eye on, however, as the pedestal cycles through its items very quickly. With some good timing though, any run can be a won run with the Glitched Crown.
2 Alabaster Box
This quirky Angel Room item can be something of a double-edged sword. It starts out completely uncharged and requires six entire Soul or Black Hearts to use, and players can't choose whether to fuel the item or take the hearts for themselves.
Upon use, however, the Alabaster Box not only refunds three of these hearts but spawns two Angel Room items to take too. There are a lot of truly powerful Angel Room items, so the Alabaster Box absolutely seems worth taking.
1 Death Certificate
The Death Certificate is an item that seems to be the ultimate reward for completing the game. That's right, in order to unlock this powerful piece of legal jargon players must complete every single post-it note - including on the Tainted characters! This will be great news for players who have sunk in many hours.
It's worth it, however, for the Death Certificate is fantastic. When used, Isaac is transported to a special temporary floor which contains every single item in the entire game. The player is then able to pick up any single one of these items for free. All the greats are scattered through these rooms: Brimstone, Sacred Heart, Godhead, Mama Mega. It's a scarily powerful item with a worthy price.
NEXT: The Binding Of Isaac: Everything You Need To Know About Repentance