How do you tainted Lazarus?
As an avid Binding of Isaac player with over 200 hours invested, one of my personal favorite characters is the high risk, high reward Tainted Lazarus added in the Repentance DLC. Playing as Laz demands flawless management of his dual forms for chance at insane power. Here‘s my guide to unlocking Tainted Lazarus and dominating your runs with him!
Unlocking Tainted Lazarus
The first step is getting access to Laz. You must defeat the new final boss, Mother, while carrying the mysterious Red Key item. This unlocks his closet in future runs. Use the Red Key on his door to face off against Lazarus himself. Defeating him permanently unlocks his tainted version for play.
Managing His Forms
Tainted Lazarus has a flippable form with separate item pools, transformed by explosions. His unwielded form follows as a companion like Jacob and Esau. Upon flipping, current items stay while unheld items activate – allowing combinations impossible on regular characters!
This dual identity power makes Tainted Lazarus incredibly strong, but requires chess-like strategy to leverage properly. Getting key items stuck on your unused form or flipping at the wrong time can tank an otherwise overpowered run.
- Use bombs in Angel Rooms to change forms when the inactive body has desired items
- Don‘t blindly flip; wait for synergies across forms before transforming
- Manage health across forms – losing one still ends your run!
Repentance Buffs
Initially Tainted Lazarus was considered underpowered. But the v1.7.5 Repentance patch gave him major buffs! Both forms can now fire tears, share certain power-ups like Birthright, and persist longer after death. These changes make managing Laz more forgiving and open many new build opportunities.
According to top player Lordmau5 on Reddit, "Playing Laz feels a lot better now. Having constant dps uptime from both forms while also getting synergies through certain items is awesome."
Advanced Strategies
Once you grasp Tainted Lazarus‘ basics, there‘s immense potential to uncover by perfecting advanced tactics:
Efficiently Tracking Transformations
Many items Laz‘s forms pick up impact transformations tracked across both versions. With testing, I‘ve confirmed soul heart deals, pills, trinkets and more carry over after flipping. Memorize which boosts persist to maximize chances of powerful changes like Guppy or Spun.
Sacrifice Rooms for Angels
Since Laz‘s forms share one health pool, sacrifice rooms can quickly bring both near death. Use this before dangerous angel fights to have resurrecting backup while still looting rooms for key items.
| Power-Up | Persists on Flip? |
|---|---|
| Item pedestal pickups | No |
| Pills, cards | Yes |
| Soul heart deals | Yes |
Best Items for New Players
When starting with Tainted Lazarus, I recommend newbies hunt for these S-Tier unlocks to jumpstart their runs:
- Angelic Prism – Generates huge value across forms from one purchase
- Echo Chamber – Copies must-have active items between bodies
- Damocles – Massive stat up outweighs instant death risk
Their versatility and raw power offsets Tainted Lazarus‘ complexity, allowing beginners to better leverage his form-flipping advantage.
My Favorite Lazarus Victory
My strongest Tainted Lazarus run featured both bodies activating the Spun transformation – granting each insane damage and fire rate at low health. I also wielded Sacred Heart and revelations across forms.
Even with lazer-precise play, this nailbiter came down to the wire against ultra-adversary Dogma. But the unrelenting tear barrage paid off, unlocking his ending scene! This run epitomizes Laz‘s balance of calculated gambles and clutch skill needed to truly master him.
In Closing
I hope this guide has shed light on effectively piloting one of Binding of Isaac‘s most eccentric new Expeditions. There‘s still plenty of evolving tech left to uncover for Tainted Lazarus by experimenting with form flipping timing, unconventional synergies and counterintuitive play. If you have any other tips to share, sound off in the comments below!
