The Binding of Isaac’s status as one of the most popular roguelikes of all time has continued to be cemented over for well over a decade since the original game’s release in 2011. In that time, its sequel, Rebirth, has received multiple major DLC additions in the ensuing years. No roguelike can be considered quality without a great item pool. Isaac became unique for its continued addition of balancing different items and adding new ones throughout the years.
While many staples have stayed true throughout this time, there are also newer items that have given the tried and true builds a run for their money. This list breaks down the best items in The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and its ensuing DLCs.
10 Holy Mantle
Holy Mantle serves as a solid ‘get out of jail free card.’ Holy Mantle is a passive buff that protects the player from damage when entering a new room. After taking the hit, the damage will be reduced to zero, and the player will have invincibility frames based off of what that damage would have been. For example, a hit that would have taken half a heart would result in less i-frames than a full heart.
Holy Mantle’s biggest benefit lies with the small hits that add up throughout a run. Being able to negate a single hit per room allows you to save hearts both for harder bosses, but also saving it as a resource for sacrifice rooms or a blood donation machine. Holy Mantle can be unlocked after donating 879 coins to the greed donation machine.
9 The Wafer
The Wafer works similarly to Holy Mantle, except rather than protect you from that first hit in a room, it reduces all damage to half a heart for the duration of the run. While Holy Mantle can be far less useful late in a run when faced with much higher damage and higher-health enemies, The Wafer ensures that even lower health builds can eat a few hits and still have a chance, as it essentially doubles your health pool by reducing all damage so low.
It is also a staple for challenge runs like Onan’s Streak where taking damage is all but a certainty. The Wafer is available from the very beginning with no prerequisite to unlock.
8 The Mind
The Mind reveals every room in an entire floor. This includes the locations of the usual expected treasure rooms and item shops, but it also includes both secret and super secret rooms. Being able to conserve bombs in finding these secret rooms is a godsend, and it helps you to perfectly optimize your runs by hitting your exact path through to the boss room as fast as possible.
The Mind is also perfect for speedrun times in attempting to hit certain clearing benchmarks with a character and also for hitting the boss rush room after defeating mom. The Mind can be unlocked after defeating Satan as The Lost.
7 Glowing Hourglass
Glowing Hourglass serves as a free redo for every action you take throughout a floor. Recharging after every three rooms, the Glowing Hourglass will return you to the last room when used. This works for the obvious situation of being near death in a room and preserving your run, but it also can be used to get bombs back when guessing secret rooms wrong, undo bad pills taken, or even rewind from beggars and slot machines that had bad items behind them.
Glowing Hourglass may lack the straightforward utility that other items have, but its great versatility and ease of fitting into every run makes it a must-have for every player. The Glowing Hourglass is a default unlock.
6 Mega Blast
Mega Blast is a difficult-to-plan-around item given its massive 12 room recharge, but it also shreds through the game more than any other item. Mega Blast fires a mega Satan giant beam for a whopping 15 seconds. Its fire has both spectral and piercing properties, and it can clear multiple rooms in a single burst.
Mega Blast works as both a great tool for clearing rooms very fast and also for melting single bosses unlike anything else. If it were easier to use for both these purposes in a single floor, it would be the best item in the entire game. The Mega Blast can be unlocked after defeating Mega Satan with every non-stained character in the game.
5 Revelation
Revelation is the angel deal equivalent of the Brimstone. Revelation, in addition to granting the user flight and two soul hearts, charges a holy laser. After charging for about two and a half seconds, releasing it fires a piercing beam that holds similar properties of the Brimstone beam. It also scales with the user’s damage.
Despite the added ability to fly, it is considered less desirable than Brimstone because of it taking longer to attack consistently, as the cooldown to fire cannot be sped up from the default, while brimstone can. Revelation can be unlocked by defeating Mother as Bethany.
4 Godhead
Godhead is a multifold item that does not offer a straight upgrade. In exchange for a modest shot speed decrease and a slight decrease in tear output, the user’s tears gain solid range and shot height, as well as an AoE aura and homing ability. The real benefit to the Godhead is turning your tears into huge hitbox shots that track enemies.
Even without any additional boosts, the Godhead tears can take up a majority of the default room size. Few builds can do this without stacking up several different items to get to that point. Godhead can be unlocked by earning all completion marks with The Lost on hard mode.
3 Death’s Touch
Death’s Touch offers a sizable damage boost — as well as turning the user’s tears into death’s scythes with piercing effects. The death’s scythes turn the user’s default tear size into a much bigger projectile that passes through enemies. Like Godhead, these are extremely sought-after boosts that are usually only achievable through multiple different items stacked together.
Paired with items that increase both tear size and firing speed, Death’s Touch builds can cheese the entire game very easily. Death’s Touch can be unlocked by completing Challenge #17, ‘Waka Waka.’
2 Mom’s Knife
Mom’s Knife is a staple Binding of Isaac item. It changes the user’s tears into a single knife that can be fired at enemies at further distances based on how long the button is held. The challenge in using the knife usually lies in finding other items that pair with it. The default Mom’s Knife is very effective, but firing it at the optimal speed and distance to clear through enemies has a bit of a learning curve.
Paired with items like the 20/20 and Mutant Spider can fire multiple knives at a time. Mom’s Knife can be unlocked after defeating Satan with Isaac.
1 Brimstone
Possibly the most famous powerful Isaac item, the Brimstone changes your default tears into a large beam that must be charged first. The beam has spectral and piercing effects, and it excels at melting through multiple enemies at a time. Brimstone is found in devil deal rooms, or as the starting item of Azazel (albeit a much shorter range version). Brimstone works great at its basest version but is also easily broken paired with many items in the game.
It benefits from shot number increase, like Mom’s Knife does, with 20/20 and Mutant Spider, but others like the Ludovico Technique lets it fire in a circle around the player, or the Rubber Cement, allowing it to bounce off of walls. The Brimstone is a default unlock.
