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The Boss Rush is an optional room that becomes available by beating Mom in DepthsDepths, NecropolisNecropolis, or (except in Rebirth)Dank DepthsDank Depths within 20 minutes, or (in Repentance) beating her in MausoleumMausoleum or GehennaGehenna within 25 minutes.

In the center of a large room, there will be 4 random items to choose from (Picked from the Treasure Room item pool). Picking up an item will cause the other three to disappear and start the Boss Rush. Completing the Boss Rush will also reward 1 more item, separate from the 4 seen when first entering the room.

(except in Rebirth) There is a chance that there will only be 2 items to choose from. Additionally, items may be trapped behind rocks or spikes. Items may appear in the corners of the room instead of the center.

(in Afterbirth † and Repentance) There is a small chance that there will be 8 items to choose from.

Waves[ | ]

The Boss Rush consists of 15 waves with 2 bosses per wave. The next wave does not spawn until both bosses from the previous wave have been killed, and any lingering monsters from previous waves will not prevent the next wave from spawning.

Occasionally, all the bosses fought in the Boss Rush will be their Champion variants, if they have one.

Rebirth[ | ]

All 15 waves are predetermined.

Afterbirth[ | ]

All 15 waves are randomized, with each wave spawning two random bosses from the list. Each boss can only appear once per Boss Rush, meaning that out of all the 50 bosses Isaac will face 30 of them.

Boss Entity ID
3x Boss Larry Jr. ingameLarry Jr. 19.0
3x Boss The Hollow ingameThe Hollow 19.1
Boss Monstro ingameMonstro 20.0
Boss Chub ingameChub 28.0
Boss C.H.A.D. ingameC.H.A.D. 28.1
Boss Carrion Queen ingameCarrion Queen 28.2
Boss Gurdy ingameGurdy 36.0
Boss Monstro II ingameMonstro II 43.0
Boss Gish ingameGish 43.1
Boss Pin ingamePin 62.0
(except in Rebirth) Boss The Frail ingameThe Frail 62.2
Boss Famine ingameFamine 63.0
Boss Pestilence ingamePestilence 64.0
Boss War ingameWar 65.0
Boss Death ingameDeath 66.0
Boss The Duke of Flies ingameThe Duke of Flies 67.0
Boss The Husk ingameThe Husk 67.1
Boss Peep ingamePeep 68.0
Boss The Bloat ingameThe Bloat 68.1
Boss Loki ingameLoki 69.0
Boss Fistula ingameFistula 71.0
Boss Blastocyst ingameBlastocyst 74.0
Boss Gemini ingameGemini 79.0
Boss Steven ingameSteven 79.1
Boss Blighted Ovum ingameBlighted Ovum 79.2
Boss The Fallen ingameThe Fallen 81.0
Boss The Headless Horseman ingameThe Headless Horseman 82.0
Boss Mask of Infamy ingameMask of Infamy 97.0
Boss Gurdy Jr. ingameGurdy Jr. 99.0
Boss Widow ingameWidow 100.0
Boss The Wretched ingameThe Wretched 100.1
3x Boss Gurglings ingameGurglings 237.1
3x Boss Turdlings ingameTurdlings 237.2
Boss The Haunt ingameThe Haunt 260.0
Boss Dingle ingameDingle 261.0
Boss Dangle ingameDangle 261.1
Boss Mega Maw ingameMega Maw 262.0
Boss The Gate ingameThe Gate 263.0
Boss Mega Fatty ingameMega Fatty 264.0
Boss The Cage ingameThe Cage 265.0
Boss Dark One ingameDark One 267.0
Boss The Adversary ingameThe Adversary 268.0
Boss Polycephalus ingamePolycephalus 269.0
UrielUriel 271.0
GabrielGabriel 272.0
Boss The Stain ingameThe Stain 401.0
Boss Brownie ingameBrownie 402.0
Boss The Forsaken ingameThe Forsaken 403.0
Boss Little Horn ingameLittle Horn 404.0
Boss Rag Man ingameRag Man 405.0

Note that none of the chapter 4 bosses (except Boss Blastocyst ingameBlastocyst and Boss Death ingameDeath) are present in the Boss Rush:

Furthermore, some other bosses are not present in the Boss Rush:

Layouts[ | ]

Notes[ | ]

  • If Mom is beaten within 20 minutes and Isaac enters the Devil Room, he must return to the boss room before 20 minutes have passed; otherwise, the Boss Rush entrance will be closed.
    • If Isaac is teleported to the Devil Room while inside the Boss Rush room (for example, using a JokerJoker card), exiting the Devil Room will lead him to Mom's Boss Room.
  • If Isaac dies during the Boss Rush, but is able to respawn, the entrance to the Boss Rush room will still be open if the timer is still under 20 minutes. If the Boss Rush entrance has closed, the room can still be re-entered by dying in the Mom boss fight room at the cost of another life.
  • The Boss Rush can only be retried by picking up an item off a pedestal in its room. If the item Isaac originally picked from the room was an active type, the pedestal and item it was swapped out for will still be there. Swapping the items again will restart the fight. Alternatively, a new pedestal can be created, such as through a XX - JudgementXX - Judgement card, (in Afterbirth † and Repentance) or dropping your active item via Butter!Butter! and taking its item will also restart the fight. (in Afterbirth † and Repentance) Also, having Collectible Broken Shovel 1 iconBroken Shovel in your possession will automatically start the Boss Rush if left and entered again.
  • (except in Rebirth) If a Grab BagGrab Bag spawns for whatever reason, picking it up will start the Boss Rush. The player can still pick up one of the pedestal items.
  • The boss rush does not unlock anything if beaten in a challenge.
  • (in Afterbirth † and Repentance) Using Collectible Void iconVoid, Black RuneBlack Rune, (in Repentance)Collectible Abyss iconAbyss, or (in Repentance)Collectible Moving Box iconMoving Box will start the Boss Rush.
  • If a ChestChest is opened in the Boss Rush room, it will start the Boss Rush.
  • (in Afterbirth † and Repentance)Collectible Mama Mega! iconMama Mega! will open the Boss Rush room even if the time limit has expired. Leaving the room will cause the door to close if the time limit has expired.
  • (in Afterbirth † and Repentance) Holding Collectible Broken Shovel 1 iconBroken Shovel will also open the Boss Rush room, ignoring the time limit, to complete Collectible Mom's Shovel iconMom's Shovel.
  • If a Crawl Space is entered from within the Boss Rush room, exiting the Crawl Space will not return the player to the Boss Rush room, but will instead place the player back in the Mom Boss Room.
  • (in Repentance) When Collectible Suplex! iconSuplex! is used while a Collectible Berserk! iconBerserk! effect is active, Isaac lands with an explosion simiar to Collectible Mama Mega! iconMama Mega!. This explosion can open the boss rush door after the time limit has expired.
  • Despite being similar to a Mama Mega explosion, (in Repentance) Giga BombGiga Bombs can't open the boss rush door.

Tips[ | ]

  • The player's playtime can be checked at any moment by pressing TAB (or long-pressing SELECT on the controller), enabling Extra HUD in the options menu, or by simply looking down to the bottom screen on the 3DS version, where it is shown on the map.
  • Each boss will always drop Red HeartHearts on normal difficulty, (in Repentance) and sometimes on hard difficulty. Collectible Dark Bum iconDark Bum can turn red hearts from these drops into (except in Repentance) Soul HeartSoul Heart ((in Repentance) Black HeartBlack Hearts), providing loads of extra health.
  • Take out Boss Carrion Queen ingameCarrion Queen quickly, as its Red PoopRed Poops will remain for the rest of the boss rush. They can be advantageous though, as other bosses can also take damage from these poops. In particular, bouncing bosses like Boss The Hollow ingameThe Hollow and Boss The Husk ingameThe Husk can quickly kill themselves on contact.
  • All bosses with Collectible Brimstone iconBrimstone laser attack could severely hurt or even one-shot-kill each other, especially (except in Rebirth) Boss The Gate ingameThe Gate. It may be beneficial to focus on the other boss before killing them.
  • Wave 9 can be quite difficult as Boss Monstro II ingameMonstro II (he always spawns on the left side) can catch the player off guard with an offscreen Collectible Brimstone iconBrimstone laser. The black creep left by Boss Gish ingameGish will remain until he is killed.
  • Boss The Bloat ingameThe Bloat + Boss Mask of Infamy ingameMask of Infamy is one of the hardest waves, but Boss The Bloat ingameThe Bloat can be baited into destroying both the heart and the mask itself of the Boss Mask of Infamy ingameMask of Infamy with its Collectible Brimstone iconBrimstone lasers.
  • Any teleport effect (such as cards, activated items, Telepills, etc) can be used to leave the Boss Rush. This can be used to gain one item without having to fight any bosses.

Unlockable Achievements[ | ]

Gallery[ | ]

Trivia[ | ]

  • Despite the Timer seen between level transitions appearing, Boss Rush cannot be done the first time the player defeats Boss Mom ingameMom. Instead, the game will cut directly to the Epilogue.
  • (in Repentance) Armageddon is the theme for the Boss Rush added in The Binding of Isaac: Repentance.
  • 20 minute limit of reaching Boss Rush could signify how long it took Isaac to become delirious and start having thoughts about various creations made up in his head, i.e. bosses.

Bugs[ | ]

Bug Bug! It is possible for item pedestals to spawn on red poop (which can be spawned by Carrion Queen or red Dingle) or spikes. Attempting to pick up the item will damage Isaac.
Bug Bug! One of the possible layouts for the Boss Rush room will have spikes near the location that an item pedestal spawns after completing the fight. If you possess Collectible There's Options iconThere's Options, one of the item pedestals can appear in the same place as the spikes, causing you to take damage by picking that item up.
Bug Bug! Entering Boss Rush after the 20 minutes (killing Mom before it, but waiting to enter) and using Glowing Hourglass will crash the game.
Bug Bug! XboxOne PS4 (in Afterbirth † and Repentance)Collectible Mama Mega! iconMama Mega! cannot be used to open the door to Boss RushBoss Rush.


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