Isaac's Heart

Item Icon
Pickup Quote	"Protect It"
Entity ID	5.100.276
Item Pool	Ultra Secret Room Treasure Room
Collection Grid	(page 3, column 1, row 8) (page 3, column 11, row 2) (page 3, column 12, row 2)
Unlock Method	Defeat Isaac as The Lost

Isaac's Heart is an unlockable passive item.

Effects

• Isaac's body becomes immune to all damage.
• A heart familiar appears and closely follows Isaac. If the heart is hurt, Isaac is hurt.
  • Most enemies now target the heart instead of Isaac. Eyes and other similar enemies, however, will still target Isaac.

Notes

• Blood Donation Machines and Devil Beggars can be used for free. Spikes (including Curse Room doors and Spiked Chests) also do no damage.
  • During The Guardian challenge, Devil Beggars and Blood Donation Machines deal damage to Isaac.
• Picking up a non-orbital familiar will cause either Isaac's Heart or the other familiar to be layered over the other's sprite. This is due to the heart not taking up the spot that the other familiar follows in.
• Additional players gain the immunity effect without spawning additional hearts.
• Enemy Brimstone shots (such as from The Bloat) will not do any damage to the heart.
• The tracking lasers from Hush and light pillars from Isaac (Boss) do not damage the heart.

Tips and strategies

Items / Trinkets

• Items that activate on contact with enemies retain their ability, allowing Isaac to use them without suffering collision damage.
• Items that hurt Isaac on activation, such as IV Bag and Blood Rights no longer do so, allowing infinite uses for free.
• Speed up items are invaluable when having Isaac's heart since the delay between the player moving away and the heart moving as well gets drastically reduced. Avoid speed down items early in the run.
• Orbital familiars are invaluable as Isaac can get extremely close to the enemy without fear of contact damage.
• Flight items are invaluable as the heart can be placed over a rock and Isaac can stick out enough to shoot at enemies without needing spectral tears.
• Angel Rooms are safer bets for items than Devil Rooms.
• Use Restock Machines in Shops as much as possible get as many Soul Hearts for health but make sure to hold on to at least 5 cents.
• Get 5 cents as soon as possible so an Arcade can show up, Blood Donation Machines and IV Bag are the best and most common ways to win Isaac's heart run.
  • If Lucky Pennies are unlocked, it may be beneficial to immediately try to gain 10 luck or more via the IV Bag to maximize room drops and enhance tear effects.

Combat and Damage

• Hug obstacles to avoid taking damage. Look out for enemies that fly or can jump over rocks, and make sure enemies don't push Isaac far away from his heart to expose it.
• When dodging, Isaac must move in semi-straight lines as the heart only follows Isaac's movements when he is at a certain distance away, for example, moving in a circle would pull the heart in and make it stay in place in the middle of the arc as Isaac would no longer be moving away from the heart. Moving in a triangle formation would allow the heart to move more.
• Enemies that fly and charge like One Tooth are extremely hard to dodge and should be killed as soon as possible, take caution since they can appear as early as / .
• Enemies can be pushed away with Isaac's body, while not recommended, it can be used as a last resort.

Synergies

• Box of Friends: Box of Friends does not duplicate the heart, making it safe to use.
• Breath of Life: Isaac can be infinitely invulnerable, as invincibility carries out to the heart without hurting the player. Note that the item needs to be activated for longer than one second for the invulnerability to kick in, however.
• Duct Tape: Makes dodging significantly easier.
• : Isaac can turn enemies into poop without taking damage.
• Gnawed Leaf: Invincibility carries over to the heart.
• Holy Mantle: The shield effect carries over to the heart.
• IV Bag: Can be used without taking damage, resulting in an infinite amount of coins.
• Kamikaze!: As long as the heart is away from the blast radius, no damage is taken. The character must be at high enough speed for this.
• Razor Blade: Isaac cannot take damage from the Razor Blade, allowing for infinite uses of the item.

Interactions

• BFFS!: No effect. The heart only appears larger but has the same hitbox.
• Dry Baby / Farting Baby: If you have picked up either of the babies into the first familiar spot before Isaac's Heart, they will block enemy shots before they can hit the heart. Enemies touching the heart can still do damage, and picking up the babies after the heart will cause the heart's hitbox to be checked first against shots.
• King Baby: The Heart will follow King Baby. This makes it much harder to avoid damage, but also makes other synergies like Kamikaze! much easier to use.
• Sharp Plug: Sharp Plug can no longer be used.
• The Soul: Isaac's body repels projectiles, but Isaac's Heart doesn't.

Gallery

• 

  Isaac with his heart.

Trivia

• Isaac's Heart while it's following Isaac fittingly shares the same sprite as Child's Heart.
• The nature of the item is similar to that of a Mask + Heart enemy.
• This item is used in The Guardian (challenge #30).

Seeds

PC TPWZ 7CVR (Treasure Room below of spawn)

PC PCJZ 03TG

PC Y8V7 7K4F (Treasure Room adjacent to spawn)

PS4 W1TD 0BJN (Treasure Room south of spawn)

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
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