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The Family Man is Challenge #19. Isaac is blindfolded and must instead rely on familiars to do damage. The goal is to defeat Isaac. Isaac starts with Collectible Brother Bobby iconBrother Bobby, Collectible Sister Maggy iconSister Maggy, Collectible Dad's Key iconDad's Key, Collectible BFFS! iconBFFS! and Collectible Rotten Baby iconRotten Baby.

(except in Rebirth) Isaac also starts with the (except in Rebirth) ConjoinedConjoined transformation due to the familiars the player starts with, making the challenge more difficult. This is because the Conjoined transformation decreases your damage, which the blue flies from Rotten Baby rely on.

Difficulty[ | ]

The slow fire rate of the familiars makes this challenge difficult, especially in WombWomb and CathedralCathedral. The familiars can also be hard to aim, as they linger behind Isaac.

(in Repentance) Both Brother Bobby and Sister Maggy have been buffed, making this challenge markedly easier: Brother Bobby now has a higher fire rate; while Sister Maggy has an increased damage of 6 (with BFFS! a respectable 12)

Strategy[ | ]

  • Dad's Key allows the player to enter Secret RoomSecret Rooms and ShopShops without using BombBombs or KeyKeys. Saving and obtaining extra pickups via Dad's Key can be leveraged for items from BeggarBeggars and ArcadeArcade machines to offset the challenge's lack of treasure rooms.
    • Also, Dad's Key can be used to exit the Boss RushBoss Rush without having to fight any bosses, granting a free item if the Boss Rush is reached in time.
  • Gaining flight will allow Isaac to stay safely out of range while the familiars deal damage.
  • Damage from blue flies scales with Isaac's damage, allowing more damage into the late game. Several items can help achieve this.
    • GuppyGuppy spawns a fly whenever a familiar's tear hits an enemy, providing a continuous supply of extra damage.
      • (in Repentance) The chance of a fly spawning has been changed from 100% to 50%. Despite this, however, flies are still plentiful.
    • Collectible Rotten Baby iconRotten Baby's Blue Flies can seek enemies at range.
    • Collectible Hive Mind iconHive Mind doubles all Blue Fly damage.
    • Collectible Polyphemus iconPolyphemus or Collectible Ipecac iconIpecac will also greatly increase the damage of Blue Flies.
  • Collectible Sacrificial Dagger iconSacrificial Dagger is extremely useful, because with BFFS! it deals 30 damage per tick, making it extremely useful against bosses. However, this does not apply to (except in Rebirth)Collectible Spear of Destiny iconSpear of Destiny.
    • Getting this combined with invincibility such as Rune of AlgizRune of Algiz will allow a guaranteed kill on bosses.
  • Additional damage-dealing familiars can be leveraged against enemies.
    • Collectible Lil Brimstone iconLil Brimstone is particularly useful for its significant damage, unlimited range, and attacks that pierce obstacles and enemies.
    • Collectible Blue Baby's Only Friend icon???'s Only Friend can also deal high damage and can be controlled to attack enemies anywhere in the room.
    • Collectible Bob's Brain iconBob's Brain can be tricky to use effectively but offers a tremendous boost to damage.
  • Damage-dealing active items, such as Collectible The Candle iconThe Candle, Collectible Red Candle iconRed Candle, or Collectible The Boomerang iconThe Boomerang also offer a reliable amount of damage, and are all obtainable from the Shop.
  • Defensive orbitals block projectiles and some can be used to deal damage. Using Slot MachineSlot Machines is a relatively reliable method to get 2-3 defensive flies.
  • (in Rebirth) Re-rolling Isaac's Items with a Dice RoomDice Room, the Collectible D4 iconD4, the Collectible D100 iconD100, or Collectible Missing No. iconMissing No. is not recommended as it can leave Isaac without means of dealing damage.
  • (except in Rebirth) Most of Character Lilith iconLilith's unlockable items will make the challenge easier:
  • (in Afterbirth † and Repentance)Baby-BenderBaby-Bender gives all familiar's tears homing ability.
  • Both (in Afterbirth † and Repentance)Collectible Pause iconPause and (in Afterbirth † and Repentance)Collectible Camo Undies iconCamo Undies, when combined with Rotten Baby allows Isaac to snipe enemies from safety.
  • (in Afterbirth † and Repentance)Collectible Potato Peeler iconPotato Peeler will convert health into a Collectible Cube of Meat iconCube of Meat that benefit from BFFS! and the damage upgrade increase the damage of flies.
    • Collectible Book of Revelations iconBook of Revelations will do the same in a slower rate by guaranteeing the Harbingers to spawn at the cost of leaving Dad's Key behind if you don't have (in Afterbirth † and Repentance)Collectible Schoolbag iconSchoolbag.

Reward[ | ]

  • Epic Fetus
    Epic Fetus - Complete The Family Man (challenge #19).


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