The Ludovico Technique

The Ludovico Technique
Character Appearance
Tear Appearance
Item Type
Passive Collectible
Item ID
329
Pickup Quote
Controlled Tears
Item Pool
Treasure Room
Collection Grid
Afterbirth (Page 3, Column 4, Row 5) Rebirth (Page 4, Column 4, Row 3) {{#ifeq: 4 | 1 |

The Ludovico Technique is a special passive item.

Effects

• Instead of firing tears, Isaac controls one floating tear that hovers over obstacles. This tear deals constant damage when held in place over an enemy.

Notes

• Ludovico tear movement speed is determined by the Shot Speed stat.
• Ludovico tear hits per second are determined by the Tears stat.
• When Death uses his The Hourglass attack, the tear is slow to respond but then moves so quickly that it is nearly impossible to use effectively.

Synergies

• 20/20 : One smaller tear orbits the main tear.
• 8 Inch Nails : The tear becomes a nail, increases in size, damage, and provides minor knockback in the direction the tear moves.
• Azazel: Same effect as with Brimstone, but damage is halved.
  • Azazel + Brimstone : Full damage of the laser ring is regained.
• Blood Clot : The tear steadily cycles between red and "normal," dealing more damage when red.
• Brimstone : Tear takes the shape of a very large laser ring. Shot speed is ignored. The Tears stat is ignored and damage is dealt very rapidly at a rate equivalent to 2 tear delay. This ring will always be present and doesn't need charging up like normal Brimstone would.
  • Brimstone + A Lump of Coal : The ring increases in diameter, but not damage, the farther away it gets from Isaac.
  • Brimstone + Spoon Bender : The ring reaches out to attack enemies near it, reforming into a ring when no enemies are present.
  • Brimstone + Technology : The ring is visually identical to a normal Brimstone ring, but the 1.5x damage multiplier applies.
  • Brimstone + Wiggle Worm : The ring takes the shape of a star.
• Pulse Worm : The tear pulsates in midair, expanding and contracting. This works with normal tears as well as Brimstone .
• Chemical Peel : Tear will alternate between "normal" and red, dealing more damage when red.
• Chocolate Milk : No damage increase, but results in -1 tear delay.
• The Common Cold : The tear pulses green, poisoning enemies.
• Compound Fracture : Shoots out smaller tears when attacking an enemy.
• Death's Touch : The tear becomes a scythe (vanity), but increases in size and damage
• Dr. Fetus : The bomb can be controlled until it explodes.
• Godhead : The tear homes towards nearby enemies and gains a large damaging aura.
• Guppy transformation: A large number of flies is rapidly deployed whilst controlling the Ludovico tear.
• Incubus : Isaac gains a controlled tear while also being able to shoot normally with Incubus. Incubus's tears gain piercing and spectral properties.
• The Inner Eye : Two smaller tears orbit the main tear.
• Lost Contact : Tear will block enemy tears without disappearing.
• A Lump of Coal : The tear becomes larger the further away it is from Isaac, increasing in damage.
• Mom's Contacts : Tear randomly alternates colors, which randomly petrifies enemies.
• Mom's Perfume : Tear gains a chance to give the fear effect.
• Mom's Wig : The item causes spiders to spawn rapidly when moving the tear.
• Monstro's Lung : Tear turns red and does more damage.
  • Tear becomes a cluster of variously sized tears spread over a small area. The tears move at the same speed when controlled but constantly move around each other.
• Mutant Spider : Three smaller tears orbit the main tear.
• My Reflection : The tear moves much faster.
• Number One : The tear deals damage to enemies much faster, with the range penalty having no effect.
• The Parasite : Shoots out smaller tears when attacking an enemy.
• Pause : The tear deals damage, even if the enemies are stopped. Moving the tear unpauses the enemies.
• Spoon Bender : Tear will slightly gravitate towards enemies near it
• Strange Attractor : Enemies, items and even most bosses will be sucked to the single floating tear, dealing constant damage while keeping Isaac well away from harm, making this combination extremely effective in almost all scenarios.
• Technology : The tear becomes a large laser ring, which visually looks like a shot fired by Tech X . Shot speed is ignored. The Tears stat is ignored and damage is dealt very rapidly at a rate equivalent to 2 tear delay.
  • Technology + Dr. Fetus : You have a ring of technology around you and you fire bombs normally.
• Tear Detonator : The tear explodes into six smaller tears, then reappears next to the player.
• Tough Love : Upon entering a room, Isaac has a 10% chance + 10% per luck up of his tear briefly turning into a tooth before becoming a giant tear for the duration of the room.

Interactions

• ???'s Only Friend / Robo-Baby 2.0 : The tear and familiar(s) travel together, as they are controlled in the same way. Because the familiars' travel speeds are not affected by Isaac's shot speed, they only travel in the same spot when Isaac has exactly the amount of shot speed to sync them up.
• Anti-Gravity : Overridden by The Ludovico Technique.
• Cricket's Body : Overridden by The Ludovico Technique.
• Cursed Eye : No effect.
• Epic Fetus : Overrides The Ludovico Technique.
• Tech X : Overrides The Ludovico Technique.
• Explosivo : Tear will alternate between "normal" and black. If it touches an enemy, it will stick to it, grow in size, then explode. The tear can not damage anything or be controlled when stuck to an enemy.
  • The tear will grow and explode very quickly when stuck to an enemy, instead of the normal Explosivo delay.
• Fire Mind : Tears retain the ability to ignite enemies and explode. Tears respawn at Isaac's location after exploding.
• Homing Tears: The tear slowly homes toward the nearest enemy. Once locked in an enemy moving the tear somewhere else becomes harder.
• Ghost Pepper : Fires created from Ghost Pepper will destroy the tear and cause it to respawn on Isaac.
• Hook Worm : Tear moves in a zig-zag pattern while controlled.
• Invulnerability: Tear cannot be moved while in effect, but will still do damage.
• Ipecac : Overridden by The Ludovico Technique. (No damage increase or explosion.)
  • +4 damage bonus, no explosion.
• Loki's Horns : The Ludovico tear will sometimes shoot 4 smaller tears in each direction.
• Mom's Eye : The Ludovico tear will sometimes shoot smaller tears behind it.
• Mom's Knife : The tear becomes a controllable knife that deals double Isaac's damage. Effective shot speed is lowered. Tears stat is ignored and damage is dealt at a rate equivalent to 5 tear delay.
  • Mom's Knife + Godhead : Replaces the Ludovico tear with Mom's Knife but removes the Godhead aura.
  • Mom's Knife + Technology : Creates an uncontrollable laser ring centered on Isaac. The knife becomes stuck under Isaac and cannot be fired.
• Multidimensional Baby : No effect.
  • An additional Ludovico tear is spawned when it passes through Multidimensional Baby, at the start of every room, and persists like the Ludovico tear itself.
• Notched Axe : The Ludovico tear cannot be moved while Notched Axe is held up.
• Proptosis : The closer the tear floats to Isaac, the larger it is. The farther away, the smaller.
• Pupula Duplex : Decreases the tear size by taking the form of a Pupula Duplex tear; however, it travels faster.
• Red Candle : The tear disappears upon contact with a flame created by the candle and reappears near Isaac, slightly shrinking the flame.
• Ring Worm : The tear spins rapidly in small circles.
• Sinus Infection : The tear can occasionally stick to an enemy. If the enemy does not die quickly, the tear pops and a new one spawns.
• Tech.5 : The tear controls as usual, and Isaac fires the laser towards the tear relative to his position, rather than in the direction the player is moving the tear.
  • Tech.5 + Analog Stick : Laser is fired directly at the tear while it is being moved, instead of being limited to cardinal directions.
• Technology 2 : The tear controls as usual, and Isaac fires the laser towards the tear relative to his position, rather than in the direction the player is moving the tear. Technology 2's damage penalty still applies.
  • Technology 2 + Analog Stick : Laser is fired directly at the tear while it is being moved, instead of being limited to cardinal directions.
• Tiny Planet : The tear controls strangely. It orbits Isaac slowly when not controlled, and when controlled, the tear's movement is distorted. Additionally, the tear's range becomes limited to Tiny Planet's orbit distance.
• Tractor Beam : The Ludovico Technique overrides the beam's effect.
• Trinity Shield : The controls of the tear and the shield overlap, making it impossible to consistently control both.
• The Wiz : the Ludovico tear now moves in a very unusual way, up is up-right, down is down-left, left is left-up, right is right-down. This can be counteracted by holding the keys or d-pad in its' associated path. (up-right to make it go up and so forth with the other keys)

Trivia

• The Ludovico Technique is a reference to Anthony Burgess' novel A Clockwork Orange and Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation, where it was referred to as "Ludovico's Technique." The technique involved headgear which forced the patient's eyelids open (hence "Controlled Tears") while watching violent films under nausea-inducing drugs, conditioning them against violence.

Seeds

 PC  KPRZ M83V (First floor treasure room)

 PC  ZYS1 ONMS (Treasure room adjacent to spawn)

 PC  VLZW 7CJ8 (Treasure room adjacent to spawn)

 PS4  S11S E632 (First floor treasure room)

 Vita  0H0T MKNS (First floor treasure room)

 3DS  DQBE T9RH (First floor treasure room)

 3DS  GEYN TXS7 (First floor treasure room)

 3DS  KK92 7DTD (First floor treasure room)

 PC  MX26 V47J (treasure room adjacent to spawn) (both modes)

 PC  KYSL MRKZ (treasure room adjacent to spawn)