Ultra Hard

Ultra Hard
Challenge number
34
Character
Starting Items
Key Piece 1Combined with Key Piece 2, unlocks the golden gate in the starting room of The Chest and Dark Room to fight Mega Satan. Key Piece 2Combined with Key Piece 1, unlocks the golden gate in the starting room of The Chest and Dark Room to fight Mega Satan.
Curse
Curse of the Labyrinth Curse of the Blind Curse of the Lost Curse of the Maze
Available rooms
: yes          : yes
Goal
Unlocks
Samson Feels Healthy!Complete challenge #34
Unlocked by
Defeat ??? or The Lamb for the first timeUltra Hard

Ultra Hard is Challenge #34. Isaac begins with both halves of the key for the Mega Satan battle, and has to beat Mega Satan through the Dark Room.

Difficulty

This challenge, like the name suggests, is extremely difficult:

• All enemies with champion forms, including bosses, will be champions.
  • Champions will not drop any collectibles.
• The player suffers from the following curses each floor: Curse of the Labyrinth, Curse of the Lost, Curse of the Maze and Curse of the Blind.
  • These curses cannot be stopped through the usual methods of removing curses, such as the Dagaz rune.
  • In addition to the four curses, the player may additionally suffer from either Curse of the Unknown or Curse of Darkness, which can be removed through usual means.
• There are absolutely no hearts to be found in this run - red, soul, black, or eternal hearts.
  • Hearts can still be obtained through passive items that grant them upon collection, such as Super Bandage or Latch Key.
  • Items and cards that normally drop hearts such as The Hierophant tarot card will not drop any hearts. Using an Ace of Hearts card will consume all pickups in the room, and not drop any hearts.
• Every boss fight that can be, will be double trouble.
  • Since the Basement can't have double trouble bosses, these don't start until the Caves.
• Only The Negative drops after killing Mom.
  • This forces the player to progress through Sheol and the Dark Room in order to fight Mega Satan.
    • Even though the option to proceed upward through the Cathedral is presented, the run will end after defeating Isaac and touching the chest will not give the player credit for completing the challenge.
  • Because the player cannot progress through The Chest, they are unable to take advantage of the 4 items at the start of the Chest floor.
• If the player manages to defeat Hush, the Final Boss Chest will drop and the run will end there. The trapdoor to Sheol and the beam of light to the Cathedral will not appear.
  • The Final Boss Chest and the entrance to The Void will appear.
• If the player enters The Void and manages to defeat Delirium, this will also cause the trophy to appear.
  • Defeating Delirium does not drop anything, and the player is stuck in The Void with no exit. Bosses in The Void do not drop items.

Strategy

• Attempt to find a good starting combination from the item rooms in the Basement XL. Aside from getting something powerful like Mom's KnifeIsaac's tears are replaced by a knife that pierces enemies, can travel through obstacles, and can hurt enemies while Isaac is holding it. Holding down the fire button before firing increases its range and power., getting something that grants HP regeneration is strongly recommended too, such as PyromaniacIsaac heals 1 heart instead of taking damage from an explosive source. Adds 5 bombs., LeechSpawns a friendly familiar leech on the ground that hunts down enemies and heals you for half a heart each time it eats one., Charm of the VampireHeals the character for half of a red heart for every 13 monsters killed., or PlacentaGrants a full heart container, and a chance to regenerate a half-heart of health every minute of gameplay. (can be found in the Basement or Caves from bosses).
• The D10Rerolls the enemies in a room. Only rerolls enemies that are still alive (does not spawn new enemies). can also be surprisingly helpful, as, most of the time, it will reroll enemies into non-champions, and never spawn new portals.
• While the Challenge can likely be completed with accepting Devil Deals, it would be a better idea to attempt to choose Angel Rooms instead, since items that can make or break the player's victory could be found without sacrificing valuable heart containers. However, it should be noted that the Satanic Bible and the Nail are extremely good items for the run, and they may happen to be the two heart deal in the Devil Room. Libraries also contain books that can give health, such as the Book of Revelations and the Satanic Bible.
• Eating unknown pills can be very dangerous, because Hematemesis reduces you to one heart without dropping any hearts. Identifying a Full Health, Balls of Steel or a Bad Trip pill early can be very beneficial, however. Thus, it is recommended to take PHDConverts all bad pills into good pills, spawns one pill pickup and restores health. Identifies all pills upon pickup. whenever you get the chance. PHD itself can also heal you for 2 Hearts.
• Curse Rooms, generally, should be avoided because they cannot contain soul hearts.
  • Curse Rooms can generally be entered on the first floor, where the challenge can be restarted if it does not contain a beneficial item.
• Be aware that ClickerTransforms Isaac into another random character. can remove the Key Piece 1Combined with Key Piece 2, unlocks the golden gate in the starting room of The Chest and Dark Room to fight Mega Satan. and Key Piece 2Combined with Key Piece 1, unlocks the golden gate in the starting room of The Chest and Dark Room to fight Mega Satan. passive items given at the start of the run.
• When playing co-op, having a Colorful Baby on start makes the run extremely easy, as the healing effect has infinite uses.
• Bedrooms will still heal all the player's hearts, but can only be used once.
• Rainbow Poop will still heal Isaac to full health.
• Obtaining Blank Card and The Sun, or Placebo and Full Health/Bad Trip and can make this challenge a lot easier, as it allows you to restore your health every 4 rooms (or for Bad Trip's case, when you are at one red Heart or less). If you enter the Mega Satan fight with full health and any of these combinations, you basically have at least 3 full health bars (4 if you have Starter Deck or Little Baggy) for the final boss fight.
• The D4Rerolls all of Isaac's items. and the D100Upon use, rerolls all passive items on Isaac like the D4, every pedestal item in the room like The D6, and every pickup like the D20. can be very helpful, since heart containers from health up items will not be removed when used when rerolling collectibles. This allows the player to quickly amass heart containers.

Reward

• 

  Samson Feels Healthy! - Complete challenge #34.

Challenges

Rebirth
1.	Pitch Black	2.	High Brow	3.	Head Trauma	4.	Darkness Falls	5.	The Tank	6.	Solar System	7.	Suicide King	8.	Cat Got Your Tongue
9.	Demo Man	10.	Cursed!	11.	Glass Cannon	12.	When Life Gives You Lemons	13.	Beans!	14.	It's in the Cards	15.	Slow Roll	16.	Computer Savvy
17.	Waka Waka	18.	The Host	19.	The Family Man	20.	Purist
Afterbirth
21.	XXXXXXXXL	22.	SPEED!	23.	Blue Bomber	24.	PAY TO PLAY	25.	Have a Heart	26.	I RULE!	27.	BRAINS!	28.	PRIDE DAY!
29.	Onan's Streak	30.	The Guardian
Afterbirth †
31.	Backasswards	32.	Aprils Fool	33.	Pokey Mans	34.	Ultra Hard	35.	Pong