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Activated Collectible

(in Afterbirth † and Repentance)

Broken Shovel is an active item added in Booster Pack #5. It is acquired by defeating the first floor boss in under a minute, navigating back to the starting room and bombing the floor. If it is an XL floor both bosses must be defeated. You must have beaten The Lamb in the Dark Room at least once with any character for the bomb explosion to reveal it.

Effects

  • While held, causes one to two Mom's Foots to frequently come down and stomp around or on Isaac.
    • This will happen randomly every few seconds and will persist as long as you hold the item!
    • Using the item will stop the passive effect until entering another room. If used during the Boss Rush or in a Boss Challenge Room it will stop the feet for that wave of bosses only.
    • The effect will not happen in the Mom fight.
  • Disappears when picking up another active item and leaving the room.
  • One of two parts necessary to create Collectible Mom's Shovel iconMom's Shovel.
  • While held, removes the 20 minute time limit on the Boss Rush door (part of unlocking The Forgotten).

Synergies

  • 48 Hour Energy Pill: Gives a handful of full charges in a room. Very useful for Boss Rush.
  • Collectible 9 Volt icon9 Volt/AAA BatteryAAA Battery: Lowers the charge of the shovel to 3. Obtaining both will lower it to 2.
  • Collectible The Battery iconThe Battery: Allows you to store up to an additional use of the shovel.
  • Collectible Car Battery iconCar Battery: Stops the passive effect for 2 waves in Boss Rush.
  • Collectible Charged Baby iconCharged Baby/Watch BatteryWatch Battery: Spawns more batteries to grant more charges of the shovel. Watch Battery also has a chance to add an additional charge randomly.
  • Collectible Gnawed Leaf iconGnawed Leaf: Isaac will be immune to the damage stomps and will not be pushed around by them while standing still.
  • Collectible Habit iconHabit: Charges the shovel quicker if you take damage.
  • Collectible Host Hat iconHost Hat: Isaac will be immune to the damage stomps, but will still be pushed around by them.
  • Collectible Moving Box iconMoving Box: Can be used to pick up the Broken Shovel without causing Mom's foot to stomp down at all.
  • Collectible Pyromaniac iconPyromaniac: The stomps heal Isaac instead of hurting him, making it an infinite source of free health, but will still be pushed around by them.
  • Collectible Schoolbag iconSchoolbag: Allows you to carry a second active item to assist in the difficult challenge of carrying the shovel.
  • Butter!Butter!: While useless on most rooms, dropping the shovel in a Challenge Room or during Boss Rush will cause the feet to cease stomping for the rest of the room until you pick it back up.

Tips for obtaining

  • Characters with high damage like Judas or Azazel are excellent for blazing through the floor in enough time. Cain has decent health and damage as well as the highest base speed of any character. Azazel has flight and very high base speed (though lower than Cain's), but his lack of any health besides Black Hearts can make surviving the rest of the run more difficult.
  • Try not to slow down for pickups, items, or any unnecessary rooms while making your way to the boss room. You can return for them and finish clearing the rest of the floor once the boss is defeated.
  • There's no time limit on claiming the shovel, as long as the floor boss was killed within the time limit. For best results, you should wait to spawn the shovel until you are ready to leave the first floor. Spawning it early will force you to carry it through the rest of the floor, increasing the chance of losing health.
  • Even if you do not find a bomb or an item that spawns bombs or explosions, it's still possible to claim the shovel. If you've met the requirements to claim the shovel by killing the floor boss in under 1 minute, hurting yourself in the Sacrifice Room will spawn a one-time bomb on the first hit. If you lose this bomb or don't have enough health to survive the sacrifice, you will have to restart.
  • If you are struggling, you may choose to keep restarting while in the first room until you get a very good treasure room spawn adjacent to the starting room. Look for items such as Collectible Pyromaniac iconPyromaniac or Collectible Host Hat iconHost Hat to trivialize the stomp damage, or for damage/tear-increasing items to kill enemies quicker. Conversely, if you run into a miniboss, you get Curse of the Maze or Labyrinth, or just run into a dead end, restarting the first floor may be your best choice.
  • Keep in mind that the trigger for the shovel activates once the pedestal item spawns, which is AFTER the death animation for the boss completes and all other enemies are dead. If you do not hear Mom say "Isaac!" followed by her walking, the shovel did not spawn and you will have to restart.

Passive Collectible

(in Afterbirth † and Repentance)

Broken Shovel is a passive item added in Booster Pack #5. It is acquired by completing Boss Rush while holding the first shovel piece.

Effects

Tips for obtaining

  • Make sure you keep moving; stopping for a few seconds will mean a high likelihood of the foot coming down on your head.
  • Because the stomps happen often and consistently, you may be able to manipulate them to stomp on groups of enemies, destroy tinted rocks, or open up secret rooms.
  • Items that give you flight are even more helpful than usual as you will not need to worry about navigating around obstacles to avoid a stomp.
  • It may be wise to keep an invulnerability pill or card on hand in case you get yourself into a sticky situation.
  • If an active item is offered in Boss Rush, you can hold it instead of the shovel to avoid the foot for most of the fight. However, you must switch back to the (active) Broken Shovel before the last wave ends, or else you will receive an ordinary item instead of the passive Broken Shovel.

In-game Footage

Gallery


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