Months after the release of The Binding of Isaac's Repentance DLC, a new patch has been released for the game. This update has fixed multiple bugs as well as properly implemented multiple items that were previously deemed unusable for certain The Binding of Isaac's characters. One of these items is Birthright.
Birthright was added into The Binding of Isaac as part of the Repentance DLC. It is one of the more unique items to be added in-game due to how it provides different effects depending on which character picks it up. Unfortunately though, not all characters got special effects from it before this new update.
Now that Birthright is available for everyone, it has the potential to be a game changer in many different runs if players come across it. Its effects often help with character weaknesses or play toward their advantages, making for incredibly helpful uses all around.
How to Get Birthright
Like many of the items found in the Binding of Isaac, players need to unlock it before it starts appearing in item pools. For Birthright, players first need to unlock Jacob and Esau. This can be done by defeating Mother for the first time. However, this shouldn't be confused with defeating Mom, who is a different boss entirely.
After unlocking Jacob and Esau, players need to do a playthrough of them and defeat ??? in the Chest floor as them. This will unlock Birthright for all possible future playthroughs. Birthright can be randomly found in the shop item pool on any floor. Its base price is fifteen cents like other collectible items found in the shop.
Birthright Effects
There are 34 total Birthright effects that player can benefit from thanks to how the Tainted characters have different Birthright effects from their base character. All of the Birthright effects are:
Character |
Effect |
Isaac |
Item pedestals will cycle between two different items, allowing players to pick the one they want. This doesn't affect item pedestals found before picking up Birthright. |
Magdalene |
Adds another heart container and increases Maggie's maximum heart limit to eighteen hearts instead of twelve. |
Cain |
Adds +1 to Luck and causes arcades to contain more machines as well as appear on more floors. Lucky Foot's winning chances are also increased. |
Judas |
The Book of Belial becomes a passive item, allowing players to pick up other activated items and use them alongside it. Judas will get a higher damage boost depending on how many charges the new active item has. It cannot be used with items that can only be used once or do not follow normal charging rules. When used with the Alabaster Box, it will allow for black hearts to count toward its charge and reward black hearts and Devil Room items for its use. When used with the Urn of Souls it will shoot a Brimstone laser instead of fire. |
??? |
More soul hearts will be earned from items that increase max health. |
Eve |
Whore of Babylon's effect and Dead Bird's effect will be always active no matter what Eve's heath is. |
Samson |
Bloody Lust has a higher damage cap at +14. |
Azazel |
The Brimstone laser beam becomes twice as wide. |
Lazarus |
Causes Lazarus to gain a temporary +21.6 damage boost after being killed and revived as Lazarus Risen. This damage boost slowly fades over time. |
Eden |
Spawns three items from random item pools. Only one item can be taken. |
The Lost |
Prevents items that give health, flight, or spectral tears from spawning for the rest of the run. This also prevents items that activate from taking damage from spawning. |
Lilith |
Causes all familiars that normally follow Lilith to stay directly in front of her, lining up their shots like how a normal character shoots. |
Keeper |
Raises Keeper's maximum health by one. |
Apollyon |
The Void has a chance to spawn an item it previously detroyed while still keeping the absorbed stats. This has a higher chance of happening the more items it absorbs. |
The Forgotten |
The Soul becomes unchained and can move around freely. This allows it to go to other rooms and leave the Forgotten behind, but still able to teleport back to it from any room. |
Using soul charges to use an activated item has the chance to be completely free. |
|
The brother that picks up Birthright gets copies of three of the other brother's items. |
|
Tainted Isaac |
Gains four more passive item slots. Birthright does not take up a slot. |
Tainted Magdalene |
Adds another heart container that doesn't drain from Maggie's passive effect. |
Tainted Cain |
Doubles the amount of pickups that spawn from collectable items. |
Tainted Judas |
Doubles the duration of Dark Arts. |
Tainted ??? |
The maximum amount of poops that can be carried at once is increased to 29. |
Tainted Eve |
Red Heart Clots spawn temporary heart pickups after dying. |
Tainted Samson |
Berserk is increased by three seconds after killing an enemy instead of one second. |
Tainted Azazel |
Doubles the size of Azazel's sneeze. |
Tainted Lazarus |
The inactive Lazarus will appear as an immortal ghost beside the active Lazarus. This Lazarus can still fire tears. |
Tainted Eden |
Any items gained before picking up Birthright can no longer be rerolled. Eden's base stats additionally become locked and cannot be rerolled. |
Tainted Lost |
Lost gains an extra life that deals 200 damage to nearby enemies when used. |
Tainted Lilith |
All following familiars follow the same behavior as Lilith's Gello. |
Tainted Keeper |
Attracts coins dropped by enemies defeated at close range. |
Tainted Apollyon |
Holding down the fire button will cause the locusts to stay out instead of returning. |
Tainted Forgotten |
The Soul gains the ability to recall the Forgotten to its current location. |
Tainted Bethany |
Bethany gains four powerful wisps with high health. |
Tainted Jacob |
Esau splits in two. |
The Binding Of Isaac: Repentance is available now on PC, and will release on PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X later in 2021.
Source: The Binding of Isaac Gamepedia