Keeper

This article is about the playable character. For the monster, see Keeper (Enemy).

Keeper is a secret character added in The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth.

Keeper is unlocked by donating 1000 Coins to the Greed Donation Machine. Keeper starts with 1 Bomb and a triple shot similar to The Inner Eye.

Keeper starts with Wooden Nickel after defeating Isaac with Keeper.

Keeper will start with Store Key after defeating Satan with Keeper.
Keeper will start with 1 coin pickup after defeating Hush with Keeper.
Keeper will start with three Coin Hearts instead of two after defeating Hush with Keeper.

Instead of using coin heart containers to trade for Devil Deal items, they must be bought using coins. One-heart and two-heart deals cost 15 and 30 cents, respectively.
- Devil Deals created by Satanic Bible are also paid in coins.
- Paying cents for Devil Deals will remove the Angel room appearance chance in the same way when other characters pay with heart containers.

Unlike other characters, Keeper uses coins as health. He starts with two Coin Hearts, loses one every time he is damaged, and heals for one every time he obtains a coin, at the cost of a cent. All types of hearts are transformed into blue flies. If Keeper loses Coin Heart containers (Health Down, Devil deals, ..), an HP Up will increase his health back up.

Notes

This can be quite a tedious character to unlock, because you need to deposit 1000 Coins to the Greed Donation Machine, which takes multiple good runs and good enough luck for the donation machine to not jam/explode too early.
Keeper cannot have more than 2 Coin Hearts.
Keeper cannot have more than 3 Coin Hearts. This cap applies even before Hush is defeated.
- The only three exceptions to this are Greed's Gullet, which allows him to have up to 6 7 Coin Hearts, and Birthright and Mother's Kiss, which allow him to have an additional Coin Heart.
  - Greed's Gullet in combination with Deep Pockets can allow Keeper to reach 12 coin hearts at 600 coins.
    - It is possible to reach 15 coin hearts at 900 coins. Any coin heart container past the max of 12 will appear as an additional row beneath the standard two rows of coin hearts, similar to Magdalene's Birthright.
- Theoretically, Keeper could gain limitless coin hearts by generating and smelting Mother's Kiss, as each copy would grant a heart container, eventually bypassing the 12 heart container cap.
- If the effect of Mother's Kiss is doubled via Mom's Box or a Golden Trinket, Keeper will also receive an extra coin.
Keeper always takes one full Coin Heart of damage, which means he cannot have half Coin Hearts.
- Because Keeper can usually not have less than one full heart, items such as Whore of Babylon and Empty Vessel cannot be activated.
- The effect of Clicker can allow Keeper to have half Coin Hearts.
  - Clicker will now fill one Coin Heart if Keeper would otherwise have no health.
The amount of blue flies created from each heart depends on the type of heart.
- Half Red Hearts are transformed into 1 blue fly.
- Full Red Hearts, Blended Hearts, Half Soul Hearts, and Rotten Hearts are transformed into 2 blue flies.
- Full Soul Hearts are transformed into 3 blue flies.
- Black Hearts, Double Hearts, and Bone Hearts are transformed into 4 blue flies.
- Eternal Hearts are transformed into 5 blue flies.
- Gold Hearts are transformed into 6 blue flies.
Every time Keeper uses a coin to heal himself, that coin is consumed and isn't added to his current coin amount.
- Double Pennies, Nickels, Dimes and items that give money on pickup (such as A Quarter, A Dollar, Piggy Bank, etc.) will give their amount minus the healed HP.
- Using a Lucky Penny to refill health will not give a coin, but will still give +1 Luck.
- 2 of Diamonds can refill Keeper's health at the cost of 1 coin.
- Counterfeit Penny allows the chance for Keeper to gain the full value of a coin while healing.
Coin Hearts are generally treated as Red Hearts, such as in Devil Room/Angel Room chance, Devil deals, Challenge Rooms, Boss Challenge Rooms, and items such as Dark Prince's Crown.
- Taking a Devil deal costing 2 Red Hearts will kill Keeper.
- Getting hit will not lower the chance for a Devil/Angel room to appear.
If Keeper doesn't have maximum Coin Heart containers, using XI - Strength will give Keeper an additional Coin Heart that does not disappear upon leaving the room.
IV Bag only gives Keeper 0-1 coins per use (instead of 1-3).
- IV Bag + PHD: IV Bag drops 0-2 coins per use.
Blood Donation Machine aren't guaranteed to pay Keeper out with a coin.
Piggy Bank only allows Keeper to drop 0-1 pennies when taking damage (instead of 1-2).
- Having a partner in True Co-Op mode can get around this, as the Co-Op partner will drop pennies normally (as long as they are not Keeper themselves), giving Keeper a reliable source of health (the drawback being that the partner will have normal health mechanics and therefore won't have infinite health this way).
Swallowed Penny only allows Keeper to drop 0-1 pennies when taking damage (instead of 1).
Despite having an innate triple shot, Keeper does not start with The Inner Eye. Because of this, the item can still spawn.
- The Inner Eye grants six shots with a reduced fire rate.
- The Inner Eye grants four shots with a reduced fire rate.
Health Down pills cannot spawn while playing as Keeper.
When Keeper is being played in Co-op mode:
- If he dies, his ghost baby will maintain his innate triple shot.
- He will not convert hearts into flies unless he picks up a soul heart or is granted them directly by an item.
- Devil Deals will use coins for all players.

Strategy

As Keeper starts with triple shot, his tear rate is quite low, and this can be troublesome against fast enemies or large groups. Finding Tears Up items/Pills on the early floors will be useful to clear rooms. Items/trinkets increasing the tears' hitbox are also useful as enemies can be hit by two or three tears more easily.
Due to his 2/3 Coin Heart limit, Keeper can easily die due to fast shooting enemies, and Devil Deals costing 2 Red Hearts will kill him. As all hearts turn into flies, Soul/Black Hearts cannot be found to protect the Keeper's health.
It is strongly recommended to defeat Isaac as soon as possible so that Keeper has the Wooden Nickel, which will vastly improve his survivability.
- Keeper can take a 2 heart Devil Deal by spawning in a co-op baby, taking the devil deal, then quickly getting rid of the co-op baby, which will leave Keeper with one Coin Heart.
Leaving a few coins on the ground when clearing a floor allows Keeper to heal himself if he takes a hit from an enemy.
Try to bomb as many urns as possible during Chapter 1; Swallowed Penny can drop from urns, which is amazing as Keeper (see Good Items).
- Urns can also appear in an Angel Room, an Arcade, and the Cathedral.
In Greed Mode, as coins spawn during waves, Keeper can easily heal himself during each wave by leaving some coins on the ground, even if this will decrease the amount of coins he will be able to collect and spend in the Shop. Ultra Greed attacks make the player lose coins when damaged, which means that Keeper can heal himself as long as he possesses coins.
Curse Rooms are very risky to enter as Keeper. Entering it through the door will leave you at one Health, which means if you don't find any coins there, it will end your run. Even with the Wooden Nickel unlocked, it's not guaranteed that you will leave the Curse Room alive.
- After defeating Hush, entering a cursed room and leaving through the door will leave you at one Health, which means if you get hit by an enemy inside the room, it will end your run. The Wooden Nickel does make it somewhat less risky, however.
- However, it is possible to enter the Curse Room and remain at full health. This is achieved with a coin in the room right next to the Curse Room's door, most easily achieved with Wooden Nickel. The player can then walk into the Curse Room doorframe to take damage, quickly pick up the coin and heal, then walk through the door into the Curse Room while their invincibility frames are still active.
It is possible to take a 2 Red Heart Devil Deal by using Judas' Tongue, a Health Up Pill, or XI - Strength right after paying for the item. This would leave Keeper at 1 health coin (empty if it was recovered using the pill, but he will not be killed), which is quite risky as he will be one hit away from death. However, if the boss item is a normally-useless HP up (Stem Cells, A Snack, etc.), it can make even a 2-heart Devil Deal effectively free if you possess a Strength Card and take the boss item after leaving the Devil Room.
Hold onto any Joker cards: you will probably be given an item that increases health at some point in your run; before taking it, use your Joker to see if any one-heart devil deals are available.
- Keeper's health coins count as Red Hearts for a devil/angel door appearing at all, making Joker Cards, Goat Head, or Eucharist invaluable in getting into devil/angel rooms.
Pills can be risky to use as the Keeper since many have adverse effects, with many of them able to quickly ruin a run should they happen. Picking up PHD is recommended before trying any pills.
- The Hematemesis pill will reduce your health, but in exchange, spawn many flies.
  - The Hematemesis pill will spawn many coins on the floor, making it very useful for quick health regeneration.
- Health Down pills are excluded from the pool while playing as Keeper.
Co-op babies can be used to exploit a Blood Donation Machine and a Devil Beggar because babies still spawn with a whole heart while Keeper always has a full coin; thus, the baby's health can be replenished by spawning/respawning.
- This doesn't work in Chapter 4 and beyond unless Keeper has The Wafer.
In fights against Hush and Mega Satan, bring X - Wheel of Fortune: they will not attack you until you get closer to the center of the room, allowing you to spawn lots of coins from the Slot Machine for healing in the middle of battle.
The Keeper can utilize the Sacrifice Room much more reliably and efficiently than other characters. To do this, instead of picking up extra dropped coins, leave them all on the floor. When you find a sacrifice room, you can repeatedly step on the spikes for a reward, then go pick up a penny left on the floor. Repeat this process until you are satisfied with your rewards. This process is easier in Repentance, as the player can start with 3 coin hearts rather than 2.
Once unlocked, Rib of Greed is particularly useful for Keeper, since it increases the chances of coins dropping after a room clear in place of hearts. This allows for more opportunities to heal.

Wooden Nickel

After beating Cathedral with Keeper, he will start with Wooden Nickel, giving Keeper a source of potential free coins and health.

It's usually a good idea to use the Wooden Nickel right after entering a room, so that the coin dropped will also work as emergency healing.
The Battery, Jumper Cables, 9 Volt, Charged Baby, and Car Battery help to further increase the amount of coins produced. Having Habit will recharge the Wooden Nickel whenever Keeper is hit, allowing him to potentially sustain himself endlessly, as long as the Wooden Nickel pays out. Having Habit and Car Battery increases chances for infinite coins.
Sacrifice rooms can be used much more with the Wooden Nickel, as the coins gained from it can be spent on them.
9 Volt can be used to farm charges infinitely in the room before the boss room or a trap room, as the doors will not automatically open after the normal amount of time. It is easiest if there are any immobile or passive enemies.

Shops

After beating Sheol with Keeper, he will start with Store Key, giving Keeper free access to Shops.

The following shop items are particularly useful for Keeper:

Hive Mind: Enhances the many blue flies Keeper will naturally produce.
BFFS!: Any orbital familiars are important to protect the Keeper's low health, so increasing their size is always good.
Piggy Bank: Drops 0-1 coins with Keeper instead of 1-2, but still provides increased survivability.
- In Co-Op, a player not using Keeper can take the Piggy Bank instead for its full benefit and thus supply Keeper with coins when necessary.
Mom's Box: Can drop Swallowed Penny, and makes Swallowed Penny drop two coins instead of one, resulting in infinite money.
- While this no longer results in infinite money, having a Swallowed Penny that's twice as effective will drastically increase survivability.
Any Battery type items (see above)
Sharp Plug takes only one HP on use.

Item Interactions

Birthright: Raises Keeper's HP cap by 1.
Steam Sale: Applies to the Devil Deals.

Good Items

Because of Keeper's slow rate of fire, any Tears Up items are a boon to him. His tears stat can be raised higher than the normal Inner Eye cap with enough Tears Up. This is because his low Tears stat is separate from his triple shot effect, allowing him to hit the standard Tears levels while having triple shots.
Flight is useful in general, and it also lets Keeper enter Curse Rooms with less risk.
Before Hush is defeated, any health increasing items will grant him a 3rd coin heart, greatly increasing his survivability. Once Hush is defeated this no longer applies, as he will start with a 3rd coin heart from the beginning of the run from then on, although these items can still heal Keeper if he is missing health.
Since every heart is changed into flies, items that give extra Heart drops like Gimpy, The Virus, Old Bandage, Fanny Pack, Bloody Penny, Serpent's Kiss, Little C.H.A.D., or The Relic become great sources to generate flies. Having Hive Mind also helps Keeper deal extra damage to enemies.
1up!/Dead Cat: Allows Keeper to trade all of his health coins in Devil deals, reviving him with 1 health coin for Dead Cat and 0 health coins and 1/2 soul heart for 1up. Keeper can later regain lost health coins with health up items.
20/20: Causes Keeper to shoot 5 tears in an arc, without decreasing his fire rate.
- 20/20 grants a similar effect to Odd Mushroom, giving Keeper a massive Tears Up in exchange for a Damage Down.
Blind Rage: Has good synergies with money-dropping items. Since coins need to complete its animation before you can collect it, the extra invincibility frames give you a bigger window of opportunity to pick them up.
Brittle Bones: Picking this item up will give a one-time +0.5 tears up ( +0.4 fire rate) and 24 Blue Flies without removing any health. This bonus is retained even if the item is later lost or rerolled.
Cursed Eye: Allows him to fire 12 15 tears without an increase in tear delay.
Charm of the Vampire: Charm of the Vampire works with Coin Hearts, therefore providing a consistent source of healing.
Dim Bulb: Very useful with the Wooden Nickel, as using it at the start of any room or beforehand will grant a hefty boost to most stats.
Diplopia/Credit Card: Can be used to take Devil Deal items without spending any hearts/ coins.
Glass Cannon: Since Glass Cannon can never reduce Isaac's health to 0 it works well in early game with Keeper for killing bosses and large groups of fast enemies, especially when holding Dark Prince's Crown or Dead Cat. It's also useful for speeding up the run when the player's goal is Boss Rush or Blue Womb.
Greed's Gullet: Allows Keeper's health to extend past 2 3 or 4 coins with Birthright, which is normally impossible. DO NOT pick up Dead Cat if you have all available health points using Greed's Gullet. This will instantly kill you, and when you are brought back by the Dead Cat, you will have only 1 hit point which you can no longer increase.
Head of the Keeper: Very useful since enemies will drop coins when hit, which will help Keeper stay alive.
- When combined with Soy Milk, it practically guarantees a steady stream of coin drops. This makes the Keeper effectively immortal as long as he keeps collecting those coins.
Holy Mantle: Allows Keeper to enter and leave Curse Rooms with less risk.
The Inner Eye/Mutant Spider: Cause Keeper's fire rate to drop considerably, but he shoots 6/7 tears in an arc, allowing for greater damage output.
- Mutant Spider will shoot 5 tears with reduced fire rate.
- The Inner Eye now shoots 4 tears with a reduced fire rate.
Lucky Rock: Can allow Keeper to get coins from rocks as long as he has bombs.
Missing Page 2: Will activate every time Keeper is at one coin Heart, making it an effective replacement to The Negative's The Necronomicon effect.
Moving Box: Can be used to drop multiple coins in a potentially harder room or boss fight.
Options?: Hearts spawned will immediately change to blue flies, giving you both the fly and the other pickup.
Piggy Bank: Works differently with Keeper and doesn't drop coins every time he takes damage. Still, it allows him to sometimes recover from a hit for free. The same is true for Swallowed Penny.
Petrified Poop: Similarly, to Lucky Rock, allows for Keeper to acquire coins (and flies) from poops.
Placenta: Regeneration effect affects the health coins just like regular red hearts and will allow the Keeper to regenerate 1 health coin every minute. As Keeper does not benefit from items that trigger at half a red heart, this item has no downsides.
Portable Slot: Can be used to generate coins to heal Keeper during extended fights and in some cases might be better than Wooden Nickel when money is not a concern.
Pyromaniac: Explosions heal Keeper for a full coin heart. Combined with bomb items such as Kamikaze!, Dr. Fetus, Epic Fetus, Ipecac renders Keeper almost unkillable.
Items that restore red hearts directly such as Leech and Yum Heart will heal Keeper.
Swallowed Penny: Is very powerful as Keeper will always be able to heal himself after taking a hit. This can also grant unlimited money since this will sometimes drop a nickel or a dime. However, invincibility after taking damage does not last long enough to pick up the money without risk of death.
- The coin dropped on hit can be picked up before Keeper's invincibility frames end, making Swallowed Penny even better for him.
- If Keeper takes damage from entering a Curse Room, the coin will be dropped on the outside and can't be used to heal before leaving.
  - However, if one quickly enters, exits to collect the coin, and re-enters the room before the invulnerability period ends, the Swallowed Penny allows the Curse Room to be traversed with no net loss in life. Just be wary that there may be enemies in the curse room that would lock the door and prevent the player from leaving and collecting the coin outside the curse room.
- Obtaining Swallowed Penny means you can play the Blood Donation Machine, Devil Beggar and Sacrifice Room practically for free until they pay out since each time you donate a coin to them, you get a coin back.
  - You are no longer guaranteed to get a coin back.
Tech X: Synergizes well with Keeper's triple shot.
Tractor Beam: Will make all 3 of Keeper's tears travel along the beam, hitting a single target all at the same time and effectively increasing damage output.
IV Bag + Panic Button: Panic Button will make it so that when Keeper is about to take damage, IV Bag will activate, giving immunity frames to avoid the initial damage and having a chance to heal Keeper right away.

Bad Items

Health Ups are useless when Keeper has maximum health (2/3 health coins). They still heal him if he has unfilled health coins.
- This does not apply if Keeper has yet to defeat Hush, as they can grant him a 3rd coin heart until that point.
It is not recommended to take Bum Friend or Bumbo, as they will pick up coins off the ground that could have been used as health.
Taking Abaddon will instantly kill Keeper, since it takes away all red health and Keeper cannot make use of the Black Hearts given. Amusingly, it will spawn a lot of flies in the process.
- Taking Abaddon will not kill Keeper as in previous versions, but it will reduce his health to one Coin Heart.
Guppy's Paw will remove a health coin and spawn 9 blue flies. Removing all health coins with Guppy's Paw will not kill the Keeper immediately, but he will die upon picking up an item.
- Removing all health coins will kill the Keeper.
Maggy's Bow, The Jar, Dark Bum, Immaculate Conception, Candy Heart, and Soul Locket will not provide Keeper any benefit, as all heart pickups turn into flies.
Maggy's Faith does nothing for Keeper and will not grant 5 blue flies when traveling to the next floor, like it would if an Eternal Heart spawned.
Monstro's Lung will take a dangerously long time to charge, giving it terrible usability.
The Polaroid, The Negative ( though the damage up still applies), Empty Vessel or Whore of Babylon cannot be triggered by the Keeper since he can't have half a heart of health. An exception is after being revived by Guppy's Collar, which is a bug.
The Wafer and Cancer have no effect, as Coin Hearts cannot be Half Red Hearts.
Alabaster Box can only be charged with items that directly give Soul Hearts to the player, as Soul Hearts spawned on the ground will be converted into blue flies.
Judas' Tongue is completely useless with Keeper. It won't decrease 30 Cent devil deals to 15 Cents, and does not have any other effect.
Heartbreak will remove one coin heart and replace it by a broken heart upon pickup.

Unlockable Achievements

Sticky Nickels - Complete the Boss Rush as Keeper.

Super Greed Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as Keeper.

Keeper holds Store Key - Defeat Satan as Keeper.

Keeper holds Wooden Nickel - Defeat Isaac as Keeper.

Karma - Defeat The Lamb as Keeper.

Deep Pockets - Defeat ??? as Keeper.

Rib of Greed - Defeat Ultra Greed as Keeper.

Eye of Greed - Defeat Ultra Greedier as Keeper.

Keeper now holds... A Penny! - Defeat Hush as Keeper.

Noose Baby - Defeat Mega Satan as Keeper.

Crooked Penny - Defeat Delirium as Keeper.

Keeper's Sack - Defeat Mother as Keeper.

Keeper's Box - Defeat The Beast as Keeper.

The Miser - Use Red Key (etc.) to open the hidden closet in Home as Keeper.

Sale Baby - Earn all Hard mode Completion Marks as Keeper.

Unlockable Starting Items

Defeat Isaac as Keeper - Start with Wooden Nickel
Defeat Satan as Keeper - Start with Store Key
Defeat Hush as Keeper - Start with 1 coin
Defeat Hush as Keeper - Start with 3 Coin Hearts (instead of 2)

Trivia

Keeper was publicly revealed to players through an alternate reality game created by the developers; however, files alluding to Keeper's existence already were found after the initial release of Afterbirth. With the conclusion of the ARG, a patch was released to fully add Keeper to the game as a playable character.
In the game's files, there is a character called "Old Man Keeper", which was most likely meant to be the 2nd Afterbirth character instead of Keeper. However, he was replaced with this Keeper. This sprite is used for April Fool's Day's daily run since 2016, as Keeper's sprite is changed to this sprite for the day.
Keeper's starting health is listed as "II" on the character selection screen, despite having no red hearts. This is unique among such characters, whose health is usually listed as "-I" or "?".
- The starting health will become "III" after defeating Hush with him.
The Keeper was created for the sake of being "another challenge character" for this game (the other character is The Lost).
As a secret character, Keeper does not appear on the character select screen until unlocked.
- He shares this trait with ???, The Lost, and The Forgotten.
Edmund has confirmed that Keeper (and by extension, Shopkeepers) is a mummified version of Isaac from previous runs.^[1]