Lazarus

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Lazarus is a character unlocked by having four or more Soul Heart.pngSoul Hearts (or Black Heart.pngBlack Hearts) at once during a run. He was introduced in The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. He starts with three red heart containers and a double-blue pill with an unidentified effect. He has slightly lower Range and Luck than Character Isaac icon.pngIsaac but also starts with an extra life.

His revived form has increased base stats, with above-average damage, speed, and range. Though low on health, his improved stats counterbalance this weakness well.

(except in Rebirth and Afterbirth) After Challenge 31: Backasswards is beaten, Lazarus starts with Collectible Anemic icon.pngAnemic. Additionally, Lazarus Risen's Anemic effect is permanent and no longer requires him to take damage.

(in Repentance and Repentance+) Upon transforming into Lazarus Risen, Lazarus loses one heart container, instead of removing all but one. This cannot bring Lazarus below one heart container. When moving on to a new floor after losing an extra life on that floor, Lazarus Risen will revert back to Lazarus, and regain an extra life. Each time Lazarus dies, he gains a +0.5 damage up to both forms.

Lazarus Risen

When Lazarus (or another character with the item Collectible Lazarus' Rags icon.pngLazarus' Rags) dies, they will be resurrected in the same room as Lazarus Risen with lowered health. Note that unlike most other items that cause the player to respawn, Lazarus' revival ability revives him on the spot, as opposed to the previous safe room.

  • (except in Repentance and Repentance+) Lazarus Risen resurrects with 1 full red heart container.
  • (in Repentance and Repentance+) Lazarus Risen loses a red heart container upon resurrecting but cannot go below one. If he has no red hearts upon dying, he gains a red heart container instead. One of the container(s) is filled.

Lazarus Risen gains a significant increase to most of his stats, with bonuses in Speed, Range, Luck, and a (except in Repentance and Repentance+) 1.2x (in Repentance and Repentance+) 1.4x damage multiplier. He also gets the Collectible Anemic icon.pngAnemic passive item (if Lazarus didn't already have it), causing him to leave a damaging blood trail behind him after taking damage. If Challenge 31: Backasswards has been completed, Lazarus Risen's Anemic effect is permanent.

Lazarus Risen is considered by the game to be a separate character from Lazarus, but all unlockable items can be earned by completing Lazarus' objectives with Lazarus Risen. You will gain the corresponding Completion Mark on Lazarus' post-it note.

Notes

  • Resurrection items (ability, in this case) activate in a set order. Lazarus' inherent extra life is (except in Repentance and Repentance+) 4th / (in Repentance and Repentance+) 3rd in this order after Soul of LazarusSoul of Lazarus and Collectible 1up! icon.png1up!.
  • (except in Repentance and Repentance+) It can be a reliable strategy to purposefully die at the beginning to become Lazarus Risen and obtain stronger stats, although it will leave Lazarus with only 1 heart container. For example, attempt to complete the 2nd floor without any red heart damage, enter the Devil RoomDevil Room, and make deals until Lazarus dies. This will utilize Lazarus's 3 red heart containers to the most if successfully performed but heavily relies on player's skill and RNG.
    • (in Repentance and Repentance+) Dying on every floor to always have the stronger stats and a permanent +0.5 damage is tempting, but it will leave Lazarus with little health to deal with the devil. It is preferred to go in Angel RoomAngel Rooms instead to gain health.
  • (except in Rebirth and Afterbirth) After beating Challenge 31: Backasswards, Lazarus will have Collectible Anemic icon.pngAnemic even before reviving. Anemic gives (except in Repentance and Repentance+) +5 (in Repentance and Repentance+) +1.5 range which compensates his shortness on the range, effectively nullifying his need for extra range ups like he did before.
    • Lazarus Risen will always have Anemic activated and will constantly leave blood trails. A higher Speed attribute may help him spread more blood around the room.
  • (except in Repentance and Repentance+) Donating the last heart piece to a devil beggar and respawning as Lazarus Risen activates the beggar an extra two times for a total of three.
    • (in Repentance and Repentance+) This is no longer possible.

Item Interactions

  • (in Repentance and Repentance+)Collectible Birthright icon.pngBirthright: Lazarus gains nothing directly from Birthright. Dying and becoming Lazarus Risen, or picking up Birthright when already in that form grants a +7.2 damage bonus that fades over the course of one minute. This effect triggers each time Lazarus dies.
  • (in Repentance and Repentance+)Collectible Lazarus' Rags icon.pngLazarus' Rags: Grants Lazarus two lives. Dying for the first time on a floor uses his inherent ability. Dying a second time will only boost his damage like a normal death, due to Lazarus being Lazarus Risen. Travelling to the next floor will revert his stats as per normal, but does not reset his life count to x2, nor does his ability and the item combine.

Good Items

  • Any range up items. (Collectible Mom's Heels icon.pngMom's Heels, Collectible Mom's Underwear icon.pngMom's Underwear...)
  • (except in Repentance and Repentance+) The lack of range can be compensated by a higher shot speed, via picking up items such as Collectible Cat-o-nine-tails icon.pngCat-o-nine-tails or Collectible Speed Ball icon.pngSpeed Ball.
  • Any luck up items. (Collectible Latch Key icon.pngLatch Key, Collectible Lucky Foot icon.pngLucky Foot...)
  • (except in Rebirth and Afterbirth)Lost CorkLost Cork increases the size of Anemic's creep trail, which can be useful for Lazarus Risen, especially if he has the Anemic effect permanently due to the player having beaten Backasswards.
  • (except in Rebirth and Afterbirth)Collectible Plan C icon.pngPlan C is safer to use due to inherent extra life.
  • Suicide KingSuicide King can be used most effectively when playing as Lazarus.
  • (in Repentance and Repentance+)Collectible Damocles icon.pngDamocles is less dangerous than for most of the characters as Lazarus already starts with an extra life.
  • After his resurrection, any health up items will help. (except in Repentance and Repentance+) Lazarus Risen initially has only 1 heart, therefore he is rather fragile.
  • Collectible Prayer Card icon.pngPrayer Card allows Lazarus to frequently gain Eternal Hearts and Red Heart Containers. This effectively makes up for Lazarus' frequent heart losses and basically removes the drawback of reviving.

Bad Items

  • Items that reduce range (such as Collectible Number One icon.pngNumber One) or (except in Repentance and Repentance+) items that reduce shot speed (such as Collectible Eve's Mascara icon.pngEve's Mascara and Collectible Dead Onion icon.pngDead Onion) can prove themselves to be negative for Lazarus. The same applies to item that require a good range stat to be effective (such as Collectible A Lump of Coal icon.pngA Lump of Coal).
    • Note that after his resurrection or after (except in Rebirth and Afterbirth) receiving Anemic, these problems become much less troublesome due to the increased Range stat.

Unlockable Achievements

Unlockable Starting Items

Gallery

Trivia

  • Lazarus is a reference to Lazarus of Bethany. In the Bible, Lazarus of Bethany was resurrected by Jesus 4 days after his death. This is why Lazarus spawns with 1 extra life.
  • Lazarus Risen's next floor art, in which he is crying about a bad memory, depicts him crying blood, rather than the normal tears.
  • If a co-op baby joins in and takes a red heart from Lazarus, then Lazarus dies and gets revived, the co-op player can leave to grant Lazarus Risen an extra heart container.
  • If the player dies as Lazarus Risen, his signature on Isaac's last will will have blood drops on it.
  • Lazarus's locked icon shows him bound in chains.
  • Lazarus's locked icon shows him covered in rags—this is a reference to how in the Bible (John 11:44) Lazarus “came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin” when he was resurrected.

Bugs

Bug Bug! (except in Repentance and Repentance+) Character Lazarus icon.pngLazarus will receive a copy of Collectible Anemic icon.pngAnemic when resurrecting. The item does nothing when stacked.