Rock Bottom

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(in Repentance)

Rock Bottom is an unlockable passive item added in The Binding of Isaac: Repentance.

Effects

  • Prevents Isaac's attributes from falling below their highest values reached.
    • Attributes continue to be calculated normally internally. Rather than use Isaac's current stats, items and effects will impact Isaac the same way they would as if he did not have Rock Bottom.

Notes

  • Health downs do not count as stat downgrades for Rock Bottom.
  • Temporary buffs work normally, though they may make reaching new best values harder after the buff has worn off.
    • For example, using Collectible The Book of Belial icon.pngThe Book of Belial to gain +2 damage will stay in effect indefinitely, but while it's not currently activated, Isaac must earn more than +2 damage from other items to see a difference.
    • Stacking as many temporary buffs at once as possible may be helpful to reach particularly high values.
    • Temporary positive multipliers are not retained, only the values reached through them are.
  • Stat penalties are accounted for, causing increased difficulty of reaching new best values.
    • Optimally, any available increases to a particular stat should be taken before taking the item that lowers it.
    • Permanent negative multipliers, such as Collectible Soy Milk icon.pngSoy Milk, work as expected: after the internal damage value is dropped to 0.2×, it would require over 5× increase in damage from other items and effects afterwards to start increasing the best value again.
  • If Rock Bottom is removed, Isaac's stats will no longer be locked and return to match his current items/effects.

Synergies

Refer to the articles on Damage, Tears, Range, Shot Speed, Speed, and Luck for lists of items granting otherwise temporary boosts.

  • Collectible 20 20 icon.png20/20 / Collectible The Inner Eye icon.pngThe Inner Eye / Collectible Mutant Spider icon.pngMutant Spider / Conjoined: Multiple tears will be shot without the source's respective stat downgrades. The damage and tear multipliers will still affect future stat ups.
  • Azazel's StumpAzazel's Stump: Isaac will keep Azazel’s base stats after transforming back. This includes 1.25 base speed, +0.5 tears per second, and a 1.5× damage. The tear delay multiplier will not be given, including while Isaac is Azazel.
  • Collectible Berserk! icon.pngBerserk!: +3 flat damage and +0.4 speed last indefinitely. Will also give a tears up if (½ tears fired per second + 2), unless Isaac’s tears fired per second is already 4 or higher.
  • Collectible Binge Eater icon.pngBinge Eater: Speed down from picking up food items no longer applies, and all temporary stat boosts are permanent.
  • Collectible Brimstone icon.pngBrimstone / Collectible Chocolate Milk icon.pngChocolate Milk / Collectible Monstro's Lung icon.pngMonstro's Lung: Charged shot can be fired at Isaac’s normal fire rate.
  • VII - The Chariot?VII - The Chariot?: The 4x fire rate bonus from the card makes it possible to reach and keep extremely high values.
  • Collectible Clicker icon.pngClicker: Will keep stat bonuses from items removed, and will retain the best stats of all characters that are cycled through.
  • Collectible D8 icon.pngD8 / Cracked DiceCracked Dice: With repeated use, 1.5-2× higher values can be applied to Isaac’s speed, tears, range, and damage.
  • Collectible Dataminer icon.pngDataminer: If one overflows Isaac's tear rate to 120 before picking up rock bottom, the tear rate stays at 120.
  • Collectible Deck of Cards icon.pngDeck of Cards /Ace of SpadesAce of Spades: Allows for more cards to spawn, which can then all be used in the same room to maximize stats gained.
  • Collectible Eve's Mascara icon.pngEve's Mascara / Collectible Polyphemus icon.pngPolyphemus: Gives 2× damage multiplier without immediate reduction to tears or shot speed.
  • Collectible False PHD icon.pngFalse PHD: When using a pill applies only the damage up with no downside.
  • Character The Forgotten icon.pngThe Forgotten / Character The Soul (Character) icon.pngThe Soul: Allows transfer of stat-ups between the two. For example, collecting Ipecac as The Forgotten doesn't give him the +40 damage boost, but it does give it to The Soul. Switching to the Soul, then switching back to the Forgotten prevents him from losing the +40 damage.
  • Collectible Ipecac icon.pngIpecac: Gives Isaac a massive damage up without the tears down.
    • Collectible Ipecac icon.pngIpecac + Collectible Brimstone icon.pngBrimstone / Collectible Tech X icon.pngTech X: If Ipecac is taken before Brimstone / Tech X, its full damage up is applied to the beam/ring properly, but if the order of the items is reversed, Ipecac will only give +2 damage.
  • Character Jacob and Esau icon.pngJacob and Esau / Character Tainted Lazarus icon.pngTainted Lazarus: Only the character that has Rock Bottom will be immune to stat downgrades.
  • Collectible Jupiter icon.pngJupiter: The +0.5 speed boost becomes permanent, turning Jupiter into a +0.2 speed up. Farts made while moving still must be charged by standing still.
  • Collectible Kidney Stone icon.pngKidney Stone: Permanently gives Isaac a ×6 fire rate multiplier after firing a kidney stone. Accuracy penalty from firing kidney stones is unaffected.
  • Collectible Libra icon.pngLibra: Stat balancing applies after Rock Bottom.
  • Collectible Metronome icon.pngMetronome: Isaac keeps any stat upgrades gained by a random temporary item as long as the item brings his stats over their highest value reached on that run. This allows Isaac to potentially accrue a large number of stat upgrades.
  • Collectible Neptunus icon.pngNeptunus: Not affected by Rock Bottom. Fire Rate will decrease normally.
  • PerfectionPerfection: The large luck boost remains even if Perfection is lost.
  • Collectible Purity icon.pngPurity: Allows for all stat boosts given by Purity to stay active at the same time.
  • Collectible Red Stew icon.pngRed Stew: The +21.6 damage is permanent.
  • Collectible Razor Blade icon.pngRazor Blade / Collectible Golden Razor icon.pngGolden Razor: Can be used multiple times in one room for a large permanent damage boost.
  • Collectible Soy Milk icon.pngSoy Milk / Collectible Almond Milk icon.pngAlmond Milk: Gives Isaac the full tears up while keeping his previous damage; however, the damage divider still applies to any future damage increases.
  • Character Tainted Eden icon.pngTainted Eden + Collectible Birthright icon.pngBirthright: If Rock Bottom is picked up before Birthright, it is protected from being rerolled, allowing Tainted Eden to retain the highest stats they have reached.
    • This reroll protection is even effective against similar reroll effects such as Collectible D4 icon.pngD4 and Collectible Missing No. icon.pngMissing No..
  • Character Tainted Isaac icon.pngTainted Isaac: Prevents any stat from decreasing, letting the effects of picked up items linger even after discarding them. However, raising stats beyond the values reached will be more difficult after leaving the source item, and swapping away Rock Bottom resets them to Tainted Isaac's current set. Picking it up again will not give the stats back.
  • Collectible Taurus icon.pngTaurus: Prevents Isaac's speed from dropping whenever a room is cleared.

In-game Footage

Trivia

  • Rock Bottom originates from the Antibirth mod. In Antibirth, Rock Bottom could also appear from tinted rocks and Collectible Experimental Treatment icon.pngExperimental Treatment was still able to lower Isaac's stats.
  • This item is likely a reference to the stone that Jacob slept on when he dreamt of a ladder to heaven; upon awakening, he covers the stone in oil and dedicates it to the area where he had the vision, which he names Bethel. Its name is also a reference to the expression "Hitting rock bottom", which means being emotionally overwhelmed.
  • The main cosmetic difference when holding this item is that Isaac faces upward slightly and stops visually crying, which may be a play on the term "things are looking up".
  • Contrary to popular belief, Rock Bottom does not set Isaac's stats to the starting values. This was confirmed by Kilburn in the Binding of Isaac Discord server, when he stated that it doesn't do that and has never done that, even in the original release of Antibirth.