Overview
This character guide will tell you the ins and outs of the Unlockable Character, Magdalene.Ranging from the original source material for the naming of the character to gameplay advice on how to get all the way to The Chest, I hope to cover everything related to the Character.Creation Date: January 27, 2013Published Date: January 30, 2013Latest Version: 0.1.7Update Notes:Version 0.1.7: (2013-07-28): Corrected an error regarding the recharge time of the Yum Heart. Updated time signatures to a new format.
How to Unlock: The Quest for Seven Hearts
Magdalene is one of the simplest characters to unlock: You will automatically unlock her during a playthrough where your character has Seven Red Heart Containers. For this reason, You cannot unlock Magdalene while playing as ???.
These Red Heart Containers can be from any of the following:
- Your initial starting HP
- XI Strength (Tarot Card) (Temporary)
- Health Up (Pill)
- Bucket of Lard (Power-Up)
- Breakfast (Power-Up)
- Lunch (Power-Up)
- Dinner (Power-Up)
- Dessert (Power-Up)
- The Halo (Power-Up)
- Blood Bag (Power-Up)
- <3 (Power-Up)
- Magic Mushroom (Power-Up)
- Raw Liver (Power-Up)
- Rotten Meat (Power-Up)
- Super Bandage (Power-Up)
- Prayer Card* (WotL Activated Item)
- Box* (WotL Power-Up)
- Fate* (WotL Power-Up)
- Holy Grail (WotL Power-Up)
- MEAT! (WotL Power-Up)
- SMB Super Fan! (WotL Power-Up)
- Stem Cells (WotL Power-Up)
- Stigmata (WotL Power-Up)
*A Note on Eternal Hearts: An eternal (White) half-heart will become a full heart container between floors. Two Eternal Half-Hearts will become a full heart container immediately. You can convert an Eternal Heart Container by a combination of avoiding damage and protecting yourself with Soul (Blue) Hearts. All Characters will lose Soul Hearts, then Eternal Hearts, and then Regular Hearts.
Vanilla Maggy: Character Stats and Introduction
Maggy’s playstyle is intended to be defensive and careful: her stats and Default Item – the Yum Heart – play into this.
Like Samson, ???, and Eve, Maggy does not start off with any Bombs, Keys, or Coins. You will have to rely on getting lucky with your drops in the basement for pick-ups to open any doors or Secret Rooms.
Maggy starts off with the most health of any character in the game with a resounding four hearts. However, all of her stats are mediocre to average. She is the slowest character from the start, making your timing that much more important. If you can avoid taking any Red Heart damage, Maggy is the safest character to make a deal with the devil starting with The Basement 2/The Cellar 2.
For this reason, Maggy is a good character to use for learning the game with: her regenerative ability and large health make her friendlier and more forgiving to newer players. Additionally, she serves as a parallel to ??? gameplay-wise as they both rely on Health-manipulation and start off with fewer item benefits than other characters.
Character Stats:
Health: 4 Red Hearts
Damage: 2
Range: 2
Speed: 1
Fire Rate (Tears): 2
Luck: 0
While you are playing as Maggy, you should (as always) avoid damage when you can, but getting hit is not as crippling for Maggy as it is for frailer Characters like Samson and Judas.
The Yum Heart: Strategies and Synergy
The Yum Heart is Maggy’s default starting item and is placed in the Activated Item Slot Space.
For this reason, You CANNOT use The Yum Heart with items like The Bible, IV Bag, or Prayer Card as they all take up the same slot.
This is perfectly fine for most playthroughs as The Yum Heart is an item useful through all parts of the game.
The Yum Heart:
Activated by the Space Bar. Restores 1 Full Red Heart Container. Recharges after 4 rooms. Recharge rate can be quickened by other items.
Given the restorative nature of the item, you will eventually run into a situation where you are in need of health and can either get pick-up off the floor or you can use the Yum Heart. And while not all playthroughs hinge on the efficiency of how you use your resources, there are many playthroughs where smart decision making can and will save your ass. Here is my advice on the matter.
This is assuming you are picking up hearts as you are getting hit and backtracking to previous rooms as needed, and are currently facing a decision between only these two methods of healing. You additionally need to factor in to this how many remaining rooms are on the floor: the closer you are to completing the floor the more you will want to use the Pick-Up over the Yum Heart (since the pick-up will be lost forever).
This is ALSO dependent on whether you have faced Mom yet in the Playthrough: after killing Mom, all enemies will due 1 Full Heart of Damage per hit: If you are choosing between a half-a-heart and a full heart to fill up 1 Container, the better choice depends on your floor. Post-Mom you will want to pick up the Half-a-heart, as it will allow you to take just as much damage without wasting resources. Pre-mom you’re better off taking the full heart to heal off more damage.
- If you are missing only half-a-heart, and the pick-up is a half-a-heart: Use the Pick-Up and save the Yum Heart for later when you need larger healing.
- If you are missing only half-a-heart, and the pick-up is a full heart: Use the Yum Heart and let it regenerate and save the full heart for later when you cannot rely on the Yum Heart.
- If you are missing a full heart, and the pick-up is a half-a-heart: Use the Yum Heart and let it regenerate so you can save the half-heart for later when you need precise healing and/or cannot rely on the Yum Heart.
- If you are missing a full heart, and the pick-up is a full heart: This choice is not clear cut: approximate the remaining rooms between yourself and the exit, and factor in which floor you’re on. The closer you are to the exit the more you should consider the pick-up.
Because the Yum Heart is an slow-recharging activated item the following items are a great Boon to you:
The Battery:
Purchased from The Store for 15 cents, The Battery will slowly restore up to three bars of your activated item’s power as you fight in the room. Once it has charged three bars worth in 1 room, it’ll stop helping you. Since you are only restoring 1 bar per room by default with the Yum Heart, you can very quickly recharge The Yum Heart using the Battery. Note that the Battery will only recharge an item while all of the following are true:
- It has not already restored three bars in the room you are in.
- The Item Charge is not Full.
- There is at least 1 live Enemy in the room.
The 9 Volt
Purchased from The Store for 15 cents. The 9 Volt will immediately restore two bars to an item’s charge after use: effectively speaking, it reduces the maximum time between activated item usage from 6 to 4. That being said, it you use it while fighting, you will still receive item charge from clearing the room meaning that it can be even more often than that. While it useless for items like The Poop or Tammy’s Head which recharge immediately after clearing a room, it is extrodinarily useful when using the Yum Heart as you can rely on it more often.
The Nun’s Habit
A WotL exclusive, it can be purchased from the Store for 15 cents. I highly recommend getting this item when using The Yum Heart: you will be practically invincible (you become capable of healing damage just as fast as you receive it against most enemies) until you reach the Womb. Combined with The Yum Heart, pre-Womb Arcades however will allow you to farm for money:
- Preparation: You will need 1 Cent, At least 2+ Half Hearts (any combination of Red, White and Blue will work), One Red Heart Container, The Yum Heart, and the Nun’s Habit.
- Step 0: Use your one cent to enter the arcade.
- Step 1:Go to the Blood Donation Machine in the Top Right and bump into it to donate blood.
- Step 2: Wait for money to dispense the Nun’s Habit will recharge 3 bars of the Yum Heart.
- Step 3: If the Yum Heart is not charged, and the Blood Donation machine has not exploded, repeat Steps 1 and 2. If the Blood Donation Machine has exploded, you are done. If the Yum Heart is charged, use the Yum Heart and repeat Steps 1 and 2.
Every time you donate blood you will receive 1 to 3 coins (carrying the PHD improves this to 2 to 4). NOTE that coins and pennies are not the same thing. You CAN receive Nickels and even Dimes from the Blood Bank, although they are obviously rarer. More informaton on the PHD is below.
Eventually the Blood Donation Machine will explode. If you are using WotL, there is a 75% chance you will get a Blood Bag and a 25% you will get an IV Bag. If you cannot tell the difference (the Blood Bag appears to be almost full, the IV bag looks more crinkled and looks about 2/3 full), grab the item and read what comes on screen. If you got the IV Bag, remember to grab the Yum Heart again.
So long as you have the necessary materials, you can do this for multiple arcades (should you come across them) in one playthrough and receive multiple blood bags. This isn’t the most fun thing to do in BoI, but it’s extremely practical.
The Wafer
The Wafer is the least important but still amazingly powerful item of Maggy’s defensive powerhouse: it’ll reduce ALL damage Maggy takes to one half-a-heart. Combined with the Nun’s Habit and the Yum Heart, you are practically invincible against ALL enemies at all stages of the game. With all three items you will always be able to heal off damage as fast as you are receiving it. However, there is a catch. The Wafer MUST be unlocked. The Wafer can be unlocked by completing the game 7 tiimes (1 game completion counts as Killing “Mom’s Heart” or Killing “Satan”. This means you can get 2 game completions in one playthrough under certain cirumstances.)
The PHD
The PHD serves a different role in the Blood Bank Abuse, and has an additional benefit (which many people think of first). When carrying the PHD, any time you use the blood bank, instead of getting 1 to 3 coins, you will get 2 to 4 coins. Additionally, all unidentified Negative Pills will become the opposite effect positive pills. If you have already found a pill with a negative effect pill before you find the PHD, it WILL NOT CHANGE.
The Need for Speed (to a point)
Magdalene is by default, the slowest character in the game.
This means one of your primary concerns in terms of stats is her speed. While you always want stat buffs, Speed is very much a tricky subject, and since Maggy starts off so slow, this seems like a good thing to mention.
If you are unable to get your speed up, you will find it easy to be chased down and difficult to dodge when you need to. If you go too fast you will find yourself with the unfortunate problem of being unable to control the character’s movement. (Note that both apply for all characters and is an important thing to keep in mind for general gameplay.)
While the exact speed you should get your character up to is ultimately a matter of preference, you are also horribly controlled by sheer luck. If you don’t ever find any Speed Up Items, you obviously can’t use any.
The Blood Bag
This is probably your favorite item as Maggy: as I’ve covered under the Yum Heart strategies, Blood Bank abuse is your friend. If you can get it, your speed will go up one and your Red Heart Containers will go up one. It is easy to acquire when using the Nun’s Habit and the Yum Heart, and it benefits you immensely (assuming you don’t become too fast) as it increases her strengths and diminishes her flaws.
Pills
Pills are often a mixed bag: they can either benefit you immensely or hurt you significantly…or leave you feeling “eh.”
There are 22 Pill Effects: 11 are beneficial (10 on an Iron Man run, as Health Up Pills count as damage), 2 are neutral in nature but can help or hurt (Bombs are Key, and Telepills), 2 are neutral at all times (I Found Pills, Puberty), 1 is unobtainable by a bug (Explosive Diarrhea), and of the remaining six, two are situationally beneficial at low health. Otherwise the remaining six are debuffs (one of which, is bugged!)
Regardless, the odds are in your favor as a player. When beginning a new run, you have little to no reason to avoid using pills when you don’t know what they do (waiting for The Lucky Foot, or PHD is a good one). One of them (appropriately enough called “Speed Up”) will increase your speed. Again, be careful to not become too fast to control.
Speed Up Power-Ups:
- Speed Up Pills
- The Belt
- Wooden Spoon
- The Halo
- A Pony (incompatible with Yum Heart)
- White Pony (WotL) (incompatible with Yum Heart)
- Blood Bag
- Growth Hormones
- Mini Mushroom
- Odd Mushroom (Thin)
- Roid Range
- ♥♥♥♥♥ of Babylon (while Active Only)
The Temptations: Dealing with the Devil
Given certain conditions, and a bit of luck, The Devil will open a room into a “Devil Room” after killing the floor’s boss (or only the second one on an XL floor). Various items will increase your chances of getting an offer from him.
Base Probability: 1%
Step 1: Add on to the Base Probability for the following:
- Took No Red Heart Damage on the Current Floor (+35%)
- Took No Red Heart Damage fighting the Boss (+35%)
- Carrying the Book of Belial (+25%)
- Carrying the Book of Revelations (+35%)
- Killed at least 1 Beggar on the floor (+35%)
- Have 1 Pentagram (+20%)
- Have 2 Pentagrams (+20%+10%=30%)
(The Highest Percentage coming out of this step is 171%)
Step 2: Multiply your total for the following:
- Never received a deal from the Devil on this run: (*1)
- Have not received a deal from the Devil since 3+ levels ago (*1)
- Received a Deal from the Devil 2 levels go (*.5)
- Received a Deal from the Devil on the previous level (*.25)
There’s two floors where you generally don’t care about Offers: Depths II and Womb II. Without some form of teleportation you will never see the offer on Depths II. On Womb II, a Deal with the Devil will open a trap door to Sheol, but there’s no item offering.
The Temptations: Sinful but Good
Don’t worry too much: accepting a deal from the devil will not damn your soul to hell….usually.
Accepting an offer will require a payment in Health. This is not taken from your health like other damage: you lose the Health CONTAINERS. That being said, there are a couple of items as Maggy that you may come across that may be worth it. If you have the HP, aren’t taking a lot of damage, and don’t have similar items, consider these when you’re offered them as Maggy:
The Common Cold (1 HP): Adds Poison Effect to Tears/Lasers/etc.
Lord of the Pit (2 HP): Gives Flight.
Mom’s Knife (1 HP): Instead of shooting tears, the character will shoot a Boomerang-moving knife with their mouth. This does significant damage. Can also be used as a Melee Weapon by ramming the knife into enemies.
Money = Power (1 HP): For every 10 cents, your character has, they receive a damage bonus. On playthroughs where you have a lot of money (Blood Bank Abuse), this can be an easy way of doing large amounts of damage if you don’t spend much.
Odd Mushroom (Thin) (1 HP): Speed + 1, Max Tears, DMG – 1, Smaller Character Size
Ouija Board (1 HP): Enables Spectral Tears, which can shoot through rocks and other obstacles.
The Pact (2 HP): Gives Two Soul Hearts. DMG + 1, Rate of Fire + 2
Stigmata (1 HP): Gives 1 Heart Container. DMG + 1.
Technology (1 HP): Replaces Tears with Lasers, which have infinite range but no knockback.
♥♥♥♥♥ of Babylon (2 HP): When you are reduced to half a Life Container (Red HP), Character Size increases, DMG + 3 and Speed + 2.
~WotL-Exclusive Items ~
Spirit of the Night (2 HP): Flight AND Spectral Tears (Lord of the Pit + Ouija Board).
Guppy’s Tail (1-2 HP): Increases chances of finding normal and golden chests. Good if you have a lot of keys!
Sacrificial Dagger (2 HP): High Damage Orbital, but doesn’t shield from attacks.
Achievement Unlocked: Character Completion Awards
Like all other Characters, getting so far into the game will unlock items for future playthroughs.
How to get them:
- The Relic: Defeat “Mom’s Heart” or “It Lives!” and complete The Womb/Utero with Maggy. “Mom’s Heart” and “It Lives!” are the two bosses exclusive to Womb 2, Womb XL, Utero 2, and Utero XL. If you have unlocked “It Lives!” you will always fight “It Lives!” Otherwise, you will fight “Mom’s Heart.” If you are on Womb XL or Utero XL, “Mom’s Heart”/”It Lives!” will always be the second boss you must fight.
- Guardian Angel: Defeat “Satan” and Complete Sheol with Maggy. “Satan” is the floor-exclusive boss to Sheol: if you go to Sheol, you will always fight “Satan.” If you have WotL, please note that you cannot go to Sheol and to the Cathedral in one playthrough.
- The Celtic Cross: Defeat “Isaac” and Complete The Cathedral with Maggy. Please note that if you do not have WotL, you cannot go to The Cathedral. Additionally, you cannot go to Sheol AND The Cathedral in one playthrough. “Isaac” is the only boss for “The Cathedral.”
- Maggy’s Faith: Defeat “???” and Complete The Chest with Maggy. Please note that if you do not have WotL, you cannot go to The Chest. Additionally, in order to get to the Chest, you must have “The Poloroid” trinket with you when you open the Chest that appears from defeating “Isaac” in the Cathedral.
But I Still Need Help: Resources
If you’re looking for more information about the game, items, and strategies, and you can’t find it in the Steam Guides, I personally recommend check out the Binding of Isaac Wiki[bindingofisaac.wikia.com]. It’s a reliable source of information for game mechanics and I tend to rely on it when I’m playing and forget something. Otherwise, feel free to ask in the comments about strategies and gameplay (don’t expect an immediate answer: I’m at no one’s beck-and-call!)
Update History
Update Notes:
Version 0.1.7: (2013-07-28): Corrected an error regarding the number of rooms involved in charging the Yum Heart. Changed Dates of Updates to a different format.
Version 0.1.6: (2013-03-20): Added recommended items from Devil Room. Added a Section on other resources.
Version 0.1.5: (2013-02-01): Added some information to the Devil Room section.
Version 0.1.4: (2013-01-31): Added a Section for dealing with the Devil: however the section has not been written. Added an Update History Section.
Version 0.1.3 (2013-01-31): Added Section Devoted to Character Speed and cleared up a minor mistake on Deals with the Devil. Added the PHD to the Item Synergy page.
Version 0.1.2 (2013-01-30) Published the Guide to Steam
Version 0.1.1 (2013-01-27): Added Character Stats, Some Strategy and Synergy Tips, Time Stamps, Minor Typo Corrections
Version 0.1.0 (2013-01-27): Created Guide on Steam, Added “How to Unlock,” and “Character Completion Awards” Section.