Suicide King (Challenge)

Suicide King is Challenge #7. Lazarus is the default character for this challenge, and he starts with, and , as well as a random pill. The goal is to defeat Isaac. This Challenge is unlocked alongside It Lives!.

Difficulty

 * Though Ipecac and Mr. Mega would be a powerful build in a normal run, My Reflection causes tears to loop back around towards Lazarus, forcing him to have to avoid not only enemy tears but his own as well. This also makes aiming tears significantly harder.

Strategy

 * The 1 pip and 6 pip dice rooms will not reroll the starting items for this challenge but will reroll any others.
 * Lazarus has one extra life by default, granting him some survivability.
 * Because of My Reflection, the range is diminished. With a little practice, however, it can be easy to tell how far away the shot will travel. Lining up enemies with that distance will make it easier to score direct hits that won't come back. One way to track this is by the shadow of the Ipecac tear.
 * Ipecac's explosive tears can be used to break rocks, mushrooms, and skulls, and open secret rooms.
 * Crawl Spaces are very valuable because of the lack of Treasure Rooms, making the destruction of all encountered rocks a viable strategy. Most items that can be acquired this way are useful, but, and  are especially noteworthy for their ability to prevent all self-damage inflicted on Lazarus.
 * It is worth noting that Dr. Fetus, unlike Pyromaniac and Host Hat, will not prevent any damage inflicted by bombs, but it will massively increase Lazarus's damage in exchange.
 * Familiars such as, , or any friendly fly orbital can help protect Lazarus.
 * If properly aiming the Ipecac shots while simultaneously dodging them proves too challenging, some familiars or orbitals can serve as a consistent means of dealing damage without firing tears.
 * Grouping enemies together is an effective way of clearing rooms while minimizing the amount of tears needing to be fired per room.
 * Because Ipecac also increases the damage of Blue Flies and Blue Spiders, obtaining an item that spawns them can be extremely useful.
 * Curse Rooms and Devil Rooms can spawn and.
 * It is possible to hit enemies without having to worry about My Reflection by moving in tandem with the Ipecac tear, making the shot faster. This method only works with a higher Speed stat.
 * A higher Shot Speed stat allows the tears to fly further away from Lazarus before returning, allowing enemies to be shot from further away while reducing the risk of being caught in the blast radius.
 * A lower Range stat is advantageous. It shortens the way back to Lazarus whereas a high Range stat seems to home him.
 * The item is a common shop item that is affected by Ipecac's damage increase. This makes it extremely viable as an alternative damage source to Ipecac tears, especially in runs with a large coin count.
 * If Envy is encountered, and it drops, it is highly advised to pick it up. Due to the item's relatively quick recharge time, and the fact that its damage is greatly increased by Ipecac, it can be used as an ace in the hole to clear challenging rooms and easily defeat bosses.
 * can be purchased from a Devil Room if found with a Red Chest or using, overriding Ipecac and making the challenge much easier.
 * allows the tears to do damage in-flight, making it significantly easier to hit enemies.
 * is an immensely useful item that can be acquired from the Boss Rush, as it overrides Ipecac, granting infinite range and no explosive damage.
 * is another useful item from crawl spaces causing Lazarus to turn into a statue just before the Ipecac tears hit him. This is only really useful for destroying objects.
 * is an incredibly useful familiar, as its damage scales with Lazarus's. Succubus allows the challenge to be cleared without using tears as it only takes a few seconds for it to clear out a regular-sized room autonomously.
 * Familiars that mimic Lazarus's tears, such as, are not recommended for this challenge. While they do increase Lazarus's overall damage output, they are very difficult to avoid, as they are usually fired directly towards Lazarus.
 * overrides the explosive projectiles from Ipecac if Lazarus is not at full health, making self-damage far less likely at the cost of making Lazarus into a close-range fighter.
 * and are extremely useful for cleaning rooms and has an absurd synergy with worm trinkets.
 * Brain Worm, Hook Worm and Whip Worm are useful trinkets and should be collected if possible.
 * Brain Worm forces some tears to snap 90 degrees to target enemies that they may have missed.
 * Hook Worm allows tears to hit enemies more easily, while also making them easier to avoid by Lazarus.
 * Whip Worm forces tears to fly very fast and low, usually preventing enemies from dodging them. It also makes tears that hit the edge of the screen explode rather than coming back to Lazarus.
 * Ring Worm is a somewhat less useful alternative.