Keeper

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

Keeper is unlocked by donating 1000 coins to the Greed machine. Keeper starts with 1 bomb and a triple shot similar to.
 * Keeper starts with 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 are also paid in coins.

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 coin every time he obtains a coin. All types of hearts are transformed into blue flies. If Keeper loses Coin Heart containers (Devil deal, Health Down,..), an HP Up will increase his health back up.

Strategy

 * Due to his 2 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, 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 makes Keeper able to heal himself in the case where he would take 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 angel rooms, arcades, and the.
 * 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.
 * It is possible to take a 2 Red Heart Devil Deal by using Judas' Tongue, a Health Up Pill, or 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 would be one hit away from death. However, if the boss item is a normally-useless HP up (,, 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.
 * 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.
 * 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 unlocked, it's not guaranteed that you will leave the Curse Room alive. Also, pills should be used outside of the Curse Room because using an "Addicted!" pill will kill you when you try to leave the room.
 * 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 invincibility is still active.
 * 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 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.
 * Hold onto any 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,, or invaluable in getting into devil/angel rooms.
 * Co-op babies can be used to exploit Blood Donation Machines and Devil Beggars 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.
 * Doesn't work in Chapter 4 and beyond unless Keeper has.
 * In fights against Hush and Mega Satan, bring : 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 Sacrifice Rooms 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 then 2.

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


 * 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.
 * ,, , and help to further increase the amount of coins produced. Having  will recharge the Wooden Nickel whenever Keeper is hit, allowing him to potentially sustain himself endlessly, as long as the Wooden Nickel pays out.
 * Sacrifice rooms can be used much more with the Wooden Nickel, as the coins gained from it can be spent on them.

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:
 * : Enhances the many blue flies Keeper will naturally produce.
 * : Any orbital familiars are important to protect the Keeper's low health, so increasing their size is always good.
 * : 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.
 * : Can drop Swallowed Penny, and makes Swallowed Penny drop two coins instead of one, resulting in infinite money.
 * Any Battery type items; see Keeper
 * takes only one HP on use.

Item Interactions

 * : Currently unimplemented.

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.
 * Since every heart is changed into flies, items that give extra Heart drops like, , , , Bloody Penny, , , or become great sources to generate flies. Having  also helps Keeper deal extra damage to enemies.
 * / will allow 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.
 * causes Keeper to shoot 5 tears in an arc, without decreasing his fire rate.
 * The shot count is only 4, with a 0.75x damage multiplier. This means that 20/20 doesn't provide any increase to damage per second.
 * Blind Rage has good synergy 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.
 * allows him to fire 12 tears without an increase in tear delay.
 * Dim Bulb is very useful if you keep the Wooden Nickel, as using it at the start of any room or beforehand will grant a hefty boost to most stats.
 * / can be used to take Devil Deal items without spending any hearts/ coins.
 * works good in early game for killing bosses and large groups of fast enemies, especially when holding or . It's also useful for speeding up the run when the player's goal is Boss Rush or Blue Womb.
 * allows Keeper's health to extend past 2 coins, 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.
 * is very useful since enemies will drop coins when hit, which will help Keeper stay alive.
 * allows Keeper to enter and leave Curse Rooms with less risk.
 * / cause Keeper's fire rate to drop considerably, but he shoots 6/7 tears in an arc, allowing for greater damage output.
 * will shoot 5 tears with reduced fire rate.
 * 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.
 * will activate every time Keeper takes damage, making it an effective replacement to 's effect.
 * can be used to drop multiple coins in a potentially harder room or boss fight.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * can be used to generate coins to heal Keeper during extended fights and in some cases might be better than when money is not a concern.
 * is great with Keeper too, because now you can also heal yourself with all explosions. Combine this with a good bomb item like, , , and you'll be almost immortal.
 * Items that restore red hearts directly such as and  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 Blood Donation Machines, Devil Beggars and Sacrifice Rooms practically for free until they pay out since each time you donate a coin to them, you get a coin back.
 * synergizes well with Keeper's triple shot.
 * 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.

Bad Items

 * Health Ups are useless when Keeper has maximum health (3 health coins). They still heal him if he has unfilled health coins.
 * 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.
 * Devil Deals requiring 2 Red Hearts cannot be taken unless Keeper has a resurrection item,, , , Strength, a Health Up Pill, or Judas' Tongue.
 * 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.
 * It is not recommended to take or, as they will pick up coins off the ground that could have been used as health.
 * Taking 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 will not kill Keeper as in previous versions, but it will reduce his health to one Coin Heart.
 * does not work with Keeper, as health coins count as red heart containers.
 * 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.
 * ,, , and 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.
 * will take a dangerously long time to charge, giving it terrible usability.
 * , ( though the damage up still applies), or  cannot be triggered by the Keeper since he can't have half a heart of health. An exception is after being revived by, which is presumably a bug.
 * will instantly kill Keeper by replacing all his coin hearts with broken hearts.
 * will temporarily boost the Keeper's HP to 3 hearts, but then remove all hearts and bring him down to 1 Heart even if he grabs an HP up during its active time.
 * and are useless, as all heart pickups are replaced with flies.

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 since 2016, as Keeper's sprite is changed to this sprite for the day.
 * Keeper having two coins instead of hearts for health is possibly a reference to Charon's Obol, a tradition in northern Mediterranean cultures, particularly Greek and Roman cultures, where one would place a pair of coins on the deceased's eyes to pay Charon, the ferryman of the river Styx, for the trip across, but also to pay for a return trip from the world of the dead if one was expected. This is further supported by the fact, whose starting coin is also suspected to be a reference to Charon's Obol, only has one coin and is depicted as a spirit, while Keeper has two and is depicted as a corpse, supposing he paid to bring his body back across the river Styx.
 * Keeper's starting health is listed as "2" on the character selection screen, despite having no red hearts. This is unique among such characters, whose health is usually listed as "-1" or "?".
 * The Keeper was created for the sake of being "another challenge character" for this game (the other character is ).