Alabaster Box

 

"A sacred offering"

Item ID
5.100.585

Recharge Time

12 rooms

Item Pool

			Shop
			Shop

Collection Grid

(page 5, column 1, row 6)

Unlock Method
Defeat The Lamb as Bethany

Alabaster Box is an activated item added in The Binding of Isaac: Repentance.

Effects

• This item starts with no charges. Rather than gaining charges by clearing rooms or picking up batteries, Alabaster Box has to be charged by picking up Soul Hearts or Black Hearts – they would normally go towards Isaac's health bar, but instead go towards charging the box at a rate of one charge per half heart. It requires 12 charges – 6 full soul or black hearts – to be fully charged.
  • If the box requires two or more charges and Isaac picks up a black heart then the box gains charge as for a soul heart and the last soul heart (or half soul heart, if there is one) in Isaac's health will become black.
  • If the box requires only one more charge and Isaac picks up a full soul heart or a black heart then the box will become fully charged and one half heart of the same type will be added to Isaac's health.
  • Soul health from Blended Hearts will also be used to charge the box. (They will, as usual, be used for red health first.)
• Upon activation, this item is consumed and will vanish from Isaac's inventory, spawning three Soul Hearts and two items from the Angel Room item pool.
  • If a Devil Deal was taken previously, it will spawn two Soul Hearts and one Angel Room item instead.
  • There is a chance that one of the spawned hearts will be an Eternal Heart.

Notes

• If Isaac takes a soul-heart Devil Deal while holding a charged Alabaster Box, it will take hearts from the box before it takes from Isaac's health.
• If sleeping in a bed would restore soul hearts, they will be used to charge the Alabaster Box instead. Any excess will be added as soul health as normal.
  • This applies to The Lost, who is always in the state to recover soul hearts, even if usually without effect.

Synergies

• ? Card: Activates the Box without consuming it, allowing for potential multiple uses.
• Void: Allows the player to charge the item normally, but its effects wear off after 1 use.

Interactions

• 4.5 Volt / 9 Volt / Car Battery: No effect.
• Battery Bum: No effect, even though there is a cue that the item was charged.
• Keeper: As the Keeper cannot encounter soul hearts normally, the only possible way to charge the Alabaster Box is by having something that adds them directly to health, such as Schoolbag with Book of Revelations or Dream Catcher.
• Sharp Plug: Expends up to 6 full hearts if possible with no charges given, even while having soul hearts.
• When this active item is crafted by Tainted Cain it starts fully charged.

Trivia

• Alabaster Box is one of the three activated items, alongside Eden's Soul and Broken Glass Cannon, that:
  • Has no charges upon pickup.
  • Needs to be charged and disappears upon use.