Alabaster Box

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 for each one of the spawned soul hearts to be replaced with an Eternal Heart.

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.
- This also applies to The Lost, even though Devil Deals are supposed to be free for this character.
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.
Bulbs are capable of draining charges from Alabaster Box, so careful movement around them is advised.
Batteries cannot be picked up while using this item, unless Isaac has Schoolbag and another active item that uses charges.

? Card: Activates the Box without consuming it, allowing for potential multiple uses.
Bethany / Tainted Bethany: Soul/blood charges count towards the charges for Alabaster Box.
Void: Allows the player to charge the item normally, but its effects wear off after 1 use.
Guppy's Paw: With Schoolbag, heart containers converted to soul hearts contribute to the Box's charge instead of being added to Isaac's health. This enables a full charge for just two heart containers.

4.5 Volt / 9 Volt / The Battery / Car Battery / Charged Penny / Habit / Jumper Cables : No effect.
48 Hour Energy / Battery Pack: No effect.
Battery Bum: No effect, even though there is a cue that the item was charged.
Book of Virtues: Spawns 8 normal wisps.
Converter: Cannot use the charges stored in Alabaster Box.
Keeper / Tainted Keeper: As the Keeper and its tainted version 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.
The Lost / Tainted Lost: Alabaster Box will not gain charges when picking up black hearts.
- Soul hearts still function as intended.
Mother's Kiss: Picking up this trinket as a character that cannot use red hearts will actually grant a soul/black heart instead of giving it to Alabaster Box.
Schoolbag: Picked up soul hearts will still be consumed by Alabaster Box, even if it's in the second slot.
Sharp Plug: Expends up to 6 full hearts if possible with no charges given, even while having soul hearts.
Strength cards will apply temporary charge on characters that can only use soul/black hearts such as ??? or Tainted Judas.

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.
Prior to patch 4.0.3, an Alabaster Box crafted from Bag of Crafting was immediately fully charged.
Tainted Eden can reroll into a fully-charged Alabaster Box.
The item is likely a reference to the anointing of Jesus - while he was in Bethany, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

Bethany Unlocks