Baptism by Fire

   

Blindfolded

Challenge Number
38

Starting Items
Urn of Souls
Schoolbag
Guppy's Paw
Maggy's Faith

Available Rooms
: no          : yes

Goal

Unlocks
Purgatory

Unlock Method

Defeat Satan as Bethany, defeat Mom's Heart 11 times and unlock Maggy's Faith

Baptism by Fire is challenge #38. The goal is to defeat Isaac. This challenge is unlocked by unlocking Maggy's Faith and defeating Satan as Bethany, with 11 Mom's Heart kills.

Strategy

Bethany starts with the Urn of Souls as her only method of attacking, as she is blindfolded. The item initially has no charges, but can be fueled by the 4 soul charges Bethany starts with. You must carefully destroy enemies to gain charges faster than you deplete them, with the goal of gradually building a healthy stockpile of soul charges. If you do manage to run out of charges, you can gain 6 extra soul charges by sacrificing one heart container with Guppy's Paw, but this is by no means necessary to complete the challenge. If you find another active item that you feel will help you in your run, don't be afraid to swap away the Paw for something better.

Additionally, she starts with Maggy's Faith, providing one free Eternal Heart per floor. This can be used to soak one hit, or (preferably) to gain an extra heart container if you manage to clear the floor without being harmed.

Minimal controlled bursts, with each burst destroying at least one enemy, allows you to retain or even gain charges. Expect to make a few practice runs as you get the hang of the Urn's controls and learn to group enemies for increased efficiency. A surprising number of enemies and even boss encounters can be won simply by avoiding attacks and allowing your foes to defeat themselves with explosions or environmental hazards. The early boss Little Horn is a perfect example of this, as well as Baby Plum, as simply waiting in the boss room will complete the fight.

Since she has no Book of Virtues in this challenge, Bethany is not guaranteed an Angel Room after the first boss encounter. This means you will encounter Devil Rooms more often than not, and most of the items found there are useless for this challenge. Exceptions include high damage familiars such as Lil Brimstone or Rotten Baby. If Guppy items are offered, these may also be worth accepting; you already start with one of the three needed items, and the transformation will cause the flames of your Urn to spawn blue flies, greatly enhancing offensive power.

Shop items such as Red Candle or The Candle will allow Bethany to deal damage as an alternate/backup to the urn. These items can also be used to safely build up charges before a boss fight.

Unlockable achievements

• 

  Purgatory - Complete Baptism by Fire (challenge #38).