Daemon's Tail

 

"Evil up"

Trinket ID
5.350.22

Unlock Method
Defeat Satan as Azazel

Daemon's Tail is an unlockable trinket.

Effects

• 80% of heart drops are replaced with keys.
• All hearts drops turn into Black Hearts, if possible. (Sometimes heart types are tied to the room, such as in certain Super Secret Rooms.)

Notes

• Objects and items such as tinted rocks, Red Chests, Fortune Telling Machines, tarot cards, Little C.H.A.D., Bloody Penny, or Blue Fire Places can't drop Black Hearts. Thus, they will still drop Soul/Red Hearts with Daemon's Tail.
• All heart drops from Ace of Hearts will be Black Hearts.
• Sources of heart drops that are reduced include cleared rooms, bosses, Slot Machines, Fortune Telling Machines, Beggars, Fire Places, Chests, Red Chests, poops, tinted rocks, items ( Gimpy, Old Bandage, Fanny Pack), trinkets (Bloody Penny), and familiars ( Little C.H.A.D., The Relic, etc).
  • Hearts that are present upon entering a room for the first time are unaffected by the reduction (for example, the ones found in Curse/Devil/Angel Rooms), but will be converted to Black Hearts.
    • The exceptions to this are particular Super Secret Rooms, which have the effect of forcing all heart drops to be the kind found within them.
  • The V - The Hierophant and VI - The Lovers tarot cards have a chance to drop one heart instead of two. The hearts they drop will not be Black Hearts.
    • The cards drop two of their respective hearts every time.
• Things that can drop pickups other than hearts will keep the same chance to drop a consumable, but with an increased chance for drops other than hearts and a decreased chance for heart drops. In particular, this increases the chances of acquiring:
  • Tarot cards & trinkets from Fortune Telling Machines
  • Bombs and Keys from tinted rocks
  • Pills and items from Red Chests
  • Coins from poops and Fire Places
  • Any pickup from Slot Machines, cleared rooms, beggars, chests, and the Fanny Pack

Tips

• Due to its specific mechanic, Daemon's Tail has no synergy with items increasing chances for Soul/Eternal/Black Hearts to drop instead of a Red Heart, like Mitre, Mom's Pearl, or Bible Tract.
• Since the frequency of heart drops is lowered, holding this trinket can be dangerous to Isaac if he has numerous Red Heart containers, as he can easily find himself short on health.
  • This trinket is more effective for ??? or Azazel, as they start with no Red Heart containers.
• Mom's Pearl or Bible Tract are trinkets which only need to be held to be useful, whereas Daemon's Tail is more effective if it is held and dropped at the right times, to get an increased chance for consumables from certain mechanics (to counter a lack of bombs/keys/coins, or to get Black Heart protection), and to still get enough heart drops to stay alive at other times (from bosses or familiars).
  • This trinket nearly requires this kind of strategy to pay off, making it tough to use as the player will have to sort and remember the moments where they must pick up or drop the trinket, as it interacts with nearly every consumable dropping mechanic.