Lazarus

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Lazarus is unlocked once the player has four or more soul hearts (or black hearts) at once during a run. He is a new character in The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. He starts with slightly lower Range and Luck than Isaac but also has 1 extra life and a Pill at the beginning of the game.

His revived form has increased base stats, with above-average damage, speed, and range. Though low on health, his improved stats counterbalance this weakness well.

Template:Afterbirth+ After Challenge 31: Backasswards is beaten, Lazarus starts with Anemic.

Lazarus Risen

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When Lazarus (or another character with the item Lazarus' Rags) dies, they will be resurrected in the same room as Lazarus Risen.

Lazarus Risen gains a significant increase to most of his stats, with bonuses in Damage, Speed, Range, and Luck, as well as the Anemic passive item, causing him to leave a toxic blood trail behind him after taking damage. Note that unlike other items that cause the player to respawn, Lazarus' revival ability revives him on the spot, as opposed to the previous room.

Lazarus Risen is considered by the game to be a separate character from Lazarus, but all unlockable items can be earned by completing objectives with Lazarus Risen, and if you beat particular bosses for the first time with Lazarus Risen, you will gain the corresponding Completion Mark on Lazarus's post-it note.

Template:Afterbirth+ After Challenge 31: Backasswards is beaten, Lazarus Risen's Anemic effect is permanent and no longer requires him to take damage.

Unlockable items

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Item & Strategy notes

• Donating your last heart piece to a devil beggar and respawning as Lazarus Risen activates the beggar an extra two times for a total of three.
• Lazarus' negative luck decreases the chance to obtain Room Drops. As such, items increasing Luck are welcomed.
• Lazarus' low range can make it harder to hit enemies, in such case, items increasing Range are also welcomed.
• It is also possible to let yourself purposefully die at the beginning to become Lazarus Risen and obtain stronger stats, although you will be revived on the spot and have only 1 heart container.
  • For example, attempt to complete the 2nd floor without any red heart damage, enter the Devil Room, and make deals until Lazarus dies. This will utilize Lazarus's 3 red heart containers to the most if successfully performed, but heavily relies on RNG.
• Template:Afterbirth+ After beating Challenge 31: Backasswards, Lazarus will have Anemic even before reviving. Anemic gives +5 range which compensates his shortness on range, effectively nullifying problems around this.
  • Lazarus Risen will always have Anemic activated and will constantly leave blood trails. A higher Speed attribute may help him spread more blood around the room.

Good items

• Any range up items. (Mom's Heels, Mom's Underwear...)
• The lack of range can be compensated by a higher shot speed, via picking up items such as Cat-O-Nine-Tails or Speed Ball.
• Any luck up items. (Latch Key, Lucky Foot...)
• PHD and Virgo have a possibility to turn Lazarus' beginning pill into a positive one, unless his pill has an effect deemed neutral.
• After his resurrection, any health up items will help. Lazarus Risen initially has only 1 heart, therefore is rather fragile.

Bad items

• Cricket's Body has to be avoided. Although it allows an increase in Tears and gives splash tears, its range diminution, added with Lazarus' already low range, can become dangerous. The same applies for Number One.
• Eve's Mascara and Dead Onion's drastic shot speed reduction can also prove themselves to be negative for Lazarus.
• A Lump of Coal loses in efficiency due to Lazarus' initial range.

Note that after his resurrection, or Template:Afterbirth+ receiving Anemic for the first life, these problems become much less troublesome due to the increased Range stat.

• Be careful to use self-damaging items or take devil deals as Lazarus Risen, due to his shortness on heart containers.

Trivia

• Lazarus is a reference to Lazarus of Bethany. In the Bible, Lazarus of Bethany was resurrected by Jesus 4 days after his death. This is why Lazarus spawns with 1 extra life.
• Lazarus Risen's next floor art, in which he is crying about a bad memory, has blood tears, rather than the normal tears.
• If a co-op player joins in and takes a red heart from Lazarus, if Lazarus dies and gets revived, the co-op player can leave to grant Lazarus Risen an extra heart container.
• If the player dies as Lazarus Risen, his signature on Isaac's last will will have blood drops on it.

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