Upon use, splits enemies in the room into two smaller versions with ~40% health each.
Normal enemies can be split twice, while champions and bosses can be split three times. If an enemy cannot be split, they instead take 25 damage.
If the enemy splits as part of their mechanic, such as Squirt, Teratoma, or The Fallen, they will instead take the damage required to split them.
If the enemy has segments, such as Larry Jr. or Buttlickers, they will have their segments cut down to half, rounding down. There are several exceptions listed in the notes section.
If the enemy has a cable between them, such as Mr. Maw, it will immediately be cut. Mr. Maws specifically will be left with just their head.
Notes[]
Invincible enemies, such as Stone Grimaces and lowered Hosts, will not be split.
Multi-segmented enemies will only take damage on one segment.
Using it on Carrion Queen, Chub, or C.H.A.D. will split them into two one-segmented pieces, instantly killing both halves.
Using it on Gabriel or Uriel will cause them to drop Key Piece 1 and Key Piece 2 (killing them both without picking up a key piece can result in getting the same key piece twice).
Using it on The Horny Boys will turn them into Loki and Hornfel. Hornfel will be in his "fleeing" state, but will never exit the room and will only drop extra rewards if Loki is killed first.
Using it on The Scourge will instantly kill it instead of splitting.
In daily runs, using this item on enemies, especially angel statues increases a part of exploration bonus by quite a bit.
Synergies[]
Book of Virtues: Spawns one red wisp on the middle ring on use. Before spawning wisps, Meat Cleaver divides all of Isaac's wisps into two wisps that deal half tear damage. Wisps will be destroyed if they try to divide a third time.
Lusty Blood: Each split enemy killed grants a damage boost.
Sigil of Baphomet: Split enemies will allow the shield to activate and stack up more easily.
Interactions[]
Blood Puppy: If Blood Puppy is angry, splits it into two copies. One copy can level up and be tamed like normal, but the other cannot level up and dies instead of being tamed.
This item's pickup quote is a reference to the phrase "Slice and Dice", which means to cut or divide something into smaller parts.
Bugs[]
Bug!
If used on Reap Creep, during his 3rd Phase, he cannot properly collide with the walls in order to perform his rock attack and will infinitely run against the wall.
Bug!
If used against Mom's foot, both will count as their own instance, and the second foot will only be able to be killed once the first one is dead.
If the first foot is killed instantly, the second foot may never drop, requiring a reset.
Bug!
If used during Min-Min's phase change, both bosses will be unable to be damaged.
Bug!
If used on The Stain, the boss will be back to normal size when poking out of the ground. This is most likely due to the boss becoming smaller when going underground and therefore overriding the size it was given by the Meat Cleaver.