Mulligan

For the item with a similar name, see The Mulligan.

Mulligans are enemies that will actively try to avoid Isaac; their eyes widen and their speed increases when doing so. When running away, they may walk over spikes or into a fire.

Upon death, they spawn several Flies, Attack Flies and, occasionally, a Pooter. Mulligans may sometimes self-detonate. If this occurs: in addition to spawning flies as normal, it will also fire four projectiles in the cardinal directions and destroy nearby objects when doing so. Mulligans cannot deal contact damage to Isaac ( unless they are Champions).

Variations[]

Mulligoon[]

Mulligoons behave like Mulligans and will run away from Isaac, don’t deal contact damage, and can self-detonate. They release 4 projectiles in ordinal directions and drop a Troll bomb on death. If they self-detonate, they release 8 projectiles in the cardinal and ordinal directions in addition to dropping a Troll bomb.

Mulliboom[]

Mullibooms, unlike Mulligans, will chase Isaac at a very fast pace and explode on contact, dealing half a heart of damage. They also explode immediately if they are killed.

Hive[]

Hives behave similarly to Mulligans, evading Isaac and spawning Flies, Attack Flies, and Pooters upon death. However, they also occasionally spit Attack Flies while running away from Isaac, and unlike Mulligans and Mulligoons, they can't self-detonate.

Drowned Hive[]

Drowned Hives behave similarly to Hives but spit out Drowned Chargers instead of Attack Flies. Upon death, they spawn 1-2 Drowned Chargers. Drowned Chargers spawned by Drowned Hives have half their usual health (11 HP).

Nest[]

Nests behave similarly to Hives, but they spit out Spiders instead of Attack Flies when being chased. They spawn a Trite or a Big Spider upon death.

Leper[]

Lepers are a Mulligan variant that alternate between walking towards and running away from Isaac. For every 15 damage they take, a chunk of their head, known as a Leper Flesh, will detach and start erratically chasing Isaac. Lepers deal contact damage if they are in this state or below. Lepers can naturally be found with some head chunks missing.

After being reduced to 15 health, Lepers will chase Isaac continuously, leaving a trail of damaging Red Creep. Upon death, they leave behind one Leper Flesh and a Grey-colored Gusher.

Leper Flesh[]

Leper Fleshes are head chunks from Lepers that erratically chase Isaac and are spawned from Lepers for every 15 damage they take. Upon death, they fire a projectile at Isaac that predicts his movements.

They will die if Isaac walks into them, though he will still take contact damage.

Holy Mulligan[]

Holy Mulligans behave similarly to Nests and Hives; avoiding Isaac and spawning Small Angelic Babies when chased. When killed, they leave behind 1-2 Embryos.

Prey[]

Preys behave similarly to Nests and Hives; avoiding Isaac and spawning Small Leeches when chased. Upon death, they spawn 2-3 Small Leeches.

Mullighoul[]

Mullighouls behave similarly to Nests and Hives; avoiding Isaac and occasionally spawning a Willo when chased. Upon death its spawn 1-2 Willos. Despite their appearance, they cannot fly over obstacles or pits.

Fartigan[]

Fartigans act similar to Mullibooms, but hock up explosive gas as they chase Isaac. Upon death, they release an explosive Ipecac shot that blows up any gas clouds it hits. If it manages to reach Isaac, however, it will explode, damaging Isaac and detonating nearby gas clouds.

Bouncer[]

Bouncers behave like regular Mulligans and avoid Isaac with the exception that they can still deal contact damage to Isaac in their normal state. However, after some time or when close to death, their head inflates and they start chasing Isaac. If they die or come into contact with him in this state, they explode into a large cloud of projectiles with some lingering in the air before dropping down. If they are killed before they enter this hostile state, they release 4 projectiles in the ordinal directions.

They can also occasionally reflect tears in their inflated state.

Tainted Mulligan[]

Tainted Mulligans are stronger versions of Mulligans that behave similarly to Hives. They walk away from Isaac and will spit several Ring Flies at him if he is near. Upon death, they spawn a plethora of fly enemies including: Flies, Suckers, Spits, Inks, Boom Flies, and Red Boom Flies.

They can be killed instantly with a bomb, regardless of damage or bomb modifiers.

They are exclusive to the Ascent to Home.

Gallery[]

Undamaged Leper.
Slightly degraded Leper.
Degraded Leper.
Fully degraded Leper.
A Gusher spawned from a Leper.
A Prey's appearance in Dross.
The only room in which a Leper Flesh appears without being spawned from a Leper.
Sketches of monsters for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, including the Nest in the fifth square of the first row (no name included).
Concept drawn for Nests.
Leper concept art by _Kilburn.
Concept art for a Holy Mulligan.

Trivia[]

The Mulligan, Mulligoon, Hive, and Swarmer are all the same monster in stages of decay and infestation.
In the original Binding of Isaac, when a Mulligan self-detonated, the explosion would not break rocks.
Mulligans will start running in random directions instead of directly away from Isaac if he stays close to them for long enough. This behavior also applies to Small Baby Long Legs.
In the game's files, there is an unused Mulliboom self-detonation animation, an unused graphic of a Hive with a Mulligoon's face, and an unused graphic of the Drowned Hive with a blue-tinted Mulligoon's face.
Drowned Hives, along with Drowned Chargers (name of Drowned Charger wasn't revealed), were revealed for Afterbirth in this official Binding of Isaac post.
A leper is a person who suffers from leprosy, which is a contagious disease that causes discoloration and lumping on the skin plus disfigurement and deformities.
Due to the Holy Mulligan leaving behind Embryos on death, it could be suggested that it transforms Embryos into the Small Angelic Babies it spawns.
Holy Mulligans, Holy Bonies, and Holy Eyes originated as cards from the card game The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls.

Bugs[]

Bug!	If a Mulligan or a Mulligoon is killed before the spawning period is finished (before they move), it will count as a self-detonation.

Bug!	If a Nest is killed in the Burning Basement, it has a chance to spawn a Flaming Hopper.

Bug!	Rarely if you kill a Drowned Hive before their spawn period is finished (before they move), it will shoot 4 projectiles in ordinal directions but the monster won't explode.