Pickups |
Hearts | Coins | Bombs | Keys | Batteries | Pills | Cards/Runes | Chests | ![]() |
Pills are pickups that can provide useful or inhibiting effects. They take up the same slot as cards and runes.
At the start of each run, an effect is randomly assigned to each color of pill. The pill effect for each color will remain constant throughout the run. (However, it is possible for PHD,
Virgo,
False PHD, or
Lucky Foot to reassign some of the effects, such that 2 different colored pills will have the same effect.) Pills will start the game unidentified (unless the player is holding
PHD or
False PHD); their effect is shown as "???" when picked up. Upon using a particular pill for the first time, its effect will be revealed and all subsequent pills with the same color will have their effect shown as well. The set of pill effects for any given run is usually known as the pill pool.
The pill pool for each run has increased from 9 to 13.
Pill Effects[]
ID | Pill | Effect | ![]() |
---|---|---|---|
0 | Bad Gas | Isaac farts, dealing 5 damage and poisoning enemies around him. | The poison applies to the entire room. |
1 | Bad Trip | Injures Isaac by a full heart. If a Bad Trip pill is used while Isaac only has a single heart left or less, the pill will turn into a Full Health pill instead.![]() ![]() ![]() |
Two hearts of damage. If Isaac would not survive, the pill becomes Full Health. |
2 | Balls of Steel | Grants Isaac two soul hearts. | Grants four soul hearts. |
3 | Bombs Are Key | Swaps the values of Isaac's ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The number of bombs and keys is increased by 50% while swapping. |
4 | Explosive Diarrhea | Spawns five active bombs behind Isaac over a period of five seconds, at one a second. | Spawns more bombs, boosted with ![]() ![]() |
5 | Full Health | Refills every empty red heart container. | Fully heals and grants 3 soul hearts. |
6 | Health Down | Removes one red heart container upon use. While Isaac has one or fewer red heart containers, it will act as a Health Up pill instead. ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Removes two heart containers. If this is not possible, the pill becomes Health Up. |
7 | Health Up | Adds one empty red heart container upon use. | Adds two empty red heart containers. |
8 | I Found Pills | Changes the appearance of Isaac's face. This pill is cosmetic only, ![]() |
Isaac's face gets a permanent, very exaggerated expression resembling a horse. |
9 | Puberty | Causes Isaac to grow four hairs from the top of his head and zits on his face. This pill is cosmetic only and will stay for the rest of the run.![]() ![]() |
Isaac gains very fluffy hair covering his entire head and even face. |
10 | Pretty Fly | Grants a fly orbital, up to 3 maximum, that circles the player, blocking projectiles and damaging fly-type enemies on touch. | Spawns a ![]() |
11 | Range Down | ![]() ![]() |
-1.20 range. |
12 | Range Up | ![]() ![]() |
+1.50 range. |
13 | Speed Down | -0.12 speed. | -0.24 speed. |
14 | Speed Up | +0.15 speed. | +0.30 speed. |
15 | Tears Down | -0.28 tears. | -0.56 tears. |
16 | Tears Up | +0.35 tears. | +0.70 tears. |
17 | Luck Down | -1 luck. | -2 luck. |
18 | Luck Up | +1 luck. | +2 luck. |
19 | Telepills | Isaac gets teleported to a random room. Has a small chance to teleport Isaac to the ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
No difference. |
20 | 48 Hour Energy | Drops one to two ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Spawns 3-4 batteries. |
21 | Hematemesis | Empties all but one red heart container and spawns 1-4 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Spawns 4-7 hearts. |
22 | Paralysis | Prevents Isaac from moving and shooting for 2 seconds. | The effect lasts 4 seconds. |
23 | I can see forever! | Opens all entrances to the ![]() ![]() |
In addition to the normal effect, fully reveals the map like ![]() |
24 | Pheromones | Charms all enemies in the room for a short period of time. | The charm is permanent, turning the enemies friendly. |
25 | Amnesia | Replaces the floor map with a ? for the rest of the floor, identical to the effect of Curse of the Lost. If no other curses are active for the floor, the Curse of the Lost will appear under the level name when the map key is held. This effect can be negated by picking up ![]() ![]() |
No difference. |
26 | Lemon Party | Spawns a large yellow pool (similar to ![]() |
The puddle is way bigger. |
27 | R U a Wizard? | Tears are shot diagonally outwards for 30 seconds, making it much harder to aim. This effect will persist between rooms until it wears off. | The effect lasts for 60 seconds. |
![]() | |||
28 | ![]() |
Gives ![]() Unlocked by: ![]() ![]() |
No difference. |
29 | ![]() |
Makes Isaac take a full heart of damage from all sources for the current room. Also changes his appearance for the room. Unlocked by: ![]() ![]() |
No difference. |
30 | ![]() |
For a short time, ![]() Unlocked by: ![]() ![]() |
The effect lasts much longer, with high speed long enough to cover nearly the entire room. |
31 | ![]() |
Gives the Curse of the Maze effect for the remainder of the floor. The effect can stack with other curses. If no other curses are active for the floor, Curse of the Maze will appear under the level name when Tab is held. This effect can be negated by picking up ![]() Unlocked by: ![]() ![]() |
No difference. |
32 | One makes you larger | Increases Isaac's size and decreases the pitch of his voice. This effect does not increase the size of Isaac's hitbox, but will increase the size of ![]() ![]() |
Size increases by two steps. |
33 | One makes you small | Decreases Isaac's size and increases the pitch of his voice. This effect decreases the size of Isaac's hitbox. | Size decreases by two steps. |
34 | Infested! | Destroys all poop in the room and spawns a single blue spider under Isaac and on each destroyed poop. | Double the number of spiders spawned. |
35 | Infested? | Spawns blue spiders equal to the number of enemies in the room. If there are no enemies in the room, spawns 1-3 Blue Spiders. | Double the number of spiders spawned. |
36 | Power Pill! | Temporarily grants invulnerability, inflicts fear on enemies in the room, lets Isaac deal contact damage, and has a chance to replenish a ![]() ![]() |
In addition to the normal effect, grants ![]() ![]() |
37 | Retro Vision | ![]() ![]() |
Lasts 90 seconds, with no breaks. |
38 | Friends Till The End! | Spawns three blue flies. | Spawns 12 blue flies. |
![]() | |||
39 | X-Lax | Creates a pool of slippery brown creep underneath Isaac. | The pool lasts much longer. |
40 | Something's wrong... | Creates a pool of black creep beneath Isaac that slows enemies. | The pool lasts much longer. |
41 | I'm Drowsy... | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
No difference. |
42 | I'm Excited!!! | ![]() ![]() The effect triggers again three additional times. |
No difference. |
43 | ![]() |
Any trinkets that the player is holding are destroyed, and their effects are permanently applied to the player. Unlocked by: ![]() ![]() |
Also heals one red heart per gulped trinket (you can eat up to 2 at the same time with ![]() ![]() ![]() |
44 | ![]() |
Isaac shoots an explosive tear with the ![]() Unlocked by: ![]() ![]() |
Isaac shoots a small cluster of Horf! tears, with varying power above normal Horf!. |
45 | ![]() |
Temporarily makes Isaac invincible, similar to ![]() Unlocked by: ![]() ![]() |
The effect is upgraded to ![]() |
46 | ![]() |
Throws up the last pill used. Will spawn itself if no other pills were taken beforehand, or if Vurp! was the last pill used. Unlocked by: ![]() ![]() ![]() |
If the last pill was a normal pill, it becomes a horse pill. No further difference on horse pills themselves. |
![]() | |||
47 | Shot Speed Down | -0.15 shot speed. | -0.30 shot speed. |
48 | Shot Speed Up | +0.15 shot speed. | +0.30 shot speed. |
49 | Experimental Pill | Increases one attribute and decreases another randomly, with the same power as normal attribute up/down pills. If taken with ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The two effects are doubled in power. |
Pill Appearances[]
Normal Pills | ![]() | ||
---|---|---|---|
ID | Appearance | ID | Appearance |
5.70.1 | ![]() |
5.70.2049 | ![]() |
5.70.2 | ![]() |
5.70.2050 | ![]() |
5.70.3 | ![]() |
5.70.2051 | ![]() |
5.70.4 | ![]() |
5.70.2052 | ![]() |
5.70.5 | ![]() |
5.70.2053 | ![]() |
5.70.6 | ![]() |
5.70.2054 | ![]() |
5.70.7 | ![]() |
5.70.2055 | ![]() |
5.70.8 | ![]() |
5.70.2056 | ![]() |
5.70.9 | ![]() |
5.70.2057 | ![]() |
![]() | |||
5.70.10 | ![]() |
5.70.2058 | ![]() |
5.70.11 | ![]() |
5.70.2059 | ![]() |
5.70.12 | ![]() |
5.70.2060 | ![]() |
5.70.13 | ![]() |
5.70.2061 | ![]() |
![]() | |||
5.70.14 | ![]() |
5.70.2062 | ![]() |
Gold Pills[]
Repentance introduces Gold Pills (or Golden Pills). Using them will give a random pill effect. Gold pills only have a chance to be "used up" upon using them, which means that you can often use them many times before they finally disappear.
- Unlocked by:
Defeat Mega Satan as
Tainted Cain.
- The possible effects are all effects that aren't in the run's pill pool, which means if you see an effect from a normal pill, you will never see it from a golden pill.
- Items such as
PHD or
Lucky Foot which alter pill effects also work on the effects of this pill, allowing many beneficial effects to be stacked with little risk. Effects altered by these items may overlap with the effects in the run's pill pool; for example, a run might have Tears Up in the pill pool and Tears Down outside of the pill pool, which will be turned into Tears Up due to the effects of the item.
- Gold Pills have an ID of 5.70.14.
- A Gold Pill can also be a Horse Pill. Golden Horse Pills use the Horse Pill effect on every use.
- Golden horse pills are most likely the rarest pickup in the game with a 0.06% chance of spawning instead of a normal pill.
Horse Pills[]
Repentance introduces Horse Pills. These are larger versions of the standard pills with a more powerful effect, but only appear very rarely. Unique sound effects can be heard when they are used, and the narrator's voice lines for horse pills are overly loud and exaggerated compared to those for normal pills.
- Unlocked by:
Defeat Mega Satan as
Tainted Eve.
- All items that work with pills work identically with horse pills.
- A horse pill with a given effect has the same color as the normal pill does.
- Horse pills have an ID of the normal ID + 2048 (i.e. 1 << 11). For example, a white-blue pill has an ID of 2, so the horse pill version would have an ID of 5.70.2050.
- It is also possible to have a golden horse pill. (It has an ID of 5.70.2062.)
Probabilities[]
Pills that spawn with a sub-type of 0 (i.e. a random pill) will have the following probabilities:
- Random normal pill - 97.86%
- Specific normal pill - 7.53%
- Gold pill - 0.7%
- Random horse pill - 1.43%
- Specific horse pill - 0.11%
- Horse gold pill - 0.01%
Notes[]
- Among the attribute modifying pill effects, only five of the seven visible attributes are covered: health, range, tears, speed, and luck. Both shot speed and damage can't be altered by pills.
Pill effects have a chance to be narrated upon use, as do cards and runes.
Currently, the "Retro Vision" pill effect can crash the game on some machines, resulting in restarting the current floor when the game is continued.
The "Addicted!" pill will have no effect if Isaac has
The Wafer.
- Despite this, if one takes both the "Addicted!" pill with "Percs!" in the same room, Isaac will take a full heart of damage from all sources.
- Having
Midas' Touch,
Meconium, or
Hallowed Ground and using a "Re-Lax" pill has a chance to spawn
Golden Poop,
Black Poop, or
White Poop, respectively.
Using an "Infested!" pill on
Red Poop will spawn blue spiders and the red poop will regenerate.
If a Tiny or Large Champion monster drops a "One Makes You Small"/"Larger" pill and either pill is not in the current pill pool, an existing pill will be overwritten. If the chosen pill was already identified, the new pill will also be.
"R U A Wizard" does not affect
Lilith's Incubus.
Using a "Gulp!" pill while holding two trinkets (with
Belly Button or
Mom's Purse) will cause both trinkets to be absorbed.
- Isaac's hitbox can be reduced to 30% of original, which is achieved after 6 One Makes You Small pills. Further pills will only make him visually smaller, with no additional benefit.
- All golden pills in the run have a shared sequence of effects they activate, so reversing the effects of one golden pill through
Glowing Hour Glass and consuming another golden pill will activate the same effects.
If a Vurp! effect is activated by a golden pill, it will spawn the last non-golden pill taken by Isaac, or a golden pill if no non-golden pills have been taken by Isaac in the run.
-
Magdalene's starting pill will override one of the pills in the current run's pill set if it doesn't exist in it (Speed Up for Afterbirth+, or Full Health in Repentance). The pill that is converted is dependent on the run's seed.
- This only applies if the run is started as Magdalene or if Magdalene is chosen as a Co-op partner, not if Isaac turns into Magdalene using
Clicker.
- This only applies if the run is started as Magdalene or if Magdalene is chosen as a Co-op partner, not if Isaac turns into Magdalene using
- If a Marked Skull is destroyed while Isaac is holding
Little Baggy, it will spawn a Telepill instead of
0 - The Fool. If Telepills doesn't exist in the current run's pill set, one of the pills in the run's set will be turned into Telepills. The pill that is converted is dependent on the run's seed.
- All other pills with the same color as the Telepill spawned will also be converted into Telepills for the rest of the run, even if they're currently being held by Isaac. This can also override Magdalene's starting Full Health pill.
- If a "Health up" pill is used while Isaac has 11 empty red hearts and one non-red heart, The non-red heart will be replaced with an empty container, killing Isaac.
Strategy[]
There are 24 good effects, 14 neutral (sometimes good/sometimes bad) effects, and 12 negative effects. This means taking mystery pills is usually beneficial. However, you should consider not taking one if an effect like Hematemesis or Tears Down would ruin your run.
- Use of unidentified pills is recommended for outside of combat as Hematemesis, R U a Wizard?, Paralysis,
Addicted!,
X-Lax, and
I'm Excited!!! can be detrimental mid-fight. However,
I'm Drowsy...,
Something's wrong..., Lemon Party, Bad Gas, and Pheromones are useless outside of combat.
Percs! can be used in the
Sacrifice Room to reduce the damage Isaac takes, potentially allowing him to do more sacrifices. However, if Isaac is teleported to the Devil/Angel room, he loses the effect.
The invincibility effect from Power Pill and
Feels like I'm walking on sunshine! can be utilized to get into
Curse Rooms, play
Blood Donation Machines and
Confessionals, or use
Devil Beggars and
Hell Games without taking any damage.
Percs! can be used to reduce damage from these from chapter 4 onward.
Taking only golden pills in a run can allow for infinite golden pill generation by repeatedly activating the Vurp! effect.
Endless Nameless can be used to effectively generate infinite golden pills, as the trinket's ability to respawn collectibles applies with every use.
Unlockable Achievements[]
Huge Growth - Increase in size 5 times in a single run via
Magic Mushroom, "One Makes you Larger" pills,
XI - Strength, etc..
Trivia[]
The Vurp! pill is a portmanteau of the words vomit and burp.
Power Pills activating the Gamekid effect is a reference to Pac-Man, in which the "Super-Pac" powerup is obtained by eating a Power Pellet.
- "I Found Pills (and Ate Them)," "R U a Wizard?," and "I can see Forever" are all image macro memes.
- Despite being called I Can See Forever, the effects only last for the rest of that floor.
The Feels like I'm walking on sunshine! pill is a reference to the 80s song Walking on Sunshine.
- Furthermore, creator Edmund McMillen made in 2010 a video with the same name, although it doesn't feature the actual Walking on Sunshine song.
- Balls of Steel is a reference to Duke Nukem; it is one of Duke's more famous quotes.
- Explosive Diarrhea is extremely loud and forceful diarrhea. In the original game, the message that displayed when the pill was activated was "Oh No!". The pill name and effect are likely a reference to Atomic Bomberman where a pickup of the same name would cause the player to drop bombs behind them uncontrollably for a short duration.
- Shot speed effects were introduced in The Binding of Isaac: Eternal Edition, after the release of Rebirth. They were finally added to Rebirth in the Repentance DLC.
- Hematemesis is a medical term for vomiting blood.
Friends Till the End! was originally in the Wrath of the Lamb but removed in Rebirth, then put back into Afterbirth.
Friends Till The End! is the only non-narrated pill.
- 48 Hour Energy is a reference to the drink 5 Hour Energy.
X-Lax is a reference to the anti-constipation medicine Ex-Lax.
"One makes you larger" and "One makes you small" are references to Alice in Wonderland, and the specific wording is a reference to the song White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane.
"Percs" is a reference to a street name for the prescription drug Percocet, which is more generically known as Oxycodone. This drug is meant to be used to treat pain, but it is often abused for recreational purposes.
The "???" is the only pill that has 3 different narrated voice lines.
"Horse pills" is a slang term used to refer to large, hard to swallow pills, hence their sprites being larger than those of regular pills.
Voiceovers[]
Pill | Voiceover (Standard Pills) | Voiceover (Horse Pills) |
---|---|---|
??? | ||
48 Hour Energy | ||
Addicted | ||
Amnesia | ||
Bad Gas | ||
Bad Trip | ||
Balls of Steel | ||
Bombs Are Key | ||
Experimental Pill | ||
Explosive Diarrhea | ||
Feels like I'm walking on sunshine! | ||
Friends Till the End! | ||
Full Health | ||
Gulp! | ||
Health Down | ||
Health Up | ||
Hematemesis | ||
Horf! | ||
I Can See Forever | ||
I Found Pills | ||
I'm Drowsy... | ||
I'm Excited!!! | ||
Infested! | ||
Infested? | ||
Lemon Party | ||
Luck Down | ||
Luck Up | ||
One Makes You Larger | ||
One Makes You Small | ||
Paralysis | ||
Percs | ||
Pheromones | ||
Power Pill | ||
Pretty Fly | ||
Puberty | ||
R U a Wizard? | ||
Range Down | ||
Range Up | ||
Re-Lax | ||
Retro Vision | ||
Shot Speed Down | ||
Shot Speed Up | ||
Something's wrong... | ||
Speed Down | ||
Speed Up | ||
Tears Down | ||
Tears Up | ||
Telepills | ||
Vurp! | ||
X-Lax |
Gallery[]
- YouTube - Pills in Repentance - What is New? What Has Changed?
- YouTube - All Horse Pills/Giant Pills (With Sound)
- YouTube - NEW Horse Pills
![]() ![]() | |||
---|---|---|---|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() | |||
---|---|---|---|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() | |||
---|---|---|---|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |