Unlock Method Complete 2 floors in a row without taking damage
Samson is unlocked when the player defeats two floors in a row without taking any damage.
Samson starts with 3 Red Heart containers and Bloody Lust. Every time Samson is dealt damage, he receives a damage boost that resets when he goes down a floor.
Samson gains damage from being hurt as opposed to killing enemies, and as such, possesses a playstyle that is fairly similar to Eve. Therefore, using Devil beggars, Sacrifice Rooms and Blood Donation Machines synergizes very well with Samson.
Samson starts with a lower Tear stat. Try to seek items that increase it.
Dying as Samson and then respawning as another character (Lazarus' Rags, Ankh, etc.) won't cost you Samson's inherent Bloody Lust item.
When Samson dies in Co-Op mode, his ghost baby maintains his level of rage from his Bloody Lust item, giving it a damage boost over other babies.
Any items that increase health so he can take more damage before dying.
Any items that increase Samson's tear stat, such as Squeezy, Odd Mushroom...
Any items that generate Blue Flies like Rotten Baby or Guppy's Head do so based on Samson's base damage and are good for early game room clearing when Samson's tears are still low.
Items relying on contact damage like The Virus or E Coli can be beneficial in that you "want" to take damage because of Bloody Lust.
Health regeneration items like Yum Heart, Pyromaniac, and Placenta allow health regeneration after taking damage, and thus allow for more damage, both stat-wise and health-wise.
Cancer and The Wafer minimize damage taken from Sacrifice Rooms and can be incredibly useful to build a lot of damage and pickups, especially in combination with an excess of hearts.
Dead Bird, Best Bud, Smart Fly, etc: All of these items will add to Samson's damage increase from getting hurt, although, unlike Bloody Lust, the bonus of these items only last for the duration of a room.
Fanny Pack's chance of dropping a heart upon hit can cancel out damage to Samson while also buffing him.
Dull Razor can safely provide Samson's damage boost without needing to take damage.
Gimpy increases benefits from taking damage and feasibly adds more survivability from random soul hearts and half-heart drops.
In the Bible, Samson was a supernaturally strong warrior who derived his power from his Nazarite vow, entitling immense strength to Samson if he did not cut his hair.
A strange detail, considering Samson's Lock (Meaning lock of hair) is an unlockable item, implying the Samson we see isn't at his full potential.
Samson first appeared in the Binding of Isaac: Wrath of the Lamb expansion. That version had only 1 heart container and a soul heart for his starting health, and his Bloody Lust item acted like the Lusty Blood item, re-added in Afterbirth.
Samson was originally unlocked by skipping two Treasure Rooms and killing Mom in one run.