Samson

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 will start with the Child's Heart trinket after completing the Ultra Hard challenge.

Notes[]

Samson gains damage from being hurt, 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 and will allow you to inherit Samson's 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 red tint. This is purely cosmetic.

Item Interactions[]

Birthright: Bloody Lust can gain 4 more damage boosts at the same +0.2 intervals, for a new maximum total of +14.0.

Favorable items[]

Any items that increase health so Samson 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. The Wafer in particular is incredibly helpful in Chapter 4 and beyond, where all taken damage increases to one full heart per instance.
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.
Immaculate Conception and Cambion Conception will produce familiars as Samson heals or receives damage, respectively.
IV Bag, Blood Rights, Razor Blade, Sharp Plug, Kamikaze!: Activating their effects also give Samson a boost in damage since they damage the player.
Blood Oath is extremely useful on Samson, as its damage up effect stacks with Bloody Lust, meaning you will start every floor with a significant amount of damage up.

Unfavorable items[]

Anything which lowers health such as Dead Cat can make purposeful self-damage less reliable as a damage booster. For this reason, taking items from the Devil Room or the Black Market, which cost health for every item thus taken, is not recommended for Samson.
Tears Down Pills are especially bad for Samson due to his low starting Tears stat.

Unlockable Achievements[]

Samson's Chains - Complete the Boss Rush as Samson.

Fighting Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as Samson.

Blood Rights - Defeat Satan as Samson.

Bloody Lust - Defeat Isaac as Samson.

Samson's Lock - Defeat The Lamb as Samson.

Blood Penny - Defeat ??? as Samson.

Lusty Blood - Defeat Ultra Greed as Samson.

Stem Cell - Defeat Ultra Greedier as Samson.

Blind Rage - Defeat Hush as Samson.

Rage Baby - Defeat Mega Satan as Samson.

Bloody Crown - Defeat Delirium as Samson.

Bloody Gust - Defeat Mother as Samson.

Empty Heart - Defeat The Beast as Samson.

The Savage - Use Red Key (etc.) to open the hidden closet in Home as Samson.

Revenge Baby - Earn all Hard mode Completion Marks as Samson.

Trivia[]

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.
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 a weaker version of Afterbirth's Lusty Blood item.
- Samson was originally unlocked by skipping two Treasure Room items and killing Mom in one run.
Samson's locked icon shows him bound in chains.
- He shares this with Magdalene, Cain, Eve, Lazarus, Bethany, and Jacob and Esau.