Tainted Bethany

 

Stats

Damage	3.5 (*1.00)
Tears	+0
Shot Speed	1
Range	6.5
Speed	1.0
Luck	0

Starting Items

Pickups	6 blood charges Lemegeton
Items	None

Unlock Method
Use the Red Key or Cracked Key in Home as Bethany

Tainted Bethany is a character added in The Binding of Isaac: Repentance. She is the alternate version of Bethany. Tainted Bethany is unlocked by reaching Home and using either the Red Key or the Cracked Key to access a special room in one of the walls while playing as Bethany.

Tainted Bethany starts with 3 soul hearts, 6 blood charges, and Lemegeton. Tainted Bethany's Lemegeton is stored in the pill/card slot, meaning it is used with the pill/card key, is not dropped when picking up other active items, and cannot be discarded through any means. Tainted Bethany is still able to hold one pill/card, in addition to the item.

Tainted Bethany is unable to utilize red hearts as health and cannot obtain red heart containers, similar to ???. When picked up, red hearts instead are converted to a resource unique to Tainted Bethany called "blood charges" at the rate of one charge per half heart. The number of blood charges currently owned is listed along with the pickup counters. Blood charges can be consumed to use Bethany's activated item when the item isn't fully charged, at the rate of one blood charge per empty bar of charge.

Any items held by Tainted Bethany that give positive modifiers and multipliers have only 75% of their effect. Negative modifiers and multipliers are not reduced.

Unlockable Items

• 

  Expansion Pack - Defeat Isaac, ???, Satan and The Lamb as Tainted Bethany.

• 

  The Hierophant - Defeat Ultra Greedier as Tainted Bethany.

• 

  Soul of Bethany - Defeat Hush and Boss Rush as Tainted Bethany.

• 

  Confessional - Defeat Mega Satan as Tainted Bethany.

• 

  Lemegeton - Defeat Delirium as Tainted Bethany.

• 

  Beth's Essence - Defeat Mother as Tainted Bethany.

• 

  Vengeful Spirit - Defeat The Beast as Tainted Bethany.

Item & Strategy Notes

• Since she is able to generate items herself, skipping Treasure Rooms in favor of Planetariums is generally a more viable strategy for Tainted Bethany than other characters.
  • Since Lemegeton pulls from the current room's item pool, this means Tainted Bethany can get the ghosts of Planetarium items as well. These items tend to be very powerful, so this can be a powerful strategy.
• Blended hearts will count as red hearts and only contribute towards the red heart charge meter.
• Items created by Lemegeton don't count towards Transformations.
• It is often a good strategy to horde red hearts until you get a an Angel Room or Devil Room, then use them all up inside that room to get as powerful as possible.
• It's best to use the book multiple times in devil deal or angel deal, rather then save them for later, because the stronger your run, the higher chance you have of protecting your Lemegeton fires.
• Cursed Rooms is also a good alternative if you can't get an Angel or Devil room, as the quality of the average item inside that pool is higher then the treasure room pool.

Good Items

• 2 of Hearts: Doubles the amount of held blood charges.
  • 2 of Hearts + Blank Card: Allows for the creation of infinite blood charges as long as you have at least 13.
• Car Battery This item uses Lemegeton twice upon use, spawning two passive wisps on use.
• Maggy's Bow: This item doubles charges gained when picking up red hearts.
• Satanic Bible: This item is particularly well-suited for Tainted Bethany. It not only provides a steady source of usable health, but it replaces all of the Boss Items with devil deals. Tainted Bethany can also convert red hearts into charges for extra uses of the Satanic Bible.
• Charm of the Vampire: This item give blood charges every 15 enemies killed, allowing to exploit some enemies to maximise blood charges.
• Eraser: Eraser can erase multiple different enemies with blood charges.
• Converter: Grants blood charges upon use with no change to health, allowing for unlimited blood charges.

Interactions

• Red heart restoration: All items and effects that restore red hearts directly will instead add blood charges.
  • Full heal effects however do not give anything.
• The Jar: Hearts will not collect in The Jar.
• 4.5 Volt: If your active item has empty charges, Lemegeton will not receive charges until your active item has no empty charges.

Bugs

Bug!	Obtaining Polydactyly as Tainted Bethany will still allow you to hold two consumables alongside the book. However, if acquired through Lemegeton wisps, it could end up in her losing the book completely if the wisp is dissipated, as picking up a consumable after losing Polydactyly could get rid of Lemegeton entirely.

Characters
Rebirth Afterbirth Afterbirth † Repentance Tainted