The Parasite

Item Icon
Pickup Quote	"Split shot"
Entity ID	5.100.104
Character Appearance
Tear Appearance
Item Pool	Treasure Room Treasure Room
Quality	3
Item Tags
Collection Grid	(page 2, column 1, row 1) (page 1, column 1, row 6)
Unlock Method	Pick up any 2 of the following items in a single run: Bob's Rotten Head, Dead Cat, Cricket's Head, and Tammy's Head ( Any 2 items that have the 'dead' item tag)

The Parasite is an unlockable passive item.

Effects

• Tears that deal more than 1.0 damage split into two tears with half damage and half remaining range on impact with obstacles or enemies.
  • Damage less than 1.0 causes the tears to simply disappear.
  • The splitting can keep up as long as the tears have range remaining and the damage of the split tears stays above 0.5.
  • Split tears are scaled down by 0.5x from the parent one, ignoring damage based size reduction.

Synergies

• Angelic Prism: All tears split by the prism will burst into split tears when hitting obstacles.
• Azazel: Two beams that deal full damage are fired perpendicular to the main beam at the end of the laser.
• Brimstone: Two beams that deal full damage are fired perpendicular to the main beam at the closest point of intersection with an enemy or obstacle.
• C Section: Fetuses fire short-ranged tears constantly while in contact with an enemy.
• Compound Fracture: Both tear split effects happen simultaneously.
• Cricket's Body: Two groups of this item's four tears, creating eight additional miniature tears on every point of impact instead.
• Flat Stone: Every time tears bounce, burst tears spawn.
• My Reflection: Split tears boomerang back to Isaac, making it easier to hit enemies with them.
• Holy Light: As the holy effect is applied before the split, both tears will be holy if a holy tear is split
• Lachryphagy: Fed tears split into 12 tears. When tears are minimally fed and hit an obstacle, they will split into 5 Lachryphagy burst tears and Parasite burst tears.
• The Ludovico Technique: Repeatedly spawns miniature tears when on top of an enemy, greatly increasing damage.
• Mom's Knife: Knife splits into two smaller, perpendicular knives that deal full damage on hitting an enemy.
• Piercing tears: Split tears form for each hit as the tears pass through the enemies.
• Spectral tears: When tears pass through solid objects, like rocks, they will split, resulting in many tears shooting out from every rock the original tear passed through.
• Technology: Laser splits into two perpendicular beams that deal full damage upon hitting an obstacle or enemy.
• Tiny Planet: The split tears will continue to orbit Isaac, increasing damage potential.
• Tractor Beam: The split tears will be forced directly forward, impacting whatever caused the first tear to split. This increases damage immensely.
  • If all shots connect, effective damage will be multiplied by 2 + log₂(damage) rounded up, with the maximum increasing as range increases, with a max of 4x at Isaac's base range.
• Trisagion: When beams hit obstacles, the beam will split; the split beams can split again when hitting other obstacles.

Interactions

• Aquarius: Creep trail turns dark orange but doesn't affect the creep itself.
• Bob's Rotten Head: Splits into two explosive shots when it blows up on an obstacle or wall, each dealing half the explosion of the head. Doesn't split on hitting an enemy.
• Brimstone: Overrides The Parasite.
• Diplopia: Additional copies of The Parasite have no effect.
• Dr. Fetus: Bombs turn orange and with no other effect.
  • Bombs split into two bombs that deal 24 damage each upon detonation.
  • Bombs split into two bombs that deal 40 damage each upon detonation.
    • Dr. Fetus + Rocket in a Jar: Rockets split into two bombs (not rockets) upon detonation.
• Epic Fetus: Overrides The Parasite.
• Eye of the Occult: Split tears can be controlled similarly to normal tears, which results in a large amount of floating tears.
• Ipecac: The Ipecac tear will spawn two smaller explosive tears when it collides with a solid object, but not with an enemy. These tears can spawn tears on their own as well, potentially leading to huge chain reactions. Having Host Hat or Pyromaniac is strongly recommended.
• Kidney Stone: Drastically decreases range making it less likely for tears to split. The stone will not split.
• Mom's Knife: Knife turns orange with no other effect.
• Rubber Cement: Tears only split when hitting enemies and no longer off the wall or most obstacles.
• Sharp Key: Split tears from thrown keys are normal tears.
• Soy Milk: Without any damage increases, Soy Milk tears deal under 1.0 damage and cannot split until the situation is rectified with other items.
• Spirit Sword: No effect on swings and spins. Projectiles bursts into 2 small tears.
• Technology: Overrides The Parasite.
• Tech X: Overrides The Parasite. Laser rings become orange.

In-game Footage

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
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