Lazarus is kind of a mess. If you’ve spent any significant time in The Binding of Isaac: Repentance, you know exactly what I’m talking about. He’s the character everyone loves to hate, or at least, the character everyone forgets exists until they’re forced to play him for a completion mark.
He starts weak. He’s got mediocre range. His luck is literally in the negatives. But then, you die.
That’s the whole gimmick of Binding of Isaac Lazarus. You have to die to actually start playing the game. It’s a bizarre design choice by Edmund McMillen and the team at Nicalis, creating a "risky" character who doesn't really feel rewarding until you've intentionally thrown away a life. For a lot of players, especially those coming from more traditional roguelikes, this feels counterintuitive. Why would I want to lower my health ceiling just to get a small damage multiplier?
The Lazarus Problem: Risk vs. No Reward
Let’s look at the stats. Base Lazarus starts with three red heart containers, which is fine, but his damage is a standard $3.50$ and his range is a measly $23.50$. Honestly, he feels sluggish. The real "strategy" for most high-level players is to find a Devil Room or a sacrifice room on the first floor and just... kill him.
Once he respawns as Risen Lazarus, things change. He gets a permanent damage multiplier of $1.20\times$ and a significant speed boost. His luck also jumps to $0$. He basically becomes a glass cannon. But here’s the kicker: he only has one heart container left.
✨ Don't miss: Your Network Setting are Blocking Party Chat: How to Actually Fix It
It’s a stressful way to play. You’re constantly one hit away from ending a run that hasn't even started yet. Unlike characters like The Lost or Tainted Jacob, where the difficulty feels intentional and thematic, Lazarus often feels like he’s just being difficult for the sake of it. He’s the middle child of the Isaac roster—not as iconic as Isaac with the D6, and not as mechanically complex as the Tainted variants.
Tainted Lazarus is a Whole Different Headache
If you thought regular Lazarus was frustrating, Tainted Lazarus is a masterpiece of stress. Introduced in the Repentance DLC, this version of the character flips between two forms—"Living" and "Dead"—every time you clear a room.
It’s exhausting.
You’re essentially managing two separate builds at the same time. If you find a Tier 4 item like Brimstone or Sacred Heart, it only applies to the version of Lazarus that picked it up. This means you can have one version of the character that is an absolute god-slayer and another that is still struggling with base tears. You have to carefully time your room clears to ensure the "weak" version gets the items they need to survive.
🔗 Read more: Wordle August 19th: Why This Puzzle Still Trips People Up
Many players in the community, including prominent streamers like Northernlion or Lavender, have pointed out that Tainted Lazarus requires a level of "meta-gaming" that can suck the fun out of a run. You aren't just playing a twin-stick shooter; you’re doing resource management and accounting.
Why People Keep Coming Back to Him
Despite the frustration, there’s a weird satisfaction in making a Lazarus run work.
- The Comeback Narrative: There is something inherently "Isaac" about rising from the dead and becoming stronger. It fits the biblical themes perfectly.
- Devil Deal Shenanigans: Because Lazarus respawns in the same room, you can "cheat" Devil Deals. You can buy an item that costs more hearts than you have, die, and then pick up the other item as Risen Lazarus.
- The Challenge: Completionists need those marks. Getting a Mega Satan or Mother kill with Tainted Lazarus is a genuine badge of honor in the community.
Strategies for Winning with Binding of Isaac Lazarus
If you’re struggling to get those post-it notes filled, you need to change how you look at health. Health is a currency, and for Lazarus, death is an investment.
Don't wait until the Depths to die. If you haven't found a way to die by the end of the first floor, you're playing a strictly worse version of Isaac. Look for a fire, a spike, or better yet, a Sacrifice Room. If you can use your initial three hearts to play a Sacrifice Room six or seven times and then die on the spikes, you might spawn a chest or get a teleport to an Angel Room. That is how you break a Lazarus run early.
💡 You might also like: Wordle Answers July 29: Why Today’s Word Is Giving Everyone a Headache
Also, keep an eye out for any items that give you soul hearts upon pickup. Risen Lazarus is incredibly vulnerable. If you can time your death so that you immediately pick up a Tinted Rock’s soul heart or a Small Rock, you negate the "one-hit-point" weakness.
The Lore of the Resurrected
In the context of the game's story, Lazarus represents the cycle of guilt and rebirth. Isaac sees himself as someone who needs to be punished, but also someone who can be "saved" through suffering. The fact that Lazarus is "better" when he's dead (or undead) says a lot about the grim world Isaac inhabits.
It’s also worth noting that Lazarus is one of the oldest characters in the game, dating back to the Rebirth expansion. He was originally designed as a "beginner-friendly" character because of the extra life, but as the game evolved and the difficulty spiked with Afterbirth+ and Repentance, that extra life became more of a tactical tool than a safety net.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Run
To stop being frustrated by Binding of Isaac Lazarus, try these specific tactical shifts:
- Kill yourself early. Seriously. Find a way to trigger the revival by the end of Floor 1 to benefit from the $1.20\times$ damage multiplier as soon as possible.
- Abuse the "Anemic" item. Upon revival, Lazarus gains the Anemic effect for the rest of the floor, leaving a trail of bloody creep that deals $6$ damage per tick. Use this to melt early-game bosses like Monstro or Larry Jr. by baiting them into the trail.
- Prioritize HP Ups. Since Risen Lazarus starts with only one heart container, any "HP Up" item is twice as valuable. It’s the difference between a dead run and a winning one.
- Master the Tainted Flip. If playing Tainted Lazarus, use the "Flip" active item specifically in shops or treasure rooms to see what the "ghost" item is. Don't waste it on a room clear if you're about to enter an item room.
- Check your Luck. Remember that base Lazarus has $-1$ Luck. This affects chest drop rates and room rewards. Getting even one Luck Up pill can drastically change the trajectory of your run.
Lazarus isn't the easiest character, and he’s certainly not the most "fun" in a traditional sense. But he rewards a specific kind of aggressive, sacrificial playstyle that no other character quite captures. Embrace the death, grab the damage, and stop worrying about the red hearts. They're just numbers anyway.