Best Binding of Isaac Characters

I'm going to be talking about the AB+ versions of the characters as it is the most recent version of the game. I won't put Eden on the list as he is too random to be able to judge fairly.
The Top Ten
1 Samson

If you play your cards right, the amount of extra damage you can get is absurd. While the most obvious idea is to use a blood bank, other benefits include getting something extra from mimics or curse rooms and being able to destroy everything at a much faster rate.

Samson can be pretty strong, but I honestly hate the mechanic of hurting yourself for power. He even has a slower rate of fire than the base stats.

2 Cain

While he doesn't have anything particularly amazing, his general stats are great, with slightly higher-than-average damage and a luck upgrade. He's just a solid character without any major drawbacks.

Not as interesting as Tainted Cain, as he is basically Isaac with good pills. Overall, he's a pretty easy character with terrible unlock opportunities. Playing Cain is fun most of the time, so I'd still vote for him.

He's just a good character all around, and his extra luck really helps.

3 Judas

Judas is really fun for me. A combination of high damage and an extra Devil room chance makes for a fun character that has much more forward momentum than most others. Also, a 1.35 damage multiplier is insane.

If only his health were higher, I would use him more often. Instead, I use Cain and grab The Book of Belial.

High-risk, high-reward character.

4 Lilith

I don't like her ever since the Box of Friends was nerfed. Most of the time, she was essentially an average character with a hard-to-aim shot.

5 Eve

If she didn't have the Razor, she would easily be the worst character, but the Razor really makes her great. The encouragement to spend a lot of health on deals is also quite nice, especially now that you can have your powered-up state much more consistently.

6 Isaac

The fact that you start with the D6 is ridiculous, especially in Afterbirth+ where good items are already fairly common. You are almost guaranteed to have a broken run by the end of the game if you play as Isaac, at least until the booster packs fixed this issue, making him a more balanced, fun character.

How is Isaac number 9 on this list? Maybe at first, but despite being the starter character, once you unlock the D6, the game changes. Isaac becomes far superior to most of the other characters without any debate.

7 Apollyon

While he could work similarly to Isaac, and the Void is a cool item, I find it to be quite limited in terms of what to get rid of, as many items are worth more than what the Void will give you. There is also a chance of getting range ups and other pointless stats.

I think his Void is really good for a bad RNG run, but the stats could also be super garbage, like range and shot speed.

Void is an amazing item. The character is not too interesting besides that.

8 The Lost

The Lost is my personal favorite character. The addition of the Holy Mantle has made him extremely fun, as stupid damage out of nowhere won't kill you as often. The reason I love him is that you can take Devil deals for free, giving you an extreme offensive boost.

The Lost is just really good at dying, lol. But if you survive long enough to get to a Devil deal, you can become really overpowered because Devil deals are free for him.

9 Azazel

Despite the high damage and flying, I hate Azazel. Having basically no range makes most synergies, and by extension, many items, useless. The end game is also awful, as bullet hell bosses are ones that you should stand far away from, not get up in their faces.

Personally, Azazel is my favorite character. He deals a lot of damage, and rocks and cracks are no longer a problem since you can fly. The only downside is that you can't use all the red hearts you find, since you can only have soul hearts.

He is strong and can kill multiple monsters at once. He is fast and can fly, which gives an advantage. If a monster shoots at you, you can dodge it if a rock is near. Plus, he has 3 soul hearts, and if 1 soul heart goes, everything in that room dies.

Awesome character.

10 Lazarus

I don't understand the hate for this guy. The amount of min-maxing you can do in order to get an amazing character isn't something that should go unnoticed. Bloody Lazarus can be gotten in some extremely beneficial ways, such as taking extra Devil deals.

I really don't get why this guy gets the hate. He is the best for min-maxing, and with Dead Cat or Ankh in a run, you can make it through anything. Bloody Lazarus can take more Devil deals in some amazing ways, which is great.

When you grab Dead Cat, Broken Ankh, and Ankh in one run with Lazarus, you know you are unstoppable.

The Contenders
11 The Forgotten

The most interesting character by far. Supports a high-risk, high-reward playstyle with good damage output while having just a few heart containers. Every Forgotten run is fun, even without any decent item drops. Losing a run is not as frustrating because swinging the bone club is pure joy.

He's the most interesting character, and I love the addition of him starting with both melee and spectral tears. He's like The Lost, but chained to a skeleton body, and he has health.

Boney-boy with tons of synergies and unique mechanics. However, unlocking him is almost as hard as unlocking The Lost in base Rebirth.

12 Eden

Very fun character if you get lucky. Absolutely one of my favorites. I always play Eden when I get bored, just for the sheer randomness of it all.

Can be great and can be terrible. Most Eden runs are pretty funny, though.

13 ???

As a challenge character, he serves his purpose adequately. However, I don't find him to be good at all. The lack of regular heart containers makes taking any Devil deal much less worthwhile, and the poop is a terrible active item.

For some reason, ??? always rewards me with great items overall, which is probably the only reason why I love this character. Tech X, Sacred Heart, Ipecac - you name it. He's only fun to play with Angel rooms, though.

If you have an invincibility-granting item, you can take Devil deals for free, making him overpowered if you can get Devil deals and meet that condition.

14 Magdalene

The Yum Heart item is, in my opinion, incredibly useful if you're in a pinch, and the extra health is good for Devil deals and such. Honestly, the only downside is the speed, but you can probably gain that back within the next 2 levels. The health makes up for that.

I honestly think Magdalene is far too underrated. With a single speed-boosting item, she instantly becomes viable, and her high health allows her to safely make Devil deals early on.

While the extra health is kind of nice, the decreased speed is not a very good tradeoff.

15 Tainted Azazel

Full-range brimstone and a knockback attack make him great.

16 Tainted Cain

One of the best tainted characters since the Bag of Crafting has so many possible arrangements. The best break I could find was the Alabaster Box since it comes fully charged when you craft it (1 soul heart and 7 coins), and it basically gives you more than you spent.

My favorite character after The Forgotten. I'm all for those alternative mechanics, and a reward for exploring rooms is always welcome.

17 Tainted Eve
18 Tainted Lilith
19 Bethany

It's a shame that Bethany only gets red heart containers. However, I love every character that turns the Glass Cannon into a beast of an item, and god, Glass Cannon is a beast on Bethany.

20 Tainted Isaac
21 Tainted Blue Baby
22 Tainted Samson

Tainted Samson is absolutely an OP character. However, if you are bad at aiming and dodge reflexively, he might not be the best character for you.

23 Tainted Lazarus
24 Tainted Apollyon

I'm not sure if he's the strongest, but once you get around 8 flies, you can pretty much shred every non-final boss. Because the flies also scale with your damage, they will really help you out when you have Ipecac or something similar.

25 Tainted Magdalene
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