Azazel

What you start with

The mechanics that actually govern this character.

• 3 black hearts, damage multiplier 1.50, tears +0.5 then x0.267, range 4.5, speed 1.25, permanent flight, and one 0 - The Fool card.
• His attack is a short-range Brimstone that deals damage 9 times per second in Repentance, down from 13 pre-Repentance. The charge is preserved between rooms.
• He can gain red heart containers despite starting with none, but as long as he has only black hearts he takes no red heart damage, so Devil or Angel rooms are effectively guaranteed on every eligible floor.
• Flight means he only takes damage leaving a Curse Room, never entering it, and 0 - The Fool skips even that once.

How to play them

• Charge the beam in the previous room and walk into the next room already loaded. This single habit is the biggest skill gap on Azazel.
• At 4.5 range you are fighting at melee distance, so use flight to sit on top of rocks and over pits where ground enemies physically cannot reach you.
• Never eat the Curse Room door on the way in. Fly in for free, and spend 0 - The Fool to leave the first Curse Room without paying.
• The 1.50x multiplier means every flat damage up is worth 1.5x on him, so damage ups outrank tears ups by a wide margin.
• Range, not damage, is his ceiling. My Reflection, Tape Worm, Tiny Planet, Rubber Cement or The Ludovico Technique all solve the actual problem.
• Losing a black heart clears the room. Do not build around it, but count it as a free emergency bomb when you are cornered.

Items to hunt for

Strong on this character specifically, not just strong.

• Proptosis: a Repentance oversight makes it multiply his beam by roughly x6 at range and up to x7.5 at point blank. Base Azazel with Proptosis can kill Chub with a single beam.
• Brimstone: gives him the long-range version, and because Brimstone's fire rate multiplier is x1/3 against his x0.267, it actually speeds him up as well.
• Tammy's Head or Sad Bombs: each fires ten short Brimstone beams at once, which is enormous burst on him specifically.
• Birthright: doubles his beam width to Mega Blast width. No damage change, but it fixes his aiming problem for free.
• Chocolate Milk in Repentance: turns the beam into a variable charge, scaling width from 50% to 160% and damage from 25% to 250%.
• Eye of the Occult or Marked: the beam becomes an auto-firing, controllable target that you steer, which removes his range problem entirely.
• Hemoptysis: cursed enemies take x2 damage plus +3 flat from his beam, and enemies killed while cursed explode and spread the curse.

Traps to refuse

Picks that are neutral or good elsewhere and bad here.

• Mom's Knife, Dr. Fetus, Epic Fetus, Haemolacria and Spirit Sword all override his mini Brimstone entirely. You already have Mom's Knife unlocked, so this is a live trap for you specifically.
• Flight items are wasted on him, and rock-breaking items like Leo and Thunder Thighs actively remove the obstacles he uses as cover.
• Cursed Eye, Compound Fracture, Cupid's Arrow, Ouija Board, Pupula Duplex, Trisagion, Tropicamide, Neptunus and the Pulse Worm trinket do nothing at all with his laser.
• The Wiz: firing diagonally at 4.5 range puts him inside enemies and creep rather than shooting past them.
• Technology 2: in Repentance it adds a chip laser during the charge but lowers his beam's tear rate. Only take it if you have nothing else.

Cheese and techniques

Verified against 1.7.9 on console — anything patched, PC-only or Repentance+ only is called out rather than listed.

• Because the charge carries between rooms, he can open every boss fight with a fully charged beam already loaded.
• Guaranteed Devil or Angel rooms let him plan around the Devil pool: skip a mediocre treasure room item and shop for Brimstone or Dead Cat instead.
• 0 - The Fool teleports him to the floor's starting room, which is a free escape from an unwinnable early room.
• Mom's Knife plus Brimstone normally fires a barrage of extra knives, but that synergy explicitly does not work with Azazel's default mini Brimstone, so do not take the knife hoping for it.
• Curse Rooms are near-free item rooms for him: flight negates the entry cost, and the exit cost is one half heart he can plan around.

Getting the marks

• Boss Rush and Hush are among his easiest marks in the game: 1.25 speed plus flight makes the 20 and 30 minute cuts comfortably, and his burst damage shortens both fights.
• Mother and Delirium are his hardest marks, because both punish standing close and his effective range is 4.5.
• Beating Greed mode as Azazel is what unlocks Lilith, so if Lilith is already available his Greed cent-sign mark is already earned.