Tainted Forgotten

What you start with

The mechanics that actually govern this character.

• Two bodies at once. Tainted Forgotten: damage 3.5 with a x1.50 multiplier, tears x1/2, completely invulnerable, but cannot move on his own. Tainted Soul: 3 soul hearts, speed 1.0, cannot deal damage in almost any way, and is the actual hitbox.
• They share one pool of soul hearts and can never have red heart containers. If the last soul heart goes, both die.
• Tainted Soul picks up and throws Tainted Forgotten the way Bob's Rotten Head works. The throw swings the bone club at 3x normal damage and the body impact itself adds a flat 5 damage.
• Items are collected by and apply to Tainted Forgotten - orbitals orbit him, familiars follow him - but speed applies to Tainted Soul, and invincibility effects such as Book of Shadows apply to Tainted Soul even with no visual indication.

How to play them

• The gimmick in plain language: you play a bomb and the courier who has to carry it. Forgotten is the weapon and is untouchable; Soul is fragile and has to walk into danger to place him.
• Enemies almost always target Tainted Soul and ignore Forgotten, so use Forgotten's body as a wall - it blocks enemy projectiles and enemy movement. Parking him between Soul and a shooter is the core defensive skill.
• Build for DAMAGE and SPEED, not tears and range. One-throw kills are the entire loop, and speed is what lets Soul get back to Forgotten to throw him again. Excessive range actually hurts: the melee swing happens away from his body and whiffs anything standing next to him.
• Throw Forgotten into a door to change rooms; he arrives already in Soul's hands. With practice you cross cleared floors in a fraction of the normal time, and Curse Rooms deal him no damage at all.
• Tainted Soul does free work: he opens Mimic Chests without taking damage, presses the Greed wave-stop button for free, opens the Mausoleum and Gehenna door without losing health while not carrying Forgotten, and flies past the Downpour or Dross II mirror without touching the White Fire Place.
• Be careful in Shops, Devil Rooms and Black Markets - Forgotten will buy whatever you throw him into if he can, including health-cost deals, with potentially fatal results.
• Bombs, trinkets and cards are all dropped underneath Tainted Forgotten, not Tainted Soul.

Items to hunt for

Strong on this character specifically, not just strong.

• Birthright: gives the Recall pocket item, which pulls Forgotten back into Soul's hands from any distance. With Habit, 9 Volt or The Battery it becomes near-spammable, which is the difference between clunky and fast.
• Gnawed Leaf: it activates whenever Forgotten is not moving, and while active Tainted Soul is invulnerable too. Carrying Forgotten does not count as moving, so Soul can walk anywhere while both are immune. This is close to a permanent defence button.
• Salvation: the damaging ring surrounds Forgotten, which is exactly where the enemies are.
• Strange Attractor and Venus: pull and charm enemies onto Forgotten and away from Soul. Charmed enemies actively home in on Forgotten, keeping them in melee range and off your hitbox.
• RC Remote trinket: familiars follow Tainted Soul instead of Forgotten, which is the only way to give Soul any real protection. Orbitals still orbit Forgotten as normal.
• Persistent area damage from Forgotten's position: 120 Volt and Monstrance run constantly wherever you park him, which is devastating for crowds and stationary bosses.
• Contact damage items are TRIPLED on the throw and stack on the flat 5 impact damage: Aries, The Virus, Serpent's Kiss, Midas' Touch, E. Coli. Chocolate Milk also lets you charge the throw itself to power up the club; Mutant Spider, Technology and size-ups widen the melee radius; Kamikaze! explodes Forgotten rather than Soul, so it is free unlimited use.

Traps to refuse

Picks that are neutral or good elsewhere and bad here.

• Damocles: the sword hangs over Forgotten and will kill him despite his invulnerability, and Holy Mantle does not stop it. Only external invincibility (Gnawed Leaf, Book of Shadows, Sigil of Baphomet) saves the run.
• Fear effects - Mom's Perfume, 2Spooky: enemies flee from Forgotten instead of Soul, which both wastes your melee weapon and gives Soul no protection.
• Pluto and any other size-down: a smaller Forgotten is far harder to land as a thrown projectile, and Tainted Soul stays the same size, so you get pure downside.
• Lost Soul: it follows Forgotten into every fight rather than staying with Soul, so it is nearly impossible to keep alive.
• Dead weight and traps: Spirit Sword does nothing at all, Lemegeton wisps orbit an invulnerable body but still take damage themselves, Jupiter is only a speed boost with no farts, and on 1.7.9 there is a live bug where Tainted Soul being hit while Forgotten holds Glass Cannon overhead permanently stops him from firing (fixed in Repentance+).

Cheese and techniques

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

• Door-throw traversal: throwing Forgotten straight into a door is a room transition. Cleared floors take seconds, and Curse Rooms can be fully looted for free because Forgotten takes no damage there.
• Gnawed Leaf carry: hold Forgotten still, or just carry him, and both characters are invulnerable while Soul walks. Combine with a damaging orbital or 120 Volt and whole rooms clear themselves.
• Boss Challenge Rooms need 1 heart or less to enter on Repentance, so dropping to half a soul heart lets you in for a guaranteed Boss item. The room only generates if you entered the floor at full health, so plan the order.
• White Fire Place: throw Forgotten in and he becomes The Lost while remaining invulnerable, and Tainted Soul gains Holy Mantle protection. Alternatively Soul can just fly over the mirror without touching the fire at all and keep his life bar.
• Ventricle Razor: throw Forgotten alone through a portal to reposition him without moving Soul - excellent for repositioning your damage source during boss fights. White Pony is similar: while Soul carries Forgotten, moving leaves a trail of light beams, so parking him on a boss lands far more damage than a normal charge.

Getting the marks

• 7 secrets. Isaac, ???, Satan and The Lamb collectively unlock Polished Bone. Mega Satan gives Golden Battery, Boss Rush OR Hush gives Soul of the Forgotten, Greedier gives the XIII - Death? card, Delirium gives Decap Attack, Mother gives Hollow Heart, The Beast gives Isaac's Tomb.
• The Mother run is the fiddly one: Mom's Hands can grab Forgotten (no damage, but it teleports him back to the starting room), and Gaping Maws can swallow him outright and leave Soul unable to retrieve him.
• Mom's Heart and normal Greed give no secret for tainted characters; both marks still need filling for the note and for Death Certificate.