Dead God
Tap in what you have, and this works out which runs are worth doing next — weighted so the unlocks that make every later run easier come first.
Nothing suggested — record some progress on the Marks tab first.
Catching up
Open your in-game completion page and tap a cell for every mark you already have. Tap a character's name to fill or clear its whole row. Only Hard mode marks count toward Dead God, so record those. Tap a column header to fill that mark for everyone — progress is usually column-shaped. Tap the padlock beside a name for a character you haven't unlocked yet; they drop out of the suggestions and get an unlock run instead.
| Character |
|---|
Sync to the other phone
Progress lives on this device. Copy the code and paste it on the other one. Merge keeps both sets and is what you usually want; Replace overwrites this device.
Challenges
Everything else
These do not drive the run suggestions, but Dead God needs them.
Most marks in one run
6 guaranteed, 7 if the Void portal rolls your way.
Hard mode, main path. Kill Mom in Depths II before 20:00 and take The Polaroid (or The Negative) -> Boss Rush (Star mark) -> Womb I -> Womb II, kill Mom's Heart / It Lives before 30:00 (Heart mark) -> Blue Womb -> Hush (Hush's Face mark) -> beam of light to Cathedral (or trapdoor to Sheol) -> Isaac (Cross mark) (or Satan (Inverted Cross mark)) -> The Chest (or Dark Room) -> ??? (Polaroid mark) (or The Lamb (Negative mark)) -> back to the starting room, open the Golden Gate with the Key Pieces -> Mega Satan (Brimstone mark) -> 50% chance of a Void portal -> Delirium (Wrinkled Paper mark).
Play co-op — it halves the grind
From the wiki: "All characters will earn completion marks on their post-it notes and their associated achievements after completing their required objectives, regardless of how much they participated."
Two of you on one save means two characters bank the same marks from one run. Repentance co-op lets player 2 pick any unlocked character rather than a baby, so pair up a character you both still need marks on. This is the single largest saving available to you.
Local co-op only on PS5 — online is Repentance+, which consoles do not have.
Traps worth knowing
- Greedier covers both cent signs. Clearing Greedier grants the plain Greed mark too, so never schedule a separate Greed run for a character that has cleared Greedier.
- Death Certificate, Mega Mush and Godhead are rewards, not tools. They unlock from completion, so they can never help you grind toward it.
- On a Mother run, do Boss Rush before you open the flesh door. Opening it makes the Boss Rush entrance disappear if it was already open, silently costing you the Star mark.
- Cracked Keys are made during the descent, not carried in. Leave a trinket in a Treasure or Boss Room; once you pick up Dad's Note on the Ascent it becomes a Cracked Key. That is how you guarantee a tainted unlock after your first trip to Home.
- Mausoleum is reachable from the main path too — the door appears after the boss in Depths/Necropolis/Dank Depths I, not just Mines/Ashpit II. You skip the Knife Pieces that way, so bring a Sharp Key, Cracked Orb or Soul of Cain for the flesh door.