Should I complete the challenges first to get better items?

[K4ever]

I read that by completing the challenges one will be able to unlock items that can be used in a regular playthrough. Is it recommended to do that, or should I just tackle them after beating the main game 10 times or something?

[dhtpdyd1000]

Do Doctor's Revenge challenge and unlock Epic Fetus. No need to do any other challenges in my opinion.

[Drake Dangereux]

in my opinion save the Purist for later,that one is really difficult,Doctor's Revenge, Lord of the Flies and Spider Boy are good ones to start with since they start with good items/item synergies

[Malignant]

Darkness one gives Blue Candle item to shops... you can beat the game with that

[K4ever]

So should I do all of them except for purist?

[Drake Dangereux]

Purist should only be one unless you have really good dodging skills or a large pool of unlocked items,since you won't get item rooms and you basicly have to have it from the secret room,shop ,boss and angel/devil rooms,so unlocking the candle from Darkness helps since it's a shop bought item and it does a lot of damage

[dhtpdyd1000]

Interesting how some people think Blue Candle is a game beating item. It's not a bad item but it's certainly not agreat item either. Epic Fetus is an insta win but Blue Candle... Not so much.

[Misery]

It's not a game winning item, but it's probably equivalent to getting a quad shot in terms of usefulness, so in a lot of situations it'll raise your chances drastically.

Anyway, you won't even be able to do The Purist until you unlock the Cathedral. You -can- do "Isaac was good today" early, but only if you can get into a Devil Room after Mom's Heart, a joker card, an I AM ERROR room, or the shovel item. Otherwise that one is off-limits until you have Sheol unlocked as well.

[Drake Dangereux]

Originally posted by dhtpdyd1000:

Interesting how some people think Blue Candle is a game beating item. It's not a bad item but it's certainly not agreat item either. Epic Fetus is an insta win but Blue Candle... Not so much.

i wouldn't consider it a game beating item,but for characters without a spacebar item it's really good,i one time had technology,number one and polyphemus,fast firing lazers of pure death :P

[Malignant]

blue candle eats the shots fired by Isaac in cathedral and Blue Baby in chest also it does tons of damage... what more do you need?

[dhtpdyd1000]

I personally don't like active items. Most of the time passive items are far more useful. Blue candle is decent but without decent tear damage and health it can only get you so far. It is really useful if I'm fighting knights but technology or piercing shots do the exact same thing but better. Also, if your tears are already pretty strong it's not efficent to waste time activating blue candle when you can do same damage or even better damage just shooting tears. Blue candle is one of better active items but not my fav item.

[Misery]

I mean, sure. Technology/piercing tears don't do anywhere near as much damage unless you have a lot of damage ups. The Candle is also a lot more common than either one, absorbs shots, can hit in diagonal directions pretty easily, and is meant more as supplement damage in the first place. It's pretty great.

Passives are of course more useful, but on an average run you're not going to get many attribute ups to really outdo the damage potential of the Candle unless you find something like a Mom's Knife, Polyphemus, or Brimstone.

[dhtpdyd1000]

Just attempted to get Dark Boy achievemnt. Got Blue Candle but it messed me up because it didn't fire fast enough and got hit. Blue candle does this to me all the time. I want to use it as fast as i could so i can go back firing my regular tears but often my character just stay in the Blue Candle Pick Up motion and doesn't do anything. This is the second time Blue candle ruined my path to Platnum God...