Ultra Hard Tips

[John Orbit]

A lot of tips for Ultra Hard include “restart until X item.” Here are some tips for after you start the challenge. Tip 1 involves restarting. The rest are strategy. Also, if anyone has some other tips, please add them to this discussion.

1) Restart until Library. If there's a One-Key Door connected to the Start Room, it's usually a Library. Get Book of Revelations or Satanic Bible - two of only a few items that will continualy and reliably give you health. Plus, many Libraries have 3 or more books for an early Bookworm damage bonus. Also, go to Shops for Batteries. The more health you can get, the better.

2) Bomb Tinted Rocks. You won't get Soul Hearts, but you will get a Small Rock eventually. Damage-ups are rare here, so Rock is a nice bonus.

3) Don't Deal with the Devil. The last thing you want is to give up health when Curse of the Blind won't tell you what you're getting.

4) Plan your route. With Curse of the Maze and Lost, it's easy to lose track of where you are and where you're going. Use the starting room as a compass and always follow the same pattern. I go left of start first, then up, right, and down (or up first, if there is no left, etc.). The Maze will boot you around, but if you can find start, you'll know where you are, where you've been, and where you haven't gone. Dividing the map into quadrants from the start and trying to clear them in the same order every level makes mental mapping a lot easier.

5) Stop at every door. When you enter a room, don't even touch your keys/thumb-sticks. If you have any momentum, you'll walk into a fire. If you go in shooting, there'll be a barrel right at the door. And with Curse of the Maze, you can't take anything for granted. When you know a room is clear and you just want to run back for a battery, that's when the Maze drops a champion in your face. Always proceed with caution.

6) Don't Panic! This challenge psychological. It's is going to mess with your head and get under your skin, and that's just what the game wants. When you panic, you make mistakes. This challenge is daunting, but you complete it one room at a time. Finish a room, take a breath, then proceed with caution. Maintain your zen. It's only one room. It's only a few enemies. Don't panic.

7) Accept death. A lot of it. That's another way this challenge messes with you. You'll be sure you've got it this time, then have your face handed to you out of nowhere. And that's okay. Accept that you're just going to keep dying, until you accidentally happen to live. Don't panic. Don't rage. That's when the game gets you. Just go back to step 1 and maintain your zen. Again, and again, and again. Eventually the gods of RNG will smile upon you.

[Herr Gutentauben]

It may be worth to spend some time in the arcades to get pretty flies.

If you have available any penetration item take it by no means.

Ignore curse rooms, specially if the run is not going well

[Toastie Buns]

>restart until library

This just in bro, it can be one of those kickass shops with mobs instead.

Which is nice, except you'll have ♥♥♥♥ all pennies and no real way of finding your way back to it.

teeeeeeheeeeeeeeheeeee

>that feel when you finished the challenges and greedu before the main game

[John Orbit]

Originally posted by Dr Kappa:

It may be worth to spend some time in the arcades to get pretty flies.

If you have available any penetration item take it by no means.

Ignore curse rooms, specially if the run is not going well

Good call on the arcades. Projectile protection is a huge bonus. Three Pretty Flies would make it a lot easier.

Piercing tears can come in really handy though. It gets rid of knock-back which can make it harder to dodge, but being able to hit a whole row of enemies at once is very useful. I actually had piercing for the run that I finally won.

And yeah. Curse rooms aren't worth it at all with no Soul Heart or Dark Hearts in them. Your odds of getting an item from one are slim, and you might just get stuck with Curse of the Tower or something like that.

[John Orbit]

Originally posted by Toastie Buns:

>restart until library

This just in bro, it can be one of those kickass shops with mobs instead.

Which is nice, except you'll have ♥♥♥♥ all pennies and no real way of finding your way back to it.

teeeeeeheeeeeeeeheeeee

>that feel when you finished the challenges and greedu before the main game

Actually, it can't. The Shop never appears attached to the start room. If there's a One-Key Door at the start, that's a Library. 100% of the time. Besides, even if it was a Shop, you just restart until it's not.

[Toastie Buns]

Originally posted by John Orbit:

Actually, it can't. The Shop never appears attached to the start room.

So I'm lying to you? You know what, hold that thought....for a few days. I'll roll a first room shop and give you the seed.

Or you could accept I have absolutely no reason to lie to you.

Edit: https://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/bindingofisaacrebirth.gamepedia.com/thumb/0/05/Shop_6.png/800px-Shop_6.png?version=467d5ccfe54e9a6d6ac76aae3e110fbc

This is the room I speak of, that appeared about....4 times at spawn out of a LOT of playthroughs.

[Rio]

Nothing wrong with taking blind devil deals if you've already got soul/black heart regeneration. Even without those its worth the risk on floor 1 because of all the great items. If you don't have good damage the ultra hard mega satan may start summoning extra minions while he also continues to do his normal attacks (Which totally wrecked me one run because lust was on my tail I think and his attack left no room to move)

If you wanna cheat, if you pick up a run ruining item deep into a run you can task manager close isaac to restart the floor or if your about to lose the mega santa fight.

[John Orbit]

Originally posted by Toastie Buns:

Originally posted by John Orbit:

Actually, it can't. The Shop never appears attached to the start room.

So I'm lying to you? You know what, hold that thought....for a few days. I'll roll a first room shop and give you the seed.

Or you could accept I have absolutely no reason to lie to you.

Not saying you're lying, but I've never seen a Shop at the start. Ever. From the way the map is generated, I didn't even think that was possible.

[Rio]

Yeah I've not seen shops next to spawn either. While the 2 luck pennies shop is new, I've never experienced it next to start.

[Toastie Buns]

Afterbirth+ changed a lot of rules. I presume this was added as a rare '♥♥♥♥ you' to people holding R for a library, since they'd get a key to find out they had a super shop instead.

However, that shop IS kickass. You're right in that it's MORE COMMON to find a library behind that spawn room key door, but it's not 100% anymore.

[Toastie Buns]

Okay, lmfao @ this, but I found the seed on the first run I did with Isaac on hard.

VDZO 1M9K

If you want quick access, the room to your right is the secret room, bomb the tinted rock for access. Should have a key in there.

http://imgur.com/a/PJQQm

For whatever reason it's a regular shop. First time that's happened to me, they've always been the rare variety

[John Orbit]

Hm. Okay then. Good to know.

Well, as I said, if the first key-door is a Shop, just keep restarting until it's a Library.

[Herr Gutentauben]

Originally posted by John Orbit:

Originally posted by Dr Kappa:

It may be worth to spend some time in the arcades to get pretty flies.

If you have available any penetration item take it by no means.

Ignore curse rooms, specially if the run is not going well

Good call on the arcades. Projectile protection is a huge bonus. Three Pretty Flies would make it a lot easier.

Piercing tears can come in really handy though. It gets rid of knock-back which can make it harder to dodge, but being able to hit a whole row of enemies at once is very useful. I actually had piercing for the run that I finally won.

And yeah. Curse rooms aren't worth it at all with no Soul Heart or Dark Hearts in them. Your odds of getting an item from one are slim, and you might just get stuck with Curse of the Tower or something like that.

I meant taking the penetration item whatever it takes. It is too useful to be left back

[unknown soldier]

Originally posted by John Orbit:

Hm. Okay then. Good to know.

Well, as I said, if the first key-door is a Shop, just keep restarting until it's a Library.

I joined the hold r for library club for this challenge and got the shop at spawn point many times, but only if there was a treasure room too (possibly a curse room too i cant remember). Just going by my own experience it seems if its only a key door at spawn/start room it will be library but if there is another 'special'room too it will probably be a shop. I dont know how the nes lucky penny shop affects things though, i think id done the challenge before that became a thing.

Nice tips on the challenge though, especially 6. This was and is the only challenge i actually thought at 1 point im never going to beat it after numerous Mega Satan deaths. When i stopped stressing and just concentrated that little bit more i got it eventually

[John Orbit]

Originally posted by unknown soldier:

I joined the hold r for library club for this challenge and got the shop at spawn point many times, but only if there was a treasure room too (possibly a curse room too i cant remember). Just going by my own experience it seems if its only a key door at spawn/start room it will be library but if there is another 'special'room too it will probably be a shop. I dont know how the nes lucky penny shop affects things though, i think id done the challenge before that became a thing.

Nice tips on the challenge though, especially 6. This was and is the only challenge i actually thought at 1 point im never going to beat it after numerous Mega Satan deaths. When i stopped stressing and just concentrated that little bit more i got it eventually

Weird... The run where I won had a Library and a Treasure Room from the start. And I've seen that setup many times before. One time I got a Library and two Treasure Rooms, but aside from the seed above, I've never seen a starting Shop. The RNG in this game is really heavy on the R.

[LSDBunny]

Another thing to consider, that may not be a given, depending on how experienced with the game you are: D4/D100 are the absolut best items you can get in this challenge. They will provide you with a lot of health ups/health refills and can nullify the bad effects curse of the blind can have.
Just saying this because I usually wouldn't take D4 or maybe not even D100 as a start item because of how unreliable they are in giving you decent builds.