Why would you not play as Lazarus?

[PostDeath 2002]

I am a bit of a noob to Binding of Issac, but so far Lazarus just seems to be the best out of the characters I have (all but 2). What exactly are the negatives to him? He comes back from the dead and starts with a pill which is a 50 50 between a good buff and a negative buff. What exactly is bad about him?

[Яedly Яed.暗赤色@Tsundere-Tiddy]

Don't know, he seems to be pretty fine with his extra life, you can use that for a powerful devil deal in early game. His stats are the same as Isaac's and he has a pill which might be good or bad, that depends. So yeah, he is not one of the worst chars.

[ScareKrow]

Once you get the D6 on isaac he is way better than lazarus.

[Lulloser]

Well his Negatives are: He starts with -1 Luck and less Range... and he does not have the Dice

[Solo Death]

His negatives- He is a worse Isaac untill he dies, at which point he becomes isaac with anemic and 1/3 as much health.

His positives-.... I got nothing

[Hedonism]

Originally posted by solo death:

His negatives- He is a worse Isaac untill he dies, at which point he becomes isaac with anemic and 1/3 as much health.

His positives-.... I got nothing

Plus a higher damage multiplier then Isaac, I like playing lazarus but I don't consider him having way to revive .

I usually end up killing myself the first times I get a HP upgrade/spirit heart or on the first devil deal

[Shrump]

Lazarus and Maggy are probably the two worst characters, Isaac is probably the best due to D6 re-rolling powers, with Azazel as the second best due to the fact he needs zero other items to a win a run. (For worst I am excluding the Lost for how ridiculously intentionally bad it is.)

[beautheschmo]

Lazarus isn't really that bad, he's no Maggie that's for sure, it's just that he sort of fills two roles that are done unilaterally better by other characters, specifically the two strongest characters in the game imo (excluding Azazel as he's a blatant easy-mode character). He's either Isaac without the D6 and -1 luck (ie, vastly inferior to Isaac) or Judas without the Book of Belial and a lower damage modifier (so again, vastly inferior to Judas). It doesn't help that Anemic is hands down the worst starting item for any character, even moreso on a character that can only trigger it once without dying.

I would imagine most people play Lazarus as his revived form, since his normal form is a total joke, which is almost straight inferior to Judas in every way, but it does have a marginal advantage in that you can't get screwed out of checking an early Curse Room or being unable to take the first Devil's Deal, especially if it has multiple decent items, the way Judas can but usually doesn't.

[Solo Death]

Originally posted by beautheschmo:

Lazarus isn't really that bad, he's no Maggie that's for sure, it's just that he sort of fills two roles that are done unilaterally better by other characters, specifically the two strongest characters in the game imo (excluding Azazel as he's a blatant easy-mode character). He's either Isaac without the D6 and -1 luck (ie, vastly inferior to Isaac) or Judas without the Book of Belial and a lower damage modifier (so again, vastly inferior to Judas). It doesn't help that Anemic is hands down the worst starting item for any character, even moreso on a character that can only trigger it once without dying.

I would imagine most people play Lazarus as his revived form, since his normal form is a total joke, which is almost straight inferior to Judas in every way, but it does have a marginal advantage in that you can't get screwed out of checking an early Curse Room or being unable to take the first Devil's Deal, especially if it has multiple decent items, the way Judas can but usually doesn't.

This basically sums up why I dislike him so much. If I want a run with damage, I'll just play as Judas, and if I want a run with isaac... well I'll ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ play as Isaac. There really isn't a reason to play as Lazarus aside from getting unlocks.

[Til Bardaga!]

Azazel is easily the best character with both flight and brimstone from start. The short range really isn't a big deal at all since you can use the flight to maneuver around enemies without bumping into rocks, spikes and holes.