do you guys take ludovico?

[Amelius]

i'm pretty new to this game compared to others (50 hours total), and I was just wondering what the veteran community's opinion on Ludovico's tear is. I just beat Isaac in the cathedral with Eve using a Ludovico + Polyphemus build and thought it was pretty sick.

[NiGr]

Never.
In most cases, this helps to ruin the run. If there is a curse of obscurity and this item comes across, then I do a restart.

[etherraichu]

Not unless I have Brimstone. Ludo breaks too many fun synergies

[DoomerSlice]

I mean it generally depends.
Mostly on whether I got high (or at least decent) shot speed when picking it up tbh because it's just gonna SUCK with low shot speed. Also items, of course, but shot speed is important to whether I'm gonna have a good time picking it up RIGHT THERE AND THEN.

[JellyPuff]

It's like Mom's Knife but you don't auto-win. It breaks many fun builds and only has the occasionally fun synergy, so i often avoid it. On top, it's especially cumbersome to use in Repentance's hard-mode, due to the faster enemies.

[Luna]

never

[enderdude6]

I've only ever got it with azazel so my opinion is yes

[Icedfate]

some of my favorite items are items that aren't very good, like tech 2 and ludovico, but unlike tech 2, ludo can have some great synergies.
just be careful what you take it with.

conversely, i never take anything that can explode in my face and i never take mom's knife. i hate that thing. i don't care if it's strong, i hate it.

also, mom's knife is not autowin against any of the super bosses, like hush or delirium, mom;s knife just is way too slow and the damage reduction just scales it down way too much.
never take a knife to a hush fight.

also, the knife and brimstone synergy is horrible. it combines the worst of both effects, making the end result weaker than either of them alone.

[Jakethesnake]

I almost always take it.

[Elmo3000]

If I have Technology or Brimstone, yes. In every other case, no. Bad item.

[sqshq]

Originally posted by Amelius:

i'm pretty new to this game compared to others (50 hours total), and I was just wondering what the veteran community's opinion on Ludovico's tear is. I just beat Isaac in the cathedral with Eve using a Ludovico + Polyphemus build and thought it was pretty sick.

For me it is an item that ruins my game

[Ze Doktor]

ludovico ruins runs

[princeguy]

Ludovico SUCKS in general. However certain items can REALLY synergize with this item. Such as Tech X and Brimstone.

[randomguy]

with brimstone i usually take it, but with anything else it's too difficult to control the player and projectile at once.

[The post]

only time i take it is if i have sponbender, brimstone and or tech X

[kone]

Lots of risk for not much reward. Lots of enemies can move faster than the ludo tear even with shot speed increases, so often it will be less DPS on average compared to if you got reasonably close to the enemy without Ludovico.

You won't be able to defend yourself against charging enemies very well, and the lack of knockback compounds this issue.

The best case for Ludovico is when you have very high damage through Eve's Mascara or Polyphemus, where the first tick of damage is already powerful enough to delete enemies. Or if you have a tear modifier like Technology or Brimstone that solve lots of Ludo's issues.

It's like Marked or The Wiz, decent in theory but changes how you play which can make you vulnerable.