Dead Cat good or bad?

[Nukii]

Hello, i´m somewhat of a new player, started playing around the time of the last steam winter sale. Only have the base game so far, will probably buy the rest of DLC on the next sale.

What i kinda wondered is if the item Dead Cat is actually considered good? the one that gives you 9 lives but 1 heart? I took it a few times and dont really like it. I´m playing on Hard mode and struggle to not get hit sometimes, especially on bosses or rooms with lots of projectiles. Am I missing something? Whenever i see it, I just avoid the item. I rather have 9 hearts than 9 lives if i am beeing honest.

The fact you need to restart the whole room or boss when you use one of the 9 lives makes it seem not worth it. If it worked like the one character Lazarus where you get back up and not have to restart the room, i probably would take it more.

[H11DN-D4NG3R]

The Primary awnser is "Depending" for some characters its Insanely useful, and some not

[josh]

It takes all your red hearts. If you have mostly soul hearts or black hearts, it's good. If you have 12 red hearts, yeah, it's not good. It's also a piece of the guppy transformation. It's really good in a lot of cases.

[Moritox:3]

you can use it if you take devil deals or any item or interaction that cost you life, because you can take objects or damage withouth end the game (obv with 9 opportunities), not very recommended if you are pretty new and only have 1 heart, i wish you very luck

[Ez_Dawg]

I am also new, but I have found it insanely useful if you can get more heart containers from items, because one heart container gained is essentially 9 heart containers gained.

[SKINLESSHEAD]

Originally posted by Ez_Dawg:

I am also new, but I have found it insanely useful if you can get more heart containers from items, because one heart container gained is essentially 9 heart containers gained.

It resets you to one red heart container everytime you die.

[ikpa]

skibidi

[Ez_Dawg]

Originally posted by SKINLESSHEAD:

Originally posted by Ez_Dawg:

I am also new, but I have found it insanely useful if you can get more heart containers from items, because one heart container gained is essentially 9 heart containers gained.

It resets you to one red heart container everytime you die.

Oh, really? Actually, now that I think about it, I never did die cuz I got a crap ton of soul hearts. My bad

[Bizarre Lad]

Use it if you mostly have soul or black hearts, extremely useful for characters like ??? (atleast in my experience), but I wouldn't use it if you have a lot of red hearts.

[Dwarvin' Marvin]

I always take it unless I already have a ton of red hp or my build isn't strong enough to justify it. It represents a ton of free devil deals or blood bank plays if you can hold onto your lives.

[Okram]

Originally posted by FoundCrab:

Use it if you mostly have soul or black hearts, extremely useful for characters like ??? (atleast in my experience), but I wouldn't use it if you have a lot of red hearts.

Sadly, for characters that cant have red health it just treats all of their health as red, so a suicide play unless you have a way of getting more soul/ black hearts.

For OP, i consider Dead Cat top 5 most situational items in Isaac. On some characters it's the one of the best items in the game (both of the Lost), on others suicide sometimes.

If you are confident you can use it early game, don't pick up any additional health you get during a floor and get a free devil deal if one spawns.

During later floors its ok ?, haven't found a great use of it if you can accumulate health.
Part guppy transformation is great, but not worth picking it up only for that I think.
Makes Damocles a free take I guess, but that's very niche.

Overall, if you have extra health on the floor or items that can help you gain more ( Book of Revelations, Satanic Bible, Glyph of balance, Mitre, Relic, Binge Eater and others) I would take it, otherwise nah.

Also the #1 reason you don't take blind items in the void.

[Eprico]

Dead cat is basically a guaranteed win if you play it right. It's best used to minmax early game with devil deals, sac rooms and heart beggars/donos. All these extra little things add up. Typically it's not so useful late game because you don't have as much time to take advantage of it but it could save you in a pinch i guess, but honestly unless you're the lost this is not its best use and if you need dead cat to save you something has already gone wrong. The same goes for most items that give you extra lives. If you don't trust yourself not to immediately get hit and lose all your lives don't bother

[Flep]

I always take Dead Cat, Its really good.