The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth – A Genuine Guide On How To Play Tainted Jacob

How To Unlock

 
Imma Be Quick With This, Cause This Might Be The Longest Part Of The Guide (Idk Tho) 
 
1. Defeat Hush 3 Times To Unlock The Alt Path. You Have Very Likely Already Done This If You Have Played A Pre-Repentance Version Of The Game (Provided That Version Had The Afterbirth DLC). 
 
(A Secret Exit, The Achievement You Get From Completing This Step.|) 
 
2. Defeat Mother, The Final Boss Of The Alt. Path. This Unlocks Both The New ‘Home’ Floor And Our Character(s?) Of Choice, Jacob & Esau. 
2.1) To Defeat Mother, You Must First Reach Her. To Do This, First Pick Up The Knife Pieces. 
2.1.1) In Downpour/Dross 2, You Must Find A White Fire, A Mirror And Your Treasure Room. Touch The White Fire (Do Not Panic, Turning You Into The Lost Is The Intended Use Of This Fire), Go Through The Mirror And Navigate Towards The Treasure Room. This Will Contain Knife Piece 1. 
2.1.2) In Mines/Ashpit 2, Find 3 Yellow Buttons And A Mine Cart. Press All 3 Buttons, And Enter The Abandoned Mines. Follow The Path, Pick Up Knife Piece 2 AND RUN. You Will Be Pursued By Mother’s Shadow, An Invincible Enemy With Very Similar Behaviors To Another Special Enemy, But We’ll Touch On That In A Bit. Once You Escape, Move Onward To The Mausoleum. 
2.2) Enter Mausoleum 2, And Defeat Mom. Then Stab The Fleshy Door That Appears With Your Newly Assembled Knife (Mom’s Knife Doesn’t Work For Gameplay Purposes) And Defeat Mom’s Heart. Now, The Womb Entrance Is Replaced With An Entrance To The Corpse. 
2.3) Defeat Mother In Corpse 2, And Unlock Jacob & Esau And ‘A Special Door’. 
 
(Jacob & Esau‘s Achievement Icon.) 
 
(A Strange Door‘s Achievement Icon.) 
 
3. Reach Depths 2 As Jacob & Esau. Now You Will Have To Find A Skull With An ‘x’ Mark, Like A Tinted Rock. Bomb It And Receive An ‘0 – The Fool’ Card. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. 
4. Defeat Mom And Pick Up A Picture Item. Then Use The ‘0 – The Fool’ Card To Teleport Out. Now You Have To Place The Picture Into The Strange Door, And Descend To A Special Version Of The Mausoleum/Gehenna 2. 
5. Navigate To The ‘Boss’ Room Of This Floor And Pick Up Dad’s Note. This Will Begin The Ascent, A Grueling Trek Through All The Floors You’ve Gone Through, Similar To The Backasswards Challenge. Reach The Starting Room Of Basement 1 And Ascend Into ‘Home‘. 
6. Navigate To Mom’s Room, But Do NOT Sleep In The Bed Yet. Instead, Open The Box To Unlock (And Pick Up) The Red Key. 
 
(The Red Key‘s Achievement Icon.) 
 
Use It To Open A Room At The Side Of The Corridor Outside Of Mom’s Bedroom And Awaken ‘Jacob’, The Deserter. 
(I Would Show The Deserter Achievement Here, But I Can’t Get It To Upload.) 
 
NOTE: If You Have Already Unlocked The Red Key, It Likely Will Not Spawn Again In Mom’s Box. Instead, You Must Either Find It Through Luck OR You Can Drop A Trinket In Any Boss Or Treasure Room (Including The One In Mausoleum/Gehenna 2) And It Will Turn Into A Cracked Key, A 1 Time Use Red Key. 
 
 

Learning The Basics

 
Before We Get Into The Meaty Parts Of Tainted Jacob, First We Must Address How He Starts. This One Won’t Be As Long, I Promise. 
 
Here Is A Snippit From The Wiki Showing Jacob’s Base Stats. I Just Can’t Be Bothered Typing It All Out, And It Looks Cleaner Anyway. 
 
He Also Starts With An Active Item Called ‘Anima Sola‘ In (But Not Taking Up) His Pill/Card Slot. It Cannot Be Dropped, But It Can Be Unlocked By Defeating Delirium As This Character. It Chains Up The Nearest Enemy, But There Is A Certain Enemy That Has Priority, But Hold Your Horses, There’s Still A Little Bit More To Go Yet. 
 
This Item Will Not Deal Damage, However All Enemies Trapped Within It Will Take Damage From Tears And Such. It Is Also Worth Noting That The Chain Does Not Take Damage, But Rather Disappears After A Few Seconds (Or If The Enemy Trapped Inside Dies). 
 
 

Dark Esau

 
So, You Might Have Noticed The Lack Of Esau In All This. That’s Because He Has Gone On Strike And Become A Demonic Force Attempting To Strike You Down. Let Me Explain. 
 
Dark Esau Is The Only Character-Specific Enemy In The Entire Game, And Spawns After A Little While Every Floor. And Yes, He Is The Enemy I Have Been Eluding To Throughout This Guide. He Behaves Like A ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Speed Train, Charging At You At Any Given Opportunity. 
 
To Make Matters Worse, He Doesn’t Just Kill You, He Turns You Into A Special Tainted Jacob Version Of The Lost, Which Starts Without The Holy Mantle (Unless You Picked It Up Earlier In The Run). He Has ALL Of The Lost’s Weaknesses And Only 2 Of His Strengths, Those Being Flight And Spectral Tears. One More Hit From ANYTHING And You Are DEAD. But Not All Is Bad, For You See… 
 
There Is An Upside. 
 
 

Learning To Control The Demon

 
You See, There Is One Thing That Will HELP You Rather Than Kill You. And That Is That Dark Esau Deals Contact Damage… To Enemies. 
 
And I Shall Teach You How To Control It. Manipulate It, And Cheese The ♥♥♥♥ Outta That Trainwreck Of A Feature. 
 
To Start, Your Main Damage Output Throughout The Early Game Should Mainly Consist Of Dark Esau’s Charges. He Deals A Truckload Of Damage, And You Can Capitalise On That By Letting Esau Attack. He Takes Priority With The Anima Sola Chains, And Will Always Charge After Breaking Free. 
 
Second, Don’t Panic. Dark Esau Will Never Touch You Unless You Walk Into Him Get Hit By His Charge. Simple Enough. 
 
And Third, Do NOT Be Afraid To Turn Into The Lost If It Makes You Feel Comfortable, With The Whole Flight Thing & All. 
 
And That’s It. Simpler Than You Thought, Huh? Well, There Really Isn’t Much To It. He’s Less Complex Than You Think. 
 

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