The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth – Easy Unlocks – Tainted Cain (Cillith) Strategy

Tired of wanting to become back your money? This guide will help you beat trash Issac using the most broken character!

Unlocking Guide

All credit goes to Clarky01!

Introduction

This strategy will allow you to become Lilith as Tainted Cain, adopting her love for familiars and using said familiars to form an army of unstoppable anguish, hence Cillith (Lilith + Cain + Kill = Cillith).

Contents

• Early Game: Crafting 3 Freezer Babies, 1 Tractor Beam, and a whole lot of pain.
• Mid-Game: Crafting more familiars, building your army to slay whatever enters your path.
• Late-Game: Do what you need to do basically, a useless section of encouragement.
• Switching to Other Characters: Utilising The Clicker, also telling you how not to break the game and get stuck as Tainted Forgotten.
• Switching to Non-Tainted Characters: using the Ankh will allow you to spawn as Blue Baby and switch to non-tainted characters, for further unlocks!
• Useful Synergies: Some great trinkets and items to aid your army further.

Early Game

Step 1: Start The Run

Okay, first off you need to start your run as Tainted Cain.

Step 2: Conjoined

Okay, this is the hardest part. You are going to need 3 familiars to get the Conjoined Transformation.

The easiest and strongest familiar to craft is the Freezer Baby, costing only:

• 1 red heart, 5 pennies, 2 bombs

Step 3: Tractor Beam

Once you are Conjoined, craft yourself a Tractor Beam:

• 6 pennies, 2 keys

Step 4: BFFs! (Optional)

This is entirely Optional but highly recommended, craft BFFs!:

• 1 soul heart, 2 pennies, 5 bombs OR 2 red hearts, 1 penny, 1 nickel, 2 keys, 2 bombs

Step 5: Birthright (Optional)

Another Optional but highly recommended item is Birthright, as it increases the amount of drops from item pedestals, i.e. more material to craft with!

• 2 red hearts, 2 soul hearts, 3 pennies, 1 bomb OR 3 pennies, 4 bombs, 1 pill

That’s your DPS set up for now! You can steamroll early-game bosses efficiently with the familiars and triple shot you just gained, alongside your supportive frozen friends!

Mid-Game

As you go further into mid-game (i.e. Depths), you’re going to want to build your army further, crafting as many cheap familiars as possible (or more expensive one’s, depending on your luck).

This is where the guide is flexible, you can either build up the army or focus on building up your tear rate, damage or range!

Cheap Familiars

These familiars are the cheapest, easiest to obtain!

• Little Steven – 1 red heart, 1 soul heart, 1 penny, 1 key, 4 bombs
• Brother Bobby – 1 soul heart, 4 pennies, 1 key, 2 bombs
• Robo-Baby – 4 red hearts, 2 pennies, 2 keys
• Rainbow Baby – 7 pennies, 1 nickel

Useful Familiars

These familiars are going to help carry your run, however they are not the cheapest so if you have crafted Birthright, you may be lucky enough to get these!

• Incubus – 1 red heart, 4 soul hearts, 1 black heart, 1 key, 1 rune/soul
• Guardian Angel – 3 red hearts, 1 eternal heart, 1 penny, 2 keys, 1 bomb
• Lil’ Brimstone – 4 soul hearts, 2 pennies, 1 nickel, 1 bomb
• Rotten Baby – 1 soul heart, 1 penny, 3 nickels, 3 bombs

Late-Game

Okay, so you reached end-game, you’re probably vibing in Cathedral / Sheol / Corpse, or you’re moving your way back up to the beast. This is where you can either do the dirty Bait & Switch or go beat the bosses as Tainted Cain.

Pretty much keep going how you are, focus on your build, or just bulk up and let the army of familiars do the work! This is entirely your call now!

Switching to Other Characters

The Bait & Switch

Okay so you are going for unlocks for other characters, you are going to want to craft some things before you go for The Clicker.

Step 1: The Battery

You are firstly going to need The Battery, the reason being is you need two, full charges on The Clicker so you don’t get stuck as Tainted Forgotten.

The Battery is cheap so don’t stress:

• 3 red hearts, 1 soul heart, 4 pennies OR 4 pennies, 1 nickel, 1 key, 2 bombs

Step 2: Battery Pack (Optional)

Okay, now you have 2 charges, it’s time to get some batteries spawning, you can do this by crafting the Battery Pack:

• 6 red hearts, 2 pennies OR 4 red hearts, 3 pennies, 2 keys

Step 3: The Clicker

Here’s how you switch to another character, although you will lose 1 item per transformation, so maybe craft a bunch of Breakfast or other trash items so you can keep the good stuff!

The Clicker is crafted cheaply and easily, and using the batteries you can get to your desired character easily!

The Clicker:

• 3 red hearts, 1 penny, 2 keys, 1 bomb, 1 pill OR 2 red hearts, 2 pennies, 2 nickel;s, 1 key, 1 bomb

It’s useful to note that using the clicker can actually be really helpful, for example Tainted Lazarus will not switch to his Dead form, meaning you do not have to deal with that BS!

All in all, EZ win!

Switching to Non-Tainted Characters

You can use Ankh to switch to the non-tainted characters, as The Clicker only works with tainted characters. This is simply done by dying and spawning as Blue Baby and then using The Clicker!

Step 1: Crafting the Ankh

This item is your key to becoming other characters, getting those easy Jacob and Esau or Lost unlocks, should you need them!

To craft the Ankh in the cheapest way possible, you’ll need:

• 6 pennies, 1 bomb, 1 card OR 1 red heart, 2 keys, 4 bombs, 1 card

Step 2: Battery Pack (Optional)

Crafting the Battery Pack will allow you to spawn 2 small batteries and a normal one, meaning you’ll have plenty of charges if you get a character you don’t want!

To craft, simply collect:

• 6 red hearts, 2 pennies OR 4 red hearts, 3 pennies, 2 keys

Step 3: The Clicker

If you use The Clicker, you will lose 1 passive per use so craft some trash you don’t mind losing!

The Clicker is crafted cheapest with:

• 3 red hearts, 1 penny, 2 keys, 1 bomb, 1 pill OR 2 red hearts, 2 pennies, 2 nickel;s, 1 key, 1 bomb

Step 4: Becoming Blue Baby

This is the easy part, assuring you have enough batteries, simply use spikes or a curse room (anything really) to die and respawn as Blue Baby!

Step 5: Switching

Simply use the active item (The Clicker) as many times as you need or your battery collection will allow!

Useful Synergies

Here’s a few useful pick-ups for your journey!

• Baby Bender Trinket – Familiars get homing shots.
• Friendship Neckless Trinket – Familiars circle you.
• Box of Friends – Duplicates all familiars for the room (Cannot use with clicker) -2 red hearts, 1 soul heart, 1 penny, 1 key, 2 bombs, 1 card.
• Extension Cord Trinket – Electricity connects all familiars.
• Forgotten Lullaby Trinket – Buffs all familiar tear rate.