Samson

**Samson** is a character unlocked by beating two floors in a row without taking any damage.
Samson starts with 3 Red Heart containers and . Every time Samson is dealt damage, he receives a damage boost, up to a maximum of 6 times. The damage boost resets when he goes down a floor.

 Samson will start with the  trinket after completing the Ultra Hard challenge.

## Notes

* The first three times Samson is hit, his damage is increased by 0.5. The next three times Samson is hit, his damage is increased by 33%.
* Damage is increased by flat amounts: +0.5 for the first hit and an additional +0.2 for each hit, until +1.5 at the sixth. This means that the maximum total is +6.0.
* Samson gains damage from being hurt, and as such, possesses a playstyle that is fairly similar to  Eve. Therefore, using Devil Beggars, Sacrifice Rooms and Blood Donation Machines synergizes very well with Samson.
* Samson starts with a lower Tear stat. Try to seek items that increase it.
* Dying as Samson and then respawning as another character (, , etc.) will make them inherit Samson's  item.
* When Samson dies in Co-Op mode, his ghost baby maintains his level of rage from his Bloody Lust item, giving it a red tint. This is purely cosmetic.

## Item Interactions

* :  can gain 4 more damage boosts at the same +0.2 intervals, for a new maximum total of +14.0.

### Favorable items

* Any items that increase health so Samson can take more damage before dying.
* Any items that increase Samson's tears stat, such as , , etc....
* Any items that generate Blue Flies, like  or , do so based on Samson's base damage and are good for early game room clearing when Samson's tears are still low.
* Items relying on contact damage, like  or , can be beneficial in that damage is desirable with .
* Health regeneration items like , , and  allow health regeneration after taking damage, and thus allow for more damage, both stat-wise and health-wise.
* increases Samson's health while also providing a regeneration of sorts, allowing him to take much more damage.
* and  minimize damage taken from Sacrifice Rooms and can be incredibly useful to build a lot of damage and pickups, especially in combination with an excess of hearts. The Wafer in particular is incredibly helpful in Chapter 4 and beyond, where all taken damage increases to one full heart per instance.
* , , , etc: All of these items will add to Samson's damage increase from getting hurt, although, unlike Bloody Lust, the bonus of these items only last for the duration of a room.
* 's chance of dropping a heart upon hit can cancel out damage to Samson while also buffing him.
* can safely provide Samson's damage boost without needing to take damage.
* increases benefits from taking damage and feasibly adds more survivability from random soul hearts and half-heart drops.
* and  will produce familiars as Samson heals or receives damage, respectively.
* , , , , : Activating their effects also gives Samson a boost in damage since they deal self-damage.
* is extremely useful on Samson, as its damage up effect stacks with , granting a significant amount of damage up upon the start of a new floor.

### Unfavorable items

* Anything which lowers health, such as , can make purposeful self-damage less reliable as a damage booster. For this reason, taking items from the Devil Room or the Black Market, which cost health for every item thus taken, is not recommended for Samson.

## Unlockable Achievements

* Samson's Chains - Complete the Boss Rush as  **Samson**.

* Fighting Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  **Samson**.

* Blood Rights - Defeat Satan as  **Samson**.

* Bloody Lust - Defeat Isaac as  **Samson**.

* Samson's Lock - Defeat The Lamb as  **Samson**.

* Blood Penny - Defeat ??? as  **Samson**.

* Lusty Blood - Defeat Ultra Greed as  **Samson**.

* Stem Cell - Defeat Ultra Greedier as  **Samson**.

* Blind Rage - Defeat Hush as  **Samson**.

* Rage Baby - Defeat Mega Satan as  **Samson**.

* Bloody Crown - Defeat Delirium as  **Samson**.

* Bloody Gust - Defeat Mother as  **Samson**.

* Empty Heart - Defeat The Beast as  **Samson**.

* The Savage - Use  (etc.) to open the hidden closet in Home as  **Samson**.

* Revenge Baby - Earn all Hard mode Completion Marks as  **Samson**.

## Unlockable Starting Items

* Complete Ultra Hard (challenge #34) - Start with

## Trivia

* In the Bible, Samson was a supernaturally strong warrior who derived his power from his Nazarite vow, entitling immense strength to Samson if he did not cut his hair.
* Samson first appeared in the *Binding of Isaac: Wrath of the Lamb* expansion. That version had only 1 heart container and a soul heart for his starting health, and his Bloody Lust item acted like a weaker version of Afterbirth's  item.
	+ Samson was originally unlocked by skipping two Treasure Room items and killing Mom in one run.
* Samson's locked icon shows him bound in chains.
	+ He shares this with  Magdalene,  Cain,  Eve,  Lazarus,  Bethany, and  Jacob and Esau.

## Gallery

* Samson's transition screen portrait.
* Samson's locked character icon.