Maw of the Void

### Collection Grid

*(page 4, column 14, row 2)**(page 4, column 14, row 2)**(page 4, column 15, row 2)*

### Unlock Method

 Defeat Hush as  Azazel

**Maw of the Void** is an unlockable passive item added in *The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth*.

## Effects

* +1.0 damage.
* After firing tears for 2.35 seconds, releasing the fire button unleashes a black  ring around Isaac that expands and contracts, dealing damage at a rapid rate to all enemies touching it.
	+ The black ring deals damage equal to Isaac's current damage per tick, and ticks a total of 30 times. It lasts ~1.97 seconds (118 frames).
	+ Enemies killed by the black ring have a 5% chance to drop Black Hearts.
* This item belongs to the  set. Collecting three items from this set will transform Isaac into Leviathan.

## Notes

* The charge is completed when a red upside-down cross appears on Isaac's forehead.
	+ With charge bars enabled, there is also an indicator that displays the charge.
* Black Hearts will drop as soon as the enemy is killed. (In other words, the heart will drop at the beginning of the death animation rather than at the end of the death animation.)
* This item does not work while playing a blindfolded character, as it requires tears to charge.
	+ This restriction can, however, be bypassed by picking up .
	+ This item's effect will not fully activate if picked up by  Lilith; its stat ups will still apply to her  familiar, but the ring will not appear unless she also has the Ludovico Technique.
* This item will still work while playing as a blindfolded character.
* The ring will apply any tear status effects such as poison if Isaac has them.
* This item can begin to be recharged again immediately after activating it, effectively cutting its charge time in half in situations where it may be needed again quickly.

## Synergies

* Maw of the Void, ,  and  all have the same charge time, allowing Isaac to easily utilize them at same time.
* : Extremely powerful. Isaac will unleash a black Brimstone ring while using Dark Arts, letting Isaac do crazy damage while invincible.
* : Damaging enemies with Maw of the Void allows flies to spawn from the Guppy transformation. Flies are spawned at a rate of approximately one fly per tick of damage for each enemy it hits. This causes a lot of flies to spawn very quickly. The spawned flies will also move to attack the nearest enemy immediately.
* : Enemies hit by the sneeze will gain a curse that increases the damage the black ring deals to 2x and +3 flat damage. Enemies who die to the black ring under the curse will damage and spread the curse to nearby enemies.
* Homing tears: The ring curves towards enemies.
* : Massively increases ring damage and poisons enemies.
	+ The ring also explodes on enemy or obstacle contact.
* : The ring sends out electric currents when it hits something.
* : Ring can destroy projectiles.
* : Occasionally spawns a pool of creep where the ring makes contact with an enemy.
* /: Ring obtains knockback effect.
* : The ring is much larger and deals 1.5x damage per tick.
	+ The ring is larger but deals normal damage.
	+ No effect.
* : Ring attracts pickups and enemies towards it.
* : The ring has wavy edges.

## Interactions

* : Tear must be moved before the ring activates.
* : The ring damage is halved.
	+ The ring deals normal damage.
* :  Crosshair must be moved for 4 seconds before the ring activates.
	+ While firing, the ring charges automatically and activates immediately upon full charge.
* : No effect on charge time but massively reduces damage.
* : Having multiple copies has no effect

## Trivia

* Maw of the Void has a unique charge bar, filling with red instead of the usual green, as well as having a small swirl reminiscent of its shape in the middle of it.
* Maw of the Void and the  share nearly identical item descriptions, the fork lacking an exclamation point.