Tears

This article is about the attribute. For Isaac's primary weapon, see effects.

The **Tears** attribute affects the rate of fire of the character and is represented by 3 arrows. This attribute is related to *tear delay* (the delay between successive shots, as opposed to the inverse 'tears per second'); a higher tears stat means a shorter delay and a higher fire rate. The tear stat is a measurement of tear frequency, as opposed to Shot Speed, which measures how fast those shots move.

# Tear Delay

{

16
−
6
×

T
×
1.3

1

if
T
≥
0

16
−
6
×

T
×
1.3

1

−
6
×
T

if
T
<
0
 and
T
>
−
0.77

16
−
6
×
T

if
T
≤
−
0.77

{\displaystyle
\text{Tear Delay} =
\begin{cases}
 16 - 6 \times \sqrt{T \times 1.3 {+} 1} & \text{if } T \geq 0\\
 16 - 6 \times \sqrt{T \times 1.3 {+} 1} - 6 \times T & \text{if } T < 0 \text{ and } T > -0.77\\
 16 - 6 \times T & \text{if } T \leq -0.77
\end{cases}
}

"T" in the above formula is equal to the normal tears stat, with all adjustments added together.  Tear Delay is always rounded down to next whole number. For example, picking up  would grant 0.7 tears, making Isaac's tear delay 7.7, which is rounded down to 7.

The minimum tear delay that can be reached with regular tears up items is 5, giving Isaac a soft cap of 5 tears fired per second.  With items that directly reduce tear delay, tear delay can be reduced further, down to a hard minimum of 1 tear delay (15 tears fired per second).

The number of tears per second that Isaac fires is found by the formula:

30

Tear Delay
1

{\displaystyle \frac{30}{\text{Tear Delay} + 1}}

.

Conversely, Tear Delay can be calculated from the fire rate given ingame with the formula

30
Fire Rate

−
1

{\displaystyle \frac{30}{\text{Fire Rate}}-1}

. Note that the fire rate given by the ingame HUD is rounded.

 Tear delay as a mechanic is no longer as significant in *Repentance*, and instead items that used to affect the tear delay now instead affect the fire rate directly. Effectively, this means tear delay can be less than 1.

* The absolute maximum fire rate achievable is 120, corresponding to -0.75 tear delay.

## Characters

Different characters start with different initial tears:

* Samson/  Tainted Samson: -0.1
	+ Tears fired per second is halved and then increased by 2 while berserking as Tainted Samson.
* Azazel: +0.5, x0.267
* Eden: ±0.75
	+ Eden/ Tainted Eden: +0.75 to -0.5
		- Tainted Eden's base tears rerolls every time they take damage unless they have .
* Keeper: -2
	+ Keeper: -1.9
* Tainted Keeper: -2.2
* Jacob and Esau: +0.277 for Jacob, -0.1 for Esau
* Tainted Jacob: +0.277
* Tainted ???: -0.35
* Tainted Eve: -0.5, then x0.66 (Has a 3.3 TPS softcap)
* Dead Tainted Lazarus: -0.1
* Tainted Apollyon: -0.5
* All other characters ( Isaac,  Magdalene,  Cain,  Judas,  Dark Judas,  ???,  Eve,  Lazarus,  The Lost,  Lilith,  Apollyon,  The Soul,  Bethany,  Tainted Isaac,  Tainted Magdalene,  Tainted Cain,  Tainted Judas,  Tainted Lazarus,  Tainted Lost,  Tainted Lilith, and  Tainted Bethany) have the base +0 (2.73) tears.
* Some characters have tears multipliers that decrease or increase all tear changes:
	+ Azazel: x0.267
	+ Tainted Azazel: x1/3
	+ The Forgotten/  Tainted Forgotten: x0.5
	+ Tainted Eve: x0.66 (Has a 3.3 TPS softcap)

## Direct modifiers to Tear Delay/Tears Fired per Second

Several items directly modify tear delay after the main calculation:

* Many items that used to modify tear delay now modify tears fired per second instead. They still allow the soft cap of 5 tears per second to be broken, but now have a greater impact on runs that have a lower fire rate compared to those with a higher one; this is in contrast to *Afterbirth*+, where the opposite was true. Generally, for these items, each unit of tear delay in *Afterbirth+* and before converts to +0.5 tears per second in Repentance.

## Notes

* Assuming no other modifications to the tears stat, +1.4 tears up is enough to bring you to the normal delay cap. In this case, it would reduce the delay to 5.92, which rounds down to 5.
* With a tear delay of 1, the maximum achievable rate of fire is 15 tears per second (every 2 frames).
* Polyphemus, Mutant Spider, and Inner Eye's tear delay formulas do not stack with each other, meaning that there is no downside to taking another after you have already taken one.
* Charge-bar items like Monstro's Lung or Brimstone stop working at 30 tears per second. Spirit Sword instead constantly activates the spin attack.

## Items that affect tears

### Other

* Tears up pills increase tears by 0.35 and tears down pills decrease tears by 0.28.
* The Conjoined transformation decreases tears by 0.3.
* In co-op, Cry Baby will occasionally briefly increase tears. Dark Baby will occasionally briefly increase all stats, including tears. Buddy Baby will occasionally briefly grant the  effect, which increases tears.