Tarnished Cain

Tarnished Cain, or TR Cain, is a character from the Epiphany mod, included as the third iteration of Cain. He is unlocked by obtaining the Sharp Rock on the first floor and gathering 70 units of Wheat to a Sacrifice room as Tainted Cain, then defeating Abel.

Cold Blood

Gameplay

Tarnished Cain starts with Throwing Bag in his pocket item slot and is unable to shoot regular tears, relying on his loyal bags to attack enemies. He always starts with one bag, which can be spun around by holding an attack key and thrown by releasing it; thrown bags will stay in place until recovered by walking over them, making TR Cain unable to attack if out of bags.

Bags' damage scales with TR Cain's, while their radial size is based on his Range stat and their spinning velocity is based on his Tears stat. When hitting a target after being thrown, several rock tears (purely aesthetic effect) will spit out from the bag, inheriting the player's damage and tear effects.

Throwing Bag

For the list of Throwing Bag's synergies, see Throwing Bag's page

TR Cain's starting item, Throwing Bag, allows him to recall back his bags wherever they are and has a relatively short cooldown, which will increase with the total amount of bags owned. If Throwing Bag is used instead while TR Cain is holding an item above his head, the item will be "bagged" and converted into an additional half bag instead of being added to his inventory. Bagging items is the only way to obtain more bags, and depending on the item itself the new bag will get new special effects and potentially a new look (refer to the table below).

Birthright makes new bags require 3 bagged items instead of 2, granting fewer bags overall but increasing the amount of special effects they can get, and improves the existing bag synergies.

Strategy

Tarnished Cain is a highly versatile character, which will require the players to decide what to do with the items they find: unwanted items can be "recycled" as bag fodder, increasing TR Cain's ranged options and granting potentially useful bag effects, at the cost of a higher Throwing Bag cooldown; on the other hand, bagged items won't affect the character at all, requiring the player to choose every time what to improve between themselves or their bag weaponry.

This allows players to tweak TR Cain's build between a melee character with little bags and a plethora of items, or a bag throwing machine with less items but more effective at ranged combat. It's up to them to decide the best use of each item they find.

Synergies

Birthright: One man's trash, another man's treasure - Making new bags requires 3 items instead of 2, allowing creation of bags with more effects. Also makes existing synergies stronger.

Unlocks

Final Wishes - Defeat Isaac, ???, Satan, and The Lamb as Tarnished Cain

Multitool - Defeat Mega Satan as Tarnished Cain

Essence of Cain - Defeat Hush and Boss Rush as Tarnished Cain

Go to Jail - Defeat Ultra Greedier as Tarnished Cain

Dimensional Key - Defeat Delirium as Tarnished Cain

Black Powder Key - Defeat Mother as Tarnished Cain

Surprise Box - Defeat The Beast as Tarnished Cain

Throwing Bag - Obtain all Hard Mode Completion Marks as Tarnished Cain

Woolen Cap - Bag 50 items as Tarnished Cain

Gallery

An older version of Tarnished Cain's transitional pose.
The current transitional pose of Tarnished Cain.
Tarnished Cain's starting room.
Tarnished Cain's Throwing Bag.
Tarnished Cain's character sheet.
An older version of Tarnished Cain's unlock portrait.
Tarnished Cain's current unlock portrait.

Trailer

Trivia

Most items bagged with their own item-only synergies are Quality 4.
On the Steam Workshop page for the Epiphany mod, Tarnished Cain is referred to as 'Isolation', a possible title for the character.
- This could refer to Tarnished Cain's lack of tears, or his gameplay style tending to push enemies away from him. Additionally, it could refer to his murder of his brother Abel in the Hebrew Bible, causing him to be exiled from his family and become a nomad.

Tarnished Characters