Tarnished Judas

Tarnished Judas, or TR Judas, is a character from the Epiphany mod, included as the third iteration of Judas. He is unlocked by taking both an Angel Room item and a Devil Deal in the same run as Tainted Judas.

Sin = Power

Double pain

Gameplay

Tarnished Judas starts Descent in his pocket item slot, a x0.85 damage multiplier and four shadow clones that mimic his movement, which can be rotated or moved closer/further by holding the [DROP] button and the fire buttons (or any key bound with the appropriate Mod Config Menu option). The shadow clones deal more damage the further they are from TR Judas, going from 5% of the player's damage when grouped together to 100% at maximum range.

By using Descent, TR Judas and each one of his clones instantly swaps position with the diametrically opposite one, dealing damage in the pathway; since the clones' movement is unimpeded, TR Judas can easily position them and use Descent to move over obstacles, pits or even on the walls of a crawlspace (moving out of a crawlspace while walking on the walls will lead to an Error Room).

Tarnished Judas can increase his little army of clones by taking Devil Deals, which cost Broken Hearts instead of heart containers. Each Devil Deal gives 2 Broken Hearts, and taking Angel Room items removes a Broken Heart. Obtaining specific amounts of broken hearts will allow TR Judas to change phase and alter his appearance:

TR Judas starts in Phase 1, with 3 controllable shadows and a red horn on the right side of his head.
With at least 4 Broken Hearts TR Judas reaches Phase 2, making his entire right side red and increasing the amount of clones to 5.
With 8 or more Broken Hearts TR Judas reaches Phase 3, making his full body red and cracked and obtaining a total of 7 shadows.

Tarnished Judas always takes a full heart of damage from the start of the game. Damage after Chapter 4 is not doubled and it will still be a full heart.

Notes

The full heart damage system doesn't affect the donation mechanics (Curse Rooms, Devil Beggars, Blood Donation Machines, etc...). It used to, but it was quickly patched out.

Strategy

Tarnished Judas is a frail character, that will require careful management of the shadow clones to perform best. The clones themselves will allow Judas to cover a wide area while shooting, especially if positioned further enough from him and even aligned with his own shots; keeping them together could allow for more accurate shooting, at the cost of DPS.

Going for Devil Deals is generally recommended as they will increase the number of clones and boost TR Judas' damage potential by a large margin, at the cost of less health which, combined with the full heart damage downside, will make the run riskier, especially if the player aims for Phase 3.

Descent's damage is not great, making it a bad option for combat, but it can be an amazing mobility tool with practice. Careful positioning of the shadow clones can allow TR Judas to dodge enemy attacks and teleport behind them, and (as already mentioned) allows him to teleport to otherwise unreachable places with relative ease.

TR Judas' shadow clones are treated as familiars ingame, making familiar-oriented items very useful.

Synergies

Birthright: Blacker than black - Gives TR Judas 2 additional shadows, increasing their count to (depending on the character's current phase) 5/7/9.

BFFS! - Judas' Shadows will do 1.5x Judas' damage. The damage is still affected by how far away they are.

Extension Cord - Bolts of electricity arc between Judas and his shadows.

Forgotten Lullaby - Doubles Judas' shadows' firerate.

Baby Bender - Grants Judas' Shadows homing tears.

Unlocks

Broken Halo - Defeat Isaac, ???, Satan, and The Lamb as Tarnished Judas

Twisted Rocks & Dark Rock - Defeat Mega Satan as Tarnished Judas

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

House "2 of" Playing Cards - Defeat Ultra Greedier as Tarnished Judas

Old Knife - Defeat Delirium as Tarnished Judas

Hell's Eye - Defeat Mother as Tarnished Judas

Kin's Curse - Defeat The Beast as Tarnished Judas

Descent - Obtain all Hard Mode Completion Marks as Tarnished Judas

Trivia

On the Steam Workshop page for the Epiphany mod, Tarnished Judas is referred to as 'Attrition', a possible title for the character.
- Attrition means "to gradually reduce the strength of something via attack or pressure", likely referring to Tarnished Judas' ability to form an army of shadows to overwhelm his enemies with tears.
- In Christian theology, Attrition can also mean the lack of remorse for sins, likely referencing the satanic nature of Judas.
Tarnished Judas (As of Wave 6) has had the most changes during the development of all of the Tarnished characters.
Early in development, Tarnished Judas's shadows were spawned as additional players to match the player's item build. That caused severe performance issues and messed up with coop mode compatibility.
- For that reason, the shadows were later remade as reskinned Incubi.
Counting Dark Rock and Twisted Rocks as separate unlocks, as well as the four reverse cards, Tarnished Judas currently has the most unlockable items out of any Tarnished character.