Pestilence

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Pestilence, one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, is a boss which can be encountered instead of a traditional boss in the Caves and Catacombs once the player has beaten the game for the first time (killed Mom). He is a bloated, diseased, and zombie-like being that lazily leans back on his rotting steed as it carries him around.

Pestilence is guaranteed to be the boss when Book Of Revelations is used in the Caves or the Catacombs (unless the Headless Horseman appears in his place).

This boss has two main phases:

Phase 1

• Like Sloth, he fires a lobbed projectile similar to IPECAC, which explodes on contact, and does one heart of damage only. As Well, Pestilence says "hey". It also leaves a pool of green creep upon exploding.
• His movement leaves a large, green creep.
• He summons Chargers and Spitties periodically.

Phase 2

• After reducing his health to one half, his head is destroyed, leaving his body still mounted on his horse. It still leaves the green puddles of creep wherever it goes and fires the green bombs more rapidly. Also, the horse begins to summon red and black Flies, with the same coughing sound as the Hive (to compensate for the fact that he is no longer able to summon Chargers and Spitties during this phase).

Champion Variants

White

Phase 1 shoots 6 white bullets and summons Trites. Also leaves a white creep (similar to the Widow's) that slows down Isaac if stepped on.

Phase 2 summons a small Spider and shoots 6 blood bullets.

Gallery

Pestilence as seen in-game

Pestilence letter.png

Pestilence as shown on Isaac's Last Will

Champion Pestilence summoning a trite

Trivia

• Pestilence often erroneously replaces Conquest in popular culture. Originally Conquest is the first of the four horsemen of the apocalypse as depicted in the Bible (Rev. 6:2).
  • "A Forgotten Horseman" might be reference to Edmund using the biblical incorrect Horseman in the original game or the absence of Conquest in a large part of popular media.

• Pestilence is the only horseman in the game that doesn't grab his horse. (Excluding the Headless Horseman)
• Pestilence means a fatal epidemic disease

Bugs

• Occasionally, regular Pestilence will fire three of its shots at once, like a Super Sloth. It can fire as many as 8 of these shots in a rapid succession.
  • Mostly of the time this happens Pestilence will not show its animation.
• Occasionally, as soon as the battle with Pestilence begins, he will fire a single IPECAC shot towards Isaac while he is in the doorway without showing his animation.
• Pestilence may glitch into the wall if you push him hard enough, rendering the fight impossible.
• Pestilence can take poison damage (via The Bean, The Common Cold, Bob's Rotten Head, The Virus, and Bob's Curse), but his sprite will not change color.
• If killed by the white Champion Pestilence's shots, Isaac's Last Will will state that he was killed by a Gusher.

Video

Cain vs. Pestilence - TBoI 1.4 Petden

The Binding Of Isaac PESTILENCE

The Harbingers					Related
Famine	Pestilence	War	Death	Conquest	Headless Horseman