PokéIsaac beginner guide

What kind of game is PokéIsaac?

PokéIsaac is a top-down roguelike shooter built on the formula of The Binding of Isaac, with Pokémon in every role. You explore a floor room by room, shoot wild Pokémon, pick up items that change how you play, beat the floor’s boss and drop through a trapdoor to the next floor. When your health runs out, the run is over and the next one starts with a new random layout.

It runs in the browser at pokeisaac.com on PC and mobile, with gamepad support. There is nothing to download. The game opens straight on its main menu; Play starts a Classic run with your team.

Controls

The default keyboard layout, from the game’s own How to Play screen:

Everything can be rebound in Options → Controls, with a main and an alternative key for each action. The mouse can shoot with the left button, and the right button or wheel can be set to the active item or a Voltorb. On a gamepad you shoot with A B X Y, and you can choose free 360° aim or four directions.

Tip: with the arrow keys you shoot in four directions, so the safest place is usually a different row and column from the enemies. Mouse aim fires in any direction and makes dodging much easier.

How a floor works

Every floor is a grid of rooms connected by doors. You start in an empty room and the minimap fills in as you explore.

• Combat rooms shut their doors until every enemy is down. From floor 16, one in five hides an ambush: a second wave, then double coins.
• Treasure room (one per floor) holds a free item behind a gold door that costs a key.
• Shop (Meowth) has six slots: items, active items, hearts, Voltorbs, keys and chests, paid with PokéDollars. Shops also need a key, except the first shop of the run, which is free: “Everything’s free today!”
• Healing room with Chansey gives free hearts and sometimes a soul heart. It doesn’t appear on every floor.
• Secret room hides behind a cracked wall. Place a Voltorb next to it (your shots push the Voltorb). Inside you can find Kecleon’s black market, an altar with a treasure, a chest vault, slot machines and more.
• Boss room (red door) ends the floor. The boss drops a boss item and opens a trapdoor to the next floor.

Crates, barrels, bushes and vases can hide PokéDollars, hearts, keys and Voltorbs, so shoot them. After a boss, a coloured rift can also open: violet leads to Darkrai, gold to Jirachi. See items for what each one offers.

Health: hearts and soul hearts

Your health is shown as hearts and is shared by your whole team.

• Red hearts are your normal health, up to a maximum of 12. Heal them with heart pickups, the Chansey room and healing items.
• Soul hearts (blue) sit after your red hearts and are lost first. You can have up to 6, and they cannot be healed.
• Heart containers are your maximum health. Darkrai asks for them as payment for his deals.

Enemies hit harder deeper down: half a heart more on floors 11–20 and a full heart more from floor 21. Bosses also adapt to you (see bosses).

Your team, levels and evolution

A run uses a team of up to three Pokémon that share health, items and upgrades. Switch with 1–3: it is free out of combat, but in combat the Pokémon you switch out rests for 8 seconds.

• Types matter both ways. Super effective shots deal ×1.5, not very effective ones ×0.67, and the same applies to the hits you take. Green ▲ and red ▼ marks over enemies tell you how your current type fares.
• The floor card at the start of each floor shows its types and which team member fares best. You can switch right there with 1–3.
• Levels: your Pokémon level up from kills (bosses give far more XP). Each level adds a little damage, fire rate and speed, and heals half a heart. Benched team members get 35% of the XP.
• Evolution: Pokémon evolve automatically at level 14 and 32 (level 20 if the line has only two stages), and also with Rare Candy and evolution stones. Levels reset when the run ends.

The type chart lists every type’s shot effect. New accounts start with Pikachu and Charmander; see Pokémon & team for the rest.

Items

Walk up to an item to see its card (passive or active, where it came from, and what it does), then press E to take it.

• Passive items apply at once and stack. Look for combos.
• Active items go in your active slot. You carry one at a time; picking up another swaps them.
• Weapons change how you shoot (jumping bolts, a blizzard, an earthquake…). Balls give you companions.
• In the inventory (I), X drops the selected passive and C drops the active.
• Stronger tiers appear from floors 4, 9 and 15, earlier with high luck.

The items guide covers tiers, active items and Darkrai deals.

Your first runs: tips

1. Spend the free shop. The first shop of the run costs nothing, so grab every slot.
2. Keep a key for the treasure room. You start with one key and one Voltorb.
3. Use mouse aim if you play on PC. Shooting in any direction is far easier than four-way arrow keys.
4. Read the boss telegraphs. Red lines mean a charge is coming now; rings with a bright gap show where to escape.
5. Try not to get hit by the boss. A clean boss fight makes a Darkrai or Jirachi rift much more likely.
6. Think before a Darkrai deal. Deals cost max health, and taking one means Jirachi’s free Celestial Room won’t appear for the rest of the run.
7. End runs properly. Tokens, Mega Tickets and your record are collected when a run ends, so use Pause → End run instead of closing the tab.
8. Make an account if you plan to keep playing. Guests can play, but only account runs earn Tokens for the Gacha.

Modes after the first win

Classic mode has 30 floors: a Mega boss waits every 10 floors and Armored Mewtwo on floor 30. Beat it and you can stop with the win or carry on in endless mode. The floors and bosses guides cover what to expect.