The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth — How to Play Greed Mode

Greed Mode is Afterbirth's wave-based survival mode where Isaac fights arena waves for coins instead of exploring floors normally. Seven floors of escalating waves culminate in Ultra Greed — a golden boss guarding the donation machine that unlocks Keeper, Greedier mode, and dozens of mark rewards. Greedier mode adds a second Ultra Greedier phase for the hardest completion marks.

Core Wave Mechanics

Each floor has a central button that locks doors and spawns enemy waves with coin drops. Eight waves clear the floor — press the button again after all enemies die to stop the timer and reopen doors. Pressing the button early deals half a heart damage (or removes coins as Tainted Keeper). Clear all eight waves without re-pressing the button for maximum coin income before visiting the shop.

Shop and Economy Strategy

Greed shops restock between floors and sell from the Greed item pool. Prioritize damage items over utility early — wave scaling outpaces defensive builds quickly. Restock machines refresh inventory for coins. Donation machines at the end accept coins toward character-specific unlocks; jam percentage increases per character, so rotate characters when donating to maximize total coins inserted.

Ultra Greed and Greedier Mode

Ultra Greed on floor VII has two attack phases — stationary golden form and animated statue form in Greedier mode. Donate 500 total coins to the Greed machine to unlock Greedier mode with harder waves and Ultra Greedier's second phase. Greedier marks are separate completion marks required for Dead God. See our Greed mode systems page for donation rewards and unlock thresholds.