5 Best Builds in Vampire Survivors

Vampire Survivors has a lot of weapons and passive abilities for you to choose from. Here are some of the best builds you can have in the game.

Vampire Survivors is mashup of a wave-based shooter and a bullet hell game. You play as a survivor, defending yourself against all sorts of enemies. At first, you only have one weapon, but as you level up, you unlock more destructive firepower.

All the weapons are on a cooldown and fire automatically after their cooldown period. So, it reverses the bullet hell genre and makes the playable character the main bullet shooter of the game. It is a fun and unique twist that introduces a layer of strategy to the game.

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A lot of the best builds in the game don’t actually require filling up all the weapon or passive slots. Some of these builds will have open slots where you can equip any weapon or passive you want. Here, we’ll be talking about the main weapons and passives that you should really focus on to make the build work. Keep in mind that, you’ll need both the weapon and the corresponding passive item to evolve the weapon.

5. Pentagram Build

Overview

• Pentagrams erase enemies and drop after a time, but can be negated by leveling up.
• The chance of not erasing items increases with luck and weapon level.
• Crown is needed for evolution, boosting experience gain by +8% per level while Gorgeous Moon is an all-rounder weapon in Vampire Survivors.

Pentagram erases enemies and drops after a certain period of time. While it may seem like erasing items is bad, this effect can be negated by leveling up the weapon. The pentagram has a 10% initial chance of not erasing items, and it increases based on the character’s luck and the level of the weapon. To evolve the weapon, you will need the passive item called Crown. This passive item can boost the experience gain by +8% per level.

Gorgeous Moon is one of the best-evolved items in Vampire Survivors. It not only erases all the enemies but also generates gems for the players to pick up. And on top of that, it also sucks in all the gems. This is an all-rounder weapon for the players to use.

4. Magic Build

Overview

• The Magic wand is a versatile weapon that fires blue missiles and can be evolved using Empty Tome, which reduces weapon cooldown by 8%.
• The Holy wand, an evolved version, has half the cooldown and higher projectile speed, but neither can pierce through a wall.

Magic wand fires blue missiles at the enemy at regular intervals. With upgrades, it will fire additional projectiles and, eventually, go through enemies too. So, it is a good weapon for all stages of the game. And the weapon can be evolved using the passive item Empty Tome. Empty Tome decreases the cooldown of weapons by 8%. At max level it can go up to 40%.

Holy wand is the evolved version of the weapon. While it doesn’t drastically change the effect, it makes the existing weapon even better. Holy Wand has half the cooldown of the magic wand and high projectile speed. On top of that, it has more piercing power than its counterpart. But you need to keep in mind that neither of these weapons has a projectile that can pierce through a wall.

3. Defense Build

Overview

• Garlic and King Bible struggle to keep up with other weapons as leveling increases.
• Pummarola is needed to evolve Garlic into the Soul Eater, which recovers 0.2 HP per second and gives a black aura for continuous damage and healing.

Garlic and King Bible are the best-starting weapons in Vampire Survivors. As you level up other weapons, it struggles to keep up with the other weapons a bit. However, the life-steal effect of its evolved version makes the weapon a balanced one, even in the late game. You will need the item Pummarola to evolve Garlic into Soul Eater. Pummarola recovers 0.2 HP per second. Each level increases the recovery by 0.2 more.

After evolving into the Soul Eater, your character gains a black aura around them. Anyone inside this auro takes damage from the weapon continuously. And the aura also heals the player as it touches the enemies. So, with this weapon, even if you take damage, there is a good chance you will be able to recover your run.

2. Fast Projectile Build

Overview

• The Fire Wand fires a slow, heavy fireball that increases in damage as you level up.
• Spinach damage increases damage by 10%, and after evolution, it becomes Hellfire, dealing more frequent and higher damage.
• The Heart of Fire arcana can further enhance its effectiveness.

The Fire Wand functions similarly to the magic wand. But it fires fireball, which is slow but deals heavy damage to the enemies. As you level up the weapon, it deals more damage more frequently. As you level up the weapon, the fire wand gains bounce ability. Thus, the fireball bounces between enemies before disappearing, making the weapon deal even more damage.

On the other hand, Spinach damage increases damage by 10%. Each level adds an additional 10% base damage increase. With that, and after evolving the fire wand, it becomes Hellfire and gets even better. Similar to the Holy Wand, it doesn’t change the effect too much. But it certainly makes it better. Hellfire deals damage more frequently, and the damage gets a lot higher, too. And if you want to take a step further, you can use Heart of Fire (XIX) arcana. This will make the meteorite from hellfire explode after impact, dealing AoE damage.

1. Reaper Build

Overview

• Song of Mana evolves to increase damage and cover.
• Upgrades and Mannajja evolve weapons like Whip, Hollow Heart, and Bloody Tear.
• Laurel protects and covers, while Crimson Shroud offers retaliation damage and 10 hitting limits. Clock Lancet freezes foes.

In Vampire Survivor, weapons like Song of Mana evolve to do more damage and cover more ground. Upgrades and the eventual evolution into Mannajja change how they work. With things like Hollow Heart and Bloody Tear, the Whip can hit a wider area, do more damage, and have a greater chance of a critical hit.

The defensive item Laurel protects you and covers you. It can change into the Crimson Shroud, which has extra benefits like retaliation damage and hitting limits of 10. The freezing beam weapon Clock Lancet changes into Infinite Corridor, which sends out a circular wave that freezes foes and lowers their health, giving you a unique tactical edge.

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