Vampire Survivors has been out for a while on PC, but the game recently launched on iOS and Android. That means plenty of new players will experience the action roguelike game for the first time. It’s an addicting experience, but we won’t lie and say it’s an easy game from the start.
We have compiled a few basic tips and tricks beginners can use for the mobile version of Vampire Survivors. You can learn some of the basics and what to do and what not to do to start unlocking new characters, items, and stages.
Unlocking Your First Character
Imelda Belpaese is the first character you will want to unlock after doing a few runs with Antonio. She’s a character that starts with the Magic Wand and has a passive bonus that boosts her experience. Magic Wand is one of the best starting weapons in Vampire Survivors, and the bonus will help you get situated quickly before the tough enemies start swarming.
After unlocking Imelda and doing a few runs, your goal is to kill 3000 skeletons to unlock Mortaccio. Mortaccio is undoubtedly one of the best characters in the game, as he gets more projectiles every 20 levels for a maximum of three bonus projectiles.
Unlocking the Second Stage
Your next objective after unlocking Imelda is to survive for 20 minutes on the first stage, Mad Forest. Surviving for 20 minutes will automatically unlock the next stage, Inlaid Library. The difficulty jump is pretty high between Mad Forest and Inlaid Library, so you should take this opportunity to practice figuring out some good weapons and passive items to use.
Good Starting Weapons
Some good starting weapons to look out for are Garlic, Runetracer, Holy Bible, Fire Wand, and Cross. Santa Water is not a bad option either, as it randomly drops pools of water on the ground that hurt any enemies that walk over them.
Because you are limited in the number of skills you can equip, it’s important not to waste your picks on bad weapons and passives. We would recommend avoiding picking up Clock Lancet, Laurel, and Pentagram. These items are good later in the game but serve no real purpose in the early stages.
Good Passive Abilities
Passives are just as important as weapons, and like weapons, you can only equip a number of them. The number one passive ability to pick up when you level is Duplicator, as it adds a bonus projectile to all relevant skills. With Duplicator, a level one Magic Wand would shoot two projectiles instead of one. Get the Magic Wand to level 7 to unlock Duplicator.
Aside from Duplicator, the other passives you pick are dictated by what you need to upgrade your weapons. Weapons in Vampire Survivors can be upgraded to evolution weapons by combining them with a corresponding passive skill. You can check out our full list of Vampire Survivors weapons and evolutions to get a more detailed overview and explanation.
Mastering and memorizing weapon evolutions is essential to becoming successful in Vampire Survivors, so we recommend bookmarking our table and referencing it until you learn the weapon combos. In short, when you max out a specific weapon and have the right passive skill, you can find the weapon evolution inside a chest. Chests drop from killing bosses and minibosses.
Picking the Right Power-ups
After every run, you should accumulate some Gold Coins, which are used to purchase power-ups. From the main menu, tap on the Power Up button to see a complete list of power-ups. Each power-up you purchase will make other power-ups more expensive, so it’s important to pick them in the right order.
The most important power-up is Amount, as it adds more projectiles to your projectile weapons. You should see a theme here; projectiles are king. After maxing out Amount, you may want to buy levels in Greed to maximize your Gold Coins. You can fully refund all your power-up purchases at any time without any fees, so we think going with Amount and Greed should take priority so you can rack up the coins.
After Amount and Greed, the ones to focus on are Cooldown, Area, Might, and Duration. These are the main ones to focus on, but you can visit our Vampire Survivors power-ups page for a rundown of everything you need to know.
Destroy Light Sources
Our last tip is to destroy all the light sources you see around the map. These come in the form of torches and candles, and destroying them can drop a variety of bonus items, including:
- Gold: Gold coins, bags, and rich bags for bonus money
- Rosary: destroys all enemies on the screen
- Chicken: heals 30 health points
- Clover: increases luck by 10%
- Vaccum: gathers all experience gems on the map
- Orologion: freezes all enemies
Luck influences what you can get from the light sources, so extra luck means better items.
With these beginner tips and tricks, your Vampire Survivors mobile experience should be a lot more manageable without as much frustration. Remember, as an action roguelike, death is inevitable. It’s all part of the fun to die over and over again as you progressively get a little more powerful after every run.
Visit our Vampire Survivors Section for a ton of helpful guides, tips, and tricks. And, if you like these games, check out the list of our favorite action roguelike games for PC.
