Vampire Survivors has taken the gaming world by storm, offering an exhilarating blend of roguelike strategy and vampire-themed action. While the game’s core mechanics are exciting, mastering the art of character builds can take your gameplay to a whole new level. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the Vampire Survivors best build option for 5 different situations to help you survive the relentless waves of enemies, conquer challenging bosses, and become an unstoppable hunter.
Each build we discuss will cater to different needs, ensuring that there’s a perfect fit for every type of situation. Whether you want to kill bosses, complete a no-move challenge, or beat certain stages, we’ve got you covered. Our goal is not only to introduce you to these powerful builds, but also to optimize this content so that you can easily find what you are looking for.
Last update: October 2023
Table of Contents
Vampire Survivors best build List
- A. Boss Destroyer Build
- B. Beat Death Build
- C. No-Move Challenge Build
- D. Gallo Tower Build (for vertical stages)
- E. Tiny Bridge Build (for horizontal stages)
- Final Thoughts
A. Boss Destroyer Build
This Vampire Survivors best build specializes at, you guessed it, eliminating bosses. It runs mostly weapons and passive items that can target bosses, and also some that help keep you alive.
Without a doubt, we want to take down the nearest bosses first, since they are the biggest threat.
The image shows Leda in Boss Rash, in Hyper Endless mode. Leda is a slow moving, tanky secret character that packs a punch.
As you know, Boss Rash is a stage full of tough bosses, perfect to try out this build.
I made it to minute 42 without Limit Break activated (to keep weapon levels capped). I didn’t want the run to go on for hours, like it did the other day.
The following evolutions are listed in the order that they were acquired.
| Weapon | Item | Evolution |
| Magic Wand | Empty Tome | Holy Wand |
| Whip | Hollow Heart | Bloody Tear |
| Santa Water | Attractorb | La Borra |
| Runetracer (optional) | Armor (optional) | NO FUTURE (optional) |
| Pentagram | ||
| Knife | Bracer | Thousand Edge |
Boss Destroying Evolutions
1. Holy Wand (Magic Wand + Empty Tome)
When you are up against a boss, you want to kite it. Holy Wand is perfect for this because it attacks your nearest target, regardless of its position.
2. Bloody Tear (Whip + Hollow Heart)
This evolution is great because on one hand, it allows you to focus damage on a boss that’s next to you, and on the other, it heals you every time it deals a critical hit.
3. La Borra (Santa Water + Attractorb)
La Borra excels at damaging enemies over large areas. This softens up the bosses before they get to us, wherever they may be.
4. NO FUTURE (Runetracer + Armor) (optional)
I decided to run Runetracer because Boss Rash is a confined stage between walls. As you probably know, Runetracer bounces off walls and hits extra targets. Its evolution passive item is Armor, which makes sense because it helps keep you alive longer.
You can run another weapon instead of this one, for example, Clock Lancet or King Bible if you prefer.
5. Pentagram
This bad boy can instantly delete most bosses every time it activates. Make sure to level it up as soon as possible to avoid it deleting your drops too.
6. Thousand Edge (Knife + Bracer)
Knife is the best weapon for dealing with bosses. However, you need to run away and then turn around to attack them, which is not always that easy to do. Especially in a confined area like Boss Rash.
B. Vampire Survivors best build: Beat Death (The Reaper)
If you are wondering how to beat Death, and what weapons I used, read on!
As you can see in the image, I played this Beat Death build in the Gallo Tower stage, in Hyper mode with Poppea.
The Reaper (Death) spawns at minute 30. Also, you can see that The Drowner appeared, and I am trying to take him down with Thousand Edge and my other weapons.
This might seem scary, but as long as you have Crimson Shroud, you should have no problem killing Death.
The following evolutions are listed in the order that they were acquired.
| Weapon | Item | Evolution |
| Song of Mana | Skull O’Maniac | Mannajja |
| Knife | Bracer (stage pickup) | Thousand Edge |
| King Bible | Spellbinder (stage pickup) | Unholy Vespers |
| Santa Water | Attractorb | La Borra |
| Laurel | Metaglio Left + Metaglio Right (stage pickups) | Crimson Shroud |
| Clock Lancet | Silver Ring + Gold Ring (stage pickups) | Infinite Corridor |
Death Killing Evolutions
1. Mannajja (Song of Mana + Skull O’Maniac)
Mannajja performs well in Gallo Tower, due to its vertical damage area.
2. Thousand Edge (Knife + Bracer)
Thousand Edge is present in most of my builds. Additionally, by running this evolution, we get a free passive item, because Bracer is a stage item that we can pick up.
3. Unholy Vespers (King Bible + Spellbinder)
Unholy Vespers is a well-rounded evolution, and we can pick up Spellbinder from the stage ground.
4. La Borra (Santa Water + Attractorb)
A great AOE weapon coupled with my favorite passive item.
5. Crimson Shroud (Laurel + Metaglio Left + Metaglio Right)
Crimson Shroud is the main evolution in this Vampire Survivors best build. It caps enemy damage so that Death can’t 1-shot you. However, you will need some movement speed to easily go and pick up the necessary stage items.
6. Infinite Corridor (Clock Lancet + Silver Ring + Gold Ring)
Infinite Corridor is the second main evolution in this Beat Death build. It freezes enemies it touches, plus it takes away half their health when it activates. The Reaper has a ton of health, so don’t forget to run this weapon.
C. Vampire Survivors best build: No-Move Challenge
As the name suggests, a no-move challenge consists in beating a stage without ever moving your character.
In order to accomplish this, we will need weapons that kill mobs near us, so that we may receive the experience gems that drop. We want to avoid killing enemies out of our magnet reach as much as possible.
Also, if our build is too weak, a boss will easily end our run.
The image shows Imelda, at the end of an Inlaid Library no-move run. I recommend Imelda because she starts with Magic Wand.
We will very rarely evolve a weapon (only if a boss dies right on top of us), so this allows us to run the best passive items possible in this Vampire Survivors best build.
The following weapons are listed in the order that they were acquired.
| Weapon | Item | Evolution |
| Magic Wand | ||
| Garlic | ||
| Pentagram | ||
| Whip | ||
| King Bible | ||
| Santa Water | Attractorb | La Borra (unexpected) |
No-Move Build Weapons and Evolutions
1. Magic Wand
A very important part of this Vampire Survivors no-move build, this weapon targets your nearest enemy and is not too strong. Thus, we will receive most of the experience gems that drop.
Additionally, Magic Wand will take down any boss that tries to get to us.
2. Garlic
A perfect early weapon for this Vampire Survivors best build, Garlic surrounds us with a protective barrier that deals damage and knocks back enemies. This is great when starting a stage, because everything dies next to us.
3. Pentagram
Pentagram avoids us reaching the experience gem cap, and getting stuck on the same level. Given that if too many gems drop with no way to pick them up or delete them, they will stop dropping.
4. Whip
Whip is another weapon that kills stuff near us. However, you can run a different weapon if that is your preference.
5. King Bible
This is a very good early weapon for a no-move build. In general, the experience gems will drop within range, especially if we have Attractorb already.
6. La Borra (Santa Water + Attractorb)
Santa Water is best later in the stage, due to its area of effect. However, Attractorb is best if we get it early in the stage.
Luckily, a boss died on top of my character, and I was able to evolve Santa Water into La Borra.
D. Vampire Survivors best build: Gallo Tower
This Vampire Survivors best build is tailored to attack enemies when they come at you from above and below. Although not that easiest build to manage, it runs weapons that hit in a vertical manner (up and down).
The image shows Pugnala in Gallo Tower, in Hyper mode.
With a +1% Might gain each level, Pugnala specializes in dealing damage. In other words, the higher the character level we get, the more damage she will do. Additionally, she starts with +20% move speed.
The following evolutions are listed in the order that they were acquired.
| Weapon | Item | Evolution |
| La Robba | ||
| Phiera Der Tuphello + Eight The Sparrow | Tiragisú | Phiereggi |
| Knife | Bracer (stage item) | Thousand Edge |
| Peachone + Ebony Wings | Vandalier | |
| Song of Mana | Skull O’Maniac | Mannajja |
| King Bible | Spellbinder (stage item) | Unholy Vespers |
Gallo Tower Build Weapons and Evolutions
1. La Robba
It’s not a typo. La Robba drops furniture from the top of the screen, dealing damage as it bounces off of enemies.
It’s a sight to behold, and just one of the crazy but cool ideas of Poncle, the developer of Vampire Survivors. As a side note, before starting this blog, I briefly attempted to learn to code and create video games, but it ended up being too much for me.
2. Phiereggi (Phiera Der Tuphello + Eight The Sparrow + Tiragisú)
Phiereggi is the union of two projectile launching weapons with strange names and average damage. You may be vulnerable while trying to create this evolution, but once you succeed, it attacks most of the visible area.
3. Thousand Edge (Knife + Bracer)
Going up to gather stage items? Just point your character North and let Thousand Edge cut through the waves of mobs.
4. Vandalier (Peachone + Ebony Wings)
Similar to Phiereggi, you might die trying to make this evolution, but once it is created it does pretty good damage. Make sure you have at least one strong weapon to carry you in the meantime.
5. Mannajja (Song of Mana + Skull O’Maniac)
It seems like Song of Mana was designed for Gallo Tower. In the sense that it deals damage in a vertical area of your screen.
6. Unholy Vespers (King Bible + Spellbinder)
This evolution is well-rounded. Not only does it knockback enemies, but it also deals some nice damage.
E. Tiny Bridge Build
This build is designed to beat stages that have a great deal of lateral attacking enemies. For this reason, it includes weapons and evolutions that either attack sideways, and/or can be focused in a certain direction.
The image shows Porta on Tiny Bridge, in normal mode.
Porta has a permanent +30% Area passive bonus, which is not needed that much here due to the small stage field. It’s tiny!
The following weapons and evolutions are listed in the order that they were acquired.
| Weapon | Item | Evolution |
| Axe | ||
| Lightning Ring (optional) | Duplicator (optional) | Thunder Loop (optional) |
| Knife | Bracer | Thousand Edge |
| King Bible | Spellbinder | Unholy Vespers |
| Vento Sacro (stage pickup) | ||
| Whip | Hollow Heart | Bloody Tear |
| Magic Wand | Empty Tome | Holy Wand |
Tiny Bridge Weapons and Evolutions
1. Axe
When evolved into Death Spiral, Axe can attack in all directions including sideways. However, due to Tiny Bridge’s time constraints, I was not able to complete the evolution.
2. Thunder Loop (Lightning Ring + Duplicator) (optional starting weapon)
Porta starts with Lightning Ring, and Duplicator is a pretty good passive item, so it made sense to go for Thunder Loop too. You can run this Vampire Survivors best build with a different character and your starting weapon will differ.
3. Thousand Edge (Knife + Bracer)
Thousand Edge is the main evolution in this Tiny Bridge build. As I have said before, it focuses a barrage of damage in the direction that you choose. In this case, across the bridge.
4. Unholy Vespers (King Bible + Spellbinder)
Once again, I run one of the best offensive as well as defensive evolutions in Vampire Survivors. When in tight spaces such as Tiny Bridge, Unholy Vespers can save your behind.
5. Vento Sacro
This is why I have 7 weapons in this build, in Tiny Bridge you can pick up Vento Sacro from the ground. I intended to create Fuwalafuwaloo, but ran out of time.
6. Bloody Tear (Whip + Hollow Heart)
Bloody Tear is the second most important evolution in this Tiny Bridge build. Not only does it deal lateral damage, but also it heals you when it crits.
7. Holy Wand (Magic Wand + Empty Tome)
Since we are probably going to run Empty Tome anyway, we might as well run this fantastic boss killing evolution in this Vampire Survivors best build.
Final Thoughts
In the world of Vampire Survivors, mastering the art of character builds can be the key to your success. We’ve explored five powerful builds, each tailored to different playstyles and preferences. Whether you want to beat Death, Gallo Tower or Tiny Bridge, there’s a perfect build waiting for you.
Remember that the best build for you depends on your preferred playstyle and the challenges you face in the game. Experiment with different builds, fine-tune your skills, and adapt to each unique situation. With these five builds in your arsenal, you’re well-equipped to conquer the dark and thrilling world of Vampire Survivors. So, gear up, choose your path, and unleash your full potential as a hunter!
