Best builds for each stage in Vampire Survivors

Vampire Survivors is a tough nut to crack, and although you’ll eventually have that “Eureka!” moment when it all falls into place, it can be a slog until you do. Beating new levels for the first time can be an arduous task, but fear not, let me show you the best builds for each stage in Vampire Survivors.

Best builds in Vampire Survivors

Each stage has a unique assortment of nasties to throw at the player, but with smart choices, you can take the sting out of your opponents. I’ll suggest builds for each stage, but use these as a guide, as you’re not guaranteed to find these items during every run. Ultimately, your chances of survival will shoot up if you pack your build with as many Evo’s as possible.

For most stages, you can use whatever you want (within reason) and do well. Some levels require more nuance, but let’s start with a general build you can use just about anywhere:

Mad Forest Build / Early Game Build

The Mad Forest is the first stage you’ll visit in Vampire Survivors and gives a real taste of the horrors to come. For this build, I’ve only picked items you’ll have available as a new player. As you progress, feel free to experiment, but you’ll have every item here after a few runs:

Weapons

• Magic Wand
• Santa Water
• Runetracer
• Fire Wand
• Axe
• King Bible

Passive Items

• Attractorb
• Armor
• Spinach
• Clock Lancet 
• Crown
• Candelabrador

This selection is packed with Evo opportunities like Runetracer + Armor to make NO FUTURE and Santa Water + Attractorb to make La Borra. Clock Lancet is a fantastic survivability tool as it freezes enemies. Remember, you can walk over frozen opponents without getting hurt for cheeky escape routes. 

Inlaid Library Build

With a few upgrades under your belt, the Inlaid Library is arguably the most straightforward stage in the game. The issue is it’s pretty tricky until that point. This build is similar to the Mad Forest setup but has some alterations.

Weapons

• Magic Wand
• Santa Water
• Runetracer
• Fire Wand
• King Bible
• Cross

Passive Items

• Attractorb
• Armor
• Spinach
• Clock Lancet 
• Wings
• Empty Tome

We don’t need the Axe in the Inlaid Library, as opponents rarely come from above. Besides that, we have plenty of Evo opportunities, and Wings for added movement speed. The Inlaid Library is home to several enemies that explode, and Wings gives us a better chance of escaping the blast. Magic Wand + Empty Tome combine to make the Holy Wand, which offers tremendous single-target damage.

Dairy Plant Build

The Dairy Plant is tricky as there are obstacles to traverse that can ferry you into hordes of enemies. You need speed in this area, but you also need defense and high DPS. It’s a delicate balancing act, but here’s what I recommend aiming for.

Weapons

• Runetracer
• Santa Water
• Fire Wand
• Pentagram
• Shadow Pinion
• Axe

Passive Items

• Spinach
• Armor
• Wings
• Attractorb
• Crown
• Clock Lancet

The biggest threat in this stage is lost XP. Obstacles make it so you can’t always claim your prize, so Wings and Attractorb will help with that. The Crown increases our XP gain and means that if you have to leave gems, it’s not the end of the world. We have plenty of powerful Evo’s ready, including Fire Wand + Spinach to make Hell Fire.

Gallo Tower Build

Gallo Tower is nasty, thanks to its vertical layout. Still, with smart choices, we can tweak our build to deal with threats from above and below.

Weapons

• Axe
• Magic Wand
• Lightning Ring
• Song of Mana
• Clock Lancet
• King Bible

Passive Items

• Candelabrador
• Empty Tome
• Duplicator
• Skull o’ Maniac
• Wings
• Spellbinder

Song of Mana is the star of the show, offering the best coverage for vertical threats. The Axe is another hard hitter against opponents coming from above, becoming the Death Spiral when combined with the Candelabrador. We’ve got the trusty Wings and Clock Lancet as escape tools and several Evo’s to fall into.

Cappella Magna Build

Cappella Magna is a nasty stage, but by now, you’ll likely have the permanent upgrades and experience to survive. Go with your favorites here, but here’s an example of a Cappella Magna killer build:

Weapons

• Magic Wand
• Santa Water
• King Bible
• Axe
• Phiera Der Tuphello
• Eight the Sparrow

Passive Items

• Tirajisú
• Armor
• Candelabrador
• Spellbinder
• Attractorb
• Empty Tome

If you’ve got to stage five, you know what you’re looking for by now. Focus on Evos to maximize damage output, and I recommend spending a couple of Passive Item slots on Survivability tools like Wings and Armor.

MT.Moonspell Build

MT.Moonspell is the first DLC stage introduced in the game, and it introduces stages that vary in their design in the sense that it has multiple regions you can explore. This stage in particular is characterized by its small and narrow passages, meaning that you will want to prioritize weapons that can handle crowded enemy mobs.

Weapons

• Whip
• Song of Mana
• Summon Night
• Carréllo
• Runetracer
• Bone

Passive Items

• Torrona’s Box
• Tirajisú
• Armor
• Hollow Heart
• Duplicator
• Attractorb

As you can see, Bone, Runetracer, and Carréllo will provide good bouncing projectile damage which will help you out with clearing enemies. For Passives, stick to the ones that provide healing and revives due to the same nature of the stage – which will also upgrade your Weapons as a great side effect.

Lake Foscari Build

The particular nature of both Tides of the Foscari stages is to break the different seals across both of them. This will involve playing as a certain character and evolving a specific weapon to break these seals and face bosses to unlock DLC content, characters, and more.

For Lake Foscari, play as Keitha Muorto and level up your Flash Arrow weapon to Level 8 as well as your Bracer to Level 5. With added luck thanks to the Clover, you will be able to evolve the Flash Arrow to the Millionaire and destroy the Seal of the Lake,

Weapons

• Flash Arrow
• Millionaire

Passive Items

• Bracer
• Clover

Abyss Foscari Build

Right after destroying the Seal of the Lake, you will unlock the Abyss Foscari stage. You will need to come back as Maruto Cuts to be able to break the Seal of the Abyss which will require leveling up Eskizzibur to Level 8 and Armor to Level 5. That way, you can evolve your Eskizzibur to the Legionnaire, allowing you to destroy the Seal of the Abyss.

Return with Eleanor and level your character up to gain SpellString, SpellStream, and SpellStrike to combine them into SpellStorm. This way, you will be able to destroy the Seal of the Banished and fight Je-Ne-Viv.

Weapons

• Eskizzibur
• Legionnaire
• SpellString/SpellStream/Spellstrike
• SpellStorm

Passive Items

• Armor

Polus Replica Build

If you thought a collaboration between Vampire Survivors and Among Us was something that only you could dream of, then think again. Emergency Meeting, the DLC that followed Tides of the Foscari and gave us a lot of Among Us content, including several useful weapons and passives that we can use to make a very “sus” build.

Report! will damage enemies and push them away, which is always a nice survivability strategy. Lifesign Scan will heal you, Hats throws around bouncing projectiles, and Lucky Swipe will deal an increasing amount of damage per level. Clear Debris and Sharp Tongue will act as counterparts of Song of Mana and Magic Wand since they act similarly (vertical damage and shooting the closest enemy, respectively). The passives listed below will allow each of the weapons to evolve, so be on the lookout for them.

Weapons

• Report!
• Lifesign Scan
• Clear Debris/Song of Mana
• Hats
• Sharp Tongue/Magic Wand
• Lucky Swipe

Passive Items

• Mini Engineer
• Mini Ghost
• Mini Crewmate
• Mini Horse
• Mini Guardian
• Mini Impostor

Neo Galuga Build

Neo Galuga is the first map from the Operation Guns DLC where we see our favorite Contra character shooting everything on sight. Sounds about right. Similar to the previous DLC stages, Neo Galuga will feature several biomes combining openness and narrow spaces. Using the DLC weapons will be a great way to face this stage, with each of them providing constant damage output as well as space thanks to weapons such as the Firearm or Prism Lass.

Weapons

• Long Gun
• Spread Shot
• Prism Lass
• Firearm
• Homing Miss

Passive Items

• Empty Tome
• Wings
• Candelabrador
• Duplicator

Hectic Highway Build

Hectic Highway is a special Contra-themed stage that will have you ride a motorbike on a – get this – highway with tons of enemies surrounding you. Since you are constantly moving right, you will want to prioritize horizontal damage, which the Metal Claw weapon will provide. Prism Lass also makes the cut thanks to its ability to push back enemies and Blade Crossbow, Homing Miss, and C-U-Laser will take care of your surrounding enemies with precision.

Weapons

• C-U-Laser
• Metal Claw
• Blade Crossbow
• Prism Lass
• Homing Miss

Passive Items

• Tirajisú
• Hollow Heart
• Clover
• Wings
• Duplicator

What about Challenge/Special stages?

After you’ve cleared the five numbered stages, there’s still plenty to do in the various Special and Challenge levels. By this point, you’ll have unlocked a respectable arsenal and can construct some truly impressive builds on the fly. The most important thing to focus on is your Evos. I can’t stress it enough. Evos win games, and if you have three or more active simultaneously, you’ll likely win without breaking a sweat. I’ll leave you with an endgame build, but tweak this based on what you have access to. 

Endgame Build for all content in Vampire Survivors

Without diving into spoiler items, this build is so strong you can walk away and make a cup of coffee, knowing you’ll still be alive when you return. 

Weapons

• Phiera Der Tuphello
• Eight the Sparrow
• Santa Water
• Runetracer
• Magic Wand 
• Lightning Ring

Passive Items

• Armor
• Tirajisú
• Attractorb
• Spinach
• Empty Tome
• Duplicator

If you’re looking for a build for Sammy, we’ve got you covered.