Even though the hype train for Vampire Survivors has left the station, that doesn’t mean the game is obsolete. Developer Poncle releases updates, patches, and DLC at a frenetic rate, meaning there’s always something new. The latest update is the Emergency Meeting DLC, a crossover between Vampire Survivors and the modern cult classic Among Us.
Vampire Survivors is an auto-firing survival game that pits you against waves of monsters as you try to outlast the clock. It’s one of the best games on Android. You can play as one of 70 characters across 21 stages with dozens of weapons, items, upgrades, and unlocks. If that sounds like your idea of a good time, get a nice controller and pick a top-notch player to get started.
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1 Imposter Rina
Everyone wants to play as the Imposter. Imposter adds passive bonuses of 20% to movement speed and might and +20 max health, which are handy for holding off the late-game hordes. On top of that, every time Imposter kills a set number of mobs, it gets a temporary boost to movement speed and might of 60% and a 10% decrease to cooldown.
To make the most of Imposter, select Gemini as your starting Arcana to take advantage of the Silver Tongue counterpart to your starting weapon, Sharp Tongue.You can lean into this build by getting Peachone, Ebony Wings, Phiera Der Tuphello, and Eight The Sparrow, which come with a counterpart weapon unlocked by Gemini. Plus, when they evolve, they open another weapon slot for you to use. Imposter can be unlocked by evolving Report! (starting weapon of Crewmate) to Emergency Meeting, or using the spell “youaretheimposter” in the Secret menu.
2 Scientist Mina
Unlike other characters in Vampire Survivors, Scientist doesn’t have passive bonuses. It has passive nerfs. Every 10 levels up to level 90, Scientist loses an additional 10% luck. This is offset because every 10 levels up to level 50, Scientist can choose area, curse, duration, greed, growth, luck, might, move speed, recovery, or speed to get a 1% boost every time you level up. You can pick the same stat to level up each time to get a 5% boost per level up, or you can mix and match.
Because Scientist can be good at anything, no best build allows you to lean into your play style. You can purchase Scientist after evolving the Engineer’s base weapon, Lucky Swipe, into Crossed Wires, or use the spell “sciencepink” to get it early.
3 Imelda Belpaese
Imelda is one of the four unlocked characters at the beginning of the game. Her Magic Wand weapon is an excellent way to get used to the auto-firing mechanic before contending with the swarms. The Wand always targets the nearest enemy and pairs well with Fire Wand and Cross when paired with the Waltz of Pearls arcana.
Imelda’s passive bonus is a 10% buff to experience earned every five levels, which caps out at 30% at level 15, meaning that you’ll level up faster and get stronger weapons along the way. She is one of the four characters unlocked at the beginning of the game and can be purchased for ten gold (which you should be able to get in one run with the starting character, Antonio).
4 Poe Ratcho
Playing as a hunched old man who gets an automatic nerf to his health and uses a head of garlic for a weapon doesn’t sound like fun on paper. Still, Poe is worth it if you give him a chance. His starting weapon of Garlic is an area-of-effect weapon that deals out five damage to anything that gets close.
Poe is the ideal character for your first playthrough of the Inlaid Library, which begins by throwing waves of Dust Elementals at you (which happen to have 5 HP). To get Poe, unlock the Garlic weapon, which you do by collecting five Ground Chickens. After doing that, you need to raise Garlic to level 7 on a run, which makes Poe available for purchase. If you don’t unlock Poe before obtaining the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane, use the spell “strongestcharacter” to unlock him.
5 Mask of the Red Death
Red Death is one of the most overpowered characters in Vampire Survivors. It has the highest movement speed in the game, starts with 255 health (base value is 100), and deals 20% additional damage. Its starting weapon is the Death Spiral, the evolved form of the Axe. It spirals out from the character, passing through and damaging enemies along the way, giving you a comfortable cushion to maneuver.
To get your hands on Red Death, take down the run-killer, Death. This isn’t quite an end-game task, but it takes careful planning to make it to the 30-minute mark with the necessary weapons and items. Equip the Iron Blue Will arcana and the Knife to fill the screen with bouncing blades. Cast the spell “ablasphemousmockery” to unlock Red Death early.
6 Queen Sigma
Sometimes, you want the best character to slaughter the endless monstrous hordes in the game. In that case, your only choice is Queen Sigma. On top of getting a buff to nearly every stat, she starts with 108 Reroll, Skip, and Banish, meaning that none of her level-ups are wasted. Her final weapon, Sole Solution, damages everything on screen for 10 seconds with a 20-second cooldown, and its damage increases the more enemies she kills with it.
Unlocking Sigma can be a bit tedious. You must unlock and collect every item in the game, as well as all the arcana. But if you don’t want to do all that, use the spell “allatonce” in the Secret menu.
7 McCoy-Oni
McCoy is a big boy, and only a few are better for helping you conquer the secrets of Mount Moonspell. This tanuki starts with a +8 buff to health, +1 to armor, and +20% growth, so he’s a tank that levels fast. His starting weapon of 108 Bocce (which is a beefed-up Garlic) pairs well with his passive ability to temporarily increase his area by 150% every second. That means, by default, he’s a pulsating ball of carnage. Equip him with the Axe and Candelabrador to take advantage of his area-boosting effect.
McCoy can be unlocked by evolving Mirage Robe (the starting weapon of Babi-Onna) into J’Odore. Alternatively, use the spell “ionicoionico” to skip the hassle.
8 Megalo Menya Moonspell
Megalo Menya is the perfect character if you don’t want to die. She has a -20 to max health and cooldown, but she more than compensates for that with +100% to speed and might as well as +10% luck and +108 banish. Her starting weapon is 108 Bocce, but unlike McCoy, it doesn’t take up weapon slots and upgrades every 10 level ups. She can have seven weapons. She’s also immune to all damage and only dies when the time limit is reached (or not at all on Endless).
Unlocking Megalo Menya is more tedious than your average character. First, unlock Menya (evolve Silver Wind into Festive Wind). Then, use her to kill 100,000 mobs in a single run. Or, use the spell “elamadonna” in the Secret menu.
9 Eleanor Uziron
Eleanor is the first unlockable character from the latest DLC, Tides of the Foscari. Although her max health has a nerf of -10, she gets +20% to speed, +25% to growth, and +2 rerolls. She moves fast, levels fast, and has a bit more discretion with which items she picks. Her starting weapon, SpellString, doesn’t have the highest damage, but it can attack several enemies at once. At levels 10 and 20, the weapons SpellStream and SpellStrike spawn under her. One produces an area-of-effect attack similar to Santa Water. The other slashes at the nearest enemy, similar to Victory Sword. The union of these three weapons, SpellStorm, is overpowered.
You can unlock Eleanor by finding her coffin in the Lake Foscari level. Use the spell “spellsomething” in the Secret menu to grab her early.
10 Luminaire Foscari
Luminaire’s primary buffs of +40% speed and +0.5 recovery aren’t incredible, nor are her additional +7 revives, but her passive abilities make her a beast. She kills everything onscreen every time she levels up by triggering a Rosary. Equip her with the Crown item to level up faster and the Attractorb to get more experience gems. She also gets a temporary 17-second bonus of +200% might and +300% movement every time she revives at the cost of -100% cooldown. Plus, after each revive, the length of the bonus increases by 17 seconds. Her bonuses and speed make her particularly adept at killing Death.
Luminaire’s early-unlock spell is “deusexmachina” (an appropriate name). If you want to get her the traditional way, unlock Maruto (evolve SpellStorm) and use him to destroy the Seal of the Abyss in the Abyss Foscari level.
How Spells work in Vampire Survivors
All spells must be entered in the Secret menu, which you can unlock by going to the collection menu and tapping the icon for the Yellow Sign seven times (even if you haven’t acquired it yet). The game tells you, “You are now a magician,” and the Secret menu is available on the start screen. The official way to unlock the Secret menu is more involved. The above method saves time.
Get your gaming on the go with Vampire Survivors
If you’re just getting started with Vampire Survivors, check out our beginner’s guide for a solid introduction to the game. If you’re tired of Vampire Survivors but love that style of play, we have a guide for you!
