Screenshot by Gamepur

The best builds in Vampire Survivors

Pick up these items to survive against the crowd of monsters.

Vampire Survivors is a timed survival game where players need to last until the 30-minute mark. Getting there can be difficult, especially if you are working with bonus stages or making enemies tougher. You want to know what weapon and item combinations will help you succeed, without making too many mistakes or getting the incorrect combination.

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These builds will not only prepare you for the upcoming challenges, but they will also help you find configurations that work well together. You can then mix and match these builds to your own preferences, finding the ones that work for you. Order doesn’t matter as long as you obtain these weapons at some point. Some builds can work with substitutes if your situation calls for a more urgent need.

1) Early Game Survival Build

Weapon & Item Combinations:

  • Whip + Hollow Heart – Bloody Tear
  • Knife + Bracer – Thousand Edge
  • Axe + Candelabrador – Death Spiral
  • King Bible + Spellbinder – Unholy Vespers
  • Fire Wand + Spinach – Hellfire
  • Lightning Ring + Duplicator – Thunder Loop
Screenshot by Gamepur

This build focuses on weapons that are easy to obtain. It’s a good mix of weapons and spells that can cover a variety of situations while you haven’t unlocked much yet. You have weapons that protect you, weapons for inflicting damage, and items that properly support your entire weapon range.

2) Bad Luck Weapon Build

Weapon & Item Combinations:

  • Whip + Hollow Heart – Bloody Tear
  • Cross + Clover – Heaven Sword
  • Knife + Bracer – Thousand Edge
  • Axe + Candelabrador – Death Spiral
  • King Bible + Spellbinder – Unholy Vespers
  • Santa Water + Attractorb – La Borra

If your luck isn’t great and you don’t get good options, this build will help you out. Everything but the Santa Water will be helpful for fighting off enemies. The Santa Water will be able to soften up enemies who approach you. It’s a great combination early on when you have few powerups and can’t edit your level up options.

3) Magic Survival Build

Weapon & Item Combinations:

  • Magic Wand + Empty Tome – Holy Wand
  • King Bible + Spellbinder – Unholy Vespers
  • Runetracer + Armor – NO FUTURE
  • Fire Wand + Spinach – Hellfire
  • Garlic + Pummarola – Soul Eater
  • Lightning Ring + Duplicator – Thunder Loop
Screenshot by Gamepur

Magical offense is great but it requires keeping yourself safe. Magic Wand and Runetracer will be your main sources of damage, while King Bible and Garlic keep enemies at bay. Fire Wand and Lightning Ring hit targets from a distance and soften them up if they get too close. It’s a solid magical build that can go in different directions once you get more weapons.

4) Pentagram Build

Weapon & Item Combinations:

  • Pentagram + Crown – Gorgeous Moon
  • Magic Wand + Empty Tome – Holy Wand
  • Runetracer + Armor – NO FUTURE
  • Whip + Hollow Heart – Bloody Tear
  • Garlic + Pummarola – Soul Eater
  • King Bible + Spellbinder – Unholy Vespers

Making the best of the Pentagram is a tough goal, but the rewards are almost always worth it. This build is designed to keep you alive with other weapons while you evolve the Pentagram. There’s enough health regeneration in this build to keep yourself alive, and other weapons to keep enemies at bay. Once you have Gorgeous Moon, you can sit back and enjoy the experience gains.

5) Magic Protection Build

Weapon & Item Combinations:

  • Axe + Candelabrador – Death Spiral
  • Magic Wand + Empty Tome – Holy Wand
  • Runetracer + Armor – NO FUTURE
  • Garlic + Pummarola – Soul Eater
  • King Bible + Spellbinder – Unholy Vespers

Unmatched Weapons & Items:

  •  Laurel & Crown
Screenshot by Gamepur

This build is made to keep yourself alive rather than destroy all enemies. There’s enough damage sources to prevent yourself from falling, but you are also relying on Laurel to keep you safe from harm. Crown helps you build experience and get the other weapons faster. Soul Eater is preferred to keep enemies away and drain health if anyone gets too close.

6) Fast Enemy Takedown Build

Weapon & Item Combinations:

  • Knife + Bracer – Thousand Edge
  • Whip + Hollow Heart – Bloody Tear
    • Bloody Tear + Vento Sacro – Fuwalafuwaloo
  • King Bible + Spellbinder – Unholy Vespers
  • Magic Wand + Empty Tome – Holy Wand
  • Axe + Candelabrador – Death Spiral
  • Fire Wand + Spinach – Hellfire

Enemies can be difficult to take down, especially in stages such as the Dairy Plant, Gallo Tower, or Cappella Magna. This build is designed to cut through enemies in a straight line, while pushing other enemies back to allow you to focus on a target. Making Fuwalafuwaloo will help deal damage and heal you up. The other weapons either help you focus on a single target or push everyone back to keep you safe.

7) Reaper Survival Build

Weapon & Item Combinations:

  • Song of Mana + Skull O’Maniac – Mannajja
  • Whip + Hollow Heart – Bloody Tear
    • Bloody Tear + Vento Sacro – Fuwalafuwaloo (optional)
  • Magic Wand + Empty Tome – Holy Wand
  • Axe + Candelabrador – Death Spiral
  • Laurel + Metaglio Right + Metaglio Left – Crimson Shroud
  • Clock Lancet + Silver Ring + Gold Ring – Infinite Corridor
Screenshot by Gamepur

Tackling the Reapers at the endgame is relevant if you want to get some achievements, but they will instantly kill you after 30 minutes in a round if you don’t make the proper preparations. The Crimson Shroud and Infinite Corridor are necessary to keep you alive while you damage the Reapers with your other weapons. The weapon list provided will be able to keep you alive until 30 minutes, while dealing effective damage and effectively defeating other enemies.

8) Bouncing Weapon Build

Weapon & Item Combinations:

  • King Bible + Spellbinder – Unholy Vespers
  • Whip + Hollow Heart – Bloody Tear
    • Bloody Tear + Vento Sacro – Fuwalafuwaloo (optional)
  • Runetracer + Armor – NO FUTURE
  • Lightning Ring + Duplicator – Thunder Loop
  • Cross + Clover –  Heaven Sword (optional)

Unmatched Weapons & Items:

  • Crown with any of the following:
    • Bone
    • Cherry Bomb
    • Carrèllo
    • Celestial Dusting
    • La Robba

Some unlocked weapons are bouncing weapons that can hit multiple targets at once. They can be hard to find, which is why you need to set yourself up with other weapons to protect yourself in the meantime. Bloody Tear/Fuwalafuwaloo is there for healing, while Runetracer and Lightning Ring can bounce around the map. Cross is only there if you can only find one of the following bouncing weapons; you can replace it if you can find two. Crown helps to build experience quickly. King Bible is there to keep enemies away and deflect projectiles.

9) Best Defensive Build

Weapon & Item Combinations:

  • Song of Mana + Skull O’Maniac – Mannajja
  • Whip + Hollow Heart – Bloody Tear
    • Bloody Tear + Vento Sacro – Fuwalafuwaloo
  • King Bible + Spellbinder – Unholy Vespers
  • Axe + Candelabrador – Death Spiral
  • Garlic + Pummarola – Soul Eater
  • Fire Wand + Spinach – Hellfire
Screenshot by Gamepur

If you want the perfect build that maximizes safety, you can’t go wrong with these combinations. They are designed to keep enemies away or heal you, hitting multiple enemies around you at once. Once all weapons are fully evolved, you can even stand in one spot and let enemies come to you while you take care of real-life tasks like chores. If you want a more offensive version, replace Soul Eater with NO FUTURE.

10) Gradually Unstoppable Build

Weapon & Item Combinations:

  • Victory Sword + Torrona’s Box – Sole Solution
  • Flames of Misspell + Torrona’s Box – Ashes of Misspell
  • Bracelet > Bi-Bracelet > Tri-Bracelet
  • Fire Wand + Spinach – Hellfire (optional)
  • Magic Wand + Empty Tome – Holy Wand (optional)

Unmatched Weapons & Items:

  • Crown
  • Gatti Amari + Stone Mask – Vicious Hunger
  • Runetracer + Armor – NO FUTURE
  • Attractorb
  • Duplicator
  • Candelabrador
  • Wings

This build contains many late-game weapons and takes some time to build up. But once you have enough components, the weapons take off and are nearly unbeatable. Victory Sword, Bracelet, and Flames of Misspell are the only weapon you need. Torrona’s Box is needed to evolve both Victory Sword and Flames of Misspell, but that’s it. Everything else is an extra add-on that enhances the build or fills in an empty slot if you like.


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Author
Image of Kristi Jimenez
Kristi Jimenez
Kristi Jimenez is a Contributing Writer for Gamepur and has been covering video games since 2011 through Twitch and YouTube. She's also an indie game developer with multiple titles under her belt. Her interests outside of games include anime, creative writing, and musicals.