Vampire Survivors Weapons Guide – Let Me Show You The Tools Of The Trade

If there’s one thing more satisfying than surviving the onslaught of hellish hordes, it’s slaying them in style! With an enormous arsenal of over thirty weapons, there’s something for everyone in Vampire Survivors.

With so many choices, it should be no surprise that some items are simply better than others. One weapon may quickly destroy groups of enemies while another tickles them to death.

In this Vampire Survivors weapons guide, I’ll explain everything you need to know about weapons in Vampire Survivors, along with an overview of the entire arsenal and Evo recipes. If you’ve got what it takes to survive, let’s begin.

Bottom Line Up Front

As long as you can deal with threats at all ranges, you can be very creative with your choices in Vampire Survivors.

Many of the strongest weapons in the game are available right at the start. If you can grab the Clock Lancet and Runetracer early on, you can begin almost every run on the right foot. Experimenting with unique combinations is fun, even if it ends a run with a loss, so I recommend trying the whackiest builds you can imagine!

A Quick Introduction To Weapons In Vampire Survivors

One of Vampire Survivors’ greatest assets is its simplicity, which rings true for most systems in the game, including weapons.

Weapons fire automatically in Vampire Survivors, and your only influence over them is your movement and Passive Item choices. Your Inventory only has space for 6 Weapons and 6 Passive Items, and you get to pick from a random assortment of these every time you level up. The most valuable skill to learn is what weapons synergize with each other and what Passive Items you need to complement them.

If you don’t pick a new addition when you level up, you can rank up an item you own instead. As the saying goes, we’re after quality over quantity, so a couple of high-rank weapons is always better than a full set of weak ones.

Most weapons are part of a combination or ‘Evo,’ which grants a massive power boost and usually changes how the weapon behaves. These Evos are so strong you usually only need a couple to survive the entire run.

How To Unlock Weapons

Unlocking most weapons is self-explanatory, but some are tied to specific characters. To unlock those weapons for the rest of the cast, you usually have to survive with that character for 15mins.

You can attempt this on any stage, but I recommend the Inlaid Library. The Inlaid Library is the 2nd stage in the game and is a long horizontal corridor.

Enemy spawns are predictable, and aside from the infrequent exploding ghost, there’s nothing too scary to deal with. Other weapons unlock once you’ve completed specific tasks, and you’ll do most of these through regular play.

Welcome To The Armory

In this section, I’ll give a brief overview of every base weapon in Vampire Survivors, including how to unlock them and what Evo (if any) they belong to.

I’ve assigned every weapon a rating out of 10. Some weapons are far better than others or are part of game-changing Evo recipes. If you’re a new player, the highest-rated weapons will have the biggest impact on your runs and, hopefully, take you to the finish line.

As explained above, many weapons are tied to their owners. If you’re after a specific weapon, check out its owner’s unlock condition in the Unlockables menu.

Whip

• Unlock: N/A
• Evo: Bloody Tear
• Recipe: Whip + Hollow Heart
• Rating: 4/10

The Whip is the very first weapon you’ll see in Vampire Survivors, paying homage to the Castlevania games. I love those games as much as anyone, but the Whip sucks!

This weapon has poor range and only hits a small area in front of your character. At max rank, it does decent damage but pales compared to other better weapons.

Magic Wand

• Unlock: N/A
• Evo: Holy Wand
• Recipe: Magic Wand + Empty Tome
• Rating: 8/10

The Magic Wand is a decent weapon that offers something rare in Vampire Survivors; targeting. The Magic Wand always attacks the closest enemy making it ideal for killing bosses. As you rank up the Magic Wand, it gains extra projectiles which can pierce multiple enemies.

The Empty Tome makes the Magic Wand feel like a laser as it reduces cooldown between shots. Overall, a great weapon that’s viable everywhere.

Knife

• Unlock: N/A
• Evo: Thousand Edge
• Recipe: Knife + Bracer
• Rating 6/10

The Knife starts as a weak, single-shot weapon that launches a projectile in the same direction as the player is moving. Fortunately, it quickly gets stronger through ranking up and gains more projectiles and a piercing effect. Increasing your ‘Amount’ stat (with the Duplicator, for example) adds more shots to the attack.

This changes the weapon from a wimpy spray into a flurry of powerful blades. The Knife is decent if you are okay with walking toward your enemies to hit them.

Axe

• Unlock: N/A
• Evo: Death Spiral
• Recipe: Axe + Candelabrador
• Rating 9/10

The Axe is a great weapon that throws large, high-damage projectiles into the air above the player. As it ranks up, the Axe throws more projectiles that can hit multiple foes.

As each Axe is so big, they benefit from any ‘Area’ increases (conveniently, the Candelabrador is perfect for this). This is a great weapon and a welcome answer to enemies attacking from above.

King Bible

• Unlock: N/A
• Evo: Unholy Vespers
• Recipe: King Bible + Spellbinder
• Rating: 7/10

The King Bibles orbit around the player dealing decent damage and knockback to anything they hit. Their speed and size increase as they rank up to the point where they become a defensive wall. The Bibles pair nicely with close-range AoE weapons like Garlic but also benefit from long-range support.

Be wary of any ‘Area’ increases. Usually, Area increases projectile size, but for the King Bibles, it pushes them further away from the player.

Santa Water

• Unlock: N/A
• Evo: La Borra
• Recipe: Santa Water + Attractorb
• Rating: 9/10

Santa Water is a great AoE attack that hurls bottles of holy water at the ground, forming damaging puddles. More puddles are formed when the weapon ranks up. These puddles aren’t precise, but they typically land near the player and always provide value.

I usually grab Santa Water for one reason, La Borra. The Evo makes these damaging puddles follow the player, and Attractorb is my most used item in the game. If you want a high-damage, low-effort weapon, you can’t go wrong with Santa Water.

Laurel

• Unlock: N/A
• Evo: Crimson Shroud
• Recipe: Laurel + Metaglio Left + Metaglio Right
• Rating: 5/10

Laurel is a defensive weapon offering temporary invincibility after taking hits. At higher ranks, Laurel gains additional charges and a shorter cooldown timer, making it an excellent survivability tool. If you’re slaying enemies left and right, it can be hard to see Laurel’s value, but it can keep you alive in a pinch.

Cross

• Unlock: Find A Rosary
• Evo: Heaven Sword
• Recipe: Cross + Clover
• Rating: 6/10

The Cross will be one of your earliest unlocks, as all you need to do is find a Rosary. These are found in Light Sources like lamps and torches. The Cross feels a little unwieldy, but it does decent damage. It also increases in size and launches more projectiles when ranked up.

The projectiles launch at the closest enemy, then fling across the screen in the opposite direction dealing damage to everything they hit.

Clock Lancet

• Unlock: Find an Orologion
• Evo: Infinite Corridor
• Recipe: Clock Lancet + Gold Ring + Silver Ring
• Rating: 10/10

Clock Lancet is a mighty weapon that freezes enemies in place. The freezing effect doesn’t hurt, but it makes enemies vulnerable, and while frozen, they do no damage to the player. This means if you’re being swarmed, the Clock Lancet can carve a safe path out of the situation.

There’s no other item or weapon in Vampire Survivors that does anything like this, cementing Clock Lancet as the best utility item in the game.

Fire Wand

• Unlock: Destroy 20 Light Sources
• Evo: Hellfire
• Recipe: Fire Wand + Spinach
• Rating: 5/10

The standard Fire Wand is tough to get value from because it targets random enemies. There’s no way to influence it, and the projectiles are so slow they sometimes miss entirely. Even at max rank, the Fire Wand suffers from the same issue, but it does hit much harder. The Fire Wands’ one saving grace is its Evo.

Garlic

• Unlock: Eat 5 Floor Chickens
• Evo: Soul Eater
• Recipe: Garlic + Pummarola
• Rating: 3/10

Garlic surrounds the player in a small aura that deals damage and knocks enemies back. Early on, you can mow down hordes of enemies, but once your opponents go beyond a certain point (usually mid-run), Garlic’s effectiveness takes a massive hit.

This weapon is a beginner’s trap and cannot deal with late-game threats. Unless you’re going for the Evo or are pairing it with something like King Bibles, there are far better weapons.

Runetracer

• Unlock: Survive 5mins as Pasqualina
• Evo: NO FUTURE
• Recipe: Runetracer + Armor
• Rating: 10/10

Runetracer is incredible and many players’ first taste of a run-defining weapon. Runetracer fires powerful bolts in random directions that pierce enemies and bounce off walls. At max rank, Runetracer fires even more projectiles that last longer and do a ton of damage.

This weapon pairs nicely with Armor and combines to make NO FUTURE. Basically, the Runetracer with everything dialed to 11 with added explosions.

Lightning Ring

• Unlock: Defeat 5000 enemies
• Evo: Thunder Loop
• Recipe: Lightning Ring + Duplicator
• Rating: 10/10

Lightning Ring is an excellent damage dealer despite the lack of targeting. Lightning Ring summons bolts of lightning to strike at random. The Area of impact deals lingering damage for a short while after the lightning disappears, and their size increases through ranking up.

It can be tough to get value out of weapons you can’t aim, but the Lightning Ring hits so often for so much damage it’s not a problem. Thunder Loop is also widely regarded as one of the best Evos in the game, which is a nice bonus.

Peachone

• Unlock: Survive 10mins with any character
• Evo: Vandalier
• Recipe: Peachone + Ebony Wings
• Rating: 6/10

Peachone summons a white bird that drops projectiles in a small area that rotates around the player. The damage is respectable, but as Peachone turns slowly, it can be hard to aim.

This item is unique as once you achieve its Evo, both weapons fuse together, freeing up a slot. Peachone truly shines when combined with Ebony Wings, and this unity should be your top priority.

Ebony Wings

• Unlock: Rank up Peachone to Level 7 for the first time.
• Evo: Vandalier
• Recipe: Peachone + Ebony Wings
• Rating: 6/10

Ebony Wings is functionally identical to Peachone. The only difference is the color of the projectiles and the reversed rotation. Like with Peachone, Ebony Wings is fine, but you really want it for its Vandalier unity.

Pentagram

• Unlock: Survive 20mins with any character
• Evo: Gorgeous Moon
• Recipe: Pentagram + Crown
• Rating 2/10

This may be a hot take, but I can’t stand this weapon. Pentagram periodically destroys every enemy on the screen, but there’s one massive problem.

It eliminates the gems they would drop as well. No gems mean no EXP, and no EXP means you die. By ranking up, gems have less chance to vanish, but it’s not worth the hassle unless you already have an established build.

Phiera Der Tuphello

• Unlock: Survive 10mins with Pugnala Provola
• Evo: Phieraggi
• Recipe: Phiera Der Tuphello + Eight The Sparrow + Tiragisu
• Rating: 8/10

Phiera Der Tuphello unleashes a barrage of bullets toward the corners of the screen. These barrages are fast and can be morphed into an almost constant stream with Cooldown reduction.

As the weapon ranks up, more bullets are added to each barrage. This weapon provides decent damage that’s easy to control and works perfectly alongside Eight The Sparrow, the other set of pistols.

Eight The Sparrow

• Unlock: Survive 15mins with Pugnala Provola
• Evo: Phieraggi
• Recipe: Phiera Der Tuphello + Eight The Sparrow + Tiragisu
• Rating: 8/10

Eight The Sparrow is very similar to Phiera Der Tuphello, the only noticeable difference being the projectile color. Like its counterpart, this is a good damage dealer with a predictable pattern. Eight The Sparrow is one of the rare weapons with 3 items in its Evo.

The resulting weapon is absolutely worth it if you can pull it off, and it will put you in a great position to win the entire run.

Gatti Amari

• Unlock: Survive 15mins with Giovanna Grana
• Evo: Vicious Hunger
• Recipe: Gatti Amari + Stone Mask
• Rating: 7/10

Gatti Amari summons cats to attack your foes; what more do you need to know? Seriously though, Gatti Amari is an odd weapon because the cats seem to wander around aimlessly, damaging enemies and even the player at times.

The damage looks too spread out to be helpful, but the end screen usually tells a different story. If I take Gatti Amari, it often ends up as my highest-damage weapon. You’d be wise not to underestimate these fluffy terrors.

Song Of Mana

• Unlock: Survive 15mins with Poppea Pecorina
• Evo: Mannajja
• Recipe: Song Of Mana + Skull O’Maniac
• Rating: 8/10

Song Of Mana unleashes a tremendous shock wave that hits enemies above and below the player. This weapon deals good damage and hits a much wider area when fully ranked up. Curiously, the weapon speed slows down the higher level it is, but the shockwave lasts longer.

This is a great weapon to add to your build if you need something to deal with foes on the vertical plane, and it makes some maps (like Gallo Tower) a cakewalk.

Shadow Pinion

• Unlock: Survive 15mins with Concetta Caciotta
• Evo: Valkyrie Turner
• Recipe: Shadow Pinion + Wings
• Rating: 6/10

This is a powerful weapon, but its unique firing mechanic is a bit like Marmite. You’ll either love it or hate it. Shadow Pinion fires drill-tipped spears toward where the player is facing but only when you stop. This means you need to stand still every time you want to shoot.

Honestly, I can’t stand this, and it’s a shame because Shadow Pinion deals great damage and the Valkyrie Turner Evo is excellent. If you don’t mind the movement, it’s a good choice.

Vento Sacro

• Unlock: Survive 15mins with Zi’Assunta Belpaese
• Evo: Fuwalafulwaloo
• Recipe: Vento Sacro + Bloody Tear
• Rating: 7/10

For any Whip fans I upset earlier, let me make amends with Vento Sacro, the better Whip. Gameplay-wise, Vento Sacro is very similar to the Whip, but it hits harder and can land critical hits, which are affected by your Luck stat.

Vento Sacro deals more damage if you’re constantly moving, and if you’re playing aggressively, you can hit enemies in front of you extremely hard. A deadly weapon for close-range combat.

Bone

• Unlock: Unlock Mortaccio
• Evo: Anima of Mortaccio
• Recipe: Bone + Chaos Malachite
• Rating: 6/10

The Bone is an odd weapon that throws bouncing bones in random directions. This weapon feels incredibly weak early on but once ranked up, the damage starts to add up as the bones stay on the map longer.

Increasing the Duration stat with something like the Spellbinder makes each Bone hit dozens of enemies before disappearing, offering a significant power boost. The Bone isn’t the most potent weapon in the game, but it’s fun and functional if you build for it.

Cherry Bomb

• Unlock: Unlock Cavallo
• Evo: N/A
• Recipe: N/A
• Rating: 5/10

Cherry Bomb feels like false advertising, as the bombs don’t always explode. The explosion chance can be increased through ranking up and with the Clover, but the weapon is underwhelming until that point. If you can make it work, you’re rewarded with explosions everywhere that vaporize your foes.

Cherry Bomb excels on maps with plenty of walls, like the Library or Dairy, but it’s much worse elsewhere. Sadly, this makes the Cherry Bomb a niche pick, even if it’s fun.

Carrello

• Unlock: Unlock Ramba
• Evo: N/A
• Recipe N/A
• Rating: 5/10

If you thought those mine carts on the Dairy stage were cool, how do you fancy being able to summon them wherever you go? Carrello is a late-game unlock and lets you spawn minecarts to crush your enemies. The minecart also explodes after its journey for good measure.

Carrello is another fun but niche weapon, as it doesn’t have an Evo and has limited uses. If you’re a fan, I recommend pairing Carrello with the Candelabrador to make giant carts!

Celestial Dusting

• Unlock: Unlock O’Sole
• Evo: N/A
• Recipe: N/A
• Rating: 4/10

Celestial Dusting fires flowers that pierce enemies and bounce off walls. At max rank, their flight speed is dramatically increased, and defeated enemies have a chance to drop small health pickups.

Unfortunately, for as unique as the weapon is, Celestial Dusting doesn’t do very much unless your entire build is propping it up. With no Evo and lackluster damage, this weapon is a hard sell.

La Robba

• Unlock: Unlock Ambrojoe
• Evo: N/A
• Recipe: N/A
• Rating: 8/10

Yes, this is based on a Kinder Egg! La Robba is another gimmick weapon, but this one packs a punch and deals respectable damage. La Robba drops giant pieces of furniture onto enemies, and the higher the rank, the more furniture appears.

Most of these Evo-less weapons lack damage, but La Robba is an exception. It’s a fun weapon and can kick out damage with the best of them.

Greatest Jubilee

• Unlock: Defeat the Director
• Evo: N/A
• Recipe: N/A
• Rating: 10/10

This weapon is a fitting reward for beating one of the hardest tasks in Vampire Survivors. The in-game description says, “Has a chance to summon light sources,” but it does so much more than that!

The Greatest Jubilee spawns fireworks all over the screen that do tremendous damage. You unlock the ‘Finisher’ at max rank, which sets the screen’s bottom permanently ablaze. Trust me, this weapon doesn’t need an Evo to net you wins.

Bracelet

• Unlock: Survive 30mins as Divano Thelma or Gallo Valletto
• Evo: Tri-Bracelet
• Recipe: Bracelet + Bi-Bracelet
• Rating: 5/10

The Bracelet is the only weapon in the game that Evos with itself. Taking it to max rank grants the Bi-Bracelet Evo, and doing it again makes the Tri-Bracelet.

The Bracelet fires smokey shots at random nearby enemies, and rank-ups make the effect more powerful and add more projectiles. More powerful weapons are available, but as the Evo doesn’t require another item, it’s the perfect way to fill a spare slot.

Candy Box

• Unlock: Discover every standard Evo.
• Evo: N/A
• Recipe: N/A
• Rating: 10/10

Candy Box is an incredibly rare item that lets you pick any standard weapon to add to your build. The best part is that it still gives you the weapon on top if you’ve already filled your inventory. There’s not much to say about this one, it’ll usually never show up, but it’s always good when it does.

Victory Sword

• Unlock: Defeat 100,000 enemies as Queen Sigma
• Evo: N/A
• Recipe/ N/A
• Rating: 10/10

This is absolute end-game content, and it’s a shame that most players won’t stick around long enough to see it. The Victory Sword has obnoxious unlock requirements, with Queen Sigma being the last character most players get.

For your time, you’re rewarded with a great weapon that hits so hard it can kill enemies you thought were invincible before. The Victory Sword has 12 ranks, the highest in the game, and a win is basically guaranteed when you have it. At this point, you earned it.

Flames Of Musspell

• Unlock: Unlock Avatar Infernas
• Evo: Ashes of Muspell
• Recipe: Flames Of Muspell + Torrona’s Box
• Rating: 5/10

For such a late-game weapon, it’s a shame that the Flames of Musspell fails to deliver. This weapon emits a short-range fire blast that burns nearby enemies to a crisp. The biggest problem is how much time there is between blasts.

Without cooldown reduction, you’re forced to wait a painful amount of time between shots, and that drops the Flames Of Musspell from a strong damage dealer to a support weapon. Not bad, but underwhelming considering its unlock requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Useful Resources

• Many Evos are game-changing. If you’re looking for in-depth info on every combination in the game, check out my Evo guide.
• Avatar Infernas is required to unlock the Flames Of Muspell. It can be earned with a spell or by following complex steps in the Inverse Inlaid Library. You can view the unlock methods on the wiki.

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Anthony Yates

Anthony is a content writer who is also a competitive gamer. He plays and streams a variety of retro games. He spent hours exploring the indie gaming world and learning its mechanics. He knows how to complete challenges, and creates strategies for different playthroughs. In his spare time, he enjoys cosplaying and creating assets for events and Cons.

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