Vampire Survivors – Build Explanatory Guide

A look at builds and my thoughts/opinions on how to make one.

A Word on Builds

All credit goes to cuthla!

What Is a Build?

In the simplest terms, a build is your choices for a run in Vampire Survivors to help you get to the 30 minute point. That’s about as bare bones as it gets.

But Builds are also so much more then that. There’s so many factors to making a build these days it can be pretty daunting to make one to suit what you want to get done in a run. What do you want to do on the run? Who do you want to make the run with? What stage are you going to run? Is there a character you want to unlock on a run? Do you need gold so you can fill out your Power-ups so you have a leg up on your next run? On and on and on.

I’ve taken a look at builds as I’ve been learning the game and seen my fair share from ‘Eh… It gets the job done’ to ‘How the hell does that even work?!’ and all sorts in between. That’s part of the fun of builds. You’re really open to experimentation. What works for me may seem like a bad idea to the next person. But give it a try. who knows? maybe your’ll come up with a build that no one’s ever seen before.

How to Start (Putting the Build Together Before a Run)

Before a run even begins, you’re already putting a build together. On the character and stage select screens, you have three choices for the build that are:

• Character Selection.
• Stage Selection.
• Mode Selection.

Character selection is where you decide on your character and how many weapons to run with. But it’s not that simple. What would you like to have your build start with? Looking over the build menu, you have a lot to choose from. Want a lot of firepower? Gennaro, Mortaccio, and Yatta Cavallo are good places to start. Gold? Your boy Trouser has you covered. Rain elemental death on your enemies? Arca, Porta, and Clerici do that in spades. Crush everything under foot? Antonio and Lama are pretty partial to crushing their enemies. Love animals AND healing? O’Sole loves walks through enemy filled areas. Your character decides what flavor you want your build to have.

Stage selection lets you pick a place to hold the run. But does a bit more then that as well. Each stage has a list of enemies for you to fight over the 30 minutes the run takes, in waves one minute long each. Some stages will have waves that last longer. Some give more gold then others. All stages have floor items, minimum of 4. A stage can really help you buff a build up due to certain waves being much better for xp grinding and extra passives to make a build stronger then the six weapons/passives limit you can get for a build.

Mode selection happens right after you highlight the stage you want to run. Move the cursor to the left before confirming the stage.

Hyper makes the stage faster as well as earning more gold.

Hurry mode doubles the clock speed. The 30 minutes is actually 15 minutes now and you gain 25% extra xp as well.

Inverse flips the stage upside down and makes enemies have 200% max hp. Gold gains are increased by 200% as well. And the merchant will start selling skips, banishes, rerolls, and a extra Arcana.

Endless mode lets the stage continue past 30 minutes, The Reaper remembering it had doctor’s appointment. When 30 minutes is hit, the waves start back over at 0 and the merchant shows back up , selling +1 Revial in place of golden eggs.

Arcanas and Limit Break can be turned on and off at this point as well.

Leveling a Build (Weapon and Passives Choices)

Now that you picked your character, stage, and mode/modes for the run, it’s time to assemble the build. You start with just the character’s starting weapon. As you level, you’ll want to look over the weapons and passives to decide how you want to complete the build.

Example time. Let’s say I want to run Gains on Capella Magna. He’s a Growth monster character that starts with a evolved weapon. The Heaven’s Sword isn’t the best evolved weapon, but it does crit and and covers a decent amount of area. So I want to capitalize on that.

Going with Acanas, there’s a few good choices available. Going with damage, I’ll pick Slash. Heaven’s Sword will start doing X4 crit damage. Crit damage sounds good. I think I’ll capitalize even more on this. I won’t have to worry about levels cause Gains will be leveling fast due to his passive. By the time he hits level 25, he’ll have gained 50 Growth, the amount of a fully leveled Crown.

Now, crit hits are dependent on Luck. So I’ll keep a eye out for Clover. I’ll keep a eye out for Spinach as well. For the next eleven minutes, I’ll focus on filling out the build. since I’m wanting crits for the Heaven’s Sword, I’ll grab a few more.

Knife, Ax, and Whip will let me have more control where I’m attacking, moving Heaven’s Sword into a support role. I think I’ll evolve them as well. So I want Bracer, Candelabra, Hollow Heart, and Attractorb. the extra hp and pierce from the evolved weapons and Hollow Heart will do nicely, as will the Speed and Area while Attractorb helps feed Gains’ passive. but I think I want ALL the xp. So I’ll grab Pentagram. I’m going after Gorgeous Moon. So I better get Crown off the ground, since I’m already full up on Passives, which will fill out the build. Dupe and Tirgisu are just there so might as well get them. Since I’m playing Gains, I should have leveled way faster then normal.

So when 11 minutes hits, I should have most the build done. Since I want all the xp, I’m going to go Mad Groove. Which will help me get any floor items as well. I’ll wait a little to make sure I have Knife evolved. I’ll need it to polish off the Guardians. I’ll grab the Metaglio Left and Silver Ring. I’ll discard the other two since I don’t want any Curse. I’ll grab them one at a time so the Guardians can’t overwhelm me.

I got some time to kill. so I’ll stay put for a bit. Gains should keep leveling decently as Gorgeous Moon and Mad Groove grab off screen xp and all items every two minutes.

Minute 21. What do I want for the last Arcana. I already got the ones that matter most for damage and xp gathering. So I’ll go for Heart Of Fire for the ring of booms when Mad Groove goes off. Now just have to get to 30 minutes, not too hard to do with all the piercing doing on with the build. But the run will end at 30. I have nothing to combat The Reaper. So when it shows up, I’ll just quit out

Build Synergy with Modes

Now that you’ve made it this far, let’s talk about how to adjust a build to deal with the modes you may want to run. The modes you run will have to be adjusted for with your build. Hyper is the easiest. You don’t have to change much. Things just get faster and you get extra gold for your effort. Hurry means you have to take in account the stage will be done faster. Which means tougher waves may hit you before you’re ready. You’ll be getting extra xp gain, so hopefully you won’t be caught off guard or under powered. Inverse takes the most to ready for. Every enemy having a extra 200% hp makes even the waves under 10 minutes a bit of a pain as the scaling is heaping even more hp on the enemies. As the run goes on, you need to keep your damage up to keep with the enemies as they keep getting progressively tankier.

I’ll run through how I adjust a build given what modes I run so you can get a idea of what to look for as you make runs. I’ll use the Queen due to her fixed stats and over all versatility and I’ll be running the Holy Trinity build.

Normal Six Weapon build

Hyper on. no Hurry, Inverse, Limit Break, and Arcanas

Since the Queen is the character being used, damage and xp shouldn’t be a issue due to her gaining 1% Might and Growth per level.

For weapons, 4 slots will be filled for certain. Victory Sword, her starting weapon. Then the Holy Trinity, Garlic/Bible/Santa Water. Since this is a normal build, I’ll be evolving everything. so I’ll need Attractorb, Pummarola, Spellbinder, and Torrona’s Box.

The other two weapons and passives are pretty much up for grabs. So I think Magic Wand and Pentagram will fill out the weapons nicely. And Endless Tome and Crown are picked up as well.

Stage don’t realty matter for the Queen. No need to worry about Arcanas since they’re not turned on. And with the Queen’s passives, she won’t be lacking for damage and xp. and the Victory Sword will be doing just as much heavy lifting as the Holy Trinity. it don’t hurt to drop a galaxy on the stage as well.

Six Weapon Arcana build

Hyper and Arcanas on. No Hurry, Inverse, or Limit Break.

Build pretty much stays the same. but now it’s time to pick Arcanas. she has 5 to pick. Victory Sword benefits nicely from Slash, even more so once it’s leveled to 8. but I think I’ll banish level 12. Sole Solution slows the Queen down some, not a lot, but enough. So I want to make sure xp gain is staying consistent. next up I’m thinking Chaos In The Dark Night. To make the 70% cooldown reduction really pack a punch. For a little fun, Jail of Crystal and Out Of Bounds are next. Got Magic/Holy Wand. Might as well pump it up more. Then cause I’m feeling lazy, I’ll grab Mad Groove.

Four Weapon Arcana build

Hyper, Inverse, and Arcanas on. No Hurry and Limit Break.

Biggest difference with this build is Bible is swapped out for Laurel and no weapons will be evolved except for Laurel. Passives will also be a set I use due to it being handy. So Attractorb, Endless Tome, Candelabra, Torrona’s Box, Skull, and Crown. Santa Water will be banished at 8 and Victory Sword at 12. with a visit to the merchant, the Queen will have 6 Arcanas. First off the bat is Wicked Season, then Divine Bloodline. This is why only Laurel is being evolved. Divine Bloodline don’t effect any weapons listed on it that get evolved. After that, Slash then Chaos In The Dark Night. For fun, Heart Of Fire is picked at level 77 to now triple up on Retaliation damage, as well as the explosions for breaking open touches. And last at 108 is Silent Old Sanctuary. The Might it gives don’t mean anything. But what is wanted is the 16% cooldown, bringing the Queen down to 86%, the cooldown for Laurel to make the Queen immortal. And evolved, Bloody Cloak will start blowing up and helping Divine Bloodline start gaining hp faster, even with Santa Water making a nice ring around her and Garlic with its’…. damage. Mostly have Garlic for the knockback it increases.