Vampire Survivors - Ultimate Basic Guide (Weapons, Passive Boosts, Characters etc.)

All information from the in-game achievements / collection tabs in one location (with a few additional notes).

Contents

Definitive Guide to Basics

Definitive Guide to Basics

Weapons

Whip – Attacks horizontally, passes through enemies.
Ignores: speed, duration.

Bloody Tear – Evolved Whip. Can deal critical damage and absorb HP.
Requires: Hollow Heart

Magic Wand – Fires at the nearest enemy.
Ignores: duration.

Holy Wand – Evolved Magic Wand. Fires with no delay.
Requires: Empty Tome.

Knife – Fires quickly in the faced direction.
Ignores: duration.

Thousand Edge – Evolved Knife. Fires with no delay.
Requires: Bracer.

Axe – High damage, high Area scaling.
Ignores: duration.

Death Spiral – Evolved Axe. Passes through enemies.
Requires: Candelabrador.

Cross – Aims at nearest enemy, has boomerang effect.
Ignores: duration.
Unlocked by: Find a Rosary. (drops from breaking light sources)

Heaven Sword – Evolved Cross. Can deal critical damage.
Requires: Clover

King Bible – Orbits around the character.
Best with: speed, duration, area.

Unholy Vespers – Evolved King Bible. Never ends.
Requires: Spellbinder.

Fire Wand – Fires at a random enemy, deals heavy damage.
Ignores: duration.
Unlocked by: Destroy 20 light sources.

Hellfire – Evolved Fire Wand. Passes through enemies.
Requires: Spinach

Peachone – Bombards in a circling zone.
Best with: cooldown, duration.
Unlocked by: Survive 10 minutes with any character.

Ebony Wings – Bombards in a circling zone.
Best with: cooldown, duration.
Unlocked by: Get Peachone to Level 7.

Santa Water – Generates damaging zones.
Ignores: speed

Runetracer – Passes through enemies, bounces around.
Best with: speed, duration.
Unlocked by: Survive 5 minutes with Pasqualina.

Lightning Ring – Strikes at random enemies.
Ignores: speed, duration.
Unlocked by: Defeat a total of 5000 enemies.

Garlic – Damages nearby enemies.
Ignores: cooldown, duration, speed.
Unlocked by: Find 5 Floor Chickens.

Pentagram – Erases everything in sight.
Best with: cooldown and luck only.
Unlocked by: Survive 20 minutes with any character.

Clock Lancet – Chance to freeze enemies in time.
Ignores: power, speed, amount, area.
Unlocked by: Find a Orologion. (drops from breaking light sources)

Laurel – Shields from damage when active.
Best with: cooldown only.

Bone – Throws a bouncing projectile.
Best with: duration, speed.
Only usable by Mortaccia (starting weapon).

Passive Boosts

Spinach – Raises inflicted damage by 10%.

Armor – Reduces incoming damage by 1.

Hollow Heart – Augments max health by 10%.
Unlocked by: Survive 1 minute with any character.

Pummarola – Character recovers 0.1 HP per second.
Unlocked by: Survive 5 minutes with Gennaro.

Empty Tome – Reduces weapons cooldown by 8%.
Unlocked by: Hold 6 different weapons at once.

Candelabrador – Augments area of attacks by 10%.
Unlocked by: Get Santa Water to Level 4.

Bracer – Increases projectiles speed by 10%.
Unlocked by: Get King Bible to Level 4.

Spell Binder – Increases duration of weapon effects by 10%.
Unlocked by: Get Runetracer to Level 7.

Duplicator – Weapons fire more projectiles.
Unlocked by: Get Magic Wand to Level 7.

Wings – Character moves 10% faster.
Unlocked by: Reaching Level 5 with any character.

Attractorb – Character pickups items from further away.
Unlocked by: Find a Vacuum (drops from breaking light sources)

Clover – Character gets 10% luckier.
Unlocked by: Find a Little Clover (drops from breaking light sources)

Crown – Character gains 7% more experience.
Unlocked by: Reaching Level 10 with any character.

Stone Mask – Character earns 10% more coins.
Unlocked by: Find a Stone Mask (Found in Library in top alcove sections rarely)

Characters

Antonio – Starting Weapon: Whip
Passive: Attacks deal 10% more damage every 10 levels (max +50%) (Lvl 50)

Available from beginning, purchased with gold

Imelda – Starting Weapon: Magic Wand
Passive: Gains 10% more experience every 5 levels (max +30%). (Lvl 15)

Pasqualina – Starting weapon: Runetracer
Passive: Projectiles get 10% faster every 5 levels (max +30%). (Lvl 30)

Gennaro – Starting weapon: Knife
Passive: Permanent +1 projectile (all weapons).

Unlocked with Achievement, then purchased with gold.

Mortaccia – Starting Weapon: Bone
Passive: Gets more projectiles every 20 levels (max+3) (Lvl 60)
Unlocked by: Defeat a total of 3000 skeletons.

Poe – Starting Weapon: Garlic
Passive: Permanent +25% pickup radius and =30 max health.
Unlocked by: Get Garlic to Level 7.

Porta – Starting Weapon: Lightning Ring
Passive: Permanent +30% area. Starts with temporarily reduced cooldown (so Lightning Ring kills faster).
Unlocked by: Get Lightning Ring to Level 4.

Arca – Starting Weapon: Fire Wand.
Passive: Weapon cooldown is reduced by 5% every 10 levels. (max -15%) (Lvl 30)
Unlocked by: Get Fire Wand to Level 4.

Maps

Hyper Mad Forest – Defeat the giant Blue Venus in the Mad Forest.
Inlaid Library – Reach Level 20 in Mad Forest.
Hyper Inlaid Library – Defeat the Nesuferit in the Inlaid Library.

Beginner Tips

This is opinion from my playing experience.

Play however until you unlock Garlic (5 Floor Chickens), Hollow Heart (Live 1 minute), and Empty Tome (Equip 6 weapons). Then start trying to follow this tier-list for building a powerful character (asterisks denote that item needs unlocking).

Antonio: Starting weapon – Whip

Weapons

Best picks: Garlic, King Bible, Magic Wand, Laurel
OK Picks: Axe (best 6th weapon if evolved with Candelabrador), Cross, Runetracer
Poor picks: Fire Wand, Knife, Peachone, Ebony Wings, Santa Water, Lightning Ring
Worst picks: Clock Lancet, Pentagram

Passives

Best picks: Spinach, Spellbinder (evolving King Bible), Empty Tome (evolving Magic Wand)
Good picks: Duplicator / Crown / Attractorb
OK Picks: Hollow Heart (evolving whip) / Bracer / Candelabrador (higher if using axe)
Poor picks: Clover / Stone Mask
Worst picks: Wings / Armor / Pummarola