Who is the best character for beginners in Vampire Survivors?

Imelda Belpaese. She costs only 10 gold, her Magic Wand fires at the nearest enemy so you can focus on moving, and she gains +10% experience every 5 levels up to +30%. More experience means faster level-based stage unlocks. Gennaro (500 gold, +1 projectile on all weapons) is the other strong early pick, though the wiki notes his edge fades in the mid and late game.

What PowerUps should I buy first?

Start with the cheap, always-useful ranks: Might (+5% damage, 200 gold), Max Health (+10%, 200), Greed (+10% gold, 200), Magnet (300) and Recovery (200). Then Armor and Area. Save up for Amount (+1 projectile for every weapon, 5,000). Avoid Curse early — it makes enemies faster, tougher and more numerous.

How do I evolve weapons?

Level a base weapon to its maximum (8 for the starting weapons), carry its paired passive item, and pick up a treasure chest from a boss. In most stages only bosses from the 10-minute mark onward drop chests that can evolve. For the classic base-game pairs (Whip + Hollow Heart, Magic Wand + Empty Tome, and so on) the passive just has to be in your inventory.

How do I unlock new stages?

Reach level 20 in Mad Forest to unlock Inlaid Library, level 40 in Inlaid Library for Dairy Plant, level 60 in Dairy Plant for Gallo Tower, and level 80 in Gallo Tower for Cappella Magna. You do not need to survive the full 30 minutes.

What happens at 30 minutes?

The Reaper appears and ends the run, but you get a 500 gold bonus for reaching the time limit. That is the normal way a successful run ends, not a failure.

When do Arcanas unlock?

Arcanas unlock when you pick up the Randomazzo relic, which lies far to the north of the start in Gallo Tower. You cannot use them before that, so they are not part of your first runs.

Vampire Survivors Beginner Guide — First Runs and Tips

Vampire Survivors looks like a game about reflexes, but the first hours are really about unlocks. Almost everything — new stages, characters, weapons and the passive items that evolve weapons — is unlocked by doing something specific inside a run: reaching a level, surviving a set time, getting a weapon to a certain level, or picking up an item from a brazier. Play randomly and you will unlock things slowly; play with the unlock list in mind and the game opens up within a few sessions.

This guide starts with the plan, then explains the reasoning behind each part of it.

Your first runs: the plan

Run	Character	Take first	Goal of the run	Spend gold on
1	Antonio (Whip)	Whip levels, then a second weapon that covers a different direction (Magic Wand, King Bible or Santa Water)	Survive 1 minute (unlocks Hollow Heart), reach level 5 and 10 (Wings, Crown), break braziers	Imelda (10 gold), then Might and Max Health
2–3	Imelda (Magic Wand)	Magic Wand to level 8; add King Bible and Santa Water and get each to level 4	Reach level 20 in Mad Forest (unlocks Inlaid Library). King Bible lv4 unlocks Bracer; Santa Water lv4 unlocks Candelabrador	Greed, Magnet, Recovery, more Might
4–6	Imelda or Antonio	One base weapon to 8 plus its passive: Whip + Hollow Heart, or Santa Water + Attractorb once unlocked	First evolution from a boss chest after 10:00; hold 6 weapons at once once (unlocks Empty Tome)	Pasqualina (100) and Gennaro (500), Armor, Area
7+	Gennaro, Pasqualina or your favourite	Your chosen evolution pair, then a second pair	Level 40 in Inlaid Library (unlocks Dairy Plant); survive 5 min with Pasqualina and Gennaro for new items	Save for Amount (5,000)

Stage unlocks are based on level, not survival time: level 20 in Mad Forest opens Inlaid Library, level 40 there opens Dairy Plant, level 60 there opens Gallo Tower and level 80 in Gallo Tower opens Cappella Magna. A run where you die at minute 18 at level 22 still counts.

Which character to play first

You start with only Antonio Belpaese. The others in the starting roster are unlocked by default but have to be bought with gold, and each purchase raises the price of the next character.

Imelda Belpaese — Magic Wand, 10 gold The best early purchase in the game. The Magic Wand fires at the nearest enemy, so you can concentrate on movement. She gains +10% experience every 5 levels (up to +30%), and because stage unlocks are level-based, extra experience directly speeds up your progress. Gennaro Belpaese — Knife, 500 gold +1 projectile on every weapon from the start and +20 Max Health. That one extra projectile is the same bonus as the 5,000-gold Amount PowerUp. The wiki notes his advantage fades in the mid and late game, but that is exactly when you no longer need help.

Antonio Belpaese — Whip, free +20 Max Health, +1 Armor and +10% Might every 10 levels (up to +50%). Durable and scales steadily. The Whip only hits sideways, so you have to manage your facing. Pasqualina Belpaese — Runetracer, 100 gold Faster projectiles. Worth buying mainly because surviving 5 minutes with her unlocks the Runetracer weapon, and Runetracer at level 7 unlocks Spellbinder — the passive for King Bible's evolution.

Arca (Fire Wand) and Porta (Lightning Ring) appear once you get those weapons to level 4; Poe after Garlic reaches level 7; Suor Clerici after recovering 1,000 HP in total; Dommario after earning 5,000 gold in one run. You do not need to chase these — most come naturally while you play. Rankings for the whole roster, including the late-game scalers, are in the Character Tier List.

How evolution actually works

Evolutions are the single biggest power spike in a run, so understand the rules before your first serious attempt.

1

Max the base weapon

The starting weapons (Whip, Magic Wand, Knife, Axe, King Bible, Santa Water, Garlic, Runetracer and others) all have 8 levels.
2

Carry the paired passive

For the classic base-game pairs, the passive only has to be in your inventory. Leveling it further only adds its normal stat bonus. Many newer and DLC evolutions do require the passive at max level, so check the specific recipe.
3

Open a boss chest at the right time

In most stages, only chests from bosses that spawn at or after 10:00 can evolve. The chests from the Arcana bosses at 11:00 and 21:00 cannot evolve unless you already hold the maximum number of Arcanas.

The first evolution of each weapon also pays a one-time 500 gold bonus. The pairs you can realistically aim for in your first sessions:

Weapon	Passive	Evolution	When the passive becomes available
Whip	Hollow Heart	Bloody Tear	Survive 1 minute with any character — available almost immediately
Magic Wand	Empty Tome	Holy Wand	Hold 6 different weapons at once in one run
Santa Water	Attractorb	La Borra	Find a Vacuum (it drops from braziers)
Axe	Candelabrador	Death Spiral	Get Santa Water to level 4
Knife	Bracer	Thousand Edge	Get King Bible to level 4
King Bible	Spellbinder	Unholy Vespers	Get Runetracer to level 7 (Runetracer itself unlocks after surviving 5 minutes with Pasqualina)

Whip + Hollow Heart is the evolution you can do first, because Hollow Heart unlocks after surviving one minute. Santa Water + Attractorb (La Borra) is the one most beginners end up loving, because its damaging zones follow you around and cover the ground you are standing on. The full list of recipes is in the Weapon Evolution Guide.

PowerUp priority (and why)

PowerUps are permanent stat boosts bought with gold in the main menu. Prices come from two parts: a base cost that rises each time you buy a rank of that PowerUp (200, 400, 600… for a 200-gold PowerUp), and a fee that rises with the total number of ranks you own across all PowerUps. Two things make this low-risk for beginners:

Refunds are free. The Refund button returns all your gold, so a bad purchase is never permanent.
Order does not change the total. Since v0.7.2 the fees are additive, so buying everything costs the same in any order. Order only decides which stats you have sooner.

Might — 200 gold, +5% damage per rank (5 ranks) Raises the damage of every weapon. Cheap first ranks; buy at least one or two immediately. Max Health — 200 gold, +10% per rank (3 ranks) Early deaths come from being caught by a crowd. More health is more time to walk out of it. Greed — 200 gold, +10% gold per rank (5 ranks) Every later purchase arrives sooner. Gold bonuses pay back best when bought early. Magnet — 300 gold, ×1.25 pickup range per rank (2 ranks) You collect more experience gems without walking into enemies, which means more levels — and levels unlock stages.

Recovery — 200 gold, +0.1 HP per second per rank (5 ranks) Small per rank, but cheap and it adds up across a 30-minute run. Armor — 600 gold, -1 damage taken per rank (3 ranks) Reduces every hit you take, which matters when many weak enemies touch you at once. Area — 300 gold, +5% per rank (2 ranks) Bigger attacks for every area-based weapon (Garlic, Santa Water, King Bible). Amount — 5,000 gold, +1 projectile (1 rank) One of the strongest stats in the game, applied to every weapon. Expensive, so it is your first big savings goal.

Cooldown — 900 gold, -2.5% per rank (2 ranks) Good stat, poor value early: -5% total for a high price. Buy after the cheaper ranks. Duration, Speed, Move Speed, Luck, Growth All useful, none urgent. Growth (+3% experience per rank, 900 gold) is weaker than it sounds next to Imelda's +30%. Revival — 10,000 gold, +1 revive at 50% HP A safety net for long runs. Not worth delaying Amount for.

Avoid early: Curse — 1,666 gold, +10% enemy speed, health, quantity and frequency per rank It makes the game harder. Its one early use is unlocking Lama: finish a run of 20 minutes or more with Curse above its base value. Avoid early: Charm Adds +20 enemies per rank. Unlocked later and not a beginner purchase.

Reroll, Skip and Banish also appear on the PowerUp screen, but their ranks are unlocked by achievements, so expect them later rather than in your first sessions.

Early unlock order

You do not need a checklist, but knowing what unlocks what helps you aim each run.

Unlock	Condition	Why it matters
Inlaid Library (stage)	Reach level 20 in Mad Forest	Second stage; its coffin holds Giovanna
Dairy Plant (stage)	Reach level 40 in Inlaid Library	Every chest in Dairy Plant can evolve regardless of time
Gallo Tower (stage)	Reach level 60 in Dairy Plant	Home of the Randomazzo, which unlocks Arcanas
Cappella Magna (stage)	Reach level 80 in Gallo Tower	Last of the main early stages
Pugnala (character)	Find and open the coffin in Mad Forest	Strong scaling character from your very first stage
Fire Wand	Destroy 20 light sources (braziers)	Unlocks Arca once it reaches level 4
Garlic	Find 5 Floor Chickens	Unlocks Poe once it reaches level 7
Cross / Clover	Find a Rosary / a Little Clover	Cross + Clover evolves into Heaven Sword
Lightning Ring	Defeat 5,000 enemies in total	Unlocks Porta once it reaches level 4
Arcanas	Pick up the Randomazzo in Gallo Tower (far north of the start)	A third layer of build choices for later runs

The braziers in Mad Forest are worth breaking on purpose: they drop random pickups, and several of the unlocks above (Vacuum, Little Clover, Rosary, Floor Chicken) come from those pickups. For secret characters, hidden stages and spell codes, see the Unlocks Guide.

Level-up rules that work in every early run

You can hold 6 weapons and 6 passive items, and a level-up offers 3 or 4 choices. A few rules beat improvising:

First two or three weapons should cover different directions. The Whip hits sideways, the Magic Wand targets the nearest enemy, King Bible orbits you and Santa Water drops zones on the ground. Two weapons that cover the same space leave you exposed elsewhere.
Pick one evolution and commit to it. Put levels into that weapon first so it reaches 8 by the 10-minute bosses, and take its passive the first time it is offered.
Fill passive slots with things that help every weapon. Spinach (damage), Empty Tome (cooldown), Candelabrador (area) and Attractorb (pickup range) never go to waste. Take Wings or Hollow Heart if you keep dying.
Do not fill all six weapon slots with random weapons, except in one deliberate run to unlock Empty Tome. Six half-leveled weapons are weaker than three finished ones.
When everything is full and maxed, level-ups turn into gold or Floor Chicken (healing). That is the sign your build is complete, not a problem.

For concrete builds and the order to take items in, see the Best Builds Guide.

Your first six treasure chests on a save always contain items in the order 1-1-3-1-1-5. The five-item chest on your sixth chest is a guaranteed big spike, so do not quit a run early just after a few small chests.

Common mistakes

Expecting an evolution before 10:00. In most stages the boss chests before 10:00 cannot evolve. Dairy Plant is an exception: its chests can evolve at any time.
Thinking the passive must be maxed. For the classic base-game evolutions, owning the passive is enough. Spending levels to max it first delays the weapon you actually need at 8.
Expecting the 11:00 and 21:00 chests to evolve. Those are Arcana chests, and they only evolve once your Arcana slots are full.
Hoarding gold. Gold does nothing in the bank, and refunds are free. Spend it after every run.
Buying Curse early. It raises enemy health, speed and numbers. Leave it until you want Lama or a harder challenge.
Ignoring braziers. Many early unlocks come from their pickups. Breaking them costs a few seconds.
Treating the Reaper as a loss. At 30:00 the Reaper ends the run, and you are paid 500 gold for getting there.

For a broader view of what the game does well and where it wears thin, see the Honest Review.

★Honest Take: plan your unlocks, not just your runs

The most common advice for beginners is "just play, you will get stronger". That is true, but it hides how much faster you progress once you realise that the game's real progression is its unlock list. Buying Imelda for 10 gold, breaking braziers, holding six weapons once for Empty Tome, and aiming for level 20 instead of minute 30 each save whole sessions. The weak point is that the game explains none of this, and some unlocks are hidden behind achievements you would never guess. Once the early stages and the first evolutions are open, though, the game becomes exactly what it promises: build a screen-clearing machine and watch it run.

Vampire Survivors Beginner Guide — Best Early Characters, PowerUps and First Runs

Key Points