History YMMV / VampireSurvivors

* DemonicSpiders: [[MightyGlacier Green Zombies]] and [[LightningBruiser Werewolves]] in Mad Forest, [[ActionBomb Banshees]] in Inlaid Library, [[ZergRush charging group of Minotaurs]] and [[DemBones many, many skeletons types]] in Dairy Plant, [[DemBones the Blood Skeleton mobs]] and [[{{Dracolich}} the Skeletal Dragons]] in Gallo Tower. Oftentimes, these mobs serve as your BeefGate to check your run strength, and if you're not there, you can say goodbye to your run.

** The Torrona's Box is a passive item that at level 8 grants a whooping 25% might, projectile speed, duration, and area, making it a huge boon for just about any build. This is suppose to be balanced out by the fact that it slaps the player with +100% curse when maxed out, which means under normal circumstances you would want to hold off on taking that last level until you have everything else leveled up and ready to go. However this can be easily circumvented by using Banish on it after getting level 8, letting you have all of the benefits with none of the drawbacks.

* DemonicSpiders: [[MightyGlacier Green Zombies]] and [[LightningBruiser Werewolves]] in Mad Forest, [[ActionBomb Banshees]] in Inlaid Library, [[ZergRush charging group of Minotaurs]] and [[DemBones many, many skeletons types]] in Dairy Plant, [[DemBones the Blood Skeleton mobs]] and [[{{Dracolich}} the Skeletal Dragons]] in Gallo Tower. In this game, you really had to be careful.

** Gains Boro has the passive ability of gaining 2% Growth on every level. With rapidly increasing XP gain, they can build a run well beyond what the game is expecting you to have, making early game waves a joke. Their XP scaling also means that if you bring them into a stage with Limit Break enabled, they'll rapidly outpace to max build and start gaining the extra power from breaking weapon limits, turning them into a monstrous kill zone. And unlike other characters who balance their strength with drawbacks like abysmal movement, low HP, or multiple, Gains' starting stats are completely average, and while Heavens Sword is the most unimpressive evolution to have a character start with, it's still an evolution from the start of the run.

** Il Molise is a mindless bonus stage where you simply fighting an inanimate trees that wouldn't hurt you unless you're going too close and try as many build as you like.

* AbridgedArenaArray: If you're planning on coin farming, your best bet is to play on Inlaid Library as the map layout is more narrow and confined, allowing you to mob on hordes easier and cheese out bosses and BossInMookClothing better to get their chest reward. The map even offers free Golden Masks to facilitate this.

* AbridgedArenaArray: If you're planning on coin farming, your best bet is to play on Inlaid Library as the map layout is more narrow and confined, allowing you to mob on hordes easier and cheese out bosses and BossInMookClothing better to get their chest reward.

** The Fire Wand fires large, slow projectiles that do high damage to a small number of targets, in a game where most enemies rely on strength of numbers instead of individual HP. It was only weapon to have an Arcana specifically for boosting it and it alone, Heart of Fire, by adding a splash damage explosion to each hit. It can also benefit from Waltz of Pearls to produce bouncing projectiles that fill the screen with chains of explosions everywhere they go.

** The 0.6.66 update greatly salvages the otherwise overlooked Clock Lancet and Laurel by giving them evolutions that greatly improve their potency. That said, they'll take more effort to evolve than other weapons, but the end result is able to defeat Red Death at the end of a run.

** The Clock Lancet and Laurel are non-damaging weapons when you'd rather pick up something that would help kill waves of enemies faster. The Clock Lancet fires in thin long needles and freezes the enemies it touches, giving you an escape route when you're cornered. The Laurel gives a regenerating shield that can negate up to three instances of damage. Both items have not been favorable pickups, only being used together in a cheese strategy to defeat Red Death. v0.6.66 goes to include evolutions to both items that, combined, can make short work of Red Death, but you ''really'' have to work for it by running to the edges of the map to collect their upgrade items ''and'' push each pair of passive items to their max level of 9. Put off the search for the Rings and Metaglios for too long, and you may not be able to gain enough levels or get midboss chests to complete their evolution before Death comes for you.

** Cappella Magna sics each variant of the Grim Reaper at you. This includes Drowner, who camps at the corner of your screen where it's nearly impossible to hit unless you shatter a window near him. If this Drowner is left alive for too long it will move towards the center of the screen, forcibly drowning your character in the damage zone unless you're constantly moving upwards.

** Antonio gets the short end of the stick as several other characters are just better at handling the whip than him; Arca's passive cooldown improvements ensures that the whip can swing harder with much smaller downtime, Gennaro gains a permanent extra projectile which also affects how much he can crack the whip per swing, Pugnala completely makes him obsolete as not only she has faster movement speed but also outshines his damage potential because her modifier can go up to 100% over Antonio's max of 50%. His only real advantage is that he's slightly tougher than most fighters out there barring juggernauts like Mask of Red Death and Leda, all of which are PurposelyOverpowered characters. After the release of Zi'Assunta, he's pretty much obsolete because his own weapon does not benefit from his unlocked Arcana. Though he's not the worst character in the game by a longshot...

** Antonio gets the short end of the stick as several other characters are just better at handling the whip than him; Arca's passive cooldown improvements ensures that the whip can swing harder with much smaller downtime, Gennaro gains a permanent extra projectile which also affects how much he can crack the whip per swing, Pugnala completely makes him obsolete as not only she has faster movement speed but also outshines his damage potential because her modifier can go up to 100% over Antonio's max of 50%. Though he's not the worst character in the game by a longshot...

** The Fire Wand fires large, slow projectiles that do high damage to a small number of targets, in a game where most enemies rely on strength of numbers instead of individual HP. It's the only weapon to have an Arcana specifically for boosting it and it alone, Heart of Fire, by adding a splash damage explosion to each hit. It can also benefit from Waltz of Pearls to produce bouncing projectiles that fill the screen with chains of explosions everywhere they go.

** The coffin characters are powerful lategame scaling survivors, but none were as powerful as Pugnala. She's armed with two pistols that shoots in four directions and has a passive 20% movement speed increase, only just behind Krochi's, but what makes her gamebreaking is her scaling passive that grants her +1% bonus might for each level, which means by level 100 she gains double her original power, making any weapon deadly in her arm. Her only downside is that she starts with two weapons that limits her room for future weapons, but that's a small price to pay for salvation. Even then, that downside disappears once those two weapons are united into the Phieraggi and frees up a seventh slot.

** The Clock Lancet and Laurel are non-damaging weapons when you'd rather pick up something that would help kill waves of enemies faster. The Clock Lancet fires in thin long needles and freezes the enemies it touches, giving you an escape route when you're cornered. The Laurel can negate up to three instances of damage. Both items have not been favorable pickups, only being used together in a cheese strategy to defeat Red Death. v0.6.66 goes to include evolutions to both items that, combined, can make short work of Red Death, but you ''really'' have to work for it by running to the edges of the map to collect their upgrade items ''and'' push each pair of passive items to their max level of 9. Put off the search for the Rings and Metaglios for too long, and you may not be able to gain enough levels or get midboss chests to complete their evolution before Death comes for you.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: The Arcanas introduced in patch 0.5.0 managed to make several weapons that's considered unfavorable or less more reliable;

** Garlic and the Soul Eater becomes this once you realize it's quickly outclassed by every other duration-based weapon in the game, which includes the Bible, Holy Water, and Song of Mana, all but one has power to keep the large horde away once evolved. Even with the Sarabande of Healing, its DPS, sustain, and farming power is greatly overshadowed by Bloody Tear. Unless you're playing Poe or trying to unlock the achievement, you better off Rerolling, Skippin, or even Banishing it as the effort you need to make it viable pales in comparison to other equally-powered-up weapons.
** Clock Lancet's real purpose is to completely stop an enemy horde to a standstill, which is useful when cornered and gives you a safe passage out. However the weapon's area-of-effect is so narrow that you better off using weapons with high knockback rate like Knife and Whip to deal damage. It's also a weapon that doesn't deal damage, and one of few weapons that you can't evolve. The real utility of this weapon is to use it with a cheese strat when going up against the red reaper, and even then you really need to be lucky.
** Even moreso than Clock Lancet is the Laurel. Its only utility is to protect you from harm once every 10 second or less. Unless you're going for it as your second weapon or playing Toasty, you will be having a hard time getting hurt in the first place, which makes it a waste of space.

** The Knife requires you to be facing towards your target, which means moving towards them and risking damage. It also fires in a narrow column, giving it the smallest area of effect of any weapon. Earlier on, the knife is very ineffective at dealing with hordes and probably one of the more suboptimal weapons on horde heavy stages like the Dairy Plant. It's saving grace is that once fully upgraded, Knife knockback power becomes the best and can easily mow down an entire horde line in one strike. The Slash Arcana rescues it by granting it the ability to land critical hits and doubling critical damage, so that it can tear through many late game enemies at once, while the Iron Blue Will Arcana grants it the ability to bounce off the sides of the screen and pass-through enemies, alleviating its issues with area.

** Even moreso than Clock Lancet is the Laurel. It's only utility is to protect you from harm once every 10 second or less. Unless you're going for it as your second weapon or playing Toasty, you will be having a hard time getting hurt in the first place, which makes it a waste of space.

** The coffin characters are powerful lategame scaling survivors, but none were as powerful as Pugnala. She's armed with two pistols that shoots in four directions and has a passive 20% movement speed increase, only just behind Krochi's, but what makes her gamebreaking is her scaling passive that grants her +1% bonus might for each level, which means by level 100 she gains double her original power, making any weapon deadly in her arm. Her only downside is that she starts with two weapons that limits her room for future weapons, but that's a small price to pay for salvation.

** The coffin characters are powerful lategame scaling survivors, but none were as powerful as Pugnala. She's armed with two pistols that shoots in four directions and has a passive 20% movement speed increase, only fall short below Krochi, but what makes her gamebreaking is her scaling passive that grants her +1% bonus might for each level, which means by level 100 she gains double her original power, making any weapon deadly in her arm. Her only downside is that she starts with two weapons that limits her starting gear, but that's a small price to pay for salvation.
** Krochi might not be as over the top as Pugnala above. His passive bonus is that he has one revive and gains another one at level 33, but one thing that people overlooked on him is that he has a flat 30% bonus movement speed, the second fastest below Mask of Red Death himself. Unlocking and using his Randomazzo also applies the bonus stat gain from other revival sources, including his and the tiragisus (and the revival power-up shop item), allowing him to freely shred Dairy Plant as early as the 10 minute mark. He also starts with the cross, which is a well balanced starting item besides the whip.

** The Whip strikes in an upward horizontal arc, leaving the wielder's lower half exposed. When evolved it gains a potent LifeDrain ability, but this requires taking the Hollow Heart, one of the least useful passive items. In addition to the Slash Arcana, it benefits from the Sarabande of Healing Arcana, which doubles the potency of its healing and thus makes it a much more viable option for surviving large amounts of damage.

** Garlic and the Soul Eater becomes this once you realize it's quickly outclassed by every other duration-based weapon in the game, which includes the Bible, Holy Water, and Song of Mana, all but one has power to keep the large horde away once evolved. Even with the Sarabande of Healing, it's DPS, sustain, and farming power is greatly overshadowed by Bloody Tear. Unless you're playing Poe or trying to unlock the achievement, you better off Reroll, Skip, or even Banish it as the effort you need to get to make it viable isn't worth it when other weapon has other utility besides area-of-effect damage or simply dealing much larger numbers.
** Clock Lancet real purpose is to completely stop an enemy horde to a standstill, which is useful when cornered. However the weapon's area-of-effect is so narrow that you better off using weapons with high knockback rate like Knife and Whip to deal damage. It's also a weapon that doesn't deal damage, and one of few weapons that you can't upgrade. The real utility of this weapon is to use it with a cheese strat when going up against the red reaper, and even then you really need to be lucky.
** Even moreso than Clock Lancet is Laurel. It's only utility is to protect you from harm once every 10 second or less. Unless you're going for it as your second weapon or playing Toasty, you will be having a hard time getting hurt in the first place, which makes it a waste of space.

** The first level, Mad Forest. Every five minutes or so, a circle of venus flytrap will entrap you in a small circle that's shrinking towards you, trapping you along with the current mob you managed to pull in your screen.

** Antonio fell short out of the stick as several other characters are just better at handling the whip than him; Arca passive cooldown upgrade with the upgrades ensures that the whip can swing harder with much smaller downtime, Gennaro gains a permanent extra projectile which also affects how much he can crack the whip per swing, Pugnala completely makes him obsolete as not only she has faster movement speed but also outshines his damage potential because her modifier can go up to hundred percent over Antonio's capped fifty percent. Though he's not the worst character in the game by a longshot...

** The title of the worst character goes to Poe. While Garlic is a pretty solid weapon early on, Garlic onto itself is a weapon where players are meant to go up close and personal for the area-of-effect damage and EXP farming and trying to deal as much damage as you can up close while minimizing damage you forces yourself into. Poe has 30 less HP (tied with Exdash) armed with a weapon where you want to be as close as possible, which not only severely lowers his survivability, but its also being philosophically contradictive with what people uses garlic for, and his bonus effect isn't even worth the tradeoff anyway. It says a lot when other characters benefitted well from it better than Poe did, like the aforementioned Antonio or Pugnala for example.

** The Dairy Plant is by far the hardest level in the game period, to the point that the designer knew how bullshit the stage sometimes that they allow you to evolve your weapons before the 10 minute mark. DemonicSpiders everywhere, traps laid in and out across the stage, and there's even a pseudo Grim Reaper that's unkillable without using the cart or pentagram.
** The Bone Zone is considered the toughest level as of v0.5. There's a lot of enemies that are tough to take down and can surround you making it hard to escape. And the player doesn't level up as quickly. It's common to see people die at the 29-minute mark since the hordes of enemies are so bulky that they don't die quick enough for the player to just stay in one place.

* RescuedFromScrappyHeap: The Arcanas introduced in patch 0.5.0 managed to make several weapons that's considered unfavorable or less
** The Knife requires you to be facing towards your target, which means moving towards them and risking damage. It also fires in a narrow column, giving it the smallest area of effect of any weapon. Earlier on, the knife is very ineffective at dealing with hordes and probably one of the more suboptimal weapon on horde heavy stages like the Dairy Plant. It's saving grace is that once fully upgraded, Knife knockback power becomes the best and can easily mow down an entire horde line in one strike. The Slash Arcana rescues it by granting it the ability to land critical hits and doubling critical damage, so that it can tear through many lategame enemies at once, while the Iron Blue Will Arcana grants it the ability to bounce off the sides of the screen and pass through enemies, alleviating its issues with area.

* ScrappyWeapon: While all weapons are viable to some degree, some are much less effective than the rest, especially in the final minutes of a run when the screen is packed with enemies. The Arcanas introduced in patch 0.5.0 are almost all centered around pulling these weapons out of the scrappy heap:
** The Knife requires you to be facing towards your target, which means moving towards them and risking damage. It also fires in a narrow column, giving it the smallest area of effect of any weapon. The Slash Arcana rescues it by granting it the ability to land critical hits and doubling critical damage, so that it can tear through many lategame enemies at once, while the Iron Blue Will Arcana grants it the ability to bounce off the sides of the screen and pass through enemies, alleviating its issues with area.
** The Magic Wand has the lowest DPS of any weapon, even when fully upgraded, and like the Knife it only fires single projectiles at a time. While the passive item required to evolve it, the Empty Tome, is the strongest passive item in the game, the Magic Wand itself is one of the only weapons that doesn't benefit from the Empty Tome due to hitting the limit of how many projectiles it can have on screen. The Waltz of Pearls Arcana rescues it by granting it the ability to bounce off walls, although it remains the weakest weapon.

* ScrappyWeapon: While all weapons has some sort of viability, few stands out for being less effective than others.
** The knife, especially in early levels where the projectile count is much smaller, is seen as rather cumbersome to use, as you had to carefully aim your target to use it. Regardless of your controls, you had to move into that direction to aim where your knife went, which lowers your survivability by a lot. At least you can control the trajectory of the weapon, which becomes more prevalent in the 20 minute mark and beyond to keep problem enemies at bay, and it benefitted well from critical hits.
** Even worse than the knife is the magic wand. The magic wand is basically a knife but make it even more annoying to use as it's a homing projectile that shoots at the nearest enemy within the vicinity, while also has much slower. Even the fully upgraded Holy Wand cannot salvage it as the it's DPS being eclipsed by every other weapon in the game, including Garlic/Soul Eater and even by fully leveled unevolved knife itself since knives benefit well from critical hits.

** If you had a bad RNG on your first few levels, you might as well reset and keep trying until you geared enough to handle large hordes. This is important in stages like Dairy Plant as the difficulty spike hits much earlier than every other stage and you were expected to handle large and hard hitting hordes as early as the 5 minute mark.
** All passive power-ups has synergy with each every weapon in the game, with few exceptions, among them were Wings, and perhaps the most useful of the bunch. Wings simply boost your movement speed by 10% for each rank you put into it, and it does not upgrade any of your weapons in any way. Upgrading your movement speed allows you to easily mow down the entire enemy formation with ease and is crucial on escaping the nastiest mobs on Mad Forest and Dairy Plant.

** Krochi might not be as over the top as Pugnala above. His passive bonus is that he has one revive and gains another one at level 33, but one thing that people overlooked on him is that he has a flat 30% bonus movement speed, the second fastest below Mask of Red Death himself. Unlocking and using his Randomazzo also applies the bonus stat gain from other revival sources, including his and the tiragisus (and the revival power-up shop item), allowing him to freely shred Dairy Plant as early as the 10 minute mark.

** All passive power-ups has synergy with each every weapon in the game, with few exceptions, among them were Wings, and perhaps the most useful of the bunch. Wings simply boost your movement speed by 10% for each rank you put into it, and it does not upgrade any of your weapons in any way. Upgrading your movement speed whilst trying to mow down an entire horde

** The title of the worst character goes to Poe. While Garlic is a pretty solid weapon early on, Garlic onto itself is a weapon where players are meant to go up close and personal for the area-of-effect damage and EXP farming and trying to deal as much damage as you can up close while minimizing damage you forces yourself into. Poe has 30 less HP (tied with Exdash) armed with a weapon where you want to be as close as possible, which not only severely lowers his survivability, but its also being philosophically contradictive with what people uses garlic for, and his bonus effect isn't even worth the tradeoff anyway. It says a lot when other characters benefitted well from it better than Poe did, like the aforementioned Antonio or Pugnala for example.

* AbridgedArenaArray:

** If you had a bad RNG on your first few levels, you might as well reset and keep trying until you geared enough to handle
** All passive power-ups

** The knife is seen as rather cumbersome to use, as you had to carefully aim your target to use it using

** The Dairy Plant is by far the hardest level in the game period, to the point that the designer knew how bullshit the stage sometimes that they allow you to

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