Although it’s a relatively straightforward game, Vampire Survivors has a lot of mechanics at work most of which come from the items that the player picks up as they survive each wave of incoming monsters. Newcomers to the title might be a little overwhelmed by options as they begin fighting their way to survive the night. Fortunately, Vampire Survivors gates off a decent amount of its weapons and support items until the player meets certain in-game requirements allowing them to ease into the game and its systems before throwing too much at them.
That said, there are still a lot of choices when the game first starts and within a player’s first handful of runs and it’s not always clear which items players should be grabbing first. Even those who have played Vampire Survivors for several hours might be struggling to lengthen the time of their runs after hitting something of a wall.
The items listed below are some great weapons to start picking up early on in a run. The player should take note to upgrade them as frequently as possible for the best results.
More Vampire Survivor guides:
How to Unlock Every Character | How to Upgrade Every Weapon | How to Farm Coins | How to Unlock Every Map
Best Early Items in Vampire Survivors
King Bible
The King Bible is an essential pick-up for just about every run. While hordes of monsters are relatively manageable in the early sections of a level, as they begin to attack in droves, surrounding the player, most weapons aren’t able to attack on all sides. The King Bible does, however, essentially serving as an offensive shield that only gets better and better as it levels up providing even more protection and outputting consistent close-range damage. Players might be tempted to grab Garlic over the King Bible in the early rounds, but Garlic has a low ceiling in terms of its upgrade path and the King Bible will do more for a player in the long run.
Spinach
To put it bluntly: Spinach is probably the best support item available in Vampire Survivors. Buffing all attacks by 10% per level, Spinach is able to greatly increase your damage output with just a few upgrades. It might not seem like a necessary item in the first few rounds as most enemies go down with a single hit from all starting weapons, but as things get hairy with the endless mobs of higher-leveled enemies, it can be the difference between a successful finished run and a frustrating death to the monster hordes.
Fire Wand
The Fire Wands’ damage output is useful in the early stages of mid-tier enemy spawns; however, if upgraded properly, it can be a saving grace for the late game of bosses and lethal mobs. Although the Fire Wands’ projectiles are slow-moving and fire at random enemies, it can be one of the best weapons in the game if paired with things like Spinach and the Empty Tome to increase its strength and how quickly it fires.
Empty Tome
When building a run around support items, it’s important to know which will be the most beneficial for things such as damage output which is why Spinach is such a good pick early on. The Empty Tome is a similarly solid choice as it reduces the time between attacks from all of your projectiles by 8% per level. When upgraded just a few times, it can turn your character into a constantly attacking threat that can push back against the monster hordes and rake in plenty of valuable experience points.
Axe
If given the choice between something like the Fire Wand and the Axe, players should probably grab the Fire Wand as it fires multiple projectiles by default, but if they’re looking to increase their damage output and the Fire Wand isn’t available, then the Axe is the way to go. It deals a lot of damage right off the bat and once upgraded so that it fires off multiple projectiles and does more damage, it can become an essential item for taking out late-game bosses.
