InVampire Survivors, released on Jul 07, 2025, for PC, players have a choice of 16 characters from which to choose; 18 characters if the secret ones are included. Two of these characters, Suor Clerici and Dommario, were just introduced on June 26, 2025. The characters in this game all come with their own unique bonus (or ability). These abilities are fairly well-balanced, but the gameplay ofVampire Survivorsmakes some characters better than others.
Characters inVampire Survivorsalso start with a specific weapon, and not all of them are created equal. They can all use any of the weapons, but each has its own at the start of the stage. This ranking is from worst to best – the last entry (#1) will be the character that experiences the least amount of difficulty during a playthrough. The MissingNZ character is not included in this because it is not an official character. Unlocking MissingNZ requires changing the game’s code.
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Updated on June 24, 2025, by Jeff Drake:It’s been a long time since the last update. Not only has Pugnala been included, but so have the other 11 new characters. New characters are added to this game frequently; in fact, there are two new characters in beta as of the writing of this update - Sir Ambrojoe and Peppino. Many of the new characters suffer from power creep and have passive bonuses that are much better than the original roster of characters. Coincidentally, many of the newer characters have starting weapons that are also new to Vampire Survivors. Many of these new weapons are great, but not as starting weapons.
30Toastie
Toastie is a secret character with passive bonuses, let’s call them penalties in Toastie’s case, which make itthe most difficult character to use in Vampire Survivors. This character’s passive bonuses are; +10% Cooldown, +20% MoveSpeed, -99 Max Health, -50% Speed, +100% Luck, and -10% to Area, Might, and Duration.
With a -99 to Health, Toastie is killed if an enemy so much as brushes against it briefly. At least they gave Toastie a boost to movement speed.
29Exdash Exiviiq
Exdash is the secret character, that doesn’t require changingVampire Survviors' code. This ghostly character suffers a lot of penalties:-50% projectile speed, -23 max health, -10% movement speed, -10% damage, -10% weapon duration, and +10% cooldown times. In exchange for all these negatives, Exdash receives a+100% Luck.
Luck affects a lotof aspects in this game. Exdash will get better treasure chests than the other characters, which basically amounts to bonus levels. Ebony Wings is a great weapon when fully leveled, but it is lacking at the start. Players should pick the Cross (Heaven Sword) and Whip (Bloody Tear) weapons for the critical hit ability, which is affected by luck.
28Suor Clerici
Suor Clerici was one of two newVampire Survivorscharacters introduced on Jun 20, 2025. Fortunately, the other new character is better, because Suor Clerici is probably the game’s worst in terms of staying alive. Her ability is a0.5 per second increase to hit point regeneration, and a +30 to max health.Considering how fast a character can be drained of their hit points, this isn’t much of a bonus.
Santa Water is not the best starting weapon, since it’s not a direct-fire weapon. To help out, all of Suor Clerici’s attacks have a 400% area of effect. However, this reduces by 100% at every level; therefore, it’s only there to help out at the very start of a stage. Oddly enough, even though she’s ranked last, Clerici is one of the best characters for killing Death.
27Poe Ratcho
Poe is ranked low due to his starting weapon, as well as his bonuses. This character starts with the Garlic weapon, a somewhat polarizing weapon amongVampire Survivorsplayers. Some people love how Garlic creates an area around the player that damages enemies. Others feel the weapon is too underpowered in the later minutes of a stage, and it is.
A+25 item pick-up radiusis Poe’s ability. However, the Attractorb accessory and/or the global Magnet power-up increase this radius by more than enough, so Poe’s ability isn’t really needed. Poe also suffers a-30 to max health.The benefits of Poe don’t outweigh the negatives; however, he is one of the best characters when attempting the “no move” challenge.
26Smith IV
Smith IV is the counterpart to Exdash and Toastie, and as such uses Vandalier, the union of Ebony Wings and Peachone, as its starting weapon. Like Exdash and Toastie, Smith IV has a long list of negative passive bonuses. Smith’s passive bonuses are; +10% Cooldown Time, +7 Max Health, +20% MoveSpeed, -50% Speed, +100% Luck, and a -10% Area, Might, and Duration.
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Using this secret character is a littleeasier thanks to starting with an evolved weapon. The +100% Luck of the ghost characters works well with the melee weapons (Knife, Axe, Heaven Sword, and Whip) and the Slash Arcana.
25Lama Ladonna
Lama is an interesting character. She starts with a10% bonus to Might and move speed,which increases by 5% every ten levels to a maximum of 30%. She also starts with a10% Curse,which increases at the same rate. InVampire Survivors, Curse increases the amount, frequency, health, and move speed of the enemy. This essentially negates Lama’s bonuses; however, it makes her the character of choice when a player is trying to beat their previous kill count record.
The Axe is Lama’s starting weapon, and it’s not a good one. It has a limited range and a rather long cooldown time. This will make surviving the first five minutes a little challenging. Once the player gets a few alternate weapons though, they will find that Lama is a powerful character.
24Pasqualina Belpaese
This character canincrease the speed of her weapon’s projectiles by 10% every five levels(maximum of 30%), which works quite well with her starting weapon, the Runetracer. However, the Runetracer is almost as polarizing as the Garlic. This weapon flies across the battlefield, changing course when it bounces off the edge of the screen or hits a solid surface.
Pasqualina’s ability works well with most other weapons. It makes the King Bible and La Borra much deadlier, and they were already awesome weapons.
23Porta Ladonna
Porta starts off pretty strong, but she can be overwhelmed around minute 15 if the player chooses the wrong weapons. The Lightning Ring Porta starts with is pretty powerful, but it’s slow. Her ability toincrease a weapon’s area of effect by 30%complements the Lightning Ring, but it also works well with nearly every weapon.
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With the Candelabrador accessory, Porta’s weapons have an enormous area of effect. Porta gets a-90% cooldown time for weapons until she reaches level two.Exploit this by leaving the experience crystals on the ground until there’s enough to get a few levels. This exploit works with Suor Clerici as well.
22Arca Ladonna
Starting a stage with Arca can be a little tricky. His starting weapon, the Fire Wand, does a lot of damage, but it’s painfully slow in terms of both projectile speed and cooldown time. When the Fire Wand isevolved into Hellfire, it becomes one of the best weapons inVampire Survivors.
Cooldown times are reduced for Arca’s weapons by 5% every ten levels,to a maximum of 15%. This makes the Laurel and Pentagram weapons great choices for Arca.
21Zi’Assunta
This is the newest character inVampire Survivorsas of the writing of the second update. Zi’Assunta’s starting weapon is Vento Sacro, a variation of the Whip weapon. Her passive bonuses are a =20% MoceSpeed, +10% Curse, and a 0.5% increase to Area, Might, Speed, and Duration at every level.
The Vento Sacro is a great weapon when it’s fully leveled, but at level one, it is next to useless. This weapon also requires another evolved weapon, Bloody Tear, to evolve (in a union with Bloody Tear). The passive bonuses aren’t much help until about halfway through a stage; however,towards the end of a stage, she is one of the stronger characters.
