Beginner's Guide

Introduction

Vampire Crawlers is a deck-building roguelike spin-off of Vampire Survivors. You play as a Crawler, combining weapon and support cards to crush enemies. The core mechanic is the combo system: play cards in ascending mana cost order to build a multiplier that amplifies the damage of each subsequent card.

Turn Flow

Each turn, play cards from your hand in ascending mana cost (0 → 1 → 2 → 3). Each properly-ordered card multiplies the next card's damage. Breaking the chain (playing equal or lower cost) ends the combo, so hand order and mana management decide the outcome.

You start each turn with 5 mana and refill via low-cost Mana Book cards. Mana Books are essentially mandatory — without them, you stall after 2-3 plays.

Early-Game Priorities

After the tutorial, your first goal is unlocking village shops by collecting key relics:

1. Polentir (unlocks the Fortune Teller's tent → Arcanas)
2. Stardust Anvil (unlocks the Blacksmith)
3. Overkill (massive coin income boost)
4. Gem Hammer (lets you attach gems to cards)

These four relics define your run economy and build options.

Deck Composition

Recommended ratio:

• Mana Books: 2 per cost tier (0/1/2/3)
• Armor: 1 of each type (2× 0-cost is fine)
• Weapons: remaining slots, planned around your combo

Skimping on Mana Books means dead turns where you draw weapons but can't pay for them.

Combo Construction

Build combos as a 0 → 3 cost staircase, with 2-3 cards per cost tier as redundancy.

Bone (0-cost area attack) is the gold-standard opener and should always be in your deck.

Finish combos with heavy hitters like Song of Mana or Vandalier (Peachone's evolution) to dump full combo multiplier into a single hit.

Blacksmith Usage

The Blacksmith adds gem slots and upgrades stats. Don't spend coins here early — instead, prioritize Power Ups for Might and Greed first. Greed scales your run income, Might scales every weapon. Add gem slots only after your core deck is settled.