In Vampire Survivors, the player's starting weapon can make or break a run. This game is all about keeping pace with the enemies. After every minute, the enemies get stronger, and this happens in one of two ways: they will either increase in number or the strength of individual creatures will increase.
A poor starting weapon will have the player playing catch-up. Sometimes the player can get over the curve, but other times, usually around minute 16, the enemies will start shrugging off the character's weapons and in no time it's game over. A good starting weapon allows the player to keep pace with the enemy swarms. The best starting weapons in Vampire Survivors generally give the player an advantage that remains throughout the entire run.
10 BEST – Song Of Mana
This is easily one of the best weapons in the game and an excellent starting weapon. The Song of Mana has a large area of effect, does a lot of damage, and provides protection for the character. This weapon works well in the early part of a stage; moving around the enemy groups in a wave pattern allows the player to kill enemies incredibly efficiently.
The Song of Mana is Poppea's starting weapon. Her passive bonus is a +1% to weapon duration per level, with no maximum. After about level 50 the Song of Mana's duration will begin to exceed its cooldown time. With the Candelabrador and Spinach accessories, this quickly gets overpowered.
9 WORST – Fire Wand
Towards the middle of a run, the Fire Wand is a useful weapon. It does an enormous amount of damage. If the player gets the Duplicator accessory the wand can cover a large area, and after it evolves into the Hellfire, it tears through the enemy ranks. The Fire Wand is a solid secondary weapon, but it's just not an effective starting weapon.
The problem with this wand is it fires in a random direction, and its cooldown time is too long. This will immediately put the player at a disadvantage. This is Acra's starting weapon, and his passive bonus reduces cooldown times. This bonus helps the Fire Wand be a little more effective in the early minutes of a stage, but still not a good starting weapon.
8 BEST – Magic Wand
The Magic Wand is possibly the best all-around weapon in Vampire Survivors. It has a fast rate of fire, fires multiple projectiles in a burst, and always aims at the nearest enemy. This makes for the perfect point defense weapon. The Magic Wand is perfect for finishing off the enemies that manage to make it through the character's other weapons.
Imelda has the Magic Wand as her starting weapon. Her passive ability increases Growth (experience) by 10% every five levels, to a maximum of +30%. The Empty Tome, Bracer, and Duplicator accessories should be combined with the Magic Wand. Leda begins with the evolved form of the Magic Wand, the Holy Wand; this is the best starting weapon in the game.
7 WORST – Axe
Like the Fire Wand, the Axe is a terrible starting weapon. Also like the Fire Wand, the Axe is a great secondary weapon once the player gets it to around level five. At levels one through four, the Axe is ineffective; it does a lot of damage, but its rate of fire is too slow.
The high arc of the Axe makes it great for dealing with enemies at the top of the screen. It is almost useless against enemies attacking from below or the sides. This is the starting weapon for Lama, whose passive bonus only marginally improves the Axe as a starting weapon.
6 BEST – Death Sprial
The Axe isn't a good starting weapon; however, its evolved form, the Death Spiral, is such a great starting weapon that it almost makes the game too easy. This is to be expected when starting with an evolved weapon. The Death Spiral sends out a circular wave of scythes, and it will be several minutes into a run before the enemies aren't killed from one hit.
This is Red Death's starting weapon. Starting with the Death Spiral doesn't preclude getting the Axe, but as a character isn't allowed to have two of the same weapons, the player won't be able to evolve the Axe. Red Death is already ridiculously strong and giving it the Death Spiral as its starting weapon is pure overkill.
5 WORST – Peachone And Ebony Wings
When Peachone and Ebony Wings are joined into Vandalier, the player will have one of the better weapons in Vampire Survivors. Vandalier does an insane amount of damage in a wide area. Peachone and Ebony Wings, on the other hand, are definitely in the top three worst starting weapons.
These weapons have a painfully slow fire rate; this problem is exacerbated by the pitiful amount of projectiles these weapons send out at a low level. Peachone and Ebony Wings are the starting weapons of Toastie and Exdash (respectively). These two characters already start with a long list of penalties, and having to also fight with these weapons is basically another penalty.
4 BEST – Cherry Bomb
The Cherry Bomb is so good as a starting option that the player can literally neglect their other weapons and focus on leveling up this item. The Cherry Bomb can keep up with the ever-strengthening enemies by itself, and it causes damage in two ways. First, it bounces off enemies, causing decent damage. After a few bounces, these bombs can explode. The damage from these explosions is quite high.
Cavallo starts with the Cherry Bomb, and this reason alone is probably why this character is among the more popular ones. This weapon is also incredibly rare to be offered when leveling up. This means if the player wants to use the Cherry Bomb, they are pretty much forced to play as Cavallo.
3 WORST – Santa Water
The Santa Water is another item that is excellent at a high level but ineffective as a starting weapon. At a low level, the damaging zones created by the Santa Water are too small and too scattered to be of much help. The evolved form of the Santa Water, the La Borra, is arguably the best weapon in Vampire Survivors.
The Santa Water is Clerici's starting weapon. This weapon is such a bad starting weapon that the developers had to give Clerici a huge (+400%) area bonus that lessens until level five, at which time it disappears. Without this area bonus, Clerici would have a hard time killing enemies at the start of a run.
2 BEST – Garlic
The Garlic works differently than most of the weapons on this list. It starts off really strong, but as time progresses, it becomes less and less effective. The Garlic encircles the character in a damaging aura; most of the enemies at the start of a run will not be able to pass through this aura without getting killed.
Poe is the lucky character that starts with the Garlic weapon. This makes Poe one of the best characters to use for the "No Move Challenge" since the Garlic protects the character in addition to damaging the enemy.
1 WORST – Pentagram
Before it was given an evolved form, the Pentagram was an awful weapon. This is despite the fact that the Pentagram kills all enemies onscreen when it activates. On paper, it seems like it would be the best weapon in Vampire Survivors. The two biggest reasons why this is the worst starting weapon are that it has a cooldown time of around a minute, and it destroys any treasure chest onscreen when it activates, at least until it gets to around level seven anyway.
This is such a poor starting weapon that the game gives Christine, who starts with the Pentagram, a free level at the start of a run so the player can pick another weapon.
Vampire Survivors was released on Dec. 17th, 2021, for the PC and macOS.