Vampire Survivors: How to Beat Red Death

Red Death is a terrifying enemy designed to keep players from freely running around levels in the wildly popular roguelike Vampire Survivors. Despite that, there’s a way to kill it and gain some fun stuff as a result. Read on to know how you can do that.

How to beat the Red Death in Vampire Survivors

Remember how we said that leveling up isn’t the way to go? No, it really isn’t. Preparing to defeat the Reaper involves investing in the correct PowerUps, choosing the right character to play as, selecting the right stage, getting the right gear, and then cheating the Red Death by exploiting a certain ability.

Best character and stage

The best character for this is Suor Clerici, with her starting passive that gives you a 310 percent area bonus, albeit temporary. Make sure to select the Inlaid Library level for this to work.

Best gear

You’ll need to get the Crimson Shroud. This item limits the damage you receive to 10HP per strike. You’ll need to pick up the Metagilo Left and Metagilo Right, then add a Laurel to create it.

Also, you’ll need the Infinite Corridor, which halves the HP of all enemies on the screen in one rotation. Search for the Gold and Silver Rings, then add a Clock Lancet to create it.

PowerUps

Since the Red Death will kill you with just one hit, it would be wise to purchase Revival because it will give you another chance in the event that you die. If you can’t afford it, get Amount PowerUp, then other PowerUps that can buff your stats. Avoid Curse, Growth, and Magnet as you won’t need them here.

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Also, make sure to level Krochi up to 50 so that you will get the Awake IV Arcana, which will provide you with +3 Revivals. Each Revival will buff your character’s stats as well, and will greatly help in the fight.

Aside from these, make sure to have the following with you when you take on the Red Death: Santa Water and Runetracer, Laurel, Clock Lancet, Bracer, Candelabrador, Spellbinder, and Empty Tome. Other things you will find helpful include a Bone, Knife, Duplicator Ring, and Spinach.

A Tiragisu, if ever you find one, might also come in handy later when you are already fighting. Other things, like Magic Wand, Cross, and an Attractorb (used to evolve Clerici’s Santa Water) will also help if you have them. And make sure to avoid that Fire Wand if you don’t want to fail later.

Defying the Red Death

Having said all of that, it’s time to kill the Red Death. Here’s what you should do before the actual showdown:

• First, at the start of the game you’ll need to quickly move up and left at the Library level to get the green XP gem on the table. If you roll the Runetracer, proceed with the game. If not, quit the run and restart it. Don’t waste your Rerolls to get the item.
• Next, once you have the Runetracer, run to the enclosed space that has the following items in it: two bookshelves on each side, a table, some chairs, a clock, and what looks like a painting. Position Clerici so that her left hand lines up with the painting, and her right hand lines up with the clock. She should be above the leftmost chair on the screen. This position is crucial and will keep Clerici safe.
• You should aim to remain at level 2 so that Clerici’s temporary area bonus works to let the Runetracer get stuck on the furniture. This will turn the said item into a shield protecting Clerici, and preventing her from leveling up by getting XP.
• While in that position, watch out for a red gem to appear on the screen. It should appear within the first few minutes of the level. If it doesn’t appear within the first 3-4 minutes, abort and restart the game.
• If you see a red gem and find that it’s quite near your position, hold on until you reach 30 minutes in the game so that the Red Death will appear.

If you manage to do all of the above and stay alive until 29:59, get ready because this is where the difficult part begins. Once the timer hits 30:00, dash towards the red gem as fast as you can, ignoring every other thing on the screen.

After touching the red gem, run back to the same location you were in before, but move a little bit further and stand between the table and the right chair. Line Clerici’s right hand up with the painting. If you have the knife in your hand, make sure to aim down.

If you do this successfully, the Red Death will get stuck on the table. You are then free to dish out all the hurt you can dish without moving from your position. If you’re aiming your knives, make sure not to move—just inch yourself enough to aim down.

By staying at level two, you are also able to prevent the Red Death’s HP from reaching enormous levels. The Infinite Corridor should also help take a huge chunk of its HP out, so do your best to lower the Reaper’s HP as much as you can. The right PowerUps will help you here.

If you haven’t killed the Red Death after a minute, another Red Death will spawn, followed by another with every succeeding minute. Thankfully, the second and third Red Death will find themselves stuck on a bookshelf, thanks to the Clock Lancet you brought to the fight.

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The Red Death has the ability to draw itself to players every time it gets hit. Thankfully, the weapons you brought with you will help you attack from a safe range. Remember the Fire Wand we warned against earlier? Stray hits from that weapon will draw the Deaths closer to you, so better not use that here.

Despite your preparations, the Red Deaths will still try to come closer to you as the fight goes on. Hopefully, you are able to defeat the first Red Death before getting killed by the other Reapers who join the fray. The revives you prepared for the fight will help you slay the first Reaper in case you get killed.

Rewards for winning against the Red Death

If you succeed in killing the first Red Death that appeared on the screen, then congratulations! Pat yourself on the back for a job well done, and enjoy the feeling of having defeated the strongest and most dangerous foe in the game.

Defeating the Red Death also makes it available for you to purchase and use in the game. It will appear in the Character Selection screen and can be yours for the low, low base price of 666 gold coins.

The new playable character, known as the Mask of the Red Death, is weaker compared to the monster you defeated after a grueling fight but is still more powerful compared to other characters in the game. Its stats are considerably normal despite the effort it took you to unlock it. And while it comes with the Death Spiral, you will need an axe upgrade for it.

The Mask of the Red Death’s bonuses, however, make up for its seemingly “normal” stats. It starts out with 255 Max Health, +20% Might, and +100% Movement Speed which makes it the fastest character in the game.

Other ways to unlock the Mask of the Red Death in Vampire Survivors

If you’ve tried to defeat the Red Death so many times to no avail, chances are you’d finally given up on unlocking the Mask of the Red Death. Thankfully, there’s another way to unlock this character: through the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane.

The Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane is a relic that can be obtained as a drop from the Sketamari in The Bone Zone. It allows users to cast a “Spell,” which is basically a cheat code to unlock certain things like secret characters in the game.

Once you have obtained a Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane, use the cheat code “ablasphemousmockery” in the Secrets menu to unlock the Mask of the Red Death.

Who is the Red Death in Vampire Survivors?

The Red Death, also known as The Reaper in Vampire Survivors, appears after you spend exactly 30 minutes inside levels. Enemies will suddenly disappear to welcome it, after which you will likely get booted out of the stage in seconds via a one-hit kill.

Poncle designed the Red Death so that it would be extremely difficult, nay, nearly impossible, to defeat. Its skill, HP X Level, multiplies its hit points based on the player’s level. This means its base HP, which is 655,350, easily goes into the millions the higher the player’s level is.

In addition to that, this monster’s power is at 65,535 and its speed is at 1,200. Simply put, leveling up to become stronger in an attempt to face this one-hit-killer is futile, even foolish. Props to those who try (that’s you!)

Furthermore, those who manage to survive getting killed by the Red Death will have to face more Red Deaths as they will spawn every minute after the first 30 minutes of any level. This means that if players are still alive by the 33:00 mark, they’ll be facing four Red Deaths. That is, if they survive that long.