From the folks behind the instant-classic Vampire Survivors comes a dungeon-crawling, card-battler roguelike, Vampire Crawlers. Featuring all of the lovable base characters from the previous title, this game offers a fresh take on the same universe. Instead of mowing through endless hordes of monsters, this time, you make your way across several rooms within each zone, picking your battles, collecting upgrades, and preparing for the final boss.
While that sounds simple on paper, the game is anything but. The early hours can be pretty brutal as you are trying to learn the ropes and figure out what exactly makes the game tick. That’s where we come in. In this guide, we’ll lay out six essential tips and tricks that you should keep in mind while playing Vampire Crawlers.
For more information about the game, check out their official website here.
Table of contents
Utilize the Combo Stack Relic & Unlocking New Ones
The Combo Stack Relic is at the core of Vampire Crawlers‘ combat, and you won’t truly master the game without a clear understanding of how it works. Thankfully, it’s pretty straightforward. During your turn, play your cards in the ascending order of their mana cost. This will add a Combo Multiplier to the cards you play, increasing their effects such as damage, heal, or armor gain.
The enemies in Vampire Crawlers can get pretty tanky. But once you learn and master the Combo Stack system, you’ll deal enough damage to take them down before they can attack you.
As you continue progressing through the game, you’ll find new Relics that add a new layer to your gameplay. Some are simple, such as showing you the location of certain loot on the Field Map, while others add new gameplay elements, such as unlocking the Arcana Tent in the Village. Check the Relic tab in your Village to see which Relics you have and their effects.
Don’t Rush through the Room
In Vampire Crawlers, you have the choice to pick your battles. You don’t necessarily have to take out all the enemies on the map before you can challenge the boss. However, that also doesn’t mean you should rush to the boss as soon as the path is cleared.
Completing enemy encounters during a run gives you experience. Earn enough experience to fill up the blue bar at the top, and you gain a level that lets you choose a new card to add to your deck. Not only that, some encounters will block the path to chests, light sources, additional mana, or other special rewards.
It’s usually a good idea to scour every corner of the room to grab all the loot and clear all the encounters before challenging the boss. If you skip most battles, you’ll soon run into a brick wall as you face harder fights in the later zones.
Focus on the Attacking Row
The enemies you encounter on the map never attack you alone. While in Mad Forest, you’ll mostly be dealing with only one row of enemies, when you play on the later maps, you’ll have to fight a bunch of enemies in quick succession during a single encounter. The game doesn’t explain this clearly, but the first row in an encounter is the attacking row. Once you end your turn, the surviving enemies in the first row will be the ones that attack you.
If you manage to take down the attacking row during your turn, the next row of enemies won’t attack you. This means you get a free turn where you don’t have to worry about taking damage. Some cards come with a Knockback effect, allowing you to push enemies to the back row so that they can’t attack you. As a rule of thumb, you should try to eliminate the first row of enemies during your turn to preserve your health.
When you’re using an attack card, you can clearly see how much damage you’ll deal to the monsters. Use this knowledge to figure out your best course of action before playing a card.
Check the Field Map
The Field Map is your best friend when it comes to navigating a room in Vampire Crawlers. It’s unlocked from the start and shows you the location of all the encounters in each room. It will also show other useful things, such as the location of chests, the pathway through the room, or special items/encounters. After each fight, a quick glance at the Field Map will help you plan out your route through each room.
After unlocking the Guiding Light Relic, you’ll also gain the ability to see breakable light sources on the Field Map. Since these are a good source of healing items and Coins, this is a very useful Relic to have. You’ll find the Relic in the Inlaid Library zone.
Best Power Ups to Get First
Powers Ups serve as the key meta progression system in Vampire Crawlers, and there are a bunch of them that are available as soon as you unlock the Village. You need to spend Coins earned during your adventure to buy Power Ups. These Power Ups give you permanent upgrades that remain active across all the Crawlers you use during the run.
Early on, you’ll have very limited Coins to spend toward these upgrades, which means you need to be smart with which Power Ups you buy.
Max Health and Recovery are two very simple upgrades that add more sustain, allowing you to clear more areas. Max Health increases your total health pool when you start a run, and Recovery heals you after each battle. Greed is another excellent Power Up to buy early, as it increases your Coin gain per rank.
More Coins mean more Power Ups for you to buy. You’ll naturally be unlocking all of the Power Ups as you play the game, but prioritize health, damage, and coin gain during the early game to make things easier. Also, remember to spread things out, as the cost of Power Ups will increase with each rank.
Understand the Crawlers Speciality
Similar to Vampire Survivors, Vampire Crawlers feature a bunch of unique characters, each with their specific playstyle, strengths, and weaknesses. Antonio Belpaese, for instance, is the first character you unlock in the game, and his playstyle involves using Red Cards to increase his might and stack up on damage. On top of that, when you play the Antonio Belpaese Crawler Card, you gain three bonus armor for a turn.
For this Crawler, you want to grab as many Red Cards as possible and focus on playing them while utilizing the Combo Stack to increase the amount of damage you deal. Imelda Belpaese, on the other hand, gains bonus experience when playing a Yellow Card. For this Crawler to truly shine, you need to focus on increasing your levels, giving you access to more evolved cards.
You’ll also be able to recruit additional Crawlers on your adventure to combine their effects and gain unique benefits. Check the Crawler tab in your Village to see the available characters and how their effects work.
Thank you for reading through our tips and tricks for Vampire Crawlers. You’ll find more guides on our Vampire Crawlers – Guides Hub.
For more articles related to indie games, check out the links below:
- Into Indie Games Homepage
- Pragmata Complete Walkthrough Hub
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- Grime II – Walkthrough Hub
- The Occultist – Complete Walkthrough Hub
Muhit Rahman lives off two things: gaming marathons and endless cups of tea. He writes guides, reviews, and occasionally forgets that real life doesn’t come with checkpoints. His favorite genres are Soulslike and Metroidvania, with Dark Souls III, Hollow Knight, and Dota 2 forever holding top spots on his all-time list.
