Long ago I wrote one of my more popular posts; comparing and ranking the various units of Mount and Blade: Warband.
Today I rank every Weapon from the base game of Vampire Survivors. The list will judge the weapons solely based on the damage displayed on the screen at the end of a stage. The damage that matters isn't total damage, but DPS or damage per second. It will not include damage listed separately because of an Arcana. The only passive weapon included is Sole Solution, because it functions like an Evolution of Victory Sword. The method of producing this list is as follows. Every weapon was played at least ten times. I didn't record the damage inflicted, but ranked the weapons by damage per second. On the list I might mention other traits of weapons, like healing, but these are not relevant to the ranking.
In most stages the player collects six Weapons, and evolves these into six Evolved Weapons. Simple math; on average the player uses twelve weapons during a stage. In the following list I group Weapons by their average place in a single session.
Tier 10 (65th)
65. Clock Lancet – The only weapon that inflicts zero damage; it merely freezes enemies. It isn't entirely useless. A fully leveled up Clock Lancet disables a significant percentage of enemies. And it does upgrade into the powerful Infinite Corridor.
The Bracelet and the Crimson Shroud average the 9th most damage in any given match, with 18 and 12 uses respectively. Bracelet is a short ranged Weapon that Evolves twice into the Tri-Bracelet. Crimson Shroud is the first Evolved Weapon on this list. It inflicts almost no damage, but is one of the two Weapons that are essential for beating The Reaper. It acts as a shield, vastly reducing the damage monsters inflict on the player.
Tier 8 (62nd - 59th)
The Flames of Misspell (Not a misspelling on my part, but an allusion to the Norse realm of fire, and a reference to the developer's common use of misspelling for wordplay), Fire Wand, Knife, and Vento Sacro average 8th most damage in a match, with 13, 13, 15, and 23 uses. Flames, Knife, and Vento Sacro all attack in the facing of the player with fire, knives, or a whip, while the Fire Wand shoots fireballs at random enemies. During Vampire Survivors I often thought about which weapons protect the player in the early game by inflicting damage around the character. Of these weak weapons, at least Vento Sacro, and Flames of Misspell fulfill this condition.
Tier 7 (58th - 53rd)
Magic Wand, Garlic, Pako Battiliar, Celestial Dusting, Phas3r, and Eight the Sparrow averaged 7th most damage in 25, 17, 17, 10, 11, 22 uses. Of these I prefer Garlic and Phas3r early because they protect the player. Garlic creates an orb of weak damage which surrounds the player, while Phas3r launches lasers in an area around the player. Magic Wand shoots magic at the closest enemy, Celestial Dusting creates flowers, Pako calls forth swarms of bats, and Eight shoots blue or red bullets. While these inflict slightly more damage than tier 8 weapons, none of these have noteworthy abilities.
Tier 6 (52nd - 43rd)
Phiera Der Tuphello, Shadow Pinion, Lighting Ring, Pentagram, Whip, Peachone, Gatti Amari, Carrello, Song of Mana, and Santa Water inflict the 6th most damage, across 24, 14, 21, 12, 35, 19, 13, 10, 15, and 29 uses. Phiera Der Tuphello is the exact same weapon as Eight the Sparrow, and both are combined to create a powerful Evolution. I hated Shadow Pinion. It only activates when the player moves, and then stops moving. Lighting Ring calls down bolts of lightning on random enemies. Pentagram is the first interesting Weapon. On cooldown, which is initially 90 seconds, it kills all enemies on the screen. Only the strongest bosses resist its effect. Unfortunately, at lower levels Pentagram also destroys Experience Gems. Gatti creates cats that run across the screen. When they bump into each other they engage in cat fights, big areas of cartoonish damage. But they also hurt the player a small amount. Whip, Song of Mana and Santa Water are strong protective Weapons. Whip attacks in an area around the player, as does Song of Mana, just with different visual effects. Santa Water can't push. By push, I mean, make an attack that allows the player to move into enemies and destroy them. Instead, Santa Water drops vials of holy water from the sky that smash on the ground, creating pools. Standing in a pool protects the player from most early enemies. Peachone is a flying white bird that is hard to aim at enemies, while Carraello is a wooden wheel that moves left to right and back again.
Tier 5 (42nd - 31st)
Cherry Bomb, Glass Fandango, Ebony Wings, Victory Sword, Cross, Bone, Soul Eater, Bi-Bracelet, King Bible, Axe, Santa Javelin, and Bloody Tear average the 5th most damage across 10, 16, 20, 17, 17, 10, 10, 16, 25, 21, 24 and 24 uses. This category introduces the first real Evolved Weapons. Soul Eater, the upgrade of Garlic, expands its range, and heals the player. Bloody Tear, the upgrade of Whip, and Bi-Bracelet are both Evolutions that further evolve into even stronger Weapons. Glass Fandango is a short ranged spear, Axe tosses its namesake up before falling downward. Santa Javelin strikes random enemies from the sky, while Ebony Wings is the same as Peachone. King Bibles circle around the player, making them a strong protective Weapon. Victory Swords strike random enemies at all distances, and Cross functions like a boomerang. Bone and Cherry Bomb are projectiles that bounce around.
Tier 4 (30th - 25th)
Runetracer, Greatest Jubilee, Thousand Edge, Mazo Familiar, Holy Wand, and Ashes of Muspell inflict the 4th most damage with 27, 10, 10, 10, 18, and 11 uses. Runetracer is the most powerful un-Evolved Weapon. It shoots crystals that race around the screen, bouncing off the edges. Greatest Jubilee is an unevolvable weapon that launches fireworks. Thousand Edge upgrades from Knife, with a faster throwing animation. Mazo Familiar enhances Pako Battiliar with larger bats. Ashes of Muspell claims to inflict more damage the more enemies it kills, yet this isn't measurable by the player.
Tier 3 (24th - 15th)
Heaven Sword, Gorgeous
Moon, Profusione D'Amore, Mannajja,
Hellfire, Thunderloop, La Robba,
Celestial Voulge, Unholy Vespers, and
Yatta Daikarin inflict the 3rd most damage
with 14, 10, 3, 10, 10, 14, 10, 10, 13, and 2 uses. I didn't fully
test Profusione and Yatta because of the unique way the player
acquires these Weapons. Profusione is an Evolution of Celestial
Dusting, but only if the character is O'Sole Meeo, while Yatta
upgrades from Cherry Bomb while playing as Yatta Cavallo. While
reasonably powerful, this limits the chances the player will have
these Weapons. Gorgeous Moon, as an Evolution of Pentagram, retains
the same effect as its predecessor, eliminating all enemies, but also
creates additional Experience Gems, and draws all the Gems to the
player. Heaven Sword and Hellfire change the Cross and the Fire Wand
to larger, more powerful Weapons that crisscross the screen. La
Robba drops furniture from the top of the screen. It is the most
powerful non-Evolved Weapon, but it can't be evolved. Unholy Vespers
is a fun upgrade of the King Bible that circles the player with a
near impenetrable barrier of demonic bibles.
Tier 2 (14th - 7th)
This is the penultimate list of weapons, including the Valkyrie Turner, Tri-Bracelet, Vicious Hunger, No Future, Sole Solution, Anima of Mortaccio, Death Spiral, and Fuwalafuwaloo. They are the 2nd most damaging on an average stage. Like its un-Evolved Weapon, I dislike Valkyrie Turner, because the player has to move and stop, move and stop, to activate the attack. Like Yatta Daikarin and Profusione D'Amore, Anima of Mortaccio is an upgrade of Bone, but only if playing as Mortaccio. Vicious Hunger turns the cats of Gatti Amari into giant cat eyeballs which bounce around the screen. Fuwalafuwaloo upgrades the Bloody Tear and Vento Sacro into a massive red whip. Sole Solution, a Passive Weapon acquired by maxing out Victory Sword, inflicts significant damage, but also temporarily makes the player intangible.
Tier 1 (6th - 2nd)
For the final six weapons, I put them through a special competition. After determining the final six in the regular manner, I picked up all six in a single stage, to determine which inflicts the most Damage Per Second.
But before those rankings, the normal scores acquired across at least ten games.
In sixth is Vandelier, a combination Evolution of the two bird Weapons. It only hits in a small area around the player, but packs a punch.
Seraphic Cry, the Evolution of Santa Javelin, strikes repeatedly with holy light.
Phierragi combines two guns and a delicious Tirajisu, to unleash a rotating barrage of lasers.
The 3rd best weapon by DPS is La Borra, an expansive version of holy water. With the right Passive Weapons the player can stand in a massive sea of pale blue that radiates like a giant star.
Photon Storm, the Evolution of a 1337 Weapon, unleashes devastation across the whole screen. It kills everywhere, so quickly, other weapons don't stand a chance.
Except...
Tier 0 (1st)
The Infinite Corridor. In addition to freezing even the strongest bosses, it halves the health of every enemy it touches. While the best of the other Weapons inflict thousands of damage per second, given the right enemies, the Infinite Corridor is capable of millions of damage per second. More difficult to acquire than other Weapons, it is the ultimate weapon to defeat Red Death (though I also recommend having many bonus lives, Crimson Shroud, Laurel, or Sole Solution). It so dominated its ten rounds, that it was always the best weapon by damage.
For the final tournament, I played a regular game in the first Stage. I picked only the basic weapons and passive weapons necessary to make the six best weapons. After the thirty minute stage the results were as follows:
Infinite Corridor was the strongest weapon, with so much damage (942k per second), that it was never in doubt.
Seraphic Cry upset the competition by moving from 4th to 2nd (77.9k per second). Weapons that attack the entire screen, like Seraphic Cry, are more likely to inflict more damage.
Photon Storm was pushed to 3rd place (31k), and it was followed by Phierragi (14k), La Borra (13k), and Vandolier (11k).
Next week, a review of Untitled Goose Game.
Comments
Post a Comment