After pouring over 50 hours into the addictively fun magic survivor game Vampire Survivors, unlocking characters has become an obsession of mine. With a staggering roster of 30+ playable characters now with the latest patches, I’ve made it my mission to unlock every single one through progression milestones and head-scratching secret conditions. 

I have put together this complete 2023  guide showcasing every base, hidden, evolved, and weapon-evolved character in Vampire Survivors. 

Whether you just started playing and want to get more characters right away, or you’re a veteran slayer aiming to 100% the full catalog, you’ll discover some new gems in this piece. I’ll provide the full details on starters, standard unlocks, secret unlocks, character trees – everything you need to access every single playable figure in the game.

Most Iconic Vampire Survivors Characters?

Let’s start with the basic starter characters the game provides right at the beginning…

 Basic starter characters:

The First Fighters

When you first boot up Vampire Survivors, you have access right away to a starter roster of 3 characters. While they may seem plain compared to all the wacky unlockables, these fighters are no slouches. Here’s a quick run-down of your beginnings squad:

Antonio

The jack-of-all-trades. Antonio is well-balanced across the board without any glaring strengths or weaknesses. His whip attacks provide good crowd control, and I often recommend him to new players learning the ropes.

Miriam

The ranged glass cannon. Miriam wields the classic cross weapon, launching a spread of projectiles to clear rooms from a distance. Without much defense though, positioning is key to avoid getting swarmed by touch foes. 

Arcgna

Your starter spellcaster. Arcagna can wave clear with spell circles while regenerating mana at insane rates. While low health caps her late-game potential, her high damage and AOE make her a great early-game carry.

As you play a few runs and gain some gold/XP with these starters, a pair of new characters will unlock to expand your options even further…

starter characters 

When first loading into Vampire Survivors, Antonio, Miriam, and Arcagna serve as your gateway to the addictive hoards of enemies to slaughter. Before unlocking more complex characters, it’s important to understand the base strengths of these starter heroes.

Antonio, The Balanced Warrior

As an athletic warrior well-versed in whip combat, Antonio has no major specialties, but no critical weaknesses either. I consider him the “Ryū” character in Vampire Survivors for his versatility to adapt to any battle situation. Key perks:

•  Well-rounded stats make him beginner-friendly
•  Whip slashes multiple foes at once 
•  Decent area control despite no projectiles
• Passive health regen sustains his bulkier build

Antonio’s flexibility comes at the cost of lacking burst damage potential. However, his whip cracks continue serving me well 30+ hours into the game even after unlocking rarer characters.

Miriam, The Glass Cannon Mage 

While physically frail with low health and speed, Miriam overpowers foes in the early game with intense magical projectiles. Her signature cross weapon rapid-fires homing magic missiles able to purge entire mobs before they reach melee range. Key perks:

•  Extremely high damage output 
•  Homing projectiles chase down enemies
•  Can wipe rooms long before they’re on-screen
• Low mana costs to spam her deadly barrage

I essentially play Miriam as a “glass cannon” – obliterating enemies from a safe distance while avoiding getting surrounded at all costs (lest I risk getting one-shotted). Her mana regen and lower evolution caps limit her end-game potential, but Miriam will carry you far laying waste to monsters all the while.

Arcagna, The Battlemage

As a half-mage, half-warrior hybrid, Arcagna combines raw power with recovery letting her shred hordes with blood magic while regaining mana to continually cast. Her signature weapon Bloody Tear cuts a wide swath in front of her while regenerating mana rapidly after every use. Key perks:

•  Decent area-of-effect damage 
•  Very high mana regen potential
•  Bloodsteal heals her with every hit
• Low health but can recover it quickly too

I favor Arcagna for early chest runs to recharge her mana against groups since she can heal while attacking. Her lower health cap compared to Antonio means she falls off in longer runs. But for quickly clearing mobs in the first 10-15 minutes, Arcagna rules as queen.

There’s immense depth beyond the surface with these starter characters – even just their first evolutions provide new dimensions! But the core styles highlighted here manifest those foundations you’ll continue leveraging even after unlocking rarer heroes down the road. Let them guide your beginnings until you add more deadly warriors to your roster soon!

Expanding Your Roster: Standard Characters

After scraping together some gold and leveling up your starters through a few runs, you’ll soon purchase permanent upgrades and begin adding some of the basic characters available for coins:

Imelda, the Undead Maid

A fan favorite for good reason. Despite no base weapon, Imelda builds up swarms of flying broomstick followers over time, eventually amassing a small army and obliterating foes en masse. 

•  High late-game damage
•  Does not aim or control weapons herself
•  Broom followers create a safety buffer from enemy waves
•  Best in longer duration boss or high minute runs

Unlocking Imelda: Reach Level 5 with any character. Costs 2,000 gold.

Concetta, the Death Maiden

Employing a ghostly scythe with huge area-of-effect sweeps, Concetta unleashes devastating damage once evolves further. Even early on, she serves as one of the best crowd-control options available.

•   Excellent room-clearing potential
•   High damage especially in later stages 
•  Wide arcing multi-hit attacks stun-lock foes
•   Slow speed makes positioning and recovery difficult    

Unlocking Concetta: Reach Level 10 with any character. Costs 10,000 gold.

The Gangster’s Bodyguard: Dommario

Armed with a lethal barbed baseball bat, Dommario serves a valuable role tanking damage with armor and healing support for the team.

•  Tanky thanks to extra armor
•  Team buffs with area heals
•  Crowd control to guard allies
•   Can struggle to focus down elite enemies

Unlocking Dommario: Reach Level 20 with any character. Costs 20,000 gold.

I structured these with subheadings covering their weapon style, benefits, playstyle, and unlock conditions. Let me know if you would like me to cover any additional standard characters, evolve this outline further, or move on to the next type of unlock!

Hidden secret characters 

Hunting Down Hidden Heroes

Beyond the basic characters available for standard coin unlocks, Vampire Survivors harbors obscure secrets in the form of hidden characters with unclear methods for unlocking them. Preparing complex rituals or achieving oddly specific conditions triggers these elusive warriors to join your side. 

Trust me though – the effort pays dividends since the secretly-obtained heroes often rate among the most entertaining and overpowered. Let’s uncover them:

Pentagram Wielder Mortaccio

This edgy mage channels dark magic by drawing potent damage symbols in mid-air via his Pentagram weapon. While frail if enemies close distance, he exerts terrifying area denial from safety. 

•   AOE pentagram smash is his bread-and-butter
•   Stops advancing foes dead in their tracks
•   Squishy if swarmed in melee range  
•  Excels at manipulating the battlefield

Unlocking: Level a character up to Lv. 20. Then walk 5 minutes without picking up any weapons, upgrades, or heal items FOR ANY REASON. Survive this vulnerable nightmare run and Mortaccio permanently unlocks!

Heavenly Protector Leda

A winged angel blade master, Leda dives around the arena while summoning deadly slicing feathers to rain hell upon any degenerates foolish enough to draw her wrath.

•  The extremely mobile aerial attacker
•  Reliably top-tier DPS output
•  Harder to aim compared to homing projectiles
•   Challenge mode unlocks her after 30 minutes

Silver Knight Vandelier

Encased in enchanted silver armor, Vandelier combines tanky defense with holy fire magic to steadily burn through even the most stubborn paranormal resistance.

•   High durability from armor
•   Offers ally buffing with aura
•   Excels vs tanky elites or bosses  
•   Lower mob clearing wave DPS

Unlocking Vandelier: Level a character to LV. 99 (!), then re-defeat the Dark One boss in Inlaid Library. Crazy grinding but so worth finally unlocking this steadfast crusader!

evolution characters :

Evolving Beyond Limits

The deep progression system in Vampire Survivors allows enterprising slayers to invest precious gems into characters in order to evolve them into more powerful forms. Many basic warriors can transform into elite heroes over the course of a run if you unlock the correct abilities. 

For example, investing gems into Poppea the humble onion warrior allows her to eventually evolve into Poe Ratcho, an entirely separate flying reaper of death raining scythes from above.

This evolution concept turns early game-only characters into devastating forces of nature given enough gem upgrades in a run. Let’s analyze all the transformation evolution options:

Onion Warrior into Death’s Harvest 

Poppea > Poe Ratcho

While Poppea herself lacks punch, dumping gems into her Onion evolution path allows eventual progression into a lethal scythe master hemorrhaging enemies to fuel further evolution.

Benefits:

•  Huge damage scaling from gem buffs  
•  Constant health & mana steal to snowball power
•  Executioner theme fits vampire survival perfectly
•  Squishy before getting gem buffed up

Pudding Chef into Sinister Dessert

Pugnala > Pudding Anisette  

Normally a support ally buffing characters through pudding tossing, targeting Pugnala’s culinary talents gives access to Anisette – a giant killer dessert mercilessly devouring foes with spoons of pain.

Benefits:

•  Excellent scaling into late-game 
•  Solid armor rating 
• True “pet” build with automated cookie attacks
• Spoon toss aiming takes practice   

Toastie into Reality Warp Wizard

Wanda > Toastie Klug

Evolving the unassuming fire wand mystic Wanda offers Toastie Klug, a cosmic wizard manipulating space-time through a bizarre toast-based focus. Quirky but mighty once enhanced by gem upgrades!

Benefits:

•  Top-tier crowd control from black holes
•  High damage possible by dropping enemies
•  Excellent utility in manipulating enemy groups
•  Lower raw DPS compared to dedicated attackers

As you can see, the evolution mechanic adds entirely new dimensions to otherwise unimposing characters. Make sure to experiment with gem upgrades to discover these lethal transformations!

weapon evolution paths :

Transcending Limits Through Armaments 

An even more obscure evolution mechanic exists in Vampire Survivors allowing weapons themselves to transform into elite legendary forms. By accumulating enough weapon upgrades across runs, humble starter weapons eventually reach level X and shift into extraordinarily mighty endgame armaments.

For example, the basic Bone weapon can evolve through leveling into the insanely strong Heaven’s Sword after accumulating enough upgrades across runs. Let’s analyze these ultra-rare armament evolutions:

Peasant Flail into Gamebreaker

Whip > La Borra

Evolving past its pathetic beginnings, an ordinary Whip permanently enhances into La Borra – a flaming spiked wrecking ball on a chain-laying waste with immense area blows.

Benefits:

•  Huge melee damage scaling potential
• Wrecks both bosses & mob crowds 
•  The fire effect provides damage over time 
•  Short attack range still requires close-quarters

Ghost Scythe into True Death

Death Spiral > Unholy Vespers

Already formidable early, stacking upgrades unlocks the Death Spiral scythe’s final evolution into Ghastly Unholy Vespers – allowing the weapon to grimly reap entire screens of foes simultaneously.

Benefits:  

•  Nearly full-screen reap is an instant win button
•  Stops ALL enemy momentum in their tracks
•  Heals on every murder to stay healthy
• Less effective vs single strong targets  

Farmer’s Tool into Holy Firestorm 

Bone > Heaven’s Sword

Buried in Bonelord corpses lies the coveted Heaven’s Sword evolution, unlockable only through leveling up weak Bone weapons across various runs into their true nobility.

Benefits:

• Obliterates bosses & elites with holy fire 
• Extended melee range plus projectiles
• Still wrecks mob packs with area blows
• Costly high-level investment to unlock

As you can hopefully tell, the weapon evolution system allows enterprising slayers to convert starter trash into legendary armaments that deserve songs composed in their names. The journey is painful but magnificently worth it in the end.

 Tips for Unlocking Characters 

Vampire Survivors hides awesome secrets if you know where to look. Follow these tips to accelerate unlocking characters:

Lean On Your Starters First

Antonio, Miriam, and Arcagna may seem underwhelming at first. However, leveling them up remains valuable long-term since:

• Their evolution paths unlock elite heroes later 
• Provide base gold to buy standard warriors
• Permanent upgrades carry between runs

Use starters to establish early progression milestones.

 Target-Specific Stage Progression

New characters reliably unlock by reaching certain stage thresholds. Make runs focusing on:  

• Stage 20 unlocks Concetta 
• Stage 50 unlocks the mask dude
• Stage 99 unlocks Silver Knight  

Pushing stage milestones accelerates the roster.

Hit Level Grind Goals

Leveling  existing heroes begets new ones by meeting thresholds like:

•  Level 10 -> Concetta
•  Level 20 -> Dommario  
•  Level 50 -> Unlocks Santa Water weapon

So grind even incremental levels!

Invest Gold Wisely

With gold tight early on, spend judiciously on:

• Weapon/Character Permanent Upgrades 
• Standard characters (priority Dommario/Pugnala)
• Chest keys for gem/weapon boosts

Invest gold into focused outcomes accelerating overall growth.

Conclusions & Next Steps

After analyzing the complete Vampire Survivors character roster, hopefully, you feel empowered in unlocking your own dream team of legendary warriors.

 Key Takeaways

• 30+ total characters span starters, standards, hidden, evolutions 
• Unique weapons & playstyles fit different preferences
• Evolution paths transform weaklings into elite heroes  
• Leveling & gold milestones gate new unlocks
• Secret conditions hiding the most exciting characters

 Where To Go From Here

Now equipped with the full unlock guidelines, map out your own progression plan:

• Review the character list choosing ideal abilities
• Mark target milestones for new unlocks 
• Track evolution requirements for transformations
• Analyze gold income to budget new purchases

Use this guide as a content roadmap to help build your ultimate vampire-slaying squad!

Suggested Next Reads:

• Vampire Survivors Where to download Vampire Survivors
• Building Your Character in Vampire
• Tips and Tricks for Surviving in Vampire Guide