The new Il Molise stage in Vampire Survivors requires a new type of build. This stage plays quite a bit differently than the other stages due to the enemies the players will encounter. The enemies in this stage are, for the most part, plants - so they don't move. This means in Il Molise the player must go to the enemies; whereas in the other stages the enemies charge the character in an attempt to overwhelm them.

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So far there are two notable build-types for this stage; the bullet hell build featuring weapons like the Runetracer and Magic Wand, and the wide area build featuring weapons like the Lightning Ring and Santa Water. This build, titled "The Lawnmower", is designed to be able to walk endlessly, either to the left or right, while killing every enemy as the character walks by them; all while not taking any damage. This build is great for racking up a humongous amount of kills.

Character

The character selection screen in Vampire Survivors

There are a few characters the player can choose for this build: Christine, Lama, Poe, and Poppea. Christine starts with one of the primary weapons for this build, has reduced weapon cooldown times, and has a faster move speed. Lama eventually gets as fast as Christine and gets a boost to might (damage).

Poe starts with one of this build's primary weapons, and his large item pick-up area is helpful. Poppea starts with the weapon that is absolutely necessary for this build to work, has a fast move speed, and also gets a boost to weapon duration. Overall, the best characters for this build are Christine and Poppea. Their better speed, bonuses, and starting weapons align better with the objectives of this build.

Primary Weapon 1 - Song Of Mana

The Song of Mana weapon in Vampire Survivors

This is the weapon that makes this build so effective. The Song of Mana fires a column of energy vertically to the top and bottom edge of the screen. This column also pierces enemies; so every enemy caught within the column will take damage.

The goal with this weapon is to get it to the point where it's constantly firing. This will allow the player to walk indefinitely to the right or left and kill every enemy as they pass through the column - which remains centered on the character as they move. When operating as desired, the result will look like the image at the top of this article; there should be no enemies behind the player.

Primary Weapon 2 - Pentagram

The Pentagram weapon in Vampire Survivors

The Pentagram was not a very good weapon before it got an evolved version. Yeah, it kills all the enemies onscreen; however, it also destroys all the experience gems and even treasure chests until it reaches the higher levels. The evolved version not only doesn't destroy the experience gems, it acts as the Vacuum pick-up item and pulls them all to the characters.

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In this build this is the only weapon that absolutely needs to be evolved. In the last couple of minutes the screen becomes filled with coin jars. These drop a gold coin when they are destroyed instead of an experience gem. The evolved Pentagram, the Gorgeous Moon, destroys all these jars and pulls the gold to the character - making this a great build for collecting a lot of gold.

Primary Weapon 3 - Garlic

The Garlic weapon in Vampire Survivors

This build requires the player to run right into the enemy ranks. This can be deadly. The best protective item for this build is the Garlic weapon. This weapon creates a 360° barrier around the player that damages enemies. The damage isn't that high, but the Garlic also pushes enemies back slightly. This pushback usually creates enough space to walk through.

As the Song of Mana becomes higher level the Garlic will start playing less of a role in this build; it's here to protect the character and facilitate leveling-up in the early minutes. Don't worry about evolving the Garlic; there are better accessories than the Pummarola, and Il Molise offers fewer treasure chest than the other stages.

Primary Weapon 4 - Knife

The Knife weapon in Vampire Survivors

The Knife is generally considered one of the worst weapons in Vampire Survivors. Though, its rapid rate-of-fire in whatever direction the character is facing make it fit perfectly into this build. The Knife great for clearing a path as the player walks, and this build is built to endlessly walk in one direction.

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Upgrading the Knife into the Thousand Edge makes this build work even better; however, the player will want to keep the knife at level seven until evolving the Pentagram - it takes priority. The Bracer is used to evolve the Knife, and this accessory doesn't improve any of the other primary weapons.

Primary Accessory 1 - Spellbinder

The Spellbinder accessory in Vampire Survivors

The best way to get the Song of Mana's duration to exceed its cooldown time is to select the Spellbinder accessory when it becomes available - or play as Poppea or Christine. Even if those two characters are picked the player should still get the Spellbinder if it's offered.

The King Bible is a great secondary weapon for this build. It works with the Garlic to create a double layered barrier. With a mid-level Song of Mana, Garlic, and King Bible, the character will be able to walk through groups of enemies unharmed. Like the Knife, keep the King Bible at level seven until the Pentagram is evolved.

Primary Accessory 2 - Crown

The Crown accessory in Vampire Survivors

This accessory increases the experience gained from the experience gems dropped by enemies. The Crown is a primary accessory in this build for two reasons. The first reason is that the Crown evolves the Pentagram. The Gorgeous Moon will make leveling-up easier and help collect a ton of gold in the last five minutes.

The second reason is that this stage only lasts fifteen minutes, rather than the other stages that last thirty minutes. Players will need a bonus to experience if they want to get all their weapons and accessories to their maximum level. Get the Crown early to get the most out of its bonus.

Secondary Weapons

Selecting the King Bible in Vampire Survivors

Players should avoid selecting weapons that fire slow projectiles, or ones with irregular flight patterns - like the Fire Wand and Cross. The Laurel is useful in the early minutes of the stage, but becomes a waste of a weapon slot after the Song of Mana is gotten to max level.

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The Phiera Der Tuphello and Sparrow the Eight weapons work well with this build. The only problem with selecting these two is that the player may not have time to get them both to level eight and merge them into Phieraggi. However, the Phieraggi is one of the best weapons in the game and works even better with this build. Also, the revives from the Tiragisu accessory needed to merge these two weapons is not needed in the Il Molise stage.

Secondary Accessories

Selecting the Empty Tome in Vampire Survivors

The Attractorb isn't necessary for this build - it just makes the game so much easier. At level five the Attractorb will pick up almost every experience gem as the character walks to the left or right. If the player is going for a record high kill count they should get the Wings accessory. At max level all the primary weapons will do enough damage that even super fast characters, like Red Death, will be able to kill all the enemies as they pass.

The Spinach is another smart secondary accessory. This will ensure the Garlic weapon doesn't become too weak to quickly kill enemies; which will prevent the character from taking damage. The Empty Tome is another good pick.

Final Thoughts

The result screen after the Il Molise stage in Vampire Survivors

If the player picks Christine and doesn't get the Garlic or Song of Mana as a choice for her free level, reset and start over. This stage is too short to waste time with a weapon like the Fire Wand as a starting weapon. If a high kill count is desired the player should get the Skull O'Maniac to increase the number of enemies on screen.

If the player adds the Clock Lancet as a secondary weapon it's possible to kill Death by walking to the left or right continuously. Just make sure to remember whether the character needs to go above or below Death on a pass, so the Clock Lancet keeps Death frozen. If the Clock Lancet is selected to try and kill Death the player will want the Laurel, Tiragisu, and Revive Power-up as well.

Vampire Survivors is availbale for PC and MacOS.

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