If you manage to survive till the 30th minute in any of the four stages in Vampire Survivors, the Reaper will appear. More often than not, your character would be one-shot while the stage is considered as completed. To defeat the Reaper in all four stages, there are prerequisites (see bottom of this post). You don’t have to follow a specific build. You just need to follow the strategy and the tips below. An OK build may take longer to down Reaper. But you should be able to get the job done within one minute. This guide also works very well against RNG. You need a bit of luck to get the 2 items you need but there are ways to mitigate this.
PS. This guide assumes that you have the knowledge and experience in surviving till the 30th minute.
The Rewards
So, what are the rewards besides Steam achievements?
Defeating the Reaper the first time unlocks Mask of the Red Death character, which could be helpful (but not a must-have) for the rest of the stages.
Reaching minute 31 or defeating Reaper in each of the 4 stages also rewards Arcanas with Mad Groove being the most useful for this specific task. Mad Groove attracts all standard stage items (passives), pickups, and light sources towards the character. You can pick this Arcana before you start. With this, you don’t need to walk to all corners of the map to pick up items in order to evolve 2 of your weapons that are essential to beating the Reaper. They will just be near you waiting for you to open them at your convenience. Also, Mad Groove attracts experience orbs etc. You don’t even need to move away from the starting position!
Two Approaches
There are two ways you can do this. Both approaches would require you to evolve maxed Laurel to Crimson Shroud (using maxed level Metaglio Left and Right) and maxed Clock Lancet to Infinite Corridor (using maxed level Gold and Silver Rings). With these, you possess the most defensive and offensive weapons against the Reaper!
The first approach is to defeat the Reaper in stage one Mad Forest with one of your strongest character (for me it is Leda who comes with an evolved weapon for a start). Unlock Mad Groove and use that Arcana for the rest of the stages. The drawback is that to collect the required passives in Mad Forest, you have to move to all corners of the map (and Leda is slower than others). You may not be able to evolve Laurel and Clock Lancet in time.
The second approach is to defeat the Reaper in stage two first. Because Inlaid Library only has east and west wings and it is much faster to gather all the required passives. This unlocks Red Death that can move faster (and strong as well), which makes defeating Reaper in stage one easier. The drawback is that it takes two stages for you to collect Mad Groove.
Unless you are struggling to collect Metaglio Left and Right and the two rings and evolve Laurel and Clock Lancet in time, I would recommend the first approach.
Because I am lazy. With Mad Groove, it is an easier win.
How to Beat Reaper Without Mad Groove
Assuming that you would take the first approach, these are the tips to consider.
- Pick a Character: It could be the strongest one you have (e.g. Leda who comes with an evolved weapon from the start). Or one that has a starting weapon of Laurel or Clock Lancet. I would recommend the strongest instead.
- Pick the First Arcana: Since you should have Laurel and Clock Lancet to make this works, Blood Astronomia has good synergy with these two items.
- Know the Stage Items: Besides Metaglio Left and Right and the two rings, each stage has a different set of guaranteed passive items. With that information, you should prioritise as you level, picking the weapons that can be evolved with one of these guaranteed items. I.e., for stage 1, Garlic, Fire Wand, Whip, Songs of Mana, and Cross. For stage 2, Magic Wand and Gatti Amari. For stage 3, Santa Water, Runetracer, Axe, and Shadow Pinion. For stage 4, Knife and King Bible.
- Plan Your Build: You have to reserve 2 slots for Laurel and Clock Lancet. If you pick Leda (or Red Death for the second approach), the starter evolved weapon will take up another slot. For the last 3 slots, use the stage items information above to finalise your build. You should target to have 3 evolved weapons. I wouldn’t be rooting for union strategy because with all these constraints, RNG is going to hurt. I actually like weapons that can’t be evolved (or evolved that easily). They tend to do better than normal weapons. You can buy them from the merchant too, once you got Laurel and Clock Lancet.
- Plan Your Route and Don’t Stop: If you are confident with your character, pick Metaglio Right or Gold Ring first. This will make the enemies stronger with increased frequency. It will earn you more XP. You would need a lot of XP to evolve Laurel and Clock Lancet. Once you pick the first essential stage item (for Laurel or Clock Lancet), go diagonally to pick up the next nearest essential stage item. Also pick up other passive stage items along the way if you need them. If not, skip those as you only have 30 minutes to evolve Laurel and Clock Lancet.
- Maximise the Chance of Getting Laurel and Clock Lancet and Prioritise Passives First: Each time you level, you get to pick a new or upgrade an existing item. If none of the new items work for your build, upgrade an existing item instead. If nothing works for your build (e.g. all new weapons that are not for your build), consider to use the skip (or re-roll) option. Only pick a new weapon if you have the corresponding passive or such passive is available as a free stage item (on the map). Otherwise, pick a new passive. If you don’t have Laurel and/or Clock Lancet, don’t take more than 3 weapons. Pick a new passive instead. Eventually, both should appear. Unless RNG is really against you and in that case, restart the game. The chance of having only new weapons (that aren’t Laurel and Clock Lancet) as options with no option to upgrade any of the existing ones gets small as you collect more items.
- Don’t Be Greedy On The Passives You Can Hold: For stage 1, you could in theory unlock 6 passives through levelling and take all 9 free stage items. But it would take a lot of XP to level so many items. Prioritise the passives that work for your build.
- Consider These Useful Passives: If you pick Leda and besides Laurel and Clock Lancet, you have 3 weapons to be evolved. That means you may have 3 or more passives that ain’t for evolution, but to help your progress. Granted, there may be passives that you have no choice but to pick as you wait for Laurel and Clock Lancet to appear. Given a choice, I would consider these passives: Attractorb, Spinach, Crown, and Clover. There are other useful ones too depending on your build.
- Evolve Laurel and Clock Lancet Last: You don’t need Crimson Shroud and Infinite Corridor till the later part of the run. Level up and evolve the rest of the weapons first.
- Don’t Banish Mataglio Left and Right and the 2 Rings By Mistake!: If you are using a controller, in the heat of the moment towards the late game, you may banish these passives by mistake. Without max level, it is impossible to evolve the weapons into Crimson Shroud and Infinite Corridor.
How to Beat Reaper With Mad Groove
Very much the same as the above. Obviously you should pick Mad Groove as your first Arcana. And you don’t need to plan your route. Everything will be served at your doorstep every 2 minutes!
In Closing
If you follow these tips, your chance of first time success should be very high. Even if it doesn’t work out, you may end up collecting some eggs to make your character stronger for the next attempt.
Appendix: Prerequisites
These are the prerequisites to defeat the Reaper.
- You have to unlock Yellow Sign relic that enable you to find the passives to evolve Laurel and Clock Lancet. To do that, defeat the final boss of Moongolow. After all your items have been stripped except your starting weapon, make a run through the map and follow the arrow, smash objects along the way and hope to get a floor chicken for healing. Keep trying. You will get through the second stage.
- To unlock Moongolow, you need to defeat the mini-boss that spawn on minute 25 for all 4 stages.
- To unlock stage 2 to 4, you need to reach level 60 for the corresponding previous stage. E.g. reaching level 60 in stage 1 will unlock stage 2 etc.
- Unlock the playable character Leda is very helpful, not mandatory. As she comes with an evolved weapon right from level 1. To unlock Leda, head to Gallo Tower and go all the way down right from the start. When the screen dims and the music fades, that is when Leda the boss may spawn. You may miss her if you are not observant. And you should defeat her before minute 25, when the water level rises and the mini-boss appears.
- Unlock Limit Break game option is very helpful, not mandatory. You have to unlock Yellow Sign relic first. And in Cappella Magna stage, survive 30 minutes and defeat Ender boss.
- It goes without saying that you should be able to easily survive till minute 30 for any given character in most scenarios. The more you play before attempting to defeat the Reaper, the more experience you get, and the more Arcanas you unlock. Don’t rush this. Enjoy the process!