STARTING WITH THE PENTAGRAM! - VAMPIRE SURVIVORS

[@Snakegg2]

*picks up upgrade giving a chance not to delete items* "why didn't the items get deleted?" never change tom

[@Odea201058]

Quintessential Tom.

[@cyte112]

You think he bothers READING the text of his upgrades? He just likes the pretty pictures!

[@jayilham6548]

We DID pay him to lead and not to read

[@Wolf3685]

he's here to lead, not read

[@okdanhe]

tom cant read

[@Khrayfish]

Tome is for sure, an always-take, even if you aren't using the Magic Wand. It's basically as strong as the spinach in terms of DPS increase but scales better with items.

[@Lordborgman]

Cooldown reduction in nearly any game is usually one of, if not the best stats to go for.

[@gwonbusH]

On Christine, Tome is basically 2.33x damage from casting spells that much faster, including the Pentagram that doesn't scale with damage. She gets a full board wipe every 17 seconds or so with Gorgeous, having almost no wait between the board clear and the enemy deletion starting back up. That said, Spinach is more useful on her as well, since she has lower base damage than the average character. If you have the +25% base might from upgrades, that means she goes from -10% to +40% for a net damage of +55.5% instead of the standard character's net damage of +40%

[@WoodlandDrake]

Attack more or attack harder? Why not Zoidberg?

[@SpydrXIII]

for me garlic is an always take. you can just walk into bat swarms and eat so many crystals.

[@akareject]

She gets 30% cool down reduction. Combined with a fully upgraded tome, her upgraded pentagram happens constantly. She is super weak, but easily my favorite because of the insane cooldown reduction.

[@Robert-yn6ov]

I did a pentagram run yesterday, and I can confirm a small part of your soul dies every time it kills a boss.

[@rubricance9617]

Its a shame he didnt get to see end game with christine. max empty tome with christines base cooldown reduction means pentagram is always going and you attack so fast it breaks some of the weapons. death spiral doesnt even get to fire a full ring of axes before its firing another loop and evolved lightning has no time to strike twice before it does the first hit again. with laurel empty tome and spellbinder maxed you also basically become immortal the shield regenerates as fast as it can be taken down negating christines low hp.

[@SpydrXIII]

thanks for the tip!

[@DrakenAshen]

Yeah it gets so nasty...you definitely want to go Pentagram, Song, Garlic, Bible, and that's just to get leveled up because once the Pentagram pops off evolved with Empty tome maxed it's GG.

[@devinpelech]

Pentagram starts with a low percentage chance to not eat items and experience on screen, I think 2% or something. That chance increases with Luck and upgrades.

[@richardjones8846]

it's 15% base and goes up to 65% ; the upgrades tell you what the new total chance is rather than "25%" "45%" "65%" additional chance not destroy items. you can actually read the game files really easily (and is how you unlock missing n0 character)

[@KingBobbito]

I feel like the "I was elected to lead, not to read" line applies to Tom extremely well.

[@miskatonial3486]

As long as the weapon is at max level and you have the corresponding item the next chest is always a guaranteed evolve which sometimes makes it better to leave chests on the floor until you have upgraded your weapon

[@voodoominerman]

It's not guaranteed. I've had a few cases where I've been able to upgrade by about 5 mins, but it just gave me something else. I think it may kick in around 10 mins, based on what I've observed.

[@voodoominerman]

Just checked the wiki. With the exception of the Dairy Plant, and the first chest in Green Acres, chests can only offer evolved weapons after 10 minutes.

[@RuNoMai]

I did a defensive run as Christine just before this video went up, it turned out pretty well. Garlic and King Bible were the core of my build (aside from the Pentagram, of course) along with their upgrade items. I snagged Runetracer for some early DPS, and Empty Tome for cooldown reduction. Once you have your tome fully upgraded, the evolved Pentagram just *never stops firing*. Also grab a Laurel in case things make it through your Garlic + Bible bubble, and evolve the Santa Water as your sixth item. You can just AFK after upgrading the Pentagram and collect free gold -- don't forget to take the Stone Mask. So, to summarize Weapons: Pentagram, Runetracer, Garlic, King Bible, Laurel, Santa Water Buffs: Crown (the earlier the better), Empty Tome, Pummarola, Spellbinder, Attractorb, Stone Mask (or Spinach/Candelabrador/Bracer if you don't need gold)

[@bmats123]

As tom said, "Oof". I'm super thankful for Tom introducing me to this game. I've already gotten all the achievements and spread the game out to my friend group

[@just.Athena]

The great thing about Christine is that she has a base 25% Cooldown. Alongside the Cooldown Power-up and the Empty Tome, you can get 70% total Cooldown Reduction, which is actually crazy. It makes Gorgeous Moon delete the screen and grab xp about every 10~ seconds. Also with Spellbinder and the Laurel combined with the above, she becomes practically invincible.

[@Semirotta]

Pentagram only removes the experience in the beginning, then you begin to get 25%, 45% etc chances of not wasting it + items from enemies that can drop the chest items and the evolution, well, it's amazing.

[@hermatic1]

Woot another vamp survivor woot woot. I love watching and listening to Tom playing. Reminds me of being round a friends house and watching them play a single player. Just without my ability to but in while your playing.

[@SPID3RSPLIC3R]

Somehow this never gets old

[@ultrahevybeat]

tom always gets me to buy or just get so many new games while i already have so many other games i should play. i hate it but i love it at the same time

[@thomasguerra4521]

"learning is half the battle!!!" I'd go more with "READING is fundamental!!!" Lmfgao I LOVE you Tom don't ever change!!!

[@Synard66]

Starting with the penta-Bam!

[@PierceArner]

The comments are important to check for anyone making the risky play of attempting to use Tom's expertise for a game wiki based upon whatever Captain Distracto is playing.

[@ReunionMana]

Yay! Literally just binge watched all your Vampire Survivors content last night lol, keep playing this game!

[@solenkeks]

One of my favourite series in a long time! I bought vampire survivors after seeing you play it and it's so good!

[@ultrahevybeat]

i like how tom does exactly like me when it comes to augmentations on weapons where i dont ever read what the augmentation does and just click it

[@ultrahevybeat]

oh he just read what the upgrade did ohwell

[@V_Drawin]

I love the little music with the pentagram

[@noah.2B]

Curse, Spinnach, and Empty Tome. Those are the 3 must-haves every round. Yes, Curse. The increased amount and rate of enemies from Curse is always worthwhile. Spinnach negates the damage the bonus HP, making it always a huge boon to have. Also Song of Mana and its upgrade are easily one of the best weapons in the game imo.

[@SnupyTime]

This is my current favourite series, love the vids tom

[@okram2k]

Luck also affects pentagram blowing up items until you get it upgraded.

[@phaolo6]

My god, KZbin's quality has really become terrible.. with fast movement all becomes blurry like a 360p 😬

[@jordan6508]

Love the fun videos, thank you for your work Tom and Josh.

[@SqueakySniper]

She has half life. I really struggled with her build because of how easily she dies.

[@Swm9445]

Uploaded in lower res, anyone?

[@indianburns2354]

Run it back! I must see the pentagram on death!

[@Oskar272]

Tom please do another pentagram run!

[@herr0zeit]

The one shot build you've been waiting for!

[@kezmsfilms1300]

Daily reminder that Tom is an amazing person and to thank him for all he has done/will do - Day 847 Ye, I know he knows now, but it does at the start delete the XP too, OOOO having the damage numbers is fun :D Good to see the Pentagram being used and that Moon is so cool, love how it plays notes when it goes to attack :D Also, wow, a loss, wow XD and due to cockiness too XD ha ha

[@jamesbowen1926]

"I don't know fuck about shit" -Tom 2022

[@yeahfortriedge]

Tom just sees pretty picture and takes it without reading

[@caseymauldin8396]

This is a great game to watch you play Tom.

[@Wyrian]

Was waiting for this one!

[@gwonbusH]

Tom not immediately grabbing empty tome on Christine the first time he sees it hurts inside. It's normally the strongest pickup in the game, and is even stronger on her!

[@MrMrchatcity]

the hubris of Tom

[@Nevario1]

Ah yes, typical 'Illiterate Tom' makes his appearance. "45% chance not to destroy items." I don't know what upgrade did.

[@AshleyTheDinosaur]

So the upgraded pentagram pulls all XP on the map. It's basically a vacuum

[@SpydrXIII]

i accidentally got death stuck on a wall in the dairy plant. if you wait long enough they keep sending new reapers until you die. i got up to 4 grim reapers before physics knocked one off the wall and killed me.

[@SapphireAngelBunny]

I can't wait to get to the lvl that Tom is in this game xD. I just want to Song of Mana everything

[@TheMouseMasterYT]

not sure i recommend Spinach when you are going for an evolved pentagram... or the attractorb :)

[@12thArchknight]

By the looks of the video he didnt realise that the evolved pentagram did that so i guess for next time there will be better choices probably

[@moldiworp9143]

You cant spell tome without tom, but Tom doesnt need Tome. This is his way.

[@christopherg2347]

As with Upgrades you tend to keep Items and even get more Gems, upgrades to pentagramm should be first. Anything that helps with levelling second. Only then should you go for conventional damage. Once you got the Upgraded Pentagramm, you can level out of bounds.

[@DrFilch]

*A-Bam!*

[@kohp111]

Keep em coming! 👍

[@chali1234567890]

Maxed song of mana upgrades with the skull. It hurt watching you pass on it like 3 times.

[@clinicallyinsane5282]

Yeah Tom, heads up--Christine has like half health. I kept getting frustrated at her everytime I tried the run.

[@HarrIock]

Tom in charge of not reading descriptions.

[@risjut2146]

what an ending!

[@fishpop]

Does something specifically trigger the pentagram or does it just have a long, undefined cooldown?

[@pegusus12346]

It has a long cooldown, but items also immediately trigger when you upgrade them. Incidentally, this character has an unmentioned CD reduction. If Tom hadn't died and had maxed out the book, the Pentagram would have been constantly triggering.

[@ethankly12]

It obviously gets lower the more you upgrade it, but I usually eyeball it at around a minute and keep adjusting down based on what the upgrade reduces it by until you don't need to worry about it because it doesn't erase anything.

[@laylamccahon7797]

Is Tom using the beta? If not, might be worth trying that out. Small bit of fun new content on there. Christine with the song, tome, binder, spinach and candelabrador is a lot of fun.

[@MegaDoctorus]

Tom!!! Is there somewhere on youtube were I can watch your Elden Ring playthrough, like a real vodgoblin?

[@lecram86]

"I do not know the mechanics at all" "Maybe I should look at the wiki" Or maybe you could just read the text in the game... Never change captain distracto 😆

[@SeriousKarol]

can you record this game in 4k for the better bitrate?

[@devinpelech]

Tom, how do you not have rerolls and skips unlocked yet? Gives a lot of piece of mind knowing you have a few times to get trash powers without having to commit to them.

[@gwonbusH]

Might be seeing the money costs and go "That's really expensive!" without realizing that if you reset the upgrades and buy the most expensive ones you want first you get more bang for your bucks.

[@devinpelech]

@@gwonbusH Right, my bad, forgot they had to be bought after unlocking, and are pretty expensive.

[@pekkaastala]

He doesn't even have the respawn unlocked, so I'd be willing to bet money he has just completely forgotten to look into the power ups part of the game in a month.

[@gringojolson1503]

mmorpg tycoon 2 spiff played it therefore its worth the time to take a look at maybe

[@liammyatt5196]

Hell yeah more

[@DeathEatter107]

2 back door's make a front. ;-)

[@Vhargon]

Why isn't this one 1080p

[@danjoy2]

Got some Creeper World withdrawal.

[@willdazey7368]

Seems like the King Bible might have been the better pickup than the Santa Water. Seems like you want to play really defensive and buy time during the Pentagram cooldown.

[@k.ngpark]

Whip + Song of mana????? Feels connected

[@harrygaskin6235]

Does Tom even say Bonk with every Pentagram or is it a sound clip?

[@okdanhe]

i tend to take whip + hollow heart with christine cause she has almost no health :)

[@zantanzuken]

fun fact: once the pentagram is evolved, it has no chance of erasing items.

[@KINGBEN117]

Does the video quality seem lower for anyone else? Idk why but it just seems more grainy than usual.

[@rileymiller3154]

Whelp he got greedy and died should've realized how little HP he had lol

[@thomasguerra4521]

If you just read it Tom...it says you have a 45% chance to NOT destroy items, exp, etc.

[@Kulabaluka]

i cant believe tom doesnt have a revive upgrade yet, or the skip and banish

[@fluxcutie4813]

he probably doesn't know that they're much cheaper if they're the first upgrades you buy after reset, it isn't super intuitive

[@I0d0ma]

I want "I dont know fuck about shit" on a shirt

[@jadenversluis4816]

Rare is actually short for Rarability

[@cawlsthirdfoot1982]

Love me some Tom

[@TheHappyKiwi]

Nice

[@Eenkognito]

Why does he KEEP GETTING ATTRACTORB with the pentagram?

[@a.cunningham4974]

I dont know fuck about shit. The millennial experience in a nut shell.

[@Legault397]

Christine Squishy

[@tenebraebr]

They pay him to lead not to read.

[@ChartreuseDan]

Boy, is it a good thing Tom wasn't elected to read

[@DamianSiIvers]

Welp, that wasn’t much of a surviving

[@majesticsatyr3877]

I love you

[@Alba_Longa]

KZbin's bit rate really doesn't like this game. oof This is worse than usual because the map get gradually darker and darker.

[@TeamLarry]

*Can we all just appreciate the effort and grind that he puts into vids?* 💗

[@mysteryneophyte]

This game is fun but I wish the developers of it weren't freaking lazy or incompetent. What I mean is I wish it looked a lot better because... well I was actually alive when games look like this because they had to because that's all there was and it was crappy, nowadays there's literally no excuse for it either you're just lazy or bad at making games or you for some reason think this looks cool? I don't understand it's like..." hey wouldn't the Mona Lisa look better if Leonardo da Vinci finger painted it in his own feces"? No in fact it wouldn't that would be a terrible idea it would look terrible. Why would somebody do that if they had the ability to make it look so much better?

[@Stanehable]

669

[@randomicko542]

I would just like to point out there's a typo in the description. It should say "than" not "then". That is all. A pleasant evening to you, sir.

[@mysteryneophyte]

What does that even mean killing all the experience on the screen what experience what are you talking about

[@ShiftyMoses]

F