THE CURSED RUN! - VAMPIRE SURVIVORS

[@ethankly12]

I like the whip with characters who have projectile increases. Combine it with some defensive items and area of effect increases and even a knife and you can just walk upwards forever. I also really like its maximum special upgrade, turns the whip into a lifesteal so curse runs and those later stages that increase monster health are easier for the way I play.

[@Shyl1ght]

You couldn't upgrade the skull because you didn't have it unlocked. Now that you've unlocked it, it can properly go up to +50% suffering (though it's not as bad as one might think). And it's the component for Poppea's weapon evolution which is pretty damn fun.

[@veryboredminecraft]

I think it's actually because it was an overflow item - earlier in the video it showed up in his upgrade list. Once you fully upgrade everything in your slots it starts feeding you gold - had he upgraded it before maxing out the last "legit" item, it would have worked normally. Not sure if that's intended or a bug, but Ive encountered it with a couple different items previously.

[@belzedk]

Skull will not show up after you have upgraded all other items. But you are able to upgrade it earlier though.

[@DreamblitzX]

It's just a feature of the skull specifically that you can choose to upgrade it, but if it's the only thing not maxed it'll go straight to gold and not force you to upgrade it if you don't want to

[@barryfraser831]

@@DreamblitzX I think it might be a bug, if it applies only to the newest item, and only if received in an unusual situation.

[@Redfog-z6u]

in regards to picking up extra levels in things that are maxed out, It doesn't appear to do anything as you have 105 might both just before and just after you pick up the level 6 spinach, so unless the stat UI doesnt show the increase which seems unlikely its more likely those levels just dont have any effect

[@TheBigWizzard]

Aren't even real levels, if you pick up another spinach after it'll still show lvl 6. Just shows current lvl +1 I'd guess

[@trentb3148]

Honestly, the Pentagram is super legit now with the new evolution. While it kills XP early on, if you have high luck, it stops doing so at a certain level, and it creates XP in its evolved form, and goes off constantly. Kind of boring, as it just slaughters the screen, but in high curse situations, it's pretty important.

[@CelestialPizza]

Personally, I'm a fan of the Whip but ONLY when you get at least +1 Projectile so it hits behind you as well as in front. The Upgraded Whip also can crit and generate some big heals, which is pretty handy.

[@Trevor21230]

Whip is generally an "always take" for me, because it deals decent damage, benefits disproportionately from Duplicator (a weapon designed to have only 2 projectiles is going to get a bigger boost than one designed to have 5), has a decent area of effect, high attack speed and predictable positioning, making it good for targeting both specific enemies and hoards, and the evolved form is probably the best source of consistent healing in the game.

[@TheLegendaryBox]

Really liking the Vampire Survivours videos! Made me pick it up myself, very fun retro-style gameplat loop, thanks for bringing my attention to it!

[@EliJahTebbens]

Is Tom a time traveller? Has he taken his computer back in time 15 years to record this on an ancient mic and then uploaded it the the present?

[@Aliestor]

I think he is recording from home

[@joshconfer209]

He decided to use the same mic but inside of an actual toaster oven.

[@velrex8140]

He borrowed Sips' old toaster mic.

[@lordcthulhu17]

man the audio quality brought me back to the heyday of let's plays 2010 lol

[@SH4D0W0733]

The upgraded whip is a good source of healing, and it works well with duplicator ring for covering everything above and to the sides of you.

[@brandongrant1173]

need so much more of this, toms totally relaxed personality + stressful as hell game is amazing

[@PierceArner]

May you all have a day that's as satisfying as a Death Spiral in the Skeleton Wave!!

[@hermatic1]

Woot another vamp survivor run well runs :) Hope your feeling better soon sir. Sending you positive vibes mate. We all know you can beat this nurgle debuff you picked up. Takecare. Regards. Ps thanks to whomever (josh maybe) edited it.

[@DreamblitzX]

From my testing, no the passives don't actually go above level 5 if you pick up an extra copy once maxed. also, the new evolved pentagram (gorgeous moon) is awesome, but evolving through the pentagram levels is a pain

[@TheBigWizzard]

My favourite penta strat is only picking it up after I combine the birds. Makes it relatively painless. Also getting clover is really helpful

[@SH4D0W0733]

If you can stand still and still kill everything except bosses a good strat is to stand still and let all that sweet exp accumulate into a red gem. Then after however long it takes for enemies to get strong enough to challenge you again (can take a long time since their biggest scaling is your level) you take the red gem and level up like 20 times in a row. Instantly maxing out the pentagram at a minimal loss of exp. Just make sure there aren't any chests around since you will wipe the stuff on screen several times in a row after getting the red gem.

[@Jeremy666x]

I cried when tom said he was going after the skull on Lama 😱😭 Great video as always!

[@megawerewolf]

Same, he lacked the vital information that you don't need to pick up the skull to unlock it.

[@megawerewolf]

I finally picked up this game last Friday after enjoying your videos and played it all weekend. 26 hours and all the achievements (thus far) unlocked and I can't wait for more to get added to the game.

[@Albursine-]

I like the whip because it's predictable, very effective at horde clearing with positioning and the evolved form has good lifesteal and can crit. If you can tolerate filling a passive slot with the hollow heart, it's a weapon that can fit with many builds, be reliable and when evolved do solid damage.

[@eragonawesome]

I like the whip on Popea in the library, you can literally just walk into a wall of enemies with no problems

[@DawnfireGalinndan]

Tom: "I don't have any directional damage!" Also Tom: *ignores all items that have directional or deterministic attacks*

[@adamtouhey7186]

Picked this up a couple of days ago and just can't stop! Loving you vids, keep up the great work (also Santa water is too good)

[@Sherwin657]

The yanny has saved me a few times

[@bobbie-jomartin3083]

honestly my favorite weapon for early on is the garlic, especially on on this level. Because you can just walk right into the bats and get loads of kills/xp.

[@xofose2061]

The wand is amazing, I always pick it up if the empty tome isn't on the map because empty tome is one of the strongest secondary effects. Transforming weapons is so important.

[@richardjones8846]

5:38 nice joke Tom. Thunder loop and la borra top damage without fail. If you stop running from your water zones like they'll hurt you and stand in them they've got very high DPS and knock back, best paired with garlic

[@kamikazesopp]

The whip is good because it reliably covers the left and right sides, and is positively affected by pretty much all upgrades. When synergized, it also becomes a great source of healing. That said, the fact that it can't hit downwards never stops being a problem, though the new Song of Mana can solve that.

[@Mafalgar]

I quite like the whip. If you pair it with some area/cooldown/projectiles the healing can get pretty nutty. If your healthbar is trippin, just get a whippin'

[@chogar421]

The whip is great for getting out of situations where the enemy is surrounding you. After a few upgrades you can easily start moving up. without too much trouble.

[@LightTower]

The whip is amazing Tom, you don't even know man

[@jordan6508]

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

[@Edgy_Spaghetti]

the whip can actually get pretty good, if you have the cooldown reduction and it evolved it can help in those horde situations when you're surrounded and taking damage, the evolution has lifesteal.

[@Elimino_P]

The words you are looking for when talking about the magic wand are single target damage, clear speed, and possibly overkill. You need a combo of dps and clear in this game. For example, if you just have the knife, you can gun down a single enemy easily, but you'll quickly get swamped by small enemies. If you just clear fast, you wont have enough damage to take down bosses or high health enemies like the green ghouls. The whip is really strong when paired with the garlic. It feels like it has one of the strongest knockbacks. Knockback is IMO the strongest defensive layer in this game. My best runs happen when I have both.

[@noah.2B]

Skellies are always at 11 minutes btw, and Wolves/Ghosts happen after Skellies. Vampire Bats -> Flower Ring/Mantis -> Green Men -> SKELLIES! -> Werewolves/Ghosts If you're able to survive WW/Ghosts then you're probably set for the rest of the match.

[@akulatraxus9153]

Unholy Vespers (the upgraded King Bible) is a great defencive item late game.... you just need to make sure you get the Bracer that increases projectile speed if you are getting the Candelabrador; as the Candelabrador makes the circle of the book bigger and thus makes it hit less often.

[@Uksalt]

so happy you have been uploading this, your first video made me buy it and its soooo good

[@TheyCallHimMuse]

"How are you, Tom?" "I like axes." "Oooo...kayyy..." :P

[@Lucky_Silver]

Whip is only really good if you're pumping up projectile numbers and once you evolve it it will heal you so its good for the later parts of a run

[@S4B3R117]

I'd like to see a max curse run! Full curse 'upgrades' + Lama + Skull O'Maniac = Big Fun

[@dragonzord6615]

Holy shit plague-boy is uploading again!

[@devinpelech]

Upgraded pentagram is my new favorite thing

[@kezmsfilms1300]

Daily reminder that Tom is an amazing person and to thank him for all he has done/will do - Day 840 (Daily reminder that Tom is an amazing person and to thank him for all he has done/will do - Day 838 and Daily reminder that Tom is an amazing person and to thank him for all he has done/will do - Day 839 for the last 2 days, I hope everyone had a nice break and good to be back) What, Tom dies, this is unprecedented :D This game is alot of fun :D happy to see more

[@dapsychokilla]

evolved whip is good for that lifesteal component

[@theonlyamergeddon]

Whip is good with cooldown book and with more projectiles, they tend to go more to your north as you attack so they keep you pretty safe from the top, also combines with the hp % boost and max lvl whip heals and crits, whip is best on bone boi in my opinion.

[@RipJaws1]

I quite like the whip, it's evolved form is really nice because of the healing

[@bodhi4094]

I was so confused by the random clovers on screen until I remembered the map is in fact a thing

[@shawer12345]

Whip evolution has lifesteal, that’s nuts

[@Vital_Velocity]

Upgraded whip is pretty good. No longer need floor chicken

[@SpydrXIII]

i'm honestly baffled how anyone can play without Garlic. i'm jealous.

[@Kukakkau]

I can see why people dont rate the wand - that end screen it has less dps than the bibles which is more a barrier really.

[@richardjones8846]

It needs a buff. Useless early on and by the time it's 8 or holy wand you've got better things to invest into both defense and offense, most directional projectile weapons are weak af

[@CrossBreedTacoHD]

I suppose you can also take into account what items weapons need to use to be upgraded. Is the wand a fairly weak weapon? Yes. But the item it requires to be upgraded is S teir. It's not 1 to 1, especially because you can get upgrades on the maps, but there is a world where replacing wand with a different weapon and losing the tome (because you want to upgrade all your weapons) would result in a net loss of dps.

[@Tachii31]

3:08 Tom with the pirate speak?

[@noah.2B]

As far as I know, no, picking up a passive item once you're at level 6 does NOT give you anything at all. It's very sad. ;c Also, fun fact/challenge: Curse is technically always a net positive. It _really_ ramps up the challenge yes, and if you've purchased max Curse AND are playing this character, you probably can't afford to always level up the Curse Skull passive item first and foremost, but you CAN run all curses at maximum and not just win, but thrive! Even on Dairy Plant! I've not managed it yet, I'm still trying to figure out how to do it, but it IS possible! :O

[@GrassFudge7]

Yeah right now I believe if curse is your last upgradeable item left, you can't upgrade it. Maybe it's so you aren't forced to take more curse

[@Khrayfish]

Probably so you can take it for the Song of Mana evolution but don't have to upgrade it.

[@Snoopydoop]

is there a way to make the cross not have that dash look so there is only one cross and not 3 after images? it gives me motion sickness..

[@AlchemicalLove]

Whips lifestyle is why to take it. I always have that or garlic for that reason

[@axe_decapitation]

You chose the hardest map to do this on :O

[@bizzarojerry]

I've done everything in this game except beat Death legitimately and use the clock lancet. Such a great game. Sad they removed missingn0, but Mask of the Red Death is still pretty awesome.

[@Seraphic85]

uggghh! What was the song clip that he used when he said "Run" please?

[@akulatraxus9153]

Whip is fine on some characters with extra area upgrades and if you get the whip vampiric upgrade from the empty heart.... but its still not my fav

[@stalhein62]

My case for the whip: I grew up watching Indiana Jones

[@happyhatebot]

Can't go wrong with Book + Water. Creates a nice zone of defense/damage you can use to push out from, and after that it's mostly just to-taste. Fire and Lightning aren't too bad, as well. But you do kind of need *some* kind of directional control, or just an impenetrable wall of nonsense. Upgraded book should always be a priority, though, as you can use it both offensively and defensively. Everything else is just flavor, all told.

[@richardjones8846]

The whip is mostly defensive but it's not really needed as other key weapons are superior. Also the new update added a weird map

[@ethanhess8230]

Hey Tom! I think you would like Soul Knight. It’s a chaotic top-down rogue like hero shooter kind of like this that has between-run upgrades and unlocks you can get by collecting items in runs. Every run will be a different build even if you use the same character over and over again, and changing characters can really spice up the play style.

[@engelon125]

Anyone know what the intro and outro music is?

[@engelon125]

Tigerblood Jewel - Feels like I'm Going Crazy

[@AshleyTheDinosaur]

Maxed out skull isn't too bad, I've beat the game with it. Admitted only because I was using Poppea and you need the skull to evolve their weapon

[@noah.2B]

I'm intrigued by your take on the strength of various weapons. By all means, take whatever you like and whatever you have fun with of course, I would however like to respectfully disagree :0 Love u long time, no pressure, but here are my SPICY HOT takes on the weapons: - Magic Wand is great early-mid game, and useful lategame as a defensive weapon. Also Empty Tome is up there with Spinach and Duplicator in that, they're both so strong that imo they're straight up just better than some weapon evolutions. Everyone who doesn't like Magic Wand, try getting it early & maxing it quickly, see how it does. No it won't carry you, but it's extremely helpful. - Cross? Absolute hot fucking garbage, and its evolution is somehow even worse. Crits are meaningless, targeting is shit, un-evolved I hate trying to aim it. bleh. In fairness, it's probably better than I'm giving it credit for, just, me no likey. - Axe? Little rough to use early, but easily one of the best weapons in the game. Death Spiral is perhaps the best in the game. Candelabrador is great for some others weapons, you'll never be sad to have Axe in your build. - Dagger? Garbage, kinda like Magic Wand but stronger if you are able to aim it, far far weaker if you can't. Bracer is worthless on most weapons as well so, not a fan of the ol' Dagger. - Whip? Hot garbo for damage, but easily the best in slot survivability weapon late game. This plus Armor or Soul Eater or Laurel make lategame a cakewalk even with shitty weapons. - Garlic? Amazing for kills early, amazing for knockback/heals late. Kinda your one stop shop for survivability and utility. - Runetracer? Top tier weapon even without an evolution. Only falls off slightly in the late game. Lets you take a passive item of your choice just for funsies, makes a lot of builds beter/easier to run. - Flame Wand? I mean. It's good. I guess. Sort of. If it wasn't attached to Spinach tho I'd probably never get it. - Bones? Weak early, strong middle, ok late. Fun tho, I like em. - Cherry Bomb? Absolute God Tier. Scales insanely well and Candelabrador makes it feel like it could carry the game by itself. One of the best weapons in the game. - Lightning Ring? Also God Tier, one of the best weapons in the game. Duplicator is one of the best passives, and it just scales really well. - Santa Water? Also God Tier, plus it gives you an excuse to get Attractorb, which makes leveling an absolute breeze. One of the best, scales from every upgrade, I'll sometimes get it just to feel better about taking Atractorb. - King Bible? Meh. Good midgame, good survivability but I feel like it starts falling off towards the lategame. Also the fact that it doesn't benefit from the duration passive that evolves it, once it's been evolved, makes me want to commit sudoku. I always want to run Bible with Santa Water or Runetracer or _something_ just so I can get more value from Spellbinder. - Song of Mana? Absolute God Tier. Its evolution gives it utterly absurd damage and the scaling from duration with the character that starts with it is hilariously strong, Curse is a wild ride but ultimately it is ALWAYS an fat benefit........if you can withstand the power surge............ - Pentagram is fucking trash. Like, sure the upgrade makes it cool and viable and it drives your mom to work and does your taxes for you and it dispenses craft cider out of its butthole, but that doesn't make me forget how it bullied me in kindergarten and stole my blue playdough. >:( - Laurel? Boring defensive item, strong tho. - Clock Lancet, technically one of the best weapons in the game, especially if you have Spellbinder and Empty Tome. Can be an absolute lifesaver but, I find it a bit boring. - Peachone/Ebony Wings, weak/frustrating early, extremely strong late, them benefitting from every single upgrade makes them scale even better than you might already think they do. Combining into Vandelier gives it the strength of 2 lvl 8 weapons, and frees up a slot, and doesn't need a passive so, insanely good. If you can stand them taking fat shits on your framerate. - Vandelier? The single best weapon in the game bar none. It has 8 levels so, it's essentially a level 24 item in one slot that doesn't require a passive, but scales with all of them??? It's insane. Framerate gets anally violated even with a 3070ti? yep. But the weapon is that good so, ye. THIS CONCLUDES MY DISSERTATION ON THE VAMPIRE SURVIVOR WEAPONS. I DID NOT INTEND TO WRITE THIS, I JUST STARTED WITH MY THOUGHTS ON MAGIC WAND AND COULDN'T STOP. But now I _have_ to send this comment otherwise I've just been talking to myself this entire time, which would make me insane. Only insane people do that. So yeah, enjoy everyone. if you disagree with me you are wrong. And retarded. But I'd love to hear your reasoning and try and understand where you're coming from! :D

[@Khrayfish]

Framerate loss is down to CPU usage, not GPU. I really doubt Vampire Survivors makes much use of GPU logic, if at all.

[@noah.2B]

@@Khrayfish True. I was mentioning gpu for the meme but you're right. A surprising amount of stuff in games actually run on the CPU. GPU is extremely useful for what it can be used for, but CPU is main bottleneck most often. Well, unless the game's optimization is an issue.....

[@joshturnbull4791]

Shit i didnt realise this games only 2 quid. Might pick it up, the kind of thing i can play while “ working from home”

[@TheSebyth]

Sounds like you had a bit of a cold in this one, hope you are feeling better by now!

[@Welshboy471]

Picked up this game a few days ago purely because of tom and after playing a bit realized that the red death character is unlocked by killing the reaper at the end. Would love to hear from time how he killed death or some advice he could give

[@gustafhillertz9374]

i quite like the whip you do need to be mindful of it. it does so much dmg upwards great for just living through stuff. plust it heals you when evolved. but evolving with hollow heart is kinda suckie

[@skyesfury8511]

The evolved whip is ok. But even the Laurel is more useful than the whip. Currently, any level above the pips does nothing. Tried this with multiple items and none of them changed at Lv 6 or higher.

[@Jakuri93]

My record is 75k kill and lvl 140 in library, my cpu couldn't handle the late game xD was really fun thou. It is a bit strange since my cpu is twice as good as recommended. you should definitely do a song of mana run :)

[@heatriser6778]

Now I've gone and bought it. I hope you're happy.

[@TheEverwritten]

You couldn't upgrade the skull because it wasn't unlocked yet. Next time you play you'll get it as a buy option but you probably already know that by now. :)

[@TwilightLink293]

Nice!

[@zantanzuken]

the curse seems a lot worse than it actually is, yes it makes enemies stronger and more plentiful, but BECAUSE it makes them more plentiful, you get more exp drops (which is why you got to such a high level)

[@risjut2146]

finally more!

[@monkaeyes]

Man is Tom recording on the standard Xbox 360 mic?

[@zackeryeh]

Whip is amazing, once upgraded u can heal 8 health per hit with it

[@hootiemike3091]

Is it possible for you to kill Death at the end? If so you should give it a try.

[@GenieInABox]

Possible and done, but as far as I'm aware you need to change game files to do it as it has several billion HP or something like that. But if you kill it you unlock it as a character and it starts with Death Spiral.

[@okdanhe]

it is possible to also do it legit, but it's very cheesy ... clerici with runetracer and stay at level 2 until death spawns, it's cheesy you need to be lucky and can take a while to succeed but i think this is the only legit way to do it

[@belzedk]

While I am not sure, I think Tom has killed Death, but lost the video. He has played the character.

[@HarrIock]

The extra levels on items above 6 seems to have no effect.

[@thanatos6902]

I like the magic wand as well... basically any weapon or item in the game is going to be garbage if you just keep saying "Nah that's garbage I'm going to upgrade this instead" if you upgrade something it generally starts doing better

[@Pokemark17]

Damn when did they add all these characters, I always felt like garlic is op tho

[@RoosterFloyd]

Tom, you're anti laurel? Dear God... You were a yanny man all along... No... It can't be... No no no no... Et tu... Tom?

[@self_destruction7603]

Pls make new Creeper World 4 vids. I never saw such a nice U-Tuber on this game. Btw nice vid.

[@tenebraebr]

I died with Lama at 23:45. 15 fucking seconds to get the achiev. I hate this game. (I'm actually having so much fun with this game).

[@Sherwin657]

tried the plant map yet?

[@5Andysalive]

i like garlic.

[@DrFilch]

*Bam*

[@bertdog2119]

The first map is honestly bad in that the pickups are SO FAR. the Inlaid Library's are way easier to get. I just generally like the Library a lot

[@xyzabc198]

You might be anti-laurel, but how do you feel about Hardy?

[@bravooscarbravooscar9222]

Tom sounds very bunged up and sick here, did you catch the rona Tommy? Hope your doing okay as I noticed you missed a day.

[@C02detected]

idk why but i hate the whip too

[@Jig_up]

Uh-bam!

[@sweatilaa5325]

Is it just me or does it sound like Tom is speaking into a potato mic?

[@EliJahTebbens]

Ya I think so... reminds of me of watching sips_ back in the day

[@sweatilaa5325]

@@EliJahTebbens yea, it does sound like old sips! or current day Daltos... the potato mic era was a much simpler time.

[@devinpelech]

Hello Ryan.

[@DragonFiesta]

anti-lorril? a yanny guy huh?

[@vandread]

Is he speaking into a iphone gen 1?

[@JakubMasek]

"Magic wand is a defensive item." My man, strong defence is the best offence.

[@majesticsatyr3877]

I love you

[@okdanhe]

the new evolved pentagram is my new favorite weapon, specially with "Christine" + empty tome! no you cant upgrade items beyond max level, also magic wand sucks.

[@kamikazesopp]

The evolved wand combined with garlic makes you pretty much untouchable, as everything that gets close is yeeted off-screen.

[@voodoominerman]

He's not new, he's been in the game since you first played it.

[@Stanehable]

662

[@sebastianiosbud1309]

Yanny