Vampire Survivors How to farm gold

Intro

This guide is still "work in progress" and will be updated according to new tests and your comments

Just skip to "Early runs examples (0 eggs)" section if you don't need extra info. This guide is about how to start gold farming after you have beaten the game and how to maximize gold income after getting a bunch of eggs.

You can beat the game in a couple of hours using my other guide:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2953930313

I'm focusing on AFK farming.

I'm focusing on the main game content only (no DLCs).

All tests was performed with all the PowerUps maxed.

Additional tests needed:

Launching option impact on ingame FPS (Normal/SteamUI/GPUfix);

Sarabande of Healing vs Blood Astronomia vs Garlic for fast light sources destruction (and FPS impact);

Benefits of using more than one weapon in late runs (killing speed vs FPS impact).

How Gold Mechanics Work

There are five main ways of getting gold in the game (we're focusing on the first two):

destroying light sources (and picking up Gold Coins / Coin Bags / Rich Coin Bags);

killing enemies while Gold Fever is active;

picking up chests;

completing some weapon evolutions related achievements;

completing the stage by being killed by The Reaper or White Death (in this case you get rewarded with 500 gold and additional gold for each Revivals left).

Light sources spawn

The total amount of light sources on screen cannot exceed 10, with the old ones disappear and replaced by the newly summoned.

Light sources is a destructible object. The game attempts to spawn destructibles every second in all stages, except The Bone Zone (every 0.5 seconds) and Holy Forbidden (100 seconds).

While the maximum amount of light sources are on the map, the game can still attempt to spawn light sources, but the spawn chance is no longer influenced by Luck, causing them to spawn less often. If a light source is spawned at the limit, it will spawn in a location closest to the player and an existing light source is despawned.

In some stages (Inlaid Library, Dairy Plant, Gallo Tower), the light sources have predetermined possible spawn locations, whereas in other maps they spawn in an oval shape around the character (just out of sight).

StageSpawn intervalSpawn chanceMax spawn chanceLuck needed to max chanceMax destructiblesMad Forest1 sec10%50%500%10Inlaid Library1 sec7,50%50%667%10Dairy Plant1 sec20%60%300%10Gallo Tower1 sec7,50%50%667%10Cappella Magna1 sec20%80%400%20Il Molise1 sec30%60%200%10Moongolow1 sec30%60%200%10Green Acres1 sec10%50%500%10The Bone Zone0.5 sec40%40%100%10Boss Rash1 sec10%50%500%5Tiny Bridge1 sec7,50%50%667%10Bat Country1 sec1%50%5000%10Holy Forbidden100 sec100%100%100%100Eudaimonia Machine1 sec7,50%50%667%10

Light sources drops

When destroyed, light source drops one of the following items:

PickupChanceMin player levelHoly ForbiddenEudaimonia MachineThe Bone ZoneBat CountryComment (in terms of gold farming)Gold Coin62.1%0yesyesyesyesGives 1 goldCoin Bag12.4%0yesyesyesyesGives 10 gold; triggers Gold Fever (if Disco of Gold)Rich Coin Bag1.2%5noyesnoyesGives 100 gold; triggers Gold Fever (if Disco of Gold)Rosary1.2%8noyesnoyesMostly useless (more tests needed)Nduja Fritta Tanto1.2%0yesnononoMostly uselessOrologion2.5%4nonononoDecreases farming speedVacuum2.5%12noyesnoyesCould be used to collect exp while AFKFloor Chicken14.9%0yesyesnoyesMostly uselessGilded Clover1.2%30nononoyesTriggers Gold Fever (but it's better to use coin bags + Disco of Gold for this purpose)Little Clover0.6%0yesnonoyes +10% Luck. Could help in early runs

If the stage is not mentioned in the table above, it means there are no restrictions to light source drop types there.

Gold Fever

There are two ways of triggering gold fever:

picking up Gilded Clover;

pinking up Coin Bag / Rich Coin Bag while having Disco of Gold (XV) arcana.The second one is what we're interested in.

When an enemy is killed during the Gold Fever, there is a 75% chance it drops a Gold Coin that has a value of 0.5 (multiplied by Greed and Stage Modifiers). Coins from Il Molise enemies has a base value of 0.1 instead.

Gold Fever lasts for 10-15 sec (depending on character) and can be extended by collecting Gold Coins (both from enemies and light sources), Coin Bags, and Rich Coin Bags.

More gold you collect during the Gold Fever, faster the timer depletes (time drain multiplier increases).

CharacterBase durationDuration increase (Gold Coin from enemies)Duration increase (Gold Coin)Duration increase (Coin Bag)Duration increase (Rich Coin Bag)Big Trouser15 sec0.015 sec0.75 sec7.5 sec15 secSammy (DLC)12.5 sec0.0125 sec0.625 sec6.25 sec12.5 secAny other10 sec0.01 sec0.5 sec5 sec10 sec

How Golden Eggs Work

Golden Egg is an item pickup that permanently increases a random stat on the player's current character by a small amount:

+1 Max Health;

+0.1 Recovery, Armor, Amount, Revival, Reroll;

+1% Movement Speed, Might, Projectile Speed, Duration, Area, Luck, Growth, Greed, Curse;

-0.5% Cooldown;

+0.3 Magnet;

+0.2 Skip, Banish.

There is a hard cap on certain stats (further increase will have no effect on these stats):

Might - 1000% (+900%);

Speed - 500% (+400%);

Duration - 500% (+400%);

Area - 1000% (+900%);

Cooldown - 10% (-90%; equals to x10 attack speed);

Amount - 10 (+10; amount stat is 0 by default).It means, that only useful stats that will keep increasing are - Luck, Growth, Greed and Curse.

Magnet has no hard cap, but at some point will cover entire screen and further increase will make no difference.

You can get Golden Eggs by:

killing Masked Guardians (1 egg) - spawns near Rings and Metaglios (stage items);

killing Moon Guardians (1 egg) - spawns at 14:00 at Moongolow;

killing Death (5 eggs) - spawns at the end of stages (if not in Endless mode);

purchasing from the Merchant on any stage (for 10000 gold);

purchasing from the Eggman - see info below.

Eggman

The Eggman appears directly north in Moongolow (if you have at least 5000 golden eggs and 1 million gold), and offers Golden Eggs for 10000 gold (similar to the regular merchant), but has an option to spend all of your gold to buy max amount of eggs you can afford at once. There is no need in waiting for the purchase animation to complete, you can close the shop window right away.

Healer

The Healer appears directly south in Moongolow (if you have at least 5000 golden eggs) and offers:

Flames of Moonspell - removes 100 Golden Egg bonuses at random;

Lantern of Foscari - removes all MoveSpeed bonuses from Golden Eggs (available only if current character has more than 25000 Golden Eggs).

How Enemy Spawn & Curse Works

Enemies spawn in two ways:

based on the current wave;

based on the map event.

Waves

Each stage has a set number of enemy waves. Waves change every minute.

Each wave specifies a target amount of enemies and a spawn interval.

Enemies will attempt to spawn until the target amount met.

Enemies generally spawn just outside the screen and can despawn if the player moves far enough from them.

When 300 or more enemies are alive the game will not spawn more enemies periodically, and only bosses and enemies from map events can spawn.

Some waves could contain bosses. Bosses spawn once per wave.

Events

Map events spawn additional enemy/enemies based on certain conditions. E.g. swarm of bats, flower walls, etc.

Chance of map events occuring depends on character's luck - more luck, less chance (some events have 100% chance regardless of player's luck).

Curse

Curse is one of the player stats. It increases:

enemy health;

enemy movement speed;

frequency of enemy spawn;

quantity of enemy waves (target amount).The player has 100% base Curse, meaning that at +50% enemies will have 150% health, 150% movement speed, and any wave will have 150% enemy target amount. The multipliers to health, movement speed and target amount stack multiplicatively with other effects of the same kind.

Curse modifications from character bonuses, PowerUps and items stack additively.

Game Options

Game launching option

More tests needed.

Ingame options

Be sure to enable Performance mode and disable Damage numbers / Flashing VFX in the game options menu to decrease FPS drop.

1. Character Choice

Your starting choice could depend on how many eggs you have already invested in specific characters.

Here I assume, that you have no eggs on any character.

If we are talking about the basic game without DLCs, there are 2 viable options to perform gold farming:

Big Trouser - this is our choice to invest money in. He gains +1% Greed every level and his Gold Fever lasts longer. In AFK endless runs he gets thousands of levels, so it's an obvious choice.

Queen Sigma - if you just beaten the game, you probably haven't got her yet. She can farm 10+kk gold per 30 min run but cannot purchase eggs for herself, so quickly falls off in terms of profit.To unlock Big Trouser, collect all 16 standard stage items In Moongolow and raise them all to max level. Then MANUALLY left the stage.

2. Weapons Choice

Base Stats At Level 9Limit Break

Base StatsLimit Break

We need to use as few weapons as possible to reduce game lag. Greatest Jubilee - is OK in terms of AOE damage and its attacks has 1% chance of spawning a light source (increased by Luck), which means more gold & more frequent Gold Fevers.

Crimson Shroud (early runs only) - helps to survive vs tough waves & bosses while being AFK.

Greatest Jubilee stats

Greatest Jubilee has 9 levels. At max level, Greatest Jubilee has +4 Amount, +20 Base Damage, +50% Area, -1.0 seconds of Cooldown, and a finisher effect.

Stat Value Damage 30 (+20) Area 1.5 (+50%) Amount 5 (+4) Cooldown 2.0 seconds (-1) Duration 0.1 sec Knockback 0.1 Critical Multiplier 2x Critical chance 5% (light show only) Max projectiles on screen 100 Projectile Interval 0.2 sec Hitbox Delay 0.5 sec Pierce AOE Blocked by walls No _________________________________ Greatest Jubilee summons fireworks at the top half of the screen and a light show at the bottom of the screen (upon reaching level 9).

Greatest Jubilee has a 0.5 seconds Hitbox Delay, meaning that the same enemy cannot be hit more often than every 0.5 seconds by the same light show. Firework particles can only hit the same enemy once.

Firework ignores Duration and Speed bonuses. Light show ignores Area, Speed, and Amount bonuses.

Upgrade Chance Max Might +1% (Base Damage +0.5) 47.6% (20) - Area +2.5% 23.8% (10) x400 (1000%) Speed +5% 23.8% (10) x40 (200%) Duration +100ms 2.4% (1) x20 (2 sec) Amount +1 2.4% (1) x20 (20)

Crimson Shroud stats

Crimson Shroud creates a shield that protects from damage and briefly makes the player invulnerable upon triggering. Limits incoming damage (10 HP). Causes retaliatory damage explosions when a charge is used.

Stat Value Damage 0 Area 2 Speed 1 Amount 1 Cooldown 8.0 seconds Knockback 20 Max projectiles on screen 50 Projectile Interval 0.1 sec Pierce AOE Blocked by walls No ____________________________ Deals huge retaliatory damage: damage dealt to you (not reduced by Armor or Crimson Shroud's ability, but not more than 100) multiplied by Might, Curse and Armor (+10% for each armor point).

Amount creates more explosions.

Cooldown recharges the shields faster.

Works well with Divine Bloodline (IX) arcana (could give you millions of max HP).

Upgrade Chance Max Might +1% (Base Damage +0.5) 47.6% (10) - Area +2.5% 47.6% (10) x400 (1000%) Amount +1 4.8% (1) x20 (20)

3. Passive Items Choice

Here I list only those items that are somehow useful (so, no Hollow Heart, Pummarola, Bracer and Tiragisú (you can still take Tiragisú if having troubles surviving early and replace it later in the run).

Item impact highly depends on the eggs amount. E.g. Clover gives Big Trouser 38.5% of his starting Luck stat with 0 eggs, but only ~0.9% on 100k eggs (starting Luck should be ~5700% at this point).

Some stats are hard capped, so at some point respective items becomes completely useless (see "How golden eggs work" section above).

ItemEffect (max level)Impact (few eggs)Impact (many eggs)ForestLibraryPlantTowerMagna Moon-golowBoss RashEmpty Tome -40% Cooldown very highnonefreefreefreeCandelabrador +50% AreahighnonefreefreefreeAttractorb +398% Pickup rangevery highnonefreefreefreeCrown +40% GrowthhighlowfreefreefreeStone Mask +50% GreedhighlowfreefreefreeClover +50% LuckmediumlowfreefreefreeSpinach +50% MightmediumnonefreefreefreeArmor -5 incoming damagelownonefreefreefreeSpellbinder +50% DurationlownonefreefreefreeTorrona's Box +100% Curse; +25% Might, Speed, Duration, Areavery highmediumSkull O'Maniac +50% CursehighlowfreefreefreeGold Ring +40% CursehighlowfreefreefreefreefreefreefreeMetaglio Right +40% CursehighlowfreefreefreefreefreefreefreeSilver Ring +40% Duration, AreahighnonefreefreefreefreefreefreefreeMetaglio Left +0.8 HP Recovery; +47.7% Max HPlowlowfreefreefreefreefreefreefreeDuplicator +2 AmountmediumnonefreefreefreeWings +50% MoveSpeedlownonefreefreefree

So, on low-eggs runs I focus on getting Empty Tome > Attractorb > Crown > Candelabrador > Torrona's Box > Stone Mask & Skull O'Maniac <> Clover <> Spinach.

Rings & Metaglios are free. Metaglios needed for Crimson Shroud.You should adjust pickup order based on the particular stage free items (take those items when you already have all the slots occupied). On high-eggs runs it doesn't really matter, what items to pick (pick Attractorb if your initial magnet radius is too low).

4. Arcanas Choice

Only somehow useful arcanas listed below

ArcanaEffectImpact (few eggs)Impact (many eggs)Disco of Gold (XV)Picking up coin bags from the floor triggers Gold Fever. Obtaining gold restores as many HP.very highvery highWicked Season (XIII)Overall Growth, Luck, Greed, and Curse are doubled at fixed intervals. The character starts gaining +1% Growth, Luck, Greed, and Curse every 2 levels.very highhighSilent Old Sanctuary (XX)Gives +3 Reroll, Skip, and Banish. Gives +20% Might and -8% Cooldown for each active weapon slot left empty.highlowSarabande of Healing (VI)Healing is doubled. Recovering HP damages nearby enemies for the same amount.questionable (FPS drop)questionable (FPS drop)Divine Bloodline (IX)Armor also affects weapons' damage and reflects enemy damage. Character gains bonus damage depending on missing Health. Defeating enemies with retaliatory damage gives +0.5 Max Health.high (with Crimson Shroud)questionableBoogaloo of Illusions (XVIII)Overall Area continuously changes between -25% and +25% over 10 seconds. The character starts gaining +1% Area every level.mediumnoneBlood Astronomia (XXI)Weapons also emit special damaging zones affected by Amount and Magnet. Enemies within Magnet range take damage based on Amount.questionablequestionableMad Groove (VIII)Every 2 minutes attracts all standard stage items, pickups, and light sources towards the character.questionablequestionableLost & Found Painting (XVII)Overall Duration continuously changes between -50% and +50% over 10 seconds. The character starts gaining +1% Duration every level.lownoneAwake (IV)Gives +3 Revivals. Consuming a Revival gives +10% Max Health, +1 Armor, and +5% Might, Area, Duration, and Speed.lownoneBeginning (X)Weapons get +1 Amount. The character's main weapon and its evolution gain +3 Amount instead.lownoneSlash (XVI)Enables critical hits for the Greatest Jubilee's light show. Doubles overall critical damage.questionable (FPS drop)questionable (FPS drop)Heart of Fire (XIX)Weapon projectiles explode on impact. Light sources explode. Character explodes when damaged.negative (FPS drop)negative (FPS drop)

The most useful arcanas for the farming purpose are:

Disco of Gold - our main source of income;

Wicked Season - helps to level up faster, earn more gold, kill more enemies (cuz Curse), etc.For early runs extremely helpful arcanas are:

Silent Old Sanctuary - helps to survive and kill enemies faster (if weapon limiter set);

Divine Bloodline - paired with Crimson Shroud gives huge amount of max HP;

You need to collect exp while AFK. So, either do not seal the Vacuum, or just pick Mad Groove.

How to unlock arcanas and other stuff:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2850824605

5. PowerUps & Seal Choices

It's recommended to have all the standard PowerUps maxed out (including Curse).

Most PowerUps are available from the start of the game, but some requires to perform additional actions to unlock:

PowerUpEffectHow to unlockCommentRerollAllows you to get different choices when leveling up or selecting arcanasTo fully unlock, requires to reach Level 80 with Mortaccio, Yatta Cavallo, Bianca Ramba, O'Sole Meeo and Sir AmbrojoeCould help in early runs, but is not mandatorySkipAllows you to skip level up choices and get Experience insteadTo fully unlock, requires to survive 15 minutes in Il Molise, Green Acres, The Bone Zone, Moongolow and Boss RashNot particularly usefulBanishAllows you to remove an item from level up choices, for the rest of the runTo fully unlock, requires to fill 100 entries in the CollectionNot particularly useful, but helps to get SealOmniIncreases Might, Projectile Speed, Duration and Area by 2% per rank (max +10%)Get Torrona's Box to Level 9Could help in early runsCharmIncreases enemies spawn quantity by 20 per rank (max +100)Find the Apoplexy at minute 9:00 in Bat Country (follow the green arrow)Very useful in early runs. Useless in late runsSealAllows to Banish an item from level up choices, or a pickup from light sources (in the Collection menu)Seal - Banish 10 or more items in a single run. Seal 2 - Banish 20 or more items in a single run (additional banishes could be bought from merchant)Very useful

It's highly recommended to get Seal (at least the first one), cuz we need to seal all the unnecessary drop from gold sources (to maximize gold drop):

seal the Orologion, cuz it deceases farming speed;

seal Rosary, Nduja Fritta Tanto and Floor Chicken to get gold instead.

seal the Gilded Clover - it starts Gold Fever, but gives no gold on pickup, so is basically worse than any of coin bags (considering using Disco of Gold arcana). Could still help to start Gold Fever more frequently in early runs;

for the late runs also seal the Vacuum - it could help in early AFK runs (if not using Mad Groove arcana), but is useless after you get enough magnet radius.Little Clover could help in early runs, but is almost useless in late runs.

6. Mode Choice

+50% Gold Multiplier+200% Gold Multiplier

All stages have four unlockable, toggleable modes:

ModeEffectHyper+65-75% character and enemies' move speed; +15-25% projectile speed; . Could also give Luck bonus and increase enemies health on some stagesHurryDoubles the Clock Speed of the stage and increases XP gain by 25%. Normal stages reach 30:00 when 15 minutes have elapsed in real time. All time-based events (e.g. enemy wave spawns, evolution chests) occur at their usual timestamps on the in-game timerInverse; +20% Luck; +200% enemies Max Health (+5% additional Max Health and 0.5% movement speed every minute).

Merchant offers additional Arcana, Skips, Banishes, and RerollsEndlessInstead of the final wave (Reapers) restarts stage waves from the beginning giving enemies +100% base Max Health, +50% spawn frequency and target amount, +25% damage, and lowering player's max damage cap by 1

For farming runs we're choosing all the modes except Hurry.

7. Stage Choice

Each stage applies modifiers to certain player and enemy stats:

StageGold*Luck*Enemy HP*Time limitExtraMad Forest250%20%200%30 minInlaid Library250%30%200%30 minDairy Plant270%30%200%30 minGallo Tower280%30%200%30 minCappella Magna290%30%200%30 minIl Molise250%40%260%15 minEnemies do not spawn correctly (if character has high magnet radius)Moongolow250%40%260%15 minExtra free items. Moon Guardians spawnGreen Acres250%30%300%30 minRandom wavesThe Bone Zone300%20%200%30 min +0.3/min enemy HP multiplier; +0.05/min enemy movement speed multiplierBoss Rash250%30%300%15 minBat Country280%30%200%20 min -75% exp; +0.2/min enemy HP multiplier; +0.025/min enemy movement speed multiplierTiny Bridge280%30%200%20 min +0.2/min enemy HP multiplier; +0.025/min enemy movement speed multiplier* stats include Hyper/Inverse modes' modifyers.

I did some quick test runs on Hyper/Hurry/Inverse (having exactly the same build from 0:15):

StageTime limitEnemies killedGold earnedLevelGold coinsRich Coin BagsCoin BagsLittle CloversGold/minLevel/minMad Forest30212364951304591939166827134817213317101565Inlaid Library30228248113822704201518735313141809379409067Dairy Plant30203536129344735217717450214521987431149173Gallo Tower30306434109040719191523744112011826363469164Cappella Magna301906011705963382003191462280242212568654567Il Molise153423516952454146107901241223446354Moongolow1522339570209957163417875073711344680664109The Bone Zone30289927914715852247235234047280304905375Boss Rash15149572449594311356109296381436299729590Bat Country2035747899566847150826768910261617497834275Tiny Bridge201641947303244215461345878431105365162277

According to this results, we're most interested in Cappella Magna, Moongolow and Bat Country stages.

Cappella Magna is great in terms of destructibles' spawn chance and max amount => more coin bags;

Moongollow - in terms of exp;

Bat Country has lots of low-health enemies => more gold coins (but less exp).

// more tests needed

- Early Runs Examples (0 Eggs)

For the first run you can choose Moongolow on Hyper/Arcanas/Limit break/Inverse/Endless.

You can AFK it since min 15, but it's recommended to get 5th and 6th arcanas as well (Blood Astronomia (XXI) helps to destroy light sources faster, Divine Bloodline (IX) gives a ton of HP to survive later on).

Tips

Don't seal Armor, cuz it multiplies Crimson Shroud damage.

Set weapon limit to 2. Pick the Greatest Jubilee as your starting weapon.

Choose arcanas according to the image below.

The second weapon would be Crimson Shroud (so, pick Laurel on level-up if offered).

Focus on getting the Greatest Jubilee to max level ASAP.

There are 16 free items on the stage, but no Torrona's Box, so do not occupy all the slots until getting it by level-up.

Pick up Empty Tome, Duplicator, Atractorb, Crown and Candelabrador. After obtaining Torrona's Box pick up all other free items left on the stage.

Pick up Metaglios and be ready to evolve Laurel into Crimson Shroud on min 10.

Stats over time

MinuteGold (millions)Kills (millions)Level303.50.436060151.1680953621015120562.61258160983.616212602516.124843003317.128464005919.53649762201717.36116

Game lag

I went to sleep at 3:03 while ingame timer was "400" and returned at 9:30 ("763" ingame timer).

387 real-time minutes = 363 ingame minutes, which means I had 24 minutes of game lag over this period of time (6.2% time lost).

Further optimisations

It may be better to seal the Vacuum and use Mad Groove instead (more tests needed).

Sealing Rosary is also questionable (more tests needed).

- Late Runs Examples (10k+ Eggs)

I'm currently performing some tests using different arcanas, sealed items and launching options to determine the most optimal build. I'll let you know about the results soon.

Extra: DLC Eggs Farming

If you have the Tides of the Foscari DLC, you can easily farm eggs by killing Guardians, endlessly spawning on the Abyss Foscari stage.

If having troubles with unlocking Abyss Foscari, check out my other guide:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2962309583

At the Abyss Foscari travel south through the gates, then go west all the way, then follow the wall north. There would be a fake wall:

Just go inside and follow the path to the Torrona's Box. Guardians will start spawning.

This method could easily earn you ~1.5k eggs per minute.

My Other Vampire Survivors Guides