Vampire

Character overview

Vampire’s bats provide a growing melee attack without a conventional starting weapon. Leveling adds bats, but their lifesteal is a chance-based recovery tool rather than permission to stand inside a crowd.

• Bat swarm
• Melee damage
• Lifesteal
• Level scaling

Starting engine

A bat swarm; no conventional starting weapon.

Level scaling

Gain one bat with each level.

Recovery

Bat hits deal melee damage and can steal life.

Unlock

Shady Merchant; exact unlock steps not confirmed.

Support limit

Melee damage alone does not prove eligibility for every modifier restricted to melee weapons.

Strengths

• The bat swarm grows through character levels without requiring a particular weapon drop.
• The starting engine combines damage with a chance to recover life.
• Can retain an independent defense or firearm while the swarm develops.

Weaknesses

• A chance to heal does not prevent the next hit or guarantee survival in a dense crowd.
• Melee damage does not automatically qualify bats for melee-weapon-only modifiers.
• Level scaling still requires collecting experience, which can draw the character into unsafe routes.

Choose this character when

Choose Vampire when already unlocked and you want a character attack that grows with levels instead of a weapon-dependent opening.

Choose another character when

Avoid relying on lifesteal alone to survive sustained contact with a crowd.

Priorities

1. Collect experience along routes that leave room to retreat.
2. Keep dependable defense rather than relying only on lifesteal.
3. Check the bat item’s actual recipient rules before buying a melee-weapon-only modifier.

Builds and equipment

Finding the Shady MerchantMerchant locations and the Vampire unlock hint.Shield GeneratorAn independent armor-recovery option with a damage-interruption condition.Character unlocksFollow the life-steal objective and find the character-selection campfire.SyringeBuy the life-steal item and trigger its healing to complete the unlock.Health KitCompare delayed recovery with the swarm’s chance-based life steal.

Vampire starts without a conventional weapon. The bat swarm deals melee damage, can steal life, and gains another bat with each level.

Safe experience collection adds bats. Keep room to leave a dense group before waiting for another chance to heal. The lifesteal is chance-based, so dependable defense still has value.

Check the bat item’s receiver rules before adding melee support. A gun-only modifier may help a separate firearm while doing nothing for the swarm.

To unlock Vampire, unlock Shady Merchant at base, find him during a run and buy Syringe. Mark a working weapon with it and land hits until life steal activates. Buying the item without triggering life steal does not finish the objective.

Syringe halves maximum HP, so prepare the weapon before buying it. A fast attack gives more chances to trigger healing, but leave space to retreat while waiting for a proc.

The Syringe page covers the HP cost and the life-steal activation needed for the unlock. For another recovery option, Health Kit needs a damage-free interval, while Shield Generator restores armor. Choose around the recovery window you can actually create.