Vampire Survivors evolutions chart: every base-game weapon, what it pairs with, and how to actually trigger it
This guide covers every weapon evolution in the base game, how the evolution mechanic actually works, why some chests evolve and others don’t, and the most common reasons a run ends without your evolutions firing. It’s written against game version 1.14 — the core base-game evolutions haven’t changed in years and won’t unless poncle ships a balance patch.
If you only need the chart, jump to it below. If your evolutions keep failing to trigger, the “How evolution actually works” and “Common mistakes” sections fix the most frequent problems.
The base-game evolutions chart
Twelve weapon evolutions ship with the base game. Each pair is “level the weapon to 8 (or its max) + carry the passive item at any level + open an evolving chest.”
| Base weapon | + Passive item | = Evolution |
|---|---|---|
| Whip | Hollow Heart | Bloody Tear |
| Magic Wand | Empty Tome | Holy Wand |
| Knife | Bracer | Thousand Edge |
| Axe | Candelabrador | Death Spiral |
| Cross | Clover | Heaven Sword |
| King Bible | Spellbinder | Unholy Vespers |
| Fire Wand | Spinach | Hellfire |
| Garlic | Pummarola | Soul Eater |
| Santa Water | Attractorb | La Borra |
| Lightning Ring | Duplicator | Thunder Loop |
| Peachone + Ebony Wings | (no passive — both weapons must be max) | Vandalier |
| Song of Mana | Skull O’Maniac | Mannajja |
A few notes the chart doesn’t capture:
- Vandalier is the odd one out. It’s a union — two base weapons combine into one — rather than a weapon-plus-passive evolution. You need both Peachone and Ebony Wings at level 8, no specific passive required. The same logic applies to most union weapons in DLC content.
- Soul Eater (Garlic + Pummarola) frees a passive slot. Most evolutions consume the passive on activation; Soul Eater leaves Pummarola in your inventory. Useful for builds that lean on Pummarola’s HP regen.
- Mannajja appeared with the original Adventures-era updates but has been part of the base game’s standard evolution pool since v1.7.
How evolution actually works
The mechanic looks simple but has three moving parts that trip up new players. All three have to be true at the same time:
- The base weapon must be at level 8 (or its max if the weapon caps below 8). Magic Wand at level 7 will not evolve, no matter what chest you open.
- You must be carrying the required passive item at any level — level 1 Empty Tome is enough to evolve Magic Wand. The level of the passive item only affects the strength of the evolved weapon’s stats, not whether evolution triggers.
- You must open an evolving chest. This is where most runs go wrong.
What counts as an “evolving” chest
In most stages — Mad Forest, Inlaid Library, Gallo Tower, Moongolow — only chests dropped by bosses that spawn at or after the 10-minute mark are evolution chests. Smaller chests dropped earlier in the run will not evolve weapons, even if all your prerequisites are met.
The exceptions worth knowing:
- The Glowing Bat in Mad Forest at 1:00 drops an evolving chest. It’s the earliest evolution opportunity in the game.
- Dairy Plant, Il Molise, Cappella Magna, Boss Rash, Laborratory, Abyss Foscari, and Hectic Highway evolve weapons from any chest, regardless of timing. These stages are designed for fast evolution chains.
- Treasure chests dropped from the same boss can stack evolutions. A higher-tier chest can contain multiple evolution rolls — useful for runs where you’ve prepped three or four pairs simultaneously.
If your weapon meets the conditions and you open a chest from a 10-minute boss but it doesn’t evolve, the most likely cause is that another eligible weapon got the roll first. Only one weapon evolves per chest in the standard case.
The most common reasons evolutions fail
Most failed evolutions trace to one of these:
- The passive is at level 0 because you skipped it. Players sometimes skip the passive when offered because they don’t recognise it as the catalyst. If you’re going for an evolution, every chance at the passive is non-negotiable until you have at least one level.
- The weapon is one level short. Level 7 is not 8. Open the in-game pause menu and check — it’s faster than guessing during a wave.
- You opened a 5-minute chest expecting evolution. Chests before the 10-minute boss in non-special stages don’t evolve weapons. Wait.
- You’re carrying a weapon you don’t intend to evolve at level 8. Multiple level-8 weapons can compete for the same chest’s evolution roll. If you only want Magic Wand to evolve, keep other base weapons below 8 until the evolution lands.
- You’re on a special-condition stage that requires a different passive. Some hidden or DLC stages alter the rules — Gallo Tower behaves normally, but Holy Forbidden, Boss Rash, and Eudaimonia Machine each have wrinkles. If you’re farming a specific evolution, do it on Mad Forest first to confirm the recipe before chasing it on a stage that might be hiding a condition.
Beyond the base game
The base 12 evolutions cover the most-searched questions, but Vampire Survivors has shipped extensive DLC content since launch. Five expansions add their own weapons and evolution recipes:
- Legacy of the Moonspell — Eastern-themed weapons; some require Yellow Sign as a stage item rather than a passive.
- Tides of the Foscari — fantasy weapons including the Eskizzibur, Mirage Robe, and others.
- Emergency Meeting — Among Us-themed weapons with unique evolutions.
- Operation Guns — Contra crossover with weapons evolving via specific passive combinations.
- Ode to Castlevania — the largest expansion, adding 80 characters and 107 weapons. Many of its weapons can also union with each other rather than evolving with passives, which is a different mechanic that doesn’t apply to base-game pairs.
DLC evolution recipes change more often than base-game ones, and a single guide can’t stay accurate across all five expansions through every patch. For DLC evolutions specifically, the official Vampire Survivors Wiki’s Evolution page is the authoritative source and is patched within days of every poncle update.
Quick reference card
For when you’re mid-run and just need the answer:
- Stuck on Whip? → carry Hollow Heart, level both, wait for 10-minute boss.
- Magic Wand evolution? → Empty Tome.
- Why didn’t my Knife evolve? → check Bracer level (passive must be present), confirm Knife is level 8, confirm you opened a 10-minute chest.
- Vandalier requires no passive — just Peachone and Ebony Wings, both maxed.
- Soul Eater is the only base evolution that doesn’t consume the passive.
Verified against the Vampire Survivors Wiki, official patch notes through v1.14, and in-game testing on Mad Forest. Last updated 2026-05-06.