Updated February 24, 2026
All added Vampire Crawlers evolution recipes are tested and correct. We'll add more as soon as we find them. Keep in mind that this is a demo, so some weapons are not even included in this version of the game.
In Vampire Crawlers, you can combine two cards together to create powerful evolved weapons that deal far more damage than their base forms. Each evolution requires a specific Base Card paired with a matching Item Card. Below, you'll find every evolution currently in the game, along with the exact cards needed to unlock them.
All Vampire Crawlers Evolutions List
To evolve a weapon card in Vampire Crawlers, you need to have a Base Card with an empty Gem socket and the necessary Item Card. When you have both cards, your next step is to find either a Gem station to evolve or open chests and hope you'll get a chance to update the card. Here's a full list of all known evolutions in Vampire Crawlers:
| Base Card + Item Card | Evolved Form |
|---|---|
 Whip + Hollow Heart |  Bloody Tear |
 Knife + Bracer |  Thousand Edge |
 Magic Wand + Empty Tome |  Holy Wand |
 Axe + Candella |  Death Spiral |
 King Bible + Spellbinder |  Unholy Vespers |
 Fire Wand + Spinach |  Hellfire |
 Garlic + Pummarola |  Soul Eater |
| Santa Water | / |
 Runetracer + Armor |  NO FUTURE |
As you can see, Santa Water currently has no known evolution. This could mean its evolution hasn't been added to the game yet, or that we weren't lucky enough to find the item needed for evolution. We'll update this list as soon as new evolutions are found, including Peachone and Ebony Wings (we've unlocked Peachone, but haven't had a chance to use it yet).
Related: Vampire Survivors Crawled so Vampire Crawlers could Run
Tips for Getting Evolution Gems in Vampire Crawlers
Evolutions are the backbone of any strong Vampire Crawlers run, so it's worth building your card selection around them from the start. These tips will help you evolve cards faster:
- Pick up the Item Card that pairs with your chosen weapon early: Item Cards like Hollow Heart, Bracer, and Empty Tome are also useful on their own, so grabbing them early never hurts.
- Don't use Item Cards with "Destroyed after use" description: you won't be able to use it for evolution. One example is Hollow Heart.
- Don't buff a card you wish to evolve: You need an empty gem socket on your card to evolve it.
- Focus on finding chests and defeating bosses: This is the fastest way to evolve cards.
Vampire Crawlers FAQ
To build a combo, play your cards in ascending mana cost order (for example: 0 → 1 → 2 → 3). Each successive card in the chain multiplies the effectiveness of the next one. You can use Wildcard cards to bridge gaps in the chain and extend your combo even further, potentially reaching multipliers of 20x, 30x, or beyond.
No, it's a standalone spin-off. While it features the same characters, weapons, enemies, and lore from Vampire Survivors, it's an entirely different genre — a first-person dungeon crawler deckbuilder rather than a bullet-heaven roguelike. Poncle has described it as the first in a planned series of Vampire Survivors spin-offs.
Yes. Poncle, creator of Vampire games, has confirmed that progress made in the Vampire Crawlers demo — including unlocked characters, upgrades, and runs — will carry over to the full game upon release.
Evolutions in Vampire Crawlers work differently from Vampire Survivors. Instead of collecting a passive item and opening a chest, you apply Evolution Gems to your base weapon cards to transform them into more powerful evolved versions. You find these gems by headbutting chests as you explore dungeons.
The Turboturn is Vampire Crawlers' signature combat mechanic. Unlike traditional turn-based games, you don't need to wait for animations to finish before playing your next card. This lets you play faster so you don't have to wait for the animation to finish.
That covers every evolution currently available in the Vampire Crawlers demo. While you wait for the full version, check out Best games like Vampire Survivors, here on PGG.
Nebojša Prijić is a Managing Editor at Pro Game Guides with over 25 years of experience in journalism, screenwriting, and copywriting. He previously worked as Editor-in-Chief of Maxim Serbia magazine and the IGN Adria website. Nebojša is an old-school gamer who loves real-time strategies, shooters, and RPGs, but most of all, he plays Roblox and mobile games with his son. He remembers the first Diablo, PC games on a single floppy disk, and playing Mortal Kombat on the keyboard.