What is the Hollow Heart in Vampire Survivors and how to get it

There are dozens of passive items in Vampire Survivors that power up your character in various ways. One of these is the Hollow Heart. But what exactly is the Hollow Heart, how do you get it, and what benefits does it offer?

The Hollow Heart is a passive item that increases your Max Health by 20%. Each level of the Hollow Heart increases your health by 20% up to a max of 2.5x Max Health. It’s a multiplicative stacking item, meaning the max effect is closer to +150% rather than 100%.

Related: How to unlock the Il Molise stage in Vampire Survivors

To unlock the item, you just need to survive on any character on any stage for just one minute. 

Beyond this, the Hollow Heart is used in the evolution of the Whip. The Whip weapon will evolve into the Bloody Tear if you have any level of Hollow Heart equipped. The Hollow Heart and Bloody Tear have natural synergy because of the Bloody Tear’s health restoring properties.

Even if you don’t have the Hollow Heart unlocked, you can still obtain it in the Mad Forest. It’s one of the five passive items that spawn on the ground in that level. As a result, even if you are out of passive item slots, you can still pick up the Hollow Heart on the ground to gain its benefits and level it up. This makes the Whip one of the safest and easiest weapons to evolve on Mad Forest.

In the Mad Forest, it’s located directly north of the player’s starting position. It can be found easier if you possess the Milky Way Map upgrade that grants the player a viewable map in the pause menu. This will show you the exact location of the Hollow Heart when you pause the game.

For more Vampire Survivors guides check out How to unlock Christine Davain in Vampire Survivors on Pro Game Guides.