New Vampire Survivors items explained: How to get the most from the Cherry Bomb and Skull-O-Maniac

Two of the new Vampire Survivors items are the Skull-o-Maniac and Cherry Bomb, and they make a surprisingly good combo.

The Skull-o-Maniac boosts your Curse percentage significantly, and while it’s good for XP, it makes the game much more difficult than usual. That’s where the Cherry Bomb comes in, an incredibly powerful weapon with devestating effects.

How do you get the Skull-O-Maniac in Vampire Survivors?

The Skull-O-Maniac is a secret item you need to put a bit of work into unlocking. Your first step is unlocking Lama.

How to unlock Lama in Vampire Survivors

The process is a bit challenging, since you need to survive for 20 minutes with 10% Curse. 10% is fairly low, but the increase in enemy power, speed, and spawns still makes this task a challenge.

Once you’ve got Lama, you need to survive while playing as them for 30 minutes, after which you’ll get the Skull. This is also a steeper challenge, since Lama gets a +5% curse boost every 10 levels.

The Skull-O-Maniac can be upgraded five times for a total curse boost of 50%, which translates to a hefty increase in XP and gold if you manage to survive until the end of a round.

Is the Vampire Survivors Cherry Bomb worth it?

Absolutely, to the point where some players are already calling it dramatically overpowered. The Cherry Bomb deals extensive damage in a wide area of effect and can be upgraded eight times. Here’s what changes at each level:

The actual damage dealt seems to vary widely depending on the situation and other factors. However, some Redditors have shown builds where they get 3,000 damage per second from a level eight Cherry Bomb.

In short, it’s an essential weapon, especially if you’re dealing with enemy hordes at high curse levels.