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Vampire Survivorsis made up of several unique stages; some of them are either Bonus stages or Challenge stages. These in particular have special modifiers that include 15-minute time limits, adding bonuses to enemy health or speed stats, and even a few modifiers that are applied to your character, too.
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What makes one Challenge stage so unique is that its layout resembles an arena, and even the stage’s description supports this idea. This is Boss Rash, where the challenge is to survive for 15 minutes while bosses from all other stages are going to spawn and try to kill you.
Boss Rash
Boss Rash appears as a stage once you’veunlocked Hyper Mode for the five normal stagesin the game. You can do this by surviving for 25 minutes in every normal stage. By beating this stageunder certain conditions, you willunlock the secret character, Gyorunton.
The stage has a15-minute time limit, which is half the amount of time you’d normally have on any normal stage. This adds to the challenge when you’replanning on using evolutions, since you’ll have toact much fasterto gain the levels your weapons and items need.
Although, it’s easier said than done, and you’ll belucky to pull off even one evolution during the entire run of the stage. It’s recommended that youchoose a character that uses an evolution as their starting weapon, likeGains Boros, who hasHeaven Sword- the evolution of Cross and Clover.
The wave of enemies also includes severalbosses from other stages, too, and to make things just a little harder on you, the stage has a modifier that adds a50 percent bonus to enemy health. This means you’ll also have to be able toput out enough damageto get through these kinds of bosses - even whensome of them can tank a lotof damage under normal circumstances.
Tounlock Gyorunton, you have tobeat Boss Rash with one weapon. After that, you’ll be able to buy him for5,000 gold coins. You can also unlock Gyorunton by using theForbidden Scrolls of Morbaneand then using the Spell “secondevolution”.
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Stage Hazards
Boss Rash also featurestwo hazardous elementsin the stage. There are twopressure plates on either sideof the stage, whichspawn every 30 seconds. The pressure plate to the left is blue and has an hourglass symbol on it while the plate on the right is red with a skull symbol.
Thehourglasspressure platetriggers the next wave of enemiesto spawn, which would normally spawn by the minute. The pressure plate with theskullon it immediatelyrespawns all the monsters that were in the current wave.
While these mechanisms do make the stage more challenging, they can also serve asa way to level up faster. The only other way you’ll be able to gain experience points is by beating thesmall clusters of enemiesthat spawn in, however, these alonewon’t be enough to level up faster.
How To Beat Boss Rash
Beating Boss Rash is, as the nature of the stage would suggest, challenging. With the right setup, however, you’ll be able to beat it without a hitch. At the moment there’sno way of going beyond the 15-minute markin Boss Rash, since Death is simply going to swoop in and end you.
Using Arcanas
Arcanasare modifiers that can be unlocked in Vampire Survivors, and they are able tomodify the gamein certain ways. You can unlock Arcanas bycollecting the item Randomazzo in Gallo Tower, which also unlocks the first Arcana, Sarabande of Healing.
To unlock theGame KillerArcana, you havetobeat the final bossin theCappella Magnastage, and eithersurvive for 31 minutes in Mad Forestorbeat Deathto unlock theMad GrooveArcana.
Game Killer modifies the game by completelystopping your experience point gain, which also means you won’t be leveling up andturning the gemsyou’d usually pick upinto explosives. Mad Groovepulls all stage items, bonfires, and pickupstoward youevery two minutes.
Mad Groove is especially useful for a stage like Boss Rash, since there are many stage items on the map, but there’s no way out of the arena to go pick them up. It also affects all gems that are lying around.
Game Killer is most effective when youlet gems pile upon the stage floor, leaving them for the tougher bosses that’ll spawn later on. Also, keep in mind that you still have to “pick them up” for them to fly to the nearest enemy and explode.
You can also pick theSilent Old SanctuaryArcana which, ifcombined with Gains Boros, can put200 percent Mightbehind his starting weapon, Heaven Sword. This is going to sweep through most of the enemies in the first couple of minutes in Boss Rash.
You canadd other passives on top of this, including items likeEmpty Tome,Candelabra, and evenDuplicator. Between these three items, you’ll be able to boost the cooldown time, amount of projectiles, and area of Heaven Sword.
Picking The Right Characters
Some characters, like Clerici and Porta, have bonuses that decrease by a certain amount with every level you gain. For example, Clerici at level one has a 400 percent area bonus, which fully depletes at level five. Porta has a 90 percent cooldown bonus that is gone by the time you reach level four.
Game Killer, while you’restuck at level one, turns theirtemporarybonusesinto permanentbonuses. Although Porta and Clerici benefit from Game Killer the most, the Arcana is very effective on its own, which allows you to play any character you like.
Since Game Killer stops you from leveling up, this also means thatenemies who are able toscale their health points according to your level will also be affected. This Arcana indirectly prevents these kinds of enemies' health from growing larger, making it easier to beat them.
Other characters, likeZi’Assunta,can’t benefit from Game Killersince they have stats or bonuses that depend on gaining levels to become stronger.
The Merchant
After buying the Glass Vizard from the Merchant in Moongolow, he’ll appear on all other stages. You’ll be able to buy several items from him includingGolden Egg,Bone,Cherry Bomb,Carréllo,Celestial Dusting, andLa Robba. Golden Egg will cost you10,000 gold coinswhile the other items only cost1,000 gold coinseach. Once you’re done interacting with him, he’ll disappear and won’t reappear until you’ve restarted the stage.
Bosses To Watch Out For
Among the several bosses you’ll encounter, there is one that’ll put the pressure on you -Ender. You’ve already encountered him in Cappella Magna, and now he returns witha posse of reapers, including theDrowner.
Between Ender’s maze of hazardous columns and the Drowner’s ability to flood the entire stage, you’re going to be forced into a corner if you’re not careful.
There are two ways you cancounterthe Drowner, which are by using eitherPentagram or Rosary. Pentagram at its base leveldestroys everythingon screen including pickups, bonfires, and gems. The safer bet is theRosary, whichonly targets enemies. It can usually start dropping after you’ve reached level eight, but its drop rate is also affected by Luck.
You should try and save as many Rosaries as you can because it’s incredibly effective against an enemy like the Drowner, and any enemies that aren’t immune to it.
Ender’s health points scale with your level. It scales 2,550 health points by the number of levels you’ve earned. Without the right build or game plan, he’s going to be a tough opponent to beat.
