How to Summon and Defeat Red Death in Vampire Crawlers: A Complete Guide

Vampire Crawlers features many enemies from Vampire Survivors, and the most recognizable one is Red Death, the equivalent of the Reaper in this universe. Initially, this reaper appears to inform you that your run is over and you’re ready to explore a new dungeon.

However, you can fight this creature as an optional boss. As you understand, it won’t be easy, and you need to fulfill a certain condition to start the battle. Let’s break down everything you need to know about how to fight Red Death and defeat her in Vampire Crawlers.

How to Fight Red Death

To fight Death, you need to complete any dungeon with at least one Revival (the cake icon in the top-right corner of the screen). After that, a second option will appear on the stage completion screen: Revive.

If you use Revival, the battle with Red Death will begin. To get at least one Revival, you need to increase the corresponding parameter. You can do this in three ways:

Playing as Crochi, who starts with full Revival and gets a small percentage each time you use a Wild card.
Upgrading the “Revival” upgrade – it gives only one Revival.
Using the Tiragisu card, which increases Revival by ten percent (the card is destroyed after use).

The first two methods are the easiest to get at least one Revival, but if you combine Wild cards, Tiragisu can give a large percentage.

Also, before fighting this enemy, we recommend having: Draw, Bracer, Clock Lancet, at least a pair of non-consumable Wild cards, and several Tomes (if they have Gems that reduce Mana consumption, it’s even better). You can also use Gems with these effects.

Arcana that preserve your combination or mana between turns are an excellent choice in this battle.

How to Defeat Red Death

Fighting Red Death is a test of endurance and the ability not to make mistakes, as you can die in one turn. Death only does one thing: attacks with 333 damage when the six eyes above her are open.

If you haven’t strengthened your character with several upgraded “Unwavering Hearts”, you’ll likely fall from one boss attack. This is where Clock Lancet comes in: as soon as you see that only one eye is left, you need to use Clock Lancet (or a card with its Gem). This will freeze the reaper until its attack, and the eye count will reset.

To always have Clock Lancet in your hand, you need to either increase the “Hand” parameter in the run or have Bracer in your hand, one or several Draw cards, and, of course, a pair of Tomes that give you mana for its use.

You can also use any of the sliders that allow you to draw a card every time you play a card of a certain color. Make sure you have one or two slider slots open from upgrades so that your first character can be Crochi for the Revival boost.

The overall strategy is to deal as much damage as possible, not letting the combination break thanks to Wild cards, use Tomes to replenish mana when necessary, and carefully watch Red Death’s eyes. Calculate your combination based on the remaining eyes so as not to lose the combo when you need to freeze the enemy.

Don’t use the same card more than four times in one turn – it will break, and the Trickster will appear.

As we’ve already said, this is an endurance battle, since Red Death has one million HP.

You’ll be dealing good amounts of damage if you maintain the combination, regardless of attack cards and other characteristics (although additional damage and projectiles are welcome).

Keep going in the same spirit and be prepared to deliver the final blow to get all the extra coins you can collect thanks to your Relics.

Rewards for Defeating Red Death

When you finally defeat Red Death, you may be in for a surprise: you’ll see a shovel to complete the level, but when you interact with it, another Red Death appears and takes your life. If you want, you can start the entire battle again.

The most surprising thing is that you complete the level, and you don’t get any achievements or in-game messages informing you that you just did that. Was it all for nothing?

Fortunately, there is one unique reward: after defeating Red Death, you unlock the last character – MissingN0 in the tavern.