INVINCIBLE Vampiric build 2.0!!

Because of the new update 0.5 with Arcana's, a new vampiric build is possible! This one makes you completely unkillable except for the reaper at the end of the round.

The Build

The Explanation

Update 0.5 has added an awesome new feature called Arcanas. There are only 6 right now and they add additional gameplay modifiers. One of these modifiers is double healing. And not only do you heal for twice the amount as before, you also damage enemies around you for the amount you heal. So whip heals now recover 16 HP. Soul eater heals recover 2 HP. Floor chicken recovers 60 HP. Here is what we are doing in this build:

• We choose Pugnala (this works with lots of other characters though) as Pugnala gets +1% DMG per level and this will help scale soul eater as that weapon can be weak in the end game.
  
• At the start of the game, we pick the Arcana for double healing.
  
• If you get more Arcana options later, the other two you should pick are Awake and the one for Crits on the whip. Reason we pick awake is that if you die you come back with more armor, more HP, more might, and more area. You can see this happening in the video below when the reaper kills me 6 times.
  
• We obviously go for soul eater and bloody tear for the HP regen.
  
• Go for No Future (runetracer + armor) as the armor will help tank hits.
  
• Get Laurel + empty tome. Empty tome is arguably the best item in the game and Laurel isn't actually a weapon so these two pair well in a slot. Laurel is a Shield that will help your tanking abilities even further.
  
• In the unlikely scenario that you die early in the game before this build is maxed out, if you have the Awake Arcana, you will revive with MORE ARMOR, more HP, more damage, more area on your weapons. You always come back stronger and this build has 6 revives. I was unable to get myself killed until the reaper though.

TL;DR - It's pretty much impossible to get yourself killed. Even if you are actively trying to die. Obviously the reaper still ends the game.

Alternate Items

The only mandatory items for this build are soul eater, bloody tear, laurel, and armor. Everything else can be swapped around, but I think this build is pretty optimal. Note that depending on what stage you are playing, it may be possible to gather a lot more items. For example, the first stage contains pummarola, spinach, and hollow heart with a few other items. Since those three are on the ground you can grab candelabrador, the tome, and something else like attractorb. Play around with stuff. As long as you have the HP regen and the gear to tank, you can't lose.

End Game Screenshot

End Game Stats

As you can see above I ended the game with:

• 587 HP
  
• 14 armor
  
• 230% might
  
• 90% area
  
• 50% speed
  
• 110% duration
  
• Even had 50% curse going and couldn't intentionally die.

Video of build

100% Curse Green Acres Build Variant

This is a variant I used with Porta to survive Green Acres at 100% curse. Build is absolutely ridiculous.

Other Builds

Feel free to check out my other builds:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2784518006
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2755774177
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2756592635
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2794026862

[d_valroth]

Is the Laurel really accomplishing anything? It seems that when you build for Saraband/Awake/NO FUTURE you just flat out become unkillable to the point that damage shields are completely unnecessary. The only things that can kill you are bosses and traps, and you have to walk into those repeatedly at that point.

[Steven]

So ok i tried both in Hyper mode with 50% curse and no doubt the revives from awake really raise the damage from phieraggi a lot, around 5M gap between w/ and w/o but survivability was better with the awake buffs because all other weapons were dealing much more damage for example Garlic/Soul Eater dealed 3 times the damages
I do not know what to think, to be honest both ways are very good and nearly same in overall damage because what you lose from buffs goes into phieraggi and vice versa.
Well, anyway this is a nice build and funny one for those who like phieraggi

[Steven]

@dioroxic Ah yeah my bad, forgot about this i am so dumb, yeah ok makes sense, forget about what i said then.

[Dioroxic]

@Steven I did that in my 100% curse run on Green Acres. But note that you do lose Phieraggi damage as Phieraggi gets more base damage the more revives you have available. That's why it did 18.5 mil damage on the mad forest run. It's good either way. You die, you get buffs. You don't die, you get more Phieraggi damage.

[Steven]

It would be better to get awake first so you can force the death when you spawn and get the buffs for the whole run because there is no point to keep them for the reaper.

[0Arch]

Tried to push this to it's limit and wasn't able to without the reaper. Ran into the underwater part of Tower (kill zone that appears at 25 minutes) and survived running through there long enough that it stopped being underwater any more.

[Flameroller]

I see you clicking your choices in the first video, but did you know that you can select with spacebar instead? It will default to the first choice unless you use the arrow keys to select something else, but if you are farming gold, it's the easiest way to quickly choose gold.