Vampire Survivors Character Spotlight: Poppea

a overview of Poppea with some observations and tips to help play her

The Stats

Poppea, VSs' resident fiery haired songstress. the bards bard, if you will. as any AR-tist knows, everyone's a critic and sometimes, you need to make a quick Exit Stage Left. now she's well and beyond her days starting out. but her need for speed stayed with her, as she starts with a +20% bonus. old habits die hard. this means she's one of the speedier characters in the game. like the other +20% characters, her maneuverability comes in very handy, allowing her to start utilizing her other stat of choice, Duration. as she levels, Poppea will gain a +1% per level without a cap to her Duration growth. talk about being able to hold a high note, especially when she starts getting past Level 100

The Weapon

Poppea's weapon of choice is her voice as she sings the Song Of Mana. it pulses in a sparkling column Area Of Effect around Poppea that's focused on and moves with her. as S.O.M. is leveled, it goes from being thin to fairly thick, as well as getting stronger and lasting longer on it's own. at Level 8, S.O.M. will have a +30 to damage, +175% to Area, +1.5 seconds to Duration on top of Poppea's growing Duration, and +2.25 seconds to Cooldown. the positive Cooldown isn't as much a issue as one would think. Poppea's own Duration coupled with S.O.M. own Duration bonuses can let her have it start overlapping as it fires, given enough time as she levels.
evolving S.O.M., with Skull O' Maniac, turns it into Mannajja. the column becomes five sparkling concentric circles, like a sound wave. this greatly increases it's area. but it gains extra positive Cooldown as well. the positive Cooldown does hamper Mannajji some, it firing off once ever four and a half seconds or so. but it gets another bonus as it slows enemies down as well, except the various bosses at the five minute points, which tend to be more resistant to effects then other enemies, the minute 25 ones in particular having immunities like slows and freezes. the slow is really good for dealing with the more tanky enemies you come across, as they get absolutely hammered by Popprea's singing while trying to get to her. but faster enemies and rushes will pose a problem if they catch her off guard

Why and why not (pros and cons)

Why Poppea?
Poppea is a Area Of Effect expert. her maneuverability and S.O.M being a good A.O.E. let her clear out enemies fairly quickly. combined with her growing Duration, she can be constantly protected as S.O.M. will start lasting longer then its' Cooldown. and S.O.M. is no slouch in the damage department. other weapons are stronger. but only a few can rival the Area it gains on its' own. and with Candleabrador and evolved into Mannajji, Poppea will have a decent and sizable zone of damage around her at all times
Why not Poppea?
like the other characters that gain 1% per level, Poppea has a bit of a weak starting game. her Duration will be too low to make a difference and S.O.M. starts out as wide as she is on screen. which means she has no protection from the sides when the run starts. she's also strangely stage dependent, as she excels at stages with a lot of horizontal movement, like Gallo's Tower, or have a lot of obstacles she can use as cover, like Capella Magna or the Dairy Plant. but wide open and vertical stages, most of the stages and the Inlaid Library, give her a bit of trouble as enemies coming in from the sides right at her have less S.O.M. to get through to her. Poppea's Move Speed help her deal with this, but it's a big factor at the start of runs till she starts leveling S.O.M. or gets more Area

How to get

Poppea is a coffin character. her coffin is in the Dairy Plant Stage, I believe to the east. when you see the circle of knights, you've found it. as with any of the coffin characters, if you get the Milky Way Map first, you can see the question mark showing their location so you don't have to wonder around hoping to run into her coffin. after finding her, you can unlock Poppea for a thousand gold before scaling

Tips and builds

Tips
being the A.O.E. expert she is, Poppea LOVES Area. so getting her Candlelabrador is a great pick, as is any other A.O.E. weapons, Santa Water being at the top of that list. Endless Tome, a good pick for any character, REALLY helps Poppea out greatly, as S.O.M. is pretty much the only weapon that gains positive Cooldown as it levels. getting its' Cooldown to around two seconds will make it a much better A.O.E. with it firing off more often. Spinach is a good pick as well, as S.O.M. is affected by Might and Poppea don't have much Might to begin with

The Holy Trinity Poppea version
Weapons: Axe, Garlic, King Bible, Knife, Santa Water
Passives: Attractorb, Bracer, Candlelabrador, Pummarola, Skull O' Maniac, Spellbinder
like all versions of The Holy Trinity build, Poppea's version relies on forming a powerful zone of damage around her that provides some self healing while keeping enemies at bay. but her version adds a bit more range cause of Mannajji as well as three weapons overlapping their Cooldown to get more out of La Borra, Unholy Vespers, and Mannajji as Soul Eater makes Mannajji's slow more effective while also giving Poppea single target focusing with Death Spiral and Thousand Edge. this covers Poppea for the run while allowing her to bring down elites and bosses quickly. even the guardians don't hold up long if they get caught in the damage areas of The Holy Trinity while being focused down at the same time

FIRE EVERYTHING!!!!!!! build
Weapons: Eight The Sparrow, Phiera Der Tuphello, Ebony Wings, Peachone, Whip, evolve birds or guns to get Vento Sacro, evolve the other weapons, get Clock Lancet and Santa Water
Passives: Attractorb, Endless Tome, Hollow Heart, Skull O' Maniac, Tiragisu, Torrona's Box, pick up both rings
Arcanas: Awake, Gemini, Out Of Bounds
this build goes all out with A.O.E. layered over each other with Arcanas ether adding to, Gemini, or enhancing layers of damage, Awake and Out Of Bounds. it does take a bit to get fully evolved. but it's devastating when you get there. make sure as soon as the guns or birds are evolved to get Vento Sacro then get it evolved next so you can pick up Santa Water and Clock Lancet. also Gemini is a good first pick of Arcanas as it double ups the guns and birds while Out Of Bounds ether freezes or blows up enemies and Awake means more lasers. when fully evolved, Poppea will be at the center of a hurricane of damage zones and has some health gain from Fuwalafuwaloo for good measure

In conclusion

Poppea was another character I had to play around with to get used to how she ran. I've never used Duration much when doing runs as I always found Cooldown better to use. but combined with her Move Speed and decent picks of weapons, I got better at overlapping to help make up for her lack of Might. and she's always been fun to run as her being this long lasting whirling dervish of A.O.E. running around singing her heart out as she lays waste to whatever stage you choose to run is a kick. makes you wonder if D&D bards strive to be like Poppea. not going to happen. but I wish them luck if they try.

thumbnail art by Red Claw

[GranLomito]

The Holy Trinity Poppea version
https://imgur.com/a/q9Nk1gv

FIRE EVERYTHING!!!!!!! build
https://imgur.com/a/ZK4Y5cU

[Teimo]

if you want i could help you i got summer break for the next 5 weeks

[Cuthla]

I've thought about adding pictures. but only if getting the pictures would be easy. as most of the guides I've put up take about five to eight hours to do as I check stats, leveling speed, if a build I want to put in the Tips and Builds will work or not. and getting screenshots or footage can be very time consuming as well, not just in runs but trying to get a specific shot or video, but editing as well

[Teimo]

would be nice if you added pictures to the guide for easier reading and overall looking niceness