First, there was the secret character named Exdash, who used Ebony Wings as its starting weapon. Later, Toastie was introduced into Vampire Survivors; it uses Ebony Wings' counterpart, Peachone, as its starting weapon. Many players were sure that at some point another secret character, whose sprite is a palette swap of Exdash (like Toastie), that uses Vandalier as a starting weapon.
Well, those players were right. One of the newest characters in Vampire Survivors, named Smith IV, uses Vandalier as its starting weapon. Smith IV is a ghost-like character like Exdash and Toastie and possesses similar passive bonuses - or rather, passive penalties in the case of Smith IV.
3 Unlocking Smith IV
This is not the hardest of characters to unlock in Vampire Survivors. Instead of having to traverse a stage looking for a coffin to open, or defeating a boss, the player must instead enter a series of codes at specific times. At the main menu the player needs to type the word "spam"; then progress to the character select screen. Type "spam" again at the character select screen, followed by typing it again at the stage selection screen. When the player enters the stage they need to type "humbug".
There is a 30-second timer that starts when the first "spam" is typed. The player needs to type "humbug" at the start of the stage before this timer runs out. If done correctly the player can then exit the stage and return to the character select screen - where they still have to pay 7,777 gold to actually unlock Smith IV as a playable character.
2 Smith IV's Stats
Smith IV is an interesting, and challenging, character to use. Even long-time players of Vampire Survivors might have trouble surviving for 30 minutes the first few times they give Smith IV a try. This character's passive bonuses are; Cooldown +10%, Luck +100%, +20% MoveSpeed, -50% Speed (projectiles), and a -10% to Area, Duration, and Might
Smith IV starts with a max health of 7; whereas, most characters start with an average of 125 health. So, in other words, the player needs to do their best to avoid any contact with the enemy. At least Smith IV was given a +20% MoveSpeed to help with this.
1 Using Smith IV
The player should exploit the +100% to Luck as much as they can. This includes getting the Clover passive item; which means the Cross weapon should be gotten as well. Weapons that are capable of critical hits are the best to pick with Smith IV. These weapons are Knife, Axe, Whip, Vento Saccro, and Heaven Sword (evolved Cross). Critical hits scale with Luck, so Smith IV should be successful with these weapons. Getting the Slash Arcana will make this loadout even stronger.
With its low max health, the Laurel is a must for keeping Smith IV alive after the 20-minute mark. Smith IV starts with Vandalier, the evolved (union) form of Ebony Wings and Peachone. Even though this is an evolved weapon, it is fairly weak until it's gotten to about level 4. Get a more direct firing weapon as a secondary weapon early in the stage; the Cross, Magic Wand, and Whip are good choices for this.
Vampire Survivors was released on December 17th, 2021, for the PC and macOS.