How to Unlock All Secret Characters in Vampire Survivors (Avatar, Leda, Cosmo, & More)

Here is a comprehensive guide on how to unlock the secret characters in Vampire Survivors.

This article covers the roster of secret characters from Exdash to the Mask of the Red Death.

Exdash Exiviiq

Reward for the secret: "Cast the spell x-x1viiq".

Simply go to the "Secrets" menu from the title screen and type x-x1viiq.

Toastie

Reward for the secret: "Uppercut a non-red Reaper".

Here is how I managed to unlock it on the PS5:

1. Unlock Exdash first.
2. Start the Inlaid Library in Inverse Mode.
3. Head to the right. Keep going past the Gold Ring, and you will eventually find a purple Reaper (Trickster) near a piano.
4. When you encounter/defeat this Reaper, a small ghost will appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Quickly press Down + X (the Confirm button).
5. You will hear a chime, indicating that Toastie has been unlocked.

Here is Toastie popping up in the bottom right corner ↓

Some sources say Toastie only appears for 0.5 seconds right after defeating the Reaper, but for this specific purple Reaper in the Inlaid Library, Toastie hung around on screen for quite a while even before the Reaper died.

I kept hearing a cute little squeaky noise from the purple Reaper, but in hindsight, that was probably Toastie's sound cue.

Unlocking Avatar Infernas (mentioned later) involves this exact same location. If you want to knock out both at once, make sure you bring Peachone and Ebony Wings and do not evolve them before defeating the purple Reaper (see the Avatar section for details).

If the button timing is too difficult, you can always bypass it by typing tramezzini in the Secrets menu.

Smith IV

Reward for the secret: "Sometimes you just need to ask for help".

This requires quick keyboard input, so I hooked up a USB keyboard to my PS5 to pull this off.

1. Ensure Exdash and Toastie are unlocked.
2. Type spam on the main title screen.
3. Type spam on the character selection screen.
4. Type spam on the stage selection screen.
5. Once the stage starts, type humbug.

Steps 2 through 5 apparently need to be completed within 30 seconds.

I didn't hear a special sound effect or anything, but when I quit the run and checked the character roster from the title screen, Smith IV had been added.

I typed "spam" with the keyboard, then used the controller to press "Start" to proceed to the next screen, and it worked flawlessly.

If you're struggling to do it fast enough, you can just type maybeimastallion in the Secrets menu.

Boon Marrabbio

Reward for the secret: "After stealing the Pummarola and Skull O'Maniac from the Mad Forest, follow the trail."

1. Pick up the Pummarola and Skull O'Maniac stage items in the Mad Forest.
2. Once you have both items, a pie will appear near your character. Pick it up.
3. More pies will start appearing toward the top-left of the screen. Keep following and collecting them.
4. After you collect the final pie, a shadowy magician boss will spawn. Defeat it.

The unlock jingle will play once he is defeated.

Be prepared to walk quite a distance while following the trail of pies.

Avatar Infernas

Reward for the secret: "It is tangible only in the inverted Inlaid Library. Good friends might then show the way."

1. Start the Inlaid Library in Inverse Mode.
2. Obtain both Peachone and Ebony Wings, and do not evolve them.
3. Head to the right. Keep walking past the Gold Ring until you find the purple Reaper near the piano, and defeat it.
4. Interact with the piano. You'll enter a screen where you must press the keys the birds land on in order: (2nd white key from the left → 6th white key → 5th black key → 5th white key → 1st black key).
5. The screen will go dark, and 9 coffins will appear on the map. Open all of them.
6. Avatar Infernas will spawn. Defeat him to unlock him.

Minnah Mannarah

Reward for the secret: "Deal with the consequences of stealing cheese from the Dairy Plant."

1. Head to the Floor Chicken icon on the Dairy Plant map, where you will find a giant wheel of cheese.
2. Pick it up, and a pack of werewolf enemies will spawn. Defeat all of them.

Using Arcana VIII - Mad Groove makes this very easy, as it pulls the cheese directly to your starting location.

Leda

Reward for the secret: "Investigate the bottom of Gallo Tower."

1. Keep walking straight down in Gallo Tower.
2. The screen will gradually get darker until it is pitch black and the background music stops.
3. Keep walking down for another minute or so, and you will eventually find Leda near a pentagram on the floor. Defeat her.

Leda looks like a massive floating sphere, so you can't miss her.

The unlock jingle will play when she is defeated.

It gets incredibly dark down there, so having a weapon like Santa Water helps provide some much-needed light.

Cosmo Pavone

Reward for the secret: "With a pure heart and two good friends, visit the fiery balcony in Cappella Magna."

1. Start Cappella Magna with a character that has 0 Golden Eggs (or manually toggle Eggs off).
2. Obtain both Peachone and Ebony Wings, and do not evolve them.
3. Head north to the Nduja Fritta Tanto (the fire-breathing item located just above the Tiragisú).
4. If you meet the conditions, the fence right below the Nduja Fritta will disappear. Walk onto the balcony and touch Cosmo.

Using Queen Sigma makes this a breeze since she has plenty of Rerolls to help you get the birds.

The fence will not disappear if the birds are evolved (Vandalier), so make sure you don't combine them!

↓ When the birds are NOT evolved

↓ When the birds ARE evolved

Peppino

Reward for the secret: "Be a good boy in Il Molise."

1. Play as O'Sole Meeo in Il Molise (the bonus stage with the stationary plants).
2. Choose Arcana XX - Silent Old Sanctuary, and run around using your starting weapon (Celestial Dusting) to heal the plants. When leveling up, pick passive items or weapons that don't deal damage.
3. After a few minutes of healing, the unlock jingle will play.

Big Trouser

Reward for the secret: "Master all 16 accessories in Moongolow."

1. Pick up all 16 passive items scattered around Moongolow and level them up to MAX.
2. Once they are all maxed out, open the Options menu and select "Quit" to end the run.

missingN[]

Reward for the secret: "With the most adverse fate in Green Acres, run off the edge of the world."

1. Start Green Acres with Hyper and Hurry modes enabled.
2. Walk continuously to the bottom-left from your starting point.
3. Once you go past the point where the Metaglio Left and Gold Ring align, the screen will glitch out.
4. Defeat the giant bat-eye enemies that spawn. Once they are dead, the unlock jingle will play and the screen will return to normal.

The enemies here are quite tough, so it's best to evolve a few weapons before making the trek.

This character costs nearly 300,000 coins to purchase, and its base stats are completely randomized every time you open the character selection screen.

Gains Boros

Reward for the secret: "Find the only place where flowers bloom in the Bone Zone."

1. Keep walking straight up in the Bone Zone.
2. Just past the Silver Ring, you will find a ring of blooming flowers.
3. Stand inside the ring of flowers and wait until they disappear. The unlock jingle will then play.

Because the destination is directly above the Silver Ring, take a slight detour if you want to avoid fighting the Atlantean guarding it.

Gyorunton

Reward for the secret: "Survive the Boss Rash with just one weapon."

Clear the Boss Rash stage with only your starting weapon.

Set your Max Weapons to 1 before starting, pick Queen Sigma, and choose Arcana XX - Silent Old Sanctuary as your first card to easily survive the onslaught.

Mask of the Red Death

Reward for the secret: "Settle the score with the Reaper."

To unlock this character, you simply need to defeat the Red Reaper that spawns at the 30-minute mark.

1. Start any stage with Endless Mode turned OFF.
2. Max out and evolve the Clock Lancet (needs Silver and Gold Rings) and Laurel (needs Metaglio Left and Right).
3. Defeat the Red Reaper that appears at 30:00.

Using Arcana VIII - Mad Groove to pull all the stage items to you makes completing the evolutions a breeze.