Megabonk Vlad Build: Best Weapons, Tomes & Items

Updated October 22, 2026 · Patch covered: Megabonk v1.0.69 (Feb 4, 2026), still the latest on Steam as of Oct 22, 2026

Vlad's kit and unlock

• Starting weapon Blood Magic

  Passive Vampire: +1% Lifesteal per level; +5% flat Lifesteal since v1.0.64.

  Unlock Complete Desert Tier 2, buy Blood Magic · 32 Silver

• Since v1.0.64 (Jan 25, 2026) Vlad also starts with +5% flat Lifesteal, which both outlet articles predate.

Starter build (editorial pick)

Want to check how the tomes fit the weapons, or save your own version? Load it in the Megabonk build planner. Tome values are on the tomes page and item effects on the items page.

What the build guides recommend

Copied from each article as published. These are the outlets' editorial picks, not ours; check the date against the patches.

• Destructoid

  'Best Vlad build in Megabonk', by Bhernardo Viana (published Sep 30, 2025)

  Weapons Blood Magic, Dice, Flamewalker, Katana (also good: Aegis, Tornado)

  Tomes XP, Damage, Quantity, Cursed (also good: Luck, Shield, HP); says to skip the Bloody (lifesteal) Tome

  Items Moldy Cheese, Gym Sauce, Medkit, Oats (also good: Backpack, Slurp Gloves, Bloody Cleaver)

  Suggests Projectile Count and Movement Speed from shrines.

• Dexerto

  'Best Vlad build in Megabonk' (published Oct 22, 2025)

  Weapons Blood Magic, Dice, Flamewalker, Katana

  Tomes XP, Damage, Quantity, Cursed, Luck

  Items Moldy Cheese, Gym Sauce, Medkit, Oats, Slurp Gloves, Bloody Cleaver, Backpack

What leaderboard Vlad runs use (player data)

Player data, read Oct 22, 2026: 23 Vlad runs submitted to Megabonk Leaderboard.gg, the best with 748,050 kills. Percentages are the share of those runs that had each pick. The starting weapon is in every run, so it is not listed.

Leaderboard runs chase kill counts on hard settings, and nearly every character's runs look the same: Katana, Dexecutioner and Shotgun with the Chaos, XP and Cursed tomes. The 2026 Rank 100 guide calls Luck, Curse and Chaos what "all the leaderboard runs do". Long runs also end with dozens of items, so a 100% item shows what was in the inventory at the end, not what to pick first. Use the starter build above until those tomes are unlocked.

Tips from player guides

Player reports from Steam guides, with each guide's dates in the sources.

• Rank 100 guide: don't take Lifesteal from shrines unless you get a very early Kevin and are not at 25% yet; his passive gives more than enough.
• 'What Stuff Does' guide: made for Lifesteal and Max HP builds.

Other character builds

Back to all Megabonk characters or the Megabonk guide.

FAQ