Survivor.io Guide: Tips, Tricks & Strategies

Last Updated on 01.03.2024

Survivor.io is a Vampire Survivors-like game for smartphones. But now the project has its own distinctive features, ecosystem, and… half of the features taken over from the notorious Archero. We got a kind of mixture in the setting of the post-apocalyptic, which is great pulls in the gameplay. Here’s a guide on the game, the best weapons, smart levels, and the latest Survivor.io for Android and iOS. Let’s do it!

Survivor.io Beginners Guide and Tips

Survivor.io: Guide

The most important thing to understand is that the prefix “io” in this game does not mean that the project refers to the series with the same name. The developers most likely wanted to get additional recognition due to the famous prefix, otherwise Survivor.io has nothing to do with other low-quality games.

The gameplay is similar to Vampire Survivors: you race around the location, kill crowds of enemies, pick up experience and pump up weapons/passive skills. However, while Vampire Survivors is almost impossible to pass, this game has a story. The unpleasant thing is the energy limitations, which makes it impossible to complete more than 6-7 races at a time.

Below are answers to the most frequently asked questions about the game. If you still have questions, write them in the comments.

Survivor.io: how to pass

To pass Survivor.io, you need to go on missions, which are called “Chapters” here, and survive in them for 15 minutes. Depending on the chapter, the landscape and map changes. For example, in the third chapter “Underground Parking” the map is limited, and it will take 10 minutes instead of 15 minutes to complete.

Every 5 minutes (and every 2 on smaller maps) a boss appears. There are quite a few of them here, from harmless dogs and bloomers to deadly mutants that look like Nemesis from Resident Evil. Usually each boss has 2-3 unique moves, and if the first ones aren’t hard to deal with, you’ll have to sweat the rest.

Survivor.io: chapters and side missions

There are already 40 chapters in the game, the gameplay is enough for a year. At a certain point, the enemies become very strong, so you have to slow down. Fortunately, in addition to the main mode, there are daily dungeons to farm gold and challenges to get evolution points and diamonds.

Lifehack: if you can’t spend energy by hand, you can use the “Quick Profit” feature in the patrol window, exchanging energy for resources and items.

It turns out that the player has to go through the basic tasks, and with increasing difficulty – to farm themselves items, to pump them for gold and drawings, to pass tests to swing a branch of the evolution of the character.

Survivor.io: weapons

There are plenty of weapons in the game – most guns duplicate the weapons from Vampire Survivors. Conventionally, it can be divided into two types: one part of the weapon deals spot damage to a single target, the other strikes over an area, dealing less damage but more damage to a larger number of enemies. Weapons are pumped up to 5 stars, and then, if the character picked up the right passive skill, can be evolved. Here are all kinds of weapons in Survivor.io:

  • The katana, kunai, bat, shotgun, and revolver are the starting weapons in a character’s hand. It is selected in the inventory. The most effective options are kunai and bat.
  • RPG fires a bursting rocket, dealing area damage. After, the evolution releases a black rocket, which deals tangible damage to groups of enemies.
  • Laser and Electric Coil – massively hits random targets from the sky. Once evolved, the damage increases significantly, hitting more enemies.
  • Molotov Cocktail – throws Molotov cocktails on the floor. The higher the pumping, the more fire puddles appear. Once evolved, creates a large ring of fire around the character.
  • Drill Shot – Drill bullet that passes through enemies and ricochets off walls. After evolution, it turns into an arrow of death, which is self-targeted at the nearest enemies and pierces them, causing a lot of damage.
  • Sticky durian is a huge durian that ricochets off walls and pierces through enemies. After evolving, it turns into a metal spiked ball that also shoots spikes. Best weapon in the game.
  • Brick – Throws a brick over the character, which later falls down. Once evolved, throws 8 iron weights in all directions at once. They pass through enemies and deal a lot of damage.
  • Soccer Ball – The ball ricochets from enemy to enemy and deals powerful spot damage. Once evolved, it turns into an iron sphere, with 10 spheres ricocheting between enemies in a single volley.
  • Drone A and Drone B are two drones that fly around the character and shoot small missiles over the area. They do a lot of damage. Drones do not need passive skills – you just need to pump each of them up to 5 stars to get the “Weapon of Death” – a powerful robotic machine that strikes the area.
  • A force field is an aura around a character that deals damage to everyone in its radius every second. Once evolved, it creates a “my world” in which all enemies are also slowed down.
  • Boomerang – a weapon that returns back to the character and hits everyone caught in flight. Once evolved, it releases two deadly boomerangs that circle around the player.
  • The guards are mechanical blades that surround the player and block projectiles flying at him. After the evolution the blades get bigger, and they do not disappear.

It’s easy to get the evolution of weapons: pump any weapon up to 5 stars and take the necessary passive skill, you do not need to pump it up to 5 stars. What passive ability to take, the game will tell you.

A total of 6 weapons and 6 passive skills can be taken per battle. At the same time, if you choose drones and connect them, it will free up an additional slot for weapons. You can get 7 weapons at once in Survivor.io by this trick, but it’s pretty hard to do. While you are collecting robots, you can be killed.

Competent pumping in the game

You probably have a question about builds… and there’s no clear answer. Depending on the chapter, changes the approach to its passage. For example, in the first chapters there are almost no enemies ranged, and blades are not useful there. But in the narrow spaces against the mutated soldiers, blades will come in handy.

On some maps there are a lot of tough opponents, on others – clouds of butterflies or bats that crush the quantity. The best advice is to adjust to the situation Survivor.io creates, and balance between high damage single target weapons and AoE guns.

Don’t forget to improve things in your inventory, and if you find a cooler item – disassemble the old one to return all the money and blueprints and refill them into a new item. Be sure to check out the upgrade branch – small increases in basic stats and additional evolutions for passing the “Tests” makes life easier on the battlefield.

Survivor.io codes - free coins, keys, gems and gifts

Survivor.io: Codes

There are also codes for March 2024 in Survivor.io – not some cheats and shenanigans there, but secret combinations of numbers and letters from the developers. To activate such a code, you need to go to the official page of the game, enter your Game ID (you can see it in the settings), enter the code and solve the captcha.