Vampire Crawlers Best Cards: The Card Tier List¶
Every card list tells you what a card does. This one tells you which ones to take, and I'm ranking on three things you can check yourself: damage per mana, how many gem slots it carries, and whether it evolves into something better.
One rule before the list: the damage printed on a card is not always the damage it deals. Thousand Edge prints 200 but fires 20 projectiles of 9 and lands 180; Holy Wand prints 160 but fires 10 of 15 and lands 150. I use the printed number below and flag the two that lie, because that is what the game shows you.
What makes a card worth a slot?¶
A card earns its place on one of three grounds, and it is worth being explicit about which one you are buying:
- Raw damage per mana. A 3-mana card that hits for 200 is worth two 2-mana cards that hit for 100 only if you can actually play both in the same turn. Mana is the real budget.
- Slot ceiling. Cards with 3 gem slots scale twice as far as cards with 2, because gems multiply rather than add. That is why a 125-damage card with 3 slots beats a 160-damage card with 2 late.
- Evolution target. A mediocre card that becomes an S-tier card is not mediocre; it is a down payment.
The cards that fail are the ones that are bad on all three counts, and there are fewer of those than the tier lists suggest.
S-tier: the five that decide runs¶
| Card | Mana | Slots | Why it is here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phieraggi | 4 | 3 | 350 damage, the highest single-target number in the game. Built from Phiera Der Tuphello (125) plus Eight the Sparrow (100), so you get two playable cards on the way |
| Vandalier | 5 | 3 | 500 damage with Knockback and Big Bird. Absurd number, and the only 5-mana card that justifies 5 mana |
| Thousand Edge | 3 | 2 | 200 printed, 180 real, plus Crit. Comes from Knife, which several starters hand you for 0 mana |
| Hellfire | 3 | 2 | 225 with Knockback, from Fire Wand (45 at 1 mana). The cheapest route to a 200+ hit |
| Pentagram | 5 | 3 | Doesn't do damage, it erases a row and starts a Countdown. The only card in the game that removes a problem instead of shrinking it |
Phieraggi is the pick if you can only build one. Two cards feed it, both are playable on their own, and 350 is not a number any other single card reaches.
A-tier: the ones you take when S isn't offered¶
| Card | Mana | Slots | Why it is here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning Ring | 2 | 3 | 125 for 2 mana with 3 slots. The best damage-per-mana ratio in the red section |
| Death Spiral | 3 | 3 | 160 to the front row with Crit, and Crit is what carries it past its printed number |
| Ebony Wings | 4 | 3 | 140 and it bombards after every turn, so the number repeats without another card |
| La Borra | 4 | 3 | 150 plus burn, same repeating-damage logic |
| Thunder Loop | 4 | 3 | 150 and attacks again at end of turn; the best "one card, two hits" in the game |
| Eight the Sparrow | 2 | 3 | 100 for 2 mana, and half of Phieraggi. Take it early even if you never evolve |
| Holy Wand | 2 | 2 | 160 printed, 150 real, and it prioritises attackers, which is the only targeting rule that saves runs |
| Knife | 0 | 2 | 40 damage for zero mana with Crit. The single best 0-mana card and the start of Thousand Edge |
The three 4-mana cards in this tier (Ebony Wings, La Borra, Thunder Loop) all do their damage more than once, which is why they beat higher printed numbers in the B tier below.
B-tier: fine, not a plan¶
| Card | Mana | Slots | Why it is only B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cross | 2 | 3 | 80 damage, no rider, no evolution. Good slots, boring card |
| Unholy Vespers | 2 | 2 | 120 for 2 is efficient, but only 2 slots and Knockback is a coin flip |
| Vicious Hunger | 2 | 2 | 100 and it may turn enemies into coins. Great for gold, mediocre for a boss |
| Axe | 2 | 3 | 45 to multiple enemies with Knockback. Multi-target is worth less than it looks when the front row dies first |
| Cherry Bomb | 1 | 2 | 45 for 1 mana with an explosion chance. Fine early, replaced by Hellfire later |
| Fire Wand | 1 | 2 | 45 for 1 mana, no rider. It is here because it evolves into Hellfire, not because of the 45 |
| Gatti Amari | 1 | 2 | 40 with a Scuffle chance. The randomness is the problem, not the number |
| Garlic | 1 | 2 | 10 to the front row with Disarm. The damage is a rounding error; you take it for the Disarm |
Nothing in this tier is a mistake to play. They are the cards you play while you wait for the cards above.
C-tier: the traps¶
Whip is the one I would call a trap outright: 8 damage to multiple enemies for 0 mana. It is free, which makes it feel harmless, but a slot spent on Whip is a slot not spent on Knife, and Knife does 40 for the same cost.
Gorgeous Moon erases one enemy and triggers Moonrise, but it has no gem slots at all — the only attack card in the table with a dash in that column. It is a control card that cannot scale, so it belongs in a deck that already has its damage elsewhere.
Bone (15 to multiple, 0 mana) and Magic Wand (30, 0 mana) are worse versions of Knife when you are choosing. They are not bad cards; they are cards you were given rather than cards you chose.
Which gems go on these cards?¶
Two rules cover most of it. Damage gems go on the card you play every turn, not the card with the biggest number, because a +10% on a card you play four times a turn beats +10% on a finisher. And slot-expanding gems are worth more on 3-slot cards than 2-slot cards, since you are multiplying a bigger base.
If you are still deciding what to buy with gold, the tier list of Crawlers matters more than the card list: a good deck on a bad Crawler loses to a mediocre deck on Krochi. The full card table, all 40 red cards with mana, effect and slots, is on the cards page, and the 18 recipes are on the evolutions page.
Questions people search for¶
Is Phieraggi the best card?¶
By raw damage, yes: 350 is the highest single-target number printed. By cost, Lightning Ring is better value at 125 for 2 mana. Phieraggi wins because it is two useful cards that merge, not because 350 is 350.
What is the best 0-mana card?¶
Knife, with no close second: 40 damage and Crit for zero mana, and it evolves into Thousand Edge. Whip does 8, Bone 15, Magic Wand 30, so Knife is a third ahead of the next best free card — and it is the only one of the three that evolves.
Should I take a 5-mana card?¶
Only Pentagram or Vandalier, and only if your deck already generates 5 mana reliably. A 5-mana card you can play on turn 6 is worse than a 2-mana card you played on turns 1 through 5.
Sources¶
Card numbers, mana costs, slot ceilings and evolution recipes are from the official wiki's card and evolution pages, cross-checked against the damage formula page for the two cards whose printed damage differs from what they land.