Vampire Crawlers: Unlock All Relics & Arcanas Fast

The fast way to unlock Relics and Arcanas in Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors is to treat them as fixed stage objectives, not random grind drops. Almost every Relic sits in a specific dungeon, and several of them unlock entire systems — the Arcana layer, the Blacksmith, card Gems — rather than handing you a minor stat bonus. So the right approach is route planning: clear the stage that holds the Relic, sweep its breakables and chests, return to the Village when a system unlock triggers, then move to the next stage in the chain.

The short version

• Relics are stage-locked, usually inside breakable objects or chests — not RNG drops.
• Combo Stack — Tutorial (a breakable log). Your first Relic, and the lesson: search before you exit.
• Gem Hammer — Mad Forest. Unlocks adding Gems to cards.
• Polentír — Furious Forest. Opens the Fortune Teller’s Arcana Tent and the whole Arcana system.
• Stardust Anvil + Overkill — Teeny Bridge. Anvil unlocks the Blacksmith’s Workshop in the Village.
• Bomba Infernale — Dairy Plant. Vaporises every enemy on the first floor of an already-cleared dungeon.
• Sorceress’ Tears — Gallo Tower. Adds a Hurry button to the World Map (game speed).
• Randomazzo / Arcana Finder — Library Sanctum. Adds Arcana Chests and events to dungeons.
• Grim Grimoire — Library West Wing (difficulty 3, unlocked after clearing the Inlaid Library once). It is a recipe tracker, not an evolution enabler.

This matters more here than in a standard survivors-like. Vampire Crawlers is a deckbuilding roguelike with grid-based exploration, card synergies, and town upgrades, so “collecting Relics” is usually the same thing as “opening the game up.” Shops, Arcana access, the Gem system, and speed controls all live behind these unlocks. If you want the weapon side of that loop, pair this with our Vampire Crawlers weapon evolutions guide.

How Relics and Arcanas unlock

Relics are stage-locked discoveries, found in specific locations inside breakable objects or chests rather than as low-percentage random drops. The Combo Stack in the Tutorial sets the rule early: if you rush encounters and ignore scenery, you walk straight past permanent progression items.

Arcanas sit one layer above. You do not unlock individual Arcanas directly at first — you unlock the system that governs them. Polentír opens that door through the Fortune Teller’s Arcana Tent. Later, Randomazzo (also labelled Arcana Finder, found in the Library Sanctum) adds Arcana Chests and events into your dungeon runs. So the order is fixed: unlock Arcana access with Polentír, then expand how Arcanas appear with Randomazzo.

Fastest stage route for the system-tier Relics

Don’t play every stage evenly. Hit the stages that unlock systems first. The sequence below prioritises Relics that change how the rest of the game works.

1. Tutorial: grab Combo Stack and learn the search rule

The Tutorial hands you the Combo Stack from a breakable log. Its real value is instructional: check breakable objects and containers before you assume a stage is cleared. Build the habit here — hug walls, circle props, do one deliberate sweep before the exit. Players who treat Vampire Crawlers like a pure combat game move too fast and miss Relics, which means missed systems later.

2. Mad Forest: get Gem Hammer early

The Gem Hammer in Mad Forest unlocks the ability to add Gems to cards. In a card-focused game that is build-defining, not a luxury — it is how your deck moves past basic survival and starts scaling around synergy. Search Mad Forest assuming you are there for a permanent unlock, not just a clear. Once Gem Hammer is online, far more of your card pool starts to matter.

3. Furious Forest: prioritise Polentír

Polentír in Furious Forest unlocks the Fortune Teller’s Arcana Tent and opens the Arcana system — the single most important early progression Relic. If your file still feels limited after a few runs, this is usually why. The moment Furious Forest is available, put Polentír near the top of your list, then return to the Village and check the Fortune Teller’s Arcana Tent. Don’t keep queueing dungeons expecting the Arcana feature to surface on its own; go back to town and confirm the new interaction point is active.

4. Teeny Bridge: Stardust Anvil and Overkill

Teeny Bridge holds two Relics: Stardust Anvil, which unlocks the Blacksmith’s Workshop in the Village, and Overkill. The Anvil is system-tier — Blacksmith upgrades compound across your whole file, which makes it one of the best targets in the early-to-mid transition. Note the naming clearly: Arcana Finder is not on this stage. It is found in the Library Sanctum and is the same Relic as Randomazzo — a common mix-up worth getting right when you plan your route.

5. Dairy Plant: take Bomba Infernale for cleanup

Bomba Infernale in Dairy Plant instantly vaporises every enemy on the first floor of a previously-cleared dungeon. That is unusually strong as a utility tool. It is less about winning a hard fight and more about cutting dead time when you revisit content, farm easier floors, or grind repeated clears. If you are chasing multiple unlock tasks on older stages, it pays for itself fast.

6. Gallo Tower: Sorceress’ Tears for faster runs

Sorceress’ Tears in Gallo Tower adds a Hurry button to the World Map and increases game speed. That sounds cosmetic until you count how much of Vampire Crawlers is repetition — traversal, encounter sequencing, farming. It is a pacing Relic, not a power spike, and it gets more valuable the longer you stay with a file.

7. Library: Randomazzo and Grim Grimoire

The Library zones gate the last two key Relics. Randomazzo / Arcana Finder sits in the Library Sanctum and adds Arcana Chests and events to dungeons — the second half of the Arcana system after Polentír. Grim Grimoire is in the Library West Wing, a difficulty-3 zone you reach by clearing the Inlaid Library once. Despite older write-ups, Grim Grimoire does not enable evolutions — it adds a list of discovered weapon evolutions and unions to the Pause menu, a recipe tracker. Useful for completion, but plan your build around the actual evolution requirements (see the weapon evolutions guide), not the Grimoire.

How to unlock the Arcana system

The Arcana progression is system-first:

• Find Polentír in Furious Forest.
• Return to the Village and open the Fortune Teller’s Arcana Tent.
• Use that unlock to start interacting with the Arcana layer.
• Grab Randomazzo / Arcana Finder in the Library Sanctum — it adds Arcana Chests and events to dungeons, so they actually show up in your runs.

One assumption to avoid: unlocking the Arcana system is not the same as instantly owning every Arcana. Polentír opens the path; Randomazzo makes Arcanas appear in dungeons. Expect to encounter Arcanas through those chests and events over multiple runs rather than all at once.

Priority order for efficient progression

• Polentír — unlocks the Fortune Teller’s Arcana Tent and opens Arcana progression.
• Gem Hammer — enables card Gems, which matters immediately for deck specialisation.
• Stardust Anvil — unlocks the Blacksmith’s Workshop for long-term build development.
• Randomazzo / Arcana Finder — adds Arcana Chests and events inside dungeons.
• Bomba Infernale — improves repeat-clear efficiency and farming flow.
• Sorceress’ Tears — speeds up overall run pacing.
• Grim Grimoire — a recipe tracker for evolutions; grab it once you can clear the Library West Wing.

Common mistakes that slow down Relic completion

• Playing for RNG instead of destination. Relics have fixed stage placement. Replaying the wrong map fixes nothing.
• Ignoring props and containers. Many Relics come from breakables or chests, not from the final fight — Combo Stack is literally inside a log.
• Not returning to town after a system unlock. Polentír should send you straight back to check the Fortune Teller’s Arcana Tent.
• Confusing Arcana Finder with Teeny Bridge. Arcana Finder (Randomazzo) is in the Library Sanctum; Teeny Bridge gives Stardust Anvil and Overkill.
• Expecting Grim Grimoire to enable evolutions. It only tracks discovered evolution recipes in the Pause menu.
• Forgetting that some Relics are toggleable. Toggle them in the Relics house in the Village. A few — Grim Grimoire, Stardust Anvil, Polentír, Randomazzo, and Lapidary Loupe — are always on once unlocked.

Practical takeaway

Relic completion in Vampire Crawlers is a checklist, not a mystery: clear the correct stage, search thoroughly, activate the newly opened town feature, then move to the next system unlock. The clean route is Tutorial sweep, Mad Forest for Gem Hammer, Furious Forest for Polentír and the Fortune Teller, Teeny Bridge for Stardust Anvil and Overkill, Dairy Plant for Bomba Infernale, Gallo Tower for Sorceress’ Tears, then the Library for Randomazzo and Grim Grimoire. Once those systems are active, your deckbuilding and run pacing stop fighting you and the rest of the Unlockables chase becomes easy to manage.