Inverted-color enemy versions of the 16 base-game characters. Kill 6,000 to unlock Sir Ambrojoe.
languorinoStage Killers are normal-class enemies that only spawn on Cappella Magna, appearing as inverted-color versions of the 16 base-game characters. Killing 6,000 unlocks Sir Ambrojoe.
Stage Killers were added to Vampire Survivors on June 9, 2022, with Patch 0.7.2 (the same update that introduced Sir Ambrojoe). They occupy bestiary slot 118 and only spawn on the Cappella Magna stage.
The bestiary entry covers a single category, but the game files split them into two distinct variants with different internal IDs. Stage Killer 1 (ID STAGEKILLER) spawns at minute 21:00 with 10 base HP. Stage Killer 2 (ID STAGEKILLER2) spawns at 26:00 with 11 base HP.
Both variants share the same Power 11, MoveSpeed 140, and HP x Level scaling skill. Their visual appearance pulls from one of the 16 base-game characters with the colors inverted, which is the same effect the game uses when a player activates Holy Forbidden mode.
That is the answer to the most common question on this enemy: every Stage Killer is just a base-game character recoloured. There is no separate sprite art for any of the variants beyond the inverted-palette treatment.
| Stat | Stage Killer 1 | Stage Killer 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Internal ID | STAGEKILLER | STAGEKILLER2 |
| Bestiary # | 118 (shared entry) | 118 (shared entry) |
| HP (base) | 10 | 11 |
| Power | 11 | 11 |
| Move Speed | 140 | 140 |
| Knockback Max | 1 (3) | 1 (3) |
| Resistances | None | None |
| Skills | HP x Level | HP x Level |
| XP Drop | 3 | 3 |
| Spawn Time | 21:00 | 26:00 |
The HP x Level skill multiplies a Stage Killer's base HP by the player's character level at the moment of spawn. A level-80 player fights Stage Killer 1 enemies with 800 effective HP each.
The multiplier locks in at spawn and does not update if the player gains levels during the wave. Lower-level Cappella Magna runs produce easier farming, but they also reduce the per-kill XP gained from each Stage Killer cluster.
Stage Killers spawn only on Cappella Magna, the fifth stage. The first wave begins at minute 21:00, the second wave at 26:00, and they continue until Red Death arrives at 30:00.
Stage Killers only spawn on Cappella Magna. They do not appear on any other stage in the base game, including the Holy Forbidden mode that uses similar inverted-color visuals.
Within Cappella Magna, the spawn pattern is fixed and tied to the run timer rather than player position. The first wave triggers at exactly 21:00 and continues spawning until the second wave at 26:00, where Stage Killer 2 takes over with slightly higher HP.
Both variants share the same enemy waves as the surrounding Cappella Magna content. Players will see them mixed in with Trinacria, Reaper Trainees, and the broader endgame enemy pool that fills the screen between minutes 20 and 30.
| Run Time | Spawn Type | What Else Is Happening |
|---|---|---|
| 21:00 | Stage Killer 1 wave begins | Late-game Cappella Magna content, builds typically near full evolution |
| 21:00 to 25:59 | Stage Killer 1 continues | Major farming window with steady Stage Killer 1 density |
| 26:00 | Stage Killer 2 wave begins | Slightly higher HP per kill, transition into the run's closing stretch |
| 26:00 to 30:00 | Stage Killer 2 continues | Last farming window before Red Death spawns at 30:00 |
Every Stage Killer is one of the 16 base-game playable characters with the color palette inverted. DLC characters from later expansions do not have Stage Killer variants.
Each Stage Killer that appears in a wave pulls from one of the 16 base-game playable characters and inverts the color palette. The wiki documents this as a hard-coded list of variants, not a random palette generator.
The full variant roster is below, paired with the source character each one is based on.
The Stage Killer pool excludes any DLC characters introduced after Patch 0.7.2. Characters from later expansions (Tides of the Foscari, Legacy of the Moonspell, Operation Guns, Emergency Meeting, Ode to Castlevania, and beyond) do not have Stage Killer variants.
Run Cappella Magna on Hyper mode with Curse-stacking passives like Skull O'Maniac. A maxed late-game build clears 2,000 to 3,500 Stage Killers per 30-minute run, completing the unlock in two to three sessions.
The Sir Ambrojoe unlock requires 6,000 cumulative Stage Killer kills across any number of Cappella Magna runs. According to the wiki and confirmed by the in-game Collection menu, the counter is per-save and persists between sessions.
Reaching 6,000 in two or three runs is realistic for a maxed late-game character. The setup below maximises kills-per-minute during the 21:00 to 30:00 window.
Skull O'Maniac. Curse increases enemy spawn frequency, so more Stage Killers appear in each wave tick.
Rosary deletes the entire Stage Killer cluster but does not credit kills toward the achievement counter.According to community testing logged in the Pocket Gamer farming guide and corroborated by multiple Reddit threads, a maxed-out Cappella Magna run with Hyper mode and Curse stacking can produce roughly 2,000 to 3,500 Stage Killer kills per 30-minute session. That puts the 6,000 threshold within reach in two complete runs.
Lower-level characters with mid-tier builds typically clock 1,000 to 1,500 kills per run. Players in that range should expect four to six full Cappella Magna sessions to complete the unlock through the kill-count path.
Rosary kills register as environment damage, not player damage. Multiple players have reported that Rosary screen-clears do not credit Stage Killer counts toward the Sir Ambrojoe unlock.
Stick to direct-damage weapons during Stage Killer waves. Save Rosary for the Red Death spawn at 30:00 or for situations where survival is in question.
Cast languorino in the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane menu to unlock Sir Ambrojoe instantly. The 500-coin purchase still applies, but the achievement does not register on the spell path.
Forbidden Scrolls ShortcutCasting languorino in the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane menu unlocks Sir Ambrojoe immediately, with no Stage Killer kill counter required. The 500-coin character purchase still applies once the unlock posts.
The tradeoff: the Sir Ambrojoe achievement that the kill-count path grants does not register, and the in-game completion log will still show 0 of 6,000 kills.
The spell name comes from the Italian word for languor or weariness, fitting Sir Ambrojoe's art style as a top-hat-wearing dandy with a cane. Players who care about the achievement should grind the kills first and use the spell only as a backup if they are stuck on the unlock.
Sir Ambrojoe unlocks for purchase at 500 coins after the kill or spell path. He starts with La Robba (an egg-shaped weapon that spawns furniture) and a +10 Amount bonus that drops to zero by level 6.
Sir Ambrojoe is the direct payoff for hitting 6,000 Stage Killer kills. He becomes purchasable in the character menu for 500 coins (scales with other characters owned).
His starting weapon is La Robba, an egg-shaped projectile that spawns oversized furniture (pianos, armoires, dressers) at enemies. The weapon does not have an evolution at this time, but its raw damage output is among the highest in the base game.
Sir Ambrojoe has an unusual stat curve. He starts with a +10 Amount bonus, which is the highest opening Amount value of any character in the base game.
That bonus does not last. He loses 2 Amount every level until level 6, dropping the temporary bonus to zero. From level 6 onward, he gains +1 Amount every 20 levels up to a maximum of +3.
The result: Sir Ambrojoe is at peak strength during the first 5 levels of any run. After level 6 he becomes a more standard character whose Amount stat needs to be supplemented with Duplicator passives if a player wants to maintain the multi-projectile output.
Most build guides for Sir Ambrojoe prioritise 
Duplicator pickups in the early game to keep the projectile count stable through the level-6 stat dip. Past minute 10, his +1-per-20-levels growth gives him a natural Amount cap that pairs well with weapons that benefit from multiple projectiles.
Pair La Robba with 
Spinach for raw Might scaling. Skip 
Pummarola unless the build also runs 
Garlic, since Sir Ambrojoe has no built-in health-drain immunity.
La Robba's strength comes from its raw damage per hit rather than rapid fire. Pair it with cooldown-focused weapons to fill the gaps between projectile waves.
According to community build threads, 
Lightning Ring and 
Bone are strong supporting picks because they cover screen edges while La Robba handles the central kill zone. Garlic is also a frequent pairing, since the constant aura damage compensates for La Robba's lower attack frequency between projectile spawns.
A ring of Stage Killers surrounds the Boss Rash arena as a visual flourish only. They cannot be damaged, killed, or counted toward the Sir Ambrojoe unlock.
Stage Killers also appear in Boss Rash, the dedicated boss-focused mode introduced in a later patch. Their role there is purely visual.
A large ring of Stage Killers surrounds the arena throughout every Boss Rash session. Players cannot interact with the ring, deal damage to it, or kill it for credit toward the Sir Ambrojoe counter.
The visual flourish is a callback to the original Stage Killer encounter, not a hidden farming method. Boss Rash kill counters track only the actual boss spawns inside the arena.
Stage Killers are framed as fallen heroes who came to Cappella Magna seeking power and were defeated. Their inverted-color sprites mirror Holy Forbidden mode, suggesting corrupted shadow versions of the playable cast.
According to the Ars Gouda bestiary entry on page 118, Stage Killers are framed as fallen would-be heroes. The text describes them as failed campaigners who came to Cappella Magna seeking power and ended up just another defeated soul among the masses.
The bestiary quote asks how many heroes have fallen, how many campaigns have blazed a trail to power unimaginable and ended with weak, pathetic bleating. The closing line warns the reader they will soon be just another one of the defeated.
The inverted-color sprite art reinforces this read. Each Stage Killer wears the same outfit as a base-game playable character, but in negative palette, suggesting a corrupted shadow version of the heroes the player has been controlling all along.
The connection to Holy Forbidden mode is also intentional. When a player activates Holy Forbidden, their own character receives the same inverted-palette treatment, mechanically aligning the player with the Stage Killer aesthetic for that run.
Patch 0.7.2 release notes confirm this thematic intent. The update was titled "The Posh One" in reference to Sir Ambrojoe's dandy aesthetic, and the Stage Killer fight was designed as the gauntlet that earns the player a counter-aesthetic character to their own roster.
Stage Killers share the Cappella Magna pool with Trinacria (#117), The Reaper (#119), Reaper Trainees, Fallen Throne, Archdemon, and The Director. Most are timed-wave spawns rather than sigil bosses.
Stage Killers share the Cappella Magna enemy pool with a roster of unique bosses and elite enemies. The neighbours along the run timer are listed below for context.
| Enemy | Spawn Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Trinacria | Earlier wave | Bestiary entry #117, sits directly before Stage Killer in the in-game book |
| The Reaper | Bestiary #119 | Sits after Stage Killer in the bestiary, appears at 30:00 in every stage |
| Reaper Trainee | Standard wave content | Mini-Reaper enemy unique to Cappella Magna, drops Crimson Shroud component |
| Fallen Throne | Boss wave | Cappella Magna boss with unique attack pattern |
| Archdemon | Boss wave | High-tier Cappella Magna boss, drops chests on kill |
| The Director | Special encounter | Wiki spelling is The Directer, separate from the standard Cappella Magna pool |
| Date | Patch | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 9 June 2022 | Patch 0.7.2 (The Posh One) | Stage Killers added to game at bestiary slot 118. Sir Ambrojoe and La Robba weapon introduced as the 6,000-kill unlock reward. |
| 23 June 2022 | Patch 0.7.3 | Stage Killer wave density tuned alongside broader Cappella Magna balance pass. |
| Various 2023-2026 | Multiple patches | No direct Stage Killer changes recorded in the wiki history. Boss Rash visual ring added in a later patch. |
Stage Killers in Vampire Survivors are normal-class enemies on the Cappella Magna stage. They appear as inverted-color versions of the 16 base-game playable characters and exist primarily as the kill counter for unlocking Sir Ambrojoe.
Stage Killers spawn only on the Cappella Magna stage, the fifth stage in the base game. They begin appearing at exactly 21:00 in any Cappella Magna run and continue spawning in waves through 30:00, with a second variant taking over at 26:00.
You have to kill 6,000 Stage Killers across any number of Cappella Magna runs to unlock Sir Ambrojoe. The counter is per-save and cumulative, so kills carry over between sessions and characters.
Unlock Sir Ambrojoe by killing 6,000 Stage Killers on Cappella Magna, then purchasing him in the character menu for 500 coins. Alternatively, cast languorino in the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane menu to unlock him without the kill grind.
Yes. Each Stage Killer is a base-game playable character sprite with the colors inverted. There are 16 variants total, one for each of the original-roster characters. DLC characters added in later expansions do not have Stage Killer variants.
A large ring of Stage Killers surrounds the arena in Boss Rash mode as a purely visual effect. They cannot be interacted with, damaged, or killed for credit toward the Sir Ambrojoe unlock. The ring is a callback to the original Cappella Magna encounter.
Sir Ambrojoe starts with La Robba, an egg-shaped projectile that spawns oversized furniture (pianos, armoires) to crush enemies. The weapon does not have an evolution but produces among the highest raw damage outputs in the base game.
Multiple player reports indicate Rosary screen-clears do not credit Stage Killer kills toward the Sir Ambrojoe counter. Stick to direct-damage weapons during the 21:00 and 26:00 waves to ensure every kill registers properly.
Stat values, internal IDs, spawn times, and bestiary entry data pulled from the official Vampire Survivors Wiki on Weirdgloop. Sir Ambrojoe unlock requirements cross-referenced with PSN Profiles trophy data and TrueAchievements.
The 16-character variant gallery is documented directly from the Stage Killer wiki page Gallery section, which lists every Animated-Stage_Killer variant and its source character.
Sprite assets and stat data derived from the Vampire Survivors Wiki, hosted by Weirdgloop and licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. Vampire Survivors is a trademark of poncle. This guide is an independent reference and is not affiliated with poncle.