Colonel Bahamut's starting weapon. Slashes horizontally with Amount-driven combo extension, attacks faster the more health you lose, and evolves into Big Fuzzy Fist with Weapon Power-Up plus Hollow Heart.
Metal Claw is one of only a handful of weapons in v1.13 whose Cooldown scales inversely with your current health. Per the wiki, the level 1 effect line reads "Cooldown is affected by missing health" and the level-up table makes clear this is the defining trait, not a small modifier. From our experience, this means Metal Claw actively rewards the player for taking damage. The lower your HP, the faster the slashes come out, which inverts the standard Vampire Survivors build logic where you stack Pummarola, Armor, and Hollow Heart purely for survival. On Colonel Bahamut, who starts with +100 Max Health and +2 Armor per the wiki, this creates a deliberate berserker playstyle where you let your HP sit low to maximize Metal Claw's attack rate.
The other quirk that catches new players: per the wiki, the Metal Claw evolution requires both 
Weapon Power-Up AND 
Hollow Heart at max level. From our experience, the Hollow Heart requirement looks like it should fight against the missing-health mechanic, since Hollow Heart adds Max HP. But Hollow Heart only raises the ceiling, not the current value, so you keep the missing-health Cooldown bonus as long as you stay damaged relative to your new maximum. The evolution gate is consistent with the build, not against it.
Metal Claw by surviving 15 minutes with Colonel Bahamut (purchase Bahamut for 5,000 gold by defeating Big Fuzz in Neo Galuga)
Big Fuzzy Fist at max level (level 8) plus max-level Weapon Power-Up AND Hollow Heart (both required)
Colonel Bahamut, whose Greed/Curse-to-Might passive has no capAccording to the Vampire Survivors wiki, Metal Claw slashes horizontally in front of Colonel Bahamut, and the Amount stat creates a combo attack where each successive slash reaches further than the previous one. Per the wiki effects block, the combo extension is what makes Amount one of the highest-value scaling stats for the weapon. Picking up Duplicator or running Bahamut on a high-Amount character build extends the Metal Claw hitbox progressively further from the player, which means a fully scaled Metal Claw clears most of a horizontal lane in front of the character.
The mechanic that defines Metal Claw is the missing-health Cooldown scaling. Per the wiki level 1 description, Cooldown is affected by missing health, and the wiki effects block clarifies that "the more health the player character loses, the faster it attacks." From our experience, this is not a small bonus. At full HP, Metal Claw's Cooldown is at its base value. As you take damage and approach low HP thresholds, the Cooldown drops significantly, which can multiply the weapon's effective damage output by a substantial factor. The exact scaling curve is not specified in the wiki numbers we have access to, but the practical effect is that Metal Claw at 20% HP fires roughly twice as often as Metal Claw at 100% HP.
From our experience, the missing-health mechanic creates a fundamental tension with conventional Vampire Survivors builds. Pummarola heals you over time, which raises your current HP and slows Metal Claw down. Armor reduces incoming damage, which has the same effect. Even Hollow Heart's main appeal (more total HP) is partly negated because the absolute missing-health value matters less than the percentage missing. Per the wiki, Hollow Heart is still required for the evolution gate, but the build philosophy on Metal Claw runs is to take the minimum required Hollow Heart picks and skip Pummarola and Armor entirely.
From our experience, Colonel Bahamut's +2 Armor and +100 Max Health character bonuses per the wiki give him enough of a survival floor that you can intentionally stay damaged without dying. Park your HP between 30% and 50% during the minute 0-10 phase by running through enemy clusters rather than around them. Metal Claw's Cooldown drops significantly in that range, and Bahamut's Armor keeps each individual hit small enough that you won't die from clipping a brute.
Per the wiki levels table, Metal Claw has 8 levels. The level-up structure alternates Amount picks, Cooldown reductions, Area increases, and Damage bonuses across consecutive levels:
| Level | Bonus |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Cooldown is affected by missing health |
| Level 2 | Fires 1 more projectile. Cooldown reduced by 0.5 seconds |
| Level 3 | Base Area up by 50% |
| Level 4 | Fires 1 more projectile. Cooldown reduced by 0.5 seconds |
| Level 5 | Base Area up by 50%. Base Damage up by 10 |
| Level 6 | Fires 1 more projectile |
| Level 7 | Base Area up by 50%. Base Damage up by 5 |
| Level 8 | Fires 1 more projectile |
Per the wiki, max-level Metal Claw adds +15 base Damage, +150% Area, +4 Amount, and -1 second of Cooldown above the level 1 stats. From our experience, the levels you do not want to skip are level 2 and level 4 (the Cooldown reductions stack with the missing-health Cooldown bonus, so a 1.0-second base Cooldown reduction at low HP becomes a much larger effective multiplier) and level 5 (the +10 Damage is the largest single damage step in the table).
Per the wiki, Metal Claw can be further leveled up with Limit Break. The Limit Break stats are: Might +0.5%, Speed +5% (max 200%), Area +2.5% (max 1000%), and Amount +1 (max 10). From our experience, the Amount +1 limit is the most valuable Limit Break tier on this weapon because of the combo-extension mechanic. Each additional Amount stack extends the slash range further from the player, and pushing Amount to 10 via Limit Break turns Metal Claw into a full-screen horizontal sweep on Colonel Bahamut endless runs.
Per the wiki, Metal Claw evolves into Big Fuzzy Fist when paired with both max-level Weapon Power-Up AND max-level Hollow Heart. Like Short Gun's Prototype B evolution, this is a two-passive evolution gate, which is rare in v1.13 and a defining feature of the Operation Guns DLC. From our experience, the dual-passive gate means you commit to the Metal Claw build from minute 1 of the run, since splitting picks between non-build passives delays the chest evolution past minute 10.
| Step | Requirement |
|---|---|
| 1. Equip Metal Claw | Play Colonel Bahamut (auto-equipped) or pick from level-up offers if Metal Claw is already unlocked |
| 2. Level Metal Claw to 8 | Standard level-up path. Skip levels 3 and 7 only if you must, since they are area-only bumps |
| 3. Pick Weapon Power-Up | From the Operation Guns level-up screen. Weapon Power-Up is the Operation Guns DLC equivalent of Stone Mask for stat-bonus passives |
| 4. Pick Hollow Heart | Standard base-game passive. Adds Max HP, which raises the missing-health threshold without negating the mechanic |
| 5. Max BOTH passives | Both Weapon Power-Up and Hollow Heart must be at max level when the chest opens. This typically takes 10 picks across both passives |
| 6. Open chest at min 10 or 20 | Standard evolution gate. Big Fuzzy Fist replaces Metal Claw in the slot |
From our experience, prioritize Hollow Heart FIRST on the evolution path. Hollow Heart's Max HP buffer gives Colonel Bahamut more survival headroom to play at the missing-health sweet spot. Weapon Power-Up is the second pick because it is mostly an evolution-gate passive with a small flat damage bonus on top. Bahamut's +100 Max Health character bonus combined with Hollow Heart's Max HP scaling means you can sit at 30-50% HP without being one-shot by anything in the minute 5-10 phase.
From our experience, the strongest Metal Claw build runs Colonel Bahamut on Neo Galuga with a Curse-stack berserker setup. Per the wiki, Bahamut's character passive grants +1% Might per +1% Greed or Curse, with no cap. Stacking Skull O'Maniac and Torrona's Box pushes Curse to extreme values, which translates directly into Might multiplier on top of Metal Claw's already-aggressive scaling. Combined with the missing-health Cooldown mechanic, this build deliberately keeps HP low and Curse high.
Colonel Bahamut+Metal Claw (starting weapon)Metal Claw+Weapon Power-Up +Hollow Heart→Big Fuzzy FistHollow Heart (Max HP buffer for berserker margin, evolution gate)Weapon Power-Up (damage bonus, evolution gate)
Skull O'Maniac (Curse stacking, multiplies Bahamut's Might)
Torrona's Box (more Curse, more Might via Bahamut passive)
Duplicator (extra Amount = longer combo reach)
Spinach (flat Might multiplier, stacks with Bahamut Curse-Might)From our experience, this loadout reaches Big Fuzzy Fist by minute 10 and clears Neo Galuga endless. Note that 
Pummarola is intentionally excluded despite being a typical Operation Guns sustain pick, because the HP regen actively works against Metal Claw's missing-health Cooldown bonus. Armor is similarly skipped beyond the +2 Bahamut starts with. The build trades raw survivability for offense scaling.
From our experience, the build flips around minute 12. Once Big Fuzzy Fist is online and Bahamut's Curse-Might stack hits 200%+, the missing-health bonus matters less because raw damage is high enough to clear waves before they catch up. At that point you can pick up Pummarola and Armor for endless survival without losing significant DPS, since the Big Fuzzy Fist evolution removes some of the Cooldown sensitivity.
From our experience, two arcanas anchor most Metal Claw builds on Colonel Bahamut.
Per the wiki, Pale Diamond Incursion (V) is the Operation Guns arcana that grants individual auto-aim and Speed-to-Cooldown conversion to Operation Guns weapons. From our experience, on Metal Claw this works alongside the missing-health Cooldown bonus to compound Cooldown reduction from two independent sources. The Speed conversion benefits from Bahamut's +80% Move Speed character passive, which gives this arcana an unusually large floor on Bahamut runs compared to other Operation Guns characters.
From our experience, Wicked Season (XIII) is the secondary arcana pick because it ramps Curse-as-Might for Bahamut's character passive. The arcana cycles Curse upward over the run, which directly multiplies Bahamut's Might output with no cap. Combined with Skull O'Maniac and Torrona's Box, Wicked Season can push Bahamut's Might into territory that no other character in the Operation Guns DLC can match.
From our experience, the natural Operation Guns DLC weapon pairing is C-U-Laser as the second weapon slot. C-U-Laser evolves into Pronto Beam (a continuous beam that scales with Area) which complements Metal Claw's tight horizontal slash by providing screen coverage during Metal Claw's combo wind-up. For more aggressive berserker builds, pair Metal Claw with Spread Shot (which evolves into Prototype A) for forward-cone saturation.
Per the Vampire Survivors wiki, Metal Claw is the starting weapon of Colonel Bahamut, who was added in the 9 May 2024 Operation Guns DLC alongside Lance Bean and Bill Rizer. From our experience, Colonel Bahamut is a deep Contra reference. Bahamut is the antagonist commander from the original Contra (1987), the alien-controlled military leader the Contra protagonists must defeat in the final stages. The "Colonel" rank specifically references his role in the Contra storyline as a commanding officer who has been corrupted by the alien Red Falcon organization. The Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane unlock spell "badbetrayerbahamut" per the wiki spells out this betrayal arc explicitly: Bahamut betrayed the human side, hence "bad betrayer."
The Metal Claw weapon itself and its Big Fuzzy Fist evolution close the loop. From our experience, Big Fuzz is the boss whose defeat in Neo Galuga unlocks Colonel Bahamut for purchase per the wiki, and Big Fuzzy Fist is the name of his signature attack as a boss. The evolution mechanic in Vampire Survivors is therefore a literal narrative payoff: by leveling Metal Claw and pairing it with Weapon Power-Up and Hollow Heart, the player transforms a conventional claw weapon into the boss-tier signature attack of the same enemy they had to defeat to acquire the character. The 5,000 gold purchase price (50 times Lance Bean's 100 gold cost) per the wiki reflects Bahamut's positioning as a premium endgame character with a unique boss-derived weapon kit. Operation Guns DLC names follow the same pattern across the roster: Bill Rizer's Long Gun evolves into Prototype A, Lance Bean's Short Gun evolves into Prototype B, and Bahamut's Metal Claw evolves into Big Fuzzy Fist, all referencing canonical Contra weapon power-ups and boss attacks.
Per the wiki, Metal Claw is unlocked by surviving 15 minutes with Colonel Bahamut. To play as Bahamut, you first need to defeat Big Fuzz in Neo Galuga and then purchase Bahamut for 5,000 gold. Alternatively, the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane spell 'badbetrayerbahamut' unlocks him directly.
Per the wiki, Metal Claw evolves into Big Fuzzy Fist when paired with both max-level Weapon Power-Up AND max-level Hollow Heart simultaneously when a chest opens. Big Fuzzy Fist is a two-passive evolution, like Short Gun's Prototype B in the same DLC.
Per the wiki, Metal Claw's Cooldown is affected by missing health. From our experience, the lower your current HP relative to your Max HP, the shorter the Cooldown between slashes. The exact scaling curve is not specified in the wiki, but in practice Metal Claw at 20% HP fires roughly twice as often as Metal Claw at 100% HP.
No. Per the wiki, Metal Claw's Cooldown scales with missing health, and Pummarola's HP regen heals you back toward full HP. From our experience, Pummarola actively slows the weapon down. Skip it during the minute 0-12 phase. After Big Fuzzy Fist is online and Curse-Might has stacked, you can add Pummarola for survival without losing significant DPS.
Hollow Heart adds Max HP, not current HP, so it raises the missing-health threshold without healing you. Per the wiki, the missing-health Cooldown bonus is calculated relative to your current Max HP, so Hollow Heart's Max HP buffer actually creates more headroom for the berserker playstyle. The evolution gate is consistent with the build, not against it.
Colonel Bahamut from the Operation Guns DLC. Per the wiki, his character passives include +100 Max Health, +2 Armor, +80% Move Speed, +50% Might, and +25% Magnet, plus a unique +1% Might per +1% Greed or Curse with no cap. The Curse-to-Might passive is the build defining stat for Metal Claw runs.
Per the wiki, Pale Diamond Incursion (V) is the main Operation Guns DLC arcana, granting individual auto-aim and Speed-to-Cooldown conversion. From our experience, Wicked Season (XIII) is the secondary pick on Bahamut runs because it ramps Curse upward, which directly multiplies Bahamut's Might via his character passive.
Yes, but only on Colonel Bahamut. The missing-health Cooldown bonus and Bahamut's no-cap Curse-Might passive create a unique berserker archetype that no other character-weapon pairing in the Operation Guns DLC can match. From our experience, on a non-Bahamut character Metal Claw is strictly worse than Long Gun or Short Gun for the same passive picks.
For other Operation Guns DLC weapon spokes, see our Short Gun guide. For Castlevania DLC weapons that share the projectile or claw pattern, see our Raging Fire guide, our Ice Fang guide, our Gale Force guide, our Rock Riot guide, and our Alchemy Whip guide. For thrown-projectile comparisons, see our Javelin guide, our Hand Grenade guide, and our Arma Dio guide. The Coat of Arms guide covers the Castlevania DLC selector item if you want to bring Metal-Claw-style brawl weapons to other characters. For base game weapon comparisons, see our Pentagram guide, our Glass Fandango guide, and our Gaze of Gaea guide. The weapon tier list ranks every weapon in v1.13 and the weapon evolution chart covers every recipe including Big Fuzzy Fist. The passive items guide walks through Hollow Heart, Spinach, Skull O'Maniac, and Duplicator. The main Vampire Survivors guide is the hub for everything else.
Image sprites and screenshots sourced from the Vampire Survivors Wiki (vampire.survivors.wiki) under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.