Hex Vampire Survivors Guide

Patch v1.13 / Ode to Castlevania DLC

Moving damage zone with Curse-scaling damage and built-in 30% critical chance.

Base damage: 10Crit chance: 30% (2x)Evolves: Nightmare (Skull O'Maniac)

Hex turns the Curse stat into a damage scaler, which inverts the usual tradeoff. The wiki effects block specifies the rule directly: damage is affected by Curse. Most builds treat Curse as a survival cost paid for Greed or evolution gates. On Hex, every Curse point raises the damage of the moving zone, which turns a defensive penalty into an offensive multiplier.

The second buried mechanic is the built-in critical hit. According to the wiki, Hex rolls a 30% crit chance with a 2x Critical Multiplier as a base property. Most weapons need an arcana or a Luck stack to roll crits at all. Hex crits natively, which stacks multiplicatively with Curse-scaled damage to push the per-tick output well past the visible Base Damage number.

Build context. Hex is Elizabeth Bartley's starting weapon in the Ode to Castlevania DLC. The evolution to Nightmare gates on a max-level Skull O'Maniac, which double-purposes as the Curse source AND the evolution gate. As a spell, Hex can also be picked from Belnades' Spellbook on other characters, and the Mummy boss in Serpent Gate drops it after the unlock.

This guide covers the Curse-scales-damage rule that flips the usual penalty into a multiplier, the built-in 30% crit chance with 2x multiplier, the Nightmare evolution that gates on Skull O'Maniac, the Belnades' Spellbook selector route, and the best Elizabeth Bartley build.

• What it is Hex, Elizabeth Bartley's Ode to Castlevania starter. Moving damage zone that scales on Curse with a built-in 30% crit chance.
• Evolves into Nightmare at max level with a max-level Skull O'Maniac.
• Best with Skull O'Maniac, Duplicator, and any Curse source for the damage scaling.
• Skip when the build avoids Curse stacking. Hex damage stays at the base 10 without Curse sources, which underperforms most OTC weapons.

How Hex Works

Hex generates a moving damaging zone that drifts around the character on a 10.0-second base Cooldown. The wiki effects block specifies that damage is affected by Curse, which is the Hex-defining mechanic. Every Curse stack on the run raises the damage of every tick, so Skull O'Maniac, Tirajisu, and Torrona's Box all feed into the damage curve as well as their own primary effects.

Per the wiki, Hex has a built-in 30% chance to critically hit for 2x damage. Most weapons need the Slash (XVI) arcana or a Luck stack to roll crits. Hex rolls them natively. Combined with Curse-scaled damage, the average tick fires well above the visible 10-25 Base Damage range on the wiki stat block.

Damage starts at 10 and climbs to 25 at level 8 (+15 over the track). Cooldown shrinks from 10.0 seconds to 8.5 seconds (-1.5), Amount climbs from 3 to 6 (+3), and Duration extends from 3.0 to 4.0 seconds. The Hitbox Delay of 1.0 second means a zone has to settle before the first damage tick fires, which matters on fast-moving wave clears.

Stats and Mechanics

Per the wiki, Limit Break scales Hex with Might, Area, Speed, Duration, and Amount increments. The Curse multiplier stays in place post-evolution and into Limit Break, so a stacked Curse build keeps multiplying the per-tick damage well past the visible numbers. In actual play, this is what makes Hex one of the highest hidden DPS weapons in the OTC roster.

Nightmare Evolution and the Skull O'Maniac Gate

Hex evolves into Nightmare at max level with a max-level Skull O'Maniac in the inventory at minute 11 or later. The wiki specifies Skull O'Maniac as the single passive gate. Skull O'Maniac also adds Curse, which feeds the Curse-scaling damage on Hex BEFORE the evolution fires, so the gate-passive double-purposes as a damage multiplier.

According to the wiki, evolving Hex keeps it as a hidden weapon rather than consuming it. Nightmare adds a new weapon slot effect while the original Hex cycle continues underneath, which makes the evolved kit functionally two weapons in one slot. The Hex unlock fires from this evolution chest specifically, so the achievement and the weapon-pool entry both unlock simultaneously.

Best Elizabeth Bartley Build for Hex

Elizabeth Bartley's kit pairs the Hex starter with a Curse bonus per level and access to Belnades' Spellbook as her secondary slot. The build below front-loads Skull O'Maniac for the evolution gate AND the Curse stacking, then layers Duplicator and Spinach for raw damage scaling.

Character Elizabeth Bartley (OTC vampire; Curse bonus and Belnades' Spellbook access)

Passive 1 Skull O'Maniac (evolution gate + Curse; first pick, every run)

Passive 2 Duplicator (extra Amount on the Hex zone)

Passive 3 Spinach (Might multiplies on top of Curse scaling)

Passive 4 Empty Tome (Cooldown cuts the 10-second base cycle dramatically)

Passive 5 Crown (Growth speeds Skull O'Maniac to max in time for the minute-11 chest)

Passive 6 Vampire Killer as companion weapon (Belnades' Spellbook can also roll secondary OTC spells)

Across multiple runs, this build is online around minute 11 once Skull O'Maniac reaches max and Nightmare fires. Past minute 18, stacked Curse from Skull O'Maniac and Torrona's Box can push the Hex tick damage to several times the visible Base Damage line, with native 30% crits firing on top. The kept-hidden Hex from the evolution chest adds a second pass per cycle.

Synergies and Arcanas

The wiki Combos table flags Skull O'Maniac, Duplicator, Spinach, and Empty Tome as the priority picks. Curse sources beyond Skull O'Maniac (Tirajisu, Torrona's Box) feed the damage scaling directly, so the broader Curse-stacking kit pairs cleanly. The 200% Curse cap is the practical ceiling for damage multiplication on Hex.

For arcana picks, Slash (XVI) is the standout. Per the wiki, Slash doubles the crit multiplier from 2x to 4x, which combined with the native 30% crit roll on Hex doubles the spike damage on roughly one in three ticks. Sapphire Mist (I) is the alternative when the build wants Luck-scaled extra activation chance rather than crit multiplication.

In real runs, Hex pairs cleanly with any OTC weapon that also benefits from Curse stacking. The wiki notes that Belnades' Spellbook can roll Hex as a spell pickup on non-Elizabeth characters, which lets Curse-heavy builds introduce Hex mid-run without it being the starter. Vampire Killer and other OTC base game weapons share the Curse-friendly profile.

Hex Versus Garlic

Hex and Garlic are both moving damage zones that drift around the character, but their scaling profiles diverge sharply. Per the wiki, Garlic scales on Might and works through constant proximity damage. Hex scales on Curse with native crit rolls, which makes it a spike-damage zone rather than a sustained-tick zone.

Pick Hex when the build leans into Curse stacking via Skull O'Maniac, Tirajisu, and Torrona's Box. Pick Garlic when the build wants pure sustained damage without the Curse-load penalty on the run. In practice, both weapons can run together on the same Elizabeth Bartley build, since Garlic covers the constant tick layer while Hex spikes through Curse damage.

Common Hex Mistakes

1. Avoiding Curse on a Hex run. Per the wiki, Hex damage scales with Curse. Builds that intentionally skip Curse sources to keep the run "easier" leave the biggest damage multiplier on the table. Skull O'Maniac and Tirajisu are mandatory picks here, even though they raise difficulty.
2. Skipping Skull O'Maniac early. Skull O'Maniac is the single passive gate for Nightmare AND the primary Curse source for Hex damage scaling. Per the wiki, deferring it past the first three pick screens cripples both the evolution AND the run's damage curve.
3. Treating Hex as a Might-only weapon. Per the wiki, Hex rolls native 30% crits and scales on Curse. Stacking Spinach without Curse sources gives bigger base ticks but loses the Curse multiplier that does most of the actual damage work.
4. Missing the Hex-kept-hidden behavior post-evolution. Per the wiki, evolving Hex into Nightmare keeps Hex active as a hidden weapon. Players who expect Hex to be consumed and replaced see the slot still firing and think they picked up an extra weapon. Both the Hex and Nightmare cycles run from the same slot.
5. Forgetting the Mummy drop in Serpent Gate. Once unlocked, Hex can be dropped by the Mummy boss near the east exit of Serpent Gate. The wiki specifies this as the secondary acquisition route for non-Elizabeth characters. Players who only know the Elizabeth starter route miss the mid-run pickup option.

Hex FAQ

More Vampire Survivors Guides

Explore the rest of the Ode to Castlevania weapons, the passive that gates Nightmare, and the broader Elizabeth Bartley build context.

Raging FireOTC fire weapon

Night SwordOTC retaliate weapon

Victory SwordOTC vampire-killing tool

Ice FangOTC freezing weapon

Weapon tier listWhere Hex ranks

Evolution guideEvery evolution gate

Passive items guideSkull O'Maniac, Tirajisu, Spinach

Vampire Survivors guideHub for every build