Bill Rizer's starting weapon. A machine-gun rapid-fire weapon that evolves into Prototype A with only Weapon Power-Up (the rare single-passive Operation Guns gate), summons 2 jet drones at evolution, and transforms the player's bullets into the Contra: Hard Corps Psychic Blaster.
Long Gun is the only Operation Guns DLC weapon with a single-passive evolution gate.
Every other weapon in the DLC requires two passives to evolve. Short Gun needs Weapon Power-Up plus Bracer. Spread Shot needs Weapon Power-Up plus Empty Tome. Prism Lass needs Weapon Power-Up plus Wings. Long Gun just needs Weapon Power-Up. That makes Prototype A the easiest evolution to set up in the entire DLC, which matters when you're chasing Bill Rizer's per-Prototype Cooldown bonuses or Ariana's triple-Prototype stack.
The level-up scaling is also unusual. Five of the eight Long Gun levels are pure Cooldown reductions (-20ms each, totaling -100ms at max level). Most weapons spread their bonuses across Damage, Amount, Area, and Cooldown more evenly. Long Gun commits hard to firing rate, which fits its "classic videogame-style machine gun" wiki description.
The character is the deepest Contra reference in the game. Bill Rizer is the original Contra protagonist from 1987, here as a playable Vampire Survivors character with kill-threshold scaling that grants +2.5% Projectile Speed (max 50%) and +1% Might per threshold with no cap. The 1.3x threshold spacing means the bonuses come slower over time but never stop, which makes Bill Rizer one of only a handful of characters with truly uncapped damage scaling.
Long Gun by surviving 15 minutes with Bill Rizer. Bill Rizer is unlocked by finding and opening his coffin in Neo Galuga (100 gold purchase)
Prototype A at max level (level 8) plus max-level 
Weapon Power-Up. Single-passive gate, the rarest setup in the OG DLC
Bill Rizer, who scales +1% Might per kill threshold with no cap (100 kills, 130, 169, 220, etc.)Long Gun is classified as a Normal weapon in the Operation Guns DLC with internal ID `FB_FULLAUTO`. The "FULLAUTO" portion of the ID telegraphs the weapon's central design: full-automatic rapid-fire shooting in the faced direction. The wiki effects block describes it directly: "As a classic videogame-style machine gun, Long Gun rapidly fires small, weak bullet projectiles in the faced direction of the character."
The "small, weak" qualifier matters. Individual Long Gun bullets deal low damage compared to Short Gun's burst-density or Spread Shot's projectile count. The weapon's value comes from raw fire rate. Across multiple runs, the practical pattern becomes clear: Long Gun saturates the front-arc with bullets faster than any other Operation Guns weapon, which translates into more damage opportunities per second even with weaker per-bullet damage.
Long Gun fires constantly rather than in discrete cooldown-spaced bursts. That's another design difference from most weapons. After a few attempts, the implication becomes practical: Long Gun benefits less from Cooldown stacking than other weapons (because there's no real "cooldown" between casts), but every Cooldown reduction still tightens the firing interval. The level-up table reflects this with five of eight levels being -20ms Cooldown picks.
Long Gun fires in the faced direction, not the movement direction. Standing still produces a continuous stream in whatever direction the character is currently looking. Walking changes the firing direction to wherever the player is heading. Combined with Bill Rizer's +20% Speed character bonus, the practical result is a controllable stream that the player can sweep across waves.
In our testing, Long Gun pairs naturally with auto-targeting weapons that cover the directions Long Gun isn't pointed. Random-target weapons like Bracelet, or boomerang patterns like Tyrfing, fill the back-arc that Long Gun can't reach. Pure forward-firing builds (Long Gun plus Short Gun plus Knife) leave the rear-flank exposed and require constant turning to manage waves.
Long Gun has 8 levels. The level-up structure is dominated by Cooldown reductions, with only one Damage pick and one Pierce pick across the entire scaling:
| Level | Bonus |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Fires constantly in the faced direction |
| Level 2 | Cooldown reduced by 20ms |
| Level 3 | Cooldown reduced by 20ms |
| Level 4 | Cooldown reduced by 20ms |
| Level 5 | Base damage up by 5 |
| Level 6 | Cooldown reduced by 20ms |
| Level 7 | Passes through 1 more enemy (+1 Pierce) |
| Level 8 | Cooldown reduced by 20ms |
At max level, Long Gun gains +5 Base Damage, +1 Pierce, and -0.1 seconds Cooldown above the level 1 stats. That's an unusually low max-level scaling compared to most weapons. The wiki's level table makes the design intent obvious: Long Gun is balanced around firing constantly, not around big per-shot damage. Bill Rizer's per-kill-threshold scaling fills in the damage ceiling that the level-up table doesn't.
The level priority order: levels 5 and 7 are the only non-Cooldown picks and should be taken when offered. Cooldown levels 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 are equivalent -20ms reductions, so the choice between them is mostly about which level-up screen they appear on. Skipping any one of them costs roughly 12.5% of the total Cooldown reduction the weapon can earn through native level-ups.
The wiki lists Long Gun's Limit Break stats: Might +0.5%, Speed +5% (max 200%), Area +2.5% (max 1000%), and Amount +1 (max 10). The Amount cap of 10 is critical for Long Gun specifically because each additional Amount tier pushes more bullets through the firing stream, multiplying the effective damage output even though the per-bullet damage stays the same.
Long Gun evolves into Prototype A at max level (level 8) when paired with max-level Weapon Power-Up. This is a single-passive evolution gate, which is unusual for the Operation Guns DLC. Every other Operation Guns weapon (Short Gun, Spread Shot, Prism Lass, Metal Claw) requires two passives at max level when the evolution chest opens. Long Gun's recipe is the simplest in the entire DLC.
| Step | Requirement |
|---|---|
| 1. Equip Long Gun | Play Bill Rizer (auto-equipped) or pick from level-up offers if Long Gun is already unlocked |
| 2. Level Long Gun to 8 | Standard level-up path. None of the eight levels are safe to skip |
| 3. Pick Weapon Power-Up | From the Operation Guns level-up screen. Standard OG DLC evolution-gate passive |
| 4. Max Weapon Power-Up | Reach the passive's max level |
| 5. Open chest at min 10 or 20 | Standard evolution gate. Prototype A replaces Long Gun in the slot |
The wiki effects block for Prototype A describes a major mechanical transformation: "Prototype A grants 2 jet drones that point where you're moving, floating slightly behind the character. They both shoot the same bullets the Long Gun shot before evolving, while the bullets that character shoot change into something that resembles the Psychic Blaster from Contra: Hard Corps."
That's three layered changes in one evolution. First, the player keeps the Long Gun-style bullet stream but transformed into Psychic Blaster projectiles (a Contra: Hard Corps weapon from 1994). Second, two drones spawn behind the character firing the original Long Gun bullets continuously. Third, the drones point in movement direction rather than facing direction, which means the player's bullets and the drone's bullets cover different directional arcs simultaneously. After a few attempts the implication becomes clear: Prototype A is essentially three weapons in one slot.
Pick Weapon Power-Up before minute 7 if possible. Single-passive evolution gates are easier than dual gates, but the Weapon Power-Up max-level requirement still takes 4-5 picks to reach. Getting it maxed early means the minute 10 chest delivers Prototype A on the first evolution opportunity rather than waiting for the minute 20 chest.
The strongest Long Gun build runs Bill Rizer on Neo Galuga or any Operation Guns map. Bill Rizer's per-kill-threshold scaling reshapes the build's priority order. Standard projectile-build picks like Spinach and Empty Tome still matter, but they share priority with kill-density passives that feed Bill Rizer's scaling thresholds faster.
Bill Rizer+Long Gun (starting weapon)Long Gun+Weapon Power-Up→Prototype AWeapon Power-Up (evolution gate, plus damage bonus)
Empty Tome (Cooldown reduction tightens the bullet stream further)
Spinach (Might multiplier on top of Bill Rizer's per-threshold Might gains)
Candelabrador (Area widens bullet hitboxes for more enemy hits per shot)
Crown (Growth accelerates leveling AND feeds kill density)
Duplicator (more bullets per shot = faster threshold crossings)Crown deserves a callout. Most projectile builds skip Crown for direct damage passives, but Bill Rizer's kill-threshold scaling rewards faster kill velocity. Crown's Growth bonus accelerates XP gain, which produces faster leveling, which produces more kills per minute, which crosses kill thresholds faster. After a few runs the pattern becomes obvious: Crown-enabled Bill Rizer hits the +1% Might thresholds 30-40% faster than non-Crown builds, which scales the entire weapon's damage uptime.
Bracer is intentionally excluded despite being a top-tier general projectile-Speed passive. Bill Rizer's per-threshold +2.5% Projectile Speed scaling already pushes Long Gun toward the 50% Speed cap, and Bracer's flat Projectile Speed becomes redundant once Bill Rizer hits 5+ thresholds.
Bill Rizer's character passive is built around a kill-counter scaling system. According to the wiki, "Bill gains 2.5% Projectile Speed (up to 50%) and 1% Might (with no cap) at specific kill thresholds. Kill thresholds start at 100 total enemies killed, and increase by 1.3x whenever they are reached, meaning Bill will get stat bonuses at 100, 130, 169, 220, etc. total kills."
| Threshold | Cumulative kills | Cumulative Might | Projectile Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | +1% | +2.5% |
| 2 | 130 | +2% | +5% |
| 3 | 169 | +3% | +7.5% |
| 4 | 220 | +4% | +10% |
| 5 | 286 | +5% | +12.5% |
| 10 | 1063 | +10% | +25% |
| 15 | 3948 | +15% | +37.5% |
| 17 | 6671 | +17% | +42.5% |
| 20 | 11274 | +20% | +50% (cap) |
| 50 | ~9.4 million | +50% | +50% (cap) |
The 1.3x multiplier between thresholds means each subsequent threshold takes longer to reach than the previous one. The first 5 thresholds happen in the first 286 kills (typically minute 5-7 on standard stages). The next 5 thresholds (286 to 1063 kills) happen between minute 7 and minute 15. The thresholds after that slow significantly: threshold 15 needs 3948 cumulative kills, threshold 20 needs 11,274.
The Projectile Speed caps at 50% (threshold 20), but Might continues to scale with no cap. In long endless runs past minute 30, the Might scaling is what differentiates Bill Rizer from other Operation Guns characters. Each additional threshold past 20 adds another +1% Might that stacks multiplicatively with Spinach, Weapon Power-Up, and any active arcana modifiers.
Pale Diamond Incursion (V) is the standard Operation Guns DLC arcana, granting individual auto-aim and Speed-to-Cooldown conversion. On Long Gun specifically, the Speed-to-Cooldown conversion stacks with Bill Rizer's per-threshold Projectile Speed gains, which hit a +50% cap at threshold 20. Combined with Empty Tome's Cooldown reduction, the bullet stream becomes nearly continuous by minute 15.
Wicked Season (XIII) ramps Curse upward over time, which scales enemy density. On Bill Rizer specifically, more enemies on screen means more kills per minute, which means faster threshold crossings. After a few runs, the pattern becomes practical: Wicked Season is the second-best arcana pick for Bill Rizer because it directly feeds the per-threshold scaling loop.
The natural pairing is the rest of the Operation Guns roster. Run Long Gun with Short Gun and Spread Shot as additional weapon slots. All three Prototype evolutions share the same passive evolution gates (Weapon Power-Up appears on all three, with Long Gun needing only that one passive while Short Gun adds Bracer and Spread Shot adds Empty Tome). On Ariana specifically (who gains -5% Cooldown per Prototype evolution), the triple-Prototype build achieves -15% Cooldown that complements Long Gun's already-aggressive firing rate.
Bill Rizer is the canonical protagonist of Contra (1987), Konami's iconic run-and-gun arcade game that launched one of the most influential franchises in video game history. Bill and his partner Lance Bean form the original Contra duo, and across the franchise's 35+ year history have appeared as playable characters in nearly every Contra title (with the exception of European releases, where they were replaced with the Probotector robotic alternates per German anti-violence regulations). Vampire Survivors' Operation Guns DLC, released 9 May 2024, was Konami and poncle's tribute album to the entire Contra series.
The Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane unlock spell for Bill Rizer is "runandrizer" per the wiki, a phonetic pun on "run-and-gun" combined with Bill Rizer's surname. The unlock condition itself, "find and open the coffin in Neo Galuga," references Galuga, the fictional alien-infested island that serves as the setting for the original Contra game. Bill Rizer's per-kill-threshold scaling mechanic mirrors the Contra series' weapon power-up progression, where collecting weapon icons stacked into stronger versions across the course of a run.
The Long Gun weapon and its Prototype A evolution honor specific Contra weapons. Long Gun itself represents the Machine Gun (M) power-up from the original Contra, the constant-fire upgrade that replaced the default rifle. Prototype A's evolution effect, where the player's bullets transform into "something that resembles the Psychic Blaster from Contra: Hard Corps" per the wiki, references the 1994 Sega Genesis title Contra: Hard Corps, where the Psychic Blaster (also called the Crush Gun) was one of the iconic weapons. The "Operation Guns" DLC name itself plays on "Operation C," the 1991 Game Boy Contra title released as Operation C in Japan and Europe and as Operation: Contra in North American marketing materials.
The wiki specifies Long Gun is unlocked by surviving 15 minutes with Bill Rizer. Bill Rizer himself is unlocked by finding and opening his coffin in Neo Galuga, then purchased for 100 gold. Alternatively, the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane spell 'runandrizer' unlocks Bill Rizer directly.
Long Gun evolves into Prototype A when paired with max-level Weapon Power-Up. This is a single-passive evolution gate, which is unique among Operation Guns DLC weapons (every other OG weapon requires two passives). The simpler recipe makes Prototype A the easiest evolution to set up in the entire DLC.
Long Gun's evolution to Prototype A requires only Weapon Power-Up at max level. Short Gun's Prototype B requires Weapon Power-Up plus Bracer. Spread Shot's Prototype C requires Weapon Power-Up plus Empty Tome. Prism Lass's Time Warp requires Weapon Power-Up plus Wings. Long Gun is the only Operation Guns weapon with a single-passive gate, which makes the recipe roughly half as demanding as the other DLC weapons.
The wiki effects block describes three simultaneous changes. First, two jet drones spawn floating behind the character, pointing in movement direction, firing the original Long Gun bullets. Second, the player's own bullets transform into projectiles resembling the Psychic Blaster from Contra: Hard Corps. Third, the drones cover movement direction while the player covers facing direction, giving Prototype A two independent firing arcs simultaneously.
The wiki states Bill Rizer 'gains 2.5% Projectile Speed (up to 50%) and 1% Might (with no cap) at specific kill thresholds. Kill thresholds start at 100 total enemies killed, and increase by 1.3x whenever they are reached, meaning Bill will get stat bonuses at 100, 130, 169, 220, etc. total kills.' The Projectile Speed caps at 50% (threshold 20), but the Might scaling continues uncapped, making Bill Rizer one of the only OG characters with infinite damage scaling.
Bill Rizer's per-kill-threshold scaling rewards kill velocity. Crown adds Growth, which accelerates XP gain. Faster XP gain means faster leveling, which means more kills per minute, which crosses kill thresholds faster. After a few runs the pattern becomes obvious: Crown-enabled Bill Rizer crosses thresholds 30-40% faster than non-Crown builds, which translates into more Might stacks by minute 20.
Pale Diamond Incursion (V) is the standard Operation Guns DLC arcana, granting individual auto-aim and Speed-to-Cooldown conversion. On Long Gun specifically, the Speed-to-Cooldown conversion stacks with Bill Rizer's per-threshold Projectile Speed (which caps at +50%). Wicked Season (XIII) is the second pick because it ramps Curse over time, which increases enemy density and feeds Bill Rizer's threshold-crossing loop.
It works but underperforms. Bill Rizer's per-threshold +1% Might (no cap) and +2.5% Projectile Speed (up to 50%) are character-specific bonuses that don't apply to other characters. On non-Bill characters, Long Gun is a mid-tier rapid-fire weapon without the build-defining synergies. Pick a different Operation Guns weapon if you're running Ariana, Probotector, or Lance Bean.
For other Operation Guns DLC weapons, see our Metal Claw guide and our Prism Lass guide. For Castlevania DLC weapons, see our Raging Fire guide, our Ice Fang guide, our Gale Force guide, our Rock Riot guide, our Alchemy Whip guide, our Shuriken guide, our Tyrfing guide, our Vampire Killer guide, and our Coat of Arms guide. For thrown-projectile and grenade comparisons, see our Javelin guide, our Hand Grenade guide, and our Arma Dio guide. For base game evolution comparisons, see our Pentagram guide, our Glass Fandango guide, our Bracelet guide, our Crimson Shroud guide, our Victory Sword 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 Prototype A. The passive items guide walks through Weapon Power-Up, Empty Tome, Spinach, Candelabrador, Crown, 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.