Charlotte Aulin's starting fire spell from the Ode to Castlevania DLC. Generates exploding zones with a 30% base crit chance, and evolves into a fire snake that travels in an infinity pattern across the screen.
Raging Fire is one of two Castlevania DLC weapons that ship with a 30% base critical hit chance, six times the standard 5% on most v1.13 weapons. Per the Vampire Survivors wiki, the weapon generates an exploding damage zone where the character is standing rather than firing projectiles outward, which means it punishes enemies that close to melee range while leaving room weapons untouched. Combined with the 2x crit multiplier, the math produces consistent damage even though the base damage stat starts at just 10.
The other thing the wiki documents that most player guides skip is what happens after evolution. Per the Salamender entry, the evolved weapon fires a snake of fire that travels in a figure-eight (infinity) pattern across the entire screen, with the head dealing the full 20 base damage and the tail dealing significantly less. The crit multiplier also upgrades from 2x to 3x post-evolution, which is one of the only weapons in v1.13 that explicitly buffs its critical multiplier on evolution rather than just adding more projectiles or area.
Raging Fire, an exploding-zone fire spell with a 30% base crit chance
Salamender with max-level Spinach
Charlotte Aulin and the Heart of Fire (XIX) arcanaAccording to the Vampire Survivors wiki, Raging Fire generates an exploding damage zone centered on the character with a 7.0 second base Cooldown, a 1.0 second Duration, and a 0.2 second projectile interval. The hitbox delays 0.25 seconds before damage applies, which gives enemies a brief window to walk out before the explosion lands. The crit numbers are where this weapon competes: a 30% base critical hit chance with a 2x crit multiplier, both scaling with Luck.
The Belnades' Spellbook pickup variant is the second mechanical hook. Raging Fire is classified as a spell rather than a normal weapon, which means any character running Belnades' Spellbook with the Ode to Castlevania DLC installed can roll Raging Fire on level-up. From our experience, that opens the weapon up to characters outside Charlotte Aulin for hybrid spell builds, especially when paired with the post-evolution slot economy bonus that Salamender delivers.
Per the wiki stats panel, Raging Fire ignores no stats outright. Every level-up multiplier applies, which is rare for a Castlevania DLC weapon. The damage levers are Might (raw damage), Area (which extends the explosion radius), Amount (3 base, +3 at level 8 for 6 max projectiles), Duration (which extends the damage zone window), and Luck (which scales the already-high 30% crit chance).
Take 
Clover for Luck on this weapon. Per the wiki, the 30% base crit chance means each Luck percentage point converts more aggressively than on a 5%-base weapon. Combined with the 2x base crit multiplier (3x post-evolution into Salamender), Luck stacking produces effective damage well beyond what the base damage of 10 suggests.
Per the wiki entry, here are the base stats and the level-by-level scaling. Notice that level 8 is the largest single level-up jump, adding 3 more projectiles to push the weapon to its 6-projectile ceiling:
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Base damage | 10 (scales heavily through level-ups) |
| Max level | 8 |
| Rarity | 60 |
| Starting weapon for | Charlotte Aulin |
| Cooldown | 7.0 seconds (reduces 1.0 second through level-ups) |
| Duration | 1.0 second base (extends 0.6 seconds through level-ups) |
| Projectile interval | 0.2 seconds |
| Hitbox delay | 0.25 seconds |
| Amount | 3 base, 6 at max level (+3 at level 8 specifically) |
| Crit chance | 30% base, scales with Luck |
| Crit multiplier | 2x base (3x after evolution into Salamender) |
| Knockback | 0.5 |
| Pool limit | 200 |
| Picked from | Belnades' Spellbook (spell variant) |
| Unlock | Evolve the weapon into Salamender, or play as Charlotte Aulin (who starts with it equipped). |
Per the wiki, levels alternate between area-and-cooldown bumps and damage-and-duration bumps, with a final amount spike at level 8:
| Level | What it adds |
|---|---|
| 2 | +20% Base Area, -0.5s Cooldown |
| 3 | +0.3s Duration, +10 Base Damage |
| 4 | +30% Base Area, +10 Base Damage |
| 5 | +20% Base Area, -0.5s Cooldown |
| 6 | +0.3s Duration, +10 Base Damage |
| 7 | +30% Base Area, +10 Base Damage |
| 8 | +3 Projectiles (massive damage spike) |
Per the wiki, level Raging Fire to 8 and pick up Spinach at max level (level 5). Open any standard chest from minute 10 onward and the evolution triggers, with a first-time 500 gold reward. The max-level Spinach requirement is simple but slow: 5 Spinach level-ups plus 8 weapon level-ups is a long pre-evolution checklist on a Castlevania DLC run.
| Base weapon | Passive needed | Becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Raging Fire (Lv 8) |  Spinach (Lv 5, max) | Salamender |
Per the wiki, Salamender fires a snake of fire that travels in a figure-eight (infinity) pattern across the screen, damaging every enemy it touches. The head deals the full 20 base damage and the tail segments deal significantly less. Amount on the evolved weapon increases the number of snake segments, which means the standard Duplicator-and-Candelabrador stack actually changes the visual length of the snake rather than just spawning more projectiles.
The standout numbers post-evolution are the 10 Amount (vs 6 max on Raging Fire), the 3.5 second Duration (up from 1.0 second), and the upgraded 3x crit multiplier (from 2x). With a 30% base crit chance carried over and the 3x multiplier, every third snake-head impact hits for triple damage. Combined with Heart of Fire (XIX) arcana effects on top, Salamender is one of the most damage-dense weapons in v1.13.
Per the wiki, evolution also keeps Raging Fire as a hidden weapon. Effectively you get two weapons in one slot, with the hidden Raging Fire continuing to fire its exploding zone while Salamender handles the screen-wide infinity loop. That same slot-economy bonus also applies to Pneuma Tempestas (the Gale Force evolution), making both Belnades' Spellbook spells double-value picks in any 7-slot loadout.
Pre-stack max-level Spinach BEFORE opening any post-minute-10 chest. The evolution requires Spinach at level 5 specifically. Take Spinach on every level-up screen between weapon level 1 and 8, then commit to a chest only when both weapon and Spinach are capped. Players who open chests early on this build often find no evolution fires because Spinach is sitting at level 3 or 4.
Per the Charlotte Aulin wiki entry, Charlotte costs 2,000 gold (the most expensive Castlevania character so far), unlocked by collecting 7 Mirrors of Truth after opening the Capra Gate. She starts with 100 Max Health, +20% Move Speed, +20% Duration, +20% Area, and +10 to Reroll, Skip, and Banish. The +20% Area and +20% Duration openers directly buff Raging Fire's explosion radius and damage zone window from minute 1, while the +20% Move Speed lets her kite while the explosion does its work.
Her signature ability is a Charge skill affected by Growth that triggers all equipped weapons from her Belnades' Spellbook simultaneously. That means if you stack Belnades' Spellbook spells alongside Raging Fire, every charge release fires every spell at once, including Salamender and Pneuma Tempestas. The build below leans into that ability by stacking spells in the weapon slots and Spinach plus Heart of Fire (XIX) for the Salamender payoff.
Raging FiretoSalamender
Belnades' Spellbookcorespell-rotation hub for the Charge abilitySpinachrequiredat max level for evolutionCloverscalesLuck for crit chance
CandelabradorscalesArea for explosion radius
Empty TomescalesCooldown to compress the 7s base
DuplicatorscalesAmount for snake length post-evolution
CrownscalesGrowth for the Charge ability damageThe build's clock is set by minute 10 like most v1.13 evolutions. The ordering trap with this specific weapon is the Spinach max-level requirement: take Spinach on every level-up screen until it caps at 5, then push Clover and Candelabrador. Charlotte's +20% Area opener combined with Candelabrador and the Raging Fire level-up Area scaling can produce explosion zones large enough to cover boss-wave spawns at minute 10 and minute 15.
According to the wiki, two arcanas stand out for this weapon. Heart of Fire (XIX) is the run-defining pick because it triggers explosions whenever Salamender's snake segments spawn from the red glyph and touch an enemy, layering AoE damage on top of the snake's own contact damage. Gemini (I) creates a counterpart Speculo Raging Fire that mirrors Salamender in the opposite direction, doubling the screen coverage of the infinity-pattern snake.
For passives outside the core build, 
Hollow Heart is a marginal pick because Charlotte starts with 100 Max Health and no Recovery bonus, so survival becomes the bottleneck on Inverse mode. 
Pummarola is preferred over Hollow Heart for the regen rather than the HP pool ceiling. Avoid 
Spellbinder unless you are running another Duration-scaling weapon, since Raging Fire's Duration scaling from level-ups already extends the explosion window.
Per the wiki entries, Charlotte Aulin is a direct reference to the Castlevania character of the same name from Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (2006, Nintendo DS), where she is a young witch who fights alongside Jonathan Morris to combat Brauner. Her character ID in Vampire Survivors is TP_CHARLOTTE, and her unlock spell "notachild" is a reference to Portrait of Ruin's running joke that Charlotte's enemies and allies frequently underestimate her age. She was 18 in the original game, the same age as Jonathan, but her diminutive sprite design led to constant references to her looking younger.
The Belnades' Spellbook callback ties Charlotte's loadout to Sypha Belnades from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse and the broader Belnades clan of vampire hunters who specialize in elemental magic. The fire-element spell theme that Raging Fire represents follows the Belnades family pattern: in the Castlevania timeline, Belnades witches typically command fire, ice, lightning, and wind. Salamender's snake-of-fire infinity loop is a visual nod to the alchemical ouroboros symbol traditionally associated with elemental transformation and the cyclical regeneration of fire magic. The "notachild" Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane spell is one of three named-spell unlocks in Vampire Survivors that bypass standard survival requirements.
Per the wiki, there are two paths. Either evolve Raging Fire into Salamender (which requires already having access through Charlotte Aulin), or play Charlotte Aulin who starts with Raging Fire equipped. Both paths require the Ode to Castlevania DLC.
It evolves into Salamender when held at level 8 alongside max-level (level 5) Spinach. The chest must spawn after minute 10. Evolution rewards 500 gold the first time, upgrades the crit multiplier from 2x to 3x, and crucially keeps Raging Fire as a hidden weapon, freeing the slot for another active weapon.
Per the wiki, Salamender fires a snake of fire that travels in a figure-eight (infinity) pattern across the screen. The snake's head deals the full 20 base damage on contact, while the tail segments deal significantly less. Amount on the evolved weapon increases the number of snake segments, which extends the visual length of the loop.
Yes. Per the wiki, most weapons in v1.13 have a 5% base crit chance. Raging Fire's 30% is six times higher and matches Gale Force as the two highest base crit weapons in the Castlevania DLC. Combined with the 2x crit multiplier (3x post-evolution into Salamender), the effective damage output exceeds what the base damage of 10 suggests.
Yes. Per the wiki, Raging Fire can be picked from Belnades' Spellbook as a spell variant. Any character running Belnades' Spellbook with the Ode to Castlevania DLC installed can roll Raging Fire on a level-up. Outside Charlotte Aulin you lose the +20% Area and Duration openers plus the Charge ability, but the explosion-zone mechanic still works.
Per the Charlotte Aulin wiki entry, collect 7 Mirrors of Truth on Ode to Castlevania stages after opening the Capra Gate. Charlotte then becomes available for purchase at 2,000 gold. Alternatively, cast "notachild" in the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane to unlock her without the survival requirement.
Per the Charlotte Aulin wiki entry, her Charge ability is affected by Growth and triggers all equipped weapons from her Belnades' Spellbook simultaneously. With {DATA['evolves_into']} plus Pneuma Tempestas (the Gale Force evolution) plus other Belnades spells in the loadout, each charge release fires every spell at once, producing burst damage windows that can clear minute-25 boss waves outright.
Pre-evolution it is a strong AoE pick because of the 30% crit chance and the centered-on-character explosion. Post-evolution into Salamender with the 3x crit multiplier and the slot-economy bonus, it is one of the strongest Castlevania DLC weapons in v1.13. See our weapon tier list for the full ranking.
For other Castlevania DLC weapons, see our Gale Force guide covering Julia Laforeze's starter (the other 30% crit weapon in the DLC), our Alchemy Whip guide covering Leon Belmont, and our Rock Riot guide covering Carrie Fernandez. For base-game weapons, the Pentagram guide covers the screen-clear archetype, the Glass Fandango guide covers the freeze-build archetype, and the Gaze of Gaea guide covers the EXTRA weapon pool. The weapon tier list ranks every weapon in v1.13 and the weapon evolution chart covers every recipe. Our arcanas guide walks through Heart of Fire (XIX) and Gemini (I), and the passive items guide covers Spinach, Clover, and the supporting passives. For other Castlevania character builds see our Leon Belmont, Richter Belmont, and Sypha guides. 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.