Vertical AoE column. Cooldown grows with level. Ignores Amount and Speed.
Song of Mana is the only base game weapon whose Cooldown gets LONGER as it levels up. The wiki effects block specifies the climb in plain numbers: 2.0 seconds at level 1, 4.25 seconds at level 8. Most weapons trade level for damage and fire rate. Song of Mana trades level for Area, Damage, and Duration while sacrificing cycle frequency in the same direction.
The second buried mechanic is the Ignores Amount and Speed tag. According to the wiki, both stats are dead on Song of Mana. Duplicator does nothing on this weapon unless the run is also running the Blood Astronomia (XXI) arcana, which grants Amount as a separate effect. Bracer's Projectile Speed is fully ignored, since the vertical column has no projectile speed to scale.
Build context. Song of Mana is Poppea Pecorina's starting weapon, unlocked by surviving 15 minutes as Poppea on any stage. The evolution to Mannajja gates on a max-level Skull O'Maniac, which adds Curse rather than the usual stat passives. Curse-Skull O'Maniac pairings feed both the weapon and the broader run pressure.
This guide covers the Cooldown-grows-with-level mechanic, the Mannajja evolution that gates on Skull O'Maniac, the Blood Astronomia (XXI) arcana that unlocks the ignored Amount stat, the best Poppea Pecorina build, and the wasted-slot trap of Duplicator picks on this weapon.
Song of Mana, Poppea Pecorina's base game starter. Vertical AoE column that passes through enemies. Cooldown grows with level.
Mannajja at max level with a max-level 
Skull O'Maniac. Skull O'Maniac, 
Candelabrador, and 
Empty Tome. Avoid Duplicator and Bracer.Song of Mana fires a vertical column above and below the character that damages every enemy in the strip. The wiki effects block specifies the pierce profile: the column is an Area of Effect zone that passes through enemies rather than breaking on hit. Damage starts at 10 and climbs to 40 at level 8 (+30 over the track), while Area grows from 100% to 275%.
The Cooldown is the unusual part. Per the wiki, Cooldown starts at 2.0 seconds and INCREASES to 4.25 seconds at level 8. Most weapons shrink their Cooldown with levels. Song of Mana lengthens it, presumably to compensate for the larger Area and longer Duration at higher levels. The Hitbox Delay of 1.0 second further spaces out the cycle.
According to the wiki, Song of Mana ignores Amount and Speed entirely. Duplicator does nothing on the base weapon. Bracer's Projectile Speed has no projectile to speed up. The only timing stat that matters is Cooldown reduction, which is why Empty Tome is a priority pick on this build.
Take Empty Tome on the first level-up screen you can. The Cooldown component directly counters the level-track Cooldown growth, so a level-7 Empty Tome on a level-8 Song of Mana brings the cycle closer to the level-1 fire rate. Without Empty Tome, the level-8 Song of Mana fires roughly half as often as the level-1 version.
| Stat | Base | Max (Level 8) |
|---|---|---|
| Base damage | 10 | 40 (+30) |
| Area | 100% | 275% (+175%) |
| Duration | 0.5s | 2.0s (+1.5) |
| Cooldown | 2.0s | 4.25s (+2.25) |
| Projectile Interval | 0.05s | 0.05s |
| Hitbox Delay | 1.0s | 1.0s |
| Amount | N/A (1 with Blood Astronomia XXI) | N/A (1 with Blood Astronomia) |
| Speed | N/A (ignored) | N/A (ignored) |
| Pierce | Area of Effect (passes through) | Area of Effect |
| Knockback | 1 | 1 |
| Pool Limit | 30 | 30 |
| Rarity | 50 | 50 |
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Normal (base game) |
| Effects | Ignores Amount and Speed |
| Blocked by walls | No |
| Starting weapon for | Poppea Pecorina |
| Unlock | Survive 15 minutes as Poppea Pecorina |
| Evolves with | Skull O'Maniac (max level) |
| ID | SONG |
Per the wiki, Limit Break scales Song of Mana with Might, Area, and Duration increments. The Cooldown-growth mechanic does not reset under Limit Break, so the post-level-8 weapon still fires at a longer cycle than its base. In actual play, this is why Mannajja with full Cooldown stacks is the build target rather than pure level-8 Song of Mana.
Song of Mana evolves into Mannajja 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, which is a clean single-passive gate compared to the two-passive evolutions some other base game weapons use.
According to the wiki, evolving Song of Mana into Mannajja triggers a first-evolution reward chest. Mannajja retains the vertical AoE column with shorter Cooldown, a wider Area, and the same Ignores Amount and Speed tag. The Curse from Skull O'Maniac stays on the run, which feeds Mannajja's damage indirectly through higher enemy HP and density.
| Base | Passive needed | Becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Song of Mana (max level) | Skull O'Maniac (max level) | Mannajja |
Pick Skull O\'Maniac on every offered level-up screen until it reaches max. Skull O\'Maniac is the rare evolution-gate passive that also adds Curse, which makes the run harder while feeding Greed and Pickups. Per the wiki, skipping Skull O\'Maniac for a defensive passive is the most common way to brick the Mannajja evolution.
Poppea Pecorina's kit pairs the Song of Mana starter with a Greed and Area bonus per level. The build below front-loads Skull O'Maniac for the evolution gate, then layers Empty Tome to counter the Cooldown growth, then leans into Area and Duration scaling for the vertical column.
Poppea Pecorina (Dairy Plant character; Greed and Area per level)Skull O'Maniac (evolution gate + Curse; first pick, every run)Empty Tome (counters the Cooldown growth at higher levels)Candelabrador (Area widens the vertical column; top scaling for Song of Mana)
Spinach (Might scales the +30 damage per level)
Pummarola (Recovery layer; Poppea has no innate survivability past minute 18)Across multiple runs, this build is online around minute 11 once Skull O'Maniac reaches max and Mannajja fires. Past minute 18, the wide vertical column with stacked Candelabrador and Spellbinder covers the entire screen height, which carries the run through hyper Dairy Plant and the high-Curse stages.
Blood Astronomia (XXI) is the standout arcana pick for Song of Mana. Per the wiki, Blood Astronomia adds 1 Amount to Song of Mana, which the weapon normally ignores. With the arcana active, every Amount source (Duplicator, level-up Amount picks, Limit Break Amount) becomes useful where it was dead before. The transition from one-column to multi-column Song of Mana is a tangible build inflection.
Sapphire Mist (I) is the secondary pick when Luck is already stacked. The wiki specifies that Sapphire Mist adds an extra activation chance to Song of Mana, scaling on Luck. Divine Bloodline (IX) adds Armor-based damage on top, which combined with Poppea's Greed-Curse trade can push the damage curve well past the base level-8 ceiling.
In real runs, Song of Mana pairs cleanly with any second weapon that benefits from the Curse and Greed Poppea's kit generates. Skull O'Maniac's Curse increases enemy density, which feeds vertical-column weapons like Song of Mana more targets to hit per pass. The wiki notes the Curse density bonus directly in the Skull O'Maniac page.
Song of Mana and King Bible are both AoE weapons that ignore certain stats but work through different patterns. Per the wiki, King Bible orbits the character in a fixed circle while Song of Mana fires a vertical column above and below. King Bible benefits from Amount (more bibles in the circle); Song of Mana ignores Amount unless Blood Astronomia is active.
Pick Song of Mana when the build can support Skull O'Maniac for the Mannajja evolution and the run wants a vertical clear lane. Pick King Bible when the build wants 360-degree perimeter defense and stacks Amount through Duplicator. In practice, the two cover opposite spatial profiles, so a build running both creates a cross-pattern clear that covers most enemy spawn angles.
Explore the passives that gate the Mannajja evolution, the Cooldown counter that fixes the level-track growth, and the broader Poppea Pecorina build context.
Game data and screenshots adapted from vampire.survivors.wiki, used under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. Original content remains the property of the wiki contributors and Poncle.
