Vampire Survivors recently received an update (Patch 0.4.2) which introduced a lot of new content, including a new stage, new enemies, and a new character to unlock. Leda, who has already been nicknamed "The Meatball Man" by players, is the new character in question and can be unlocked in the game's fourth stage.
This secret character can be found in the Gallo Tower stage, and is unlocked after the player defeats him. Before all that though, players will first need to unlock the Gallo Tower stage itself, which can be done by reaching level 60 in the Dairy Plant stage.
Gallo Tower
Gallo Tower is a vertically oriented stage, making it unlike the other stages in Vampire Survivors. This vertical layout causes some weapons, like the Whip, to be far less effective. Conversely, other weapons, like the Song of Mana, are quite a bit more effective. The enemies are also unlike those found in the game's other stages.
Gallo Tower is full of red skeletons that quickly regenerate when destroyed (an homage to Castlevania), exploding candelabras, and dragon shrimp. This stage also has a new version of Death, called the Drowner, that begins flooding the bottom part of the stage with water. If the Drowner appears, it's best to reset the stage, as getting to Leda requires traveling to the lower reaches of Gallo Tower.
Getting To Leda
Getting to Leda requires traveling down roughly 35 tilesets. It's important to hurry, however, as if the player wishes to defeat Leda after reaching his area of the tower, they will need to have a good build and be around level 50. As the player travels down, the screen will gradually darken. When the player is getting close to Leda the screen will be almost completely black. The only light on the screen is confined to a small, dim, radiance centered on the character.
A good character to play for this, if it's unlocked, is Red Death, as this character's fast movement speed will hasten the journey to Leda. The player should stop around the bonus Spellbinder accessory and get to about level 40, while hopefully getting up enough accessories that the Spellbinder doesn't take up an accessory slot.
Defeating Leda
When the screen is completely black, players should be prepared to run into Leda at any moment. If the player has a few evolved weapons, Leda shouldn't be too difficult to defeat. His high max health will take a while to chip away at, but, fortunately, Leda doesn't have a distance weapon when players face him.
To make matters worse, the regular enemies don't stop their onslaught just because the player is fighting Leda. To combat this, players will need to play keep-away with Leda until he is defeated. The best way to do this is by moving in a circle around Leda: a tactic that works best if the player has the La Borra or Unholy Vespers. As soon as Leda is defeated, the darkness enveloping the player is dispelled.
Leda As A Playable Character
Leda is one of the most powerful playable characters in Vampire Survivors. His starting weapon is the Holy Wand - the evolved version of the Magic Wand. This gives Leda an impressive amount of firepower even at level one. Leda receives -20% Move Speed, +10% Area, -10% Cooldown Times, +100% Might, and +5 to Armor and is perfect for annihilating the Green Acres stage in Hyper Mode.
Vampire Survivors was released on Dec. 17th, 2021, for the PC and MacOS.