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UPDATED: JANUARY 2026

Monster Survivors Beginner Guide

Master the fundamentals of Monster Survivors with this comprehensive beginner's guide covering controls, weapon selection, XP mechanics, boss strategies, and essential survival tips

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Table of Contents

1. What is Monster Survivors? 2. Basic Controls 3. Choosing Your Starting Weapon 4. Enemy Types 5. XP and Leveling System 6. Gold and Persistent Upgrades 7. Boss Battle Mechanics 8. Understanding the Maps 9. Essential Survival Strategies 10. Common Beginner Mistakes

1 What is Monster Survivors?

Monster Survivors is a free-to-play roguelite survival game developed by FreezeNova that you can play directly in your web browser without any downloads or registration. The game combines intense action with strategic decision-making as you battle endless waves of increasingly difficult monsters.

The core gameplay loop is straightforward but addictive. You control a survivor who automatically attacks nearby enemies while you focus on movement and positioning. As you defeat monsters, they drop experience gems that you must collect to level up and unlock powerful upgrades. The challenge comes from managing the chaos of monster waves while optimizing your character build through smart upgrade choices.

What makes Monster Survivors unique is its roguelite structure. Each run starts fresh, but you can spend gold earned during gameplay to purchase permanent upgrades that carry over between runs. This meta-progression system means every attempt makes you stronger, even when you die. The longer you survive, the tougher enemies become, culminating in intense boss battles that test your skills and build optimization.

Key Genre Note

Monster Survivors follows the "survivors-like" or "bullet heaven" genre popularized by games like Vampire Survivors. If you enjoy games where you face overwhelming odds through smart positioning and build optimization, you'll feel right at home.

2 Basic Controls

Movement

Drag your mouse to move your character across the battlefield. Your survivor will follow your cursor's position. The further your cursor is from your character, the faster they'll move in that direction.

Combat

Automatic attacks - Your character automatically attacks the nearest enemies. You don't need to click or press any buttons to fight. Focus entirely on positioning and dodging.

XP Collection

Walk over gems dropped by defeated enemies to collect experience points. You must actively pick them up - they won't come to you automatically.

Level Up

Click to choose upgrades when you level up. The game pauses while you make your selection, so take your time to read each option carefully.

Control Mastery Tip

Practice smooth, circular movements rather than jerky mouse motions. This helps you maintain distance from enemies while efficiently collecting XP gems. Many experienced players recommend making large loops around the battlefield.

3 Choosing Your Starting Weapon

At the beginning of each run, you'll choose between two starting weapons that define your playstyle. This is one of the most important decisions you'll make, as your starting weapon influences your entire run strategy.

Steel Sword Monster Survivors

Steel Sword

MELEE WEAPON

Description

A close-range melee weapon that slashes through enemies with raw power. Ideal for aggressive players who like to be in the thick of the action.

Best For

  • Players comfortable with close-quarters combat
  • Aggressive playstyles
  • High damage output builds

Playstyle Tips

With the Steel Sword, you need to get close to enemies to deal damage. Focus on movement speed upgrades and health/armor to survive in melee range. This weapon rewards confident positioning and aggressive XP collection.

Wooden Wand Monster Survivors

Wooden Wand

RANGED MAGIC

Description

A ranged magical weapon that fires magical blasts from a distance. Perfect for players who prefer to attack from afar and maintain breathing room.

Best For

  • Beginners learning positioning
  • Defensive playstyles
  • Kiting and crowd control

Playstyle Tips

The Wooden Wand lets you maintain distance from enemies while dealing damage. This gives you more time to react to threats and makes XP collection safer. Ideal for learning the game's mechanics before trying more aggressive strategies.

Recommended for Beginners

Start with the Wooden Wand for your first few runs. The ranged attacks give you more room to learn enemy patterns and practice movement without getting overwhelmed. Once you're comfortable with the game's rhythm, experiment with the Steel Sword for a different playstyle.

Both weapons are viable for long runs - your choice should match your preferred playstyle rather than pure power level.

4 Enemy Types You'll Face

Monster Survivors throws diverse enemy types at you, each with different movement patterns and threat levels. Understanding what you're up against helps you prioritize targets and position yourself effectively.

Aggressive

Crabs

These aggressive crustaceans move in erratic patterns and can quickly surround you if you're not careful. They're particularly dangerous in groups.

Eerie

Pumpkins

Eerie pumpkin monsters that shamble toward you. While slower than some enemies, they often appear in large numbers during certain waves.

Dangerous

Flesh-Eating Plants

Carnivorous plants that can deal significant damage. Their plant-based appearance might seem harmless, but they're among the more threatening common enemies.

Swift

Evil Bees

Fast-moving aerial enemies that can be difficult to track. They often swoop in from unexpected angles, making them a priority target when they appear.

Swarming

Various Insects

Other insect-type enemies that appear in swarms. While individually weak, their numbers can overwhelm you if you don't maintain proper positioning.

Enemy Management Strategy

As you play, you'll notice enemies don't all spawn at once. Different monster types appear in waves that replace previous enemy types. This means you'll face one primary enemy type at a time, with the difficulty ramping up as stronger enemies rotate in. Learn to recognize which enemies are currently spawning so you can adjust your positioning accordingly.

5 XP and Leveling System

Critical Rule: Active Collection Required

Unlike some similar games, defeated enemies in Monster Survivors do NOT automatically give you experience. They drop experience gems that you must walk over to collect. If you stand still and fight, you'll never level up, and you'll quickly become overwhelmed by increasingly difficult enemies. Constant movement isn't just recommended - it's mandatory for survival.

How the System Works

1

Defeat Enemies

Your character automatically attacks nearby monsters. When they die, they drop glowing experience gems on the battlefield.

2

Collect XP Gems

Move your character over the dropped gems to collect them. Each gem adds to your experience bar at the top of the screen. This is why constant movement is essential - you're simultaneously dodging enemies and collecting power-ups.

3

Fill the XP Bar

Once your experience bar fills completely, you level up. The game pauses automatically, giving you time to make your upgrade choice without pressure.

4

Choose Upgrades

You'll be presented with multiple upgrade options. These can include improvements to your attack power, attack speed, movement speed, attack range, or durability. Choose wisely - each decision shapes your build for the rest of the run.

Available Upgrade Types

Attack Power

Increases damage dealt to enemies

Attack Speed

Makes your attacks faster and more efficient

Movement Speed

Increases how fast you move across the battlefield

Attack Range

Extends how far your attacks can reach

Durability

Improves your survivability and resistance to damage

Attack Area

Makes your attacks cover a larger area

Balanced vs. Specialized Builds

You'll often see advice to "balance your upgrades" for beginners. This means taking a bit of everything - some damage, some speed, some survivability. This approach is forgiving and works well while you're learning.

However, more advanced players often specialize heavily in specific stats based on their weapon and playstyle. For example, a Steel Sword build might prioritize attack speed and durability, while a Wooden Wand build might focus on attack range and movement speed. Experiment to find what works for you.

6 Gold and Persistent Upgrades

One of Monster Survivors' most important features is its persistent upgrade system. When you die, you don't lose everything - you keep the gold coins earned during your run and can spend them on permanent upgrades in the main menu. This meta-progression ensures every run makes you stronger, even failed attempts.

Why Persistent Upgrades Matter

These upgrades are the key to progression. Your first few runs might only last a few minutes, but as you invest gold into permanent improvements, you'll find yourself surviving longer and reaching later stages. Don't get discouraged by early deaths - they're part of the learning process and still contribute to your long-term power growth.

Available Persistent Upgrades

Armor

DEFENSIVE

Increases your base armor value, reducing incoming damage from all sources. Essential for melee builds that need to survive in close quarters, but beneficial for all playstyles.

Health

DEFENSIVE

Boosts your maximum health pool, allowing you to take more hits before dying. A fundamental upgrade that benefits every build and playstyle.

Damage

OFFENSIVE

Increases your base damage output, helping you clear enemies faster. Critical for advancing to later stages where enemies have more health.

Healing

SUSTAIN

Improves your health regeneration or healing effectiveness. This upgrade helps you recover from damage during longer runs and reduces the punishment for taking hits.

Unlocking Additional Characters

In addition to stat upgrades, you can spend gold to unlock new playable characters. The game includes different character classes such as mages and warriors, each with unique stat distributions. Some characters may have higher health and damage ratios compared to your starting character, offering different strategic options for your runs.

Upgrade Priority for Beginners

When starting out, focus your first gold investments on Health and Damage. These give you the most immediate impact - Health lets you learn from mistakes without dying instantly, while Damage helps you clear enemies before they overwhelm you.

Once you've put a few points into both, start diversifying into Armor and Healing. The exact balance depends on your playstyle, but having at least some investment in all four categories by your 10th run will make a huge difference.

7 Boss Battle Mechanics

While surviving regular enemy waves is challenging, boss battles introduce a completely different level of intensity. These encounters test everything you've learned and require both mechanical skill and strategic build optimization.

What Makes Boss Battles Different

When a boss appears, the game fundamentally changes. The most dramatic shift is that the battlefield shrinks, forcing you into a smaller arena. This removes your primary survival tool - space to maneuver - and creates an intense one-on-one confrontation.

With the reduced space, dodging becomes significantly harder. You can't run away or create distance like you can with regular enemies. The restricted arena means every movement matters, and a single positioning mistake can be fatal. If you mess up, there's nowhere to escape.

Boss Battle Survival Strategy

Prepare Before the Boss Appears

Boss battles are won before they begin. During regular waves, focus on leveling up efficiently and choosing upgrades that improve your combat effectiveness. Don't save level-up choices for the boss - use them immediately to grow stronger.

Make sure you've invested in both offensive and defensive stats. Pure damage builds might clear waves quickly but can crumble when a boss hits you repeatedly in the confined space.

Master Tight Movement Patterns

With limited space, you can't make the large circular movements that work against regular enemies. Instead, practice making tight, controlled movements - small adjustments that keep you just out of the boss's reach.

Think of it like dancing in a phone booth. Every inch of space matters, and smooth, precise mouse control becomes critical. Jerky or panicked movements will get you hit.

Focus on Consistent Damage

Since the boss won't die quickly, your goal is sustained, consistent damage output while staying alive. Don't get greedy trying to maximize DPS at the cost of positioning - survival is more important than slightly faster clear time.

Your automatic attacks will keep firing as long as you're in range. Focus your mental energy on movement and dodging rather than worrying about attacking.

Durability Becomes Critical

In the restricted boss arena, you will take hits. It's nearly impossible to dodge everything perfectly. This is why health, armor, and healing upgrades become exponentially more valuable during boss fights.

Learning from Boss Defeats

Don't be discouraged if you die to your first several bosses. Boss fights require practice to learn the timing and spacing. Pay attention to how much health you had when entering the fight and what upgrades you'd chosen.

If you're consistently dying to bosses, it's a signal to invest more heavily in defensive stats (both in persistent upgrades and during-run level-ups). A boss kill where you end with 10% health is better than a loss where you dealt 90% of its health but couldn't finish the job.

8 Understanding the Maps

Monster Survivors features different maps that you'll progress through as you survive longer and meet certain conditions. Each map introduces new environmental challenges and enemy compositions.

Dreamy Woods

STAGE 1 - STARTING MAP

Overview

Dreamy Woods is where every run begins. This forest-themed battlefield serves as your introduction to the game's mechanics and enemy types. While it starts relatively manageable, the difficulty ramps up significantly the longer you survive.

Enemy Types Present

You'll encounter the full variety of basic enemy types in Dreamy Woods, including crabs, pumpkins, flesh-eating plants, bees, and various insects. The enemy composition changes in waves, with different types cycling in and out as you progress.

Strategy Notes

Use Dreamy Woods to learn enemy patterns and test different upgrade paths. The early stages are forgiving enough to experiment, while later stages provide serious challenge. Your goal should be to survive long enough to unlock the next map.

Shade Palace

STAGE 2 - UNLOCKABLE

Overview

Shade Palace is the second map, unlocked by progressing far enough through Dreamy Woods. This darker, more ominous environment represents a significant step up in difficulty with tougher enemies and more aggressive waves.

Unlock Requirement

The game describes the unlock condition as "advancing far enough in Dreamy Woods," which typically means surviving for an extended duration or reaching a certain stage threshold. The exact trigger isn't explicitly defined, but players generally reach it naturally through successful runs.

What to Expect

Shade Palace introduces greater threats compared to Dreamy Woods. Enemy health pools are higher, attacks hit harder, and the overall pace is more intense. Make sure you've invested in persistent upgrades before attempting extended runs here.

Map Progression Strategy

Don't rush to unlock Shade Palace. Spend time mastering Dreamy Woods first - practice your positioning, test different weapon choices, and build up your persistent upgrades. Shade Palace will always be there when you're ready.

Some players prefer to "farm" Dreamy Woods for gold by repeatedly running until they die, using those coins to boost their stats before tackling harder content. This is a perfectly valid strategy, especially for beginners.

9 Essential Survival Strategies

Now that you understand the individual mechanics, let's discuss overarching strategies that will dramatically improve your survival time. These are the tactics that separate players who die in 3 minutes from those who consistently reach 15+ minute runs.

Never Stop Moving

This is the #1 rule of Monster Survivors and cannot be overstated. Constant movement serves two critical purposes: dodging enemy attacks and collecting XP gems. Standing still for even a second puts you at massive risk.

The most effective movement pattern is making large, smooth circles around the battlefield. This keeps enemies chasing you in a predictable cluster while allowing you to sweep up XP gems efficiently. Think of yourself as a vacuum cleaner, constantly circling the arena and collecting everything in your path.

Prioritize XP Collection

Leveling up is more important than raw damage output. A well-upgraded character at level 10 will outperform a poorly-upgraded character at level 7 every time. This means you should actively path toward XP gem clusters, even if it means taking a slightly riskier route.

However, use common sense. Don't run into the middle of a massive enemy swarm just to grab a single gem. The key is finding the balance between aggressive XP collection and safe positioning. With practice, you'll develop an intuition for when it's safe to push for gems.

Manage Enemy Clusters

Enemies spawn around the map edges and move toward you. If you kite properly, you can funnel all enemies into a single trailing group behind you. This is ideal because it means you're only dealing with threats from one direction.

Avoid getting surrounded at all costs. If enemies are coming from multiple angles, your positioning has failed. Use your movement to collect scattered enemy groups into one manageable horde, then keep that horde chasing you in circles.

Balance Offense and Defense

New players often over-invest in damage upgrades while ignoring defensive stats. This leads to runs that feel strong initially but collapse suddenly when enemy difficulty spikes or a boss appears.

A good rule of thumb: for every two offensive upgrades (damage, attack speed, range), take at least one defensive upgrade (health, armor, movement speed). This keeps you resilient enough to survive mistakes while still clearing enemies efficiently.

Recognize Difficulty Spikes

The game progressively increases in difficulty as time passes. Enemies get faster, tougher, and more numerous. You need to level up faster than the difficulty curve, which means aggressive XP collection early in the run.

If you notice enemies are taking too long to kill or you're losing health faster than expected, it's a sign you're falling behind the curve. This often happens around the 5-10 minute mark. Focus on surviving and collecting XP rather than playing aggressively until you level up a few times.

Learn Enemy Wave Patterns

Different enemy types spawn in distinct waves that last 1-2 minutes before transitioning to new enemy types. Learning these patterns helps you anticipate what's coming next and adjust your strategy accordingly. For example, when you see swarms of insects, you know slower but tankier enemies might follow soon.

10 Common Beginner Mistakes to Avoid

Learning what NOT to do is just as important as learning optimal strategies. Here are the most common mistakes that hold new players back, along with how to fix them.

Standing Still While Fighting

The Problem: Your character attacks automatically, so some players think they can just stand in place and fight. This gets you killed quickly.

The Fix: Never stop moving. Your attacks happen automatically regardless of movement, so there's no downside to constantly circling the battlefield. Movement is survival.

Ignoring XP Gems

The Problem: Focusing only on killing enemies while ignoring the dropped XP gems. This means you're fighting without leveling up, making survival impossible.

The Fix: Make XP collection your primary goal. Your movement pattern should naturally sweep up gems as you kite enemies. Treat gems as more important than enemy kills.

Random Upgrade Selection

The Problem: Clicking upgrades without reading them or having a plan, leading to unfocused builds that lack identity.

The Fix: Take your time when the level-up screen appears. Read each option and think about your current needs. Are you taking too much damage? Choose defensive stats. Killing enemies too slowly? Take offensive stats.

Neglecting Persistent Upgrades

The Problem: Dying multiple times without spending the accumulated gold on permanent upgrades in the main menu.

The Fix: After every death, visit the main menu and spend your gold. Even small permanent upgrades compound quickly. A player with 10 levels of persistent upgrades will crush a player with zero upgrades, even if the latter is more skilled.

Panicking Under Pressure

The Problem: When the screen fills with enemies or a boss appears, newer players often panic and make jerky, random movements that get them killed.

The Fix: Stay calm and maintain your circular movement pattern even when things look hopeless. Panic causes mistakes. Smooth, controlled movements even in chaos will save you far more often than frantic dodging.

Giving Up Too Early

The Problem: Getting frustrated after a few short runs and abandoning the game before the meta-progression kicks in.

The Fix: Understand that Monster Survivors is designed around gradual improvement. Your first runs will be short - that's expected. Keep playing, keep upgrading, and you'll see dramatic progress within 10-15 runs. The game truly opens up once you have several persistent upgrade levels.

Ready to Survive?

You now have all the foundational knowledge needed to start your Monster Survivors journey. Remember that mastery comes from practice - every death teaches you something about enemy patterns, upgrade priorities, or positioning strategies. Don't be discouraged by early failures; they're part of the learning process.

The key to long-term success is consistent improvement through both mechanical skill (movement and positioning) and strategic thinking (upgrade choices and build planning). Every run makes you better, and every gold coin earned makes your next attempt stronger.

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Related Guides

Steel Sword vs Wooden Wand

Deep dive comparison of starting weapons

Boss Battle Strategies

Advanced tactics for defeating bosses

Complete Maps Guide

Strategies for Dreamy Woods and Shade Palace