Welcome, Bonker. You’ve just stepped into a world of glorious, physics-defying chaos. One minute, you’re a skateboarding skeleton. The next, you’re a monkey with a banana-rang, surfing down a hill on a giant sword. This is Megabonk, a game that grabs the addictive “numbers-go-up” formula of Vampire Survivors, injects it with the 3D exploration and item-stacking madness of Risk of Rain 2, and then cranks the absurdity dial to eleven. It’s time to bonk.
This isn’t just another guide. This is your masterclass. Your roadmap from getting repeatedly squashed by blobs to surfing the final swarm like a god. Players are saying they “can’t pry myself from the computer,” and with a “Very Positive” rating on Steam, it’s clear this indie gem has struck gold. Whether you’re a complete beginner wondering what a “Tome” is or a seasoned veteran chasing that world-record kill run, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s begin your journey.
Welcome to the Bonk-Zone: Your Journey Begins
You might think you know this genre. Hordes of enemies, auto-firing weapons, collecting gems to level up. You’re right, but you’re also wrong. The secret sauce in Megabonk isn’t just its goofy charm or the sheer number of unlocks; it’s the third dimension. This isn’t a flat arena; it’s a bouncy, vertical playground. You can jump, you can slide, you can use ramps to launch yourself over a sea of goblins while your abilities rain down from above. This 3D difference adds a layer of skill that completely changes the game. Mastering movement is just as important as building the perfect weapon combo.
The game embraces its own unique brand of chaos. It’s a bit janky, but in a way that feels deliberate and fun. The physics are bouncy, the graphics are charmingly retro, and the system requirements famously state it “will run on a toaster (if you ask it nicely).” This isn’t a game that takes itself seriously, and you shouldn’t either. The goal is to embrace the pandemonium, to laugh when a weird interaction sends you flying across the map, and to feel that rush of dopamine as your screen fills with explosions and damage numbers. This guide will teach you how to control that chaos and bend it to your will.
The Art of Not Dying: Core Survival Principles
Your first few runs in Megabonk will likely end quickly and violently. That’s okay. Every legend starts somewhere. Let’s walk through the absolute basics of staying alive long enough to become a powerhouse.
Movement is Life
Your number one rule: never stop moving. Standing still is a death sentence. Most enemy attacks are projectiles or charges that can be avoided simply by being a moving target. Use your character’s unique movement abilities—like jumping and the physics-based slide—to weave through crowds, dodge attacks, and, most importantly, scoop up those precious XP gems. Constant motion is your best defense and your primary tool for getting stronger.
The Anatomy of a Run
Each stage in Megabonk is a race against the clock. When you start, a timer begins to count down. Your main objective is to explore the map, kill enemies to collect XP, and level up as quickly as possible. Before the timer hits zero, you need to find and activate the teleporter to summon the stage boss.
If you fail to beat the boss before the timer runs out, the “Final Swarm” begins. An endless horde of powerful ghost enemies will spawn, getting stronger and faster over time. While this will eventually kill you, it’s also a great way to farm Silver, the game’s permanent currency. Don’t see death in the swarm as a failure; see it as a lucrative business opportunity.
Decoding the Map: Your First Interactables
The map isn’t just an empty arena; it’s filled with treasures and challenges called interactables. As a beginner, you should learn to spot the low-risk, high-reward ones first.
- Pots: Smash these! They are everywhere and contain gold (for in-run purchases) and XP gems. Some rare silver pots will even give you permanent currency.
- Gold Chests: These are a freebie. Just walk up and open them for a random item. No strings attached.
- Moai Shrines: These stone heads offer you a choice between two or three free items. It’s a great way to get a specific item you need for your build.
- Challenge Shrines: Activating these spawns a wave of tough enemies. If you defeat them, you get a free item chest. It’s a bit risky early on, but the reward is worth it.
Your initial strategy should be to run a circuit around the map, smashing every pot and opening every gold chest and Moai Shrine you see. This gives you a solid foundation of items and levels before you tackle the boss.
Understanding Your Core Stats
When you level up, you’ll be flooded with choices. Not all stats are created equal, especially when you’re just trying to survive. Focus on these three first:
- Movement Speed: Helps you dodge, explore faster, and collect more XP. It’s the ultimate utility stat.
- Evasion: Gives you a chance to completely ignore incoming damage. A high evasion stat can make you feel untouchable, saving you from certain death.
- Lifesteal: Heals you for a small amount every time you hit an enemy. With fast-attacking weapons, this becomes an incredible source of survivability, making you nearly impossible to kill as long as you’re dishing out damage.
The Unlocks: Building Your Permanent Power
A key part of the Megabonk experience happens outside of the runs themselves. This is the meta-progression, where you spend the Silver you’ve earned to unlock permanent upgrades that make every future run easier and more interesting. This is how you go from surviving for five minutes to clearing entire stages with ease.
The Silver Grind and Your First Upgrades
Silver is your ticket to power. You earn it by killing enemies, surviving the Final Swarm, and smashing those rare silver pots. Once you have some, head to the main menu shop. Your shopping list should be very specific at the start.
Your absolute first priorities are Weapon Slots and Tome Slots. You start with two of each, but you can purchase up to four of each. Every extra slot is a massive jump in your potential power. The developer has listened to player feedback and made these crucial unlocks available much earlier. You now unlock the ability to purchase the third weapon and tome slots after completing just 25 and 35 quests, respectively. Save your silver for these first.
Mastering RNG: Banish and The Toggler
As you play, you’ll unlock dozens of new items, weapons, and tomes. This is exciting, but it also creates a problem common to the genre: the more stuff you unlock, the harder it becomes to find the specific things you need for a good build. Your item pool gets diluted. Megabonk provides two powerful tools to solve this.
- Banish: During a run, when you level up, you have the option to “Banish” one of the choices. This removes that specific item or weapon from the pool for the rest of that run. You get a limited number of banishes per run, so use them wisely to get rid of upgrades that don’t fit your current build.
- The Toggler: This is a permanent shop upgrade and one of the most important unlocks in the game. The Toggler allows you to go into your collections menu and permanently disable any unlocked item from appearing in any of your runs. Got an item you absolutely hate? Just toggle it off. This allows you to prune the item pool and dramatically increase the odds of creating the exact build you want, turning RNG from a frustrating lottery into a manageable risk.
This progression system is cleverly designed. At first, the game throws everything at you, forcing you to experiment and learn what each item does. Once you’ve learned the ropes, it gives you the tools to take control and start crafting specialized, powerful builds.
Meet the Bonk-Squad: A Guide to Every Character
Megabonk features a roster of 20 unique and bizarre characters, each with their own starting weapon and passive ability. Unlocking them all is a journey in itself, as each one requires you to complete a specific challenge that teaches you a different aspect of the game. Here’s a quick-reference guide to the entire squad.
| Character | Starting Weapon | Unique Passive/Ability | How to Unlock | Playstyle Archetype |
| Sir Oofie | Sword | A durable knight. | Starting Character | Tank / Melee |
| CL4NK | Revolver | Starts with 50 Shield. Gains crit chance per level. | Complete Forest Tier 1. | Scaler / High Score |
| Monke | Bananarang | Can climb walls. | Find and release in Forest. | Mobility / Utility |
| Bush | Leaf | Spawns marks and gains crit damage per level. | Find and defeat in Forest. | Glass Cannon / Crit |
| Robinette | Fire Staff | Starts with a powerful ranged weapon. | Defeat Forest Tier 2 Boss. | Ranged DPS |
| Sir Chadwell | Hero Sword | Unknown. | Complete Forest Tier 3. | Melee / Brawler |
| Amog | Poison Flask | Excels with poison effects. | Poison 50,000 enemies with Moldy Cheese. | DoT / Lifesteal |
| Athena | Aegis | Gains +2 Thorns per level. | Reach Level 9 Thorns Tome. | Thorns / Defensive |
| Bandit | Shotgun | A close-range specialist. | Find and defeat in Desert. | Rusher / Brawler |
| Birdo | Tornado | Synergizes with environmental hazards. | Kill 100 enemies with Tornado while in a tornado. | Specialist / AoE |
| Calcium | Bone | Gains movement speed when not hit. | Defeat 1,000 Skeletons. | Speed / Kiter |
| Dicehead | Dice | Gains a random bonus stat per level up. | Complete 100 quests. | RNG / High-Roll |
| Fox | Dragon’s Breath | Gains 0.5% Luck per level. | Defeat 1,000 Wisps. | Scaler / Luck |
| Megachad | Aura | Starts with a powerful Aura weapon. | Get Damage Tome to Level 7. | AoE / Farming |
| Ninja | Katana | A fast, high-damage melee character. | Obtain Katana (5% drop from Desert Tumbleweed). | Melee DPS |
| Noelle | Ice Crystal | Synergizes with Ice and duplication mechanics. | Duplicate Ice Crystal 3 times with a Microwave. | Specialist / Crowd Control |
| Ogre | Axe | A slow but heavy-hitting brawler. | Defeat 15,000 Goblins. | Heavy Hitter |
| Spaceman | Space Noodle | A unique weapon with tether mechanics. | Complete 6 Challenges. | Specialist / Ranged |
| Tony McZoom | Wireless Dagger | Starts on a fast hoverboard. | Complete 2 Challenges. | Speed / Rusher |
| Vlad | Blood Magic | A character focused on lifesteal and health mechanics. | Complete Desert Tier 2. | Lifesteal / Tank |
Character Spotlights
- Sir Oofie: As the starter, he’s your go-to for learning the ropes. His tanky nature makes him forgiving. His Sword is considered weak by many, forcing you to get up close and personal, which teaches you about enemy attack patterns. He truly shines in lifesteal and armor builds.
- Calcium: A fan favorite for a reason. His ability to gain massive movement speed encourages a “hit and run” playstyle. He’s perfect for speed-farming the map for shrines and chests. Once you get a feel for dodging, Calcium can make you feel like an untouchable blur.
- CL4NK: The thinking player’s choice. He’s slow, but his shield gives him early survivability, and his passive crit gain makes him an absolute monster in the late game. He is the ideal candidate for the “Holy Trinity” strategy, making him a top contender for leaderboard runs.
- Dicehead: The embodiment of RNG. His passive gives you a random stat on level up, and his Dice weapon has a chance to permanently boost your crit chance for the run. A run with Dicehead can feel mediocre one moment and utterly broken the next. He’s pure, chaotic fun.
- Megachad: If you just want to turn your brain off and watch the world burn, pick Megachad. He starts with the Aura weapon, which is the cornerstone of one of the most powerful and easiest builds in the game.
The Ultimate Arsenal: Weapons, Items, and Tomes
Your character is just the beginning. The real power comes from the hundreds of combinations of weapons, items, and tomes you’ll find during a run. Knowing what to pick up—and what to banish—is the key to victory.
Items: The Building Blocks of Power
There are over 70 items in Megabonk, each providing a unique passive bonus. While listing all of them would take all day, here are some of the most impactful ones to look out for:
- For Offense:
- Backpack: +1 projectile for all weapons. Simple, and always amazing.
- Spicy Meatball: Gives your attacks a chance to explode for AoE damage. Great for crowd control.
- Demonic Soul: +0.1% damage per kill (up to 100%). A fantastic scaling item for long runs.
- Big Bonk: A small chance to do 20x damage. Can lead to hilarious and unexpected boss deletions.
- For Defense:
- Slippery Ring: +15% Evasion. A cornerstone of any defensive build.
- Oats: +25 max HP. A solid, reliable health boost.
- Spiky Shield: Grants Thorns damage based on your armor. Turns your defense into offense.
- Chonkplate: Grants Overheal and Lifesteal. Essential for unkillable tank builds.
- For Utility:
- Clover: +6.5% Luck. Makes every future level-up better.
- Turbo Socks: +15% move speed. Never a bad choice.
- Turbo Skates: Gain attack speed based on your movement speed. A build-defining item for fast characters like Calcium.
- Time Bracelet: +8% XP Gain. Helps you level up faster.
Be wary of items that sound good but can ruin a build. For example, Leeching Crystal gives you a huge +50 Max HP but cuts your HP Regen by 50%. If you’re building a character that relies on regeneration, this item is a trap!
Weapons: Your Tools of Destruction
Not all weapons are created equal. Some are amazing from the start, while others require specific upgrades to shine. Here’s a general tier list based on community consensus:
- S-Tier (God Tier):
- Dice: The best weapon in the game, hands down. One of its upgrades gives you a permanent crit chance boost for the entire run. It makes every other weapon you have exponentially better.
- Revolver: A fantastic all-around weapon. It has great upgrade paths for projectile count, bounce, and crit, making it a reliable source of screen-clearing damage.
- Aura: The core of the “Walking Apocalypse” build. With upgrades to its size, it creates a massive field of death around you, requiring no aiming whatsoever.
- A-Tier (Very Strong):
- Bananarang: A fun and effective weapon that seeks out enemies.
- Bone: A solid projectile weapon that bounces between enemies.
- Fireball Staff: Great for AoE damage and clearing large groups.
- Aegis: A unique weapon that can block projectiles and deal damage. It’s both a defensive and offensive powerhouse.
- B-Tier (Situational):
- Poison Flask: Can be very strong in poison-focused builds that utilize lifesteal, but its base damage is low.
- Chunkers: Throws out multiple projectiles in a spread. Needs projectile count upgrades to be effective.
- C-Tier (Consider Banishing):
- Lightning Staff: The damage is often too low to keep up in later stages.
- Black Hole: The utility of pulling enemies together is nice, but its damage output is lackluster.
- Sword (Sir Oofie’s Starter): Short range and awkward timing make it one of the most difficult weapons to use effectively.
Tomes: The Foundation of Your Build
Tomes are powerful passive upgrades that define your strategy for a run. You can only hold a few, so your choice is critical. Here are the most important ones and how to unlock them.
| Tome Name | Effect | How to Unlock | Strategic Priority |
| Luck Tome | Increases your Luck stat. | 0.01% chance to drop from any enemy. | Essential |
| XP Tome | Increases your XP gain. | Break 20 pots in a single run. | Essential |
| Cursed Tome | Increases game difficulty (more spawns). | Beat a Stage Boss in under 5 minutes. | Essential (for high scores) |
| Lifesteal (Bloody) Tome | Grants Lifesteal on hit. | Kill 12,500 enemies. | Build-Defining |
| Armor Tome | Increases your Armor stat. | Kill 5,000 enemies as Sir Oofie. | Build-Defining |
| Agility (Speed) Tome | Increases your Movement Speed. | Unlocked by default. | High |
| Cooldown (Attack Speed) Tome | Increases your Attack Speed. | Unlocked by default. | High |
| Damage Tome | Increases your base damage. | Unlocked by default. | High |
| Thorns Tome | Increases your Thorns damage. | Block 250 attacks with Aegis. | Situational |
| Quantity (Projectile) Tome | Increases projectile count. | Fire 5,000 projectiles. | Situational |
The Holy Trinity: Your First “God Run” Strategy
Ready to make the leap from surviving to dominating? It’s time to learn the most powerful meta-strategy in Megabonk: “The Holy Trinity.” This isn’t about picking one strong weapon; it’s about building an engine that creates exponential growth, allowing you to massively out-scale the game’s difficulty. Mastering this concept is your rite of passage.
Beginners often pick upgrades that give a small, immediate boost, like +10% damage. This is linear growth. The Holy Trinity is different. It invests in your rate of growth. It’s a beautiful, broken feedback loop that works like this:
- The Curse Tome: Your first step is to intentionally make the game harder. The Curse Tome dramatically increases the number of enemies that spawn. This sounds counter-intuitive, but it’s the most important part. More enemies means the map is constantly flooded with XP gems.
- The XP Gain Tome: This tome multiplies the value of every single XP gem you pick up. When combined with the endless sea of gems created by the Curse Tome, you will start leveling up at a ridiculous, almost constant, rate.
- The Luck Tome: This is the final piece that ties it all together. Since you are leveling up so frequently, the Luck Tome ensures that each of those level-ups offers you higher rarity choices. Instead of common green upgrades, you’ll be consistently offered rare, epic, and legendary options.
This combination creates an unstoppable cycle. More enemies lead to more XP, which leads to more level-ups, which, thanks to high luck, lead to better upgrades, making you strong enough to handle even more enemies. You’re not just getting stronger; you’re accelerating the speed at which you get stronger. The best character to try this with is CL4NK, as his natural crit scaling and survivability make him a perfect candidate for this high-risk, high-reward strategy.
Killer Builds for Every Playstyle
Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals, you can start experimenting with specialized builds. Here are a few proven templates to get you started on your path to bonk-stardom.
The Walking Apocalypse (Aura Build)
This is one of the easiest and most satisfying builds in the game. It’s perfect for farming achievements or just relaxing while everything on screen melts.
- Character: Megachad (starts with Aura) or any character with good survivability.
- Core Weapons: At least one Aura weapon. You can even stack two.
- Core Tomes: Size Tome, Cooldown Tome.
- Core Items: Anything that increases Attack Size or Attack Speed.
- How it Works: The goal is simple: create a massive, permanent field of death around your character. Pour every upgrade you can find into increasing the size and attack speed of your Aura(s). Soon, the aura will cover half the screen, and your only job is to walk around. Enemies will simply vaporize the moment they get close.
The Unkillable Tank (Evasion/Lifesteal Build)
For those who believe the best offense is an impenetrable defense. This build focuses on becoming so durable that you can stand in the middle of the Final Swarm and laugh.
- Character: Sir Oofie or Athena.
- Core Weapons: A fast-hitting weapon like the Revolver or a poison weapon like the Poison Flask. Aegis is also a fantastic choice for its defensive capabilities.
- Core Tomes: Lifesteal Tome, Armor Tome, Cooldown Tome.
- Core Items: Slippery Ring (Evasion), Chonkplate (Overheal/Lifesteal), Spiky Shield (Thorns), Moldy Cheese (enables poison lifesteal).
- How it Works: This build layers multiple forms of defense. You stack Evasion to ignore attacks, Armor to reduce the damage you do take, and Lifesteal to instantly heal it back. Because Lifesteal procs on poison damage ticks, the Poison Flask combined with the Lifesteal Tome can make you virtually immortal as long as you’re near a group of enemies.
The Zoomer (Movement Speed Build)
This build is for players who live by the motto “gotta go fast.” It turns speed into your primary weapon.
- Character: Calcium (gains speed when not hit).
- Core Weapons: Any weapon that benefits from high attack speed, like the Bone or Revolver.
- Core Tomes: Agility Tome, Cooldown Tome.
- Core Items: Turbo Skates (converts move speed to attack speed), Turbo Socks, Golden Sneakers, Coward’s Cloak.
- How it Works: You become a blur. Stack every movement speed item you can find. The Turbo Skates item is the key piece, converting your ridiculous mobility into equally ridiculous attack speed. You’ll be zipping around the map, too fast for most enemies to even target, while your weapons fire at machine-gun speeds.
Advanced Bonk-ology: Mastering the Meta
You’ve mastered the basics. You’ve tried the builds. Now, you’re ready to chase the leaderboards. This is where the real science of Megabonk begins. At the highest level, the game is less about reflexes and more about manipulating the game’s systems to your advantage.
The Dice is Broken
Let’s be clear: the Dice weapon is the single most powerful tool for leaderboard runs. Its ability to permanently increase your critical hit chance on a roll of a six is game-breaking. It doesn’t just make the Dice stronger; it makes every weapon you pick up stronger. While the developer has nerfed the Dicehead character, the weapon itself remains a cornerstone of nearly every top-tier build. Your goal in a serious run is often to find the Dice as early as possible and start farming for that permanent crit boost.
Shrine and Power-up Manipulation
Top players don’t just use shrines when they see them; they use them strategically.
- Save Your Magnets: The Magnet power-up and the Shrine of Succ pull all the XP on the map to you instantly. Don’t use them as soon as you see them. Instead, clear most of the map, leave the XP gems on the ground, and then pop your magnet right before you trigger the boss fight. This will often give you a massive dump of 5-10 levels at once, giving you a huge power spike right when you need it most.
- Know Your Risk: The Greed Shrine (more money for more difficulty) and the Boss Curse Shrine (spawns extra bosses) are high-risk, high-reward. In a leaderboard run, you almost always take these. The extra difficulty means more enemies, which fuels the “Holy Trinity” engine even faster, leading to higher scores.
The Art of the Reset
The brutal truth of the leaderboard is that it’s a lottery. The perfect combination of items and shrine spawns is incredibly rare. Top players don’t just play the hands they’re dealt; they re-roll until they get a winning hand. This means starting a run, checking the initial layout and level-up options, and if they aren’t perfect, immediately holding the ‘R’ key to restart. It’s a grind, but this process of “fishing” for a good start is how you manufacture the luck needed for a world-record run. The ultimate skill in Megabonk isn’t just playing the game; it’s understanding and manipulating the probabilities that govern it.
Your Final Lesson, Master Bonker
You’ve made it. From a confused beginner to a student of advanced bonk-ology. You now have the knowledge to build unstoppable characters, to manipulate the game’s systems, and to chase down those high scores.
But the most important lesson is this: Megabonk is a playground. The strategies in this guide are a starting point, not a rulebook. The true joy of the game comes from experimentation. It comes from trying a weird item combo and discovering a broken synergy no one has seen before. It comes from that one-in-a-million run where everything clicks and you feel like an absolute god.
So take what you’ve learned here, fire up the game, and create your own chaos. Go find a new favorite character, invent a new meta build, and claim your spot on the leaderboards. As one player so eloquently put it: “good game, 10/10.” Now go out there and KEEP BONKING.
Disclaimer: This is an unofficial fan work, all trademarks and copyrights for Megabonk belong to the developer vedinad.
Find the game here! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3405340/Megabonk/
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