The Vampire Star is one of the most unusual machines in Kirby Air Riders. Instead of relying on raw stats, it preys on other racers, stealing their Copy Abilities and items and converting contact into speed and power. Used well, it can turn a crowded track or chaotic City Trial lobby into its personal buffet.
How to unlock Vampire Star
| Machine | Mode | Requirement | Miles cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vampire Star | Road Trip | Defeat 15 kinds of enemies | 8,400 Miles (Miles Shop) |
There are two ways to add Vampire Star to your garage:
- Complete a Road Trip checklist condition. While playing Road Trip, defeat 15 different enemy types. Hitting this milestone fills in a checklist block that unlocks the machine.
- Buy it directly with Miles. Once it is available in the Miles Shop, you can purchase Vampire Star for 8,400 Miles.
You only need to meet one of these conditions for the machine to become usable. However, collecting multiple copies through both methods is helpful if you want more customization parts for that machine later.
Vampire Star description and rating
| Machine | Description | Overall tier | Air Ride | Top Ride | City Trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vampire Star | Preys on enemies and rivals, stealing their Copy Abilities and items to power itself up. | A-tier | TBD | TBD | TBD |
Vampire Star is positioned as an A-tier machine overall. Its ratings for specific modes are still being refined, but its design clearly favors aggressive, contact-heavy play. Rather than a straightforward speedster or tank, it grows stronger the more it sinks its teeth into nearby targets.
How Vampire Star’s bite mechanic works
The defining trait of Vampire Star is its bite-based offense. The machine attacks with exposed fangs, “feeding” on anything in range. Two key behaviors matter during races:
- Bite to gain speed. When Vampire Star successfully bites another racer or enemy, it gains a burst of speed. Repeated bites can chain these bursts together, letting it accelerate beyond what its base stats suggest, especially during charged movement.
- Steal Copy Abilities and items. If the victim is holding a Copy Ability or item, the bite can snatch it away. That robs rivals of tools while topping off your own kit, turning every close encounter into a potential swing in resources.
Players commonly see this in action when charging a boost near crowds. As Vampire Star lunges forward, the machine bites repeatedly, grabbing abilities, stripping items, and briefly redlining its speed. In modes that reward verticality, such as the High Jump stadium, this extra velocity can translate into surprisingly high launches once it hits boost pads or ramps.
Vampire Star in different game modes
Air Ride courses
On standard Air Ride tracks, Vampire Star plays like a midweight machine that spikes in power once the pack tightens up:
- Strengths: Dense enemy patterns and packed segments give plenty of bite targets. Stealing Copy Abilities mid-race can let you flip matchups against leading riders.
- Weaknesses: On wide layouts or time-trial-style runs where racers spread out, it has fewer chances to feed. Machines with consistent top speed, like Formula Star, can outpace it if they are allowed to run uncontested.
Courses with frequent enemies or tight corridors are more forgiving, since Vampire Star can keep refreshing its speed by chomping smaller targets even when rival riders are out of reach.
Top Ride
Vampire Star is available to use across the game’s modes, including Top Ride. Its bite logic remains the same, but the overhead view and compact tracks change how often you can exploit it:
- Short laps and constant corners push you into contact ranges regularly, which favors the machine’s design.
- Because Top Ride is more item-dense and chaotic, stealing items on bite can have an outsized impact, especially in modes where a single good pickup decides the race.
Its exact power level in Top Ride will depend on final balance, but structurally the mode plays to its strengths: proximity, collisions, and clutter.
City Trial
City Trial is where Vampire Star’s personality shows most clearly. Skyah is full of targets—other riders, enemies, and a constant flow of items—so the machine almost always has something to chew on.
- During the build phase: Use Vampire Star to harass rivals, biting them to steal their Copy Abilities and items, and to siphon key patches of power-ups from traffic-heavy areas.
- Against events and bosses: When large enemies like Dyna Blade or other field threats appear, weaving through the chaos and biting rival riders can let you piggyback on the rewards they generate.
- Heading into Stadiums: All that stolen power matters most at the Stadium. A well-fed Vampire Star that enters High Jump or Air Glider with stacked flight and speed can deliver outlier performances that more linear machines struggle to match.
It is not a pure dueling machine, however. In direct destruction-focused Stadiums, options like Bull Tank or Battle Chariot often outmuscle it. Vampire Star excels when there are many bodies and items to leech off, not when it has to do all the heavy lifting alone.
Where Vampire Star is strongest
Certain Stadiums and course types naturally reward what Vampire Star does best. Community play has already highlighted some patterns:
- High Jump: With good flight stats and well-timed bites before launch, Vampire Star can reach extreme heights. Its glide lets it ride momentum far above the usual ceiling when boosted correctly.
- Races with frequent enemies: On Air Ride tracks where enemy swarms line the route, biting them provides repeated speed bumps without needing rival riders nearby.
- Open City Trial lobbies: In a full room of players, there is almost always someone to bite, making it easier to maintain an elevated pace and constantly shuffle Copy Abilities.
In contrast, events that demand clean, isolated speed—like straightforward Drag Races—can expose its reliance on targets. Machines built for raw acceleration, such as Rocket Star or Turbo Star, will generally perform more consistently in those formats.
How Vampire Star compares to other offense-focused machines
Kirby Air Riders already has several machines that lean into aggression:
- Shadow Star focuses on high attack damage and aerial movement.
- Battle Chariot and Bull Tank emphasize raw ramming power and durability.
- Tank Star and other heavy chariot-type machines convert Boost Charges into hard-hitting lunges.
Vampire Star sits in a different lane. Its bite is less about dealing a single huge hit and more about:
- Creating repeated, smaller disruptions
- Stealing tools and abilities at key moments
- Maintaining a rolling speed advantage by constantly feeding
That makes it feel closer to a hybrid of offense and utility. You are not only trying to win the race; you are managing the resource economy of items and Copy Abilities by physically seizing them from others.
For players who like being in the middle of the pack, constantly grazing rivals and turning chaos into momentum, Vampire Star is one of the most interesting machines in Kirby Air Riders. Unlock it early, learn the spacing and timing on its bite, and it can carry you to some of the game’s most spectacular launches and nastiest steals.
