- - - - ____ _ _ _ / __ \ | | | | (_) | / \/ __ _ ___| |_| | _____ ____ _ _ __ _ __ _ | | / _` / __| __| |/ _ \ \ / / _` | '_ \| |/ _` | | \__/\ (_| \__ \ |_| | __/\ V / (_| | | | | | (_| | \____/\__,_|___/\__|_|\___| \_/ \__,_|_| |_|_|\__,_| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ___ _ _ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _ ___ _ ___ _ ___ ___ ___ / __| | | | _ \/ __| __| / _ \| __| | \ /_\ | _ \ |/ / \| | __/ __/ __| | (__| |_| | /\__ \ _| | (_) | _| | |) / _ \| / ' <| .` | _|\__ \__ \ \___|\___/|_|_\|___/___| \___/|_| |___/_/ \_\_|_\_|\_\_|\_|___|___/___/ - - - - CASTLEVANIA: CURSE OF DARKNESS Boss FAQ System: Playstation 2 Written by: Berserker (aka. berserker_kev, Berserker93, or Kevin) Started: November 2, 2005 Email: berserker_kev@yahoo.com This document (c) 2005 Kevin Hall (Berserker) Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (c) Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. 2005. Please be advised that this FAQ contains SPOILERS (boss names). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Version History Version 0.8 - (November 7, 2005) - The main bosses are finished, but I am still lacking the secret bosses. Email me if you would like to contribute anything. I am missing quite a few stolen items as of now. Version 1.0 - (November 8, 2005) - Secret bosses have been added and a few more stolen items from each boss have been added as well. Version 1.1 - (November 9, 2005) - A few more items and ways of stealing have been added to the boss section. I have also added a few special notes for areas of the game that people have the most problems with after boss fights. If you are stuck then look at the info after the boss fight and that might help. Version 1.2 - (November 11, 2005) - Added a new section, Innocent Devil strategies, and every boss now has their stolen item listed with the way to steal except for Trevor battle 1, if there is indeed a way to steal from him. Version 1.3 - (November 14, 2005) - Operation: "Steal from Death" has been looked at more closely (aka. "When to steal" has been dramatically changed for Death), and I have updated his boss fight strategy a bit, since I feel as if I know him a bit better now that I have stolen from him. Also added an extra bit about stealing from Dullahan. Version 1.4 - (January 23, 2006) - Added many alternate tips for bosses. Also added each boss' weakness and tolerance. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SECTIONS Section I: Introduction Section II: Bosses A: Crazy Armor B: Wyvern C: Trevor Belmont D: Skeleton Diver E: Minotaurus F: Isaac w/Innocent Devil (Abel) G: Saint Germain H: Trevor Belmont I: Dullahan J: Isaac K: Death L: Dracula M: Dracula (Demon Form) N: Legion (Optional Boss) O: Nuculais (Optional Boss) Section III: Frequently Asked Questions Section IV: Copyright, Special Thanks, and Contact Info - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ============================================================================== > Section I - INTRODUCTION < ============================================================================== Section I - INTRODUCTION This FAQ is designed to help get you through each boss fight with plenty of tips and strategies. I have highlighted each item that you can steal from each boss and the window of opportunity in which to perform the steal move. If this is your first time going through the game, then please be aware that there are SPOILERS. Any comments, suggestions, questions, etc. are always welcome. Email me at (berserker_kev@yahoo.com). Also, if you find any errors in this FAQ, then please email me about it. If you find anything that I have missed and you would like to add it, then by all means, email me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ============================================================================== > Section II - BOSSES < ============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ***************************** WARNING: May contain SPOILERS ***************************** ----- Boss 1 - Abandoned Castle ----------------- >> Crazy Armor << ----------------- > Level 9 > HP - 1330 > Weakness: Thunder > Tolerance: N/A > Steal: Galtite (Boss Rush Mode ONLY) > When to steal: When drills his head into the ground, you have to steal from his back. He does this attack rarely. (Boss Rush Mode ONLY) - First fight - Try to have some sort of armor and helmet equipped and this battle will be a breeze, even if he hits you a bunch. With the way this battle starts out you better be ready to move or block. The boss will almost instantly try to hit you with a weapon strike. He will do a mix of overhead and horizontal strikes throughout the battle (sometimes in a row). Thankfully all of his attacks can be guarded against for the first battle. Strike him after each attack and watch his arms for the next swing. With his vertical strikes it is better to guard rather than dodge them, since they clear an entire section of the room. He also has an attack in which rotating gears shoot out of his mouth, which can be easily blocked as well - he usually does this attack up close and will pause before the attack. - Second fight - Now you will have to resort to avoiding his attacks altogether. He will spew flames from each head that is connected with a gear - be sure to get away from him when he starts this attack. As the battle progresses he will start to get more flame-happy and will nearly fill the whole room with flames. He may eventually shoot fireballs, which can be easily avoided by running around or you can block them. Hit him whenever he is not attacking and you can take him down the second time even faster than the first. ----- Boss 2 - Baljhet Mountains ------------ >> Wyvern << ------------ > Level 14 > HP - 1900 > Weakness: N/A > Tolerance: Fire > Steal: Shortcake > When to steal: When the wyvern gets his head stuck in the dirt, jump on his back. He will start to fly and carry you extremely far up in the air. The purple marker will appear after about 7 seconds while in the air. Steal from his neck and you will fall back down to the ground to continue the battle. Be sure to equip the boiling ring if you have it, so the boss's fire attacks take less from you. This boss can only be hit in his head. Air strikes and ground strikes both work well for attacking him. He has a variety of attacks, but will only pull some of them off after his life gauge has been taken down halfway. At the start of the battle, he will mainly use his tail swipe and ground pound, both of which can be avoided by blocking. He does an occasional bite every now and then as well (he will rare back much like the tail swipe before he does this). When he buries his head in the dirt, rush up to him and attack his neck. After you steal from him, he will no longer bury his head into the dirt. When his life has been taken down halfway, he will become more aggressive and start to fly. When he flies around in the air he will swoop by and breathe a trail of fire twice in a row and then land - keep running to dodge the flames. When he lands he will send out a slight shockwave in that area that will hit you if you are close. While on the ground, he will sometimes rear his head back, which means he is about to breathe fire in the area around him. To avoid the ground fire, be sure to run away from him (toward the screen) once he rears his head back. None of his fire attacks can be blocked so you must avoid them. ----- Boss 3 - Garibaldi Temple (1F) -------------------- >> Trevor Belmont << -------------------- > Level ?? > HP - ???? > Weakness - ? > Tolerance - ? > Steal: ? > When to steal: ? For this boss you must learn how to dodge his attacks well. Trevor loves to run up and pressure you with combos and holy water. He will do a holy water attack from far, which will send a stream of white fire toward you that can be blocked. When he rushes in, he will do one of two combos. For his first combo he will start with his green whip and do three strikes and might end the combo with a circle of holy water. It is best to roll out of the way before the second or (for sure) third whip strike strikes you since you, sometimes, cannot guard it because of staggering. For his second combo, he will start out with a few punches and then move into a series of kicks. The kicks can be guarded against, but not the entire combo, so you must roll out of the way as he starts the kick portion. All of the hits of each combo can be guarded, but NOT the entire combo as Hector will start to stagger after the third hit. Even the circle of holy water can be guarded against at the end of the whip combo if it not in a series of blocked hits. He will be left open to your attack after each of these combos unless he finishes with the holy water. His fiery charge punch cannot be guarded - you will have to time a roll or jump so that you move out of the way right before he does this move. Like his combos, he will be left wide open to attacks after the charge punch. It will seem as if you are underleveled by the little amount of life that you take from him while attacking, but that is the way the battle is set up. After you have learned his moves, he is not hard at all. He will cease his attack after you have taken about 25% of his life. ----- Note: After you beat Trevor there is an ability that you get for your battle type Innocent Devil, a few rooms later, known as "Brute Force". This will let you open the large doors that are sealed. Stand right next to one with the battle-type Innocent Devil summoned and press Triangle to get him to open it. ----- Boss 4 - Mortvia Aqueduct -------------------- >> Skeleton Diver << -------------------- > Level 24 > HP - 3422 > Weakness: Fire > Tolerance: N/A > Steal: Sushi > When to steal: When the fish dashes toward you while up on the platform (and the skeleton is on its back), roll out of its way, and steal from the skeleton's side. Usually the skeleton will start out by throwing spears at you. Guard against the spears or dodge them, both kinds of spears can be blocked (normal and fire). It is possible to hit the fish while he is in the water, but watch for the spears! If the fish comes up on the platform that you are on and races toward you, be sure to guard or roll to avoid its dashing attack. If you roll you can get a few hits in from the fish's side before he gets to the other side of the platform. The fish will eventually jump over the platform that you are on and do one of two things - either the skeleton will jump off and try to hit with his spear or the skeleton will throw down spears at you. Immediately run up and combo the skeleton from behind when he jumps off for some free hits. The skeleton's attacks can be easily guarded but his combo attacks will cause you to stagger if you block them in a row, and might result in a hit. The skeleton's weak point is his back - if you can hit him in the back he will be stunned and open to a combo. The best opportunity to hit him is right after his spear lunge when he hits the ground. The fish may try to interrupt the fight by lunging out of the water directly at you - avoid him or block the attack. When the fish surfaces on the platform, he will either spray water around the platform or stagger around the platform while on his side and move toward you. The water attack can be avoided by rolling or jumping. If the fish moves toward you while on his side, only the mouth will be able to hit you, so stay on either side of him and hit him. Once the boss is down to only half of his life the skeleton will stay on the fish more often and throw spears so you will be forced to attack the fish. Alternate Tip: The Bird ID Crimson's Ignition Blow will actually KNOCKDOWN Skeleton Diver if he is on the platform. Plus, it does double damage to him, as SkeleDiv is weak against fire. As the fireballs are hitting him, you can get in combos. Fun. The fireballs will hit him as long as he is above water, but at one point after he takes enough damage on the platform, he will become invulnerable. Wait for him to get back on the fish, then resume fireballing, although he won't be knocked down. (thanks to whythecynic) ----- Boss 5 - Forest of Jigramunt ---------------- >> Minotaurus << ---------------- > Level 30 > HP - 4200 > Weakness: Wind > Tolerance: Earth > Steal: Devil Iron > When to steal: As he comes down from his jump attack, do a backflip, then a forward flip and steal from his head. Make sure to do the first jump extremely late in order to steal. If you jump toward his left side, you will have a much greater chance since the pillar usually covers the right side of his head. Dodging is the key to beating the Minotaur since he takes quite a bit of health every time he hits you. Throughout the battle he will tear out rock pillars from the sidewalls and try to hit you with them. For the first pillar that he starts out with, he will strike you with it until it crumbles. For the remaining pillars he will either try to hit you horizontally with them (if you're close) or will throw the pillar at you. The only move of the Minotaur's that can be guarded against is his horizontal pillar strike. After you guard the first hit, I would strongly recommend rolling just in case he follows up with a second hit, because if he combos any of his moves then Hector will be hit since the first move will always stagger him. If you get far away from the Minotaur he will throw his rock pillar at you - roll quickly to the side to avoid this. After he throws his rock pillar, run up to him and combo away. He will walk over and get another rock pillar from the side of the wall. Hit him until he turns around, then get ready to dodge. He has very few moves for the first few rock pillars, so take advantage of this and hit him as much as you can. When he gets down to the last rock pillar or when he only has half of his last bar of life, he will not throw the pillar in his hands at you, nor will it break. He will have an almost entirely new set of moves for this rock pillar (he still has the horizontal swing). If he holds the pillar downward and starts to spin in a circle GET AWAY from him. He will spin toward you and try to smack you - be sure to get a few hits in when he starts to recover from this move. When he jumps into the air, jump or roll away from him. He can hurt you with the actual jump if you physically touch him, and he can also hit you with the shockwave on the ground afterward (the shockwave can be blocked). ----- Boss 6 - Cordova Town ----------------------------------- >> Isaac w/Innocent Devil (Abel) << ----------------------------------- > Level 34 > HP - 5850 > Weakness: Ice > Tolerance: Dark > Steal: Devil's Vein > When to steal: At the end of his uppercut move. He usually begins the battle with this move. For this boss, you will need to roll constantly. Both Isaac and his Innocent Devil will attack you at the same time. He will shout out various commands for moves that you should watch out for. Whenever he shouts out "Kill!" this means that his Innocent Devil will go under the ground and try to hit you from underneath. Run, roll, and jump around the area to get away from the Innocent Devil while it is under the ground - this move is unblockable. Isaac will begin to laugh whenever the Innocent Devil is underground. If you have enough space between the Innocent Devil and Isaac then try to hit Isaac while he is laughing. Whenever Isaac shouts out "Go!", this means that the Innocent Devil is about to perform a drilling attack. If you are close enough when Isaac shouts out "Go!" you may be able to combo him out of the Innocent Devil's path or hit the Innocent Devil during the combo. Whatever you do, DO NOT target the Innocent Devil during this fight. You take only one hit point per hit, and the camera will go crazy trying to keep up with him. Isaac's other moves include a ground pound (he laughs before he does this), flame uppercut, twister (he interrupts combos with this sometimes), and a long combo with his spear, all of which are blockable. Watch for him to do a combo and get in close as he goes for the final hit and hit him when he goes to recover. His Innocent Devil will be attacking you the entire battle so roll a bunch. The Innocent Devil's normal moves are blockable, but make sure that Isaac does not hit you at the same time as the Innocent Devil. Isaac will sometimes taunt you during the middle of the battle leaving himself wide open to an attack. Use your Innocent Devils to the fullest extent during this battle. Your attack and bird-type Innocent Devils can keep his Innocent Devil busy during the fight for a while until they are worn down. Alternate Tip: If you use Corpsey (Battle-type) during this fight, he may do an attack that will stun Abel. If Isaac shouts out commands while Abel is stunned he will be able to do anything. (thanks to whythecynic) If you use Phoenix's (Bird-type) Big Bang attack on Abel it will remove Abel from the fight completely. This will kill off Phoenix as well. (thanks to Leviathan953) ----- Note: After you get the mage-type Innocent Devil there are two areas ahead in Cordova Town where you will have to use the time stop spell to advance. ----- Boss 7 - Eneomaos Machine Tower ------------------- >> Saint Germain << ------------------- > Level 37 > HP - 4250 > Weakness: Thunder, Dark > Tolerance: Earth, Light > Steal: Immortal Fragment > When to steal: Use the mage-type Innocent Devil to freeze time as the boss stops time, and run up to him and steal. If you have "Poison Powder" for your fairy-type Innocent Devil then summon her and she will most likely be able to poison Germain. The poison will cause him to stagger during some of his moves, allowing you some free hits. This boss is not that hard at all since most of his moves can be guarded against. If you are aggressive you can take him out rather quickly. He will teleport around the area and try to hit you. He will usually do a two hit teleport combo or another short combo with a green glowing sword slash at the end. Hit him while he recovers from each combo. If the green sword slash hits you then it will poison you. If he poisons you then he will most likely teleport up to the clock and speed up time, causing the poison effect to be unbearable - use serum or stop time yourself to counter this. If he starts to teleport you may still be able to hit him while he is invisible. When he stops time and freezes you in place, you can counter this by having your mage- type Innocent Devil equipped and by using the time stop magic. If you don't have the correct Innocent Devil equipped, then you better be ready to roll the instant that his time stop move is over. He will either do a sword slash or use magic after the time stop. When he is on his last bar of life he will teleport up to the clock tower and speed up time. A thorn vine will burrow around the area while he is attacking you. The vine can be blocked and it is best to wait until it goes away before attacking him. He will constantly teleport up to the clock and speed up time. While time is sped up, the poison status will affect Hector so often that he cannot even attack. You must heal yourself or stop time with the magic Innocent Devil to be able to move. After he is defeated the first time, he will teleport up to the clock and reverse time. He will once again get another bar of life and you must defeat him again. He has just about the same attacks as the second fight except he will try to shoot you with his gun during this fight. You will have to roll out of the way of the gunshots since they are unblockable. He will start the gun attack by saying "Here we go!" - if you are close enough, then hit him right when says this for a few free hits. ----- Note: The next area you should go to is Cordova Town - Center. There is an area right near the warp that will carry you to the next new area. Near the end of the new stage you will be transported back to the Abandoned Castle for the next boss fight. ----- Boss 8 - Abandoned Castle -------------------- >> Trevor Belmont << -------------------- > Level 40 > HP - 4700 > Weakness: Dark > Tolerance: Light > Steal: Curry > When to steal: During his holy cross move, when he lands there is a small window of opportunity to steal from him. To do this, as he finishes his holy cross move, time a roll so that you roll in just before he lands and steal immediately. He has basically the same moves from the first time you fought him (except for the holy water), but all of them have been upgraded. He will generate a light shield around him, which makes him unstoppable. You will have to hit him repetitively after a combo to get rid of the shield. He will constantly make another light shield throughout the battle. Like the first battle, the only time that you can hit him is after one of his combos or after a move. All of his hits are blockable with the exception of the Holy Cross super move and the charge first. He has added a second hit for the charge fist in this battle, so you will have to dodge twice in order to fully avoid it. The first hit of his charge fist can be blocked, but you are more likely to hit him afterwards if you dodge both hits. He will now do a spinning whip move at the end of his whip combo that you will need to roll or run to avoid. His other new moves include a spinning lunge attack and he will sometimes throw his cross at you, both of which can be blocked. Stay away from him and only attack him after his combos and you should take him down quickly. If he has his shield, you will only be able to get a few hits in after his attacks, but if his shield is gone he will stagger for an entire combo. ----- Boss 9 - Infinite Corridor -------------- >> Dullahan << -------------- > Level 49 > HP - 7875 > Weakness: Earth, Light > Tolerance: N/A > Steal: Purple Glitter > When to steal: When he goes to do his jumping attack you must steal from his back in the air. You must be ready for him to do this attack, which means you have to stay right next to him. As he jumps, do a normal jump and steal from him as he reaches the ground. Once you have stolen, do another jump in the air and you might be able to avoid the shockwave attack on the ground. He does his jump attack right at the beginning of each battle, so you can steal from him at the start of the boss fight. The most important rule about this boss is whenever he jumps, you jump! He will create an unblockable shockwave on the ground every time he lands. He usually starts the battle off with this attack so be ready for it. Try to prolong your jump as much as you can by doing the double jump portion only after a full jump. You can hit him quite a bit while he recovers from his jump attack. This boss is very slow, but his attacks are quite damaging. He mainly attacks with three hit combos, either ending with a sword slash or a ram - if you avoid the ram, he will be left wide open to your attacks. All of his physical attacks are blockable, but avoid his combos. He will sometimes perform one of his unblockable moves at the end of his combos. If he ever holds his sword up into the air upside down, then he is about to perform his shockwave attack where he hits the ground and a bluish glow surrounds him. All you have to do is get away from him when you see the attack coming. Whenever he holds his sword into the air and points it upward then he is about to do his beam attack. He will shoot out a beam and then spin around, causing the beam to reach through the entire room. Jump in place or roll through the beam to avoid this. If it hits you it will curse you. If you watch his movements you should be able to get plenty of hits in on this boss when he recovers from attacks. ----- Boss 10 - Dracula's Castle ----------- >> Isaac << ----------- > Level 50 > HP - 6500 > Weakness: Ice > Tolerance: Dark > Steal: Cheese > When to steal: As he is being knocked back from one of your attacks. Try to hit him with a Square, X combo while he is next to the wall and then steal. Your battle-type Innocent Devil can also knock him up into the air, which will allow you to steal. This battle is pretty different from the first. He has a whole different set of moves and a new weapon. He will constantly try to hit you with one of many combos. Dodge the combos and hit him while he recovers. If his fists ever glow blue, then be sure to dodge the dash attack that he will do shortly afterwards. If he catches you then he will drain some of your life. Hit him when he pauses at the end of any combos or moves. Do not hit him after the blue grab attack, since he remains invincible for a while afterwards and may be able to hit you before it wears off. As he gets lower in life, he will do this move more often. Eventually he will stand still and summon an Innocent Devil. While the Innocent Devil is hovering about, Isaac will have a whitish glow around him meaning he is invincible to physical attacks - you can still hit him with energy attacks however. When he does this it is best to target the Innocent Devil and defeat it or pressure Isaac with constant projectile attacks from your Innocent Devil in order to finish the rest of the battle. Isaac will be doing the same combos from earlier and the Innocent Devil will attack as well. The first Innocent Devil is a bird-type. It will mainly breathe fireballs at you, which can be easily dodged. When it spews flames from it's mouth, get away from it. The Devil will breathe fire all around its immediate area. I have found it best to have a mage-type Innocent Devil equipped for this portion of the battle so it will constantly shoot fireballs at Isaac's Innocent Devil if targeted. Try to work the bird-type Innocent Devil away from Isaac so you can attack it without him interfering - stay on one side of the screen and let it come to you. The second Innocent Devil is a battle-type. You can pretty much hit it any time, but be on the lookout for its teleport splash - it will teleport into the air and try to land on you. It will be left extremely wide open to your attacks after the splash move. Isaac will shout out "Go!" right before it does the splash attack. Listen for the command and hit the battle-type while it recovers. It sometimes does a three hit combo that will leave it open to a few attacks as well. Hit it sparingly with a battle-type equipped and you can take it down pretty quickly. The third Innocent Devil is a knight. The best way to beat the knight is to do a combo that knocks him down quickly. He will remain on the ground for a while and you will be able to attack him the whole time. The best time to hit him is when he stalls after doing an attack. Roll around the area and you will eventually see him pause after doing his teleport attacks. If you have a battle-type or bird-type Innocent Devil with you, then now would be a good time to use them, since both types usually knock the enemy to the floor often. Be on the lookout for his blue fireballs that appear around him - once they start to shoot out, he will fire them all at you. They can be blocked, but they will cause you to stagger so you can't block more than one in a row. Roll or run out of the way when he starts his dagger rain attack in which daggers fall from the ceiling. After each of Isaac's Innocent Devils have been defeated, he will always taunt Hector. If you are next to him, then you can get some free hits while he taunts. Innocent Devil Strategies - The bird-type Innocent Devil's "carpet bombs" will be extremely useful against Isaac's knight Innocent Devil. Not only will it knock it down for the first hit, but the bird will continue to rain bombs down upon him. See Frequently Asked Questions to find out how to get this ability. - Use a Crimson bird-type Innocent Devil and fireball him to death, even if he has his Innocent Devil equipped and has a white shield around him. ----- Boss 11 - Dracula's Castle ----------- >> Death << ----------- > Level 51 > HP - 6700 > Weakness: N/A > Tolerance: Dark > Steal: Death's Pulse > When to steal: At the end of his Big Bang attack, there will be a small (and I mean tiny!) window of opportunity for you to steal from him - timing is the key. Stealing from Death is incredibly tough, and may require you to perfect guard some of his attacks in order to get hearts to stay alive for more chances. Thankfully, many of his moves can be perfect guarded if you get the timing down. Use the fairy-type Innocent Devil to heal yourself while trying. Below is three ways that I know of to steal from him successfully... > 1) If you have the "Invincibility Jar" skill from the fairy Innocent Devil (Tiramisu) you should be able to stand in front of him while encased in the fire provided that you do the ability at the right time. In order for his window of steal to still be open while trying this method, you must do the Invincibility Jar as he holds the ball of fire in his hand. It must wear off as soon as the fire starts to go away. Jump and steal from him if you see the purple cursor. Some people claim that you can also steal from him while on the ground (see the Frequently Asked Questions section for details on how to get a Tiramisu). > 2) Stand in front of Death as he unleashes his big bang attack. Guard the first hit, then perfect guard the next eight attacks from it, then jump toward him and steal. > 3) If you can mix the above two methods, you may be able to steal from him as well. Have your Invincibility Jar purposely wear off right before the final hit of the big bang, perfect guard the hit, then jump toward Death and steal. A perfect guard right before the steal will increase your chances greatly since the final hit is right before his window of steal opens. This boss is fought immediately after Isaac so you may need to heal before going up to him. You can hit any part of his body to damage him. When you're up close to him, be sure to watch his hands or the area above him. If he rears his hands back to one of the side, then he will try to hit you with his scythe. When he swipes at you, stay right next to him and double jump into the air and keep hitting him - you will fall shortly after his scythe swing, avoiding it completely. Sometimes he chains the first scythe swing into another so be sure to watch, and avoid it the same way. The scythe swing will be his main move for a good portion of the battle so take advantage of it and air combo him. It can be easily jumped over, if you time each jump. The scythe swing can be blocked, but the third hit will cause you to stagger, which may leave you open to the second swing if you are not careful. DO NOT get too combo-happy on the ground or you might accidentally get hit with his scythe swing. If sickles appear above him, roll backwards a bit. Block the first sickle, then roll, block another, then roll...rinse and repeat until all are gone. Perfect guard a few of the sickles for some extra hearts if you need them. When he creates a fire sickle you must back off and roll or run around it. Start out by rolling or running away, then roll or run to a side, and make a complete circle around it by rolling or running straight ahead and then the opposite way. An alternate way to avoid this attack is to block or perfect guard the sickle just as it's about to hit you, and then roll through it - roll to avoid it if it comes back. If he starts to charge a fireball attack, get to the one of the far sides of the screen. He will throw down a fireball that will make a huge explosion covering most of the area for a few seconds. When he turns a transparent red, look out for the transparent red hand that will appear to the left side (can be blocked). He likes to chain this move with his others, so it might be best to move away from him when you see the transparent hand. When he raises both hands in the air, that means that flames are about to rise up from the ground. As fire appears below you, roll. If you can time it right to where you roll as each fire circle appears below you, then you can dodge this move easily. Be sure to roll in different directions. There is a save point in the room ahead after the battle so you don't have to go back to save your game at the other save point. ----- Boss 12 - Dracula's Castle ------------- >> Dracula << ------------- > HP - 2920 > Weakness: Light > Tolerance: Dark > Steal: Tomato Juice > When to steal: Right after dodging his grab attack. Jump and steal from the upper portion of his body. I would very much recommend that you be at level 50 (or preferably higher) before even attempting this boss fight mainly because of the second fight. First of all, a battle-type Innocent Devil can really help you out in this battle. Set the Innocent Devil to "Guard" so it will boost your attack for the fight. He usually starts out by hitting the ground with an orange beam. The line that is formed on the ground will burst into flames after the beam is gone. Dracula will then teleport around the room while unleasing attacks. He can only be hit from his backside most of the time. If you try to hit him from the front he will throw his cape up toward your attacks avoiding them completely. If he yells out "I'll reduce you to ashes!" this means he is about to teleport next to you and try to grab and bite you. Right after he teleports, wait a second, then roll and do a sidestep to avoid the grab. For his other attacks, he may unleash a row of purple spikes from the ground. He will hold up his right hand and yell out "Go!" before doing this attack. The spikes will continue to pop up out of the ground for a few seconds and will leave a trail of spikes that will stay in place until they stop emerging. During this move, run around Dracula and time it so that the spikes stop just before you reach his back and you can get a full combo out on him. The red fireballs that he shoots out can be blocked even if they explode next to you. He will eventually turn into a bunch of bats and go back up to his throne to do the beam attack again. Once he is down to his second bar, he will start to do a new attack when you get close to him, in which he will unleash a giant explosion starting from the ground below him. Once the orange light appears below Dracula, roll and sidestep backwards as fast as you can. The important thing to remember while fighting Dracula is to hit him sparingly and be sure to watch his every move. The only time you can get a full combo in safely is after his spike attack. ----- Boss 13 - Dracula's Castle -------------------------- >> Dracula (Demon Form) << -------------------------- > HP - 7500 > Weakness: N/A > Tolerance: Dark > Steal: Vampire Blood > When to steal: As he flies toward the platform with a dashing punch, you can steal from him the second he stops. Try to roll out of the way and then immediately steal from him. Another way is to do a double jump as he dashes toward the platform and steal from him as you're landing. For this battle you can only hit Dracula whenever he is right next to the platform that you are standing on. He will start out in the background. His background moves include a beam attack where he will shoot out a beam and circle the platform that you are on. Get to the one of the sides and double jump over the beam as he passes by on the right and left side. For one of his other attacks, he will shoot greenish fireballs at you. When the background turns green that is a sign that is about to perform this attack. Get to one of the sides and as the fireballs come toward the platform, block the first fireball, roll to the side, block another, roll...repeat. He may also send a wave of electricity toward you. You will need to time a jump carefully to avoid it. He may eventually do a dashing punch toward the platform that you are on - you must roll to avoid this. Sometimes he will fly to the back of the platform causing you to have to adjust the camera. When he is next to you, hit him until he starts to do an attack, then quickly dodge to one of the sides or block it. Most of his physical attacks will leave blood trails that will damage you if you touch them. The only attack that does not leave a blood trail is his sideswipe move. He will yell out "I'll crush you to bits!" before doing this swipe. Dodge in the direction of his arm to avoid this attack or block it. If he hits you with this attack, he will hold you up and start to crush you with his hand. Most of his physical attacks (including the blood trails) can be blocked, but the overhead attack and most of his background attacks must be dodged. -- Innocent Devil Strategies If you have any Innocent Devils left then now is good time to use them. If their attacks are useless, then summon them and set them to "Guard" to at least use their stat bonuses for a while. If you have a strong battle-type Innocent Devil this will definitely help you take down this form faster. - If your bird-type Innocent Devil has "Carpet Bombs" (Skull Wing ability from red gems), then use it whenever Dracula gets close to the platform for some extremely good results. See Frequently Asked Questions to find out how to get the bird type with this ability. - If you have a Corpsey (battle-type) Innocent Devil, then have him use his bone storm or set him to auto and he will really be able to help you out quite a bit for this battle depending on his current level. Corpsey is invincible during his bone storm, so if Dracula tries to hit him, it will pass right through him. Level 50+ will yield the best results. See Frequently Asked Questions to find out how to get him. ----- OPTIONAL BOSSES - Garibaldi Temple (B1) To find these special boss fights, go back to Garibaldi Temple and use the Magic Circle skill from devil type Innocent Devil to go under the crack in the wall on the first floor of Garibaldi Temple. Assuming you are looking at the unaltered map, as soon as you enter Garibaldi Temple, from the start of the map (labeled "S"), it is a little ways beyond the west save point. Look to the southwest and it will be in the last big room. There will be a space that leads to a hall. This will lead you to level B1, a save point, and the special bosses. ------------ >> Legion << ------------ > Level 52 > HP - 6900 > Weakness: Light > Tolerance: Dark > Steal: Pizza > When to steal: When you have knocked away all the dead bodies and the core is revealed, target the core, jump toward it and steal from it. I would recommend that you be near level 50 before attempting this boss fight. For the first part of the boss fight you will need to destroy the mound of dead bodies that are covering the core. Go up the stairs (knock the zombies out of your way) until you reach the boss and hack away at the sides of him until the core is totally revealed. Zombies will be after you the entire time. They will race toward you while their head swells. You must not let them explode on you or it will take quite a bit of damage. As more of the core is revealed, the zombies will get faster and explode sooner. Have an Innocent Devil help you out on exposing the core to make the first part of this fight faster. Once the core is revealed, jump and hit it (or steal from it), to reveal the next boss. Don't stand below the core as it falls or it will damage you. Alternate tip: (Please note that not all of the list below is used in the first battle. Skip down to the Nuculais battle to see the uses of everything else) First, you need to bring a few things with you, - A Mage Type ID with the Floating B skill - Megingelos (accessory that increases damage as your health is lowered) - Sacrifice Brooch (accesory that sends any damage you take to your ID) - A Fairy Type ID for healing emergencies - and as many Battle Type IDs you can bring Get a Mage type ID with the Floating B skill and keep it on you. About 95% of the time, it'll keep any of the exploding zombies from reaching you while you pound away at Legion. Simple and efficient. Don't keep the Mage-type equipped while climbing the stairs however, or the zombies will hit it. (thanks to Biscuit) -------------- >> Nuculais << -------------- > Level 53 > HP - 8875 > Weakness: Dark > Tolerance: Light > Steal: Napoletana > When to steal: As he begins to perform his grab attack, you must perfect guard his hand at the moment he hits you and then run up and steal. For the second battle he will actually be in human form (somewhat) and will no longer be immobile. It's a good idea to use an Innocent Devil as bait for this battle. Set one of your battle-type Innocent Devil's to "Guard" and the boss will, most of the time, go after the Innocent Devil allowing you to attack him from behind. This boss has several attacks, most of which can be blocked. He will teleport around the room constantly. He teleports by jumping into lava and then rising out of the lava at another part of the room. The lava is blockable, but the irritating part about this move is the fact that it will sometimes catch you in the middle of an attack if you are not cautious while attacking him. If he jumps at any time, then get ready to guard or dodge. His other moves are a blade strike (blockable), a grab in which his arm will stretch out toward you (this must be avoided by rolling), several punches (he usually chains about 4 punches together, they can be blocked) and a move in which he will summon a bunch of dead bodies and hurl them at you. When he summons the dead bodies, block the first set that he throws at you, roll and quickstep from the second set and, for the third set, block the first few bodies, then roll and quickstep to avoid the move completely. He also has a purple beam that must be avoided as well (roll or run...A LOT). If you have your battle-type Innocent Devil in guard mode, step into his shield and it will protect you from the entire beam attack. Hit him sparingly throughout the battle and watch for his attacks. The only time that you can usually get a full combo in safely is when he recovers from a physical attack (punch, blade strike). Once he is down to his second bar, he will start to dig at the ground. Run up to him and combo the hell out of him while he searches through the floor. He will pull a dead body out of the ground and absorb it, causing him to grow to giant size. When he is like this, he will have very few attacks, but he can be extremely hard to hit without getting damaged. Each step he takes creates a shockwave on the ground (these can be blocked). When he jumps he will create a gigantic shockwave that will reach further than usual (jump to avoid it). Summon an Innocent Devil with a strong projectile move and have him fire upon the boss. Eventually he will shrink back down to normal size and the fight will continue as it was until you beat him. -- Innocent Devil Strategies - A bird-type Innocent Devil with "carpet bombs" can be extremely useful for this fight. See Frequently Asked Questions to find out how to get this ability. - A Corpsey (battle-type) Innocent Devil will literally win the battle for you if you allow him to. His bone storm is especially useful. Set him to auto, or have him use his bone storm often. Hit the boss from the back as he tries to attack Corpsey. Don't forget to use Corpsey's guard if the boss does his beam attack. See Frequently Asked Questions to find out how to get him. Alternate tip: Set your first Battle Type ID to guard and let him get you a little low on HP. This will give you a much greater damage rate on him thanks to the megingelos (I chose force glove as my weapon). Also, when you get sufficiently low on HP, equip the sacrifice brooch so you don't take any more damage as long as you have an ID out. Usually, he will be attacking the ID, but even if not, his attacks are fairly easy to dodge. When he gets big, the only strategy change you need is to start doing air combos to his kneecaps (another good reason to use force gloves for a big air combo). This part is incredibly easy if you make sure not to get caught by his jump attack. Keep at it, and he'll be dead in no time. (thanks to Biscuit) ============================================================================== > Section III: Frequently Asked Questions < ============================================================================== [1] Q: How do I get a Corpsey Innocent Devil? A: Start out with a normal battle-type Innocent Devil (Magmard), and use the knuckles to evolve him with yellow crystals. When he has changed to the Speed Mail, change to a spear weapon and collect green crystals until he evolves into a Corpsey. Corpsey is a boned berserker, reminiscent of the Skull Knight if you watch or read Berserk, who has some incredible defense and attack power. His bone storm ability will make him invincible as well as take some major damage from whatever enemies are on the screen. [2] Q: How do I get the Carpet Bombs skill with the bird-type Innocent Devil? A: You will need to get evolve a Skull Wing, which is the second evolution of the bird-type Innocent Devil by collecting red gems with a sword. This skill is extremely good for large enemies that stay stationary for a given amount of time and the skill will make him invincible to attacks much like Corpsey. [3] Q: Where is the best place to evolve my Innocent Devil? A: Garibaldi Temple B1, right outside the room where you fight Legion, or in the Infinite Corridor a few rooms after the big iron door that you have to open with "Brute Force". The enemies in these locations will usually give you three crystals as they die. [4] Q: How do I unlock Boss Rush Mode? A: You must defeat the final form of Dracula and you must defeat both optional bosses all in the same file. Go to any warp room and "[Boss Rush Mode]" will be the first option after all the requirements are done. [5] Q: Can I steal items from Bosses in Boss Rush if I missed them earlier or can I steal duplicates of the ones I have gotten? A: Very much so on both. You can even steal from some bosses that you couldn't steal from before. If you missed an important item then you can gain it through Boss Rush, but keep in mind that you will have to beat all the bosses to finish it. Nope, you can't warp out with a ticket. I would advise bringing some strong Innocent Devils with you. [6] Q: How can I evolve my Fairy into a Tiramisu? A: There are a variety of ways to do this, but the way I did it was to use a sword and collect red gems until she is evolved into a Killer Bee, then change to an axe and collect blue gems to make her ultimately evolve into a Tiramisu. Invincibility Jar is her third skill. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ============================================================================== > Section IV - COPYRIGHT < ============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This document (c) 2005 Kevin Hall (Berserker) Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (c) Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. 2005. This document is for private and personal use only! Do not try to sell this document for profit! This is a free document and should remain free. Do not try to reproduce this document in any way, shape, or form. Do not alter this FAQ in any way! Do not post this FAQ on your site without my consent, contact me and ask for permission to use it. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ This FAQ can only be found on the following sites: GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) IGN FAQs (http://faqs.ign.com) Neoseeker (www.neoseeker.com) Cheat Happens (www.cheathappens.com) SuperCheats (www.supercheats.com) If you see this FAQ on any site other than these, then please contact me! (berserker_kev@yahoo.com) ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ -- SPECIAL THANKS -- - Kagekaze for Trevor's stolen item. - KaiserTBD for the info on stealing from Crazy Armor and Dracula's Demon Form. - darkeggmcmuffin for the info on Corpsey. - A fellow gamer (he knows who he is) for Dracula's stolen item (demon form). - MurderDeathKill from the GameFAQs boards for his perfect guard stealing technique for Death. - sebasabi and unclevinnie for the tip on stealing from Dullahan. - Biscuit for the tips on Legion and Nuculais. - Leviathan953 for the tip on the first Isaac battle - whythecynic for the many boss tips and suggestion. - anybody that has emailed me. I have received quite a few for Castlevania. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- CONTACT INFO -- I can be reached at my email address, which is > berserker_kev@yahoo.com <, so please contact me if you have any questions, comments, etc. I don't mind receiving emails at all. All I ask is for you to try to make the email decent. I realize that some people do not speak perfect English or cannot type that well, so that doesn't really matter to me, but all that I ask is that you try to make it readable. I would prefer you not to add me to your messenger, but if you do, at least tell me a bit about yourself and why, or if I know you, tell me who you are. One of my pet peeves is when people just add me to their messenger without saying anything. I usually just deny their request. Last but not least, do not send me any viruses or spam mail please. Want to learn a bit more about me? See my FAQ Writer of the Month interview at IGN... http://faqs.ign.com/articles/637/637797p1.html -- Please visit my Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones Featured Guide courtesy of Cheat Happens! http://www.cheathappens.com/features/two_thrones/poptt_index.asp ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ___ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ / __\ /__\/__\/ _\ /__\/__\ /\ /\ /__\/__\ /__\// /_\ / \//\ \ /_\ / \// / //_//_\ / \// / \/ \//__/ _ \_\ \//__/ _ \/ __ \//__/ _ \ \_____/\__/\/ \_/\__/\__/\/ \_/\/ \/\__/\/ \_/ Thank you for reading! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------