DMMMMMMM8 ZMMMMM NM MMMM MMM MM NMM MMM OMM MMMM MM M M M MM MM NM MMM MM MM MM MM MM MMM M MMM MMM MMMM MM MM MM MM MM M MMM MMM MM MM8 M MMM MMM MM MM M 8 MM MM MM MM MM MM MM MM MM MM MM OM MM MMM MM MM MMM MMM MM MM MMM MM M MM MM MM MM MM MM MM MMM8 MM MM M DM MM MM MM MM 8M MM MM MM MM MM MM MM MMM MMM MM MMM MMM MM MMMMD 8MMMMM MMM MM MM MM MM ZMM MM MMMM M MM 8MMMM MM MM NM MM M DMMM MM8 MMm MMMM M DMMM MMMMM N MMMMM M MMMMMMMMM //Dracula X Chronicles// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles Boss FAQ/ Walkthrough Version 0.8 Created by: Sindra Last Updated: 11/5/07 Document is copyright Sindra 2007. Castlevania is copyright of Konami Inc. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -------------------- Version History: Ver. 1.0 - (Nov. 5th '07) - In depth explainations for all Bosses except the Hydra in the Hidden Docks. Only Richter's walkthrough is done so far. Maria's will come later. --------------------- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //~SECTIONS:~// I.---- Introduction II.--- Bosses ? Wyvern ? Sea Serpent ? Werewolf ? Bone Golem ? Minotaur ? Dogether ? Dullahan ? Carmilla ? Death ? Shaft ? L Vampire ? Shaft's Ghost ? Dracula III. Credits & Thanks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////////////~Section I: Introduction~//////////////////////// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This FAQ is to help you on not only how to fight and beat bosses, but also how to get to each boss, including the alternate routes. Five of the stages in Dracula X Chronicles have dividing paths and alternate routes, which determine what bosses you fight and where you end up after each fight. This FAQ may contain spoilers for those who have not played through the game thus far, so be forewarned. If you have any comments or suggestions, or find any errors, please feel free to email me. (sindra@shadoweddesire.com) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ////////////////////////~Section II: Bosses//////////////////////// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------ STAGE 1 ///~Wyvern~/// -How to Get To- When you drop down to the lower level after fighting the Skeleton Apes and Skeleton Blazes, drop to the lower most part of the screen, and take the door to the right. (note: Don't forget the Pot Roast in the wall above the door!) Take the route, knock off a few bats and 2 Golems, and you'll make it to the Wyvern. - Strategy - Be sure you grabbed the Axe subweapon in the candles before the boss fight. The Wyvern will swoop in,and will fly around a bit, giving you plenty of time to chuck a few axes at it. It has three main ways of attack: the first is to swoop down and try to grab at you with it's talons. This can to easily avoided by ducking or walking out of it's path. The other attack method is it's fire breath. Be careful not to get too close to the fire's path, as it will cause flames to splash as it hits the ground. After enough damage is done, the Wyvern will let loose a singlular breath attack in the shape of a wolf's head, that will tear up the ground as it rakes across the screen. Simply jump over it to avoid it. The Wyvern leaves plenty of pause time between attacks, so you should be able to catch it with your whip when it swoops down to grab you, or chuck some Axes at it while it flies around. Eventually, you'll wear it down and take it out. This route will take you to Stage 2A. (Castle Enterance) *** STAGE 1 ALTERNATE ///Sea Serpent/// - How to Get To- When you drop to the same level you would to take the door to the right heading towards the golems, instead walk to the leftmost wall and whip it to break through the wall. Walk into the room, up the stairs, and fall down the pit, where you can keep walking right until you reach the water bucket levies. Jump on a bucket to rise to the top. Grab the two candles on the top left corner for a money bag and the Cross subweapon. Then jump across to the right corner, and enter the door to get to the bridge walkway. - Strategy - The Sea Serpent will begin by jumping from the background, over the bridge, and into the foreground twice. Whip it as it flies past you each time. It will then pop it's head up and attempt to hit you with a water ball blast. Jump over the blast, and throw a cross at the creature's head. It will pull away, and repete it's jumping across attack. Then, it will start from one end of the bridge, and will snake its way across the entire length of the walkway. Jump over it's head, and into one of the gaps it's body makes between spirals, getting in a quick turnaround blow to it's head if you can. The Serpent will then repete it's attack pattern until you defeat it. Wait for the neat death scene, and collect your power orb. This route will then take you to Stage 2B. (Lake Bridge) -------------------- STAGE 2 ///Werewolf// - How to Get To - If you took route A, just take the standard normal straightforward route until the very end of the level. Its layout is almost identical to that of the original Castlevania, so you shouldn't have too much trouble. Avoid the Behemoth! If you took route B, stay on the top of the bridge, and do not fall down to the lower level. - Strategy - You'll have the opportunity to grab the Holy Water subweapon and a slew of hearts before entering the boss battle. Be sure to break the second stone on the last platform holding the stairs for an extra big heart. As the battle begins, the Werewolf will throw a fireball at you, which can be easily jumped over. Then it will begin its nasty habit of climbing the walls and ceiling. You can get in a few hits when it's clung to the lower parts of the walls. Beware it's rolling attack when it decends from the ceiling, and hit it after it lands. It will then try it's dash attacks, which will be preceded by it's kneeling down. Jump over to avoid. You can throw some Holy Water to get in the extra hits. After over half it's health is gone, it will perform a continuous rolling attack and will bounce off the walls and ceiling for a bit. Do you best to avoid, or if you're feeling adventurous, use a Hydro Storm crash to deal it major damage. Rinse and repete steps, and you'll defeat it before long. This will land you in Stage 3A (The Chapel) *** STAGE 2 ALTERNATE ///Bone Golem/// - How to Get To - When the Behemoth is chasing you in Stage 2A, count out the gaps in the floor. After jumping over the first two, drop down the third one for the easiest route. You'll have some platforms and Mermen to deal with before making it to the end. Get the Cross subweapon from one of the candles, and a Pot Roast will be in the pillar behind the stairway up. For Stage 2B's route, just allow yourself to fall down below the bridge and stay on that path. - Strategy - The Bone Golem as three forms. The first one is it's centaur-like form. It will either breath fire at you, which you can walk away from to avoid, or it will grab at you, which you can duck under. When it's breathing fire, you'll have a chance to chuck a Cross at it if you feel so inclined. After the first third of it's health bar is gone, it will shift to its second form, which resembles a grotesque bird-like creature. It will fly around, and will either try diving low to hit you, or will drop it's skull caltrops. Keep ahead of it while it's flying, and jump attack it in the head. The caltrops can be easily avoided and have low to no splash damage. When the second third of it's health bar is depleted, it will shift to it's last form, which is just a large clump of skulls and bones. It will skitter across the ground, blowing out steam and trying to knock into you. Either jump over it to avoid it or jump on top of it and down, and resume whipping the tar out of it. This will take car of the last third of it's health and will garner you another victory. This route will take you to Stage 3B. (The Cemetary) -------------------- STAGE 3 ///Minotaur/// - How to Get To - Take your normal straightforward route in Path A. It doesn't matter if you fall down below to the lower level or not; just continue your path. For Path B it's the same. Nothing special you have to do other than live. In either case, when you get to the room before the boss, make sure on the lower level to walk over the the leftmost pillar and break it for a large Pot Roast, which will completely restore your health. - Strategy - The Minotaur's moves are pretty simple to anticipate. First favorite attack is jumping into the air, and coming down with his axe blazing. Just walk under him after he jumps to avoid. He'll also try to stab you with his axe, which you can walk away from, while also getting in some hits from a distance. (your whip is longer than his axe) Another attack consists of him breathing a petrifying mist at you. You can't whip him from a distance during this attack, so throw a Cross at him that you should have picked up just before the battle. It should hit multiple times. He'll also grab a handful of rocks, and chuck them in an arc towards you, so make sure to avoid them from falling on you. When his health is low, he'll try to dash at you. Either jump on top of one of the suspended platforms to avoid this, or perform a double-jump backflip as he charges. Then attack him as he's still lodged in the rock. After you've taken out his health bar, don't relax yet, as he'll perform one last dash attack before dying, which you'll have to backflip over to avoid. You'll get to Stage 4A (Inner Castle) from here. *** STAGE 3 ALTERNATE ///Dogether/// - How to Get To - If you took route A, and managed to stay on the upper level past the trap doors and medusa heads, after the room with the bell, there will be a long corridor with gaps in the floor. Jump over the gaps, and before the door at the end, there will be two elevators dangling from chains. Take the left one to ride up. For route B, when you're in the area with the spiked balls moving up and down and avoiding the skull pillars, after attacking and disconnecting the 2nd spiked ball, fall though the hole it went down. It will have broken a hole through the lower section you'd come up from, and you'll be able to go underground. In either situation, be sure to grab the pot roast in the righthand wall before decending the stairs to the boss. - Strategy - Dogether will teleport around the room at random, which will be annoying. He has three attacks, which will be anticipated by the sanskrit symbol his eye creates before attacking. If it's a red symbol, he'll attack with a fire stream. Either walk away from the splashed fire or under a platform. If it's a gree symbol, he'll shoot out three laser bolts, which you'll need to jump to avoid. If it's a blue symbol, he'll summon rocks to float around him, which he will then throw at you. Again, jump or duck to avoid. Because he floats around, you'll need to either jump attack or get into a platform to attack him. I recommend grabbing the Axe subweapon rather than the Cross before the battle, as the upwards arc it makes is perfect for hitting him if he's floating above you. Then, it's just a waiting game as you take apart his health bar chunk by chunk until he's dead. From here, you go onto Stage 4B (Mountain Swamps) ------------------- STAGE 4 ///Dullahan/// - How to Get To - Via route A, after passing the spiked pendulum, you'll come to the moving platform that is connected to another spiked ball at the other end. Avoid the ball and jump up to the staircase above, and proceed up the second set of stairs to the door. For path B, after the frog statues, jump over the gap with the rafts going down the waterfall. Continue across the rope bridges and forward. Before the boss room, there will be the Holy Water subweapon in a candle for you to grab, and a hidden pot roast in the wall just below the door to the boss room. - Strategy - After Dullahan breaks out of his ice prison, proceed to attack him. He'll try to stab at you with his lance, which you will have to move away from to avoid. He'll also try his jumping attack where he'll try coming down ontop of you with his lance, which again you'll have to walk away from to avoid. Then, he's got this very annoying attack where he stabs the ground which produces an stream of ice to spike up from the ground towards you. You'll need to jump up to the highest platform near the door to avoid it. Chuck some Holy Water at him while you're up there. His attack that's hardest to avoid is when he throws up his head, and it comes after you. Walk to the corners of the screen, and then backflip out of the way before the head can hit you. Continue doing so until he calls his head back. Another attack that he tends to use after going below half health is a slam attack that causes rock to fall from the ceiling. Walk under the highest platform to avoid these easily. After wacking him enough times until his health is gone, beware his death-attack where he'll throw up his head, which will shoot out a spray of green balls. Then you're golden. *** STAGE 4 ALTERNATE ///Carmilla & Laura/// - How to Get To - If you took route A, go up to the wall right next to the moving platform/spiked ball duo, and jump attack to reveal a breakable wall with a bomb inside. Whip the bomb to ignite it, and stand back and watch it take the whole wall out. Then, proceed forward, avoiding another spiked pendulum. If you took route B, instead of jumping over the gap with the waterfall, jump onto one of the rafts floating down it, and prepare for a wild ride! be careful though, because you'll need to keep an eye out for the bird carrying the "Danger" sign, for that means you'll have to jump off soon to avoid falling to your death. Proceed forward, ride the farryman's boat, and get to the door. There are no health items, but you may wanna grab the Holy Water. - Strategy - Start jumping up and whipping Carmilla on the skull as soon as you can. Be careful of the bloody tears the skull drops, which will burst into flames. You can avoid them by walking under them when they splash. Do *not* let Laura near you. She'll speed up walking towards you if you're near her, and will grab you and suck the hearts out of you. This also allows Carmilla to hit you with the fire tears. Simply jump over Laura and onto the higher platforms when you can, and continue whipping Carmilla. If you have enough hearts, Hydro Storm could be useful as well if you can't reach Carmilla. After getting down to about 1/4 health, Carmilla will die, and Laura will shed her regal attire and proceed to ninja jump and kick her way around you. Avoid the kicks while either whipping her after she lands, or throwing some Holy Water under where she will land; ensurring a damaging hit. It won't take long to take her out as well, and she'll drop a hefty sum of hearts for you to rack up the points with. --------------- STAGE 5 ///Death/// - How to Get To - From here on out, there are no alternate stages (except for the Hidden Docks, which can only be accessed when you beat Dracula, and there is no boss for it), so no matter what route you take, you'll still end up fighting the same boss. Be sure to grab the pot roast in the lower lefthand corner of the screen before the boss fight, and the Cross subweapon. - Strategy - If you've played any Castlevania games before now, you can probably guess what Death's initial attack is going to be. He floats around the screen, whilst allowing the mini scythes that he summons out of thin air do the attacking for him. These suckers home in on you, so you'll have to either whip them out of your way, or jump over them to attack Death. After reaching about half health, Death will float to the background of the screen, and summon large skulls to throw at you. Be sure you're at one end of the screen, and simply walk towards the other side while he throws the skulls at you, and you should be safe. After this, he'll go Super Saiyan on you. He'll jump back into the regular screen, and will continue to summon a lesser amount of mini scythes to fly at you, while now also attacking with his larger scythe. He'll try two things - either double slashing at you or jumping up and doing a rolling attack at you in an arc. Stay at one end of the screen, after he attacks move in to whip him a few times, then move back out of his reach, while also avoiding the occational mini scythe. You'll eventually wear down the remainder of his health. ---------------- STAGE 6 ///Shaft/// - Strategy - Shaft's going to play it cheap, and not attack you directly just yet. First, he's going to summon the first four bosses from the original Castlevania game to fight you first. - /Giant Bat/ - This boss is more like his Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance forms, in that he will shoot homing fireballs at you, and will then do a drill attack. Whip the fireballs to get rid of them, and attack the bat when he does his drill attack and is stuck in the ground momentarily. Do it right, and you shouldn't get hit at all, and he'll reward you with a mess of hearts. -/Medusa/- This witch is more difficult. She'll try petrifying you with a shot beam, which you can duck to avoid whilst whipping at her. She'll then jump in the air and try and stab at you with her outstretched tail, which can be easily avoided. She will then summon three snake circles to home in on you, which you'll have to whip to get rid of before going in and attacking her some more. If you picked up the Knife subweapon, try a item crash to wittle her health down. -/Mummy- The Mummy will begin by shuffling towards you, and attacking with his classic bandage attack, which you can duck to avoid whilst whipping him. He'll then summon three large blocks to throw at you, which you'll have to jump and climb over to avoid being smooshed. As he's summoning them, whip him as much as you can, as it leaves him open. He'll then immeadiately throw a bunch of little bandages at you, which will fly above and below him, then weave in front of him. Whip them out of the way, and continue attacking him. Defeat him, and he'll leave you a nice pot roast. -/Frankenstein/- Probably the hardest of the four classic bosses. He'll start be grabbing for you, which you can walk out of the way of to avoid. He'll then jump up and slam down on the ground to cause falling rocks to bombard you, which you'll have to dance around to avoid. His most difficult move is his lightning move, which he'll shoot in a large ball at you. You'll have to time a backflip jump just right to avoid it. He'll repete these moves until he dies. Now you have Shaft to contend with. He'll buzz around the room, whilst letting the two balls he summoned do his attacking. He'll call out his attack before the balls become aggressive, which will clue you in to what to do to avoid them. Fire orbs will float around the room haphazardly, and will need to be walked away from to be avoided. You can also whip them to knock them back a tad and keep them from hitting you. Lightning orbs will attack three times. The first two you can just stand between the two orbs as they'll hit on either side of you. The third time though, you'll need to walk away from them both as they'll home in on you. Rolling Thunder orbs is just that; the two orbs will have electricity surrounding them, and will roll around one another whilst trying to home in on you. Lead them to a corner and backflip jump to avoid them. Keep attacking Shaft as he buzzes to either side of the room and avoid the orbs. If you're in a pinch, use an item crash to help yourself out. Knives can be re-directed when in item crash mode, and Holy Water makes for a large coverage area. Shaft will eventually die. (note: if you die while fighting Shaft himself, you don't have to fight through the first 4 sub-bosses upon restarting the battle - only if you have to continue) --------------- STAGE 7 BONUS ///L. Vampire/// - How to Get To- Ok, the L. Vampire isn't so much an alternate boss as it is a bonus boss. Like in the original Rondo of Blood, if you neglect to save Annette, she will turn into a Succubus and fight you in place of Shaft's Ghost. If you save her, you won't have to fight this boss at all. It's all up to you. - Strategy - I recommend having the Cross subweapon for this battle. The L. Vampire has all her little bats do her fighting for her. She'll first send them out in 5 streams across the stage, where you will have to move in between the lines of them to avoid. She'll also send them out as a singular stream at times, which is easier to avoid. When she send them out in a spiral will you have a more difficult time avoiding them, but not by much. When she has lower health, she'll have two sets of bats below and above her, then send a middle set out across half the screen to attack, then retract them. Between attacks, she will call her bats to 'protect' or 'defend' her, and the bats will surround her in a full body shield that you won't be able to hit her through. However, before she throws her bat shield up, you can pull off a Cross throw to sneak in an extra hit or two. Keep ahead of her attack patterns, and you should be able to take her down. STAGE 7 ///Shaft's Ghost/// - Strategy - Grab the Axe subweapon if you can for this battle. Shaft will hop around the screen like he did before, but he'll hover in the air, so having the Axe will come in handy when hitting him above you. Again, he's all about summoning. He'll call some bats out to attack you, which can either be avoided or whipped. When he yells 'protect me', the corpse of the Wyvern boss will swoop down and attack like it did when you first fought it. Avoid the fire and lunging, whilst jumping to attack Shaft. He'll call out bats to attack you again, then will call upon the corpse of the Behemoth that was chasing you in Stage 2, which will come up from under the ground and sweep across the floor to try and hit you. You'll notice the ground errupting a little bit beforehand. Simply jump to avoid it. Shaft will continue to call on these creatures until you defeat him. Again, if you're low on health and have enough hearts, try pulling off a item crash to sneak in the extra hits, which will also take care of the bats he throws at you. --------------- STAGE 8 ///Dracula/// The moment you've all been waiting for. You've finally made it to Dracula. If you've played the original game, or Symphony of the Night, then you know exactly what's in store for you. However, there's a little extra that was thrown into the remake of Rondo that wasn't in the first game. Instead of two forms that Dracula has, he's actually got a third form as well if you saved all the girls. Remember to grab the Cross or Holy Water subweapon beforehand. -/Dracula 1st Form/- This is the simple part. Dracula will do his ever classic teleport, followed by hellfire. You can whip the fireballs out of your way, or you can avoid them by jumping early on; the choice is yours but I recommend just hitting them and ducking. If you get them while they're still in his cape, you can take out all three, then continue hitting Drac. His head is the weak spot, so just jump and whip. He will occationally open his cape and attack with two Balls of Destruction, which can't be whipped out of the way, so you'll have to time a jump between them to avoid being hit. Repete until his first health bar is gone. -/Dracula 2nd Form/- Now things get interesting. Dracula will shift into his second form of a large demon. He'll procede to jump around the screen and trying to land on you, which is easy to avoid by walking under him. His two main forms of attack are firing three large fireballs one right after the other at different angles. Jump and/or duck to avoid them. His other attack is a huge blast of dark energy, which you will have to duck to avoid. Continue avoiding his jumping around, and keep whipping at him. If you kept the Cross subweapon, you can get off a few hits to his head, but can do well without needing the Cross regardless. -/Dracula 3rd Form/- Don't rest yet! Dracula's got one more trick up his sleeve. Dracula will take his original form, but with large bat wings as an extra addition. After transforming, you can get in two hits before he teleports to either upper corner of the screen. Get directly below him and hug the wall, because he's going to pull a Bloody Hydro Storm on you! My suggestion would be to keep the Holy Water subweapon instead of the Cross *for this battle specifically*, because as he's raining blood on you, you can perform your own Hydro Storm, and get a good five hits onto him as he hovers during his attack. He'll teleport to either the right or left of center screen, and will summon an arc of bats to stream after you. Attack twice before the bats come out, then duck very close to Dracula as they stream out to avoid being hit, and afterwards pop up again for another quick hit before he teleports away again. Now here's where things get dicey. Drac's going to randomly start attacking you in an assortment of different ways, and you'll have to act quick to anticipate which attack he'll use. He will either: A.) Summon three blasts of magma to home in on you and errupt from underneith your feet. You'll have to way away from each blast to avoid them, whilst getting in maybe a hit or two on Drac. B.) Summon blood spikes to errupt from below you. Again, walk away from the first four, but stand still for the fifth, as they will errupt on either side of you, and will catch you if you're jump-happy. C.) Turn into a wolf, which will either rush at you in a straight line that you'll have to jump to avoid, or will dash diagonally in hopes you get nervous and jump into it's path. Stay steady, and make sure you know where it's going before making a move. If it's dashing at you in a straight line and you have Holy Water, throw a vile down on the ground and it will run right into it. Otherwise, you can whip him and cause damage. D.) Fly into the background, and will shoot five large fireballs at you, which like Death's skulls will home in on you if you. When you see him flying into the background, quickly get as far to one side of the screen as possible, and walk in a straight line to avoid the hits. Dracula will also continue his bat attack from time to time between these actions. These attacks are random, so don't make the mistake I did at first and think each time you face him he'll have the same pattern of attacks. After getting down to his last quarter of health, Dracula will summon a blood mist ball to track you down, and will turn into a mess of bats to avoid being hit, though don't let that stop you from trying to attack. As the mist ball gets close to you, whip it away to avoid being touched by it. Dracula will eventually become corporeal again, and you can get off a hit or two, but beware the blood blast he'll throw towards you that keeps low to the ground, as it's very fast and you'll have to time your jump carefully. He'll also start summoning constant blasts of magma to follow you rather than just three in a string. Avoid these as best you can, while trying to get in close enough to Drac to give off a hit or two before he teleports and randomly attacks again. This is probably the hardest battle of the game, and rightfully so. You will have to get your timing down with your attacks, and do your best to avoid getting hit. Drain Dracula of his last health bar, and you're done! The game is yours! You can relax now as the last dialogue starts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /////////////////~Section III: Credits &Thanks~/////////////////// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ///Thanks to:/// - The various patrons of the Castlevania Dungeon Forums for the different routes - Mr.P's Castlevania Realm for the original Rondo of Blood Boss tidbits - The Castlevania Encyclopedia for full maps of Rondo with alternate routes - Special thanks to Bloodreign for the added alternate route information and help - Very special thanks to Konami for doing a damn fine job on this game!