Muramasa



Muramasa is a Katana which appears in many games of the Castlevania series.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Muramasa, like Gurthang, has automatic blood healing without having to cast Dark Metamorphosis; unlike Gurthang, it has the entire Dark Metamorphosis effect rather than just a flash on its command move, meaning it can blood-heal Alucard even if the enemy is damaged with a sub-weapon. On the surface, the Muramasa seems to be a worthless gimmick sword; it reduces your ATK by 5 and DEF by 4, will occasionally jam like a Red Rust if your current ATK is 10 or less, and has a slow swing speed. It does not help that the most likely place to encounter it is the Forbidden Library, where the Fist of Tulkas and Crissaegrim can also be found.

However, the Muramasa has a hidden ability, which is that it levels up as Alucard is healed by blood while using it. It gains a point of ATK for (current ATKx2 +11) blood heals; for example, to increase from its starting -5 to -4 ATK requires just 1 blood heal, -4 to -3 requires 3, and so on. Additionally, when your damage output is 30 or more (Muramasa's ATK bonus does not matter) it gains an automatic, free Slash Flurry every time it is swung (like the Masamune and Yasutsuna) and increases in swing speed.

It takes several thousand blood heals for the Muramasa to exceed the Masamune in strength, making it impractical without use of a taped-down turbo controller, but the upper limit to the Muramasa's ATK is +999 (requiring over one million blood heals), meaning it is potentially the strongest weapon in the entire game.

There are two main methods for leveling the Muramasa; one is to simply place Alucard in one corner of the mermen room in the Entrance, preferably with the Bloodstone equipped, and then tape down the attack button on a turbo controller and go and do something else.

A faster method, but one requiring actual player input and more equipment, is to go the the Dark Octopi room in the Reverse Caverns. Alucard's equipment should be the Muramasa, Bloodstone, Blood Cloak, the Knife sub-weapon and whatever items the player has that lower Alucard's DEF and INT the most (the classic being a Duplicator). Throwing knives will produce a shower of blood with every hit; the INT debuffs will mean more hits per octopus, the Bloodstone will ensure Alucard does not die, and the Blood Cloak will turn all damage received into hearts to continue throwing knives.

Without taking time to level it, the Muramasa is the worst of the three healing swords; it is far weaker than Gurthang and both weaker and more situational than the Mourneblade. A player must decide if they wish to invest the time to make it worthwhile, but if enough effort is put in it can end up even more powerful than the Crissaegrim.

In the original PlayStation version, using a soft reset (all four shoulder buttons + SELECT + START) will result in the console retaining the Muramasa's current level in its RAM; if another game file is loaded in which the player has a Muramasa, the level will be passed to that game. Saving the game will permanently set that game's Muramasa to the new ATK value.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
In this game, the Muramasa is the only weapon with the Curse attribute. As a result, its attack will be boosted by its target's HP if the target is vulnerable to curse. It can only be obtained from Lubicants, which are also vulnerable to sword and curse elements, the elements of Muramasa.

Castlevania: Order of Shadows
The Muramasa is found on the upper level of the Castle Walls in section of the Castle Grounds area. It is in a candle on a perch that initially cannot be reached, but that can be reached by traveling far to the right, heading up, and then heading back left. It can also be reached by jumping off from the top of the Bat's Belfry after defeating the Twin Bats. The blade is swung below the belt. It is more powerful than the Platinum Blade (the other "fast" weapon), but consumes more hearts and has a shorter range.

Trivia

 * A Muramasa is a high-quality katana made by the swordsmith Muramasa Sengo or one of his students during the Muromachi period in Japan. Muramasa was an enemy of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of Japan's Tokugawa Shogunate, and after the establishment of the Shogunate Tokugawa forbade his samurai from using Muramasa's blades, supposedly due a combination of having cut himself badly with one and the weapons being common among his enemies. Muramasa was vilified as a maker of "evil" blades in Japanese lore, often contrasted to the "good" swords of Masamune. Many legends surround blades created by both smiths.
 * One such legend tells of the smiths Muramasa and Masamune placing blades in a river to test which was stronger. When Muramasa placed his sword in the running water, leaves floating by were drawn to it, every one cut cleanly in two. When Masamune did the same with his sword, the water flowed around the edge without touching it, carrying the leaves away from the blade as it did so. Often this tale concludes with an onlooker (such as the Emperor or Shogun) denouncing Muramasa's blade for its destructive nature, sometimes even ordering his execution. This story is clearly impossible since it is told as if the two smiths were contemporaries, when in fact Masamune lived 300 years before Muramasa.
 * Another legend states that Muramasa blades are demonic and must draw blood before they can return to their scabbard; legends vary on what will happen if they do not.