Milican's Sword

Milican's Sword is a sword that can turn enemies into stone. Its origins and the who exactly Milican is are unclear. It has appeared many Castlevania games. Many of its characteristics vary by game. In Symphony of the Night and Portrait of Ruin, it is only as long as a Short Sword. In Symphony of the Night and Dawn of Sorrow, it only as powerful as a Short Sword as well. Symphony of the Night has a different petrify-mechanic than Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, and Portrait of Ruin do. In Symphony of the Night, the sword randomly petrifies vulnerable enemies for a few moments. Enemies can be destroyed in a single shot while in this state. In the other games, the sword only petrifies enemies weak to stone and always petrifies these enemies. The stone affect is visible, the enemies cannot become "unpetrified", and they receive twice as much damage per attack as they normally could. In all games this sword appears in, petrified enemies will still deal damage if touched and cannot be "jumped" off of as in Circle of the Moon (with out using the double jump slam down kick move).

Symphony of the Night
The Stone Sword is the only item with the ability to turn enemies into stone. Since it is only as long and as powerfull as a Short Sword, using it is usually an extreme handicap considering it can only be found when you're in the inverted castle. It deals Stone damage and does not deal normal Cut damage. Every now and then, it will "petrify" an enemy though, which causes it to stop moving for about a second and a half. Striking it a second time while it is still petrifed will destroy it in a single shot, reguardless of its hit points. (I'm not 100% sure if it will be destroyed in one shot. Can a boss that's not immune, resistant, or absorbant to stone be struck down in a single shot?)  Enemies that are immune to stone (Medusa Head - both colors, Tomb Stone, Akmodan II, Richter Belmont, Maria Renard) cannot be petrified in this manner and take no damage from this weapon. Those that absorb stone (Medusa) will gain additional hit points when attacked by this weapon and cannot be petrified. Those that are strong against stone (Gorgon) will take less than normal damage against this weapon and probably also cannot be petrified (I'm not sure if this is the case or not). When using the stone sword, it is probably a good idea to have a strong weapon in your other hand. There are no enemies that are weak against stone. The Dopplegangar40 enemy is notably vulnerable to this weapon (I'm not sure if he gets stoned like Alucard does or if he gets stoned like other creatures). This Dopplegangar is also equipped with his own Stone Sword in one hand and a Terminus Est in the other.

The only way to obtain this sword is by getting a Gorgon to drop one. This enemy can only be found in the Black Marble Gallery.

Aria of Sorow
Milican's Sword in Aria of Sorrow is a bit different from the Stone Sword in Symphony of the Night. It has respectable attack strength, which is very usefull since Soma can only equip one primary weapon. Instead of "randomly" turning creatures into stone, it will only turn creatures into stone that are weak verses stone (Axe Armor, Blue Crow, Zombie Soldier, Durga, Rock Armor, Student Witch, Killer Doll, Zombie Officer, Witch, Curley, Red Crow, Imp, Disc Armor, Manticore, Bomber Armor, Lightning Doll, Ukobak), and will always turn these creatures to stone. (I am not sure how many hits it takes to destroy a petrified enemy or if there is a timeout) It deals both normal Melee damage as well as Stone Damage. It is much longer in this game, about the same length as a Gladius or Laevatain.

This weapon can be found in the Underground Reservoir once you have the Giant Bat soul in the area accessible by jumping off of boats. It can be obtained prior to being able to fly by as a drop item from the Big Golem located in the Underground Reservoir to the left of the first save point of that level. It can also be obtained from a Basilisk, but by the time you find one of those (in the Top Floor and Chaotic Realm), you could have already have gotten the one found in the Underground Reservoir.

Dawn of Sorrow
The strength of Milican's Sword is again reduced to near-negligible in this game. This time, swinging the sword has the special effect of launching rocks into your opponents. This causes it to cause Bashing damage as well as the Slashing damage of the blade. Unfortunately, it is not given its own unique stone-based special attack. It's special attack is just like any other sword, a dash forwards while attacking. It will petrify enemies that are weak against stone (Peeping Eye, Warg, Student Witch, Slaughterer, Une, Manticore, Rycuda, Ghoul, Corpseweed, Yeti, Killer Doll, Buer, Killer Clown, Fleaman, Draghignazzo, Hell Boar, Harpy, Barbariccia, Heart Eater, Merman, Ukoback, Killer Fish, Mimic, Dead Pirate, Frozen Shade, Decarabia, Dead Mate, Bugbear, Mothman, Dead Crusader, Dead Warrior, Ripper, Werewolf, Gaibon, Slogra, Malacoda). Once an enemy is petrified, it may take several strikes to destroy it (I am not sure if there is a timeout period).

It is evolutionarily similar to the other elemental swords, the Ice Brand and Laevatain (stone sword). Each of these swords can be created by adding a different soul to the ornate Joyeuse. Since it takes a lot of souls to create a Joyeuse from a Short Sword from scratch (Armor Knight, Corpseweed, Great Armor, Mollusca or Treant, and Killer Clown), you will probably need to decide which sword to evolve to. Using an Ukoback soul creates a Laevatain, a Catoblepas creates a Milican's Sword, and a Frozen Shade creates an Ice Brand. The drop rate of the souls needed to evolve these swords are identical. The Laevatain and Ice Brand do not have the same strength handicap that this sword has and have special attacks. However, there are many enemies in this game that can be petrified, so chosing a Milican's Sword may be a good idea, as long as you carry a powerfull weapon in your alternate inventory. Each of these swords is evolved to a Burtgang by adding a Iron Golem soul.

Portrait of Ruin
This version of the sword loses its attack handicap it had in Dawn of Sorrow, as it is as powerfull as Rahab's Frost or Agni's Flame. However, its length handicap from Symphony of the Night returns, as it is only about as long as a Short Sword. It also loses its stone-hurling swing and the Bash damage that came with it. It always petrifies enemies weak to Stone (Zombie, Student Witch, Merman, Une, Ukoback, Frozen Shade, Persephone, Mimic, Fleaman, Mummy, Killer Clown, Coppella, Lilith, Harpy, Gaibon, Slogra, Killer Doll, Moldy Corpse, Razor Bat, Wyvern, Succubus, Dead Crusader, Ghoul, Dead Warrior, Aliorumnas, Alora Une, Nyx, Mothman, Ripper, ) as in Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow. Petrified enemies remain in that state indefinitely and take twice the amount of damage that they normally would. The Stone Whip can also be used to petrify enemies in this game, which has a much longer reach but is weaker (ATK = 30). This sword can only be found at the top of the last building in the City of Haze once you obtain the Toad Morph, which is found after the boss battle of the Forest of Doom.