Acerbatus is a Glyph in the Castlevania series. It calls forth the power of spite.
Albus is also able to able to use this glyph with his Agartha gun, where it is known as a Max Shot or Omega Shot.
Description[]
Acerbatus is a Thunder and Darkness glyph that can also inflict Curse. It fires a brownish orb of pulsating energy –nearly twice the size of Shanoa– that travels fullscreen. Each Acerbatus can hit an enemy once, but the number of enemies it can hit in one cast is infinite.
It is also one of Albus's signature glyphs and can be absorbed from him by Shanoa in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. During the fight against Albus, he'll eventually point his gun toward Shanoa with one of his arm raised high, channeling the Acerbatus glyph. The timing for absorbing it is somewhat small, and letting Albus successfully channel it will result in him firing his Max Shot at Shanoa which deals large amount of damage and curses her.
In its playable form, Acerbatus is one of the most useful Magic Glyphs in Shanoa's arsenal due to the ways it operates. Once fired, the center of the energy orb will be materialized at the tip of Shanoa's hand, while its main body is partially overlapped with her body. This means there is no blind spot directly below and in front of Shanoa where small enemies (such as a Fleamen) could sneak past her arm unhurt. This, combined with its massive size, allows Acerbatus to quickly clear a room of weaker enemies that are swarming over Shanoa with ease, or completely shield her from oncoming projectiles. Acerbatus also somewhat has a long active time; even after having traveled fullscreen, the energy orb will linger on for a bit, dealing damage to anything that hasn't been hit by it. Not only that, but Acerbatus will stop for a split second whenever it hits something, potentially letting it stay onscreen a bit longer to hit even more projectiles and enemies.
Acerbatus deals two elemental damage at once. Enemies that are weak to both Thunder and Darkness will receive more than double damage, while enemies that are strong to one of them will still receive full damage from the other element, making Acerbatus very versatile when fighting against multiple types of enemies in the same room.
Acerbatus is highly effective for leveling AP, as it raises both Thunder and Darkness points whenever Shanoa successfully defeats an enemy with it.
Acerbatus can inflict Curse on enemies that are weak to it. Cursed enemies are greatly slowed down in both movement and attack speed.
Acerbatus is considered a Darkness Glyph for the purposes of Glyph Unions and can be used in any union that an Umbra glyph can. This includes Union Umbra (paired with another Darkness Glyph), Universitas (paired with a Light Glyph), and Pluto (paired with a Weapon Glyph).
It is once again available to Shanoa in the downloadable chapter Lord of Flies in Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. This time being a potential treasure find and drop from a boss, rather than absorbed from enemies actively casting it.
Item Data[]
| Item Data: Acerbatus | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Name - Game Type - Users Description |
Attributes / Consume | Statistics / Sell | Found | Notes | |||
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| Calls forth the power of spite. | Attrib: Thunder, Darkness, Curse Consume: 44 MP |
ATK +22 |
Find: Mystery Manor Steal: Albus |
Effect: Curse Special: Glyph Unions: + Umbra = Union Umbra; + Weapon Glyph = Pluto; + Luminatio = Universitas; + Other = Pulsus | ||||
| Calls forth the power of spite. | Attrib: Thunder, Darkness, Curse Consume: 44 MP |
ATK +22 |
Find: Initially available |
Sequence: Up + Y or X Effect: Curse | ||||
|
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| Calls forth the power of spite. | Attrib: Strike, Lightning, Darkness, Curse Consume: 20 MP |
ATK +10 |
Rarity: * Find: Purple & Boss Chapter 9 (hard) Drop: Beelzebub |
Effect: Curse | ||||
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| Summons Shanoa's adoptive older brother, Albus, unleashing a devastating area-of-affect attack from his gun, Agartha. Reduces enemy attack power. | Conditions: Complete Chapter 5 |
Sequence: [Alter Art] Effect: Shoots a barrage of projectiles out in front of Albus, and lowers the ATK of all enemies it hits. Special: Can be upgraded through Shanoa's Develop Abilities to be cast up to three times per mission. | ||||||
| Unleashes massive bullets from the magical gun Agartha with the power of glyphs. | Find: Start with |
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Gallery[]
Animations[]
Trivia[]
- Albus will only shout "Max Shot!" when using this attack in Albus Mode. As a boss, however, he shouts "Caspar Shot!" instead.
- Both names of this attack are likely references to the protagonist Max and the antagonist Kaspar from the German opera Der Freischütz (The Marksman), about a sharpshooter who makes a deal with the Devil for the love of a woman.
- Acerbatus is Latin for "embittered" or "aggravated" (William Whitaker's Words).
- In 2D sprite form, the Acerbatus orb bears a visage vaguely resembling a skeletal face, while in the redesigned 3D form seen in Grimoire of Souls, it instead resembles the Dark Inferno spell commonly used by Dracula, but with a larger size.
See also[]
- Dark Inferno - Another mass of dark energy.
- Nightmare - A similar and faster ball of negative energy derived from fear and agony.