Throughout the entire Castlevania series, Dracula has taken various forms and confronted the protagonists with different strategies. While his main appearance remains similar in the games, they may present variations on his battle skills and forms.
The first appearance of Count Dracula. His attack pattern in this game would determine how he attacks in many of the future installments. In later games, a variation of this form is usually the first form fought, sometimes in an attempt to deceive players into thinking they are fighting the real Count, while in fact they are only fighting a doppelganger or a minor boss.
After an arduous journey, Simon Belmont finally arrives to Dracula's chamber at the very top of Castlevania, only to find a solitary and empty coffin inside. Dracula's dreadful head suddenly emerges from its interior and slowly starts floating upward, followed by the rest of his body which then materializes underneath it, making him whole. He will then open his cape and unleash three fireballs, only to disappear and reappear again in another location of the room in an attempt to inflict contact damage.
His head is the only vulnerable spot in this form, so it is advisable to bring the Cross upgraded with the Triple Shot and throw many of them constantly at the Count's head.
The last and biggest boss. He's in the high place of the last stage. He's an extremely dangerous enemy who breathes fire as he "warps" around the room.
After depleting all of Dracula's health for the first time, his head will get severed and fly off, and the headless still standing body will soon burst into many body parts that are sent away in different directions; and then a giant blue bat-like demon will emerge from within (a form that would also determine later appearances in many of the sequels). This form is actually not Dracula himself, but an embodiment of the Curse of Man.[1] The demon attacks by leaping around the room, occasionally pausing to spew groups of three fireballs. It is very difficult to safely travel underneath him when he jumps, as these vary in height, although he usually performs a couple of middle height jumps followed by a higher jump when Simon Belmont gets cornered. The player should take this opportunity to make it to the other side.
The whip and Cross can only deal damage to his head, but his whole body is vulnerable to Holy Water. If the player was able to bring Holy Water with the Triple Shot power-up to this stage of the fight, the battle can be ended in a matter of seconds, as each vial will inflict heavy damage and also stun the monster in place. He also has more health than any other boss in the game, as it takes two hits to deplete a single bar from his health, making him have 32 HP.
Although he looks more like a skeleton in this game, Count Dracula's attack pattern is the same as in Castlevania, as he teleports around the room and shoots fireballs in groups of three. Again, only his head is vulnerable.
Upon beating the first form, like in Castlevania, his head will be knocked off. His body will then explode into red clouds before the painting in the background suddenly moves. When Count Dracula possesses the painting in the background, he will spit bats in wave patterns, occasionally pausing to allow Simon to strike the jewel in his forehead.
After burning Dracula's relics in the lowest depths of his castle, an ominous –yet unpleasantly familiar– dark figure suddenly materializes in front of Simon Belmont. Dracula's Ghost appears as a huge cloaked figure with his face resembling that of a cadaver. This is the only time Dracula appears in only one form in the whole series, without performing different forms of attack or changing combat stances.
Dracula teleports around the room in a clockwise direction and at very high speed, giving the illusion of having mirror images of himself around the room. He attacks by hurling spinning pairs of fangs at Simon (a relic he never knew about and which was kept in the chamber where Dracula was resurrected), as well as by attempting to inflict contact damage.
Nevertheless, this version of Dracula could possibly be considered the easiest to defeat in the whole series, as he can be stunned by many weapons and items in the player's inventory. As soon as the pyre where his body parts are being cremated extinguishes, the player can start throwing Gold Knives above the altar where Dracula is going to appear. Tossing Sacred Flames is also a good alternative or the player can just use a Laurel and start whipping away. With any of these strategies, Dracula can be killed in just a few seconds, even before he can fully materialize into the room.
Note: Theoretically, the player could also drop a clove of Garlic and wait until Dracula's Ghost dies, but once Simon enters the final chamber at the basement of Dracula's castle, all his Garlic supplies will mysteriously disappear from his inventory.
In Haunted Castle, Dracula changes his pattern by hovering in the air and throwing daggers. He also moves by transforming into a company of bats before dashing around the room, this move would also be implemented in many of his later incarnations, and would also determine the way later versions of the Giant Bat would travel around a room. Players who reach this far in Haunted Castle will be relieved to know that this time Dracula can be hit anywhere on his body and not just his head.
In the second phase of his boss fight, Dracula transforms into a giant head, reenters from the right side of the screen and starts spewing swarms of bats at the player, so it is important to defeat him quickly before damage builds up.
When he transforms into Dracula Bat, he will fly back and forth over the top of the screen and fire small groupings of bats downward at the player. Christopher can only hit him while jumping.
After a long and perilous journey, Trevor Belmont finally reaches the throne room of Castlevania. Inside, he encounters the vampire himself, Count Dracula, sitting on his throne and waiting for him. Dracula wields a scepter this time around, with which he can cast stronger flame attacks than any of his previous incarnations (at least, according to the release dates of the games, as the events in Dracula's Curse take place in 1476).
He will stand up from his throne, raise his scepter and call two pillars of flames to trap Trevor between them; then he'll cast a third and huge pillar inside that constricted space, leaving Trevor with no room for evasion. Dracula will then teleport around the room and repeat the attack. Like in previous incarnations, his head is his only vulnerable spot.
Trevor can evade Dracula's attacks if he moves around the room, trying to make the first two flame pillars to be cast far away from each other and leaving enough space to move away from where the third one will emerge (or simply by avoiding getting caught between the first two pillars from the start).
An alternate strategy would be to start the battle with Sypha, get near Dracula as soon as she enters the room, and continuously cast Holy Lightning near him in order to make at least two balls of lightning hit the Count. All of this while rapidly striking at him with her magic staff, which arcs with enough height to hit the Count's head without having to jump.
After severing Dracula's head in his first form, it will float in the air and transform into a grotesque amalgamation of five demonic faces which share an exposed brain at the top. Each one of these heads will continuously vomit huge blobs of blood in an attempt to harm Trevor. The heads themselves are independent from each other, meaning that they can be destroyed separately; their skins will melt away as they scream in agony and leave only their skulls once they die. The Axe, Cross, Holy Flame and Holy Lightning are especially effective in this fight. The hero doesn't need to defeat all the heads, though; once this monstrosity has sustained enough damage as a whole, it will break apart even if it still has some heads alive.
In his third and final form, Dracula takes the form of a giant winged demon (it is believed he takes the form of the ancient Evil God that gave him power). He will fire dark energy lasers from his hands and eyes, while sections of the floor break from the ground, rise up and float around the chamber to serve as mobile platforms. His head is his only vulnerable spot in this form. As with his previous form, the Axe, Cross, Holy Flame and Holy Lightning sub-weapons are very effective. One must be careful, though, as jumping while riding a moving platform can lead the player to fall into one of the opened gaps on the floor.
Dracula will teleport anywhere on screen, not limiting himself to the floor, and fire rotating circles of Lightning Balls. Only his head is vulnerable.
As soon as Simon Belmont enters Dracula's chamber in Super Castlevania IV, an earthquake will take place, while bolts of lightning reach every corner of the room. Count Dracula finally makes his apparition. Dracula first attacks by teleporting around the room and opening his cape to shoot an energy ball. This energy ball will split into larger clusters when they come near Simon or when they are hit.
After ¼ of his health bar has been depleted, he will send out an erratic-moving energy ball which, if hit, will first produce a circular spray of smaller energy balls, and then will turn into a small pork chop.
Dracula will then summon two fireballs in the air, and a flame column will emerge below each one of these, similar to how he attacked in Dracula's Curse. The fireballs will grow in size and develop a ghostly face. At this point, they will home into Simon, trying to make contact with him. Hitting these elemental heads will make them drop to the ground and burst in a little column of flames.
When 3/4 of the Count's health bar has been depleted, he will send out another erratic-moving energy ball. Again, hitting this energy ball will make it burst into a circular spray of smaller energy balls, and then turn into another Small Pork Chop.
The chamber will suddenly turn red. Many bolts of lightning will reach every corner of the room. The Theme of Simon Belmont will play, and Dracula's final form will appear. Dracula's human-like face will be replaced by a more vampiresque one. He will teleport quickly around the room and summon four columns of lightning on the screen. However, unlike in other games, his health won't be replenished when he changes forms, so it will take just a few more hits to defeat him. Again, only his head is vulnerable. Due to him teleporting quickly around the room, leaving only a few moments to strike at him, the best strategy is to bring the Cross sub-weapon with the Triple Shot power-up. Start throwing many Crosses around the chamber at Dracula's head height. They will hit him repeatedly while going on their way forward and backward.
The night ends during the battle and the rays of the morning sun will break through one of the chamber's windows, consuming Dracula in a burst of flames.
In the original Sharp X68000 version of Chronicles, Dracula will teleport around the room, firing clusters of three fireballs that, unlike in previous games, are specifically directed at Simon's position onscreen. Once Simon has brought Dracula down to half health, not only does the Count's head begin to take on a more demonic appearance, but he will also begin to shoot five fireball patterns.
In the updated PlayStation version of Chronicles, Dracula fights in exactly the same way, only his in-game sprite has been modified to concur with Japanese illustrator Ayami Kojima's new design.
Dracula's second form is mostly the same as in the original Castlevania, except with a few differences. He will leap at Simon and fire waves of fireballs, but will also claw-swipe at him, as well as leaping high up and out of the screen to release energy rays downward, which cause ground waves when they hit the floor. Holy water is very effective against him.
Dracula will again teleport around the room and fire waves of three fireballs. He has also incorporated a new attack, in which he sends out two slower-moving meteors at different heights. His head is his only vulnerable point again.
Dracula's second form behaves almost exactly as he did in the original Castlevania. However, he jumps higher, and upon landing will breathe massive waves of large fireballs from his mouth. He can also stop to shoot a wide wave of electric energy. Once again, only his head is vulnerable.
In this game, Dracula teleports around the room and shoot fireballs, first in a spreading pattern of three, two homing fireballs, and then a fireball in a rotating formation. His head is again his only weak point.
After the first battle, he transforms into a ghoulish second form. In this form, he shoots two energy balls that go down to the floor and then home toward the player. He can also make four copies of himself which create large energy pillars from the ground, except for the real one. It is speculated that this form could be or represent Drolta Tzuentes.
After the battle with the second form, Dracula transforms into a demonic third form. He flies around the room, distorting himself to become larger and hit the player, all while firing fangs which erupt into pillars of flame all over the screen. After sustaining enough damage, he turns red and begins firing large waves of flames (both of these attacks come from his mouth-like midsection); the more damage he takes, the larger he gets. Finally, he will turn white and hop around the room, spewing large amounts of bones at the player when hit. Each time he is hit, he loses parts of his skin until he is reduced to a skeleton upon the final blow.
Dracula's first form behaves exactly as he did in Rondo of Blood, firing waves of three way fireballs and two slower moving meteors at different heights. However, he is fought on several narrow platforms at different heights, thus greatly limiting Richter's movement.
Dracula's second form behaves similarly to Rondo of Blood's. Due to the throne room's configuration in this game, he flies from platform to platform instead of jumping. He still uses the same fireball waves and electric blast, though.
In the introduction, Dracula's first form fights almost identically as he did in Rondo of Blood, although his second form is slightly different. He attacks by breathing fireballs in the patterns from Rondo of Blood and the original Castlevania. Dracula also has a different attack where he jumps up while energy rays rain from his wings. Once Dracula is defeated, his second form is engulfed in miniature explosions as he expresses disbelief at his defeat and screams, and then the screen freezes and turns into a sepia-tone photograph-like image that promptly burns away.
Richter is invincible in the introduction stage, although Alucard's starting statistics and equipment are determined by how well Richter performs in the fight. For example, defeating Dracula while successfully avoiding damage will boost Alucard's HP, while if Richter takes enough damage to rely on Maria's aid, Alucard will begin with a Potion at hand (read more information about these criteria here).
In the final battle, True Dracula turns his cape into a huge monster before fighting. Dracula does not directly attack, instead using his cape to do the work for him. He will strike at Alucard with either claw or the demon heads, and also will send a variety of projectile moves at the player. Occasionally, Dracula will summon a previous enemy and then squash it, building his own strength for more attacks. As his sprite is very large, it is best to continually attack while attempting to dodge and healing injuries. In order to damage him, Alucard needs to attack him or his claw shaped cape, though the latter has slightly more defense (20 DEF) than the former (18 DEF).
Master of the evil castle, this legendary Prince of Darkness
undertook a transmigration from his human body and, in doing so, came into a magic ability beyond imagination.
Upon changing into a strange bat like demon made of the tormented souls of his countless victims, Dark Lord Dracula's body will remain in the background as his head teleports to different places around the room, sending fireballs in an eight-direction spread all around itself. There are also pitfalls that need to be avoided while fighting him.
In the good ending version of the final boss, after defeating the Fake Dracula, the hero finds him/herself facing the real one. In his first form, True Dracula will teleport around the four corners and center of the arena, pausing to fire homing, three way blue fireballs, and green shockwaves. He will also create four fake teleports to confuse the player. After receiving some damage, he surrounds himself and the hero, then himself with circles of green fire from the ground to limit space in the arena, before conjuring a pillar of green fire right under the hero.
Castle Keep (if the game time is less than 16 days)
For the second battle, Demon Dracula teleports the hero to a desert and transforms into a gigantic and very dangerous dragon with a centipede-like lower body. He attacks at long-range with two fireballs causing small explosions, waves of dirt from the ground in front of him, and fire steam, tornadoes, a homing, slow-moving energy sphere that can cause gigantic atomic explosions (which can hurt him if he's caught in them). At close-range, he can strike the ground with his claws, breathe fire, and cause a huge shockwave of dirt around himself (the last forcing the hero to flee). The hero must forego ranged attacks, for the exploding spheres can be targeted instead of him, get close and strike him as much as possible before he retaliates.
After taking some damage, he summons to fire dragons constantly erupting from the ground to dive at the hero and overwhelm him with his attacks, resummoning them if they are both destroyed. All of his attacks are very powerful and he spams them fast, so he can easily make quick work of the hero.
It's not particularly clear who this boss is actually supposed to be in Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, but it uses the same model as the first game's Fake Dracula. The first form hurls spreads of fireballs that can be destroyed to gain food and power-ups, two red shockwaves at different heights, and a spell to vacuum Cornell and drag him close, to bite him, drain his life-point and inflict the Vampire status; similar to Castlevania 64. He also has new attacks, catching lightning from the sky either causing a spreading blast or a very powerful, homing beam.
His second form, Dracula Ultimate, is gigantic and very challenging. He always performs his attacks in the same order, shifting between the front and the background, much in the same way as in Symphony of the Night. The arena is limited to the screen size, greatly hindering Cornell's movement. He is very fast and his attacks are highly damaging, so Cornell must learn his attack pattern and know when to dodge and when to strike, Dracula Ultimate only being vulnerable in the face that opens in his belly as he attacks.
His attack pattern is as followed:
He conjures gigantic lightning blasts from the sky in succession. Cornell must dodge the smaller blasts that telegraph where they strike.
He flies to the background and hurls three successive waves of fiery meteors, that Cornell must destroy lest they fly back toward him after he dodges, adding themselves to the following waves and risking overwhelming Cornell.
He flies fast toward Cornell and lands a uppercut. If Cornell is hit, he is sent flying upward and Ultimate Dracula blasts him with two huge white beams in succession.
He flies to the background and hurls three successive waves of fast-moving icicle spears, that Cornell can destroy and dodge by jumping over. Getting hit by one risks being it by the following waves, but if Cornell jumps as Ultimate Dracula hurls a wave, they will fly over him.
He flies fast from the background and punches the ground, causing waves of icicle spears erupting fast from it on each side. Cornell must jump at the right moment.
He flies to the background and opens a dark vortex, summoning an onslaught of fast-flying demonic snakes that must all be destroyed, lest they attack Cornell again after flying past him and overwhelm him.
He flies from the back ground and open his right hand, causing winds to vacuum Cornell. If Dracula Ultimate catches him, he throws him high in the air and blasts him with three huge white beams in succession. Cornell must strike his face as he passes next.
The face on his chest gathers power to fire a gigantic sphere of golden energy, causing a tremendous explosion enough to kill Cornell in one hit. Cornell must strike it before he can fire, and might strike twice with the right timing.
In his first form, Dracula will teleport around the room, sending forth groups of differently colored bats instead of his usual fireballs. He hurls fire bats in groups of three (exactly like Hellfire), two fast-flying ice bats in the same pattern as Dark Inferno, and a swarm of lightning bats in a spreading manner all over the room. In this phase, unlike in most games, his entire body is vulnerable.
After defeating his first form, the player can exit the room, save, and come back to fight Dracula's second form.
In his second form, Dracula will teleport around the room and fire lasers from the mouths on his shoulders, conjuring flames from the ground on their wake, spew acid clouds from his two worm-like protrusions, or summon a powerful meteor shower. During this phase, he is only vulnerable in the eye located in the midsection of his body and only when it's open, much like in Legacy of Darkness.
After losing half of his total HP, Dracula will attempt to ram Nathan by charging into him, which deals alarming amounts of damage (even in Fighter mode). Use the Roc Wing with appropriate timing to avoid. After he has performed two to four charging attempts (the number of times he does so is random, but will always be in this range), he will transform into a flying eyeball surrounded by a company of demonic bat-like creatures. The eyeball will lazily home toward Nathan and usually perform one or two swoops. While doing so, a few of the bat demons will fly directly toward Nathan.
In this phase, Dracula can only be damaged by striking directly at the eye, although it will be necessary to attack it constantly in order to remove some of the bat demons shielding it (a monster summon is generally a good option to do both). After a while, Dracula will return to his previous form and start charging again. He cannot be damaged while in this form anymore, though; only as the floating eyeball.
Dracula Wraith will first teleport around the room, either firing his traditional three-fireball cluster, or six slow-moving meteors at two different heights. He is only vulnerable in his head, and the easiest way to fight him is to repeatedly jump kick and bounce off his head as he attacks, as this, apart of dealing considerable damage to him, gives the player a safe spot where they won't be in the range of any of his attacks.
Dracula Wraith's second form is a giant amalgamation of his five relics, and attacks by pushing Juste against the back of the room while striking with his claw and firing a devastating laser beam from his eye. He has tendency to use all of his attacks at once, making it harder for the player to avoid getting hit. Dracula Wraith is vulnerable on any part of his body.
It's also possible to slide under Dracula Wraith and get behind him. Because he can't turn around, rendering the player completely safe to all of his attacks.
Soma Cruz will appear in Julius Mode (which represents a non-canon story arc, a "what if" account of Julius's adventures following Dawn of Sorrow's main tale) as "Dracula", or at least, the very reincarnation of the Dark Lord. After throwing his blood-filled champagne glass to the ground, Soma will summon to his aid an invincible Gaibonfamiliar, which will stick close by its master and about every ten seconds attack with a vicious lunge; the heroes can be damaged by Gaibon only during these lunge attacks. Soma, himself, will continue to teleport in and out about the room; after each stop, he'll whip out a gigantic axe, similar to the Giga Twister (the Great Axe Armor's soul), and rotate it around twice, causing heavy damage for any contact made. While the axe attack is not difficult to avoid or to counter, the Gaibon familiar serves as a real distraction and helps to keep the player's eyes off the real target. In addition, his overall posture while attacking is similar to that of Graham Jones in that he levitates slightly off the ground while covered in a demonic aura.
When the big tease is over, Soma will delve into Dracula's bag of tricks and morph into a familiar demon form. Though, this time, the ghost demon sports some new offense thanks to its always handy Harpy familiar. Its propensity to jump high and far in an attempt to crowd the heroes into one side of the room hasn't changed, but what happens in between is a bigger concern.
The most common attack, executed before the demon jumps, is for the Harpy to summon a group of larva to erratically fly in, from diagonally above, when thereafter the demon will follow it up by spitting out a flame that treks along the ground in a wave (much like Aguni's soul). Less frequently, Dracula will summon a cloud of annoying locusts to scurry about the immediate area, but no fire-wave will follow. Eventually, the heroes will have to maneuver around the demon either by sliding beneath it or by flying over it in bat form (using Alucard) while keeping in mind its attacks.
Dracula in Curse of Darkness will teleport around the room, and use a variety of attacks. He can bring up a wave of spikes that follows Hector, shoot purple exploding fireballs in groups of either three or five, use a laser to draw an area, in which an explosion occurs within said area, or heal himself by biting Hector. Occasionally, he will fly around the room as a swarm of bats instead of teleporting, and after taking enough damage, gains a new attack where he will grow wings, float upward, and surround himself in a powerful flame pillar. The player can steal the Tomato Juice from Dracula just after escaping his "teleport and grab" attack (jumping is needed to reach the steal target).
"Master of Castlevania, he plunged the world into darkness and reigns at the head of an age of terror."
In his giant second form, Dracula will shift between two planes as Hector is restricted to a small platform. When up close, Dracula will slash at Hector, leaving behind a horizontal trail poisonous blood-red mist, or slam his claws into the ground to shake the platform, and leave behind two vertical trails of the poisonous mist, or can try to grab and crush him. When at a distance, Dracula will fire a cluster of homing arrow-like energy lasers, will circle the platform with a large energy beam, fire an area of effect blast, or come close for a massive punch.
In his first form, Dracula will teleport around the room, first shooting fireballs in waves of three, five, and three again, and alternating with groups of high and low meteors, or perform a new attack where he turns into a swarm of bats and rushes across the room. He fights alongside Death, who will seek out the player and slash at him, either in a dive attack, or splitting into four clones and then slashing. After several repetitions, Dracula and Death will combine for one of two attacks: He will draw in a cloud of Death's scythes and expel them as meteors (can only be countered if the scythes are destroyed early in the attack), or will erupt in a large area of effect explosion. Dracula is only vulnerable in his head, but it is easier to target Death during the fight.
For his second form, True Dracula will attack the player first by punching the floor, also raining down patterns of energy rays and throwing curving scythes at the hero. Finally, he will fly into the background and use his wings in an attempt to crush the player. This move can kill the player in a matter of seconds, especially on Hard Mode. To further complicate matters, the attack ignores the character's Defense stat, dealing full damage regardless of equipment. To counter this, one must attack one side until it jumps back, then switch sides. Repeating this until both wings are retracted will prevent a Game Over. The partner can be summoned to attack too, but it is not necessary if the player is quick enough. Should the attempt to repel the wings fail, a well timed Dual Crush (as long as it is not 1000 Blades) will make the player impervious to most, if not all, of the damage that the attack deals. Healing with items during the attack can also save the player's life.
In the cell phone game, Dracula will teleport around the room and fire either alternating meteors or vertical lightning strikes. His entire body is vulnerable.
Dracula, at first, appears to be using the same tricks he did in Rondo of Blood and Dracula X, but once the first two forms have been dealt with, instead of allowing Richter to lay claim to victory, he decides to push it even further and unleash his third form.
In addition to Dracula now being able to fly, he also gains a new bag of tricks to use on the hunter, he can cause pillars of fire to erupt where Richter stands. He can also use his wings to try and attack Richter from the ground, easily avoided by moving away from all but the last attack, and then stopping or by launching one of the tips of his wing directly at Richter like a projectile. Dracula can also summon a blood red energy orb that homes in on Richter, but he can repel it with attacks of his own. Another attack is a storm of blood rain that Richter can avoid by standing under Dracula. He can also fly in the air and launch five fireballs at Richter, not to be content with that, Dracula can also try to ram into Richter in wolf form, easily avoided by being away from him and on the ground. Dracula can also launch a swarm of bats at Richter, but they can be damage to also damage Dracula. Players should also be mindful of their placement whenever Dracula turns into bats and flies away; the bats themselves can hurt Richter.
Note: If the player has not rescued all of the three kidnapped maidens (Tera, Iris and Annette, but not Maria), the battle will be exactly as it is in Rondo of Blood, followed by the bad ending for the game.
Dracula does not change forms in this game, but he does have more than one phase of attack. In the first phase, he will teleport around the room, and open his cape to release a torrent of fireballs. If the hero moves too high in the room (usually done by use of Volaticus), he will unleash a high-reaching series of energy pillars. These pillars are as tall as the room, and usually begin where the hero last was. The pillars are upgraded in Hard mode to reach the whole room, leaving no breathing room once commenced. Also, if the hero were to try double jumping over Dracula, he will attempt to uppercut them, more often than not hitting and knocking them away. Occasionally, Dracula fires his meteors in groups of five, or uses an attack similar to Dominus Hatred. Only his head is vulnerable.
In the second phase, Dracula becomes far more mobile, and will actively chase the hero. He can attack directly with a quick circular kick, or summoning a wave of blue energy bolts aimed at the hero's current location. He can also teleport to prepare one of three attacks. A key warning of which attack he does can be seen through the outline shown when Dracula teleports; if the outline is purple, he will try to grab the hero and leech hit points, regenerating himself in the process. If the outline shown is blue, Dracula will summon a pack of wolves to constantly rush around the room unless killed. If the outline shown is red, Dracula will call a stream of bats in a sine wave. These bats deal fairly high damage per hit and there is a great deal of them. Attempting to take these hits head on will quickly prove extremely hazardous, if not fatal, even to a level 255 Shanoa. The attack can be avoided by finding the right spot to crouch or by using a shield glyph to block them. The second option may be preferable, as Shanoa is allowed a safer way to attack Dracula. His weak spot is his head, once again.
After a brief cutscene, Dracula stops toying with Shanoa, and will begin to cast Demonic Megiddo. This attack does 9999 damage per second and cannot be avoided unless the player knows the secret glyph combination to use on him (which is very obvious, the Dominus glyphs). Dracula is only defeated if the player casts the Union before the explosion.
Dracula provides quite a serious challenge in this game. He welcomes politely the two warriors, warning them that "God is unable to help the souls of those terminated by his hand" and starts flying around. He is quite fast and can strike the warriors from behind, teleport, cast Hellfire as many fireballs at once or in succession, and finally, disappear for a while, during which Knights enemies spawn and must be slain. Dracula must be attacked without end.
Dracula's second form looks like a demonic, winged variation of his classical vampire aspect. Upon transforming, he becomes much mightier, faster, sturdier, and more aggressive.
He still flies and teleports, but can leave afterimages behind. He either turns into a wolf running fast to jump at the warriors or a Bat Swarm to fly at them, and casts Hellfire barrages lasting longer. When wounded enough, he starts casting Demonic Megiddo, as a dark sphere of destruction fired from above to blast the warriors, much in the same way as in Judgment. They must destroy it before it hits them or suffer maximum damage.
Again, Dracula must be attacked endlessly while he is onscreen, while never leaving him out of sight for long.
"The vampire of the dark night lives eternally with his many dark followers. He is the king, absolute evil and the most terrifying creature in existence."
Dracula behaves differently from the original game - teleporting around the room and shooting off fireballs in sets of three, which can be destroyed. The fireball power-up found in the room before will allow Christopher to keep his distance from Dracula for a limited time, but after it runs out, Christopher will be required to stay near him (without use of sub-weapons, at least) in order to deal damage.
There are many ways to negate his fireball attack, but one of the most effective (but risky) is the "whip shield" - to crouch, keep Christopher's back to Dracula and swing before the fireballs make contact - the wind-up for the attack should destroy both the middle and lower fireballs behind Christopher and allow Christopher to avoid taking damage, though this requires precise timing.
This allows Christopher to stay close to Dracula, and with good timing, he can damage Dracula once before he releases his fireballs and once after, allowing Christopher to hit him twice before he teleports and ending the battle far quicker. Regardless, Dracula's first form is predictable, having only one attack, making this a low-risk battle, though it can tend to be long and tedious.
Dracula's second form acts different from that of the original Castlevania and Rondo of Blood, though it sports a new appearance. Dracula can still only be damaged when hit in the head. He has a different pattern from Rondo of Blood - jumping whilst releasing energy rays from his wings, and using a fire breath attack after every third jump. During every jump, he will drop down four bolts of energy rays which curve diagonally downward either left or right - whichever direction they curve seems to be random, which can make dodging them slightly unpredictable. He can be hit easily between every jump, and his fire breath attack can be dodged by staying in between Dracula and the fire breath.
Dracula's third form is a massive demon head that constantly casts spells. He begins the battle with his lower jaw fully intact, and, with it being the only part of Dracula that drops low enough that it can be attacked, his jaw will be the main target. His jaw will drop down low enough to be attacked immediately as he initiates his first attack and remain low enough to be damaged for the rest of this part of the battle, allowing Christopher to attack it constantly.
During this phase, he only has two attacks, both of which are signaled by the appearance of glyphs - if several glyphs appear near the top of the screen, lightning will drop down from every glyph. If several glyphs appear near the bottom, however, each glyph will burst into flames. Both of these can only be avoided in the same manner - standing beneath or on the spot (depending on the attack) where no glyph is present, thereby dodging any of the lightning or flames. After 7 hits, Dracula's jaw will drop off and the next phase of the battle will initiate.
After Dracula's jaw drops off, his head will lower slightly, revealing the several glyphs at the top of the room. Dracula attacks primarily from these glyphs. The only part of his body that can be damaged in this stage of the battle are his eyes, but they are too high to be damaged through any regular means - the axe is the only sub-weapon that can reach high enough to damage his eyes. Otherwise, players must attack the reachable portion of Dracula's head continuously, until one of the two platforms at the sides of the room raises, allowing Christopher to jump on top of them and properly attack Dracula's eyes.
While this is happening, Dracula will constantly attack Christopher through a variety of means - from the top glyphs, he will release several homing bubbles, which can be destroyed in one hit, and alongside them, two homing electricity spheres, which each take two hits to destroy. From the glyphs, he can also spawn Rolling Eyes, and he can drop down fireballs which explode horizontally.
He can also summon several glyphs which spread out into a circle near the top of the room - each of these glyphs will release lightning in the direction they are pointing, forcing Christopher to find a safe spot. Finally, as his rarest attack, Dracula can spawn several glyphs which form a "wave" of sorts in the middle of the room - each of these will explode into flames, and yet again, Christopher must stay away from the glyphs to avoid taking damage. During all of this, Dracula will also take less damage as his health lowers, to the point that it will eventually take several hits to reduce a sliver of his health.
Note: The third form will not be confronted if the player is playing in Easy mode.
Dracula's first form is his form from the prologue of Symphony of the Night. He uses his traditional attacks, Hellfire and Dark Inferno, both of which can be absorbed by Charlotte with the Book of Binding. He also possesses a new attack, flame pillars (the same as Dario's flame pillars from Dawn of Sorrow), a possible reference to his main attack in Dracula's Curse.
Dracula's second form is his traditional jumping demon form, from the Symphony of the Night prologue. He retains his two main attacks: his fireballs that, when making contact with the ground, explode into flame waves, and his jump, which he occasionally casts Fatal Ray. He also has two new attacks: Ghost Chaser (can be absorbed by Charlotte), in which he launches red-purple souls that chase the player; and the Gergoth Laser, in which he floats backward and fires a massive beam from his mouth.
In his third form, Dracula will take his final form used in the final battle of Symphony of the Night. He has several attacks to his disposal. When he glows dark blue, he will gain a temporary shield that negates physical attacks during the duration of the shield. When he glows light blue, he negates magical/ability attacks.
He can shoot triangular blasts, and shoot a large amount of hearts; if they make contact with Shanoa, Charlotte, Yoko, or Maria, the said player will fall under Dracula's control and attack their teammates - male characters will simply take damage instead.
For his other attacks, Dracula will invoke a runic circle. When it glows red, he will activate fire pillars under an ally, crossing through the room when they move. When the circle glows orange, he will shoot a moving flame wave. When it glows blue, several white lines will appear, and in a split second later, lasers will erupt where the lines were. Finally, when Dracula summons a white ringed by red rune circle, he will cast Demonic Megiddo, the most powerful attack in the game, that can only be dodged from the very sides of the room. This is the only time when Dracula can morph into his demon form and cast Demonic Megiddo.
On Hard mode, his attacks will not only hit harder, but develop other means of harassment. Demonic Megiddo, for example, will also have three fire columns covering the safe zones before he launches the main attack, leaving only very tight timing to avoid both the columns and the main attack (preferable to take the fire columns over the instantly lethal main attack, though). Dracula's stationary single fire column strike will add an electric shock that horizontally divides the room in two, preventing any jumping.
R. The Count (Retro Dracula) is the boss of Chapter 10 of Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, Origins. He is actually Dracula from the first Castlevania. His first form fights similarly to his first form in Castlevania, but instead of the traditional triple fireball, he will fire off 5 fast fireballs that curve upward as they move. He will always teleport in between. If a player tries to get behind Dracula when he appears, he may backdash across the room to inflict collision damage.
In Hard Mode, Dracula is much more difficult. Instead of a single volley of 5 fireballs, he launches 3 volleys of 7 fireballs, one released at Dracula's chest height and curving upward, one released above his head and moving straight, and one released behind him and curving upward.
Wearing Ancient armor is recommended as all of his attacks cause massive damage. Those who cannot avoid damage should stand outside the boss room on the stairs leading to it with potions on standby. If the boss fight has been activated and there are no living characters inside the boss room, Dracula will spawn spirals of star shaped attacks in rapid succession that cannot be avoided/blocked. These are 99% likely to kill anyone skulking on the stairs outside or making potion runs.
If you are able to avoid his attack pattern and damage him until his head "falls off" then he will enter his second form. This is a blue winged demon, Dracula's second form from Castlevania (and one of his most common demon forms). Like in the original Castlevania, Dracula will jump three times, before launching a fireball attack. However, this time around, instead of a single fireball, he launches a stream of spiraling fireballs.
In Hard Mode, he launches the fireballs faster. Occasionally, Dracula will dash toward the player, flapping his wings, don't jump when he does this.
The representation of Soma Cruz, summoned by Hermina, is a boss encountered in the chapter "That Which Writhes: All for One", where he is fought immediately after Legion. His fighting style is largely similar to the first phase of the boss fight against him in Julius Mode in Dawn of Sorrow, although he'll use Hellfire at times as well. The fight ends automatically after a few minutes, with the player not needing to damage him before then. However, after clearing the chapter, he cannot be fought again after Legion.
In the next battle, in the chapter "A Vessel for the Lord", Dark Soma fights similarly to the above, although he now summons a level 61 Gaibon and Harpy, and also incorporates moves from his second phase for Julius Mode (in particular, summoning Larva). Upon being bested in battle, Hermina uses the Aurora ability to lift the Vital Souls, now turned into the Crimson Moon Souls, from his body and he is purified back into Soma Cruz.
In the tenth chapter, Dracula is reborn despite his final destruction in 1999, due to Death infusing his past echo from Elgos' Grimoires with the Crimson Moon Souls containing his essence. He has the same movesets as in prior games; that is, teleporting quite fast and using Hellfire or Giant fire pillars from the ground (inflicting Burn status), Dark Inferno (inflicting Curse status), Bat Moon from Portrait of Ruin albeit slower, and he finally casts Demonic Megiddo in the same way as Walter Bernhard did, forcing Alucard to run away from him to avoid getting caught in the blast.
After absorbing Death's offered soul and transforming into True Dracula, much in the same way as in Portrait of Ruin, he becomes considerably more dangerous. He is huge, very fast, and spams powerful attacks. He jumps, stomps the ground, strikes with his claws and his stinger tail.
He breathes fireballs and a lasting flaming breath (inflicting Burn status), homing purple fireballs in succession (inflicting Curse status), flying green orbs (inflicting Slow status), and a huge and deadly purple beam blasting most of the screen.
After taking some damage, he flies to the center of the arena and uses a devastating attack. Each of a distinct element depending on the color, similar to Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth. The hero must destroy him before he can unleashes them all, but when wounded enough he will only attack with them. They are as follow:
Two waves of gigantic flaming pillars on each side, erupting from the ground in succession, followed by an onslaught of fire pillars erupting at once, all inflicting the Burn status. Alucard must find the safe spot for the second wave.
A circular wave of icicles fired in succession, followed by a powerful blizzard all around the arena making icicles erupt from the ground, all inflicting the Frozen status. Alucard must dodge the icicles, then get away fast and jump.
Giant lightning spheres falling right on Alucard in succession, followed by three successive arrays of lightning crosses all over the screen, two vertically and the third horizontally, all inflicting the Shock status. Alucard must get away and find a safe spot before the lightning crosses materialize.
Four giant purple spheres in a spiraling pattern, followed by four homing Dark Inferno meteors in succession, all inflicting the Curse status.
Giga Demonic Megiddo, covering most of the screen for near-certain instant-kill. Alucard must finish him off as he gathers his power before he can cast it.
Upon being defeated, Hermina and Lucy use the Aurora spell to disintegrate him and send him back "right where he belongs".
Dracula is fought in his throne room as usual, in a battle very reminiscent to that of Rondo of Blood. The Lord of Darkness fights as usual, by teleporting and casting Hellfire, Dark Inferno (a red and blue sphere in succession and two at the same time).
After a while, he creates a purple crystal at the center of the room that conjures damned souls and must be broken. Dracula can be hit everywhere and knocked out, making him rather easy.
His true form breathes three successive Dark Infernos, emits a painful roar before firing an energy sphere, and rains exploding green beams on his wake after his jumps. He is resilient and strikes hard, but his attacks are telegraphed by red areas where they land, and he can be knocked-out and pummeled with powerful combos.
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