Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Hints

Dullahan HP600

Before long, you'll reach the chamber of the portrait's boss, Dullahan. He's a tough fellow with some very damaging attacks, but as long as you play smart you can get through the fight without much problems. We recommend using a powerful, arching sword (like the Claymore, which we found in this very portrait). Stand in front of Dullahan and attack with just the tip of your long sword. When you see the enemy pull back for a dashing thrust attack, perform a Lizard Tail slide away from the enemy to avoid getting hit. The attacks you'll most want to watch for come when Dullahan summons his head back to his body. As the enemy throws up a series of tracking projectiles that move to the top of the screen before chasing after you, run side to side across the arena to dodge the nasty shots. After four or five of these shots, Dullahan will toss the head towards in as it explodes into a swarm of projectiles. This is where the arching sword comes in handy, as a quick swipe of your blade can destroy the swarm of projectiles before they get a chance to touch you. After avoiding that series of attacks, return to dealing your own. The only other attack to watch for comes when Dullahan crouches back and prepares to leap into the air and down on top of you. As he leaps, move towards Dullahan and perform a Lizard Tail slide under him to avoid getting stomped on. A side effect of this counter is that you'll now be standing behind the enemy, letting you attack freely for a while.

Behemoth HP 800

There are a few attacks you'll need to look out for, including a charging rush across the entire play field. To avoid this bullish run, retreat to either far side of the arena and jump onto the platform you find there. When the Behemoth is near you, jump into the air to avoid him entirely. Return to the ground and back away from the passage through which Behemoth ran, as he'll soon be coming back. Also watch for some projectile attacks Behemoth spews out. Fortunately, you can destroy the projectiles with a well-timed sword swipe (an arching weapon becomes very helpful here). As well, Behemoth with perform a leaping attack that's not too unlike the jumping attack from Dullahan, who you fought earlier. When Behemoth launches into the air, run towards him and perform a Lizard Tail slide to safely scoot under the attack.

Keremet HP 666

Keremet, a large slime that lives in a steaming pot. If you approach the fight incorrectly, you'll have a hard time avoiding Keremet's attacks. However, the proper way to fight Keremet makes the battle ridiculously easy. As the battle starts, move the pot towards the right side of the room (you can summon your partner to help you and speed up the pushing). Move the pot near the set of platforms to the right, but not all the way under them. When you've got the pot in position, call your partner and leave her (or him) to attack the left side of the pot, using the Wait Cube. As that goes on, hop over the pot and onto the platforms that should be on the right side of the pot. After the pot's been hit a few times by your partner, Keremet will come out and launch a number of attacks—to the left. You'll be completely invulnerable while waiting on the platforms to the right, letting you unload any and all attacks you've got. We recommend not using any magical attacks, as they'll consume MP that your other partner is likely using when getting hit by Keremet's attacks. Before long, the enemy will die.

The Creature HP4000

The Creature is a very resilient enemy with some devastating attacks. Standing in front of the enemy will mean certain death for you. The key to winning this fight is to get behind The Creature...repeatedly. All of The Creature's attacks fire out straight in front of him, and they usually give ample notice before the mess hits the fan. When you see The Creature readying an attack, double jump over him to get behind the enemy. If you're like us, a double jump won't quite be enough to make the leap over. I recommend executing a dive kick while directly over The Creature, bouncing off his shoulders to get some extra distance on your jump. When performing the dive kick, be sure to drop straight down and not at an angle. If you dive kick at an angle, you'll often trade hits with The Creature as you bounce off, but diving straight down should avoid this mess. Once behind The Creature, you'll mainly want to attack with whichever weapon is your most powerful. If you're good with the attack cancels (read up on them in our Basics section), use 'em here to get in multiple hits quickly before having to jump over the enemy again. If you happen to land behind The Creature just as he begins one of his long-lasting attacks (like the machinegun fire), unload a tag-team magic attack like the 1,000 Blades to deal massive damage. Really, the key to this fight is being able to always stay behind The Creature. If you stand in front of him, you'll have to defend against the machinegun attack that's almost impossible to dodge (use the Stonewall sub-weapon to absorb less damage) and dodge the hard-to-predict lightning shot The Creature fires. Master the technique of jumping over The Creature, however, and you'll never have to deal with the attacks.

Werewolf HP4500

another easy enemy to contend with. As long as you've got a powerful main weapon (we used the Vampire Killer), you can just stand in front of the Werewolf and trade blows for the win. It's not pretty, but it should work. If you want to be a bit more elegant in your slaying of the beast, attack with the very tip of your weapon, staying as far back as possible. You'll be able to see his attacks ready before they come out, giving you plenty of time to dash cancel away. You can also use the Griffon Wing skill to launch to the top of the screen, and wait there until the Werewolf's attack is finished. Occasionally the Werewolf will summon a group of hounds to attack you from the rear. These hounds can easily be taken care of by turning towards them and unleashing your whip. One strike should clear them out, letting you focus on finishing off the boss.

Meduse HP3500

She's an imposing enemy that takes up the left side of the room she's in (and sometimes more). Medusa has some powerful attacks, though most of them can beeasily avoided. The key to this battle is to stay near Medusa. Her head moves around the room a lot, but try to stay close. If you keep an eye on her head you can usually predict which attack she'll come with next. Medusa has a couple of physical attacks that are dodged in much the same way. For one attack, Medusa will simply pull her arm up and get ready to swipe. When you see this start, run away from Medusa and get ready to double jump just as she swipes at you. For her other physical attack, Medusa transformers into a full snake head. The snake head will retreat into the wall to the left before darting out to jab with its head. You'll want to dodge the move the same way you dodge the aforementioned Medusa swipe, but be sure you start moving to the right well away from the wall on the right. If you run out of room to run, you'll get cornered and nailed. Of course, Medusa has attacks that'll turn you to stone. If you hear Medusa say "Petrify!" that's your cue to turn your back. As long as you're not facing Medusa, the large beam (which is impossible to avoid), will have no effect. Medusa will also unleash a bunch of yellow Medusa Head enemies that'll turn you to stone if touched. Use a sweeping attack to take out the enemies all at once, or simply stand directly under Medusa (the boss) to be completely safe. Medusa's most dangerous attack is a different beast entirely. Medusa will send her snake tail coursing through the floor of the room, erupting in humps that threaten to damage you. There is a small safe spot for you to stand, directly between two of the humps. It's sometimes difficult to find the safe spot without getting hit, though, and it may be worth avoiding the attack by simply staying airborne. Use the Griffon Wing jump or the Owl Morph spell to stay in the air.

Death HP4444

Death is, without a doubt, the toughest boss you've yet faced. But as with other boss fights, having a solid game plan will help out immensely. Above anything else, your focus should be evasion of Death's attacks. He's capable of dealing massive damage with every hit, and if you're not careful you can get yourself caught in some pretty nasty combos. One of Death's most common attacks starts when he creates a wall of chains surrounding himself. His scythe will bounce between the walls of the chains, threatening to damage you as it does. You can retreat outside of the walls and attack the clasped hands to end the attack, or you can dare to go inside the walls and attack Death while he stands still. Before making your decision, take note of the speed of the spinning scythe. If it's flying around quickly, don't bother trying to attack Death. Just focus on destroying the cage to move on to a more vulnerable attack pattern. Another deadly attack to watch for follows Death's creation of four holes that surround him. In clockwise order, starting from the top left, hands will reach out and grab your character. You can avoid the attack by staying to the far left or right of Death, but it's almost inevitable that you'll at some point be nabbed. If you do nothing, you'll take a huge hit from Death. However, if you call out your partner, he or she will automatically attack the hands that are grabbing you, eventually freeing you. Whenever you see Death summon the four holes, we recommend switching to Charlotte. If she gets grabbed, it's much easier for Jonathan to break the hands holding Charlotte in place. Death will also deliver some attacks by hand, which you'll have to watch out for when he's not executing one of the aforementioned proxy attacks. If Death swoops down and starts hovering on either side of you, stand in place and be ready to double jump at the last second. It may take a few times getting hit before you get the timing down, but rest assured that this is the best way to deal with the attack. For another attack, Death will move upwards and float over you. To dodge this attack, simply move left or right. Of course, you'll do all this while dealing with death's small sickles. Fortunately, you can destroy them with a good swipe of your weapon (for this we recommend a sweeping sword, like the Royal Sword—you can get it from Wind). You'll also want to watch out for Death's changing color. He'll switch between black and white robes, and each color lets you know that he's vulnerable (and resistant) to different things. When death is dressed in black, he has a resistance to physical attacks. As such, all of Jonathan's sub-weapon attacks will be useless, and even his main weapon attacks will have reduced effect. Try out Charlotte and see if she does better (this depends on the weapons you have). Conversely, when Death is dressed in white he becomes more vulnerable to physical attacks and gains resistance to magic attacks. Without a doubt, Jonathan is the better character to use against this form. We recommend fighting with the Dart sub-weapon, as it uses very little MP and is capable of dealing solid damage if you hit the center of Death.

Stella & Loretta HP2500

Equip Charlotte with the Sanctuary spell before heading into the boss room to face Stella and Loretta. The goal of this battle is not to defeat the sisters, but rather to cure them of their vampirism. The Sanctuary spell will do the trick, but it has a very long startup time. You'll need to find a way you can trigger the spell and keep from getting hit while the spell prepares. Use Jonathan as your main character and equip him with the Stonewall spell if you've got it (it's found in the Forest of Doom portrait stage). The two sisters will float around unleashing various attacks. Stella focuses mostly on melee attacks with her sword while Loretta prepares massive magic attacks that hit anything in front of her. Lure the sisters to one side of the room and wait for Loretta to trigger one of her long-winded magic attacks. As it prepares, run under the spell to get behind the sisters, and make your way to the opposite end of the room. Once there, call out Charlotte to begin the Sanctuary spell while retaining control of Jonathan. It's up to Jonathan to play defense. Leave Charlotte in the corner and move forward a bit with Jonathan without scrolling your partner off the screen (the spell will reset if you do). Use Jonathan as a distraction to keep Stella away from Charlotte. We recommend using the Stonewall sub-weapon and simply standing in place to absorb the hits as they come. Loretta will usually finish her first magic attack (the one you ran under) before Charlotte is finished with her spell, leaving her open to start another. If Loretta gets off another magic attack, it's probably worth it to sacrifice some of Jonathan's HP to absorb the hits, jumping straight into the spell to ensure that Charlotte does not get hit.

Belmont HP5000

The battle with Richter is pretty tough because all of his attacks deal massive damage. As well, he's difficult to avoid as he brings the fight right to your face, constantly pushing you towards the corners of the room. However, come to the battle prepared and you'll be able to deal with Richter easily. Still, one slip and it could mean goodbye for your chance at unlocking the Vampire Killer's power. I recommend fighting Richter with the Nebula whip and one of two sub-weapons, the Paper Airplane or the mastered Shuriken. You can find the Nebula at the top of a tower in Dracula's Castle, just west of the tower that leads you to the Nation of Fools portrait. The Shuriken sub-weapon can be purchased from Vincent for a cool 1,000 gold (that's cheap!), though for it to be really effective you'll want to master the skill first. The Paper Airplane does much less damage than the Shuriken but also uses much less MP—theoretically, it's the better weapon, but it'll take much longer to defeat Richter. And since fighting Richter longer means more chances for you to mess up, we think the Shuriken is best. The key to defeating Richter is to stay as far away as possible. Jump and launch Shuriken attacks from a distance, trying to get the aiming so that you get the maximum number of hits from the sub-weapon (it's capable of hitting four or five time with just one throw). When you run out of MP, resort to jumping attacks from the Nebula whip. Jump away from Richter and launch the whip as you travel up into the air. By the time you land, the attack should have ended, letting you move around without stopping to recoil your whip. Go back to Shuriken attacks when you've got the MP, using Nebula strikes only to buy time. Richter will give up eventually, and when he does you'll be rewarded with the true power of the Vampire Killer. We recommend clearing this challenge sooner than later—the Vampire Killer is a great weapon that's going to help a lot.