Castlevania: Bloodlines Bosses
ervants of Dracula are stationed to guard the landmarks that Elizabeth has traversed. If you're able to destroy the most powerful guardian in a location, you will free it from the corruption the vampire Countess has cast upon it. There are several other mid-bosses in the stages, but this guide focuses only on the primary bosses, and is relevant for both Eric and John.
Drolta's Mecha Knight
This mechanized templar resembles Sir Grakul from Super Castlevania IV. He begins armed with an axe and a cudgel and will walk slowly back and forth. After taking a few hits, the axe will be knocked away. He'll employ a leaping attack where he swings his cudgel downward, but he'll mostly stick to casually pacing around the stage. If he gets close, he may thrust the bludgeon forward, but you can duck to avoid this attack.
Once he loses one of his arms from suffering more damage, he'll try more dangerous tactics and twirl the cudgel like a baton. Try to keep your distance from him while he's doing this, and rely on your sub-weapon. When the Mecha Knight loses both arms, he will use his feet as weapons and may try running at you quickly. Getting cornered can be a problem with this foe. If you're playing as John, you can use the small platform near the top of the room to swing with the whip across to the other side. This also works as an effective attack, since John will kick the knight on impact. Remember to keep your distance, and rely on ranged sub-weapons. The more this enemy falls to pieces, the more desperate and deadly he becomes. Once he loses all health, the knight will shatter and lose his form.
Golem
The best tool for this situation is definitely the axe. When you first enter the room, the water will be close to the ceiling, but it will drain, lowering you to floor level. While you're near the top, let off a few axe special attacks toward Golem's head with the C and up buttons. If the attacks land, you will have an early advantage. Once you reach the floor, lob axes so that they strike all sections of Golem's body, from the top to the bottom. Don't be dismayed about these not damaging the creature. You need to strike Golem in the head to cause it harm. But first, you must get its head within striking range by knocking away portions of its pillared body.
Golem will pace slowly back and forth and occasionally strike the ceiling with its fist, which causes debris from above to fall, just like Frankenstein's Monster's attack from games past. You can dodge anything that plummets by moving in between the rubble, or going to the extreme left of the screen. The red orb that serves as this Cyclops's eye is your target. Once it is in view, hit it with as many axes as you can.
When in critical danger, Golem will change its attack by leaping into the air and crashing into the ground, the impact of which propels your hero into the air, making it hard to dodge oncoming rubble. Jump right before Golem hits the ground to avoid the shockwave. Aside from that, Golem will swing its arm back and forth. This isn't hard to dodge. Continue attacking the red orb until the animated creature gives in.
Gargoyle
This is a delicate battle, because there isn't a whole lot of space to move around without falling off the small stage. To further complicate matters, the battle field rotates quickly, causing your character's position to change depending on how it is spinning. The Gargoyle takes advantage of this situation. It will swing its balled tail at your hunter; the tip is what you want to avoid. It will then hover in the air and launch ball shots from its tail. It's very open to attack at this time, but it is trying to get you to let your guard down, to tempt you into attacking so that you will get hit by one of its shots. Because the combat zone is so small, the Gargoyle needs only to hit you in the sweet spot to knock your hunter off.
The axe is the perfect weapon for this fight. If you throw it right, you can score two attacks on the creature with one blow. Sometimes, the Gargoyle will fly near the hunter and linger for a while. This is a perfect time to strike. When the Gargoyle gets low on health, it will bounce around the platform like a ball in an attempt to smash your character. Stay close to the aerial beast and go under it when it rebounds, then attack.
Keep moving your character exactly where you want them to be and don't let the spinning platform control your position.
Gear Steamer
The first thing to do is recognize your target, which is that egg like object in the center of the pinions. Concentrate your attacks there. This creature will leap from one side of the room to the other. It isn't hard to pass underneath it. It will also lob gears at you in an assurgent arcing motion. The cogs it throws are slow moving, so you can dodge them by walking a bit out of the way.
When it lobs the gears directly forward, leap to the nearest platform to avoid getting hit. It will also fly forward near ground level. You can choose to duck under this attack or use the higher platforms to get out of harm's, but you want to get back to ground level soon. When it crawls along the ground, it will shoot up into the air when it hits a wall, so don't be on any platforms that are directly above it.
As you attack the egg object, the creature will get shorter, which will make it easier to hit. Continue pounding away. It will eventually start sprinting across the battlefield, which you can counter with a crouch attack, stopping its advance.
Attack it enough times and it will return to its taller form and first mode of attack. Keep hitting the egg and do it in. Don't get too cocky. Even though its health will appear low at this point, it is very deceptive, because it may take several attacks to lower any of its energy bars, so the creature has more fight left in it than it seems.
Queen of Moss
Be sure to pick up the axe again for this fight, which shouldn't be a problem since there is one right before the battle. The regent takes the guise of a woman in a formal dress that floats about the stage. Attack her, and after taking about a quarter of her health, she will shed her charade and appear as a giant moth. The moth has several attacks. One is to fly back and forth and release toxic powder. Watch closely to where the powder falls and move out of the way accordingly. You should not have to move much, just a few paces to dodge whatever dust is headed your way. Another thing the moth likes to do is dive diagonally in an effort to ram your hero. Get under the moth to evade this attack.
The Queen isn't a tough target to hit. If you're playing as John, leap into the air and strike with the whip diagonally. If you've chosen Eric, stand beneath her and strike up vertically. The axe works very well, too. Don't risk attacks while the moth is attacking. Strike when she is just flying back and forth around the arena. After a while, the Queen will begin releasing eggs that will cause mini moths to become big nuisances. Don't even let these hatch. Break them with your weapon as soon as you see them.
The trick to a well fought victory is not attacking the big target while she is attacking. Whenever she attacks, take up the defensive and be patient.
Death
Death is first in a series of three challenges. This incarnation is a bit strange in that he uses tarot cards and puts them in roulette, giving him a sort of gambler countenance. Depending on what card you hit, you will get a different outcome. Don't bother attacking Death yet. You must clear away all the cards before he will face you. Doing so is somewhat tedious, because he throws boss fights at you that you've already been through. Fortunately, they're not as difficult or time consuming as they were before.
The cog card pits you against the Gear Steamer; the fountain card has you fight the Golem, and the Gargoyle card predictably has you going round two with the Gargoyle. There is a card with a maiden carrying a rose sprig. This will cause a bunch of pot roasts to shoot everywhere, so use this depending on your situation. If you get to Death severely damaged, strike this card right away. If you reach this encounter in good health, save this card for later. There are two cards that depict the Grim Reaper. They will cause Death to launch a fire ball at your vampire hunter.
Once all the cards are gone, Death will begin his assault. He will float in a corner of the room and send two sickles at you and then charge forward. The sickles can be dodged by not standing in one spot for too long, and leap over Death to avoid his dashing attack. He will then use his old Super Castlevania IV trick and send his scythe flying in the room while using a vortex to draw your character too him. Attack Death as you're being drawn in, but walk away once you get too close. The axe works well because Death likes to hover in the air much of the time.
Elizabeth
There are some truly kooky things about Castlevania: Bloodlines. One is that Elizabeth Bartley transforms into Medusa. I don't know how to explain this, but whatever. As Medusa, Elizabeth has four attacks. The first is a spiraling wave of fire. This can be dodged by going to the extreme left of the room and standing still or ducking, depending on the position where Elizabeth does the attack. The second is a flame that is shot high and then lowered. Evade this by ducking. The third is when she whips her tail across the floor. A well timed jump is all that is needed to avoid this. The fourth is when she tries clawing her way forward. Stay out of range of her attacks and strike her furiously with your weapon. Medusa will try to back you into the left corner. If that happens, you're in big trouble. Every time she's struck, she falls back a bit, so keep attacking her to keep her from cornering you.
When Elizabeth morphs back into her normal form, she will create circular objects that try converging in the center of the room, then she teleports to either the left or right end of the room to launch fire balls straight ahead of her. When you strike her, one of the circles will disappear. After she's hit, she will either teleport to the left or right and repeat the process. Your goal should be to hit her enough times to break all of her circles before they reach the center of the room, because that is when they will cause an effect.
The first batch of circles summons Flea Men that bounce around. You must destroy them all to be rid of them. The second set of circles causes a flame wheel to blast around the room in a circular formation. Dodge this by standing at either extreme end of the room. The third lot causes a massive lightning bolt. Again, this can be avoided by standing at an extreme end of the room. The final attack causes a circle of daggers to shoot out in all directions. There is really no way to dodge this attack, so you must keep hitting Elizabeth to prevent it from happening.
You never really know which side of the room Elizabeth will teleport to after taking damage, so stand in the middle and be ready to go to either end to continue your attack.
Dracula and Drolta
The Count doesn't waste any time. Right when he rises from his coffin he will teleport to a part of the room and discharge three fireballs at your hunter. You can easily leap over these. His second attack is launching fireballs obliquely at the ground where you're standing. Go to an extreme end of the room or stay on the move to avoid this attack. The third is a flaming wheel that shoots upward. Simply duck to avoid this, and stay away from it. All of Dracula's attacks can be knocked away with your weapon. The trick is to not even let them go anywhere. As soon as the Count materializes after teleporting, leap up and strike him in the head. If you attack at just the right time, you will also strike his magic attack and dispel it. Keep up this tactic until his health bar runs out.
Another one of those strange things about Bloodlines is that Dracula apparently morphs into Drolta. This is another thing I won't bother trying to explain. Drolta zips to different parts of the room and casts magic attacks. The first one causes two fireballs to travel the length of the floor from opposing directions. Leap over them both as they zero in on your hunter. Depending on Drolta's position when she originates this spell, sometimes you will need to leap over the balls together or separately. The second one has Drolta sending vertical beams throughout the room, but there are intervals of clear space where you can go to dodge them. Drolta telegraphs where the safe zones will be before she attacks, so move there. Hit her with your weapon and an axe if she hovers too high. Once she's defeated, Dracula will return in a stronger form.
When Dracula arrives again, he will send off explosive magic bolts headed your way that can be dodged with careful footwork and ducking. Watch where they're slated for and move accordingly. Afterward, he will fly in toward your hunter. Leap in the air and attack with your primary weapon to drive him back.
After sustaining enough damage, the Count will turn bright red and release a series of flames in a waving pattern at your hero. Jump over the flames and hit Dracula immediately afterward. Don't let him fly around the room and reposition himself. You must stay on the offensive.
Finally, Dracula's form will appear ashen and undead. He will begin hopping around the room. Stay close so you can go beneath him when need be. When you strike him, he will let off many bones that shoot downward. If you remain near Dracula, you should be able to avoid them.
There are many different phases here, but don't be too intimidated by them. With sound moves and a cool head, you'll send the Count back to the grave to join his wenches, Elizabeth and Drolta.
