The act of farming for late game loot isn’t exactly something synonymous with the Castlevania series, at least it wasn’t prior to Symphony of the Night that is. Bucking the trend of prior titles in the series, Konami borrowed the gated exploration of a Metroid title, made the movement smooth as silk, then sellotaped a massive loot table to it and let players go wild. To say we’re thankful for this would be an understatement, because levelling and farming in this game is an absolute joy. So much so in fact, that we were inspired to share some of our favourite farming locations in the late game; if you want some of the best items available, check out a few of the following!
Forbidden Library
- Schmoo – (Crissegraem, Ramen)
- Lion – (Fist of Tulkas, Gauntlet)
- Scarecrow – (Muramane, Javelin)
- Tin Man – (Mojo Mail, Lunch A)
On balance, our first farming location is by far the best available in the entirety of the late game. In one particular room, pictured above, you can find the Schmoo, Lion and Scarecrow enemies, all of which have the potential to drop very powerful late game weapons. The Schmoo can drop the Crissegraem, which is quite possibly the most powerful weapon in Castlevania history thanks to it’s continuous quad-slashes, whilst the Lion enemy can drop the excellent Fist of Tulkas, which is a fist weapon that fires a powerful fireball in a line via a special move input (Down, Down-Forward, Forward + Attack).
Outside of the two ‘main event’ items above, the Scarecrow enemy can drop the Muramane sword, which is a 2-handed sword that you can power up by being bled upon. Technically speaking this weapon can eventually deal the most damage-per-attack in the entire game, but levelling it up is tremendously prohibitive from a time perspective, and really not worth it overall. Finally, the Mojo Mail drops from the Tin Man enemy that resides deeper within the Library, and features a passive benefit of increasing spell damage by 50%. It’s much more of a novelty to be honest, after all spells are never likely to approach rare weapons in terms of overall damage output, however it is great fun to use as an alternative build of sorts.
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Black Marble Gallery
- Guardian – (God’s Garb, Great Sword)
Our second recommendation is likely to seem rather obvious, however it’s such a great spot that it’s worth mentioning here. No doubt your first run through encountering the Guardians in the Black Marble Gallery was a bit fraught, however if you take the time to study how to take them down, they’re by far the best place to grind for levels during the late game. On top of this, they have a chance to drop both the God’s Garb and the Great Sword items, of which the first is the highest defence rating armour in the entire game outside of a fully powered up Walk Armour. You could argue that the Alucard Mail is better thanks to its tri-elemental damage reduction, however the God’s Garb tends to win out for us due to the physical reduction. In short, if you want to level up and get some great armour, make your way here.
Reverse Clock Tower
- Cloaked Knight – (Heaven Sword, Flamberge)
For most players, the experience of facing a Cloaked Knight in the Reverse Clock Tower is not something that they would want to repeat, but we’re not most players are we? Yes that’s right, the infuriatingly frustrating Knight has in its possession a rather special weapon: Heaven Sword. Alone this is a medium power weapon that can be thrown at enemies and have it automatically return, like a boomerang. Get yourself two of them however, and you can equip both of them, press both attack buttons and watch the glorious special move take place, pictured below. Yes it’s flashy, yes it’s powerful and yes, they actually deal damage whilst they loop around Alucard during the animation. We’re not about to claim that this rivals the best of the best weapons out there, but it’s cool as hell and if we’re honest, that’s kind of what this game is all about.
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Reverse Entrance
- Dodo Bird – (Runesword, Heart Brooch)
- Orobourous – (Lapis Lazuli, Karma Coin)
- Fire Warg – (Turquoise, Karma Coin)
- Nova Skeleton – (Terminus Est, Monster Vial 3)
Rivalling our initial epic Library farming section, the Reverse Entrance is home to a great deal of powerful loot, all contained in one giant room full of easy to defeat opponents. Annoyingly enough, the Lapis Lazuli accessory is available here, which increases your Luck stat by a massive +20 points. Such a thing would be very useful for the remaining areas in the castle, but given that the entrance is literally on the opposite side of your entrance into the reverse castle, it’s not necessarily worth the effort. It’s great in combination with the Alucart set for maximum Luck buffs, just be sure to actually kill the Ouroboros and not the rider, otherwise the monster will become untargetable.
Outside of this, the evasive Dodo can drop the powerful ranged Runesword, which functions very similarly to the Heaven Sword we noted above, only without the special (though it is possible to throw it further than usual with some experimenting). It’s actually a pretty good weapon overall thanks to the massive arc of the swing, but lacks the overall attack power to be a serious end game option. Finally, we note both the Nova Skeleton and Fire Warg because they have the potential to drop items that are quite valuable, and there’s a certain item that you might be saving up all your pennies for from the Librarian’s shop… There are better places, but if you’re farming for the Lapis Lazuli, you might as well go through the entire screen and hoover up as much loot as you can.
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Categories: Castlevania - Symphony of the Night