The Occultist - Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Guide - IGN

The Occultist, Carmilla, is the boss that you encounter during your playthrough of Castlevania: Belmont's Curse as you explore the Library . Rose will be facing off against this bloody foe as she reaches the top of the Observation Tower. Carmilla is completing a ritual to bring a permanent Blood Moon to the world, wrapping it in an eternal darkness for Dracula.

When the battle begins, Carmilla immediately puts Rose in a blood spell. This spell conjures an 8 above her, indicating how many hits you can take during this fight. If the number reaches zero, meaning you've been hit more than 8 times, Carmilla grabs Rose and ends the fight, regardless of how much health you have left.

At the beginning of the fight, Carmilla summons a pair of skulls to protect her similar to how Talos protected himself. You'll need to destroy these skulls to begin damaging her. You can attempt to aim at them one at a time, or you can try hitting them both to cause them to fall. A good way to do this would be with the Fist of Talos or the Holy Cross Arcana. These two work tremendously well during this encounter. You can only damage Carmilla when both skulls are destroyed.

Many of Carmilla's attacks in this fight come from the blood spouts that shoot up from the base of the blood pool. These spouts are massive and go to the ceiling of the arena, meaning you won't be able to merely jump out of the way. Similar to when you were fighting Joan , these pillars take up the entire screen, and you'll need to move out of the way to dodge them.

These blood spouts come in an array of patterns, many appearing in the previously safe spots that the last combo left open for you. You should expect to keep moving through this fight to dodge these attacks, but you don't want to go too far, as you run the risk of being too far away from Carmilla to damage her.

Carmilla does eventually reconjure the skulls to protect her, forcing you to break them again before you can damage her. Every so often, she dives into the pool of blood, appearing on the opposite side of the arena. You'll want to move around, watching the blood trail she leaves behind as she moves to indicate where she's going to pop up next.

Unlike the other bosses, Carmilla does not have a second phase. Many of her attacks remain the same. You won't have to do too much guesswork or relearning with her. Continue to keep the pressure on her and save your Arcana uses of her skulls, and she'll be defeated. You'll unlock her spell, Blood Spikes, along with getting the Paint Brush to bring back to the Main Hall, and unlock an Air Dash to unlock more locations for you to explore throughout the game.

Up Next: Things Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Doesn't Tell You