Table of Contents: To quickly jump to a section, type in the word that is in brackets (e.g. to go to "Who is Julius?", type in "WhoX".) A) Introduction [IntX] B) Updates [UpdX] C) Who is Julius? [WhoX] D) How Julius is Different from Soma [HowX] E) How to Use Julius [UseX] F) What's Different from Soma's Game [DifX] G) Boss Strategies [BosX] H) Legal Stuff [LegX] To use Julius, you must enter JULIUS on the naming screen after having beaten the game at least one time as Soma. Section A: Introduction ---- [IntX] This section is the introduction to the FAQ. Hello and welcome to my second FAQ, one about the character Julius Belmont of Aria of Sorrow. This FAQ's goal is to tell you how to use Julius better. If you have any suggestions or complaints. Please e-mail Burpcycle@yahoo.com. Section B: Updates ---- [UpdX] This section deals with updates, when things were changed, and when they were changed. If you have any suggestions for this FAQ, e-mail Burpcycle@yahoo.com Version 1.0: 02/21/05 Created the FAQ. Version 1.1: 02/28/05 Fixed a slight problem with Death's strategy Version 1.2: 04/26/05: Third Edition Added how to actually use Julius, plus fixed some minor grammatical issues Version 1.3: 08/24/06 Reworded much of the FAQ, rearranged many of the sections, added the section descriptions, and updated it in general to make it more like the slightly-superiorly designed Maxim FAQ I made. Version 1.4: 03/08/07 Fixed some minor issues and a few typos. Version 1.4: 03/21/08 Redid some of the FAQ to follow a template I use with my other FAQs. The Version Number is now more in line with GameFAQ's numbering system. Version 1.5: 03/27/08 Various updates and corrections. Version 1.6: 12/19/10 Fixed one section to remove a spoiler. Section C: Who is Julius? ---- [WhoX] This section details who Julius Belmont actually is and his past (or at least what is known of it). It talks about what storyline Julius' game actually possesses. It has no actual importance game-wise. Julius Belmont is the most recent latest vampire hunter in the Belmont lineage that we know of. In the year 1999, he, along with some help, probably from Alucard, went and fought Dracula in a suitably epic battle. What made this battle different from the other times Dracula fell to a Belmont is that Julius actually finished off Dracula once and for all, not only killing the vampire but also sealing away his castle inside of an eclipse. Julius is a Belmont, and as such, possesses extraordinary powers that normal mortals couldn't begin to approach. Additionally, he wields the whip Vampire Killer, a magical whip specially designed to be able to destroy vampires without garlic or stakes. He probably knows Alucard, who appears to you in the game as Genya Arkido. Julius is likely the most powerful Belmont to date. Somehow, he lost his memory before the events of Aria of Sorrow, and went to Castlevania to regain it. His main goal is to vanquish Dracula forever at any cost, even if it means destroying his friend, Soma Cruz. Section D: How Julius is Different from Soma ---- [HowX] This section deals with the mechanical differences between Julius and Soma in-game. It details Julius' unique moves and abilities and how they are better or worse than Soma's. Actual strategies for using these abilities are found later (in the next section). -To use Julius, you must enter JULIUS on the naming screen after having beaten the game at least one time as Soma. -Julius always has a 800 HP maximum. It doesn't ever increase. -Julius gets stronger (more damage, max hearts up, etc.) by killing bosses and collecting the resulting red spheres, as opposed to leveling up like Soma, so killing non-bosses is pointless. -Julius uses a traditional whip instead of an array of swords, hammers, and guns like Soma. -Julius starts off FAR stronger than Soma, but by the end, Soma is the superior character. -Julius can spin his whip around himself like the other Belmonts (sans Trevor and Christopher), blocking projectiles and weak enemies (like bats). -Julius doesn't use equipment, so all equipment in the game has been removed and replaced by nothing. -Julius can't use potions, so he can't heal himself at all except when he finds a save point. -When Julius is hurt, he'll flinch and won't recover until his feet touch the ground, unfortunately, if you're high jumping to a high place and get hit by something, that means you're vulnerable until you land, as opposed to Soma, who recovers after a second, whether or not he's touching the ground. -Julius has the Double Jump, High Jump, Slide, and Skeleton Kicker powers at the beginning of the game. -Julius doesn't use money, so there's no shop. Money also does not drop. -Julius can't backdash. Instead, if you press L while on the ground, he'll dash on the game's background (impossible to explain, just try it), moving while invincible. He'll move about ten feet before stopping. You can attack to get out of it. It doesn't even cost magic. If you use it and go off of a cliff, he'll stay in the air until it ends. It's far more useful than Soma's backdash in most situations. I refer to this ability from here on in as the "warp." -Because of his sub-weapons, Julius doesn't use souls, so enemies never give off their souls. -Julius comes equipped with four of the traditional Castlevania sub-weapons, just press R to cycle through them. He's got Holy Water, Axes, Crosses, and Giant Crosses. It's a shame he's missing some of the other Castlevania sub-weapons like the Stop Watch. -Sub-weapons are to Julius as souls are to Soma. He doesn't pick them up from candles like the older heroes, he carries them around with him (why couldn't Simon do that?), to cycle through his weapons, just press R. Remember that AoS doesn't use a heart meter, you're draining your magic every time you use them. I wish the game had included the Stop Watch, but, what're you gonna do? Because he has only four sub-weapons, Holy Water, the Axe, the Cross, and the Giant Cross, I made a subsection for each: 1) Holy Water The Holy Water is the Dracula X's version; useful, but not THAT useful. When Julius deals 128 damage with his whip, it'll do about 162 damage. Its real advantage is in that Julius can do other stuff while the flames attack, like throwing more holy water. It's holy elemental. When you use the attack, Julius throws out a vial of holy water, which breaks, releasing cool-looking blue flames that slowly move about 8 feet before burning out. It can hit multiple enemies and hits larger enemies more than once if they stay in it. It cannot harm flying enemies for obvious reasons. Overall, I'd say it's the least useful of all Julius' sub-weapons, not because it's bad, like some of Soma's souls, but its uses are limited compared to the other sub-weapons. 2) The Axe The traditional axe, one of the most famous Castlevania sub-weapons, and my most used. When Julius is doing 128 damage, it's doing 153. It's not as powerful as the holy water, but it's more versatile. Against fast-moving enemies, you'll rarely use it, but against slow-moving larger enemies... you'll use holy water. So why is it better than the holy water? It's normal elemental. When Julius uses the axe, he throws a large axe into the air that arcs down and damages enemies, but doesn't make them flinch. The axe is the Julius' best weapon against flying enemies, and there are enough to be annoying. The cross can't hit flying enemies consistently (they usually fly up then down then up and... god, it's annoying), the giant cross is too expensive to use in terms of magic power, and the holy water is grounded. Julius' whip isn't amazingly effective against airborne enemies because it leaves you open and it's range is pretty damn short. It's the third-most useful of the sub-weapons. 3) The Cross Once called the "Boomerang" to avoid religion, the cross is a powerful sub-weapon that can make grounded enemies and bosses easy. When Julius is doing 128 damage, it's dealing 209 damage, and remember that the cross will probably hit any enemy twice, and many of the larger enemies three or four times. When he uses the cross, Julius throws a cross (that doesn't quite look like a cross) directly horizontally. It'll go for a bit before boomeranging back. Like its Dracula X counterpart, they decreased the range of it. When it comes back, it always goes straight backwards, so it doesn't necessarily come back to Julius. You can have more than one out at a time, just so you know. It's most useful against grounded enemies, even the fast ones, and large opponents, like the Big Golem. Few normal enemies will stand up to it for long. Overall, I'd say it's the most useful sub-weapon of all, since it's more versatile than the holy water or axe and it's not horribly expensive to use like the giant cross. 4) The Giant Cross I call it the Giant Cross because it doesn't actually have a name. It's actually Richter's item crash for the cross from Dracula X for the Turbo Duo that never came out in America, and Alucard's attack with the cross from SotN. When Julius is dealing his meager 128 damage, the giant cross is doing 253. When he uses it, Julius becomes invincible for the duration. He summons a huge azure crucifix guaranteed to hit anything not in a corner. The crucifix deals damage to anything that comes in contact with it, which is almost everything, and deals it several times. If your enemy keeps moving, it'll probably hit him three times. If he stops in the crucifix, five times. It stays on the screen for about five seconds. It is by far the strongest weapon in the game, and I'll not go into its uses against enemies because it's always useful. Its downfall? If you couldn't guess, it costs a huge amount of magical power from Julius. Even at his best, it'll take about a forth of all his magic. Which.... isn't actually all that bad. It's probably the second-most useful sub-weapon, second only than the cross. Section E: How to Use Julius ---- [UseX] This section deals with how to actually use Julius as opposed to using Soma. Julius, unlike Maxim and Juste, is very different from Soma. He doesn't level up, so there's little reason to fight non-bosses. But, it's still worth going into how to use him. -Julius' whip isn't as long as other Belmonts' whips, and there aren't any power-up candles (Grah...), so what you see is what you get. It's about the length of the longer swords Soma gets (the horizontally-attacking ones, not the vertically slashing ones), and it stays out for a little while, so he can't dish out as much damage as Soma. You have to get used to fighting with what's essentially the Whip Sword but shorter. Since it DOES get stronger for every boss you kill, though, it's not all bad. -Julius has the ability to step into the background, bypassing enemies. He stays for about three seconds and can come out of it by attacking. He'll face opposite of the direction he was initially facing, by the way. It's useful in every circumstance. Want to bypass the annoying hallway of enemies without risking damage? Use this. Want to get on the other side of the boss to attack his backside? You got it. He can't use it in the air, instead he high jumps, but it's still an incredible maneuver. It's what really sets him apart from other Belmonts. -Whenever you're fighting an enemy that uses projectiles (other than Nova Skeletons) or lots of weak enemies (like bats), Julius' ability to swing his whip around is easier than bothering to avoid them. -Julius can use most of Soma's special maneuvers (high jumping, double jumping, etc.) at the game's start, so make use of them. The slide and high jump damage enemies. -Julius' high jump damages enemies, so you aren't hurt by hitting an enemy while high jumping, and doesn't make him flinch if he crashes into a ceiling, so you can jump without fear of reprisal from aerial foes. -Although it's not a difference from Soma, unlike every other Belmont in history (sans SotN's Richter), Julius can change his direction in the air, while his whip is out, so aerial maneuvering is easy. -Julius is completely incapable of healing. Unlike Maxim, who could at least heal himself twice or so, he can't heal himself AT ALL. So, be careful on long excursions from save points. -Julius can use a special "Warp" ability, that moves him into the background, where he skids along for a bit, then rematerializes. This is most useful for getting around a boss to attack his back, but its uses are almost unlimited. Keep in mind he can't use it in the air, instead he'll High Jump. - Here are the best ways to take advantage of each sub-weapon, which are described in the previous section: 1) The Holy Water Holy water is useful against slow-moving grounded enemies, such as large golems and giants. It's useless against flying and hovering enemies, and less useful against fast-moving or jumping enemies. Its primary advantage is that while it's harming the enemy you can still attack it, so remember that. 2) The Axe Axes are useful against flying enemies and large slow-moving enemies that will be hit by them several times. Once you use it once, you should be able to use it properly from then on. While the axe is in the air you can continue attacking, and you can combine it with the cross for superior damage. 3) The Cross The cross is useful in just about every situation. Against flying enemies it's easy enough to use and grounded enemies have no choice but to walk or run right into it. Even jumping enemies will probably get hit by one of its attacks. The Cross is especially useful when combined with holy water for some extreme damage. 4) The Giant Cross The giant cross deals serious damage in exchange for serious magic. It's too expensive to use against normal enemies, but it's useful against bosses, especially the final boss who's fairly easy to use it against and will be unable to harm you with the invincibility it grants. Section F: What's Different From Soma's Game ---- [DifX] This section addresses the castle's differences when Julius plays through it as opposed to when Soma goes through it. -At the game's ending, Julius has the generic Belmont ending of silently watching Castlevania explode from a distance. -There's no dialogue, it's all been removed. -Julius can't get past the black fog barrier before or after beating Graham like Soma can, so Graham Jones is the game's final boss for him. -Although it's a not a direct difference from the castle, since Julius comes equipped with so many special abilities at the game's start, he can skip most of the bosses and areas if he wants to. -Julius still picks up money, but it's worthless, since Hammer doesn't appear. Section G: Boss Strategies ---- [BosX] This section deals with how to fight bosses using Julius (and whether or not they exist in Julius' game). 1. Creaking Skull - HP 240 One of the series' easiest bosses ever, Creaking Skull is the first of AoS' bosses that will easily fall prey to Julius' skill with the whip. All you need to do is keep whipping him. He's large enough to hit easily, and when he raises his bone-club above his head, either run backward or warp. Of course, there's a good chance you'll simply be able to kill him before he can even get his attack off. Even if you're hit, you'll barely be hurt. He shouldn't even be a minor challenge to you. Any of your sub-weapons will tear him apart. 2. Manticore - HP 440 He's easy, but not to the degree Creaking Skull was. Your superior HP should get you by even if you mess up badly. Manticore has two attacks; all of one more than Creaking Skull had. His first is lifting his tail above his head and slamming it right in front of his head, if you get hit by it you'll be poisoned (oh no...). He'll only do this if you're close, which will probably be the entire time (unless you're using sub-weapons to fight him). His other attack will be signaled when he shakes his head and sparks fly all over the place, he's gonna spit out one or three fireballs. You can whip them away or jump over them, your choice. He shouldn't be a problem, no matter how bad you are. If you have ANY trouble with the guy, just use some holy water or the cross, they'll shred right through him. 3. Great Armor - HP 650 The first boss who might pose a challenge, but probably won't, he just sucks that damn much. Great Armor has one thing going for him: his shield. It prevents attacks that are going for his body, so his head and back are his weak points. His attacks consist of him raising his sword above his head, which he brings down with considerable force, which you can avoid by warping to his backside to attack, and raising his sword to chest level, when he does that, he's about to stab the air in front of him, so be careful and just duck or warp. Either way, start whipping him. Your greatest threat is his random movement, since he steps backwards and fowards all the time without warning and whipping him doesn't make him flinch. If you're having trouble, the cross is the sub-weapon for you, it'll destroy him easily. 4. Big Golem - HP 1200 Big Golem is the Talos of AoS: Big and easy. He's no real threat at all. Just start whipping his leg, use a cross if necessary. Just because I'm that kind of guy, I'll tell you what his attacks are: if he raises his sword to chest level, he's gonna try to stab you with it, just face backwards and warp. If he covers his mouth, he's gonna belch out rocks and pebbles to hurt you, just face backward and warp. If you're having real trouble with him for whatever reason, just warp behind him; he can't turn around or attack you, so your only danger is him stepping into you. 5. Headhunter - HP 700, HP 700, HP 700 A decently challenging boss, Headhunter is certainly leagues ahead of the other bosses you've faced thus far. She has three forms (I say "she" because of two of her forms are women, and the third COULD be female, I don't know): A) She'll be a noblelady, who will walk leisurely along the ground and occasionally try to attack you, when you see her stop, just crouch and keep whipping her. If you have problems, Holy Water away. B) She'll turn into an old hag, who will fly around and try to kill you with her magic. She has two attacks: Summoning little fireballs that fly around the room and are easy to avoid if you just moving, and summoning lightning, just keep moving. Soma would have trouble with this, but you can just axe her into submission, or if necessary, just keep in the air to keep whipping her. C) She'll turn into a lizard: her hardest form. She'll jump around a lot, so be careful. When she's on the ceiling, she can come down all of a sudden, so be even more careful. She'll rarely stay in one place for long, lowering the holy water and cross' usage. When she's on the ceiling, she'll spray out poison, easy to avoid, just stay on the ground or on her other side, and stick out her tongue, just stay grounded. The basic plan is to just keep whipping her, using the axe as needed. 6. Death - HP 4444 Death has two forms, like most of his incarnations in the series. He's probably AoS's hardest boss. Death deals a lot of damage, so be careful not to get hit by him. His first form is his generic attack pattern that never works but he uses it all the time anyway; he uses his scythe to attack you occassionally and summons kamas everywhere to ram into you. You can't hurt him, you need to hit his scythe instead. The kamas are no cause for real concern, they're easy to avoid, spend several seconds aiming themselves, and can be dealt with one hit, and deal little damage regardless. His scythe attacks deal plenty of damage, and all I can tell is to not get hit by them. Whenever he attacks you with his scythe directly, just warp behind him and use the cross two or three times; it's more effective than the axe or the whip, and he's rarely close enough to the ground to use the holy water against him. His only other attack is summoning energy beams from the ground that have a distinct pattern; when you see little blue sparks and Death is holding out his hand, warp to the other side of those sparks. If you're close enough to him, just axe him. After you knock off half his HP, he changes forms. His second form doesn't really count as changing forms, but it's easily the most badass Death in any Castlevania game. His scythe turns into a kickass two-headed scythe with two blades that is worth getting killed by just to see in action. He's got a few attacks here, and remember, now that he's got a new form, he loses the kamas (yay). His first attack is just swinging at you with his huge scythe, duck, slide, or warp to avoid it, then attack your temporarily immobile foe. His second attack is rushing at you, scythe in front of him. If you've got good timing, try warping, if not, double jump before he's right in front of you and try to land behind him. Do your best because Death's attacks hurt a lot. His final attack is really damn cool; he swings his scythe over his head, then unleashes it like a boomerang, I hope you're ready to duck. Whenever he isn't attacking you, throw crosses all the time. They deal good damage, will probably hit him several times due to his moderately large size, and are cool. 7. Legion - HP 5000 Unlike in Soma's game, you don't collect souls, so feel free not to destroy all his parts. He has four sections of bodies covering him, and for every section you destroy by whipping, a tentacle will come out that spits beams out you. You need to destroy at least one section to kill him, though. Destroy any section you need to, you'll probably want to destroy two on one his sides, to expose his weak point; it's that ugly gray sphere that's flying around. Keep moving whenever you aren't attacking, and don't bother warping; he can turn around easily and hit you when you don't expect it. His tentacles take a while to spit out the beams and stand erect for a while before they do, so just pay a little attention to them, those beams DO deal plenty of damage. Whenever you see naked bodies wandering aroud, make sure to destroy them, they might get in the way later and only take two hits to destroy. If you need to get up the side of the room quickly, just high jump, it's quicker and safer (in case of naked bodies). Each section has 5000 HP. 8. Balore - HP 4000 One of Soma's greatest challenges is also one of Julius', but he's nothing compared to Death. Balore kills the Giant Bat you thought you were going to fight, and looks at you. His first set of attacks is simple; he's gonna try to crush you with his fists. Just warp whenever a fist is above you. Whenever you can, jump up and whip his white eye, sub-weapons aren't very helpful against him. He eventually switchs to a much harder form of attack; apparently he has laser vision. He'll look along the ground, you can see where he's looking via the white beam (you'll understand when you see it), and a second later, the ground will burst into flames in a really cool effect. The only way to avoid this is double jumping, and it's pretty hard to do, AND those flames are fairly damaging, so be careful. His eye is once again the target. You might want to just use the giant cross, it'll make you invincible to the flames and damage him a lot if you're standing directly under his eye. 9. Graham Jones - HP 5000 The game's final boss (for Julius) is fairly easy, but don't drop your guard. He can deal some real damage if you're not careful, his attacks deal more than 100 damage. His first forms is simple; he imitates Dracula. He teleports around the room, and has three attacks. The first is Dracula's most basic; he summon three fireballs that can be jumped over. His weak spot is his head, so aim for that using your whip. That's right, no sub-weapons. The cross and the axe take too long, the giant cross it a waste since he'll teleport again soon, and the holy water can't hit him. His second attack is launching two black fireballs, these can't be whipped away and you'll need to duck, then jump to avoid this attack, and then attack Graham. If he uses his third attack, summoning a wave of black fireballs, just duck them and then slide to him, they'll fly over your head and you'll be in a prime position to whip him when he's done. He eventually changes forms. He turns into... something. He has a few attacks. The first is signaled when one of his hands sparkle; he's gonna swipe at you. Just duck. The second is when both his hands sparkle, again, duck. The third attack is much more serious; it deals around 135 damage. See that giant halo? It flies over to wherever you are, then launches a pillar of blue energy that hurts you. Just stay in one place until it locks onto you, preferably one of the room's corners, out of reach of Graham's hands, and slide below his hands. Graham's weak point is that large stationary purple sphere in the middle of the screen protected by his hands. Just wait for him to attack, then attack the sphere. Following a pattern will be his downfall, but one mistake and you're in for a world of hurt. This form is begging to killed using the giant cross, by the way, it will completely and utterly own him. Section H: Legal Stuff ---- [LegX] This section is about boring legal stuff. Copyright 2010 Adam Sokol This FAQ is for personal use only, do not sell, distribute, or do anything else with the FAQ without contacting me for permission first.