Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Arcana Spells and How to Earn Them

Alexandru Popescu placed each of these pins for Map Master as Rose won her cards, and the Castlevania Belmont’s Curse wiki and maps connect them to every boss and area. The equipped card decides more than your attack: some doors, puzzles, and even the ending check which Arcana you’re holding, so swapping cards is part of exploring.

How Arcana Spells Work in Castlevania Belmont’s Curse, and How to Upgrade Them

Each Arcana gives one spell, cast with MP, and only the card you have equipped is active. Your spell changes with the card, and so do the bonuses you’ve unlocked for it, which is why a strong card you’ve upgraded beats a new one you haven’t touched.

Upgrades come from Works of Mercy, small challenges tied to each card, with up to three per Arcana. Each one you finish earns a Blessing, which unlocks a Gift that adds an effect to that card’s spell, and the Works of Mercy for every Arcana list the tasks behind all 42 Gifts, which you need for the Pick a card, any card trophy.

Cursed Flame and Holy Cross: The Arcana Spells in Paris

Cursed Flame is the spell you start with, unlocked as soon as you reach the Paris Streets. It throws a cursed fireball for 30 MP, the cheapest cast on our list, so it’s the safe default while your mana bar is still small.

Holy Cross comes from The Fallen, the boss guarding the gate to the Catacombs. For 50 MP it throws a corrupted cross that comes back to Rose after a set distance or when it hits a wall, so one cast can hit the same enemy twice, and the strategies for The Fallen and every other boss cover the fight.

Petrifying Gaze and Infernal Pyre: Cemetery and Prison Tower Spells

Medusa gives you Petrifying Gaze in the Serpents’ Lair, which the Holy Innocents’ Cemetery map of Medusa’s lair places. For 75 MP, it turns the enemies in front of Rose to stone, and two hits or a shattering fall break the effect for extra damage, which turns a crowd into easy targets.

Joan of Arc, The Warrior, gives you Infernal Pyre on the roof of the Prison Tower map of Joan’s rooftop. At 80 MP, it’s the most expensive spell on our list, lighting the ground around Rose and launching enemies into the air, and the Warrior Clue trail to Joan shows how to find her.

Blood Spikes and the Later Arcana Spells

Carmilla, The Occultist, gives you Blood Spikes in the Library Observatory. For 50 MP it raises spikes that impale nearby enemies and make them bleed, but it always targets the enemy furthest away on your platform, so it’s better at clearing a room than at hitting the one in front of you. The Library map of Carmilla’s Observatory shows the way up.

The later cards are spread across the Catacombs, Notre-Dame, and the castle. Talos, Death, Isaac, and Mammon each guard one, and Death’s Soul Harvest is a card you can’t skip. Clues point the way to each card’s owner, starting with the Occultist Clue trail to Carmilla, and every card you collect counts toward Pick a card, any card.

Best Arcana Spell to Equip: Mana Costs Compared

Infernal Pyre costs more than two and a half times as much as Cursed Flame, 80 MP against 30, so a small mana bar decides your build early on. Holy Cross is the best value of the five at 50 MP, since a single cast can hit twice, while Petrifying Gaze is the one to swap in for crowds you’d rather not fight head-on.

More mana changes the picture. With a bigger bar, the pricier spells stop draining you after a single cast, so tracking down the Wise Heart Fragments that raise your mana is the upgrade to chase if you want to lean on Infernal Pyre or Petrifying Gaze.

The Arcana Spells That Decide Your Ending

Soul Harvest, from Death, is the card to equip at the Clock Tower, since walking into Death’s trap there without it gives the bad ending. Four Arcana also unlock the trials of the Virtues in Notre-Dame, and each trial only opens with its matching card equipped.

Absolution is the last spell in the game, from The Self card you earn by beating Rose’s Doppelganger. It uses all of your remaining mana, and casting it after the final fight with Dracula is what gives you the true ending, Curse Lifted, rather than The Hunt Goes On.