Death is typically a famously tough fight in most Castlevania games. Even though most of the bosses throughout Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse are on the easy side, don’t expect Death to a be a cakewalk here either. He’s a solid host of attacks (some of which you’ll no doubt remember from past games), but knowing how to handle him will make him back off much more quickly.
How to beat Death
One of Death’s main moves is a great opportunity for you to get some hits in. He’ll pull his arm back as if he’s about to do something, and then he’ll do a low, horizontal slash. During this phase, however, all you have to do is simply duck and it can’t hit you. When you stand up again, you can get some easy hits in that should whittle him down a fair amount.
Another of his moves is similarly easy to dodge, albeit far more dangerous. Death gets a weird dark aura around him, and then his hand starts glowing. He’ll slowly move toward you with this hand outstretched, but do not let him touch you, as this attack does a ton of damage. Simply slide or air dash away, and he’ll miss; then you can whip to him and hit him some more.
When Death says a voice line and teleports away, one of his most dangerous attacks is about to show up. I recommend being on the floor for this one. The attack tracks you, so your positioning determines where the beams will show up. Move upward and then back downward once the beams follow you, making sure to give them a wide berth as they hit a wider area than you might think.
Immediately after the last beam, Death will teleport near you to swing his scythe at you. It might seem counterintuitive, but you should dash toward him. Do this and not only will he not hit you, but you can get some more hits in. He also has a move where he moves to the center of the arena and summons souls for you to dodge, just like in a bullet hell game. Carefully look for openings and get out of the way as best you can.
Once you get his health down far enough, he’ll become more dangerous. The biggest difference is that he gains destroyable sickles that fly around the room, plus his horizontal slash attack now features him throwing a giant, spinning sickle at you. After he does this, he does an even lower horizontal slash that you shouldn’t try to duck under. Instead, move upward to avoid it.
Finally, Death gets another improved move. He now summons three waves of souls, but due to their number you’ll have to be even more patient and observant than with this move’s previous incarnation. That’s really all there is to beating Death, so keep all of this in mind and hang in there to take him down eventually. Once you do, you’ll get some really nice rewards.
