Castlevania: Belmont's Curse - How To Beat Carmilla (Boss Guide)

Published Oct 16, 2026, 3:51 PM EDT Ben Brosofsky has been writing for Screen Rant since 2022 and editing since 2024. He graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor's in Cinema & Media Arts. Writing serves as a much-needed distraction from tackling a backlog of Steam games that will never be surmounted. Carmilla gets a tease before her actual fight in Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, appearing briefly in the first interaction with Isaac's illusion. She clearly has a flair for the dramatic, and the boss encounter that eventually occurs shows that off, taking place in one of the game's most stylish arenas. It also comes with a unique gimmick, as Rose has more to worry about than just her health. Taking too many hits from Carmilla triggers a loss, even if Rose still had remaining health up to that point. That requires some careful play, but knowing how to tackle Carmilla makes it easy enough to achieve. How To Beat Carmilla In Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Phase One At the start of the fight, Carmilla will cast a spell on Rose that places a pentagram with the number eight behind her. Each time Rose takes a hit, this number will tick down. Reaching zero will cause Carmilla to perform a finisher on her, so it should be avoided at all costs. Immediately after, Carmilla summons two giant skills to her left and right. You'll need to attack both of these before you can deal damage to Carmilla directly. Focus on doing so while avoiding her attacks, and slide beneath her to attack from behind when necessary. Whenever vertical wisps of blood appear above the floor, reposition to avoid them, as they will flare into streams of blood that deal damage after about a second. This is similar to avoiding the pillars of flame in the Joan boss fight. Once you break through her defenses, focus on dealing as much damage as you can, as the skulls won't stay away forever. This is a good time to use magic attacks in addition to melee. Phase Two Toward the end of the fight, Carmilla will start to use the blood on the floor of the arena in more aggressive ways. When she dives into the blood and disappears, focus on watching the patterns in the blood. In addition to avoiding the pillars, you'll need to jump at appropriate times to avoid waves of blood that break across the arena. For the last attack, when waves come from both sides of the screen, stand in the center and jump right before they meet. Once you've mastered these patterns, you should be able to get in a few attacks to finish Carmilla off and claim victory. Rewards For Beating Carmilla In exchange for beating Carmilla, Rose will get one of the game's biggest traversal upgrades, gaining the ability to dash midair. This will open up more of the castle to her exploration, allowing her to cross wider gaps and avoid some previously impassable spike traps. Carmilla's arcanum also allows Rose to summon blood spikes through the use of magic, targeting a wide spread of enemies on a platform and inflicting bleeding upon them. Lastly, Rose can pick up Brauner's Paintbrush from the arena, which is ultimately a necessary part of dealing with the Tarot card for The Artist and gaining access to an additional major area in Castlevania: Belmont's Curse's story. Fighting Carmilla ultimately isn't that hard, and actually finding her to begin with might be the bigger challenge. The fact that Rose can't take very many hits adds an extra layer of difficulty, though, so triumphing over Carmilla is still a memorable Castlevania: Belmont's Curse achievement. Systems Released October 15, 2026 ESRB Teen / Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence Developer(s) Evil Empire, Motion Twin Publisher(s) Konami Prequel(s) Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse