Archer.

Walkthrough for the Archer section of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, detailing the path through the chapel, the Medusa boss fight, and items like the Magic Missile and Talwar.

Now in the chapel, go to the platform's end and drop down and collect the map coverage there and items. You will find the Magic Missile & Bwaka knife. When coming up the tower, watch out for the Balloon pod enemy. It will shoot out multiple pods that will damage and poison you when you hit the pod enemy. They are reasonably easy to avoid, then at the top left of this room is a save, then head over to the next room through the door on the right.

This next room is a narrow hallway with Balloon pods and Black Panthers. You can hit the pods to shoot out the smaller pods and then use your shield and walk through them to negate their effects. With the Black Panther, you will have to crouch down and attack them diagonally to hit them. Then at the end of this room is a boss battle with Medusa.

MEDUSA BOSS BATTLE

Medusa is a simple boss battle. She has a few attacks and movements to deal with. She will raise her shield to block your attack, then quite often; she will pull her shield back and shoot out a beam towards you that, when hit, will petrify you. I would recommend changing the faerie familiar if you are using her. She will automatically use the hammer item to break the petrification, and those are not necessary. Any familiar other than her will work. If you would like, you can switch your armor to the bronze cuirass which will make it, so you just take damage and not get petrified.

Medusa's next maneuver is moving back and forth, holding her shield. She will lower her shield, so you think it is a great time to jump in and attack. Well, which it is but beware her sword attack which has a good reach and deals about 20 damage.

Medusa’s main priority in this battle is pushing you back with the shield and sword. Then when you are pushed back, she uses her beam to hit you. She is pretty successful at zoning and pushing you away from her. The key with her is to make a few successful attacks then move away, giving you room to dodge and engage again.

Once you have defeated Medusa, obtain the Heart of Vlad, a relic you will need later in the game. It also makes you immune to the Curse status, which is nice.

The next room after the boss room is another narrow hallway like the one before that had Black Panthers and Balloon pods. Then the room after will be another tall vertical tower section. Like the previous one, we will drop down to the bottom then climb up the tower. At the bottom of the tower, you will find the Talwar weapon. There is nothing else here in the tower so exit this section through the door on the top right.

This next room will be another hallway with Black Panthers and Balloon Pods. Then you will be in a vertical tower section, like usual; drop down to the bottom, and you will find a life max up, smart potion, and a manna prism. Then climb up the tower with the mist form or gravity jump. You will encounter some Snipers of Goth which are flying creatures that shoot arrows. Their attacks are pretty deadly. Otherwise, head to the room on the right where you received the silver ring. You will be in the familiar narrow hallway with a bunch of spikes. You can use the spike breaker armor, or you can use the mist and fly all the way there. You will receive a Twilight Cloak at the end of the hallway, which gives you more defense, but I recommend the blood cloak. The Twilight cloak is the one you started the game with, so it is nice to have it back. Now exit the room and the hallway, go back to the central tower section, and continue climbing up the tower. In the next section, you will encounter rather annoying enemies known as the imps. They are hard to hit while also consistently dodging your regular attacks. This section can get a little dicey because they swarm you and make it hard to get an attack off while also when they get near you, they capture you and you start going berserk and swing your weapon until they let go. At the bottom left of where the imps and sniper of goths are in a room that leads to a red door, for now ignore that door and just continue with the Royal Chapel section of the castle.

At the top left of this room with the imps and snipers is the confession room, which in the inverted castle does nothing. Then leave this room and exit to through the room on the right, then after the small room go right again and you will be in another familiar big room, but this time it is a poltergeist with spears and shields instead of swords. After defeating this enemy, or just avoiding it take the exit on the right and gravity jump to the top and then leave the room through the door on the right.

This section can be dicey like the previous imp and sniper section. Be careful and try to take out small sections of enemies before advancing. While climbing up this part of the chapel, you will have many consumable items in vases on the right side of the room as you climb up. In the top part of this room, you will encounter a heart max up by a save.