Castlevania: Curse of Darkness/Innocent Devils/Fairy

Fairies are the first type of I.D. that you get, in the Abandoned Castle, and one that you will be using throughout the game. All ten fairies are healers, though a few can learn weak attack skills. They have no physical attack, however they are invulnerable to enemies, so they cannot take damage either. Fairies raise your Luck stats considerably when summoned.

You will need an Infant Fairy and Proboscis Fairy to get 100% complete, however a Tiramisu is generally considered to be the most useful form due to the fact that it can get Invincible Vase, Heal Lv. 3, and Time Heal.

 Infant Fairy |                    .+-.                     |          |                  Leaffle    Herbest |         |               .-+-++--.               |           |           |          Honey Bee    Killer Bee    Hornet |          |           |        .--+---+---+-+-+-.        |              |         |           | Proboscis Fairy    Tiramisu    Tiara    Comet Star 

Infant Fairy
An archetypical fairy — bluish green, carries a wand.

Skills

 * Unlock — 0 hearts — Special use — Innate — Required — Opens chests
 * You will need a fairy to open every chest in the game, so keep one on you at all times. Simply stand by the chest and press the circle button to open it.


 * Heal Lv. 1 — 10 hears — Command — Innate — Somewhat useful — Heals 20HP
 * In the Abandoned Castle this is useful, since you have low max HP and this is your only way of healing besides using potions. After that you'll never use it again.

Growth

 * Leaffle — 40 Sword/Fist (Recommended)
 * Herbest — 40 Axe/Spear/Special

Leaffle
A more grown up looking fairy, it wears blue and green clothes and a leaf for a hat. It can learn Poison Powder, which can poison most enemies, except the stronger ones and bosses. Since it is the only attack it has, it tends to use it a lot.

Skills

 * Time Heal — 6 hearts — Command — Defeat Enemies — Very useful — Heals ~30HP in about 15 seconds
 * Despite the low amount of HP you regain per use, it is a skill you will use throughout the game since it is the cheapest skill in terms of HP restored per heart used. After you have defeated all of the enemies in a section, fully restore you health with it, and since it uses so few hearts you'll probably get them all back in the next screen. Late in the game when you can easily lose > 300HP in a single fight, it will take a very long time to restore your health, so you may be better of bringing multiple fairies and using Heal Lv. 3.


 * Poison Powder — 0 hearts — Automatic — Defeat Enemies — Somewhat useful — Poisons enemies
 * Even though poison doesn't do much damage, when an enemy takes damage from the poison it disrupts the enemy's attack. This is actually much more useful than the loss of HP the enemy suffers. The only drawback is you can use a command when it is casting it, so you may have to wait a second or two before casting a healing spell. Late in the game the number of enemies affected by poison drops significantly, but the attempt at poisoning generally is enough to distract enemies that are attacking Hector.

Growth

 * Honey Bee — 70 Axe/Fist/Special
 * Killer Bee — 70 Sword/Spear (Recommended)

Herbest
Similar in appearance to the Leaffle, it wears all green and a dark green leaf for a hat. It learns Heal Lv. 2, which is simply a more powerful version of Heal Lv. 1. It can also learn antidote, which can be useful at times if you can afford Serums and don't have enough HP to simply wait out the poison. While the Leaffle is the recommended form, the Herbest is also useful, especially if you prefer the instant-but-more-costly Heal Lv. 2 over Time Heal.

Skills

 * Antidote — 0 hearts — Automatic — Defeat Enemies — Somewhat useful — Removes poison
 * There are a fair number of enemies that can poison you, and being poisoned makes it hard to pull off combos (not to mention the loss of HP). The problem is that since it is an automatic skill, the Herbest only uses it when it wants to, which can be a second before the poison wears off, or not at all.


 * Heal Lv. 2 — 20 hears — Command — Defeat Enemies — Useful — Heals 50HP
 * Much more powerful and cost effect than Heal Lv. 1, though getting it means giving up the ultra-efficient Time Heal. It'll only be useful for a short while, until you can get Heal Lv. 3, and can easily afford potions.

Growth

 * Killer Bee — 70 Sword/Spear (Recommended)
 * Hornet — 70 Axe/Fist/Special

Honey Bee
The Honey Bee is a fairy with insect-like eyes, and only gains one ability. It is very useful, and you must evolve a Honey Bee if you intend to eventually get a Proboscus Fairy (required to get 100% of the Aidolon Ruins).

Skills

 * Healing Field - 10 hearts - Command - Defeat Enemies - Very useful - Creates a circle that quickly heals hit points as you stand in it.
 * Similar to Time Heal, this ability heals you faster, but you must stand in the circle to do so. The circle lasts for a limited time, and you can heal around 100HP if you can stand still in the circle for long enough.  This is the only ability that the Honey Bee gets

Growth

 * Proboscus Fairy - 90 Special
 * Tiramisu - 90 Sword/Axe/Spear/Fist

Killer Bee
Like its honeyed cousin, the Killer Bee also has insect-like eyes. The Killer Bee adds a good deal of potency to a healing fairy's repertoire.

Skills

 * Heal Lv. 3 - 30 hearts - Command - Defeat Enemies - Useful - Heals 100HP
 * Heals more than Heal Lv. 2 or Time Heal, this is a staple heal for when you need HP now.


 * Curse Breaker - 0 hearts - Automatic - Defeat Enemies - Somewhat useful - Removes curse.
 * A useful skill if you fight a lot of ectoplasm or other monsters that curse, but otherwise not terribly useful otherwise.

Growth

 * Tiramisu - 90 Axe/Special
 * Tiara - 90 Sword/Spear/Fist

Hornet
Insect eyes again, and unless you're particularly good at slot machines, a pretty worthless option. Unfortunately, the only way you can evolve a Comet Star is to go this route.

Skills

 * Stone Breaker - 0 hearts - Automatic - Defeat Enemies - Somewhat useful - Removes petrify
 * Most petrification moves are easy to avoid, but useful nonetheless if you get stoned.


 * Lucky Slot - 10 hearts - Command - Defeat Enemies - Somewhat useful - Play a slot game to heal HP
 * This healing ability is based entirely on your ability to play a slot machine... some people really like it, others think it's utter crap.

Growth

 * Tiara - 90 Sword/Spear/Axe
 * Comet Star - 90 Fist/Special

Proboscis Fairy
Looks like an ugly old man, but is the only Fairy with 4 abilities (to make up for Honey Bee only having one I suppose).

Skills

 * Press It and See - 0 hearts - Automatic - Defeat Enemies - Useful - Presses hard to reach buttons
 * This ability is necessary to clear the Aidolon Ruins map to 100%. It will open up what was a corridor into a large room with a new door to explore.


 * Just a Little - 5 hearts - Command - Defeat Enemies - Not useful - Heals 1HP... or maybe more
 * Like the Slot heal, some people like this ability, but it's completely random. Most of the time this ability will heal you for 1HP and then you won't be able to use it for 5 minutes!  Approximately 10% of the time, it will heal you for 573HP (an inside Konami joke it would seem).  Quite a heal, but not too likely to happen when you really need it.


 * Skull Bomb - 10 hearts - Command - Defeat Enemies - Not useful - Drops a bomb that explodes in a wide area and may hurt Hector
 * Despite the wide area, this bomb doesn't do much damage. At best it might clear a room of fleamen, but if you don't guard this bomb will hit Hector as well.


 * Restore - 0 hearts - Automatic - Defeat Enemies - Very useful - Removes poison, curse or stone (maybe stun)
 * This is all the removal abilities rolled into one. This fairy can remove 'em all.

Tiramisu
Nice little fairy with some unique abilities. It might be silly to say it here, but if you're going through the game without hints, this is the fairy to go for.

Skills

 * Gold Heal - 6 hearts + $5,000 - Command - Defeat Enemies - Very useful with cash - Heals to full HP
 * The only "full heal" short of a rare potion, once you're far enough into the game where you don't worry about money anymore, it's a very nice heal.


 * Decipher - 0 hearts - Automatic - Defeat Enemies - Somewhat useful - Translates ancient script for Hector.
 * If you're just going to use a strategy guide to find your way around the game, then this ability is worthless. If you want to discover things for yourself, however, this becomes a very important ability.  Throughout the areas you explore, there will be signs or murals with heiroglyphs or other strange script that seem out of place.  If you have a fairy with this ability, she will let you in on the secrets written on the walls.


 * Invincible Vase - 30 hearts - Command - Defeat Enemies - Very useful - Makes Hector invincible for a short time
 * Ta-dah! You can't be hurt. Very expensive, but in boss fights, this can mean the difference between a happy Hector and a dead Hector.

Tiara
Kind of a sneaky fairy, and the least useful of the four final forms.

Skills

 * Healing Drop - 6 hearts - Command - Defeat Enemies - Somewhat useful - Enemies drop healing spheres when struck
 * Little green spheres will rain from enemies when you hit them, each of which will heal you 2HP. In a room filled with weak monsters, it might be helpful, but there are other more useful healing abilities out there.


 * Crystal Skull - 20 hearts - Command - Defeat Enemies - Somewhat useful - Makes Hector invisible
 * If you're hurting, or you just don't want to be bothered by monsters, this ability is handy. You can still attack monsters when you're invisible, but they will turn to where you struck them and strike back, so you don't get a free ride.

Comet Star
This girl's about as stereotypical as you can get. Runs around with her star wand, heals Hector and brings some pain and misery.

Skills

 * Twinkle Star - 0 hearts - Automatic - Defeat Enemies - Useful - Fires star beams at enemies
 * Has a bit of a load time on it, and does low general damage, but it's a free damaging ability from an ID that can't be hurt.


 * Lullaby - 0 hearts - Automatic - Defeat Enemies - Useful - Puts enemies to sleep
 * Very nice in a group situation. Enemies that are put to sleep don't attack back when you hit them, and they remain out of commission for a short while.


 * Heal Lv. 4 - 50 hearts - Command - Defeat Enemies - Very Useful - Heals 200HP