Castlevania: Circle of the Moon/Cards

The magic system in Circle of the Moon (called "Dual Set-up System" or simply DSS) involves pairing magic cards in order to create an effect. Some pairs boost your stats, other modify your weapons, and others are more traditional magic spells. There are two types of cards: Action cards which determine the type of effect, and Attribute cards which determine the element associated with the effect. There are 10 of each type of cards, giving you 100 different effects (though many of them are the same thing, but with a different element).

Cards are randomly dropped by specific enemies, which means that you may have to fight 40 or 50 of the same enemy before you get the card you want. The easiest way to do this is to find a room near a save point where the only enemy in the room is the one you want (generally one of the many hidden rooms). For example, the best place to get the Manticore card is from the Thunder Demon in the hidden room nearest the Iron Golem boss. It's the only enemy in the room so you don't have to fight through hordes of monsters just for your 1-in-40 chance of getting the card, it's near a save room so you can retreat once you get the card (or nearly killed), and the room is small so you can exit and re-enter quickly. This makes the rather tedious process go by much more quickly.

Action cards are named after Roman gods and goddesses, and Attribute cards are named after mythical creatures.

Action Cards

Mercury

	Effect	Elemental status added to the whip
	Enemy it drops from	Bone Head
	Best location	First room of the Catacomb that you come to after the vertical pit Dracula throws you into. You can whip their fireballs or just stand behind them and strike.
	Etymology	Mercury was the Roman messenger god and god of trade. Equivalent to Hermes in Greek mythology.

Somewhat useful, but not really, as most enemies aren't particularly affected by elemental attacks. It is generally more effective to use the Venus and Salamander cards instead to raise your base strength by 25%.

Venus

	Effect	Stat modifiers
	Enemy it drops from	Slime
	Best location	After getting the Double you can get out of the underground. Go up the left side and there is a hidden room with an MP Plus (6/36). You can also get the card from the room directly under the first save room, however by going into the hidden room you can get the Mandragora card at the same time.
	Etymology	Venus was the Roman goddess of love and fertility. Equivalent to Aphrodite in Greek mythology.

Very useful as it raises stats without taking into account elements. Six of the cards raise strength or defense — either by raising one by 25%, raising one based on how much of the map is complete, or by trading one for the other. The Venus and Manticore combination doubles the number of hearts received (so 2 for a small, 10 for a large), which expedites replenishing hearts after a boss fight. The Venus and Cockatrice combination gives you free experience from walking. Sounds good, but since you only gain 1 exp for every five steps or so, it will talk hours to raise your levels, rendering the card combo useless.

Jupiter

	Effect	Defensive barriers and enhancements
	Enemy it drops from	Heat Shade
	Best location	In a hidden room in the Audience Room, right under the Outer Wall, is an HP Plus (9/43) and a Heat Shade. You'll need the Tackle to get to her. If you aren't having any luck in this room, the Machine Tower is infested with Heat Shades.
	Etymology	Jupiter was the chief Roman god and patron saint of the Roman state. Equivalent to Zeus in Greek mythology.

Several of these cards produce shields that, while they don't stop attacks, can damage enemies that get close. Others produce shields that block projectiles but not contact with an enemy. Jupiter and Thunderbird cuts all damage by 50%, and Jupiter and Mandragora can heal you (making it possibly the most useful combo in the game, given the rarity of healing items).

Mars

	Effect	Elemental (non-whip) weapons
	Enemy it drops from	Bloody Sword
	Best location	In the Chapel Tower, literally everywhere. The best place is right at the beginning since you'll be close to a save room if you need to heal.
	Etymology	Mars was the Roman god of war. Equivalent to Ares in Greek mythology.

Similar to the Mercury card, but it replaces your whip with a different weapon such as a sword. Notable combos are the Griffin (a charge attack), Thunderbird (fast attack), Unicorn (very powerful holy sword), and Black Dog (slow but very powerful gun).

Diana

	Effect	Projectiles added to whip
	Enemy it drops from	Man Eater
	Best location	In the Underground Gallery, in the last long horizontal corridor before the Dragon Zombies. Enter from the left side (so that you're closer to a save room). The trick is to get close enough to it so you can avoid its stream of pods but not so close that the second Killer Bee attacks. In the background is an alcove with a statue. Stand just in front of the left side of the alcove and you should be fine.
	Etymology	Diana was the Roman goddess of the hunt. Equivalent to Artemis in Greek mythology.

Another elemental damage card, but gives you a long range projectile to throw at the enemy. Useful for enemies that are too far away to hit or bosses that you need to avoid at all costs, but the high MP cost of most of the weapons makes it something to save for special situations.

Apollo

	Effect	Explosives thrown
	Enemy it drops from	Arch Demon
	Best location	There are no really good spots to find one, as most of them require you go through groups of enemies. Your best bet is to find one behind the heavy box at the very beginning of the game in the Catacomb. The right room off of the entrance to the Underground Warehouse is your second best bet, as it is close to a save room and there's only weak enemies in your way. Regardless of where you go, this is the most annoying card to get, and can only be found after you get the Heavy Ring . If you run into the room, jump immediately in front of the Zombie that appears first and then do a double jump, you can land in front of the Arch Demon and duck in the safe spot.
	Etymology	Apollo was the Greek and Roman god of medicine.

Objects are chucked at enemies in a similar fashion as the axe, and most explode on impact. The exceptions are the Golem, Cockatrice, and Unicorn combos, which act more like Uranus's summon monsters.

Neptune

	Effect	Full elemental protection
	Enemy it drops from	Ice Armor
	Best location	The first large room of the Underground Waterway has numerous Ice Armors and is near the save room in the Abyss Stairway. Even though you should wait to clear the Underground Waterway until after you get the Cleansing by defeating Death, you can (and should) get the card after defeating Adramelech, as it will help you survive the numerous poisonous enemies in the Underground Gallery and the Armor enemies in the Underground Warehouse.
	Etymology	Neptune was the Roman god of the sea. Equivalent to Poseidon in Greek mythology.

Absorbs all damage from a certain element, and restores 10% of the damage (so an attack that would normally take 100HP from you will instead take 100 MP and restore 10HP to you). Very useful, however note that some enemies have non elemental attacks, and running into an enemy won't necessary count as elemental damage.

Saturn

	Effect	Familiar spirit
	Enemy it drops from	Fallen Angel
	Best location	The tall tower outside the Battle Arena is the only place you can find him.
	Etymology	Saturn was the Roman god of the harvest. Equivalent to Cronus in Greek mythology.

An elemental spirit appears and follows you around, firing when you whip. Fun, but not exceptionally useful since you can't control the familiar and most don't move around enough. They tend to stay a little above you, meaning that many of their attacks will pass right over an enemy. A couple are more useful however, such as a skeletal ghost that homes in on nearby enemies and attacks them in short quick bursts, or an eagle that dives at enemies.

Uranus

	Effect	Summoned monster
	Enemy it drops from	Scary Candle
	Best location	After defeating Dragon Zombie in the Underground Gallery, this fake candle will appear in the Iron Golem's room in the Machine Tower.
	Etymology	Uranus was a Greek god of the Sky. Equivalent to Caelus in Roman mythology.

Pressing (down, forward, up, B) Then, a large creature appears on screen and unleashes a powerful magic attack that hits everything on screen. High MP cost, but still very, very useful against bosses.

Pluto

	Effect	Misc.
	Enemy it drops from	Trick Candle
	Best location	After defeating Camilla this fake candle will appear in Cerberus' room in the Catacomb.
	Etymology	Pluto was the Roman god of the Underworld. Equivalent to Hades in Greek mythology.

These are special effects that don't really fall into a category. Some affect stats, others how your sub-weapon works. The most useful ones are Pluto and Mandragora (+20% experience from all monsters – keep this one active when you aren't using anything else and switch to it when a boss is about to die), Pluto and Unicorn (complete invincibility, though you cannot attack – good for when you need to flee to a save room to heal), and Pluto and Black Dog (turns you into a skeleton). Be careful in skeleton form, since all damage you take becomes 9999, so you always die. When throwing bones, there is a small chance that a huge bone will be thrown, which does massive damage to everything on about half the screen.

Attribute Cards

Salamander

	Effect	Fire
	Enemy it drops from	Skeleton Bomber, Imp
	Best location	Either the shaft in the Catacomb or the first room after that. Both are overrun with Skeleton Bombers, so you should have no trouble getting this one.
	Etymology	Salamander s are a type of amphibian that was often given fantastic, fire-based powers in medieval literature, since they appeared when logs burned (escaping for their lives), and have come to be associated with fire and heat.

The most notable use of this card is with Pluto, which lets you use Item Crushes.

Serpent

	Effect	Ice
	Enemy it drops from	Earth Demon, Holy Armor
	Best location	The first Earth Demon that you come to, in the room with the Dash Boots . You may want to level up a bit first and get Wrist Bands from the bats first, as Demon enemies tend to be stronger than average.
	Etymology	Serpent s are common creatures given fantastical powers in various mythologies and folklores. This game's depiction refers to the Sea Serpents present in numerous myths, such as the Midgardsormr in Norse mythology; these serpents have been the first conceived image of dragons, the more popular Middle-Age European vision coming much later.

The most important use of this card is that some combinations let you freeze enemies like the Brain Floats, which is necessary to get certain items early in the game. Aside from that ice weapons are generally useless as most Serpent combinations results in significant strength penalties.

Mandragora

	Effect	Plant/Forest
	Enemy it drops from	Axe Armor, Lizard Man
	Best location	Once you get the Double and start climbing out of the Catacomb, head up the left side and there is a hidden room with a MP Plus (6/36). You can also get the Venus card here.
	Etymology	Mandragora are a type of demon familiar given to humans by the Devil.

Jupiter and Mandragora can heal you. Get this combination as soon as possible as healing items are rare and save points can be far apart. Pluto and Mandragora gives you a 20% experience bonus for all enemies. When you aren't using another combination, keep this one on at all times.

Golem

	Effect	Earth
	Enemy it drops from	Electric Skeleton, Minotaur
	Best location	Either in the long room that connects to the warp room in the Audience Room, or in the room right before the Necromancer.
	Etymology	Golem is a creature in Jewish folklore made of inanimate material and brought to life.

The big use is the Jupiter combo which makes your invincibility after getting hit last four times as long. Besides that, the card isn't that great, though Venus and Golem can be useful late in the game.

Cockatrice

	Effect	Stone
	Enemy it drops from	Stone Armor, Death Mantis
	Best location	In the Machine Tower, right under the bridge that leads back to the Audience Room is a hidden room.
	Etymology	Cockatrice is a cross between a rooster and a serpent in English folklore. Their stare causes the victim to die. The pen and paper RPG Dungeons and Dragons popularized it having a petrifying gaze instead.

Similar to Serpent combos, most Cockatrice combos results in the enemies being petrified. The big difference is that the combos generally give strength boosts as opposed to penalties. Still, most of the combinations are fairly useless as few enemies are weak against Earth. Pluto and Cockatrice boosts your stats based on play time, but unless you are going very slowly through the game, it won't help as much as other defense boosting combos.

Manticore

	Effect	Poison
	Enemy it drops from	Thunder Demon, Succubus
	Best location	In the upper right corner of the large room that leads to the Iron Golem is a hidden room with a MP Plus (13/36). Thunder Demons are exceptionally powerful, so you should get the Jupiter and Mandragora cards first.
	Etymology	Manticore s are hybrid creatures from Persian mythology that poisoned humans.

The Venus combo doubles the amount of hearts you get, the Jupiter combo produces a gas shield that does a very good job of destroying projectiles and weak flying enemies, Apollo and Manticore produces an effect similar to holy water over a larger area, Neptune protects you from being poisoned, and with Pluto you use MP instead of hearts for sub-weapons. Easily one of the best Attribute cards.

Griffin

	Effect	Wind
	Enemy it drops from	Skeleton Athlete, Siren
	Best location	At the far east end of the Audience Room is a very long room that you need the Kick Boots to enter. The room is filled with Skeleton Athletes, so simply slide-kick your way across the room, repeating until you get the Card.
	Etymology	Griffin s were considered to be the king of beasts in European mythology.

The Griffin and Diana combo is by far the strongest of the Diana combos. Also the most costly, so use it sparingly.

Thunderbird

	Effect	Thunder/Lightning
	Enemy it drops from	Were-panther, Dullahan
	Best location	The large room that connects the lower part of the Chapel Tower to Adramelech's room (it's the two floor one with bells). From the lower right door, the first enemy is a Were-panther. Timing is important when fighting them. When they go to attack (it's obvious), jump up and back a bit so you don't land on them and then swing. Keep a close eye on your HP since you will have to go through quite a few enemies to get to the save room on the other end. Once you get the timing down you shouldn't get hit at all.
	Etymology	Thunderbird comes from Native American mythologies.

Another not-great card, however the Uranus and Thunderbird summon is one of the most powerful summons in the game, making it exceptionally useful for boss fights.

Unicorn

	Effect	Holy
	Enemy it drops from	White Armor
	Best location	Room 16 of the Battle Arena
	Etymology	Unicorn s appear in several mythologies, as far back as the ancient Greeks.

Insanely hard to get, but it gives you two very useful abilities. Venus and Unicorn lets you trade half your strength for double defense, and Pluto and Unicorn makes you completely invincible (though you cannot damage enemies in this state).

Black Dog

	Effect	Dark
	Enemy it drops from	Devil Armor
	Best location	Room 15 of the Battle Arena
	Etymology	Black Dog s are specters in British folklore.

The second most difficult card to get (simply because you have fewer enemies to defeat before you get it), but some very useful abilities. Venus and Black Dog swaps half your defense to double your strength, Mars and Black Dog gives you a low-cost, powerful projectile attack, and Pluto and Black Dog transforms you into a skeleton.

Combinations

For more on the card combinations, see the DSS page.

Card	Mercury	Venus	Jupiter	Mars	Diana	Apollo	Neptune	Saturn	Uranus	Pluto
Salamander	Fire whip	Strength +25%	2 fireballs (shield)	Flame sword	Fireball projectile	Bomb	Absorb fire	Bat familiar	Fire based summon	Item Crush
Serpent	Ice whip	Defense +25%	4 ice blocks (shield)	Ice sword	3-way ice shot	Ice ball	Absorbs ice	Ghost familiar	Ice based summon	2x sub-weapons at once
Mandragora	Thorn whip	Luck +25%	Restores HP	Rose sword	3-way shot	Rose bomb	Absorbs plant	Owl familiar	Plant based summon	Exp + 20%
Golem	Long Earth whip	Def based on map exploration	Invincibility x4	Hammer/Quake attack	Ground based attack	Spear summon	Absorbs Earth	Hawk familiar	Earth based summon	Creates duplicate
Cockatrice	Stone whip	Exp from walking	Prevents petrification	Tonfa Strike	3-way stone attack	Comet summon	Absorbs stone	Medusa familiar	Stone based summon	Def based on game time
Manticore	Poison mist	2x hearts	Poison cloud (shield)	Poison claws	Poison rain	Gas bomb	Absorbs Poison	Ghost familiar	Poison based summon	MP used for sub-weapons
Griffin	Continuous whip	Int +25%	Shield while running	Charged attack	Wind based attack	Creates tornado	Absorbs Wind	Spirit familiar	Wind based summon	Faster movement
Thunderbird	Whip held out for damage	Damage based on map exploration	1/2 damage, but thrown more	Martial arts attack	Electric spin	Electric ball	Absorbs Lightning	Crow familiar	Thunder based summon	Damage based on game time
Unicorn	Restores HP	Def x2, 1/2 Attack	Shield from projectiles	Holy sword	Homing ball of light	Light arrow	Absorbs Holy	Angel familiar	Holy based summon	Invincibility
Black Dog	Dark attack	Attack x2, 1/2 Def	Shield that drains HP	Attack with gun	8-way short range attack	Black hole	Absorbs Dark	Imp familiar	Dark based summon	Transforms into a skeleton