Brachyura is a boss in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. It is a giant crab from the depths of Transylvanian history.
Description[]
Brachyura appears in the Lighthouse as Order of Ecclesia's third boss. This fight isn't so much about damaging it as it's about memorizing its attack patterns and getting to the top of the lighthouse, so Shanoa can activate the elevator to kill it.
Brachyura is weak to both Strike and Thunder damage, so equipping two Macir glyphs in one set, and one Macir with a Vol Fulgur in another is advisable. The first set should be used to hit Brachyura rapidly, alternating between the left and right attacks. The second set should be used to perform the Iuppiter Glyph Union whenever its larger pincer is in front of Shanoa. In addition, summoning a Zombie with the Fidelis Caries glyph, and letting it walk all over Brachyura for most of the fight, works very well. The player should be wise in having the Magnes glyph ready in yet another set of their Glyph Sleeve to be able to escape from its Acidic Bubbles attack.
The objective of each part of this fight is to keep attacking Brachyura until it turns red. While its color is green, it will use three different attacks:
- If Shanoa is on the left side of its pincer, it will attempt to punch her.
- If Shanoa is on the right side of its pincer, it will insert it into its smaller pincer, build up energy, and let it go, slamming the back of the larger pincer into the wall.
- When it turns red, it will then use its larger pincer to punch the ceiling of each section of the lighthouse.
- Note: Both colors will also fire acidic bubbles at Shanoa, although they are faster when its color is red.
As Shanoa arrives to the top of the lighthouse, she'll find an elevator which she must ride down to the bottom to crush and finally defeat Brachyura. This is the only way to defeat it since any other sorts of attacks will have no effect once the player has reached this portion of the lighthouse.
When the player unlocks Boss Rush Mode, the Lapiste glyph will make it easier to make Brachyura turn red and force it to punch through the ceiling. The Volaticus glyph will allow the player to get to the top of each section faster, although they'll still have to wait for Brachyura to catch up and destroy the ceiling. If the player wants its Boss Medal in Normal mode, the Arma Machina glyph can be used to avoid damage.
Strategy[]
The following strategy only considers those items and glyphs the player will likely have by this point during a first time playthrough. Gameplay styles might change from player to player, so each may devise their own strategies.
Brachyura is weak to Strike attacks, so it's advisable to equip the Macir glyph and use it as the player's main form of attack during the battle. Additionally, usage of the Magnes glyph is quite important during the course of the fight, so the player should make sure to have it equipped in one of their sleeves.
Due to the limited area where this fight takes place, summoned Zombies via the Fidelis Caries glyph will provide great offensive support, as they'll be able to actually walk on top of the boss and keep attacking it almost the entire time. This glyph can be easily absorbed from Necromancers and fully upgraded to Level 3 in Ruvas Forest, which will allow the player to summon three zombies at once.
Suggested Glyph Sleeve arrangements:
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This boss fight is comprised of four phases, where in the first three the player has to deplete Brachyura's HP a certain amount in order to proceed to the next. Every time this quota has been reached, Brachyura's color will turn red and he'll start performing three powerful upward strikes with his right pincer that can weaken the ceiling and eventually destroy it, allowing Shanoa to climb the Lighthouse up a bit more every time until she reaches its top, where she'll find an elevator she can ride down to crush and defeat Brachyura for good. The layouts of these four sections differ from one another, where in some instances it's required to use the Magnes glyph in order to avoid some of Brachyura's attacks.
Keep in mind that every time Brachyura has turned red, the damage requirement quota for that phase of the fight will have already been reached, so any further damage dealt to him will have absolutely no relevance anymore. All the player is required to do at those points is to keep avoiding Brachyura's attacks until he destroys the ceiling.
- Phase 1
Enter the main Lighthouse tower and start climbing the initial platforms up (use Magnes on the metal sphere found at the beginning to reach the first platform). Once Shanoa has reached the sixth platform, Brachyura will suddenly appear at the bottom of the tower and start chasing her upward, commencing with this the boss fight.
Once the boss battle properly starts, switch to sleeve B and cast Fidelis Caries so the zombies land on Brachyura himself and start dealing damage to him. Keep climbing all the way up to the top and stay on the top left corner. Once Brachyura arrives, he will slowly lift his right pincer in front of Shanoa, telegraphing his next attack; cast Iuppiter (UP + X/Y) on the pincer. If all five hits connect, Brachyura will receive around 150 damage (30 × 5, depending on the player's stats).
Quickly drop to the platform below, crouch, switch to sleeve C, and start attacking Brachyura with alternating Macir attacks while he performs his pincer strike above. Once he finishes, quickly jump back up to the platform above. If enough damage was dealt to Brachyura, he will turn red; if not, then repeat the same process.
Once Brachyura has turned red, run to the top right corner. Brachyura will pull down his right pincer, clap it three times and then unleash three powerful strikes at Shanoa above. The player must time their movements right in order to escape these attacks; the location where each strike will land is determined right when Brachyura pulls down and starts clapping its pincer. Once Brachyura has delivered one of these attacks, the piece of ceiling where the hit landed will crack. The idea then is to lure him into attacking this same spot many times until it breaks, which will allow Shanoa to climb up to the next section of the lighthouse (that is, transition to the next phase of the fight). It's impossible for Brachyura to destroy the ceiling the first time he performs these attacks during the first phase of the fight, even if he strikes the same spot all three times; it will require for him to release his bubbles attack (read below) at least once for him to be able to destroy the ceiling.
Brachyura will next spew several Acidic Bubbles upward in a spreading manner. Quickly run to the left corner before he does so, and as soon as he starts expelling the bubbles, run toward the right corner to avoid them all (the summoned zombies will also destroy some of these bubbles, alleviating a bit the whole ordeal). Once he has finished the bubbles attacks, Brachyura will once again start attempting to hit Shanoa above, so lure him to hit the cracked spot on the ceiling until he destroys it.
- Phase 2
Once again, climb all the platforms to the top of this section. Near the top will be another metal sphere, so switch to sleeve A and use Magnes to land on the top left corner.
Basically, the same strategy from Phase 1 applies here, although with minor differences due to the layout of the room.
Once at the top left corner, switch to sleeve B, summon the zombies, wait for Brachyura to arrive and to slowly lift his right pincer in front of Shanoa, cast Iuppiter on it, drop to the platform below and crouch, switch to sleeve C and start alternating Macir attacks while Brachyura finishes performing his strike above.
The main difference during this phase compared to the first one is that, due to the smaller platforms in this room, the player will be forced to use the Magnes glyph in order to avoid the bubbles attack; so, once Brachyura is about to perform this attack, switch to sleeve A and use Magnes to get away from the left corner, then manually move Shanoa right with the directional pad while she's in the magnetic field in order to keep her farther away from the rising bubbles. Once this attack has finished, quickly launch Shanoa back to the top left corner. Repeat the process from the beginning if necessary and don't forget to summon the zombies again.
Fortunately, it's completely safe to stay on the top left corner while Brachyura performs his three upward strikes during this phase, as they won't reach the corner itself. Furthermore, the piece of ceiling that is just above this corner is already cracked, so it will only take two more of Brachyura's strikes to destroy it, thus giving access to the third phase of the fight.
- Phase 3
Like in the previous two phases, climb up all the platforms toward the top. The platforms here will be more spaced from each other and there will also be more metal spheres, so switch to sleeve A and use Magnes on them to once more make Shanoa reach the top left corner, switch to sleeve B, summon the zombies, and wait for Brachyura to catch up - and when it lifts its right pincer in front of Shanoa, cast Iuppiter on it. Likewise, drop to the platform below and crouch, switch to sleeve C and start alternately attacking Brachyura with Macirs while he finishes his strike above.
The Acidic Bubbles attack here is practically the same as in Phase 2, so switch to sleeve A and use Magnes to avoid the rising bubbles (don't forget to switch back to sleeve B and resummon the zombies).
Also like in Phase 2, it's completely safe to remain on the top left corner when Brachyura turns red and starts performing his three upward strikes, and likewise, the piece of ceiling above this platform will already be weakened, although this time it will require all three hits from Brachyura to destroy it.
Unlike the previous phases, Brachyura will damage the player if they stay on the lower left platform when he's performing his three upward strikes.
- Phase 4
This phase is basically just the epilogue of the fight, as the main battle is already over. There'll already be metal spheres from the beginning, so switch to sleeve A and use Magnes to keep launching Shanoa straight up, going directly from sphere to sphere, until she travels all the way to the top of the lighthouse.
Near the topmost part of the lighthouse, Shanoa will find a large elevator with spikes attached on its bottom (these are harmless to the touch to the player). While using Magnes on the top sphere, aim Shanoa either to the top right or top left corner (by pulling her toward the bottom left or bottom right of the magnetic field, respectively) in order to launch her through any of the two small openings the elevator has on both of its sides. Now, simply climb/move to the center of the elevator and press DOWN on the directional pad in order to activate it. This will send the elevator with great force and speed downward all the way to the bottom of the lighthouse, crushing Brachyura along the way and defeating him for good.
Enemy Data[]
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Item Data[]
| Item Data: Brachyura | ||||||||
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| Image | Name - Game Type - Users Description |
Attributes / Consume | Statistics / Sell | Found | Notes | |||
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| Medal awarded for defeating the giant enemy crab, Brachyura. | Sell: (cannot be sold) |
Drop: Brachyura Conditions: Defeat Brachyura without taking damage. |
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Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The existence of the game Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia was first leaked when a user posted an image of Brachyura, dubbing it as "Blackula".
- Coincidentally, Blacula is the name of a 1972 horror film in which an African prince played by William Marshall is turned into a vampire by Count Dracula.
- Brachyura is one of the few enemies that Shanoa actually speaks to. When she's about to deliver the coup de grace by activating the elevator, she'll say: "Go to Hell".
- Likewise, when he's about to activate the elevator in Albus Mode, Albus delivers a reference to Konami's Metal Gear Solid game by saying: "Showtime", in a tone similar to Solid Snake.
- Despite Brachyura's data saying it has 1,800 HP, the creature is impossible to kill by normal means. Its HP works only as a way to gauge when the monster should change into its red form to break the ceiling, allowing Shanoa to progress. The elevator is the only thing that can destroy Brachyura.
- A glitch allows to kill the creature by calling the elevator immediately after entering the boss room. Since this method requires the Ignis glyph and must be done when passing through the room door, it is only possible in a second playthrough. The boss room needs to be re-entered afterward to work properly.
- The in-game description for the Lighthouse strongly implies that Brachyura was responsible for various quakes on the island that housed the Lighthouse location by the time of the game's events.
- Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infra-order Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) (Greek: βραχύς / brachys = short, οὐρά / οura = tail), usually entirely hidden under the thorax.
- Brachyura is meant to be a spoof of the "Giant Enemy Crab" meme. This is evident by the medal calling it a "giant enemy crab", and its description saying it hails "from the depths of Transylvanian history" (referring to how the E3 2006 debut footage for Genji: Days of the Blade had the Sony executives responsible for its development claiming the game was based on actual Japanese story, only for it to show a giant crab in the background).
