Shanoa Profile Preview

After a long wait, we now have the profile for the Bearer of Dominus and greatest sorceress in Castlevania: Shanoa. While she may not be as well known as her opponent or even people in her franchise, she is nonetheless a very powerful character, and has performed feats of power that are rivaled by few in the Castlevania universe. Will her great Glyph powers be enough to seal her victory against the Avatar, or will the versatility and power of Bending trump her magic?

SHANOA:

"I am the blade to banish all evil, and I've come to see you annihilated."

-Shanoa, to Dracula before the duel between the two

Bio:

An excellent introduction to the game, videos are hard to find so this will have to do. Still, not a bad video.

Shanoa is one of the greatest fighters in the Castlevania franchise and arguably the greatest wielder of magic. She wields glyphs; special forms of magical energy that allow her to create weapons and spells. She is the greatest user of glyph, to the point that she can use the cursed spell Dominus without losing her mind. Wielding elemental spells and the ability to simply make weapons, she is a versatile and deadly opponent.

Born  in the early 1800's, Shanoa is the protagonist of the DS game, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. She represents the Order of Ecclesia, one of many that was created to destroy Dracula in the abcense of the Belmonts, and the only successful one. She is the warrior of the Order under the order of Barlowe, the leader of Ecclesia and both a skilled scholar and warrior. She was taken into the order at a young age and trained to be a warrior, being the most skilled-glyph user in the rder, with Barlowe only after her. When she was around 20, Shanoa was chosen to be the Bearer, the wielder of Dominus, which would allow the user to kill Dracula. However, during the ritual, her step-brother Albus interrupted the ritual and stole Dominus, stealing both her memory and emotions. As Albus fled, Shanoa collapsed and Barlowe now had a cracked split Order.

Shanoa had to be re-trained in her art, which was a problem. After a couple

Long Range:

Arcus/Cutler/Ascia:

For ranges where Shanoa cannot use close range glyphs, she often uses these two glyph systems. Both can be upgraded to superior weapons. However, they are not the same at all. Power increases based on the power of the glyph, but more powerful Glyphs use more energy. Arcus casts a bow figure in front of Shanoa, which fires an arrow and then disentigrates. Yes, it does that; Shanoa does not fire an arrow, she creates a bow which fires an arrow. It is not affected by gravity, so theoretically she could create a wall of bows and use that as something that is almost undodgeable, except that it will not move and will only fire in a straight line. Vol Arcus does the exact same thing, except it is more powerful and shoots in a 45 degree angle. To note, it CANNOT be aimed. That is one of Shanoa's main weaknesses with the Arcus system, but is compensated by Melio Arcus. Melio Arcus actually tracks the enemy, and will adjust its positon to accuratly fire upon Potter. However, due to the waiting time it won't fire completly accurately; it will miss if Potter is moving too fast for the arrow to hit him. It can only adjust the positon before it shoots, and that is one of it's main weaknesses.



Cutler is a completly different type of Glyph. Shanoa actually throws these knives at opponents, making them more efficient and easier to use. Cutler does not deal much damage, but it is able to be spammed quickly and  cost little energy to cast. Vol Arcus and Melio Arcus simply throw more knives (2 and 3, respectively) and do more damage. To be serious, it isn't much but it will be useful for times when energy is low and Shanoa cannot afford her more powerful attacks.

Ascio is an axe glyph; rather than attacking up close with the axe, Shanoa hurls the axe upwards, which will slay flying enemies quickly and will also attack enemies on front of Shanoa. The main difference with the axes is their power and size; Melio Ascia is almost as big as Shanoa herself!

Medium Range:

Elemental Glyphs:

Shanoa has many spells which work as actual magic; performing powerful attacks with elements rather than summoning weapons. These are her spells, and some of her most effective techniques in her arsenal.

Ignis spawns 3 balls of fire that spread out in angles, 45 degrees away from each other. Each is capable of killing, and are very effective at destroyying foes weak to fire and agile opponents that by dodging the middle hit the top. Plus, they are very cheap to cast and easily capable of being spammed so that the end result is deader than dead, which enemies of Shanoa tend to be in the first place.

That's...actually pretty accurate.

Vol Ignis creates a wall of fire that is dropped from Shanoa's hand and erupts into a pillar of fire that can be effectively used as either a barrier or a bomb that can annhillate fallen enemies, also like a pyre. It is nearly impossible to block, being in effect an exploding fire bomb that can really mess up any shield. It can also be used as a sort of wall, preventing enemies from passing through into close-quarters, which I guess is useful if she's being cautious or something.

Grando shoots out a sharp piece of ice, similar to an icicle but more wide and more deadly. Basically, it shoots out  an icicle at speeds you are lucky to get a couple seconds to react to, so odds are you get an icicle to the chest. It's quite spammable, and able to realiaistically kill in a very short time. However, it can be blocked easily and I don't see an icicle breaking through a barrier of Earth, but regardless it's a nice technique.

Imagine this shooting towards you like an arrow. Doesn't feel good.

Vol Grando is an advanced spell, that by a simple gesture creates a small array of icicles in a sphere of icy death. Literally. It's hard to explain, but basically, think of it as an ice cube that rapidly expands, grows horns, and stops at the size of a person being able to stay inside it. It's a powerful spell and useful for making barriers, but is generally not that versatile in what it does.



Close Range:

Close Combat Glyphs:

Shanoa’s main skill in is close combat glyphs, which use magical energy to create weapons from thin air. These are very versatile and notable for having 3 stages; the original, Vol, and Melio. Vol and Melio do more damage and are better weapons, but cost more magical energy to cast. For example, Hasta does 9 base damage while Melio Hasta does 23 damage base; this is augmented through skill weak-points on a foe.

This is Melio Hasta, and one of the reasons she is not dead. Also pictured is either Cutler/Secare.

The full list of glyphs is of follows: Secare makes a sword, Confodore is a rapier, Hasta makes a lance, Macir makes a hammer, Falcis makes a sickle, and finally Redire makes magnetic throwing knives. Redire is an exception to the Vol/Melio rule, but has an added bonus. Using Magnes on the magnetic Redire allows Shanoa to use them as propulsion, boosting her speed immensely and allowing her to zip across the battlefield. These are her main forms of weaponry-almost all of her fan dipections (it's not like I have access to a movie, Order of Ecclesia isn't important enough for that) and official art depict her with her sword, and the official art shows her with a crimson rapier/sword.

Secare-a pretty nice weapon, and her most valuable non-magical tool by the time of her duel with the Count.

Special:

Glyph Unions:

Compensating for some- wait,  that doesn't work.

By combining the magical energy of two glyphs in her hands, Shanoa can make vastly more powerful versions of regular glyphs. For example, the Secare union (Secare +Secare) makes a BFS that is twice as wide as Shanoa and thrice as tall. It’s a pretty effective sword for defeating large foes. The thing is that they cost hearts; a separate form of magical energy that can only be replenished by obtaining hearts found in common items, like candles. Most close-combat glyphs simply make a larger version of the weapon, like the aforementioned Secare or the Confodore rapier, which also makes a blast of sharp magical energy. Two main exceptions apply; Arcus and Cutler.

Arcus makes a stream of arrows from the sky that will hit nearly every single part of the ground and can kill a normal foe instantly (When was the last time you heard of a person surviving an arrow through the skull into the brain?) , though it costs hearts to use and is useless against well-protected foes. Cutler unleashes a rapid stream of dozens of knives, very similar to the energy bullet attack of Vegeta for reference. They are released in a straight manner in the direction Shanoa is facing, and can pound through nearly any defense given time (and given the amount of knives, not that much time is needed!).

Combining a weapon and a spell will result in a powerful swing of an elemental weapon, able tp pierce excellent armor and defeat foes with a weakness to the element. Her second-most powerful glyph union is combining light and darkness, and this results in an obscenely powerful attack that rips open reality itself and pounds everything on screen with insane damage, and almost no foes utside of the final boss can survive a few shots. Unfortunately, 50 hearts are used in the attack out of a maximum of around 350 hearts at the best. It can only be used sparingly.

Defense:

Shanoa is not weak in terms of direct protection. She has a few defenses that are prime for defense, and also has spells for it. She wears primarily the Minerva Mail; a regular platinum or something like that breastplate that was blessed by a war goddess. In addition to the defense the platinum gives, the blessing protects Shanoa from being cursed and probably similar hexes. While being as strong as gold, not platinum for some reason, it also boosts her physical strength and mental resistance. The Minerva Greave are the legging version of that, and have an equal toughness to damage as platinum and they have similarly been enchanted by a war goddess. Shanoa also wears the Winged Boots that boost her speed by 200% and combining that with Rapidus Fio, her speed makes her very hard to actually damage. She also wears the Minerva Mask, which boosts her physical defense by 8 and also boost her physical strength and magical resistance.

Also, she has the Scutum glyphs, which form barriers against projectiles and lower damage from melee attacks. Scutum blocks the head from attacks, while Vol and Melio Scutum block the chest. Combining both allows her to block nearly any projetile if she wants. Finally, the Scutum glyph unions turn Shanoa completely invulnerable for a around 5 seconds, but she is completely immobile and cannot move.

Evasion:

Shanoa's no object in terms of movement. Though she has a lot of armor on, Shanoa is still able to leap around areas with ease, and can jump around her height at base. The Winged Boots and Rapidus Fio glyph boost her running speed to dodge attacks or get to or away from foes quickly. Her most valuable tool her is easily her flight-Volaticus, as previously mentioned, let's her fly with almost no limitations, provided she doesn't get hit by anything. She can jump her height and also double jump, making

Tactical Aid:
Back Glyphs:

Wielded on her back, Shanoa's main form of tactical aid is the form of glyphs that form aid. They are divided into four main categories, and while they can't be combined like the others they can be rapidly switched to adapt to the situation.

Mobility:

On mobility, three glyphs work to expand Shanoa's ability to move. Magnes creates a field of magnetic energy that binds her to magnetic surfaces, and could also theoretically mess with electronics or other devices. It can be pulled back to fling her from a magnetic surface, serving as great propulsion. Paries allows her to transform into an ethereal substance that can crawl through walls and the ground, but if the glyph is deactivated or sucked out she dies. Finally, Volaticus allows her to straight-up fly, with wings quite literally sprouting out of her back. She can fly for an unlimited amount of time, but if she takes a major hit she will stop flying and be forced onto the ground. This glyph is unrivaled in agility, but the factor of interruption makes it hard to really pull off.

Augments:
There are a multitude of glyphs serving as small, but reasonable augments to her stats. Most of them are simple increases like improving spell damage, resistance, or physical stength but one of the best is Arma Custos, which forces the physicality of Shana up correlating to her damage taken. Another is Rapidus Fio, which creates a green energy field around Shanoa and boosts her apeed to a far superhuman amount. Regularly, when she touches an enemy she loses health. When this is activated, weak enemies like skeletons will be destroyed! However, against bigger and stronger foes like Demon Lords it will hurt them a little but push back Shanoa. Also included in the package is the base stat improvers (Fides, Fortis, Vis, Sapiens) that respectively boost her physical strength, physical durability, or the same in magical terms. In addition, Reflectio gives her small-scale regeneration. She can heal one HP a second, and while it's not the worst 

Transformations:
Shanoa has three transformations. These are all inferior to Shanoa in most cases, but have special prowess that allow her to beat foes in special situations. Chiroptera turns her into a werebat, giving her control over bats, wings, and a set of deadly claws to slah with. Felix is the best offensively, giving her an insanely fast tail whip and a set of claws that also heal her for a small amount but adds up. However, the msot dangerous is Machina that turns her into a robot with absolutely no offensive value save falling on someone, but is absolutely immune to all attacks.

Familiars:
While not being used often, Shanoa can literally summon out of thin air familairs to help her. Alate summons winged skeletons, flying from the sky and armed with spears and shields. Aranea summons spiders that crawl around, biting and stracting the foes with spider-things. Caries resurrects a number of zombies, that while not very fast still are strong and will tear through anything that isn't defended well. Medusa makes a circle of Medusa Heads that turn all they touch into stone, making a functional wall that follows Shanoa and preventing good physical attack. Mortus summons some of the dead that leap around and scratch and claw whoever they find and attack. Noctua makes around three owls that track the foes and scratch them out and generally do what you would think how an owl fights. Finally, Polkir summons three Polkirs, regular octupus-things that make napalm-like explosions from scanning the ground. One of them is a major challenge to any ground-based foe, three is a nightmare. None of these can be combined but they can all be spammed theoretically for massed familiars.


Training:
Ecclesia

While Shanoa's training is rarely mentioned in the game, it is said numerous times that Shanoa was taken into the Order at a young age and was trained to be a great combatant. She was able to sense Albus when he was being some sort of invisible or possibly just hiding. She was absorbing the Glyph Union Dominus, the pinnacle of her power, when a problem occurred. Shanoa lost all of her memories and emotions in the 'accident', and the lost the training that she had the time from then on. She got rudimentary training the next two weeks to regain training and how to use glyphs, and proved to be a quick learner in the art of Confodore, showing she may still have some memories as of the end of OoE, but still she never was as well trained as before the accident.


Experience:


Ultimate Weapon:

Powerful individually, but together...

Dominus:

No weapon can compare to Shanoa’s ultimate attack.  Using the power of the great Lord Dracula, Shanoa can unleash a flux of dark energy that kills everything in her immediate vicinity, and is the only weapon able to beat Dracula. Costing no hearts or MP, why not use this immensely powerful spell? This spell kills everything in Shanoa’s immediate vicinity, including Shanoa herself.  Obviously, Shanoa cannot use this often, but in the extremely rare event she does I subtract that from the total number of kills. Really, about the Dominus glyph union little should be said because of the suicide bomber scenario. Shanoa has used it before, resulting in the death os Albus’ spirit, and has pledged never to use it again. However, use the glyphs on their own and you get Dominus Hatred, Anger, and Agony; three of the most powerful spells in the game.  Hatred creates a pillar of light that then rains down a rain of damaging energy. Anger creates a few balls of dark enegy that look like meteors at the foe in a straight line.  Agony boosts Shanoa’s stats by 66, and allows her to gain massive boosts that can seriously change the tide of battle. The catch? Anger and Hatred cost 1/6 of Shanoa’s total health to cost, and Agony costs 6 health every few seconds. Using these more than extremely rarely will end her life quickly.

Motivation:

Personality:

What is the personality of the great vampire hunter? What flows through the mind of Shanoa? Who does she think she is, and why? To make this simple and true, let me say something. Shanoa doesn't really have much of a personality. This is because of the accident in the beginning of the game-it wiped out her memories and emotions. After this, she became something like a tool. She single-mindedly persued Albus, never fleeing, never questioning her master. However, by the end of the game she has progressed some. She was capable of regret and sorrow-she cried when Albus passed on, and the vague ending (A legendary hero never heard from again...hmm..)