While the vampire hunters of the enormously popular Castlevania franchise often rely on the legendary Vampire Killer whip to vanquish the forces of darkness, virtually every game in the franchise has players also equip themselves with sub-weapons to help even the odds against Dracula and his monstrous armies. Consumed by hearts gathered over the course of the game, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood would introduce the idea that sub-weapon attacks could be boosted by consuming a significantly larger amount of hearts for the Item Crash technique while their base functionality remained.
With such an extensive list of sub-weapons added to the franchise over its 35-year history, including the zircon and even the Bible being used to physically batter the monsters, this ranking will focus on the five classic sub-weapons that appeared in the original trilogy of NES games, which went on to become franchise staples.
5. Dagger
One of the first sub-weapons players can claim in the original 1986 Castlevania is the dagger, a standard knife that be thrown in a straight horizontal line at targets. The damage inflicted is relatively minimal, and while some games gives the dagger a small knockback against weaker opponents, the dagger is really included to give players something of a ranged attack.
Rondo of Blood and its direct sequel Symphony of the Night would allow players to fling a flurry of daggers horizontally at a target at the cost of additional hearts, though the damage output per dagger remained low in comparison to other sub-weapons.
4. Axe
The axe is the other relatively common sub-weapon from the franchise, with characters throwing the axe at a short arc in front of them. With most attacks in the game being close-quarters and restricted horizontally, it was the axe that let players hit targets at a slightly greater distance and at an angle, especially key when facing flying monsters.
Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night allowed players to summon a ring of axes that would radiate outward and hit all enemies around them. The axe would be incorporated as a special move for Simon and Richter Belmont in their guest appearances in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
3. Pocket Watch
One of the strangest sub-weapons in the franchise is the pocket watch. It would be rebranded and altered to become a stopwatch in later games -- something of an anachronism given the time period, though Castlevania has never strictly adhered to its respective time periods.
The stopwatch would stop time for brief periods, allowing players to evade or attack opponents paused by the temporal attack. However, some enemies are immune to its effects. Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night would allow players to increase the watch's effects, albeit at the cost of a significantly larger number of hearts.
2. Combat Cross
One of the most powerful sub-weapons in the game is the Combat Cross, with players flinging the crucifix across the stage horizontally before it comes back like a boomerang, inflicting an impressive amount of damage on anything struck by it. Multipliers found throughout the stages can add up to a total of three crosses on the screen at once, making it particularly effective.
Of all the sub-weapons, the Combat Cross has always been one of the strongest, getting a special shoutout in the Castlevania anime's final season when finally obtained by Trevor Belmont. It's perhaps the best sub-weapon in 1991's Super Castlevania IV. The Combat Cross is a special attack for Simon and Richter in Smash Ultimate, with the two characters' Final Smash also using the weapon to evoke Richter and Alucard's Item Crash from Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night.
1. Holy Water
The most overpowered weapon in the original Castlevania is holy water, with players throwing a small vial in front of them creating a small torrent of cleansing flame. Any monster caught by the bottle or fire in the NES titles are temporarily frozen in their tracks until the flame subsides as they continue to endure damage from it.
While some monsters are immune to the paralysis caused by the holy water (and this feature was minimized in later Castlevania games), even Dracula's final form in the original leaves him vulnerable to be frozen by the holy water as long as players have the hearts to use it. The standard holy water attack is a special move for Richter and Simon in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and the holy water Item Crash in Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night is one of the most powerful in the entire game.