Holy Water is Simon and Richter Belmont's Down Special. The user throws holy water at the ground, which engulfs opponents in fire.
Overview[]
Holy Water is a short-ranged projectile thrown toward the ground. It bounces a few times after landing, and can deal a small amount of damage to anyone it hits. It then unleashes a burst of fire, similar to Robin's Arcfire, that will trap opponents and hit them multiple times. However, it deals no knockback.
Origin[]
Holy Water (referred to as a "fire bomb" in some versions) is a recurring subweapon in the Castlevania series, taking the form of a bottle that, when thrown to the ground, conjures holy flames blessed by God that can destroy creatures of darkness. Much like other subweapons, this item is used by the Belmont clan as well as Alucard and other allied vampire hunters. In most games the flame pillar it conjures stays in one place and has considerable vertical reach. It is especially useful in the first Castlevania game due to its ability to pin enemies and bosses alike to the ground and hinder their attack animations. Properly timed and enhanced with Double or Triple Shot powerups, it can easily tear through even Death's health bar in mere moments and is considered the most effective weapon against Dracula's final form due to it pinning him to the floor more effectively than any other subweapon as well as dealing massive amounts of hitstun.
In Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Holy Water does not conjure flames (a purpose now carried out by the Sacred Flame item) but can still be thrown at enemies as an attack. Its primary usage is to destroy trap blocks that Simon would otherwise fall through due to them being indistinguishable from regular blocks. Holy Water would return to its original usage in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse onward.
Rondo of Blood changed Holy Water's attack considerably, now conjuring green fire that moves along the ground, lacking the hitstun quality of its original form but covering more ground. Symphony of the Night subtly split the Holy Water item into two different versions. Richter's Holy Water works as it does in Rondo of Blood, but is recoloured blue, while Alucard's version works similar to the NES Holy Water, conjuring a single green flame that does rapid damage to any enemy it hits. Rondo also introduced the Holy Water's infamous Item Crash move, Hydro Storm, which summons a torrent of blessed rain to attack all enemies on screen. In Symphony of the Night, this Item Crash move is considerably more powerful, hinders even bosses' attack animations and deals rapid, heavy damage to them, making it part of the reason why Richter's bonus mode in that game is considered trivially easy to complete and even speedrun by fans. Richter also uses this move against Alucard halfway into the boss fight against the former.
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Simon's Holy Water conjures orange flame exactly like his and Trevor Belmont's versions did in the NES games and does fire-based damage, while Richter's conjures blue flames like it would in Symphony of the Night onward and does aura-based damage.
In real world parlance, "holy water" refers to water that has been blessed by a priest or cardinal of Catholic faith, for use in baptism ceremonies and the blessings of people, places or objects as well as the warding off of evil spirits.
| Simon's Special Moves | |
|---|---|
| Ultimate | |
| Standard Special | Axe |
| Side Special | Cross |
| Up Special | Uppercut |
| Down Special | Holy Water |
| Final Smash | Grand Cross |