27th August 2010 - Welcome to my guide on how to train the character Shanoa in Castlevania Harmony Of Despair. Although there is a help section in the game you most likely know it isn’t much help. The best tool you can have to training this fine girl is patients, as she takes a lot of time to get to her full potential.
Shanoa is a mage that starts off with 2 swords and a fireball attack named Ignis. The main downside to Shanoa is that she has a very small range of attacks but they are all quite easy to get.
The special power Shanoa has is the ability to absorb signils by holding the up button when a signil is clear to see. There are only 2 enemies in the game that you can absorb from and they are easy to find because of there unique way of attacking (shown in the picture below)
When you see the enemies Aliorumnas and the Nova skeleton (available to see in the Monster Compendium section) wait for them to begin to cast a spell and hold up. As they cast there spell you will notice there powers absorbing into you and after a few times of doing this you should receive a new spell. To date there are 4 different spells. Ignis (fireballs) Fulgur (a large thunderbolt) Grando (an icicle that shoots at the enemy) and Nitesco (a beam of energy). Once you get a new spell go into the main menu section and then go into the offensive gear section and set the spells to either UP+B, DOWN+B, FORWARD+B or B.
The best way to get these spells is in single I found, mainly because there is no other player to disturb your absorbing. When you first get your new spells you will notice they are not very strong, but the more you use them the more they level up. There is a total of 9 levels at the current moment, I found that the first 5 levels went quite fast but once I reached level 6 it got very slow. Each spell costs 15 mana so it is best to have magic items that enhance your mana. The other reason for levelling up your spells is because they increase the damage that your weapons do.
There is also another 2 additional weapons as well as your small swords. There is a big stone fist named Lapiste and a little boom of power that sweeps enemies away called Pneuma. The best way to get these weapons is to play levels 4 and 5 by yourself on normal or hard. I played co op a lot and never got these weapons until I played those levels once by myself. The great thing about these weapons is that they take 0 mana to use and are also very strong and helpful.
The other unique talent that Shanoa possesses is a s kill she starts with called Magnes which is a magnet that allows you to take short cuts through levels. Another great reason to make Shanoa the best she can be.
They way I have my Shanoa set up is a tad different to most people. Most Shanoa players have all 6 of the magical attacks equipped but I only use 5 of them and 1 sword mainly because the sword is a very fast attack along with the huge stone fist they make a quick and powerful combo.
Guide written by Victor Zanta