Dark Palace of Waterfalls Floor 1

Dark Palace of Waterfalls requires you to complete two objectives before entering the boss arena. You need to drop the bridge that will link room 28 to 29 and then switch the water flow that blocks certain doors, cutting off your path.

In order to drop the bridge down, head for room 11 on the West side of the map. Then work your way to room 15, pick up the Marker Stone 8, and hit the bottom floor staircase (which is where you will hit the waterfall switch).

The bulk of the goodies on this floor exist on the east side of the map. The first major situation you are going to want to deal with while heading down that side will be to face off against the Frost Elemental and gain the Ice Whip in room 21. To get there, head for hallway 17 and kill off the Fishmen. Keep the Heavy Armor alive and head for the far east door, which looks like it was concreted. Bait the Heavy Armor towards you and stand directly in front of the door. Wait for the Heavy Armor to throw his mace at you, then dodge and allow it to bash the concrete wall. A door should appear leading you to room 18, 19, 20, and 21.

Once you reach room 19, you are going to want to explore the bottom portions of the cavern for a bag of cash. Now jump back up onto the rock ledge you entered on. Jump over to the other side (left side of the screen), then turn around facing the door, double jump and whip yourself up on another ledge. From there jump onto the rock column to the left, then double jump and whip yourself up onto another ledge further left. Enter room 20 and grab the HP Max Up. Don’t bother with the Skull Ride right now. Go back out to room 19. Now place Leon in the center of the rail facing the camera and double jump out (also towards the camera). You should land on a small rock column (the camera should now pan to reveal another ledge/railing to the left). Double jump and whip yourself over. You can snag a potion on this ledge, then walk towards the right and you will see another ledge and railing. Double jump and whip yourself over again to see yet another ledge and railing to the left. Perform yet another double jump and whip yourself over to see one last ledge and railing combo to the right. Double jump and whip yourself up onto this last ledge and then enter room 21 for the Frost Elemental battle and the Ice Whip.

When you find yourself heading towards the boss arena, you will probably run into an Axe Room. This obstacle should be fairly obvious. Time the axe swings and run past them. Axe Room 23 in particular will have a Heart Max Up sitting on a ledge to the right between the first and second Axes. Double jump and climb yourself up to get it. You can then jump and whip yourself over to the other side to land on another ledge that contains the Raccoon Charm.

If you want a Heart Max Up, head towards room 25 where you will have to do a jumping whip marathon across three sets of poles.

Once all is said and done, head towards room 28, cross the bridge, and face off against Joachim.

Joachim: Joachim’s cave area has three blue lanterns in three corners. Only one lantern will light up at any one time. When you spot the lit corner, run towards it, double jump and perform your hardest attack on it (little flames will spit out of the ground just below it, the double jump should allow you to clear it). Perform this three times then whip Joaquin, whose defense will now drop and become vulnerable to attacks. Avoid his flame swords that pop up out of the ground and keep dealing out as much damage as possible before he recalls his swords.

Joachim is, obviously, at his most dangerous when the blue swords are surrounding his body. He has a plethora of different sword projectile attacks, all similar in execution and results, which rely on Leon simply blocking to prevent damage. The only attack to really concern yourself about here is his purple spinning sword move, which will stun Leon if he tries to block and opens him up for a follow up attack. If you can confidently make Leon sidestep and evade attacks, even this attack shouldn’t be a huge problem for you.

Map Key

01- 4 Skeletons
02- 4 Fishmen
03- 5 Skeleton Swordsmen, 5 Fishmen
04- 4 Fishmen
05- 4 Fishmen, 1 Merman
06- 2 Mermen, 2 Skeleton Archers
07- 16 Flea men
08- N/A
09- 4 Fishmen, 3 Frost Swords
10- N/A
11- Bridge Switch
12- 2 Lizardmen, 3 Mermen
13- 6 Skeleton Soldiers, 1 Heavy Armor
14- 2 Mermen
15- Event Item: Marker Stone 8, Bottom Floor Staircase
16- 2 Frost Swords, 1 Frost Demon
17- 3 Fishmen, 1 Heavy Armor
18- 4 Red Skeletons, 1 Axe Armor
19- Basic Item: Super Potion, Bag of Cash: $1,000
20- Basic Item: HP Max Up, Skull Ride
21- Frost Elemental, Ice Whip
22- 4 Fishmen, 1 Merman
23- Axe Room, Basic Item: Max Hearts Up, Equipment: Raccoon Charm
24- 4 Mermen, 1 Heavy Armor
25- 2 Vassagos, 4 Rune Spirits, Basic Item: Heart Repair, Bag of Cash: $400
26- Basic Item: Heart Max Up
27- N/A
28- Bridge to Boss Arena
29- Boss Arena