The Builder Arcana Location in Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse
Rotate the Clock Tower cogs, drop through the Foundry Apex, and beat Talos to claim the Fist of Talos spell.
Rotate the Clock Tower cogs, drop through the Foundry Apex, and beat Talos to claim the Fist of Talos spell.
by AllThingsHow Staff
Image: KONAMI
The Builder is the Arcana sealed from Talos, won deep inside the Clock Tower of Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse. Claiming it adds the Fist of Talos spell to Rose’s deck and teaches the Smash skill, which lets her break destructible blocks from the air. Reaching it takes a cog puzzle, a ground smash, and a trap-filled descent to the boss arena.
Quick answer: In Clock Tower, rotate the cogs in the Eastern Access Shaft so all beams point vertically, smash through the floor, drop through the Foundry Apex, and defeat Talos. Absorb the orb it drops to unlock The Builder.
Where The Builder Arcana is found
The Builder sits at the bottom of the Clock Tower, in the district tied to Talos. You enter from the Eastern Access Shaft, work downward through the gear machinery, then pass through the Foundry Apex to the chained boss at the very bottom. Rose only receives the card after Talos is defeated, so there is no shortcut around the fight.
Travel to the Clock Tower and open your map to confirm you are in the Eastern Access Shaft. This is the vertical section that holds the puzzle blocking the path down.
Manipulate the rotating gear cogs in the shaft so that all of the beams line up vertically. Aligning them this way opens the path straight down through the center of the shaft.
Continue downward past the remaining gears, spikes, and enemies. Work through the red-lit chambers and the save statues until you reach the entrance to the Foundry Apex.
Inside the Foundry Apex, touch the Mirror of Life checkpoint before pushing on. This sets your respawn point right before the trap run and the boss, so a death does not send you back through the shaft.
Descend the open route through the Foundry Apex. Keep sprinting between hazards: dodge descending crusher blocks, get past chain barriers, and cross rooms filled with molten hazards without stopping.
Enter the arena at the bottom, where Talos stands bound by chains. It breaks free as the fight starts. Learn its tells, stay out of its heavy swings, and bring it down until it collapses.
After Talos falls, a golden orb is left behind. Walk into it to absorb it, which seals the boss into The Builder Arcana and adds it to Rose’s deck.
Confirm you unlocked The Builder
Two things confirm the unlock. Defeating Talos pops the Talos Aversion notification, and absorbing the orb brings up the card reveal screen for The Builder along with the Fist of Talos spell details. Once that screen appears, the Arcana is yours and can be equipped from the inventory.
On the reveal screen, hold the equip input to slot Fist of Talos straight away, or press the spell-preview input first to read its full effect before committing.
What Fist of Talos and the Smash skill do
Fist of Talos slams a massive fist into the ground, hitting enemies underneath for heavy damage while dealing much less to those farther away. The impact also sends out a minor quake that jolts enemies over a broad area and may knock them from their platforms. Casting the spell costs 50 mana.
The Builder also teaches Rose the Smash skill. With it, pressing down and the jump button while airborne lets her break destructible blocks, opening routes that were sealed before. That traversal use makes the card worth picking up even beyond its combat damage.
