Amalaric Sniper

The Amalaric Sniper, or Sniper of Goth, is an enemy in the Castlevania series. It resembles the upper torso of a four-armed flying angel and is one of the rare Holy-themed enemies in the series. It signals its appearance with a single arrow before teleporting in place. Once there, it will hover above the player, taking careful aim before firing powerful Holy-based arrows. It is strong against Holy weapons, which sometimes makes it hard to kill.
==Origins==
Amalaric was king of the Visigoths from 526 until his death in 531. In 522 the young Amalaric was proclaimed king after his illegitimate brother, Gesalec, was forced to flee to Africa after leading a disastrous reign following the death of their father, Alaric II, in the Battle of Vouillé.
Amalaric's kingdom was faced with the threat of the Frank army coming from the north. This was his motivation for marrying Chrotilda, the daughter of Clovis, king of the Franks. Amalaric pressured her to forsake her Roman Catholic faith and convert to Arian Christianity, at one point beating her until she bled. Chrotilda sent to her brother Childebert I, king of Paris, a towel stained with her own blood. In response, Childebert attacked and defeated the Visigothic army, forcing Amalaric to flee south to Barcelona, where he was assassinated by his own men.
The Castlevania enemy seems to be specifically based on an illustration of Jacques Collin de Plancy's Dictionnaire Infernal showing Amalaric being killed by a sniper. The official description of the Amalaric Sniper, also called "Sniper of Goth", states that he "slew Amalaric of the Goths", which could be interpreted as one who snipes (kills with an arrow) Amalaric, the Goth. He's also described as a "fallen angel", which may lead to speculate if this term was chosen due to the real Amalaric, by forcing Chrotilda to abandon her Catholic faith, indirectly brought his own demise by making his executioners a sort of Christian traitors, or "fallen angels".
==Description==
An Amalaric Sniper always signals its appearance with an arrow shot from the sky, which marks the spot where it will spawn. It flies with great speed, always trying to position itself at a far angled distance from the player, and aims a powerful Holy elemental arrow at them. It can also use a secondary attack, where it hovers in midair and shoots out sixteen arrows outward in all directions, covering most of the screen.
Due to the Amalaric Sniper being Holy-based and not having any elemental weaknesses, the player is usually stuck by dealing small amounts of damage if they have been using elemental weaponry (especially if it is Holy-based). Also, due to their great mobility and the angle they place themselves to lock-on to the player, weapons with low reach or which attack in a straight pattern make it difficult to hit them.
Players are advised to switch to a weapon with Slash, Piercing or Dark attributes (the latter which these enemies are generally weak against) and which attacks in a wide overhead arcing pattern. At higher levels, and if the player has access to spells with a wide area of effect (such as the Thunder Cross, even if it's also Holy-based), Amalaric Snipers can be defeated in just a single casting.
==Enemy Data==
==Item Data==
==Notes==
*In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Soma Cruz is able to summon the aid of an Amalaric Sniper by gaining dominance over its soul, Summon Archer, which allows him to call forth an Amalaric Sniper from Heaven to shoot a Holy arrow at his foes.
**The bow the invocation of Amalaric Sniper holds ends up facing backward once he has shot his arrow, which references a common archery technique among the Japanese.
*Oddly, in Dawn of Sorrow, their arrows deal Dark damage instead of Holy.
==Gallery==
===Screenshots===
Dxc 116.png|Sniper of Goth enemy list entry from The Dracula X Chronicles version of Symphony of the Night.
==Trivia==
*The Paladin, an enemy from the Lords of Shadow reboot universe, is apparently based off the Amalaric Sniper.
==See also==
*Archer
*Cherub Familiar
*Fallen Angel
*Magic Missile (Summon Archer)
*Paladin
Category:Armored Enemies
Category:Dark Enemies
Category:Dictionnaire Infernal Demons
Category:European Mythology
Category:Flying Enemies
Category:Holy Enemies
Category:Real Life Based Monsters
Category:Dawn of Sorrow Enemies
Category:The Dracula X Chronicles Enemies
Category:Encore of the Night Enemies
Category:Grimoire of Souls Enemies
Category:Harmony of Despair Enemies
Category:Portrait of Ruin Enemies
Category:Symphony of the Night Enemies