Milican's Sword

Milican's Sword is a sword that can turn enemies into stone. Its origins and the who exactly Milican is are unclear. It has appeared many Castlevania games. Many of its characteristics vary by game. In Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Portrait of Ruin, it is only as long as a Short Sword. In Symphony of the Night and Dawn of Sorrow, it only as powerful as a Short Sword as well. Symphony of the Night has a different petrify-mechanic than Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin do. In Symphony of the Night, the sword randomly petrifies vulnerable enemies for a few moments. Enemies can be destroyed in a single shot while in this state. In the other games, the sword only petrifies enemies weak to stone and always petrifies these enemies. The stone affect is visible, the enemies cannot become "unpetrified", and they receive twice as much damage per attack as they normally could. In all games this sword appears in, petrified enemies will still deal damage if touched and cannot be "jumped" off of as in Circle of the Moon (without using the double jump slam down kick move).
==Game specific information==
===Castlevania: Symphony of the Night===
The Stone Sword is one of two weapons able to deal Stone damage.
It does not deal Cut damage. Since it is only as long as the Short Sword with lower ATT, using it is usually an extreme handicap considering it can only be found in the inverted castle. Despite its short range and low ATT, it can stop most enemies by 1.33 seconds every hit. Due to its attribute, this sword can petrify both Doppleganger10 and Doppleganger40, although since it can only be obtained in the Reverse Castle, the former is impossible. Enemies that are immune to Stone (Medusa Head - only green color, Tombstone, Akmodan II, Richter Belmont, and Maria Renard (in the Saturn and DXC versions)) are not stopped and take no damage from this weapon. Those that absorb Stone (Medusa, Medusa Head - only yellow color) will gain additional Hit Points when attacked by this weapon. Those that are strong against Stone (Gorgon) will take less than normal damage against this weapon. When using the Stone Sword, it may be a good idea to have a strong weapon in your other hand.
The only way to obtain this sword is by getting a Gorgon to drop one. This enemy can only be found in the Black Marble Gallery. This sword is also wielded by Doppelganger40.
===Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow===
The Milican's Sword in this game is a bit different from the Stone Sword in Symphony of the Night. It has respectable attack strength, which is very useful since Soma can only equip one primary weapon. Instead of "randomly" turning creatures into stone, it will only turn those creatures that are weak to that element (Axe Armor, Blue Crow, Zombie Soldier, Durga, Rock Armor, Student Witch, Killer Doll, Zombie Officer, Witch, Curly, Red Crow, Imp, Disc Armor, Manticore, Bomber Armor, Lightning Doll, Ukoback) with a 100% chance of being turned. Turning enemies into stone deals 2 damage, and attacking them while in this state will deal double damage to them. It deals both normal melee damage as well as Stone damage. It is also much longer in this game, about the same length as a Gladius or Laevatain.
This weapon can be found in the Underground Reservoir with the Flying Armor (or Giant Bat) soul in the area accessible by jumping off of boats. It can also be obtained as a drop item from the Big Golem located in the same area, to the left of the first save room. It can also be obtained from a Basilisk (Top Floor and Chaotic Realm), but by the time one is found, the player could have already have gotten the one found in the Underground Reservoir.
===Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow===
The strength of Milican's Sword is again reduced to near-negligible in this game. This time, swinging the sword has the special effect of launching rocks into your opponents. This causes it to cause Bashing as well as the Slashing damage of the blade. Unfortunately, it is not given its own unique stone-based special attack. It's special attack is just like any other sword, a dash forward while attacking. It will petrify enemies that are weak against stone (Peeping Eye, Warg, Student Witch, Slaughterer, Une, Manticore, Rycuda, Ghoul, Corpseweed, Yeti, Killer Doll, Buer, Killer Clown, Fleaman, Draghignazzo, Hell Boar, Harpy, Barbariccia, Heart Eater, Merman, Ukoback, Killer Fish, Mimic, Dead Pirate, Frozen Shade, Decarabia, Dead Mate, Bugbear, Mothman, Dead Crusader, Dead Warrior, Ripper, Werewolf, Gaibon, Slogra, Malacoda). Once an enemy is petrified, it may take several strikes to destroy it (it's currently unconfirmed if there is a timeout period).
It is evolutionarily similar to the other elemental swords, the Ice Brand and Laevatain (stone sword). Each of these swords can be created by adding a different soul to the ornate Joyeuse. Since it takes a lot of souls to create a Joyeuse from a Short Sword from scratch (Armor Knight, Corpseweed, Great Armor, Mollusca or Treant, and Killer Clown), you will probably need to decide which sword to evolve to. Using an Ukoback soul creates a Laevatain, a Catoblepas creates a Milican's Sword, and a Frozen Shade creates an Ice Brand. The drop rate of the souls needed to evolve these swords are identical. The Laevatain and Ice Brand do not have the same strength handicap that this sword has and have special attacks. However, there are many enemies in this game that can be petrified, so choosing a Milican's Sword may be a good idea, as long as you carry a powerful weapon in your alternate inventory. Each of these swords is evolved to a Burtgang by adding a Iron Golem soul.
===Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin===
This version of the sword loses its attack handicap it had in Dawn of Sorrow, as it is as powerful as Rahab's Frost or Agni's Flame. However, its length handicap from Symphony of the Night returns, as it is only about as long as a Short Sword. It also loses its stone-hurling swing and the Bashing damage that came with it. It always petrifies enemies weak to Stone (Zombie, Student Witch, Merman, Une, Ukoback, Frozen Shade, Persephone, Mimic, Fleaman, Mummy, Killer Clown, Coppelia, Lilith, Harpy, Gaibon, Slogra, Killer Doll, Moldy Corpse, Razor Bat, Wyvern, Succubus, Dead Crusader, Ghoul, Dead Warrior, Aliorumnas, Alura Une, Nyx, Mothman, Ripper, ) as in Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow. Petrified enemies remain in that state indefinitely and take twice the amount of damage that they normally would. The Medusa Whip can also be used to petrify enemies in this game, which has a much longer reach but is weaker (ATK = 30). This sword can only be found at the top of the last building in the City of Haze once you obtain the Toad Morph, which is found after the boss battle of the Forest of Doom.
==Item Data==
==Enemy Data==
==Gallery==
===Animations===
SOTN Stone Sword.gif|Stone Sword from Symphony of the Night.
AoS Milican's Sword.gif|Milican's Sword from Aria of Sorrow.
DOS Milican's Sword.gif|Milican's Sword from Dawn of Sorrow.
POR Milican's Sword.gif|Milican's Sword from Portrait of Ruin.
==Trivia==
*Unlike most assets found in Castlevania titles, where items and terms are based on established literary or other artistic works, the Milican's Sword seems to be an original idea. Most records of the word point to Millican (with a double 'l'), a surname of Irish and Scottish origins that translates as the "descendant of Maolagan", a personal name from a double diminutive of "mael" and meaning "bald". As such, it is probably an affectionate nickname for a monk or disciple, somebody who shaved their head as a sign of devotion.Millican at SurnameDB.
==References==
Category:Swords
Category:Stone Assets
Category:Aria of Sorrow Items
Category:Dawn of Sorrow Items
Category:The Dracula X Chronicles Items
Category:Harmony of Despair Items
Category:Portrait of Ruin Items
Category:Symphony of the Night Items