This guide to farmable weapons and subweapons in Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls will be broken up into the following sections:
This part of the guide covers farmables for Charlotte and Maria.
[Last updated: 12/13/19]
Do you want to play a specific character but the gacha just won't give you what you want? Do you want to save gems for limited edition weapons and armor? Do you just want that extra oomph to supplement your character's gacha choices?
This guide has you covered, but only up until the Nov. 13, 2019 content update and does not include 1* or 2* weapons and subweapons, or any armor. I'm going to break this guide down into the following sections:
[Tip: The stages mentioned in this guide will be in #-#-# format, meaning Book-Chapter-Stage.]
All characters, when properly outfitted with their very very best, are extremely powerful. They can all go toe to toe with one another with an even competition. When it comes to just using things the game lets you farm though? There's definitely a tier list.
The very best: Alucard and Shanoa. Why? Well, Alucard has a number of extremely good farmables with his best subweapon type being free and his farmables span all but one element (lightning). Shanoa has two stupidly broken weapon skills… but the rest of her weapons are somewhat mediocre, and her gun is all right.
The middle of the road: Simon. Simon has some good whips and a type B dagger, but his main concern is with his Astral Atrament weapon being rather bad on top of being the only character missing two farmable elements.
The unfortunate ones: Charlotte and Maria. While they can be good, their options are extremely limited in what build they can do with only freebies. You're going to really be yearning for the gacha for them if you decide to main either one without pulling. If it's just for one or two supplemental weapons, however, it's somewhat more acceptable, especially since Charlotte has all elements available, but that doesn't fix their dire subweapon straits.
For easy reference, as of the Nov. 13, 2019 update, the following characters have the following weapon and Subweapon elements:
Weapon: Book of Nemesis, 5* rarity
Weapon: The Four Elements: Fire, 4* rarity
Subweapon: Silver Chalice, 3* rarity
Weapon: Gikeki, 3* rarity
Subweapon: Silver Cross, 3* rarity
Weapon: Book of Healing, 3* rarity
Weapon: Blessed Book, 5* rarity
Subweapon: Ornamental Cross, 3* rarity
Weapon: Secret Verses, 5* rarity
Weapon: Arctic Eagle, 4* rarity
Weapon: Penta the Penguin, 5* rarity
Weapon: Eagle, 3* rarity
Weapon: Gjallahorn, 5* rarity
Subweapon: Silver Cross, 3* rarity
Weapon: Nightingale, 3* rarity
Weapon: Jatayu, 5* rarity
Subweapon: Ornamental Cross, 3* rarity
Subweapon: Blanky, 3* rarity
None
For veterans: Verses ASAP into Nemesis farm. 4 Elements after, sell Agni if you don't use it, pocket Gikeki for stats or fuse it off, low priority Blessed Book if using a 3x Holy setup.
For newer players: This is where things start getting rough for no-rollers. Charlotte doesn't have any "good" farmable subs that do what we need them to for her. While she has lots of elemental diversity, she's got a lot of really bad or extremely niche skills on her free weapons. She's definitely usable with just the farmables but it will be crippling in Bounty Hunt and other time or speed based challenges. In single player her weaknesses are soothed by her flying and by her ability to quickly fill the assist gauge.
Book of Healing: This drops before the Dullahah boss in chapter two, probably because the devs were kind. Charlotte shines in that fight for sure, but it's hard for her to keep up in the hard mode with just her farmables. The book has a healing skill which is good… But one of her gacha Holy weapons has a healing skill too. It's redundant and has dead passives (unless you mono Holy, in which case she becomes quite the powerhouse). It's worth getting this one up if you plan to mono Holy later.
Gikeki: Man that skill is really really not good. It's mobility and speed but trash for damage. The active and passives are cringeworthy. The only reason you use Gikeki is for thunder weapon or sheer stats. I'd stay as far away from this thing as you could. Or, you know, parchment fuse it while farming for The Four Elements: Fire.
The Four Elements: Fire: Actually a good weapon! This has her best non unique skill on it to boot. Attack and weapon skill damage are both good passives too, but grinding this is going to take a really really long time. I would suggest going off to 4-3-5 and spamming or skipping it as you need to. You get Gikeki and (rarely) Agni parchments there that are for parchment fusions and AA respectively.
Blessed Book: Ugh… not the broom again. That's a really bad skill to be taking with you. The active is niche if you have a certain holy gacha holy water for it in a mono holy build, and let me tell you this is a god sent weapon for mono holy Charlotte. Unfortunately its skill sucks and so does its droprate. I would only advise for Charlotte mains to grind this on the stipulation they know for a fact they want Holy weapon x3 setups.
Book of Nemesis: Her only ice farmable as of yet… And a decent one at that. It's got okay passives, a great active and an interesting skill. The skill is a long windup and a long hit window but is bad for bursting bosses like the Final Guard ASAP, but it still does good damage. I can recommend this safely.
Secret Verses: Yes please! Should you manage to fulfill its active (the gacha is required to do so at this time for a dark subweapon) this book has a great active, great passive and great skill. This is one of the few books for Charlotte that works in any situation. Its skill can penetrate FG shield to boot! Pick this up as soon as you reasonably can if you play Charlotte seriously. She needs it more than most other characters want their AA weapons.
She has a Holy Water Type B farmable which does nothing for ranged coverage, Cross type A and B. Normally, Cross Type B is optimal for Charlotte. Issue is… a 3* has next to no range vertically. That's what you use them for. It's unfortunate, but it's part of why Charlotte's life is hard unfarmable. Use whatever you get.
To veterans: Gjalla if 4 guardians, skip it if not, punch ghost into eagle and ice bird farm.
For new players: Miss Renard was in the worst farmable spot of any character before the addition of chapter 5. Now I'd place her somewhere around Simon tier usability, but probably just below. Her subweapon options still practically neuter her if you're running only farmables. Her weapon situation is stable now, but for new players she only has one three star and zero four star farmables you can easily access.
Nightingale: A staple for all early game Marias. You're going to just naturally accrue a lot of these birds in stages farming for enchantment souls. It drops plenty of places. Sit back, relax, accept the bird with the really bad special.
Eagle: A new chapter 5 addition with a tornado skill, with OK actives and passives. I'd honestly recommend farming this to 35 if you're serious about Maria. 5-1-5 lets you snag her also new and also really good 4* bird. The only shame is it takes so long to make it drop.
Arctic Eagle: OK active, dead weight passives and a really nice skill. I would use this in conjunction with the Eagle for Bounty Hunt featuring either Jatayu or Penta, barring special Gjallahorn builds. It's worth your time.
Gjallahorn: Oh Gjalla… you want to be good. It exists for sniping FG with its otherwise useless sing skill. Beyond that its main active is kind of bad if alone- but good paired with Maria's gacha armor the Four Guardians… even if that does absolutely nothing for its abysmal passives. I recommend this only if you get a copy of said armor or you really need a lightning weapon. There's better out there.
Penta the Penguin: Featuring a long startup and possibly the most adorable skill ever to grace this game, Penta! Its passives are a mixed bag but overall okay, its active is… well. Its active exists. I can safely say this is a good 55 to fill in your roster with while you're trying to work through BH.
Jatayu: An amazingly good slew of passives and the worst active yet! Its skill more than makes up for it though, offering her some good burst power. I would hands down say any Maria wants a Jatayu when they can conveniently afford it. She has other safe options though, so you don't need to prioritize this specific weapon.
Maria's farmable subs are a bit questionable to say the least. The lesser of the three demons is the Type A Cross, but she has the same issue as Charlotte with the Type B Cross being too small. I would say Blanky is safe to use and it's personal preference between that and the cross.
If you want a guide on all weapons and their uses for each character, there will be a main guide and character specific weapon tierlists for gacha and non gacha weapons both. Check back later for a link once it's complete!
Man, there's a lot to farm in Grimoire of Souls! Let us know below what you think, if you have any questions, or just tell us how you've been enjoying the game over at our Community or in the Grimoire of Souls Discord!