Sypha Belnades' starting spell. Summons a charge-up magic circle that fans out perpendicular ice-tooth icicles, then evolves into Cocytus with Spellbinder.
Ice Fang is the only weapon in v1.13 whose level 1 description hides what it actually does. Per the wiki, the level 1 spell summons damaging zones in a straight line, but the actual mechanic involves a charge timer, a blue magic circle that brightens as it charges, and (when fully charged) two parallel sets of perpendicular magic circles that summon teeth-like icicles biting the area between them. New Sypha Belnades players who pick Ice Fang expecting Knife-style spam are confused by the delay. From our experience, learning to walk in the direction the magic circle points so it triggers a fully charged cast is what separates a good Ice Fang run from a 30-minute slog through the Ode to Castlevania stage.
The other thing the wiki documents that catches new players off guard is the unlock condition. Per the wiki, Ice Fang is unlocked by evolving it, not by reaching a specific level. That means a single completed Sypha Belnades run with Spellbinder maxed at the minute-10 chest unlocks Ice Fang permanently. From our experience, this is also why Ice Fang is one of the harder Castlevania DLC weapons to use on non-Sypha characters: until you complete Sypha's evolution run, no other character can pick it from the level-up screen, and even after the unlock the Belnades' Spellbook (the spell pool that contains Ice Fang) only appears in Ode to Castlevania runs.
Ice Fang by evolving it once into Cocytus on a Sypha Belnades run
Cocytus at max level (level 8) plus max-level 
Spellbinder
Sypha Belnades, who starts with it on the Ode to Castlevania stageAccording to the Vampire Survivors wiki, Ice Fang is classified as a 
Belnades' Spellbook spell, which means it shares the charge-time mechanic that defines the entire Sypha Belnades spell tree. Per the wiki, every Belnades' Spellbook weapon has a charge time before activation, indicated by the brightness of its created magic circle. Ice Fang specifically summons a blue magic circle in the character's horizontally-faced direction, and when the circle reaches full charge it stops in place and summons two parallel sets of blue magical circles perpendicular to itself. Those perpendicular circles then summon teeth-like icicles that bite and chomp foes within the area between them.
From our experience, the practical effect of this mechanic is that Ice Fang works completely differently from auto-aim spells like Magic Wand or auto-fire weapons like Knife. The damage zone only deploys after the charge completes, which means the player has to walk toward where the circle is pointing for the icicles to actually catch the wave. Standing still while the circle charges leaves the wave to drift past the eventual deploy zone, and turning mid-charge restarts the brightness count. The wiki notes that the icicles themselves are affected by Amount, Duration, and Area scaling, which means stacking those three stats expands the deploy size dramatically.
Per the wiki, Ice Fang is one of nine Belnades' Spellbook spells (alongside spells like Refectio, Hex, and Anura) that all share the charge-up mechanic. From our experience, the v1.13 patch list confirms this is intentional: Sypha Belnades' entire spell tree is built around walking-into-the-cast positioning rather than spamming. Players who want auto-target instead of position-into-cast should pick a non-Belnades weapon for the build, since Ice Fang explicitly does not auto-target enemies the way Pale Diamond Incursion (V) makes Javelin work.
From our experience, walk forward while the Ice Fang circle is charging, NOT toward the wave. The magic circle locks in place once charged, then deploys icicles perpendicular to its facing. Walking into a wave while the circle charges means the deploy zone lands on top of the enemies, while walking parallel to the wave means the icicles fire alongside it without hitting much.
Per the wiki, Ice Fang has 8 levels. The level-up structure is unusual because it splits cooldown reductions, area increases, and projectile counts across alternating levels rather than concentrating any single stat at one level:
| Level | Bonus |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Generates damaging zones in a straight line |
| Level 2 | Base area up by 15%. Cooldown reduced by 0.5 seconds |
| Level 3 | Fires 1 more projectile. Base damage up by 5 |
| Level 4 | Base area up by 15%. Base damage up by 5 |
| Level 5 | Base area up by 15%. Cooldown reduced by 0.5 seconds |
| Level 6 | Effect lasts 0.5 seconds longer. Base damage up by 5 |
| Level 7 | Base damage up by 5 |
| Level 8 | Fires 1 more projectile |
Per the wiki, max-level Ice Fang adds +20 base Damage, +2 Amount (projectiles), +45% base Area, +1 second Cooldown reduction, and +0.5 seconds Duration above the level 1 stats. From our experience, the levels you do not want to skip are level 2 (the first Cooldown reduction makes the charge cycle feel responsive) and level 3 (the first extra projectile doubles your effective screen coverage from one charge cycle).
Per the wiki, Ice Fang can be further leveled up with Limit Break (after evolving and reaching certain run conditions). The limit-break stats are: Might +0.25%, Area +2.5% (up to 500%), Speed +5% (up to 300%), Duration +100% (up to 5.0 seconds), and Amount +1 (up to 10). The Duration cap at 5.0 seconds means Ice Fang can hold its damage zone for 5 full seconds per cast at limit break ceiling, which is the entire reason Spinach (Might) and Empty Tome (Cooldown) are stacked together on Sypha builds.
Per the wiki, Ice Fang evolves into Cocytus at max level (level 8) when paired with max-level Spellbinder. The evolution requires opening a chest at minute 10 or 20 with both at max simultaneously, the same evolution gate every Castlevania DLC weapon uses.
| Step | Requirement |
|---|---|
| 1. Equip Ice Fang | Play Sypha Belnades (auto-equipped) or pick from level-up offers if Ice Fang is already unlocked |
| 2. Level Ice Fang to 8 | Standard level-up path, 7 picks. Spell will fully form by level 5 with Amount and Cooldown bonuses applied |
| 3. Pick Spellbinder | From the level-up screen on Ode to Castlevania stage. See our Spellbinder guide for the full passive breakdown |
| 4. Max Spellbinder | Spellbinder maxes at +100% Duration, which Cocytus uses for sustained damage zones |
| 5. Open chest at min 10 or 20 | Standard evolution gate. Cocytus replaces Ice Fang in the slot |
From our experience, evolving Ice Fang once is what unlocks the weapon for use on other characters. Until you complete the Cocytus evolution at least once on a Sypha Belnades run, Ice Fang cannot appear in level-up offers when playing other characters. The Cocytus evolution itself is also the unlock condition, not a separate step, which makes Sypha the most efficient unlock route in the Castlevania DLC.
Per the wiki, Ice Fang can also be dropped from Brachyura enemies in the stairwell area of the Ode to Castlevania stage. From our experience, this is the fallback acquisition path if you already unlocked Ice Fang but are not playing Sypha Belnades. Brachyura is a giant crab-like enemy that spawns in the stairwell section of the stage, and farming kills there gives a chance to pick up Ice Fang as a stage drop. The Belnades' Spellbook weapon also has Ice Fang in its spell pool, which is another acquisition path if you have Belnades' Spellbook equipped on any non-Sypha character.
From our experience, the strongest Ice Fang build runs Sypha Belnades on the Ode to Castlevania stage. The plan is to evolve Ice Fang into Cocytus by minute 10, then layer two more Belnades' Spellbook spells through the Belnades Spellbook weapon slot. Since Ice Fang scales with Area, Duration, and Amount, the passive priority is different from a typical projectile-weapon build:
Sypha Belnades+Ice Fang (starting weapon)Ice Fang+Spellbinder→CocytusSpellbinder (Duration scaling, evolution gate)
Empty Tome (Cooldown reduction, faster charge cycle)
Candelabrador (Area scaling, expands the deploy zone)
Spinach (Might scaling, raw damage multiplier)
Duplicator (extra projectiles, more icicle pairs per cast)
Bracer (projectile Speed, faster icicle deploy)Per the wiki combos table, all six of these passives have green-checkmark synergy with Ice Fang. From our experience, this loadout reaches Cocytus by minute 10 and clears Ode to Castlevania stage into endless. Note that 
Hollow Heart and 
Pummarola are explicitly red-X for Ice Fang per the wiki combos table, which is why this build does not include them despite Sypha's relatively low base health.
Pick Empty Tome BEFORE Candelabrador if you have to choose. Per the wiki, Empty Tome reduces Cooldown which directly cuts the charge time between Ice Fang casts. From our experience, on Sypha Belnades the charge timing is the actual rate-limit on damage output, not the deploy size. A faster cycle with smaller icicles outperforms a slower cycle with larger icicles in the minute-5-to-10 phase.
According to the wiki, Ice Fang has two arcana synergies that pair directly with the icicle-deploy mechanic.
Gemini (I): the duplicate-zone modePer the wiki, Gemini (I) gives Ice Fang a counterpart called Speculo Ice Fang that mirrors the deploy. From our experience, this effectively doubles the perpendicular icicle pairs per cast, which means a fully charged Ice Fang now deploys four parallel sets of perpendicular circles instead of two. On Ode to Castlevania endless runs where waves stack faster than your charge cycle can keep up, Gemini (I) is the difference between maintaining a clear and dying to a wave at minute 22.
Beginning (X): bonus on first cast each levelPer the wiki, Beginning (X) gives Ice Fang a green-checkmark synergy that boosts the spell on the first cast of each character level. From our experience, this is a high-value pick on Sypha Belnades because Sypha levels up fast on Ode to Castlevania (the stage spawns dense early waves), and stacking the per-level bonus with Empty Tome cooldown reduction means the first cast of every new level scales Ice Fang's damage above what the standard scaling table allows.
Per the wiki, Ice Fang pairs naturally with Belnades' Spellbook. Because Ice Fang is itself a Belnades' Spellbook spell, equipping the actual Belnades' Spellbook weapon adds spell-pool diversity that includes Ice Fang alongside Refectio, Hex, Anura, and the rest of Sypha's spell tree. From our experience, running Belnades' Spellbook on a Sypha Belnades build gives you 3-4 spells stacked from a single weapon slot, which is the most slot-efficient build in the Castlevania DLC.
Per the Vampire Survivors wiki, Ice Fang is the starting weapon of Sypha Belnades from the Ode to Castlevania DLC. In the original Castlevania franchise, Sypha Belnades is the magician companion of Trevor Belmont in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (1989) and recurs as Yoko Belnades in later titles, the wielder of ice, fire, and lightning spells. The Ice Fang weapon represents her ice spell from the original game, and the spell-charge mechanic in Vampire Survivors echoes how Castlevania III handled Sypha's spells (where each elemental spell required the player to stop moving and channel before casting).
The evolution name Cocytus is a direct reference to Dante's Inferno, where Cocytus is the frozen ninth circle of Hell, the lowest pit reserved for traitors who are encased in ice up to their necks. From our experience, the Ice Fang to Cocytus evolution path is consistent with the broader Castlevania-meets-Dante naming pattern in the Ode to Castlevania DLC: Hellfire echoes the inferno motif, the Ninth Circle Union name explicitly references Dante's ninth circle, and Acerbatus is the canonical Castlevania sword from Aria of Sorrow that was originally inspired by the same source material. The ice-themed naming also reinforces Sypha's elemental specialization, since Cocytus is specifically the frozen circle rather than any of the eight fire-or-physical circles above it. The wiki notes that Ice Fang can also be picked from Belnades' Spellbook (the in-game spellbook weapon) which itself references Sypha's family lineage of ice-and-fire magicians in the Castlevania timeline.
Per the wiki, Ice Fang is unlocked by evolving it once into Cocytus. The fastest path is to play as Sypha Belnades on the Ode to Castlevania stage, level Ice Fang to 8, max Spellbinder, and open a chest at minute 10 or 20. After that single evolution, Ice Fang is permanently unlocked for use on other characters.
Per the wiki, Ice Fang evolves into Cocytus when both Ice Fang and Spellbinder are at max level simultaneously when a chest opens. Cocytus deploys larger and longer-lasting frozen damage zones with carry-over scaling from the Belnades' Spellbook charge mechanic.
Per the wiki, every Belnades' Spellbook spell has a charge time before activation, indicated by the brightness of its magic circle. From our experience, the charge mechanic balances the otherwise-large damage zone Ice Fang deploys: without it, fully-charged casts would clear screens at level 1, so the charge serves as the in-built rate limit.
Sypha Belnades from the Ode to Castlevania DLC. Per the wiki, Ice Fang is her starting weapon, and the cleanest evolution path runs through Spellbinder for Cocytus. See our Sypha Belnades guide for her full character build.
Yes. Per the wiki, Ice Fang can be dropped from Brachyura enemies in the stairwell area of the Ode to Castlevania stage. From our experience, this is the fallback acquisition path if you already unlocked Ice Fang but are not playing Sypha Belnades on the run. The drop chance is not specified by the wiki.
Yes. Per the wiki, Ice Fang is in Belnades' Spellbook's spell pool, alongside Refectio, Hex, Anura, and other Sypha-tree spells. Equipping Belnades' Spellbook on a non-Sypha character is a way to access Ice Fang's icicle deploy without Sypha being in the run.
Per the wiki, two arcanas affect Ice Fang directly. Gemini (I) gives Ice Fang a Speculo counterpart that doubles the perpendicular icicle pairs per cast. Beginning (X) boosts Ice Fang on the first cast of each character level, which scales with Sypha's fast level-up rate on Ode to Castlevania.
Per the wiki combos table, Hollow Heart is explicitly red-X for Ice Fang (no green-checkmark synergy). The same applies to Pummarola, Bracer is green-checkmark, and Crown is red-X. From our experience, Sypha Belnades players who default to Hollow Heart for sustain are choosing a passive that adds zero scaling to Ice Fang's output.
For other Castlevania DLC weapons, see our Raging Fire guide covering the fire counterpart to Ice Fang, our Gale Force guide covering the wind variant, our Rock Riot guide, our Hand Grenade guide, our Javelin guide, and our Alchemy Whip guide. For base game weapon comparisons, see our Pentagram guide and Glass Fandango guide, plus our Gaze of Gaea guide and our Arma Dio guide. The weapon tier list ranks every weapon in v1.13 and the weapon evolution chart covers every recipe including Cocytus. The passive items guide walks through Spellbinder, Empty Tome, Candelabrador, Spinach, Duplicator, and Bracer in detail. For Castlevania character spokes, see our Sypha Belnades guide, Leon Belmont guide, Richter Belmont guide, Soma Cruz guide, and Alucard guide. The main Vampire Survivors guide is the hub for everything else.
Image sprites and screenshots sourced from the Vampire Survivors Wiki (vampire.survivors.wiki) under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.