Second rune boss in Ode to Castlevania, top of the staircase east of the Giant Bat. Defeating her as Leon Belmont unlocks Trevor Belmont.
wallchickenenjoyerGiant Medusa Head is a rune-summoned boss in the Ode to Castlevania DLC. She is the second castle boss in the run order, sitting at the top of the staircase east of the Giant Bat. The fight has no special mechanics; the kill is a Trevor Belmont gate.
Giant Medusa Head is a Castlevania crossover boss added to Vampire Survivors with the Ode to Castlevania DLC on October 31, 2024. She is a rune-spawned enemy on the Ode to Castlevania stage, distinct from the wave-timer Medusa enemies that appear at preset minute marks.
The 
Ars Gouda bestiary classifies her as a sigil/rune boss with no unique attack pattern. She is one of the simplest castle bosses to handle once a player reaches her, with no special abilities beyond contact damage.
Her main importance is gating the Trevor Belmont unlock. Defeating her while playing as 
Leon Belmont unlocks 
Trevor Belmont and his Dragon Water Whip starting weapon.
Giant Medusa Head has no scripted phases, no enrage timer, and no projectile attacks. The Vampire Survivors version strips down the original Castlevania Medusa Head pattern (the petrification gaze) to a contact-only encounter.
One Siliconera walkthrough reports finishing the fight at roughly four minutes into a Leon run with maximum-power upgrades. That timing is consistent across most early-game builds: any character with a maxed starting weapon can clear her in seconds.
Giant Medusa Head's rune sits at the top of the staircase east of the Giant Bat boss. Cross the drawbridge into the castle, fight the Giant Bat, then head up the stairs to find a large red sigil on the rug at the end of the hallway.
Giant Medusa Head's rune is the second boss encounter on the Ode to Castlevania stage, immediately after the Giant Bat. Reaching her requires crossing the drawbridge into the main castle and clearing the Giant Bat fight first.
Castlevania Map arrow east toward the drawbridge that leads into the main castle. Stallion Gate relic.Giant Medusa Head is required to advance through the castle. Players cannot reach the Slogra and Gaibon corridor, the Marble Gallery, or the Doppelganger fight without first clearing her sigil.
Most players hit her naturally during their second or third Ode to Castlevania run as part of the broader DLC progression. The Leon-specific kill requirement for Trevor is the only reason to come back to her after the first fight.
Leon Belmont is the first unlockable character on Ode to Castlevania, opened from a coffin near the drawbridge. He starts with the Alchemy Whip and is required for the Trevor Belmont unlock. Spell shortcut: lamentedgenesis.
Leon Belmont is one of the first unlockable characters in the Ode to Castlevania DLC. His coffin is opened by approaching it and clearing the surrounding enemies. Once Leon is unlocked, he can be selected for the Giant Medusa Head walk-up.
coffin sits in this area, near the 
Tirajisu passive item pickup.The spell shortcut lamentedgenesis in the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane unlocks Leon directly without the coffin run. The phrase references Leon's starring role in Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (2003), the original Belmont family origin story.
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Starting Weapon | Alchemy Whip (evolves to Vampire Killer with maxed Tirajisu) |
| Initial Stats | 120 Max Health, +1 Armor, +1 Revival, +5 Reroll |
| Hidden Bonus | Receives a hidden  Svarog Statue at level 5; the Statue levels up at every multiple of 10 |
| Vampire Killer Bonus | Evolving the Alchemy Whip into Vampire Killer grants +80 Max Health, +0.1 Recovery, +1 Armor, +1 Amount, +1 Revival, +10% Move Speed, +10% Might, +10% Speed, +10% Area, +10% Luck, +10% Growth, and -5% Cooldown |
| Special Pickups | Can find  Wall Chicken and other Castlevania-themed pickups from light sources |
| Secondary Weapon Access | Can pick  Morning Star once unlocked |
Leon and Julius Belmont are the only two characters in Ode to Castlevania who unlock through opening coffins before the player has unlocked Vlad Tepes Dracula. The pairing is a Castlevania reference: Leon is the first member of the Belmont Clan, Julius is the last.
Cast wallchickenenjoyer in the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane menu to unlock Trevor Belmont instantly. The spell skips both the Leon coffin run and the Giant Medusa Head fight.
Forbidden Scrolls ShortcutThe full Leon walk-up can be skipped by casting wallchickenenjoyer in the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane menu. Trevor Belmont unlocks immediately at the same purchase price.
The tradeoff: the Giant Medusa Head achievement does not register, and players who use the spell still need Leon separately for the Vampire Killer evolution path and any future Belmont-family unlocks tied to him.
The spell name is a direct nod to Wall Chicken, the iconic healing pickup from the original Castlevania games. In the Castlevania source material, Wall Chicken hides inside breakable wall sections and restores HP when collected. Vampire Survivors preserves the pickup as a Belmont-family special drop.
Trevor Belmont starts with the Dragon Water Whip, +20% Move Speed, and the Beginning (X) Arcana. He gains +1 Amount every 10 levels (max +3 at level 30). Evolving Dragon Water Whip unlocks Grant Danasty.
Trevor Belmont is the direct payoff for the Giant Medusa Head fight. He becomes purchasable in the character menu after the Leon-specific kill registers.
His starting weapon is the 
Dragon Water Whip, which evolves into Hydrostormer Tip with the 
Attractorb passive. Evolving the whip is itself a separate unlock condition for Grant Danasty, making Trevor a high-priority unlock for cascading the Castlevania III character roster.
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Starting Weapon | Dragon Water Whip (evolves to Hydrostormer Tip with Attractorb) |
| Move Speed | +20% |
| Per-Level Growth | +1 Amount every 10 levels (max +3 at level 30) |
| Starting Arcana |  Beginning (X) |
| Special Pickups | Can find Wall Chicken and other Castlevania pickups from light sources |
The Beginning (X) Arcana starting slot is a direct reference to Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, where Trevor is the protagonist. The Arcana is named after a track from the same game, making the connection explicit.
The Dragon Water Whip evolution is the next gate in the cascade chain. Level Dragon Water Whip to its maximum level 8, then pick up an Attractorb (any level) and open any Castlevania boss chest to trigger the evolution into Hydrostormer Tip.
The Hydrostormer Tip retains all Dragon Water Whip mechanics and adds a screen-filling Hydro Storm rain on every 13th activation. The Hydro Storm scales with Speed and Duration, ignoring Amount. The reference is to the Hydro Storm item crash from Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Dracula X, which Richter activates with the Holy Water subweapon.
Evolving Dragon Water Whip into Hydrostormer Tip unlocks 
Grant Danasty as a playable character. The complete walkthrough for the Trevor evolution and the Alucard cascade is documented in the dedicated Trevor Belmont guide.
The Giant Medusa Head fight starts a six-character cascade. Trevor unlocks Grant Danasty (via Dragon Water Whip evolution), Grant unlocks Sypha Belnades (via Slogra and Gaibon), Trevor unlocks Alucard (via Doppelganger). Skipping the fight stalls the entire chain.
The Giant Medusa Head boss kill is one of the highest-leverage early-game DLC encounters because it triggers a multi-step unlock cascade. Each unlocked character feeds into the next, and the chain depends on Trevor as its starting node.
| Step | Action | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Open coffin near drawbridge as any character | Leon Belmont |
| 2 | Defeat Giant Medusa Head as Leon | Trevor Belmont |
| 3 | Evolve Dragon Water Whip with Attractorb | Grant Danasty |
| 4 | Defeat Slogra and Gaibon as Grant |  Sypha Belnades |
| 5 | Defeat Doppelganger as Trevor |  Alucard |
Skipping the Giant Medusa Head fight blocks all five downstream unlocks. The spell shortcut wallchickenenjoyer covers Trevor specifically, but the rest of the chain still requires the actual character kills since each subsequent unlock has its own boss-on-character requirement.
Leon's Alchemy Whip is the highest-priority weapon to level during the Giant Medusa Head walk-up. It evolves into Vampire Killer with a maxed Tirajisu passive, granting Leon a massive cross-stat bonus.
The Alchemy Whip strikes in a straight line in front of Leon, followed by diagonal up and down hits. Its damage increases each time a boss enemy is defeated, making it ideal for the Giant Medusa Head walk-up since it scales with the same Castlevania bosses the player is killing along the way.
The evolution recipe is straightforward: level the Alchemy Whip to its maximum level, equip a maxed Tirajisu passive, then collect a chest dropped by any Castlevania boss. The chest will offer the 
Vampire Killer evolution as a level-up option.
Vampire Killer is the iconic Belmont family whip from the entire Castlevania series. Beyond the lore relevance, the evolution grants Leon a massive cross-stat bonus that significantly increases his late-game power.
| Stat | Bonus |
|---|---|
| Max Health | +80 |
| Recovery | +0.1 |
| Armor | +1 |
| Amount | +1 |
| Revival | +1 |
| Move Speed | +10% |
| Might | +10% |
| Speed | +10% |
| Area | +10% |
| Luck | +10% |
| Growth | +10% |
| Cooldown | -5% |
The evolution side-quest also adds the Alchemy Whip to the standard random pool for all characters once Leon survives 6 minutes on any stage. Both unlocks chain together, so Leon's first proper Ode to Castlevania run delivers Trevor, the Alchemy Whip pool addition, and the Vampire Killer evolution as a single combined session.
Three boss runes branch off from the Giant Medusa Head area. Slogra and Gaibon sit west, The Creature is north in the Marble Gallery (drops Fulgur), and the Doppelganger is northwest in a 2D section where time stops.
Giant Medusa Head sits at the intersection of three branching paths. After her fight, players have access to several other Ode to Castlevania bosses without needing to backtrack.
| Boss | Direction | Drop or Unlock |
|---|---|---|
 Slogra and  Gaibon | West, end of corridor | Two simultaneous bosses, two separate runes; Sypha Belnades unlock when defeated as Grant Danasty |
 The Creature | North into Marble Gallery, west past Parm Aegis into theater room |  Fulgur weapon |
| Doppelganger | North into Marble Gallery, north and west until 2D section | Time stops during the fight; Alucard unlock when defeated as Trevor Belmont |
Each branching path has its own character-on-boss requirement, similar to the Leon-on-Medusa pattern. Players can complete the Sypha and Alucard branches in any order after Trevor is unlocked. Both lead deeper into the DLC content and the Richter Belmont endgame chain.
Medusa Heads are recurring enemies in the Castlevania series, going back to the original 1986 Castlevania. The "Giant" version is a boss-class variant that has appeared periodically through the series. The Vampire Survivors version preserves the Castlevania visual.
Medusa Heads are one of the most recognised enemy types in the Castlevania series. They first appeared in the original 1986 Castlevania for the Famicom Disk System and the NES, where they flew across stages in sine-wave patterns and harassed the Belmont protagonist.
The "Giant" variant is a boss-class enlargement of the standard Medusa Head, periodically appearing as a major encounter rather than a wave enemy. The pattern is consistent: most Castlevania games have small Medusa Heads as crowd-control enemies and a larger, slower-moving Giant Medusa Head as a periodic boss fight.
The Vampire Survivors version preserves the visual heritage. The Giant Medusa Head sprite is recognisable as a Medusa Head silhouette enlarged to boss proportions, and her placement at the second castle rune mirrors the early-game Medusa boss encounters from the original Castlevania titles.
Vampire Survivors also features the standard Medusa as a wave enemy, distinct from the Giant Medusa Head boss. The wave Medusas appear at preset minute marks across multiple stages, including stages outside the Ode to Castlevania DLC.
The wave Medusas have a unique movement pattern: they fly in a wavy, sine-curve trajectory rather than walking directly toward the player. The pattern is a direct port of the Castlevania Medusa Head behaviour and is mechanically distinct from the Giant Medusa Head fight, which uses simple contact damage.
| Date | Build | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 31 October 2024 | Ode to Castlevania DLC launch | Giant Medusa Head added as the second rune boss in Ode to Castlevania. Leon Belmont and Trevor Belmont unlock chain established. |
| 28 October 2025 | Update 1.14 | Adventure mode and additional roster content added to the Ode to Castlevania map. Giant Medusa Head boss kit unchanged. |
| 4 December 2025 | Steam beta 52172286R | Ode to Castlevania enemy hitbox pass. Giant Medusa Head included in the broader update according to the wiki revision log. |
Giant Medusa Head's rune sits at the top of the staircase east of the Giant Bat boss on the Ode to Castlevania stage. Cross the drawbridge into the castle, fight the Giant Bat, then continue up the stairs decorated with Castlevania portraits. The red sigil is on the rug at the end of the hallway.
The fight is a contact-damage encounter with no special mechanics. Step on her rune to summon her, then deal damage with whatever build is active. Any maxed starting weapon clears her in seconds. One walkthrough reports finishing her at four minutes into a Leon Belmont run with maxed power-ups.
Defeat Giant Medusa Head while playing as Leon Belmont. The kill must land on Leon specifically, not on a co-op partner. After the run completes, Trevor Belmont becomes purchasable in the character menu. Alternatively, cast wallchickenenjoyer in the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane to skip the fight.
Open the first coffin in Ode to Castlevania. The coffin sits north of the drawbridge near the Tirajisu passive item, marked by a question mark on the map. Defeat the surrounding enemies, step on the coffin, and Leon unlocks immediately. Spell shortcut: lamentedgenesis.
Leon Belmont starts with the Alchemy Whip, which strikes forward then diagonally up and down. The Alchemy Whip evolves into Vampire Killer with a maxed Tirajisu passive. The evolution grants Leon a massive cross-stat bonus including +80 Max Health and +10% Might, Speed, Area, Luck, and Growth.
Level the Dragon Water Whip to its maximum level 8, equip an Attractorb passive (any level), then open any Castlevania boss chest. The chest will offer the Hydrostormer Tip evolution as a level-up option. Evolving the whip also unlocks Grant Danasty as a playable character.
The unlock check fires on whoever lands the killing blow. If a non-Leon partner finishes Giant Medusa Head in co-op, Trevor will not unlock. Solo runs are the safest way to guarantee credit. Players running co-op should keep the partner clear of the boss until Leon confirms the kill.
Three boss runes branch off the Giant Medusa Head area. Slogra and Gaibon sit west at the end of the corridor, the Creature is north in the Marble Gallery (drops Fulgur), and the Doppelganger is northwest in a 2D section where time stops. Each boss has its own character-on-boss unlock requirement.
Boss location, spawn mechanics, and Trevor Belmont unlock chain pulled from the official Vampire Survivors Wiki on Weirdgloop. Castlevania source material cross-referenced with the Castlevania Wiki on Fandom.
Step-by-step Castle Entrance route verified against multiple Ode to Castlevania DLC walkthroughs published shortly after the October 2024 launch.
Sprite assets and stat data derived from the Vampire Survivors Wiki, hosted by Weirdgloop and licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. Vampire Survivors and the Ode to Castlevania DLC are trademarks of poncle. Castlevania and associated characters are trademarks of Konami. This guide is an independent reference and is not affiliated with poncle or Konami.