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War and Famine is the strongest all-purpose choice for players who can maintain combos, Arondight with Lancelot’s Shield is the safest defensive option, and Joyeuse suits a mobile slide-and-backdash style. Excalibur is an optional Arthur boss reward rather than a normal pickup. Notre-Dame does not use a separate upgrade tree for each weapon. Your weapon’s base attack comes from its rarity, while Red Books, Blue Books, and character levels improve your overall combat statistics.
How weapon upgrading works in Belmont’s Curse
Notre-Dame’s weapons are not upgraded through individual experience bars, materials, or a blacksmith menu. The cited weapon-system guide describes four rarity tiers: Ordinary weapons have 25 attack, Refined weapons have 50, Masterpiece weapons have 75, and Legendary weapons have 100. Those values are tier values, not a complete damage prediction for every situation; the guide’s full weapon-and-location table is still being verified.
In practical terms, choosing a Notre-Dame weapon is mostly a choice of combat effect and acquisition route. A weapon with a lower or unverified numerical position can still be the better pickup for your build if its effect matches the way you fight. Red Books add one attack point each, Blue Books add defense, and normal level-ups raise both attack and defense. Those global bonuses apply to your character rather than creating a separate upgrade level for each weapon.
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| Rarity | Documented attack value | What the value means |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary | 25 attack | Base rarity tier; no separate weapon skill tree is documented. |
| Refined | 50 attack | Higher base tier; the exact in-game damage outcome still depends on your global statistics and the weapon’s effect. |
| Masterpiece | 75 attack | Higher rarity value, not proof that the weapon is best for every encounter. |
| Legendary | 100 attack | Highest listed rarity value in the cited guide; complete weapon-by-weapon verification is not yet established. |
Do not treat a rarity label as a complete ranking of Notre-Dame’s choices. The available guide explicitly identifies its complete table as a work in progress, and the sources do not establish an independently verified damage table for every weapon at every player level.
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Notre-Dame weapons at a glance
| Weapon | Acquisition | Combat pattern | Best fit | Main execution demand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| War and Famine | Chest in the Great Organ Room | A combo finisher creates a zone that strengthens attacks. | General offense and players who can keep attack strings active. | Maintaining combos and using the zone before it expires or becomes irrelevant. |
| Arondight with Lancelot’s Shield | Chest in Tower Entrance | Holding attack guards against frontal strikes. | Learning enemy patterns, cautious room clears, and defensive play. | Facing the threat from the front; the guard is directional. |
| Joyeuse | Secret access in the lower Notre-Dame map; atlas room label: Path of the Penitent | An attack immediately after a slide or backdash gains extra damage. | Mobile players who reposition constantly. | Timing the follow-up attack after the movement action. |
| Excalibur with Stained-Glass Shield | Optional Arthur encounter in the Chapel | Boss-gated reward; the cited material does not document a separate passive for Excalibur. | Players willing to complete the optional challenge after obtaining Fist of Talos. | Equipping the required weapon, starting Arthur, and defeating him. |
All four entries are part of the Notre-Dame route, but they are not equivalent pickups. Three are normal weapon discoveries recorded by the regional atlas; Excalibur and the Stained-Glass Shield come from an optional encounter that you must deliberately trigger.
War and Famine: the best general offensive choice
War and Famine is found in a chest in the Great Organ Room. Its defining effect rewards a complete attack string: after a combo finisher, it creates a strengthening zone. The zone makes the weapon especially attractive when you can keep enemies inside your attack rhythm instead of repeatedly disengaging.
Why it works for a broad range of players
The effect improves a normal offensive loop rather than requiring a very narrow movement trick. You can approach, build a combo, finish it, and then use the resulting zone to press the advantage. This makes War and Famine a strong default recommendation for players who already understand enemy openings and can avoid breaking their own strings.
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When to choose something else
The zone does not remove the need for positioning. If you are still learning a room, constantly forced to retreat, or unable to complete your combo safely, the effect may contribute less than a frontal guard or movement-triggered strike. In that situation, Arondight with Lancelot’s Shield or Joyeuse may produce more reliable results even without a confirmed numerical superiority.
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Arondight and Lancelot’s Shield: the defensive option
The Tower Entrance chest contains Arondight and Lancelot’s Shield. Their key property is defensive: holding attack guards against frontal strikes. The guard is most useful when you can identify where the next hit is coming from and keep your character facing that threat.
Best uses
- Learning patterns: use the guard to study an enemy’s timing without accepting every frontal hit.
- Dangerous doorways: approach a room or narrow passage with protection while you identify the first attacker.
- Deliberate clears: trade some speed for a safer, more repeatable method when a room is unfamiliar.
Directional limitation
Because the documented protection is against frontal strikes, it is not a universal shield. Attacks from behind, above, below, or another angle still require movement or repositioning. Keep enemies in front of you and avoid assuming that holding attack will solve a surround.
Joyeuse: the mobility choice
Joyeuse is in the lower Notre-Dame map. The atlas labels its room Path of the Penitent, while Destructoid describes the area as a lower-map pickup reached by solving a secret piano puzzle. The puzzle is therefore part of the access requirement, not an optional decoration after you have already opened the weapon chest.
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How its bonus works
An attack made immediately after sliding or backdashing gains extra damage. Joyeuse rewards a movement-first rhythm: evade or reposition, then strike during the short follow-up window. It is most natural for players who already use slides and backdashes to control spacing rather than standing in place and trading hits.
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Who should prioritize it
Choose Joyeuse when your defensive plan is movement and your offensive plan begins after an enemy swings. It can turn a successful dodge into a punish opportunity. If you rarely slide or backdash, its special effect is easy to leave unused; in that case, a weapon whose benefit is active during ordinary attack strings may be more practical.
Excalibur and Stained-Glass Shield: the optional Arthur reward
Excalibur is not in a standard Notre-Dame chest. The regional atlas records an optional Arthur encounter in the Chapel. To start it, equip Fist of Talos and interact with the sword in the Chapel. Defeat Arthur, then collect the reward orb to receive Excalibur and the Stained-Glass Shield.
Required sequence
- Obtain Fist of Talos before attempting the Chapel interaction.
- Equip Fist of Talos; merely owning it is not the documented trigger.
- Enter the Chapel and interact with the sword.
- Fight and defeat Arthur.
- Collect the reward orb that appears after the encounter to claim Excalibur and Stained-Glass Shield.
This is a boss-gated upgrade opportunity. If the sword does nothing, check the equipment slot first, then confirm that you interacted with the Chapel sword rather than simply passing through the room. If Arthur has not appeared, the documented prerequisite sequence has not been completed.
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Weapons in this area follow the game’s broader exploration pattern: Serena Cherry of GamesRadar describes weapons as rewards hidden in chests at the end of difficult traversal sections. Plan to search after completing a room’s movement challenge instead of expecting every weapon to sit on the main path.
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Tower Entrance chest
- Reach the Tower Entrance section of the Notre-Dame atlas.
- Explore the traversal route until you reach its chest.
- Open the chest to obtain Arondight and Lancelot’s Shield.
- Test the frontal guard in a controlled room before relying on it in a crowded encounter.
The atlas identifies the chest location but does not establish a more granular sub-room sequence or a separate puzzle requirement for this pickup.
Path of the Penitent and the piano puzzle
- Travel to the lower Notre-Dame portion of the map.
- Locate the secret piano puzzle described for Joyeuse’s access.
- Solve the puzzle to open the route to the weapon area.
- Follow the opened path to the room labeled Path of the Penitent in the regional atlas.
- Claim Joyeuse and practice the slide-or-backdash follow-up before making it your primary weapon.
The available reports confirm the puzzle gate and the room label but do not publish a reliable key sequence. Do not rely on an unverified note order or assume that a solution from another version is identical.
Great Organ Room chest
- Reach the Great Organ Room in Notre-Dame.
- Complete the traversal needed to access the chest.
- Open it to obtain War and Famine.
- Use a full combo and its finisher to create the strengthening zone, then continue attacking while your positioning remains safe.
No additional puzzle or boss condition is documented for this chest.
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Chapel and Arthur
- Return to the Chapel after Fist of Talos is available.
- Equip Fist of Talos before touching the sword.
- Interact with the sword to initiate Arthur.
- Defeat the optional boss and pick up the reward orb.
Because this route is optional, you can continue using a normal Notre-Dame pickup and return later when your level, Red Books, and familiarity with Arthur make the fight more comfortable.
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How to prioritize upgrades
- Match the effect to your combat plan. Pick War and Famine for sustained combo offense, Arondight with Lancelot’s Shield for frontal safety, or Joyeuse for movement-triggered punishes. These recommendations describe play-style fit, not a universally proven damage ranking.
- Collect Red Books when damage is the goal. Each documented Red Book adds one attack point. Because the increase is global, it benefits whichever Notre-Dame weapon you are currently using.
- Use Blue Books when survival is the bottleneck. Blue Books add defense, which can make a defensive or experimental build more forgiving while you learn rooms and bosses.
- Keep leveling normally. Level-ups raise both attack and defense, so ordinary progression improves every weapon choice rather than locking you into one route.
- Return for Arthur after Fist of Talos. If you want the optional Excalibur reward, make the Chapel encounter a planned return trip instead of delaying the rest of your Notre-Dame exploration.
Choosing by situation
You are learning Notre-Dame for the first time
Start with Arondight and Lancelot’s Shield if frontal attacks are the main reason you are losing health. Its guard gives you time to recognize patterns, but keep turning to face threats and avoid being surrounded. Once you can read rooms, test War and Famine to see whether your normal combo rhythm keeps its zone active.
You already play aggressively
War and Famine is the most direct fit. Build your attack string, finish it, and exploit the strengthening zone without sacrificing positioning. Red Books amplify this plan through their global attack increase.
You rely on evasive movement
Joyeuse is the natural experiment. Treat every slide or backdash as the start of a possible counterattack and practice the immediate follow-up until the timing is consistent. If the movement is purely defensive and you do not attack afterward, the weapon’s defining benefit is being left unused.
You want every optional reward
Collect the standard chests, solve the piano gate for Joyeuse, and return to the Chapel with Fist of Talos equipped. Arthur is an optional boss, so make sure you are choosing the fight for the reward rather than expecting it to be part of the mandatory weapon path.
Common mistakes and fixes
- Looking for a weapon-specific upgrade menu: the cited system guide does not document an individual upgrade tree. Improve attack through rarity, Red Books, and level-ups instead.
- Calling one weapon numerically best: a complete, independently verified damage table for every Notre-Dame weapon and player level is not established. Use the documented effects and your own combat needs as the ranking criteria.
- Expecting Joyeuse on the main route: search the lower map for the secret piano puzzle and use the atlas label Path of the Penitent to identify the target room.
- Trying to trigger Arthur without Fist of Talos equipped: the documented trigger requires the equipment state, followed by interaction with the Chapel sword.
- Treating the Arondight guard as omnidirectional: it protects against frontal strikes; turn toward the attack and move when threats come from another direction.
- Breaking War and Famine’s combo plan: the strengthening zone is created by a combo finisher. If you reset the string before finishing, you are not using the effect as documented.
- Assuming the community weapon count is official: media and community guides commonly mention 28 weapons, but the weapon-system guide says the official total is unpublished. Treat 28 as a community count, not a confirmed developer statistic.
What can and cannot be concluded about damage
The rarity values provide a clear framework—25 attack for Ordinary, 50 for Refined, 75 for Masterpiece, and 100 for Legendary—but they do not establish a complete ranking among all Notre-Dame weapons. The available guide notes that its location and statistic table remains under verification, and the sources disagree about the total number of weapons. Effects therefore matter as much as tier when making a practical choice.
For a reliable decision, record the weapon’s rarity when you obtain it, note your current attack after Red Books and level-ups, and compare how often you can activate the weapon’s effect in the rooms you actually struggle with. That approach avoids turning an incomplete global table into a claim that one weapon wins every build.
Quick Recap
Notre-Dame upgrade checklist
- Choose War and Famine for combo-zone offense.
- Choose Arondight and Lancelot’s Shield for frontal guarding and safer pattern learning.
- Choose Joyeuse if your attacks reliably follow slides or backdashes.
- Search the Tower Entrance chest for Arondight and Lancelot’s Shield.
- Solve the lower-map piano puzzle and reach Path of the Penitent for Joyeuse.
- Open the Great Organ Room chest for War and Famine.
- Equip Fist of Talos, interact with the Chapel sword, defeat Arthur, and collect the orb for Excalibur and Stained-Glass Shield.
- Use Red Books for attack, Blue Books for defense, and level-ups for both.
- Keep the 28-weapon figure in the category of community reporting, not official confirmation.
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