How to Enter the Master’s Keep and Fight Dracula in Dead Cells Return to Castlevania

What, you thought this was gonna be easy? Did you forget this is Castlevania we’re dealing with here? Just when you thought Dracula’s Castle was gonna be a walk in the park, your ass got yanked down into the Defiled Necropolis by Death. After a shockingly easy Death encounter (relatively speaking), your run went back to normal and that was it. Now what? Here’s how to actually enter the Master’s Keep and fight Dracula in Dead Cells Return to Castlevania.

How to Enter the Master’s Keep and Fight Dracula in Dead Cells Return to Castlevania

So there’s an important rule established with Return to Castlevania. You can hop into this content once per run. That means, if you enter the Castle Outskirts from the starting point, you’ve used up your “once” with that route. And that route inevitably leads to the fight with Death. Meanwhile, Alucard says you gotta go to the Clock Tower to trigger some kind of interdimensional shenanigans to scrap with his old man. But if you fight Death, you’re done with the DLC for that run.

Related: How to Start Return to Castlevania DLC in Dead Cells

So in order to progress in Return to Castlevania, you have to resist the urge to roll down those stairs and start a normal run elsewhere. Make your way to the Stilt Village biome, then the Clock Tower after that. After defeating the Boss in the Clock Room (I hate that guy), you’ll be able to enter the real Dracula’s Castle. Unlike the earlier version, this is a much tougher biome with way more enemies. Dracula is there too, and he pops out to mess with you in various ways while you’re trying to deal with everything else.

If you make it through to the end of Dracula’s Castle this time, you’ll be able to enter the Master’s Keep and throw hands with Vlad the Impaler himself. Good luck!