How to find Maria in Dead Cells Return to Castlevania

Need some help in the Dead Cells Return to Castlevania DLC? Alucard suggests tracking down Maria for some backup. Here's how to find Maria in Dead Cells and how to bust into her cell in the Dead Cells Castlevania DLC. She's immediately good for a skin unlock and a free skill that's surprisingly powerful.

There's every chance you'll naturally come across Maria's location in the Dead Cells Castlevania DLC, but like most things in the game, it's easy to run right by her cell when you're dashing around. The game rewards speed with its time-gated doors, after all.

For more Dead Cells guides, check out how to catch the cat in the Castlevania DLC. And if you're yet to start the new add-on, you may want to look into how to start the Dead Cells Return to Castlevania DLC. It's the latest after hits like the Hollow Knight and Fatal Falls add-ons.

How to find Maria in Dead Cells Return to Castlevania - Maria's location in the Dead Cells Castlevania DLC

As soon as you head down the stairs by Richter and make your way through the road leading to Dracula's Castle, you'll wake up Alucard.

He wants you to meet him further into the keep, but he'll also suggest having Maria tag along if you manage to find her on the way. That's not an empty ask: Maria is locked in a room. But you can bust her out.

You'll actually spot Maria's cat running around the upper areas of the first zone. Likely just a bit lower down the tower where you'll find Maria. So if you spot a white cat darting around the area, take that as a hint. You're close.

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Because of the randomised nature of Dead Cells' design, it's hard to pinpoint the exact location of Maria in the Castlevania DLC.

It shifts after each death. Without using her cat as a guide, though, we're fairly certain you'll reliably find Maria not too far into one of the right-most exits from the tall tower in the first major area. Call it the third or fourth time you ride the long elevator up.

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Because we've only had to seek her out once, and we got the key from her cat beforehand, it's unclear if you'll be able to get into the room without first bumping into her cat. It's likely, though, so head to some of the rooms below if you do manage to find the room before the cat.

The reason being is that Maria explains how she sent her cat out through a gap in the room to find the key. If you grab the key from the cat and let yourself in, she'll say how the cat came back empty-handed. Maybe it will make its own way there with the key if you don't catch it, but we're not sure.

What does Maria do in Dead Cells?

We suspect Maria will join in with the fight against Dracula, but we haven't made it that far into the DLC to say for certain just yet.

What we do know, though, is that finding Maria and opening her locked door unlocks the Maria skin. You'll still need to spend Cells to add it to your collection, though.

For more game guides, check out our Sons of the Forest guides hub. It includes words on the best base locations, and how to find the keycards you'll need to progress further.