Devil May Cry 5 – FAQ/Walkthrough

Appendix

Bestiary

Each enemy has its own strengths, weaknesses and abilities. Here you'll find all of that information in one place, along with strategies to best your opponents. The health for each enemy is listed next to their name followed by quick facts about the enemy that will help most people out. Enemy health does not change across difficulties, but how much damage they take and deal as modified as follows.

For reference, Nero's basic swing (on Devil Hunter) does 80 damage, Streak does 120, and his gun does 12-50 damage (depending on range) on most enemies. Enemies have different resistances which can vary per move or move type, and in some instances, damage can vary per execution of an attack. For instance, the Empusa Queen can take between 72 and 88 damage from Nero's base swing.

For this reason, the information below is offered as a guideline.

This section still needs to be revised with new moves and attacks from higher difficulties as well as adjustment to formatting.

Basic Enemies

Empusa - 350 Health

Empusas, for the most part, aren’t much of a threat. They move slowly and their attacks are slow with very little reach. A simple jump or dodge should be sufficient to dodge the rare attack, but the best defense against them is a good offense. Even your most basic attacks are enough to knock them off balance and stop an incoming attack. Just don't let yourself get surrounded because you forgot about these feeble enemies while chasing a more dangerous prey.

Watch for pools of human blood on the ground (they'll have bones). If an Empusa drinks it, it will turn into a sort of Pink Empusa. It's nowhere near as durable or rewarding as Red Empuse, but they do still come with a Red Orb bonus!

Green Empusa - 350 Health

These are the healers for the enemy team, making them a good first target. They have attacks, but they are very rare until higher difficulties. Listen for a high pitched scream to indicate an attack, and then simply take a single step in ANY direction to avoid it. Using charged shots or Blue Rose's Color Up attack makes short work of them. You'll also be able to drag them out of the air using Nero's Wire Snatch ability starting in Mission 01.

Red Empusa - 1300 Health

The Red Empusa is not entirely harmless, but after completing the game four times, I've only seen it attack twice. Just make sure to not stand in the same exact spot the entire time you're attacking it to keep from being attacked.

You'll want to get on these quick. Hitting and killing these rewards you with huge sums of Red Orbs, but once you start hitting it, it will start trying to escape. Leave it alone for too long and it will dig into the ground, vanishing forever (even restarting from the Checkpoint won't make it return). Try hard to not hit them until you are ready to kill them.

Empusa Queen - 2500 Health

The Empusa Queen is a much more aggressive enemy and has far more range to boot. Many of her attacks come with quick movements to add a little bit of range. She has combos and a grabbing attack, so just because you weren't damaged immediately doesn't mean you're safe. Make sure you keep yourself away from the front and if you DO get grabbed, use your DT or detonate a Devil Breaker to wiggle loose.

With that said, she's still not too threatening on her own. Try to stay off to the side and she'll have trouble reaching you. Don't take this for granted, however. She's faster than she looks. If you see her jump into the air, dodge immediately as she's about to slam down on top of you.

The real trouble is when she's accompanied by other enemies. They'll likely keep you distracted while she comes around on you for some devastating damage. Make sure to keep an eye on her whenever she's mixed in with other enemies. Don't try to fight her like this, though, because with so much going on, it's hard to keep the focus to flank her. Take out the smaller enemies first.

Hell Caina - 1000 Health

The Caina is a big step up from the Empusa. They still aren’t the most blood-thirsty enemy, but when they decide to attack, they move fast and can hit from far away.

The strategy for Caina is not drastically different from the Empusa, thankfully. They’re still relatively frail, so being aggressive is the best way to keep them off of you. The major difference is that you’ll need to keep an eye on more than just your immediate surroundings. If you hear their scythe dragging behind them, that means they are currently sprinting at you for an attack.

Stay aggressive, but remember to keep moving. Split/Helm Break (R1/RB + Back + Triangle/Y in the air) or Streak/Stinger/Breakthrough (R1/RB + Forward + Triangle/Y on the ground) are both great ways of clearing space around you.

Hell Antenora - 1500 Health

This is your first truly tough enemy (that isn’t a boss). Fighting these guys will be completely different to everything you’ve fought so far. They have strong melee attacks and can enter a berserk state that makes them impervious to being stunned or knocked down. When they enter that state (they’ll turn purple), the only way to stop their attack is to kill them or parry their attack (the window is VERY small for this enemy).

While that might sound scary at first (and probably is VERY scary if you just rushed into your first battle with them), it’s also entirely predictable. What causes them to go into this nigh impervious rage is actually being knocked down. If they are not enraged and you hit them with an attack that knocks them over (such as a combo finisher), they will stand up enraged.

Use this to your advantage. Hit them with a long combo, and before you use the last move of the combo, knock them into the air and execute an aerial combo. When they eventually hit the ground, they’ll get up enraged, so drag a different enemy into the air and hit them with an aerial combo to stay out of trouble.

This can be a scary enemy because it penalizes you using what are probably some of your favorite moves at this point, but as long as you remember that you’re in charge of this bullfight, you’ll be fine. You might get beat up a little bit by these guys while you get used to the patterns, but once you learn the flow, you’ll be in complete control of these enemies.

Hell Judecca - 2000 Health

This enemy's greatest power is the ability to frustrate you. Just when you think you're about to get a good series of hits in, the bugger will teleport out of the way. Oh, did you think you'd stagger him before he'd hit you? Nope, that didn't work.

Don't take any action from this enemy for granted. If it looks at you from a distance, dodge to the side because it's probably going to try and skewer you from a distance. If it winds up to swing, don't assume you'll dissuade it by sticking where you are, get out of the way.

More than just about any other enemy, try and bounce it into the air or knock it back with a Stinger, but don't take that time for granted, you'll get a few hits in before it leaves.

The best way to fight with one of these is to do it a little at a time. Dodge its attack, hit it a few times, and it when teleports, forget about it. It'll take a moment before it reappears, so take that time to fight another enemy. When you've finished dealing with that enemy, either through death or bouncing it away, try and find this enemy again for another quick round.

Doing this will minimize the amount of time it spends on the battlefield while you battle other enemies while also minimizing the amount of wasted time while you wait for it to rematerialize.

Pyrobat - 800 Health

Pyrobats are not the most threatening enemy, but they are extremely annoying. Trying to tango with them in the air isn’t going to be too productive until you get used to their movement, but that doesn’t mean you can’t bring them down to your level. Use Wire Snatch to bring them down and wail on them. You’ll likely make short work of them doing this, but the real danger of the pyrobats is what they do when you’re distracted.

Make sure you watch out for their spitting attacks. They can both shoot projectiles if they are particularly far away and they can condense their energy into a beam. This will stream from their mouth starting beneath them and move in a straight line outward. So long as you notice it, almost any evasive action will work, though the ideal move is to dodge to the side.

Hellbat - 1079 Health

The Hellbat is a suped-up Pyrobat. Their size makes them easier to deal with in some respects, but their attacks also come with a fair bit more power than before. Their streaming and spitting attacks reach further, are wider and do more damage. They're also far more aggressive than their smaller brethren.

Otherwise, handle them much the same as Pyrobats. Their tells are much more obvious, so use that and their size to your advantage. They are easier targets and take longer to get back into the air once they are on the ground.

The best part about these enemies is that when they are close to death, their bellies will start to expand (while they are on the ground). You can keep after them and they'll expansion will reset a little, allowing you to properly kill them, but if you let them go, they'll explode. This explosion does SOME damage to you, but the damage it does to enemies is almost always lethal.

If you're fighting particularly rugged enemies, try to knock a dying Hellbat in their direction and then get away.

Death Scissors - 2000 Health

Death Scissors have a few tricks up their big sleeves. They can move through objects, move into and out of walls or floors, legitimately fly, and only damage to the mask counts. With these tricks comes some advantages for you, however.

While hitting their cloak does nothing and hitting their scissors does no damage to them, if you break their scissors or parry an attack, their mask will turn red. ANY damage to their mask at this point will instantly kill them. Their ability to properly fly rather than hover means that you can lure them to different altitudes, which separates them from others.

The result of these two things is that you can jump way up and engage just a single Death Scissors (usually). If you hit their scissors a few times in a row, they'll counter attack. Get this timing right and you'll be able to force them into an attack so that you can parry it and kill them. What seems like a very tricky enemy ends up being one of the most predictable and easy enemies to deal with.

Riot - 1200 Health

Riots focus mostly on lunge attacks, so they'll be on you quickly even if they are quite far away. Because of how they hop when they move, it can be a little bit difficult to get an idea of exactly where they'll be coming from with their attack. The most important thing you can do is dodge everywhere. Don't move in any manner that isn't some kind of dodge or jump (used sparingly) unless you are very far away.

Once you have that in mind, the important thing to do is to go all out. Put everything you have into killing one enemy (or their spawning hive, if there is one nearby) while you spin the camera around to watch for incoming attacks. Whenever possible, ALWAYS get your enemies into the air. Have Shadow fling them up with his tail or use Nero's Wire Snatch to drag them into the air.

Their strength is in their legs and if they can't use them, they're almost offense AND defenseless.

Chaos - 1500 Health

The Chaos has a lot of the qualities of a Riot. Its regular movement is pretty similar and it has a similar toughness, however, it mixes this up with the bladed spines on its back.

Its main attack is to curl into a ball and start spinning like Sonic. After charging up, it will shoot forward and then roll around the arena to deal damage. Thankfully the charge cycle is long and flashes a bit to indicate when it will charge at you. It also has very limited side-to-side mobility when rolling except when it hits the edge of the arena, which causes it to curve sharply.

As long as you stay away from it when it hits a corner (it never ends as well as you think it will, even from the side), you're going to do alright. When you learn the rhythm of the charging cycle and the limitations of its side-to-side movement, you'll be golden. Hit them from the sides and in the air, and so long as you know the above, you'll be at no risk.

This is one of the most predictable enemies in the game and quite rugged one, so it's not a terrible idea to leave Chaos until attacking them is convenient for you. There are less predictable, softer enemies you can usually focus on.

Fury - 2500

Furies are one of the toughest enemies (if not the toughest) in the game, so don't feel bad if you have trouble (I still do, from time to time).

The Fury's Abilities

Furies have a set of qualities that make them so tough. They turn invisible, sure, but they have several different patterns with different timing that complicate things. When you nail things, they can only take a few hits (usually three, but it can be manipulated) before they disappear. There are also some instances where they appear but take no damage. All of these things need to be kept in mind to understand their patterns.

It has a few main patterns. The first is the basic pattern. He'll teleport away, you'll see him dash in the distance, he'll pause, and then come in for a quick strike just off center. He'll then teleport, dash, wait, and then perform a symmetrical attack. Even if you miss the first, you can recover for the second.

The upper pattern sees him dashing around over you, which will be followed by a dash coming out of thin air slightly above you. This is much harder to parry, and I would just dodge it.

He can also mess with you by teleporting around without doing anything. These will just be several short quick dashes, usually in a circle or triangle, generally a little further away from you. There's nothing you can do until he settles down.

If he crouches with his blade out, you'll be able to see the trails of him moving so you can anticipate his attack. I have trouble parrying this because it tends to come from off center. There have been times where I've swung once and hit him but he also hit me with no parry occurring. I would just avoid this attack.

If he struts as if to taunt you, he'll delay his attack. Wait for him to disappear, and then wait even longer before you try to parry. The first attack takes twice as long (or may longer) than regular attacks. This is always a head on attack, however, so if you can get the timing, this is probably the easiest to hit.

Finally, he has a couple of finishers. The final attack has him appear floating in the air ahead of you before swooping down to attack. He can also precede that by teleporting right next to you and executing an upper-cut. These will happen towards the end of any combo if you don't get hit, but if you DO get hit, he may skip to the end, so be prepared.

Goal

It's important to set expectations as to how you want to tackle the Fury. You can do any of the following: parry an incoming attack, dodge until you have an opening, go crazy, or pre-empt their attack. I will address each in turn.

Parry

This is by far the most effect way of fighting Furies, but it's also the most difficult. You'll need to have some idea as to when they are going to attack, but there are some ways of making this easier.

Dante has a lot of options. The best option is probably using Ice Age, which is an expensive King Cerberus attack. It's also a little tricky because it requires you to press back to execute and this enemy can mess that up. Revolver is also a solid choice. Balrog's jabs or break dance attack (can't remember the name of hand) also work fairly well. In a pinch, Prop/Shredder can work, but I wouldn't bet on them since the area of effect is pretty narrow.

Nero doesn't have the same options. His normal swing is maybe your best option. The Split attack is usually pretty solid for parries, but it's such a fast attack that it would be easy to miss the timing and being in the air isn't much help here. However, if you land a parry, you can score two hits and use a Buster attack, after which you can add a couple more. If you get the timing down, Nero is the best to use against Furies.

V is terrible at parrying and I would advise using a different strategy.

When do you swing? Well, for Ice Age, use the move as soon as the Fury disappears so that it will last long enough. Other than that, you'll need to learn its moves and timing. Check the Difficulties section above for a brief description of patterns.

Dodge

If you have trouble with parrying, this is the next best option. It requires the same kind of timing, but your room for error is much bigger. Not only will you move out of the way, but you'll have invulnerability frames during your dodge (so even if it hits you, it doesn't count). This is functionally the same for each character. You can dodge to the side for pretty much all of the attacks.

It's worth mentioning that if you DO get hit and have trouble breaking out, there's a brief window to escape. There is a brief moment at the very end of your stagger animation where you have time to escape before the hit comes, but it's a very small window, so it's better to just hold to the side and spam pressing the dodge/jump button.

Go Crazy

This one's a little odd, but hear me out.

Use nothing but your most mobile moves. If the attack doesn't cause you to move into the air or slide across the ground or in some other way move you, don't use it. You'll be flying around the arena in the general direction of the enemy. You'll likely only ever get glancing hits until the Fury stops moving, but you also become pretty hard to hit.

I only recommend this in particularly hairy situations. There's a stage of the Bloody Palace, for instance, where you face three Furies simultaneously. It's not super effective at killing, but you can do a lot of little chunks of damage this way while keeping yourself safe.

Pre-emptive

This final option isn't particularly rewarding or stylish, but it can work pretty well. You'll probably only use this with Dante as he's the only character with proper defensive moves (though Griffon's Blockade can work).

If you use the basic Gunslinger action with the shotgun, Dante will shoot the shotgun in every direction which can knock the Fury back, but this is a little unreliable. I would only use this until after Mission 12 when you unlock the Devil Sword Dante. Once you have that, you'll have a new ability under Swordmaster. Hold down the Style button and you'll charge up a Sword Formation that starts spinning. Releasing this will cause a homing attack that will seek out the Fury even if invisible. It won't do damage until it appears, however.

This is a slow process, but the only time you can get hit is if your attack runs out of time just before the Fury attacks you. This will likely bounce the Fury far away from you so it becomes difficult to follow up with a solid attack, but it's a small price to pay for something so reliable.

Quirks

Generally speaking, you can only hit the Fury three times before it disappears. Nero's Buster Devil Breaker can interrupt that count (only once) and allow a couple more follow-up attacks.

Dante also has an odd way of bypassing this. It appears to work indefinitely when you get it, but it's also inconsistent (and I suspect a bug). Hit it with a shotgun blast to knock it over and then hit it with a stinger. Repeat these two attacks, but do so quickly because he will recover very fast after the stinger.

Conclusions

Well that was a minor thesis. I hope all of that helps. Understand that you are not alone in your struggle. This enemy can be infuriating, but you can be smarter than it. See the patterns, learn the timing, and don't get too invested in one strategy. The Pre-emptive method may not be the most rewarding, but a single poor style fight won't ruing your final rank, especially on higher difficulties. Good luck!

Scudo Angelo - 1300 Health

Scudo Angelos are pretty basic enemies, for the most part. They walk or run around the arena while occasionally rushing at you with their sword. Even swinging their sword is a pretty basic affair. When they attack, they are very much like slightly slower, tougher Caina. Once in a while they'll charge you, they have decent range, but the attack is pretty well telegraphed.

Their most dangerous asset is their shield. The shield CAN be broken, but it takes a lot of effort to get there, and the payoff just isn't worth it once you have you air legs under you. Jump over this enemy, get behind him, and go to town. This enemy is helpless from above or behind.

But honestly, they're best ignored until the end. They're tough enough that they are a distraction and benign enough that it's not worth your time until they are all that's left.

Proto Angelo - 3500 Health

Unlike the Scudo Angelos, these are proper competitors. Their gigantic sword can be used to block most attacks or used to hit you at a good distance. They're pretty hard to stagger and are not susceptible to Nero's Buster Devil Breaker unless they've been staggered or knocked down. If that wasn't bad enough, when their health gets down to about 25-30%, their horns will start to glow, halving all damage they take and doubling their damage output.

There's really only two good things about these enemies: they're slow and are fairly easy to parry. Any time they attack, they'll telegraph it pretty clearly, run slowly to you, and then swing their huge heavy sword. The sword swings slowly, and this grants you a solid opportunity to parry their attack. Battling this enemy is slow, but as long as you keep your head, they aren't much of a threat.

It's important to note that their Devil Trigger ability stacks with their Red Horns. On Dante Must Die, they can trigger both. If they do, you'll only be doing about 12% damage to them. There's no way around this except to kill them before they can activate either. That takes a lot of damage, though.

Baphomet - 1500 Health

Baphomet isn't too threatening on its own. It's a pretty soft target and he already starts out at a good height for aerial combos.

Baphomet uses ice magic to deal damage and trap you in place. The direct damage tends to be more annoying than dangerous, especially since its attacks have a long charge time. Far more dangerous is when it swirls cold winds around it. Either take it out fast or get away before it unleashes a cold blast that will freeze you in place. This will make you vulnerable to a combo by other enemies.

With that in mind, it's a perfect first target. The ranged attacks and potential for being frozen can quickly and safely be eliminated most of the time. Chase after it and you'll have yourself out of range of most enemies while you take out this squishy target. Do that and you won't have to worry about letting this trickster roam free around the arena while you're dealing with other tougher, more aggressive enemies.

Lusachia - 2250 Health

This enemy is not a huge threat alone. It's a pretty fragile enemy (not unlike the Baphomet) and as long as you are aggressive, it won't spend enough time off the floor to do anything. So why is this enemy the last enemy in the game to be revealed?

The Lusachia can do a staggering amount of damage and can't miss. It takes a little while for it to build up energy, during which you'll see purple energy swirl around your character, but there's no amount of running or dodging that can help you avoid it. Once that energy starts to collect, your only option for avoiding huge damage is to attack the Lusachia enough to stun it.

How much is a lot of damage? A single attack can take 3 bars of health on just Devil Hunter. Naturally, this makes Lusachia a prime target, but if there are more than one of them, this gets very tricky. Fighting other enemies isn't really much of an option until these are eliminated.

Behemoth: Armor - 150 Health (per side), Body - 4200 Health

The Behemoth is a big and imposing enemy, but he's not too bad once you know how he works.

The first thing you might notice is the harness on him. While he's like that, he'll do little more than charging at you or short range tackle attacks. To take him out, you have to hit him enough that the harness comes off. Once it does, you'll have a different fight on your hands.

Without the harness, the Behemoth is much more likely to swing his head and body side to side, and his two tongues will lash about in front of him. His tail is probably the safest place to attack at this point, but you want to watch for him tensing up. When he does this, he's likely to jump backward. At this point, a backstep or side dodge can help avoid damage while positioning you to follow up the attack.

Usually, it's best to go for small enemies when a large enemy is around, but the Behemoth isn't nearly as much of a threat up close as he is far away because he will frequently charge at you from off-screen while you are busy with something else. For this reason, it's much better to tackle him before he tackles you.

When you try to execute it, you can actually ride it for a short while, but I've never found it to be particularly worth the time unless it's already in the middle of a bunch of enemies.

SOS and up - At low health, MUCH more aggressive. Thrashes about like crazy, 360 degrees, can reach very high with its flopping around (1.5x normal jump height as a guestimate).

Nobody - 3000 Health

Nobodies are an odd enemy for sure. They tend to get distracted by all sorts of things (such as if one of their masks ends up on the ground) and they'll occasionally be more interested in dancing than fighting. Despite this, when they DO act, it's usually pretty vicious. They can move fast, be unpredictable, and hit pretty hard when they do. If they stand up on their hind legs or get close while they have an arm sticking out of their back, immediately retreat.

There are two things to watch for: Make sure they don't sneakily flank you and watch out for roaming eyeballs. They are quite low to the ground and you may not be able to see them easily as they approach you even if you have your back to a wall. This goes double for their eyeballs. Occasionally you'll see them cough one up into their hand before tossing it, at which point it will bounce around until it finds you. When it finds you, it'll hit you and explode.

Because of their natural resistance to damage, they essentially have 3600 health, making them one of the toughest enemies in the game as a literal matter of fact, so don't take it personally if it feels like they don't want to die.

Phantom Goliath

Once you pick an ally, a battle will start with a Phantom Goliath. This Goliath is pretty similar to the real one, but he's not quite as sturdy and you're not right up in his face (which is where he does most of his damage). If you've got an abundance of DT, set Shadow to auto-attack and start reading in the corner.

The most important thing here is to watch Shadow's health. He's the only thing you've got at the moment. If he goes into a stalemate, you're a sitting duck. If his health gets low, perform a side dodge to quickly recall him and recover some of his health. Rinse and repeat to make short work of this faux Goliath.

Phantom Artemis

After the battle ends, you'll be returned to the previous part of this dream world. This time, choose the door directly ahead, and when you get to the room beyond, choose Nightmare (provided you have even just 5 DT bars).

Phantom Artemis is a lot like the last battle against Goliath, get to a safe spot and start reading. Summon Nightmare in at the start, and if you've got an abundance of DT, feel free to put Shadow on auto-attack again. If you're not sure if you have enough, save the DT and control Shadow manually. Nightmare will act as a distraction so you can focus on Shadow's actions.

Artemis is a lot faster than Goliath, and you'll want to watch for two major attacks. She'll still use both Sweep and her charging attack. Dodging the Sweep is a little tricky, but you can still jump over them, you just won't have your second jump. Thankfully, the charge is much the same as before. Since you have Shadow, wait for the backflip and then just dodge to the side.

Phantom Angelo

You'll once again return to the main section of the dream world. Take the door to the left and reclaim your final companion. You'll be back to full fighting strength at this point.

Fighting Phantom Angelo is a little bit tougher than the other two because of the range. It's possible for him to get so far away that it's difficult for your companions to get to him. Next thing you know, you move closer and then he's right on top of you swinging away with his really long sword.

Still, he's designed to face an opponent head-on, so he'll rarely hit Griffon and hits on Nightmare will have no effect. Make sure to not get sucked too far in and keep an eye on Shadow's health and he'll be done in no time.

Griffon

Watch for Griffon's lightning attacks, most of which you'll be familiar with from playing as V. You should have enough reach to hit him with your sword as well as your Sword Formation blades. Remember to use Swordmaster and charge up your homing blades if he runs away from you. Hammer him until he enters a stalemate. Do as much damage as possible at this point and hopefully you can finish this battle now.

Shadow

Shadow is a much tougher enemy than Griffon. His attacks are more aggressive, faster, and happen in your face. When he wants, he can merge into the ground to avoid your attacks.

Regardless, you've seen these moves before. When you see him tense up for an attack, dodge. Since most of his attacks happen in a straight line, they can all be avoided with a simple side-step.

Qliphoth Root

The Qliphoth root is not entirely unlike the first boss you encountered, except the attacks are way less intense and you can definitely do damage this time.

The core of the root doesn’t actually attack directly, but it controls quite a few tentacles, each of which can attack independently. One of the attacks you should be familiar with already is the piercing attack. As before, watch for a shine on the stinger to indicate when it will strike down. Simply side-step to avoid the attack.

The second attack comes when the tentacle lays itself down across the ground. When it does this, pause for about a second and then jump. If you mistime your jump, swing your sword and shoot a little to keep yourself in the air longer. Once it passes, you can land and resume your assault.

It appears possible to hit the tentacles, but it doesn’t seem to do any notable damage to the tentacle or the root as a whole. Your focus should remain on the core for the most part, but if you’re feeling overwhelmed, hop into the air and you can hit the tentacles over the core pretty easily. This will stun them for a short period.

Make sure to charge the Blue Rose (Hold Square/X) while swinging your sword to maximize your damage output. This will be one of the easiest targets in the game, and it’s a great opportunity to get familiar with layering attacks together for maximum damage.

The tentacles do seem to get more aggressive as the root is weakened, so if you need to take a little more time to make sure you stay alive, do so. Otherwise, crush it!

Goliath

Goliath is going to be a whole new class of difficult for you. Unlike smaller enemies, survival is a much bigger part of your strategy here. Try to stay on the ground and hit his legs; this will give you more control of your dodging for when he attacks. Make use of charging Blue Rose and your Exceed to maximize damage depending on if you’re close or far.

Goliath Phase 1

One-Two - Goliath ducks low before swinging a right hook followed by a left (so from your left and then your right). Dodging left or right CAN work here, but it’s dicey. It’s best to jump back as that will get you out of the direct line of attack of both swings. Use attacks to keep yourself airborne if needed.

Gound-Pound - A large overhead slam. He stands up tall and raises his right arm over his head before striking the ground in front of him. A couple dodges to the left or right should be able to keep you out of range of this. Once you know he’s going to miss, try to hack at his ankles a little bit.

Goliath Phase 2 (<80% Health)

Wedding Crasher - When his health reaches about 80%, he’ll stagger slightly before leaping into the air. Once this happens, disengage and run to the opposite side from the flames to avoid the huge slam that’s coming. After the slam, the roof will cave in and you’ll fall into the church. Happens only once.

Column Throw - He'll grab a column and throw it at you, which he’ll likely do right at the start. This is meant more to scare you than anything. It appears as if this might fly over your head if you do nothing, but this may not happen 100% of the time. As long as you don’t jump and just roll, you will be fine.

Goliath Phase 3 (<60% Health)

That Sucks - At the start of this phase, his stomach will light up and a shockwave will knock over one of the church walls. He’s about to vacuum in anything in a 180-degree arc (essentially the entire church). Get outside and stay there. The area around him is not safe even if it appears to be. Stay away or you risk getting sucked in. If this happens, you’ll need to press L1/LB to detonate one of your Devil Breakers. He will jump outside when he's done. He can repeat this attack outside, but as long as you get behind him and keep your distance, you should be safe. When he does repeat it, be aware that he can spit rocks at you afterward (like in the cutscene).

One/Two - While he can still do the One-Two, he can now uncouple them and perform just one of the swings.

Double Slam - This is similar to the Ground-Pound, but it uses two fists. It takes a little time to wind-up and hits a larger area, but when he's done, he'll take a moment to recover. This is a safe time to attack. Be careful, however, as the Ground-Pound is still an option, will come faster, and does not have the recovery period that this has.

Fury Swipes - He can do a couple of quick swipes. These are hard to dodge, but they are usually mixed in with other attacks, so hopefully, you’ll already have some distance. If you see a low, quick wind-up coming and you’re right in front of him, jump and try to swing as much as you can to stay above the attack. You'll usually see 4+ quick, very low swipes.

Explosion - The attack will start with him setting his feet and then taking a deep breath through his stomach. He’ll slowly stand up tall before bending down a little. After that, he'll stand up quickly and exhale. The exhale will come with an explosion, so make sure that you are fairly far away before that point.

Rock Throw - This is the same as the Column Throw from earlier, except it's usually preceded by a large jump from him. He'll naturally throw a rock instead of a column. This is harder to dodge in this wide open space, but as long as you time your dodge well, you'll be in your invulnerability frames regardless.

Here Come the Horns - This usually follows a Rock Throw. He'll throw his arms outward, roar quickly, get low, and rush at you. All of this happens very quickly. As soon as he starts this cycle, stop what you're doing and prepare to dodge. Just like with a bull, you're just dodging. After he closes about half of the distance to you, he'll leap forward and try to punch you with his right (your left) hand. As soon as he cocks his arm up, dodge to the side. This is one of the hardest such attacks to dodge because the leap throws off the cadence.

Attacking Goliath

That’s a lot of different attacks to dodge, and dodging is your first priority. On the rooftop, his attacks will be limited enough that you should be able to get in close and score some hits. Focus on his immediately after he finishes an attack. Score your hits and then back off again.

During phase two, things haven’t changed much, but you want to try to keep it so the two of you are fighting long-ways in the church so you don’t get boxed in. Use Blue Rose a lot and only attack when you feel like he’s got a big opening coming.

During Phase three, the battle changes a lot. He’s a lot more aggressive, but you can use his size against him (probably why he’s named Goliath). He can attack surprisingly quickly, but he has trouble turning, so if you can get behind him, you can probably stay behind him and hack it him fairly safely for a little bit. Try to do this as much as possible, but always watch for any moves that involve his stomach as their area-of-effect (AoE) might be able to reach you. Also, keep an eye out for him jumping. This almost always results in him spinning to face you and using a long-range attack. Dodge that attack and then try to get behind him again.

It’s a lot to keep in mind, and this is a tough fight (It was my only continue for the first 2/3rds of the game AFTER fighting him in the demo no less!), so if you fail, it’s ok. Take some extra time to get used to this. It is a great practice opportunity that will get you prepared for future bosses!

Artemis

If you’re familiar with Artemis from ancient Greek mythology, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that she’s a fan of ranged attacks and fast dashes. Many of these will have some odd mechanics and patterns, but most of it is pretty easily telegraphed.

Artemis Phase 1

Sweep – She’ll condense her energy from her middle wings towards the center while pulling those wings down. A beam will stream down to your height, and then a large number of small lasers will fan out from that point. At range, there’s enough room for a simple dodge to be effective, but it’s much better to jump over.

Column – Similar attack to Sweep, except instead of shooting outwards in a fan from the bottom, the bolts shoot outwards from a long line down her center. Dodging left or right should be plenty to dodge these. Her middle wings will similarly come down, but instead of being fanned out, they’ll close inward.

Rain – Energy will collect in her upper wings before pulling them down and shooting energy upwards. This energy will rain around the arena but the ground will light up to give you warning to dodge.

Drones – Artemis will close all of her wings around her and then release drones on either side. This will act independently and shoot rings of energy while darting around the arena. The rings are somewhat slow and easy to dodge on their own. A single charged shot from Blue Rose will nearly defeat one. Simply shoot these until the open up. They can’t be fully destroyed, but that’s ok. They’ll be used as Grim Grips later.

Light Show – She’ll use all six wings to create balls of purple energy in front of her. These will slowly move towards where you’re standing. They aren’t hard to dodge, but they can get in the way of your attacks on Artemis.

Sonic Boom – After she does a backflip, her wings will re-open before executing a fast dash. As soon as the dash starts, you’ll need to dodge immediately to the side. When her health gets low, she’ll chain a few of these together.

Artemis Phase 2

Holy – (<50% health) A light will come down through the center of the arena and Artemis will hover up to it. Use the two disabled drones to reach her and attack. If you attack her during this time, she’ll fall to the ground stunned.

Double Sweep – (<50% health) Once her health gets low enough, she’ll start doing a two-tier sweep. The animation is the same, but after the first sweep at ground level, another will shoot at roughly jumping height. Either Air Hike over the second beam or let go of jump to drop under the attack.

Scream Beam – (<50% health) Artemis will drift down to the ground, condense energy in her head, and then release a powerful purple beam. The beam moves slowly, which should give you time to jump over it.

Artemis - Offense

She moves around a lot, so using charged Blue Rose shots is pretty key to dealing a lot of damage. You’ll also want to stay on top of those charged shots to counter her Drones (regular bullets are fine for Light Show).

Otherwise, get in close and get up in her face. If you’re right next to her, you’re too close for most of her attacks. Unfortunately, this usually results in her moving, but you’ll be able to get in some good free hits. Once she moves, it’s back to trading ranged attacks until you can get close again.

Just keep jumping and dodging while you close distance on her and you’ll have her down in no time.

Nidhogg

Nidhogg appears to have a lot going on, but he’s actually a relatively simple boss. Unfortunately, all of the fleshy bits that you can damage tend to stay fairly high up which minimizes the damage you can do.

Nidhogg Phase 1

Slam – One of the tentacles will lift up slightly and roar before slamming into the ground from one side to the other. This attack can reach pretty far but is always in the vicinity of the roar, so just back up after it roars to stay out of the way.

Rush – The Nidhogg will lift up and twist its torso before coming down to ground level and driving towards V. While it does so, it will sweep its blades across the ground. Dodging to one side should be sufficient, though you may want to dodge twice to make sure you get enough distance.

Snap – The vine will home in on you before roaring and wiggling. It will then recoil way back before darting out for a bite. Dodge to the side to avoid.

Nidhogg Phase 2

Drill – (<75% health) The Nidhogg will recoil and put its torso perpendicular to the ground with arms spread wide. He’ll drift downward and the shoot out in a very quick corkscrew attack when he hits the ground. Dodge or run to the side, but once the corkscrew starts, the window is very tight.

Nail – (<75% health) The Nidhogg will throw open its arms and wiggle its shoulders back and forth (almost as if walking). Soon after, it will rise high and then start to stretch out over you before darting downward with its blades.

Snaptacular – (<75% health) The vines will all pull back and lift up, and then each one will take a turn darting out for a bite. Try to dodge each one individually. The move culminates in a Nail by the Nidhogg.

Nidhogg Phase 3

Slime – (<50% health) The vine will start foaming orange slime in its mouth before spitting it at you. As long as you stay moving, this will miss.

Nidhogg Phase 4

Once the Nidhogg goes below 25% health, it will go crazy with attacks. It will spam it’s more powerful and aggressive attacks constantly. Stop reading and set your companions to Auto so you can focus on dodging attacks.

Nidhogg - Offense

The Nidhogg is fairly tame until you knock a chunk of health off first, but don’t dawdle.

Your main target should be the vines. Each of these can be eliminated, and each can attack on its own terms (or in unison). Not only will getting rid of them give you more room to breathe, but if you can get all three knocked out, it will stun the Nidhogg. Once it has been stunned (or perhaps just before), call in Nightmare so that he lands right on top of it and goes to town. It’s possible to knock off 25%+ health in a single stun.

Make sure to charge up Griffon’s Blockade (forward on left stick while using a charged attack). The lightning bolts can cover a huge area and hit multiple enemies per attack for massive damage.

Otherwise, keep V at the back and keep him reading as much as possible. Nightmare’s huge attacks are devastating to this multi-headed enemy. Make sure you have Nightmare on standby when you get it close to 25% health. Once you cross that threshold, the Nidhogg will go wild with attacks and you’ll want to end the fight as quickly as possible.

Nidhogg on Dante Must Die (perhaps Son of Sparda as well)

Nidhogg's Devil Trigger replaces the vines with more Nidhogg. You'll face 3 Nidhogg and 0 vines at the end of the battle. This means that their attacks are more clearly telegraphed, but that the attacks are more aggressive. it also prevents you from getting an easy stun by taking out the vines.

Elder Geryon Knight

Unsurprisingly, this mounted enemy is quite a fan of charging attacks, but you'll also have to watch out because it also has a few time manipulation tricks up its pauldrons.

Geryon Phase 1

Charged - Likely its starting move. It will rear up and its sword will flash with energy before charging directly at you. A simple side dodge will keep you safe.

Swing - If it's very close, it will trot a few steps (if needed) before swatting at the ground with its sword on its right side.

Bolts - The knight will stop and raise its left hand. Electricity will collect in its hand before taking aim with that hand and releasing several bolts at you. This attack can be repeated.

Geryon Phase 2 (<75% health)

Time Flare - The horse will rear up and its mane will grow before releasing a shockwave attack that engulfs most of the arena in a slow-motion bubble. You can back up to try to avoid it, but you'll need to get about half the arena away for this to work.

Try to put a barrier or ally between you. If you want to move quickly, use dodges and double jumps. These don't seem to be affected by the time bubble.

Teleport - Rather than a traditional charge, the horse will light up with the same time magic energy as it releases during Time Flare. It will then leap through time to attack. As with Time Flare, finding an obstacle to put between you and your enemy is the best way to stay safe.

Time Bolt - The horse will shoot an orb of time energy at you (not unlike Urizen during the Prologue). Wherever it hits will be enveloped in an orb of slowed time. Immediately after, they will Teleport over and use several quick Swings. The space it effects is relatively small and the orb moves slowly so run perpendicularly to avoid its effects.

If you want to move quickly, use dodges and double jumps. These don't seem to be affected by the time bubble.

Geryon Phase 3 (<50% health)

Grounded - The knight will rear up and be struck by a few bolts of lighting. After that, it'll flip its sword downward and plunge it into the ground causing the area around it to be covered in electricity. Jump backward to avoid.

Geryon Phase 4 (<25% health)

Speed Up - The Knight will create a large bubble where you'll move at normal speed but it will crackle with energy. In this bubble, it moves much faster while you move at normal speed.

The Knight will become particularly aggressive with time manipulation. It won't be uncommon for it to use all three Phase 2 moves in sequence before the effects of the first have even had a chance to dissipate. The best thing to do is watch for tells, anticipate, and keep your distance as much as possible.

Offense - Geryon

Going on the offensive isn't really that difficult. Most of your defense just revolves around keeping your distance and dodging occasionally, so send your two (sometimes three) friends out to attack. Watch their health meters and perform a double jump or side dodge to call them back to you if they get low. They recover health very quickly if they don't get put into a stalemate, so they'll likely be back in fighting shape before they even get back into the fight.

Any of Shadow's attacks are good, but both Breakthrough and Skewer are good options due to how much time Shadow will spend trying to get close to the enemy. For Griffon, Blockade is a great option. You should be safe enough for most of the fight to build up your DT gauge pretty regularly, so don't be shy about setting them on auto-attack.

This may take a little longer than most fights because of the enemy's speed, but you'll slowly chip away until there's nothing left.

Geryon on Son of Sparda/Dante Must Die

The Elder Geryon Knight uses its Speed Up time manipulation much more frequently and much earlier (about 50% health on SOS, 75% on DMD)). Remember to use your dodges to keep up. The strategies are essentially the same. Remember that performing dodges with your familiars can counter-act that effect.

Gilgamesh

At the very start, immediately start running forward. Gilgamesh has two tentacles sticking out of the sides of its body. These will shoot at you if you're on the ground this far away. They'll also shoot at you while you're on Gilgamesh's back, but we'll get to that later.

Get in close and hit the bulbs on Gilgamesh's feet until they burst open and reveal a Grim Grip inside. Latch on to the Grip to fling yourself upwards. Try to direct yourself onto Gilgamesh's back here, using Air Hike if you have it. About 1/3rd of the way down Gilgamesh's spine will be another bulb that looks a little like a single section Blood Clot. This is his weak spot and you'll want to hammer the crap out of it.

Try to get behind the bulb as this will protect you from tentacle shots a little bit while you attack. While you're doing so, Gilgamesh will go through a series of motions, the most important of which is his Hedgehog attack. You'll see the area around his spine (sometimes one side, sometimes both) start to ripple a little. When it does, wait for a heartbeat and jump.

Wait for the spikes to subside before landing as soon as possible. This attack can be repeated, so landing to recover your jump is critical. Resume attacking if it's safe to (and be sure to use Blue Rose in the air for both damage and air time!).

Occasionally, Gilgamesh will rock back and forth to try and toss you. Try getting in the air and staying there for as long as possible while this happens. Usually, he'll sway both ways before evening out.

Repeat this process until he's defeated. This mission lines up with Mission 05, and if another player succeeds in breaking a leg in Mission 05 while playing with you, Gilgamesh will take a tumble giving you tons of time to bust him up quite a bit.

Once he's under 25%, his tentacles get more aggressive and he'll start releasing small drones that can attack you, but both are really only a threat on the ground. If they hit you on Gilgamesh's back, you'll get knocked off and end up way out of range of their attacks anyway.

The Angelos: Scudo - 1300 Health, Proto - 3500 Health

They are much more stubborn that shielded enemies in games past, so you're going to have to get aerial to take out these enemies.

The enemy has a strategy here, which is to absorb as much of your attacks on their shields as possible while Proto Angelo lays on the hurt. Don't get too distracted by it, though, because the Scudo Angelos can dole out some damage as well.

Nero is going to want to get behind the Scudos (hitting their shield should distract them a bit). If you jump over their head when they attack, you can use Wire Snatch in mid-air to drag them up to you. By doing that, you'll negate their one true strength: their shield. Now they are just a heavy enemy. Beat them down, rinse and repeat.

Don't feel shy about using a Streak to get around and create some space. The powerful offensive move will set them on the defensive, giving you some space and distance at the same time. Punch Line is particularly good here because it will keep them on the defensive while occasionally hitting them in the back during its loops.

Urizen - Throne

This fight isn't too tough so long as you pay attention to Urizen's tells. The first section doesn't really have phases and you won't have to watch out for too many tricks. Oh, and make sure you win this time. If you lose, you'll have to use Orbs to get you back in the fight.

Urizen Sitting

The only target during this phase is the crystal that puts itself between you and Urizen anyway. You'll still have to get close, but the only obstacle to dealing damage is you avoiding damage. Get close and stay on the ground when you can with the notable exception being avoiding attacks. The goal is to destroy the crystal which has its own health separate from Urizen.

Purple Rain - A bunch of purple points of light will collect in front of Urizen before streaming into the sky. The ground will become painted with purple light indicating where the beams will fall and where you should avoid. One will always fall on your current spot, so you MUST move.

Meteor - A red sigil appears in front of Urizen before collapsing inward in flames into another sigil. This will quickly transform into a giant ball of fire hurtling at you, so as soon as it collapses, start dodging. A second meteor can immediately follow the first, so it's good to put an extra dodge or two on the end even if you feel safe. This is hard to avoid at close range. It leaves flames on the ground upon impact which blocks an avenue of attack.

SuperBeam - An amped up version of Scream Beam from Artemis. a Purple symbol will appear in front of Urizen's knees and collect energy before releasing an arena long beam. This will sweep from one end to the other and then back, so be ready to jump twice. The best thing to do is to carry your combo into the air. You'll have to judge based on position whether you can stay in the air long enough with your attacks or if you'll need to fall down so you can jump again. If you're not sure, I definitely recommend the latter.

Time Bolt - Same as the Time Bolt from the Elder Geryon battle. Blue energy will collect in front of Urizen before being released. Since it's just Nero, it's much more devastating if it connects, but it also means you know the target and can anticipate it (or even lure the attack to a certain spot). Because of proximity, dodging it can be very difficult, so there's little more you can do than try to get out of the bubble ASAP while anticipating future incoming attacks.

Geyser - Blue energy will collect in the ground before blue geysers shoot up at you for massive damage. This is probably the most damaging attack and has a rather large area as well. You want to run forward or back to avoid this as these geysers usually form a line left and right of you with you in the center. Don't sit on this -- evade as soon as you see it coming.

Porcupine - The crystal will make a screeching sound and its spines will expand a little while it collects energy. It will shrink in, but once the screeching stops, it will immediately expand again, doing damage and pushing you away. It usually (but not always) does this if you manage to successfully get in a combo or two without pause. Just be ready for it after a couple of combos, and as soon as you hear the sound, either drop to the ground (if you're in the air) or backflip to avoid.

Shockwave - "You've shown aggressiveness." Urizen will lift his right hand into the air and then wave it across his body. All this does is push you back without causing damage or disrupting your style. Keep a charged shot from Blue Rose handy to keep your style going while you re-close the distance.

Urizen Standing

I won't go into too much detail here. As with your first fight against Urizen, you're expected to lose this (and I'm not actually sure you can even win it). If you manage to destroy the crystal again, you'll be able to do damage to Urizen, but he'll summon another Crystal before too long. Might as well take this as a chance to practice. Use the tentacles as Green Orb dispensers if need be.

Tentacle - A large tentacle will move slowly towards you from Urizen while glowing a little. If this hits you, several tentacles will shoot out from Urizen doing damage. If it misses you, it will still loop back around (potentially off-camera) and try to hit you again. Very hard to dodge the second set of tentacles, but if you are moving in the same direction as the first tentacle when it hits you, it could be possible to outrun the follow-up attack.

Cavaliere Angelo

This guy really has no sense of identity of his own, does he? First, he was defined by his horse, now by the fact that he looks kind of like an enemy from 18 years ago...

This enemy is a lot more direct than the last time you fought him (I assume it's the same demon?). He doesn't walk too fast, but his height means a single step is a pretty big distance. He has a nasty long range charging attack and a close-range electrical attack (similar to before), but he'll focus largely on aggressive swordplay and can use his cloak as a defensive shield like he's watched Black Panther too many times.

While his attacks can become more aggressive and he'll become less likely to stagger over time, he only has one phase and all of his attacks right at the start.

Attacks - Cavaliere

You Can't See Me - Yes, this is a serious thing. He will bring his cloak around like he's a child playing hide-and-seek. The cloak is surprisingly durable, so don't expect to do damage through it. With that in mind, if you get there quickly, it is possible to eventually knock him off balance, giving you a huge opening to attack.

Duelist - He has a variety of close range swings that he can execute, both with and without his sword charged up. When he attacks like this, you can either back off or try to parry his attacks. Dodging them can be particularly difficult because the alternate between sweeps and overhands, so you'll have to react fast.

Parrying is surprisingly easy here compared to many enemies, so it's a viable option, but parrying one attack won't stop the whole combo, it will just give you a brief opening. You'll want to at least perform one parry so you can get the Don't Mess with the Best! achievement. Use the Prop and Shredder Swordmaster abilities to parry with ease. While standing on the ground with Sparda, press O/B. At the end of the first attack, press it again and hold it to segue into the second attack. By holding the button, the attack will last longer and increase the chance of a parry.

Lightning Rod - He'll stand still and lift his sword as if it will give him sight beyond sight. It'll act like a grounding rod for electricity. After a rather long, drawn-out process, he'll release that energy in a large wave around him. Look for him to let go of it with one hand before raising it to the sky with the other. Simply back off to avoid this attack.

Charge! - Not uncommon after teleporting away. He'll have his sword charged up and then run at you with the sword stuck out like he's going to kneecap you with a baseball bat. After taking a few steps, he's going to teleport into your face and swing. Jump up and right after the second step to avoid the incoming swing.

Offense - Cavaliere

During the early fight, getting in his face is a pretty viable option. He's fairly easy to parry at this point and you can break through his cloak pretty quickly. After about 1/3 of his health is gone, you'll want to be more strategic, however. Parrying his attacks is 100% the "intended" way of completing this fight if you're feeling up to that challenge. Remember to use Prop and Shredder as recommended above to make parrying easier. If you're returning to this fight after Mission 16, the Revolver attack from your newest weapons works wonders for parrying.

When he charges for his Lightning Rod attack, you can get some shots in, but I wouldn't stick around too long as you don't want to chance getting hit.

When he teleports away, switch to Gunslinger, target him with the Kalina Ann, and then press O/B to fire several homing rockets from far away. Follow this up by switching to Trickster so you can close the gap quickly and get some hits in.

When he's swinging like crazy, back off and let him swing about. Wait for him to finish with his huge overhand swing. After this, he'll take a moment to recover and you can Stinger in and follow-up with a combo. You can also try to get some hits up by jumping up to his off-hand side and hitting him with an aerial combo. Be careful with this, however, because the overhand attack will likely still hit you.

If you're aggressive, you can take him out pretty quickly and (if you have 10+ bars of health) pretty safely. If you want to play it safe, he's a pretty easy target for ranged attacks from the Kalina Ann. It's not stylish, but it's pretty effective. Just watch out for his Charge attack.

Urizen Round 2

It's finally time for a serious fight. Get your fancy new sword ready and make sure to use your new Sword Formation abilities (most are coupled with the Swordmaster style).

Attacks - Urizen

Spikey Death - Urizen will lift his right hand in the air while his tendrils glow white. Run at him and slightly to the right to get behind him when this happens. He'll pound the ground and the tendrils will rain down in front of that. Running behind him avoids all of that (if you're fast enough) and puts you in a good spot to attack.

Tendril Whip - Urizen will turn away from you a bit and his tendrils will light up. Back off quickly because he's about to spin around and fan those tendrils out to whip you.

Homing Tendril - He'll throw out his left hand straight ahead and one tendril will light up and then arc toward you. If it hits you, several more tendrils will shoot out quickly to hit you. Run in the same direction as it and slightly towards Urizen to avoid the angle of attack should the Homing Tendril hit you.

Geyser - This is the same blue geyser attack as before. Move forward or back to avoid this.

Offense - Urizen

Fighting Urizen here is pretty straight forward. He doesn't have many attacks, but they can be somewhat hard to avoid as the tendrils tend to be a bit unpredictable. The key is to get behind him and get in the air. This is the safest spot around his body that you can attack from.

Use Gunslinger and Kalina Ann to do some damage over time while you close the gap if you get knocked back. Change to Trickster to be able to close in fast while also improving your ability to dodge incoming attacks.

When you get close, go crazy with DSD and the Swordmaster blades. You'll be able to deal tons of damage pretty quickly and build up your DT gauge.

Balance which DT to use. If you're still healthy, pour your DT into the Sin DT bar. If now, use regular DT to recover some health. In both instances, save your DT until you're already up in his face. He's big and so it can feel like you're close, but if you just got knocked away, he's a lot further away than you might thing, which will waste DT time.

Malphas

Malphas is perhaps the easiest boss in the game, pound for pound, excluding the Qliphoth Root in Mission 01. She has some interesting movement and her chicken beast can get aggressive at times, but its attacks can take a while to complete, leaving them open to counterattack.

Malphas Phase 1

Tele-peck - A purple portal will appear near the chicken's head and it will stick its head through to attack you. This attack is pretty slow and takes a while to be a threat. As long as you move, you'll likely be missed and have a chance to counterattack.

Hip check - This is the reverse of Tele-peck. A portal will open behind the chicken and it will scoot backward through it. This is another similarly slow move and if you're anywhere near them, it's unlikely to hit you.

Peck - If you're close to the front of the bird, it will lift its head way up before pecking downward. This is a bit faster than the Tele-peck and not as obvious, so be careful or you're going to feel foolish.

Kabob - There doesn't seem to be a tell to this one except that it travels slowly. Clusters of purple spikes will start in front of them and travel outwards towards you, curving if need-be to reach you. Just run perpendicularly until it passes or jump over it.

Malphas Phase 2 (<75% Health)

Roast - When it hits 75% health, the chicken will roar (pushing you back) and start to smolder. It will become much more aggressive and its attacks will execute faster, so move fast. After a little while, this effect will fade and it'll return to it's slower attacks above. Staggering it will also result in it leaving Roast

Charge (Roast) - The chicken will turn and face you directly before charging directly at you. If it makes a point to face you, get ready to dodge. As soon as it starts running, start dodging to get away from it.

Stomp (Roast) - After a charge, it will likely jump up and down a couple of times to change direction (usually 90 degrees at a time). This can be pretty damaging, so stay away from it after a charge to avoid this.

Multi-peck (non-Roast) - The chicken will entirely disappear before teleporting its beak around the arena to attack multiple times. It usually concentrates near the center of the arena, so running around the outside is usually the safest bet.

Malphas Phase 3 (<25% Health)

Perma-Roast - When it gets low on health, it will no longer need to be in Roast to use Roast attacks, so expect charges at any moment. It will appear as normal.

Coalesce - The pair will go to the center of the arena. The chicken will submerge while Malphas will stick out of the top collecting energy from the arena. Get close and hammer her to interrupt this attack. Doing so will also cause a stun, providing you with even more time to destroy her.

Offense - Malphas

Any time Malphas isn't in Roast during the first 3/4 of the battle, just get close and hack away. She's fairly easy to stagger. In my first attempt, I staggered her three times without even trying. If she IS in Roast, just back off until the chicken stops glowing. Once that stops, resume your attack.

As you get to the latter parts of the battle where the chicken doesn't need to be in Roast to perform its more aggressive attacks, lay off until she goes to do her Coalesce move. She becomes a sitting duck (har har) when this happens. You'll likely be able to interrupt the attack AND stagger her which may be enough to finish the battle right then and there.

Malphas DMD

Malphas can create even spikes while teleporting around like crazy. Just because it doesn't have feet on the ground doesn't mean they won't come.

King Cerberus

King Cerberus can be knocked out pretty quickly with Dante's overwhelming power, but it also does a ton of damage and it's going to be important to watch your health bar.

Note: There is a rather odd achievement called Obedience Training which has an unusual description. It reads, "Go on the offensive without relying on brute force in the Mission 16 boss battle." I unlocked it about 1/3 of the way through the fight and am not sure how. I'd only done used Kalina Ann a couple of times, DSD, Sin DT, and a few strikes of Sword Formation from Swordmaster. The most likely thing to me seems the Sword Formation based on timing and that it is the least brute force style attack I performed.

Phase 1 - Fire

Chomp (Fire Only) - Cerberus will wind up and then lunge forward for a bite. A simple side-dodge as this approaches should be enough to avoid the damage, but watch for a follow-up swipe.

Swipe - When close in, Cerberus may swipe with one of its front paws. Like the Chomp, it's decently fast but can be dodge with just a simple jump. Sometimes the first can be followed by a second, so don't get too distracted.

Stomp - Instead of a low swipe, Cerberus will bring its front paw up and swipe it straight down. A simple dodge should be sufficient, but be careful of a potential follow-up.

Phase 2 - Ice (<66% Health)

Roar - Cerberus will pause for several seconds and simply wriggle back and forth while looking downward. When it starts glowing, it's about to release a large blast. When it does, it will swap between currently available phases. If you're too close, the blast will cause damage.

Shards - The center Cerberus head will breathe snow upwards at the ceiling which will cause ice shards to fall from the sky. Just keep moving and this should easily miss.

Blast - The Cerberus will coil up before the center head comes down. When it reaches the ground, it will breathe a large plume of freezing air towards you across the ground, which will expand as it moves outwards. Jump over it or hop onto one of the platforms in the arena to avoid it.

Phase 3 - Electric (<33% Health)

Sparks - The left head will sort of make a sneezing animation before releasing balls of electricity into the air. These will move slowly towards you and can be targeted. You can shoot them out of the air, but it's probably easier to just avoid them. The only problem is that they serve as both a weapon and a pseudo-shield.

Offense - King Cerberus

In some ways, King Cerberus is an easy enemy. Just to the side of its heads, it doesn't have a lot of defense or offense, so if you can get close to it, this is generally a pretty safe angle so long as you watch for a Roar.

Use Kalina Ann with Gunslinger to fire several homing missiles when the Cerberus gets too far away. You may want something faster for dealing with the Sparks attack. Most of the Fire and Ice attacks can be dodged reliably as long as you don't get too absorbed in your attack.

Build up your Sin DT, get on the side of Cerberus, and tear it to pieces. As long as you start next to the Cerberus (you're immune during the transformation), you can knock off 40-50% of its health bar AND stun it at the same time, which is usually good for another 10% after transforming back.

King Cerberus DMD

New Ice Rain move? Rather than breathing into the air, just roars into the air and a bunch of small icicles fall down from above. Also, Shotgun is great for shooting down electricity balls.

Ultimate Urizen

Ultimate Urizen Phase 1

Rain - As before, points of light will collect in front of Urizen before shooting upward and raining down. Stay out of the purple light spaces to avoid.

Geyser - As before, Urizen will throw his hand forward in front of him. Blue lights will form on the ground and then erupt. These can form horizontally as well is regular shapes such as triangles.

Punt - Urizen will square up and then kick with a quick sweeping motion at Dante. It has a surprisingly large arc for such a fast attack. Jump over it to avoid it (or stay in the air in the first place).

Double Punt - Similar to a regular punt, this will start on his left side (your right). He'll kick with his left leg before following up with the right. Double jump or stall your descent with attacks to avoid.

Slam - Urizen will lift his right hand over his shoulder and gather blue energy to it before slamming it down in front of him causing a small explosion.

Backhand - If you're behind Urizen, he'll strike slightly downward in front of him before taking that hand and swinging it like a pendulum backward at you. Dodge to the side to avoid.

Ultimate Urizen Phase 2 (<75% Health)

Teleport - Urizen can create a portal and step through to appear elsewhere. Seems entirely defensive, though it will set him up for long range attacks.

Darts - Urizen will form several long purple swords of light in front of him. These will shoot straight at you from where they are so run/jump horizontally to avoid them. Dangerous when he pairs this with Geyser.

Time Bolt - As before, Urizen can shoot a ball of blue energy that will explode into a time distortion field upon impact. Try to run horizontally to the ball to avoid it and dodge sideways if you get caught in it.

Ultimate Urizen Phase 3 (<50% Health)

Backflip - Urizen will perform a backflip. Seems to be defensive.

Meteor - This is returning from your fight in Mission 08. Red energy will collect in front of Urizen. When it fully collapses, a flaming rock will hurdle at you. Beware that this version will curve sharply. Dodge when it's coming towards you or jump horizontally to avoid.

Ultimate Urizen Phase 4 (<25% Health)

Multi-beam - He'll use a beam not unlike from earlier in the game. A purple circle will appear at Urizen's feet before shooting a beam of light outward which will travel in an arc. After establishing the first one, he will likely hop to the side and create a second one. Both beams can swing back and forth multiple times.

Thankfully, the camera is a little more elevated than normal because of Urizen's height, so use this to your advantage. You'll need to jump between these and how you do so depend largely on how these two beams are set up.

Pin Cushion - Urizen will collect red energy around while flexing in a squatting position. From here, red spikes will pop up in huge groups around him before moving in waves across the scorched sections of ground.

Sweep - Usually used as a follow-up to a Punt. After kicking the first time, Urizen will allow his momentum to carry him around and squat down. From here, his other leg will stretch until a low sweep. Jump over this as well.

Instant Transmission - Urizen will teleport almost instantaneously, but it seems like he can only do so a fixed distance, so if he's particularly far, he won't suddenly close the gap to be right on top of you. This is technically movement, but it can easily be paired with a close-range attack for big damage.

Offense - Urizen Ultimate

Going on the offensive against Urizen is pretty tough and this can be a fairly drawn out battle the first time you fight him.

Ultimately, his attacks fall into two categories. He has either ranged attacks or close-range attacks. At range, you can more easily dodge and can do some damage with your own ranged attacks, but you're better off up close. It's a little more dangerous, but you can do a lot more damage (especially with Sin DT).

Thankfully, almost all of his close range attacks are very low. The two higher attacks are his overhead Slam and the Backhand attack. Thankfully, both of these are almost entirely verticle. The Slam actually comes slightly from his right, so your favorite spot should be around his left.

Hop up around his left (your right) and hack away at his shoulder and the side of his stomach. Make sure to use Enemy Hop, Air Hike, and as many combos as possible to stay up as long as possible.

Unfortunately, he'll eventually teleport away and you'll have to close the distance, but if you've got Air Hike, you'll be able to close the last bit of distance in the air, which should keep you pretty safe.

Completing this battle will net you the Back to Life achievement.

Three Memories

All three of your opponents have the same attacks as you've known them to have, and each has the same weaknesses. Nightmare is the true heart, however. Damage to Shadow and Griffon will not do damage to the "Boss Health." They can be put in stalemate and eventually defeated, but they'll eventually return to fight again.

Nightmare will come and go throughout the battle. Try to keep an eye on the energy column floating around the cane. This is where Nightmare will come from and you'll want to see him coming so you can dodge his impact. When he appears, try to use your DT to make the most of the time you have.

The time in between should be spent trying to eliminate the other two so they pose less of a threat. Homing ranged attacks are a great choice for dealing with these two very agile enemies.

Watch for Shadow's Skewer (he'll become rigid while his head ripples before a spike shoots out), Nightmare's beam attack (it's slow but powerful), and Griffon's Double Check, which will have lightning strobing in arcs around the arena. Each is just another layer to dodge, and once you have them mastered, you'll be able to spend a lot of time attacking.

Gunslinger with Kalina can stalemate the two smaller enemies with just a blast or two giving you plenty of time to fight Nightmare. During the Shadow/Griffon tag battle, it looks like they can now leave independently if you do enough damage to just one. I don't remember this before.

Vergil

Reason for Existing

Vergil doesn't have as many attacks as Urizen had, but they are all deadly and fast. Unlike almost any other weapon in the game, Vergil can defend and heal damage. Shooting Vergil isn't really an option. If you think this means that a Kalina missile will trick him, think again. He'll deflect that, too.

He can also enter Devil Trigger and become an even bigger threat. His attacks will get more powerful, he'll move faster, and there will be almost no time between his attacks. And just like Dante's standard Devil Trigger, when he's in this form, he'll heal.

This is a very technical fight. Learning his moves is only half of the battle. It's not enough to simply avoid his attacks, you need to know how you can follow each on up with your own attack. If you're too slow, you lose out on some or all of the damage you could have done.

Let's start with his moves.

Vergil Phase 1

Punch - Whenever Vergil sheathes his weapon, he can quickly jab with the sheath in almost an elbowing motion.

Split - Vergil will leap into the air and swing his blade down towards the ground. Jumping or dodging is effective. If you jump, follow up with a Split of your own, otherwise, follow up with a combo.

Streak (picture 1) - He will shift his weight down slightly and lean on his front leg. His torso will tilt towards you and he'll grab the hilt of his word. It takes 0.7 seconds from the beginning of the animation until it's executed. Jumping is the most reliable dodge as the swing is somewhat wide and ends in a spherical flurry of slashes. Follow up with a Split or (if you dodged) a Stinger.

Trickster Dash - Much like a high-level Trickster dash by Dante. This is usually evasive, nearly instantaneous, and has a very long range.

Combo A - Vergil will swing the sheathed sword from left to right like a baton before swinging it back in a backhand motion. The second swing will end at roughly hip height with Vergil lowering his stance slightly before unsheathing the sword in a single diagonal swing with his right hand.

He takes a step with each strike and each successive attack gets longer as well. If you're close, you'll need to dodge each one individually or jump over it. If you're far away, you can wait for the distinct flash of the sword before using Stinger to get close. Make sure you wait until the attack is complete because each blow can turn 180 degrees should you end up behind him.

Dark Energy (picture 2) - Vergil will put his weight on his back foot and squat down. He'll pause for a moment before a line shoots across the ground at you. If it hits you, it will erupt in a sphere of sword strikes.

Sword Formation - Like Dante, Vergil can form blades of light. His will form in front of him (like the Darts attack from Urizen earlier). From here, he will shoot these out at Dante. Stay moving to avoid these. Jumping is an effective method of pushing forward while avoiding damage.

Vergil Phase 2 (<75% Health)

Stab - Vergil will assume a stance similar to Streak except that his sword will be unsheathed and held in his right hand with the blade directly facing you. As he assumes the stance, a bright white light will flash before he starts absorbing blue energy. A split second later, he'll charge at you and attempt to stab you. This is essentially a more damaging Streak attack.

Vergil Phase 3 (<50% Health)

Devil Trigger - Vergil will transform and amplify his abilities. He'll heal, be faster, and hit harder with normal attacks. Also, like with Dante, he'll parry any attack when he transforms and be able to follow up with an attack immediately.

Multi-Dark Energy - Vergil will assume the same pose as Dark Energy, but several spheres will appear after the first one following you, so if you stop or retrace your steps, you'll get hit. In other words, simply jumping straight up is not sufficient to dodge this. Jump at an angle.

Multi-Split - He can follow up the first Split with a second one, so make sure to move as soon as you complete your counter attack.

Slay All - Vergil will assume a stance similar to Dark Energy, except a giant dark sphere of energy will appear with him at the center. When this appears, GTFO. At the end of his charging period, the entire sphere will fill with sword slashes and you'll take devastating damage (about 4 bars on Devil Hunter) if you're in the area of effect.

Vergil Phase 4 (<25% Health)

Sword Shield - A circle of blue blades will appear and rotate around Vergil. Another set will revolve around you. After a couple of seconds, the blades around you will pull outward and then all of them will try to stab inward at the same time. Jump to avoid this. After that, the ring around Vergil will start shooting at you in succession.

If you attack Vergil during this time, it's possible to hit the swords themselves instead of Vergil or to get too close to Vergil and be hit by the swords as a result.

Combo A+ - This is the same combo except at the end, he'll fling a blue blade directly forward. Make sure to dodge to the side when avoiding the last attack.

Offense - Vergil

As stated before, getting hits in here is tricky. Most of your attacks are going to be the result of an immediate counterattack after one of his attacks. As a good rule of thumb, if you manage to avoid an attack, mimicking that attack is your best option. If he performs a Split, jump out of the way and immediately perform one of your own. If he performs a Streak, follow it up with a Stinger.

Fighting Vergil is a mastery test to see how much you've learned about timing, dodging, and how your attacks link together. Learning how long it takes to dodge after you complete an attack is key. You can usually dodge or jump immediately after your weapon would have made contact, even if there's a long follow-through.

For instance, if you perform a Split, you can dodge as soon as Dante's sword hits the ground even though he'll usually stay in that pose momentarily after landing.

This battle is a huge step up from everything else in the game and you're going to fail. Much of this fight is about instincts. I still had some latent muscle memory from fighting a similar battle in DMC3, and I still got knocked out three times in a single battle (granted, I was little careless, but not THAT careless).

Like all other battles before, do it right first, then do it fast. Learn to dodge and survive. Once you get the hang of that, that's when you learn to follow-up with attacks.

Take your time. Vergil is probably twice as hard as any other enemy in the game, so just make sure you learn from your losses and you'll be crushing Vergil in no time.