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I. Boss Strategies (Normal/Hard Difficulty as Dante & Vergil)
- Hell Vanguard - Hopefully you got Stinger by now so make sure you roll out his way and shove that sword
down his throat. Don't use firearms for too long or he'll teleport towards you with a combo. Also watch out for the ground
rippling that's a nasty attack too when he jumps out for an aerial attack. A bell gong rings for his teleport attacks. Take
note of your tactics as he'll become a regular enemy in later levels.
- Cerberus - For my first time fighting this beast, I did Missions 1 & 2 until I could max out
my power on Ebony & Ivory. When he howls and icy shadows appear near you start rolling away to the side. Whatever you
do keep your distance from Fido as his attacks are devastating at close range. Instead strafe around in the back of the room
mashing that fire button for Ebony & Ivory/Summoned Swords. You can manage to beat him with this strategy on the easier
difficulties but on higher ones, you're going to have to take the fight to him. Aerial Raves in his face on any of his three
heads. When you manage to blow off a head or two it's attacks get more quicker and more frequent. He tosses in a new
attack when he dashes towards you but the number of chains that still have him bound to the wall determine how for that attack
is going. If just one chain holds him then that's his maximum pounce distance, which just about screen wide. Once he attempts
to pounce you and he misses, you can hammer him with combos as he slides back to his original position. Later on when you
encounter this beast again, Agni & Rudra are Cerberus' worst nightmare in the damage department.
- Jester (You'll encounter him twice more in later missions) - The fight starts off with you just using
your guns/Summoned Swords but he'll seem to be dodging them by dancing. Don't worry your shots are connecting as long as you
see confetti coming out of him, lol. Soon he'll get tired of dancing and stop for you to unload on him with a combo. With
Vergil you can end this fight right here after DT'ing with Beowulf and Summoned Swords. For Dante, it'll take a bit longer
to wear him down. For the other times you encounter him, it's a bit harder. Once Jester's health goes below half he summons
a giant ball to stand on top of. Besides his usual energy ball attacks, the ball he's standing on itself will assist Jester
and attack you as well. The smiling ball has several attacks to watch out for: 1. Ball spit - he spits smaller exploding balls
out of his mouth at you while a red hand attempts to grab you. 2. Explode - He does this when you try to hit Jester
while he's on top. The warning for this is the ball starts laughing after looking mad. 3. Ball Bounce - Jester
and the smiling ball do this to move around the arena. While Jester is standing on the ball, here's my personal strategy:
For Vergil, keep using Summoned Swords as you avoid his attacks the best you can. Then if you can get an Aerial Rave inbetween
his attacks. Just don't stay too long in Jester's face. For Dante (Swordmaster), avoid his attacks and use Sword Pierce as
much as you can. If you see an opening, do an Aerial Rave as well. Like with Vergil, Beowulf works wonders here too.
- Gigapede - Those Cerberus Flails you just got will be a nice treat to this guy. Rebellion slashes can
knock those purple orbs right back at him. Don't forget your handy firearms from a distance. Stay on his back and punish him
with combos. Go for his head area for maximum effectiveness. Even better, jump on his head and charge up a Drive with Rebellion
or Round Trip if you're playing as Vergil. This will knock off a huge chunk of his health. If you're playing as Vergil, Beowulf
combos directed on his head will end this battle VERY quickly.
- Agni & Rudra - The blue one is weak to Rebellion combos while the red one is weak to Cerberus
moves and combos. If you manage to break their stance they will drop their weapon and leave themselves open for attacks. Try
to keep their health about even the entire fight as when one dies the other gains his powers and this is EXTREMELY cheap.
Make sure to keep Ebony & Ivory/Summoned Swords on them from a distance. By now you should have those two maxed out.
Once again Beowulf is your friend if you are playing as Vergil.
- Vergil/Vante 1 - Here's the simplest method for him. Roll from his Stinger and rush in with yours and
perform a quick combo. When he blocks your attack, roll immediately as he will pop you up in the air for his version of High
Time and it does a lot of damage. Rinse and repeat.
- Leviathan Core - This entire fight you're gonna have some henchmen watching your back this entire boss
fight so you know Agni & Rudra are gonna get some action for that part of the fight. Treat the two cores in the chamber
like the boss fight against Agni & Rudra and keep their health guages about even. Cerberus and/or Agni & Rudra can
wear down those cores down quickly. Once one of the cores are defeated the main core exposes itself but if you have both defeated
the main core stays exposed longer for some Cerberus and/or Agni & Rudra treatment. Don't forget to hit Devil Trigger
to double the damage inflected. Swordmaster style's ability to allow you to do air combos with Agni & Rudra and Rebellion
come in handy when you're trying to take out the cores. Remember the red core is weak to firearms and the blue one is weak
to devilarms. Easiest method I have for this boss on any difficulty for either Dante/Vergil: When the fight starts immediately
head for the blue core, Double Jump or Trick Up and immediately begin an Aerial Rave. As you descend to the ground, position
yourself for you can kick off the core as you hit the Jump button again to continue your Aerial Rave until the core is gone.
Since the core is weak to melee weapons it should be down in no time so you have 2 choices: 1. leave a bit a life in it for
you can take out the red core with firearms for you can have the maximum amount of time to damage the main core. 2. kill the
blue core completely, dodge the attack from the red core by jumping 3 times while charging your DTE (hold DT button - the
orbs will glow red if you're doing it right. You have to have more than the default 3), release DTE on core as the newly spawned
Hells attempt to hit you and score a quick combo (this is even easier w/ Vergil as he can use firearms during combos).
- Nevan - Too bad such a beauty is such another boss bad babe in a video game. Ebony & Ivory are a must-have
for this fight (and at all times in my opinion) as they are essential for hovering in the air when Nevan electrifies the floor
and sends out her electric currents afterward. (Note: Adding E&I's hovering shots after an Air Hike is technically your
third jump so it's kinda a Air Hike Lvl 2, lol.)For Vergil, Trick Up and use Yamato's Aerial Rave to float in the air a bit
to avoid this attack. Roll out of the way of that column of light move she does after saying, "Now you'll become tired!" When
her shield of bats are almost gone make sure you're close to her when you strike next or she'll recover quickly and you won't
get a chance to nail her with combos. Devil Trigger helps a lot here too. When her health is nearly gone she'll only do an
attack where she kisses you to recover her health back by stealing yours. I know Dante would dig that kiss but hey you're
in charge of keeping him alive so Air Hike and E&I at her until she's stunned for another dose of combos. Beowolf
is highly effective on her along with Kalina Ann for wearing down her shield quicker. Judgment Cut helps as well.
- Beowolf - I suggest you have Trickster at Lvl 2 before this fight b/c Double Dash and Air Dash is extremely
handy in dodging his attacks. Jumping up and slashing him in his eye stuns him for a moment so take advantage of this and
hit him with Rebellion combos. At a distance keep E & I on him for the damage to keep piling up. When his health guage
is down to below half, he'll sprout wings and his attacks will become even stronger. He even throws in a new attack where
he throws feathers from his angelic wings and this does LOADS of damage, but he only does this attack if you're far away from him. Do
your best to get behind him and this avoids that attack altogether. Toss in a few hits while comboing with Rebellion with
Cerberus/Yamato with Force Edge. Don't forget to Aerial Rave/Trick Up him in the eye. This stuns and blinds him for a
bit, giving you enough time for a combo but watch out for his arm swinging around blindly to hit you.
- Geryon - This is a very bizarre boss fight as it's just a few easy Air Hikes over the horse
and carriage and follow up with Helm Breaker or E & I. Eventually he'll stop and allow you to get a quick combo.
Stinger towards him with Rebellion and whip out Cerberus and unload a combo or two. For Vergil, use Beowulf. Cerberus
freezes him in place at times by the way. Halfway into the fight, a cutscene will occur and the fight moves into
the colliseum below. Trickster style comes in handy here since Geryon's carriage shoots homing missiles while circling you
in the arena. Roll or Double Dash out of the way and waits for him to stop again like before. Repeat same method as before
but take note that he'll use Time Lag if you do too much damage on him and nail you with a load of damage if you're not quick
enough to dodge. Defeat him and you'll earn his Quicksilver playing style for yourself. It works like the Bangle
of Time from the original DMC. With Vergil, I've managed to do this: when Geryon stops, immediately Lunar Phase
him to make him double over. Then follow up with repeated Starfalls on his head when he sets up to make him incapable
to do anything else. So far I've only got this to work on Normal and in Bloody Palace.
- Vergil/Vante 2 - Vergil happened to run into Beowolf and take his power for himself so you're
gonna have to deal with this as well. His Devil Trigger has also been awakened so he can transform now too.
Play this like the original but factor in the range and leaping attacks of Beowolf. If you remember the Ifrit combos
from the original DMC then you got Beowolf pretty much figured out. Vergil tends to rely on Beowolf more than his sword during
this fight and occasionally uses his DT form to dish some extra damage or when he's taken a lot himself. Once he does either
hit yours or back off a bit until it wears off. His cue for DT is "You're not worthy as my opponent!"
- Lady - This fight isn't hard is just annoying that Lady is constantly running and dashing away from you.
She's this game's ultimate coward in my opinion. She's wide open for attacks when she's using her bazooka, Kalina Ann.
Use any combos that don't involve knocking her back b/c she will and ALWAYS recover and run away. Keep
the pressure up on her from a distance with E & I and don't forget that she can be standing on top of those bookselves
too. Eventually she'll go down. Sword Pierce works well on her as it cancels her attacks and immediately rebounds back to
you. This fight is SOO annoying with Vergil as it seems you can barely hold a lock on her, along with
the fact that she runs away from most of your attacks doesn't help either.
- Doppleganger - You can't damage him at all unless he steps into the light produced by the buttons around
the room. There's a simple pattern I used to toast this clown. Hit a button about 3 times with Helm Breakers and
wait for your double to come towards with 9 out of 10 times it'll be Stinger and jump over it and hit the button as you fall.
The light turns on him and he freezes in place. Stinger him back and follow up with a short combo. Repeat. The period
he stays in this frozen state depends on the number of lights are on. If the entire room is lightened then your time is longest.
This is the perfect time to hit him with some Beowolf attacks/combos. Remember light and might beats the dark, lol.
- Arkham - This is one of the cheapest fights in the game in my opinion. Swordmaster is the style to
be on this fight (I'm not talking to you Royal Guard masters. Those guys can do anything.) Forget firearms,
Agni & Rudra and Rebellion will be the stars of this fight. You can substitute any of those for Nevan or Cerberus btw.
Nevan's Jam Session is very handy. Anyways, Arkham's big blobby form is the only one you can damage. Stinger, roll, combo,
roll, Stinger, was my pattern on this form until he starts shooting those dart things. The only thing I could see to
defend was to hit DT and keep the pattern up until he unleased some souls and disappears. Now whip out Agni & Rudra out
and start comboing away on those like 15+ enemies around you. For Vergil, Yamato is your best friend at this point. Do it
quickly or they can and will tear you apart. Kalina Ann works wonders as well, even more so with Gunslinger style. Then his
form reappears and repeat the pattern until his life is at 50%. A cutscene occurs and your DT guage is gone but Vergil is
helping you out, just like Doppleganger style, mimicing your every move. If you're Vergil you'll get Vante (Vergil in a red
coat like Dante) And yes, another person can plug in a controller and play as him. Only as long as Dante's still alive,
lol. Repeat the same method until he's defeated.
- Vergil/Vante 3 - For first timers and non-DMC veterans, before this fight make sure you have some Devil
Stars and at least one Vital Star L. Your first time through the game you're prolly gonna lose to this guy somewhere between
5-20 times before you win this fight so don't give up. Its the same method as Vergil 1 but like Vergil 2 he's using his DT
a LOT. His life guage recovers quickly while he's in this form so either keep E & I on him while he's in DT state or hit
yours to even the odds. Trickster style helps a bit with the dodging of his attacks his time as I've found it unresponsive
to roll from all of his attacks. Once you get a break in his defenses, do a Rebellion combo and follow up with a Beowolf combo.
Make it quick though, as he still can parry your attacks and go into his Stinger to High Time or any of his other moves. As
his life guage gets lower, his attacks speed up more and he's in DT almost entirely of the finale of this epic battle. You
know this is coming by him saying, "You're going down!" That's where those Devil Stars come in or you can do it the macho
way and make good use of DTE. Use those to even the score and keep the pressure to finish him off. Give yourself a pat on
the back for beating DMC3! Now with Lady's help, kill 100 enemies during the credits (the 100th enemy is a Hell Vanguard)
and check out the Vergil Special Extra Ending!
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II. General tips
1. On your first time playing through the game, don't feel bad
when the game tells you to try easy mode if Normal mode is kicking your ass. Still you may have some troubles if
you don't take my advice.
2. Do missions 1 and 2 until you can afford Stinger Lvl. 1
or even better Lvl. 2 for Rebellion.
3. Instead of spenting your red orbs on curative items you
should focus on items that extend for max health bar and DT gauges (DT is earned after Mission 7) with Blue and Purple
Orbs. Vital Stars' price double after each time they are bought just like every other item.
4. Take time to master to the Side Roll. This maneuver is
more effective than jumping to avoid enemy attacks, especially those from the air. Even if you are using the Trickster
style, Side Rolls are sometimes more effective.
5. For first timers at this game I suggest going with Swordmaster
Style and maxing that out on your first walkthrough the game. Gunslinger is best for those weapons you acquire near the game's
finale, Trickster is excellent for dodging attacks from those you thought were unavoidable, and Royal Guard requires patience
and timing, but rewards well. Later in the game you'll unlock Quicksilver style, which veterans of the original DMC would
remember the Bangle of Time's special effect to stop time temporarily, and this style does the exact same. Along with Quicksilver,
you'll unlock Doppleganger as well. Double Dantes with this style. A second controller can control Dante's 'shadow' as long
as Dante has energy in his DT guage.
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