20 :: La Vita Nuova

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Devil May Cry 4 - Mission 20: La Vita Nuova

This is it, the final battle! There's no turning back now!

Sacred Heart -- Boss Battle: Sanctus Diabolica

This battle bears some similarity to your first encounter with Sanctus, as he uses several of the same moves and floats around the area in a protective sphere. However Sanctus is significantly more dangerous this time around (which makes sense, what with this being the final battle and all) and sports a brand new, decidedly evil look. Well, this is it, time to silence this demon once and for all.

Sanctus Diabolica

Yet again, Nero's Demon Arm will serve as the main tool in besting your enemy. First and foremost, Sanctus' protective sphere needs to be shattered, then it's just a matter of knocking him to the ground and hitting him with Buster to perform a powerful combo. Same deal as last time; use Hell Bound on the orbs that float near Sanctus to get close to the sphere and start dealing some damage to it. Activating Devil Trigger will certainly help bring down the sphere faster, so toggle if the gauge permits it..

This guy can be a real pain to knock out of the air once the sphere is broken. He'll either dodge to the side, or throw fireballs to keep you at bay. The fireballs can be easily avoided by dropping to the ground and circling beneath Sanctus. The opportune moment to knock Sanctus out of the air is while he remains still and uses his blade to shield himself from your attacks. At this point, jump up and hit the raised sword with Buster to stagger him, then jump back up to him and slash away to strike him down. Be quick about hitting him once his guard is down, as he recovers quite quickly. When he falls to the ground, use Buster to deal a substantial blow to his health.

Stunned

Buster

Sanctus will create a new protective sphere once you've hit him with Buster, or if you can't manage to knock him out of the air in time. You'll take some damage if you're nearby when he creates the shield. Light will appear around him and he yells 'The Savior is coming.' When you've witnessed it once, it's easy to see it coming thereafter. If you are in mid-air and Sanctus starts to glow, drop down to the ground and move a short distance away to avoid taking damage.

There are a few attacks that Sanctus will use while he's floating around. When he raises his sword and says 'I sentence you to death,' he surrounds the area around him with pillars of electricity. He'll summon the pillars mid-sentence, so the lifting of his sword is the best indicator here. If you're in the process of hitting the sphere, either continue to madly hack away in hopes of shattering it before he can summon the pillars, or drop to the ground and move as far from him as you can to avoid taking damage. The fireballs Sanctus throws your way are probably his most annoying (and frequent) attack, but the fireballs can be easily avoided with a couple of Side Rolls, or by jumping up into the air.

Try to preserve your health, as there are no Green Orbs to be found in this area, so you'll have to use whatever healing items you have stored away in your inventory, or activate Devil Trigger to restore health.

When you've reduced Sanctus' health bar to about three or four bars, he'll start using a deadly new attack in which he charges at you with his sword several times. From this point on, he uses this attack each time you knock him strike him down, so you'll have dodge it before you can knock off that last bit of health. Getting hit by Sanctus' blade hurts a lot here, so work especially hard to avoid him. Use Side Roll shortly after Sanctus starts the initial charge to dodge it. Be ready to Side Roll again right after his first attempt, as he'll try to hit you with a couple of quick strikes. His final strike takes the longest to charge, and he'll attempt to throw up another sphere immediately afterwards.

You're going to have to be quick to knock Sanctus out of the air while he's in his psycho state. First, stand far away from Sanctus as he readies the final strike of his attack; Side Roll to avoid getting hit, then immediately hit him with some attacks to drop him to the ground. If you were standing far enough away, Sanctus' charge should have ended right behind you, allowing you to then turn around and quickly attack. If he managed to create another sphere, then you need to shatter it, dodge his charges and try again.

The False Savior

Once you've managed to defeat Sanctus Diabolica, you'll then have to take on the False Savior to finish this. This is a short sequence, but it will require good timing on your part. First, avoid getting hit by the Savior's right fist when he slams it down, then hit that fist with Buster. Then (this is the part that requires good timing), get ready to use Buster on his left fist as he swings it towards you. If you fail to hit his left hand, you'll have to start over again with his right fist. When you've hit both of his hands, use Buster again on his face to trigger the endgame cutscene.

The False Savior

Fist Slam

Congratulations! You've just completed Devil May Cry 4! It's not entirely over; be sure to sit through the credits and protect Kyrie from the Scarecrows for ninety seconds to view an additional cutscene with Dante, Trish and Lady after the credits. Use Snatch to pull any Scarecrow that gets too close to Kyrie and keep her from getting hit for the whole ninety seconds to unlock the second epilogue.