"Prepare to face your demons!" Rear box insert, DMC4 Devil May Cry 4 FAQ/Walkthrough Version 0.70 by lastfirstborn (Joe Barbee) other info listed at the bottom of the guide February 11, 2008 Ver. 25 - Frame work for the guide, various files inputted, FAQ section updated, Tips updated. February 12-14, 2008 Ver. 40 - Main body of the guide updated to halfway point of the main missions. Full blue orb and secret mission guide complete. Added more files, more tips, more FAQs. February 15-17, 2008 Ver. 70 - Updated enemy and boss information to almost full. Polished up tips and FAQs sections. Added Bloody Palace section (coming soon). Finished up the main Missions of the game in guide. Added techniques for both Nero and Dante to every aspect of the guide possible at this point. February 18, 2008 Ver. 80 - General polishing up. Added some thanks and advice from emails I got from other players. February 20, 2008 Ver. 85 - Worked on Bloody Palace section. Added a little to File section. ------------------- LEGAL INFORMATION: Disclaimer: Please do not use this FAQ on any other site than gamefaqs or gamespot. You may email me for permission to use this FAQ on your site, but please contact me, give me full credit, do not alter the guide in ANY way at all, and wait for my email response over all else. See bottom of FAQ for more info on copyright. This game was made by Capcom, and everythingis also under copywrite by them (in this game, that is). This guide is my intellectual property and is protected by the law. It's come to my attention in the past years of writing guides for games, as both a hobby and a passion for the things we all enjoy, that some individuals take it upon themselves to steal guides and print them out or sell them in pdf format over ebay and sites like that. While we can't completely put a stop to things like this, if the guide bears incredible similarities (style of writing, typos, exact wording), please let me know. It is greatly appreciated and if possible I will take the most appropriate actions. I urge you to do the same for any writers you find out there. This is meant for enjoyment and to help others, this is not intended to make any amounts of money, especially not for the con artists and liars out there. ----------------------------------------- I like any and all input so long as it makes sense (pertains to this guide and/or the game itself). My inbox stays pretty busy around the time I write guides, so please bear with me if I don't get back to you. I appreciate any input you all present, but if I do not answer I was either too busy, or have already addressed the issue in my guide. I am aware of the fact that there are several methods for playing all the games of today, the nextgen, so if I don't get back to you on that, also, please bear with me, as I may never cover that, or I may have already covered it by that time. Anything about grammar or typos will be pretty much ignored, as will anything hateful or unreadable. Forgive me on that one, you know how it is though. If something in my guide seems absolutely, positively hard to understand, and your primary language is English, let me know then. But I'll do my best to avoid that kind of thing. All of that said, let me stress again, I do READ many of the letters, even if I don't respond, and I thank you for it. I know this isn't the flashiest guide, but it'll likely end up pretty big, so I want it to load smooth and be a simple read. And yeah, being a DMC fan and all, I have put several quotes throughout this guide from all of the games. I hope you enjoy it! (keep in mind, most of the few DMC 4 quotes I use don't give away much or any storyline) If you enjoy this guide and found it helpful, feel free to rate it up on gamefaqs by using the thingee at the top of this page! Thanks. Copyright 2008 Joe Barbee Please remember that pressing ctrl F at any time on this page will allow a search box function. Look in the table of contents and put in Mission keywords to skip immediately to the mission you need! ==================== Introduction Hello and welcome to another guide by me, lastfirstborn. Thanks for bearing with me through all that stuffy stuff above. This is my first guide of 2008, and I hope to make it the best one I've written yet. I'm not entirely inexperienced with writing FAQs for this site, but I am still a little rough around the edges. I will do my best to present a complete, understandable guide with multiple combat methods, the best ways to complete difficult sections, good techniques for gaining skills and health, along with any other things that will enhance and improve your gameplay. There are already a couple of good guides out there, and if mine isn't working for you, give them a look. I feel that everyone deserves a chance at different strategies, so I thought I'd give writing this guide a shot, in case the others weren't working for you. I plan to deal with multiple difficulties, a complete mission guide, where to find the hidden stuff, and talk a little bit about the story. There will also be a skills and combo list for both characters, an enemy list and guide, achievements, and any other little tidbits I feel like adding later on. I hope to get this guide out to you all as soon as possible, because there are tons of the same question floating around the message boards right now. Hope this helps some. I've been gaming since the good ole NES days, and I have enjoyed many a Capcom game. I've played every installment in this series, and gotten S ranks for mostly every mission up to (and all of) DMC 3. I'm not trying to brag, so much as I want to assure you I will do my best to offer you top notch service during this guide. A brief warning, this guide WILL contain spoilers. In fact, by the time it's done, it will tell all. Please do not read too far ahead unless you want to know the story, enemies, weapons, items, etc. in advance. Capcom is a long standing, good company. They have brought us many solid hits since the very earliest days of home gaming. Things like the popular Mega Man series, or how about that little gem known to very small circles as Resident Evil? Onimusha is quite good as well. How about Dead Rising on the 360? There's really too much to list, but as far as flagship series go, I'd consider the Devil May Cry games in that catergory, though most would just call it niche gaming. There is a nice History of Devil May Cry in the hidden features of this game, once you beat it on any difficulty. You can learn a great deal about the series there. I also suggest checking out some gameplay vids from all of the games, there's serious action to behold. Dante is a thirllseeker, demon slayer, half human, half demon, hero of the people. His skills with a blade, fire arms, taunts, and overall finesse are second to none. He has a very twisted and powerful family tree in his past, and buckets of blood and steel in his future. He runs a small business out of an office called the Devil May Cry (which is more like a hangout joint), and if you call him with a demon problem and the password, he'll hunt them down to their last breath. He often doesn't even accept much payment. Anyway, I can elaborate more in my story section. Let's dive into the guide, shall we? Here's to a good game! IMPORTANT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Note: PLEASE GO LOOK AT THE END SECTION OF MY WALKTHROUGH FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ON BLUE ORB LOCATIONS AND SECRET MISSIONS AND THEIR SOLUTIONS. This game allows you to replay missions so don't fret if you miss something on the first play of a mission. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -------------------------------------------------- "You got a trick up your sleeve." Dante, DMC 4 "I thought the cat had your tongue. But if it's tricks you're after, TRY THIS!" Nero, DMC 4 --------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents: I. Controls (Xbox 360 default layout) II. Basic tips and survival techniques (pretty simple, but give it a skim, new or vet alike) III. The Missions (main guide) Mission 01 Mission 02 Secret Mission 01 Mission 03 Mission 04 Secret Mission 02 Mission 05 Secret Mission 03 (can also be done during 16*Dante) Secret Mission 10 (*Nero Only) Mission 06 Secret Mission 04 Mission 07 Secret Mission 05 (*Nero Only) Mission 08 Mission 09 Mission 10 Secret Mission 06 (also can be done during 12*Dante) Secret Mission 07 (also can be done during 12*Dante) Mission 11 Mission 12 Mission 13 Secret Mission 08 (*Dante only) Mission 14 Mission 15 Secret Mission 09 Mission 16 Secret Mission 11 Mission 17 Secret Mission 12 Mission 18 Mission 19 Mission 20 Hell or Hell mode tips and tricks Blue Orb fragments (many are found within secret missions, but some are not, read on...) Ranks (what you need and on what difficulty) The Bloody Palace (a section dedicated to the enemies, strategies, and all around insanity of the Palace) IV. Files (enemies, skills, items, etc.) V. Storyline and Character layout (a few things you may have missed, some theory, and alot of fun!) VI. FAQ section (Frequently asked questions, please take a look at this if you're new or want tips) VII. Achievements (the list, since many are secret at first, and maybe a few tips from yours truly) VIII. Thanks and Ending Notes (I'd like to thank the Acadamy.) ================================= I. Control Layout for the Xbox 360 "With a spirit unlike any other, and wielding the sword that bore his own name, Sparda eradicated the demons..." Narrator, DMC 2 ================================= Nero: Y button - Close range attack X button - Long range attack B button - Examine / Devil Bringer / Cancel A button - Jump / Examine / Confirm Right Bumper (RB) - Lock on target Left Bumper (LB) - Devil Trigger* (DT) Left Trigger (LT) - Exceed Left Stick - Move / Change lock on target by pressing in Right Stick - Move camera / Reset camera by pressing in Start button - Pause menu Back button - Taunt *later in game, not from the start ---------------------------------------- Dante: Y button - Close range attack X button - Lang range attack B button - Examine / Style action / Cancel A button - Jump / Examine / Confirm Left Bumper (LB) - Devil Trigger (DT) Left Trigger (LT) - Switch long range weapon Right Bumper (RB) - Lock on target Right Trigger (RT) - Switch close range weapon Left Stick - Move / Change lock on target by pressing in Right Stick - Move camera / Reset camera by pressing in D-pad - Change style Up - Trickster Right - Sword Master Down - Royal Guard Left - Gun Slinger Double tap any already entered style direction - Dark Slayer** Start button - Pause Menu Backt button - Taunt **Dante will not gain this style until later, not his from the start ---------------------------------------- Pause Menu: A button - Confirm B button - Cancel Right Bumper (RB) >>>>>both cycle pages Left Bumper (LB) Left Stick >>>>>both move selection cursor D-pad ---------------------------------------- There is a very good in game tutorial as well as several good details to learn about in the File menu, found on the mission select / difficulty screen. I will cover those aspects more in detail in their respective sections of my guide. =================== II. Basic Tips and Survival Techniques "It looks like we have a winner." Trish, DMC "Jackpot!" Dante, DMC =================== IMPORTANT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Note: PLEASE GO LOOK AT THE END SECTION OF MY WALKTHROUGH FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ON BLUE ORB LOCATIONS AND SECRET MISSIONS AND THEIR SOLUTIONS. This game allows you to replay missions so don't fret if you miss something on the first play of a mission. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First of all, let me say, go down and see my FAQs section for more tips. Things are a little more in depth there. ---------------------------------------- The guns are more useful than you'd think. Especially with level 2 charges. Learn to incorporate gunplay into your combos, not only to keep the style string high from afar, but also to vary your moves so that you can taunt sooner and more often. Charging the guns takes time. Rearrange your controls if you have to, but try to learn when facing certain demons, to hold the charge down while dodging and even comboing! It can be done and will really make you stronger for it. --------------------------------------- Go see my enemies section of this guide for some tips and tricks on taking down lesser demons and bosses! ---------------------------------------- Learn to Instant Rev with Exceed. I will try to get more in depth on this one later in the guide, but for now, know that if you press LT down during the right window (varying for each and every attack animation) as you fight, you can keep your gauge charged. So if you go into battle fully charged up, and continue to IR correctly, you can technically have a fully powered up Red Queen for every hit! This also dramatically increases style if used properly. Don't feel bad if it doesn't come easily, this takes a ton of practice. Speaking of Exceed, the Red Queen features many good hits and combos. In EX, there are twice as many varied moves to use, and they can be charged further by holding Y during the move! ---------------------------------------- Dante is a bit slower than Nero and seems to have less varied moves upon first getting him. Keep in mind that later, he will be able to switch between three Devil Arms and three guns at a time, during combos! He techinically has three times the ability this way. Add in the fact that Dante can switch styles during gameplay, and you have even MORE moves open to you! Switching styles with the dpad will come naturally as you play. Learn to do this constantly, specifically between Trickster and Swordmaster. As you master the Pandora gun, incorporate Gunslinger. Royal Block is very hard to use, especially for beginners, so I recommend using it and ONLY it if that's your thing. Switching in time to block can be very difficult. It can, however, be done. (Dante only) Dark Slayer Style DOES carry over after you unlock it. Enjoy! Forward Y and Back Y work wonders on bosses, and YYY in the air and on the ground adds variety and sheer power to your combos! (Dante only) ---------------------------------------- Learn Buster moves and learn them well. Every lesser demon and boss demon has unique windows for a massive Buster attack, and Busters get even stronger (and sometimes completely different) when you're in Devil Trigger mode! Also, many bosses have 2 or even 3 different Buster-able weaknesses, for even more damage and style! (This applies to Nero) On many levels, time and style matter the most, especially when added to No Item, No Damage bonuses. You should still aim for at least a B in orbs, which comes well if you Style enough during combat as it is. ----------------------------------------- When any character purchases items, the price for that item goes up. For big name items like Blue and Purple Orbs or Holy Water, the price goes WAY up. Plan ahead on what you have to buy and what you don't need. The same as above applies for skills and proud souls. When you purchase a move, skill, or whatnot, the number of Proud Souls to purchase remaining skills goes up a bit. Plan your character well, and keep in mind you can, at any time, pull out all the points spent at once and respend them. This is a great feature for beginners and veterans alike, as you can rebuild your character and take back mistakes specific to every mission if need be! ---------------------------------------- Whenever either character sucessfully taunts, or dodges a near hitting attack, your DT gauge will increase. ---------------------------------------- When in DT mode as Nero, hold down the shot button whenever you possibly can to fire out tons of swords (just like Vergils!). ---------------------------------------- When either character calls DT form, if you're standing still or jumping straight up (no directions), lightning is called down on them and hurts the enemies around you to a very small degree. ---------------------------------------- The hard and fast rule for Nero is, if you run up on tough foes, use that buster and grab move! Don't forget. The hard and fast rule for Dante is, if you really run into trouble, vary your style and weapons. Consult your skill screen (or my in guide section) regularly. You may forget about alot of moves or skills you had, and some of them can really spice up gameplay or even just plain help you survive. The double jump (air hike) is a must have for BOTH characters. Not only does it help you find tons of items throughout gameplay, it is great in combat. Remember, in combat, just because you can jump really high with it doesn't mean you should, or have to. Light taps of double jumps can lead to prolonging combos or even your survival! ---------------------------------------- Combos work best when varied. For Nero, YYYY, back Y, YYY in air, Taunt while foe is on ground, jump up, grab, buster, shoot them, taunt again if applicable, YYY,Y, or in air YY, Y. Watch that style soar! Keep in mind this is just a very basic example, but you still have to purchase many of these moves. For Dante, Rebellion YYYY, back Y, Y, forward Y, Trickster Dash to downed foe, Taunt, Swordmaster and B, then hold B as they come down, jump up while Gunslinger, B twice, land with Trickster, run up enemy, Swordmaster and Gilgamesh press B, forward Y, taunt. Again, a fairly simple move in practice. This is just to give you a basic idea of what you can do. These combos both sound like alot, but in game you will get a natural feel for what your characters can each do, and you will flow from form to form and move to move. Don't focus too much on reading this kind of stuff until you experience it for yourself, and it will come very easily to you in time. ----------------------------------------- Play on Human mode first if you plan on hitting harder modes and/or Bloody Palace. Get all your health, most of your moves, all your devil trigger gauge, and learn your characters and how to both dodge and stylishly attack and taunt. This mode is VERY easy and forgiving if you mess up anything. Keep in mind on higher modes you will meet different enemy groups and even find harder foes earlier on. Also, you won't even see certain bad guys abilities (bosses especially) until you move up to harder modes. But, since all your skills and items (not key items) carry over to the next difficulty, raising up a character in Human is a good idea. Especially if you're new to the series. Also keep in mind foes die very quickly in this mode, so while you can learn alot of stylish skills, know that it gets better. And if you're all about the achievements, this game will basically hand them to you if you spam the lower two difficulties, at least for most of the achievements. Just takes time. ----------------------------------------- On Dante Must Die difficulty, you can feel free to use up any items you have accumulated. However, if you don't, there's a good bonus at the end of a mission. ----------------------------------------- MORE TIPS COMING ==================================== III. Walkthrough "You wanna play huh? Alright, I've got some time to kill..." Dante, DMC 4 "Tough guy, huh? Well...I'll just have to take you down a couple notches!" Nero, DMC4 "Whatever you say kid." Dante, DMC 4 ==================================== Welcome to the main guide. I will be playing at first on Devil Hunter difficulty. Keep in mind, at the bottom of this guide you will find, in this same chapter after the final mission, where to find EVERY blue orb fragment and how to find and beat EVERY secret mission. I know that scrolling through the entire thing can be a pain, so remember to use the Ctrl F function on your keyboard and then type in the Mission number or secret mission number, and it'll take you right to it. I will cover what it's like to play the main game for the first time, and what it's like on subsequent playthroughs with more skills and weapons open. Even though this is the main walkthrough, I cannot stress enough for you to go through and look at the other sections of this guide for tips and tricks. With all that said, let's begin! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IMPORTANT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Note: PLEASE GO LOOK AT THE END SECTION OF MY WALKTHROUGH FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ON BLUE ORB LOCATIONS AND SECRET MISSIONS AND THEIR SOLUTIONS. This game allows you to replay missions so don't fret if you miss something on the first play of a mission. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am playing on the default normal mode, Devil Hunter. I may come back to add some notes for other difficulties, though much remains largely the same until DMD mode and Hell and Hell mode. Also, if you want to know about story, please go past the walkthrough chapter and find the appropriate story area I have typed out. ----------------------------------------- Mission 01: Birds of a Feather This mission isn't rough at all. If you're new or have tutorials set to ON, the game will have Dante spar with you a bit and you will learn the basics of attacking and dodging. BOSS: Dante The actual battle and ranking time starts up when Dante's life bar appears. If this is your first time playing, you won't have much in the way of in game skills or attacks. Just do what you can. Keep moving, and when you see him do things from the tutorial, dodge accordingly with rolls, though I think jumps are best for everything but his helm splitter, which is an overhead air sword attack. When he taunts, gets into a corner, or if you get a rare window of opprotunity to hit his back after his misses with a stinger (dash sword attack), unleash a three or four hit combo and hop away. Taunt here and there, in close, and destroy all the benches for orbs. If you get a lucky shot at using the Buster on him in close, you can see a cool sword fight sequence and you'll push him away and he loses lots of health. If you get him in the air he'll lose a fair amount as well. Slam dunk! Try to finish this within 2 minutes if possible, and you will likely get an S rank if you got the orbs and C style. If this is your second time through, you can finish this quickly by using devil trigger mode, snatching with the arm, and using DT Buster moves to slam Dante over and over into the ground. He likes to shoot in two random patterns rapidly, block you bullets (cool huh?) with bullets of his own, rush in for a stab, do a three or four hit combo, air attack to slam into the ground, taunt, and dodge alot. None of these attacks should kill you, but if you are in the fight with him for longer than 3 minutes and you consistently get hit it will add up. Ng Jeremy (manwithmustache(at)hotmail(dot)com) wrote to let me know that on ocassion, you can and will lose if you clash with Dante during a Buster attack! He always follows this loss up with a ground combo that you can avoid by jumping! Thanks Jeremy! ----------------------------------------- Mission 02: La Porte De L'Enfer (note: this actually means The Gates of Hell) Repeat the first mission as much as you like, until you're bored of skipping cutscenes with start and briefly loading again and again. You will build up some nice orbs and proud souls along the way. Purchase whatever you can, I highly recommend saving Red Orbs up for Blue Orbs and later on after Mission 6 the Purple Orbs. As for Proud Souls, go for Red Queen stuff. Pretty simple stuff here. Fight off your foes to open the way, smash the trash cans and benches for orbs. Try to combo worth at least a C through here. Get the gold orb shown in the cinema by wall jumping, smash the barrels, go upstairs and smash the crates for even more orbs. In this small room, try not to take any hits if you can help it. Nero is built for speed, just roll and lightly hop about, trying to combo your style up to a C. When you get the final of the three scarecrows on the ground, taunt him for as long as you can. Vary the combos and Buster/Air Busters and your score should improve. Smash up everything in this space and continue forward. Along the linear path you will eventually get "stuck", you need to go down into a tiny lobby and examine a blue sphere to gain the Evil Legacy. Now you can grapple around in style, and even use this to snatch enemies over to you! This grab is great. You can (after this mission) now upgrade the grab's length in the store as well. Continue through, destroying furniture and using Snatch to get far off orbs. At a fountain you'll find a piece of paper with red writing on it. This is a secret mission, number 1. See my special section devoted to this stuff and more below the main walkthrough guide. Go along the path using the Grim Grips and you'll fight a pair of demons. Combo and continue on to fight five or six more weak scarecrows. Try for an A combo style rank here if possible. Using Buster from the air can make everyone fall briefly if you line it up right, and you can taunt them all. Using Snatch also leaves most demons on the ground for a few seconds. Pass through, drop down, clear the alley of the three demons and the smashable objects. Then attack the red orb statue up in that corner. If you're on another play and have DT, use it to gain around 4000 orbs! If not, just use plain Y Y Y Y combos on it until it breaks. Go straight ahead from the mouth of this alley to see a wooden watch tower. You can double jump (using the wall jump you come with) to get into it. There's a ton of red orbs from thin air! If you have air hike (double jump in air), get to the very top of the hut by hopping out and holding down jump hard to rearrange in a U shaped jump. More orbs! Also, just past the red orb statue in the alley back a bit, if you follow the tiny red orbs you'll find a blue orb fragment. Continue along the path, in the next area hang left and jump up high off the wall for a big red orb. Stay away from the large area on the right for now and follow the skinny docks to a grim grip. Shoot over and go into the building on this side of the docks. Meet the new, faster scarecrows! Combo them all with style and try not to get hit by them. Isolate one in the corner at a time if possible. Taunt often, but only between every five or six attacks Taunting too much in a row is useless. Go for an A rank here. You may need to buy some new combos by now to vary your moves and keep them from hitting you. YY, YYYY is good for that. Now, hit that blue switch on the wall until all the flames go around and then enter it. You will get a scene for this that opens your path. Get up to that door that was previously blocked and go to the switchbox. Activate and watch the scene, then leave this building Fight a few more demons outside and go back across the grim grip. Go for an A rank again against these three. Now go to the large dock area. Time for a real fight. You'll face off against eight or so scarecrows of varying types, mostly the agile leg blade type. Just use your best judgement about when to combo, taunt, buster, or snatch. The gun is great for extending combo time briefly, and if you have a charged shot you can put down one or two in one good blast. Once on their backs, taunt away! Just watch your back, that's a big thing in this game. The enemies are all quick for the most part, and they love to hit you from off screen sometimes. If this is your second time through, go for an S rank. If not, try to hold a solid A rank. Don't worry if you take a hit and lose the score, it happens. Just practice on this level a few times and try not to take hits for a bonus at the end. Their hits won't hurt too much anyway, but more than four can really add up on a new character with no extra health bars. Continue across the bridge you lowered, destroying the dumpsters for orbs. In the next room drop down into the waterway for several orbs, then use the Grips to get up top for a green orb and a combat adjudicator statue. I cover this in my blue orb section below. Buy health at the statue if you're doing poorly, but I recommend you save your red orbs for permenant health extensions. Head into the Ferrum Hills map. BOSS: Berial Another basic boss battle. This one is to acclimate you to the big, often slow bosses. Capitalize on their slow speed and any openings they leave you. Berial loves to swing that massive sword around and destroy the buildings. They have small health orbs (green) in them. Shoot him constantly during this fight to chip away at him and keep yourself floating if need be. If you have double jump it can be a help, but it isn't needed. Use the snatch to grapple up to his head level and use air combos on his face, or better, the back of his head and upper back region. Come down and strike his back legs if you get a chance, and repeat, trying to time your grabs to get airborne for when he just swings at you. He also likes to swirl through the air very briefly (he's so big he can't stay up long!) and swing his blade eratically. Just keep up the hits and around a quarter off he'll be stunned and his fire goes low. Grapple up to face level and use a normal buster attack (just B, not lock on B) and you'll do a special slam hit. Brutal! If you get him weak you can also grab his tail and slam him into the buildings around you for big damage. If this is your second time through and you have DT available, be SURE to go into DT mode when using the Buster for even more damage and a more brutal attack. When his head is down on the ground after your slam, rush in with Forward Y (streak) and use Buster again for yet another big attack! When he stands, be careful. He'll taunt you and fire out a massive burst of flames to renew his power. If you get caught in this it counts as a hit and ruins the no damage bonus, plus stuns you AND hurts your style by two or so ranks. He can also send up massive pillars of fire. It's nice to have double jump to avoid this, but you can just roll to the sides and rush him to try to get away. Keep in mind while he keeps you busy with this, he will do a bull rush of his on right into you, and this can deplete a couple bars of health! Plus a flame pillar will likely hit you during this time, meaning you lose nearly four bars on DH mode alone! If you can finish him without taking a hit you will easily score S or SS without even using incredibly varied combos, so long as you Bustered properly. Even with one or two hits, you can finish with a C rank if you kill him WITH a buster attack. He's pretty durable but he goes down hard. Just try not to deplete him to a quarter of his energy until you can stun him again, then use Buster. When he drops to around a quarter of his remaining health, he will constantly use fast, powerful strikes and it's a pain to try and keep a good style rank during that barrage of random attacks. Good job, your first actual boss battle is complete! Head into the wood building that opened and follow the path on your minimap to end the mission. I had a time of 12 minutes, a style of above 6000 points total, and 95 percent orbs found, which is an S rank! Make this your goal if you're on DH difficulty. I also had the No Item bonus. ----------------------------------------- Mission 03: The White Wing Power up if you can. Try to buy a little health in terms of Blue Orbs to extend your overall bar. Get some more Red Queen combos and consider upgrading your Devil Bringer's snatch to 2. Makes things easier in combat and in the platforming sections of grapple, coming up soon. It's good to have Air Hike by now also, if you can. In fact, priority should go to it first. As you enter this mine shaft, on the left is a dead end with tons of extra orbs if you hit the statue enough. If you are replaying and have DT, go into it for several thousand red orbs. By the way, the orb statue is behind a flimsy fence you can knock down. Now, kill the three scarecrows with a B rank if you can, A is preferred. Then use the series of Grim Grips to reach the top platform. Please see my Blue Orb section at the end of this Walkthrough chapter for how to get TWO fragments right in this room. You will need the approriate skills for Nero. Head into the next, larger room, and face off against five scarecrow demons. Remember to try and stay moving, so you don't get hit from off camera. They like to lunge at you and can do it from pretty far off. Go for that A combo rank! Hope up into the little opening and look to the immediate left tunnel for a Vital Star S. Proceed forward into the next area by knocking down the fence. Snow eh?! Look on the map for an open spot nearest you, jump up to nab a red orb. Continue along the long path (I like to have Run by now to make the game go a bit quicker), and go to the bridge for a cinema. Frosts. They are faster than you've seen yet and pretty strong, plus a bit durable. Good all around soldier demons. They have long range attacks for ground and air, so watch your back. They like to jump high and slam down with a wide area of effect ice hit, and many of their ice attacks "stick" to the area for a bit and will also harm you. Keep moving, try to concentrate on one at a time, and to finish them off with style try using Buster on the ground and near walls or objects to slam them around a bunch. You can even throw them at each other! Go for an A here if you can. Climb on top of the two back most large pillars here for hidden red orbs. The tiny pillars you destroy have green health orbs in them sometimes. Head forward to the castle and meet Gloria. Good stuff. Head inside after the scene. In the Grand Hall, take out all the chairs and benches for tons of orbs. You can't do much else here so pick a door (I choose the door on the West side of the minimap). Note the giant Gyro Blade statue at the front of this room. Anyway, there is also a gold lion time statue, but I doubt you'll want to buy anything since you probably just did at mission start. In this hallway, kill off the enemies and smash the mirrors hanging on the walls. One at the very end can't be broken yet. Two can, one has red orbs in it. The other has nothing. Smash all the furniture (candles) you can and try for a B or even A rank while you're at it. Now go into that mini-hall and enter the torture chamber. Time for some fighting. I like how everyone is bunched up here. Try for group hitting combos and clumped together Buster hits from the air. Don't forget to taunt. You can score an A here if you don't take a hit. If you have five combos open and don't get hit, you can manage an S rank with the right taunts. Get up the stairs when the path opens and get ready for some trap action. Up top you will have to use the grim grip of varying patterns to get across. Be SURE you tap the Grip button and not press slowly, or you slam into the spiked ceiling. This damage hurts, takes away your no damage bonus at the end of the mission (if you earned it otherwise), and puts you back downstairs, for ANOTHER identical scarecrow fight in the chamber. This goes on until you die, so watch it. On the third grip set, the far grip moves left to right slowly and back. Time it and tap B quick while locked on and you can make it. The next set with three grips slowly forms then they all dissapear. Be fast! The very next set has the nearest grip to you dissapear and is pretty simple. The final set consists of three grips, with the final one moving slowly back and forth to prevent your from landing at the end. Line it up and just go for it, the final grip hesitates some for you so don't worry! Follow the upper hall path (linear) and grab the orbs by using the Snatch on the top one after a double jump or wall jump. Outside, head up the side area and kill the Frosts. The Buster works really great here. Also, if they encase themselves in ice, BREAK IT fast for style points and to stop them from healing up. Go for an A rank or even S here and move on. Outside near the falls, go towards them and double jump in front of that purple statue object, use your Grab and nab the Vital Star S. Head around to the opposite of where you just came from and into that door, kill the demons on that side of the courtyard, doing what you did before. Back inside the hall but on the other side of the barrier, head around and hit the blue switch until the barrier opens for you. Before you go into that door though, go on past it and destroy the wall mirror here for a blue orb fragment. Again, if you want a comprehensive, detailed guide on this subject, see the end of the walkthrough section. Now go into the door there to reach a well lit room with paintings and lots of furniture to smash. If you don't take a hit in this small brawling area, and taunt a few times while group comboing and bustering the group together, you can get an SS rank here with enough varied combos. If you don't own that many, don't worry, you can come back later for practice. Go for an A rank instead. Clear the room of furniture for orbs (knight armor has health in it) and move on through the newly cleared path. Outside, go to the second pillar with a lion face on it and jump up one level, then jump up to the next one. You need air hike to double jump there. Hidden orbs! Now, enter the library and after the scene get ready to battle. These Bianco Angelos are the elite units of the Order, though these are not the men Nero knew! If you can Buster thier backs you will ram their own lances through their weakpoints and rev it, sending them flying. Speaking of flying, they love to fly about the room and come at you from all angles, and can also rush along the ground. Their shields block many attacks but you can force openings and hit the side and back free of pentalty. By forcing I mean Back and Y for high time, or Charge shot 1 or 2 to send them reeling. You can also break the shield and buster from any direction, but it takes time! Lastly, they like to knock you off guard using their shields and then combo you, so be careful. They are quite durable and strong enough to give you a problem in five or so hits. If you use a charge shot 1 on them in the air, they will go flying down to earth and be stunned for a moment! A pretty good rank is possible in this room if you don't take a hit, but it takes alot of practice. You can get an SS here, even if your combos aren't too varied. If they overtake you, you could use a holy water, but I don't recommend it. After you knock out the little bit of furniture down and upstairs, go into the new room here and get your Anima Mercury for the Gyro Blades of the castle and the end mission screen! I had a time of 16:42 (taunting takes time you know!), which was S rank on DH mode. My stylish was around 10000 I think, which is an S also. My orbs were at 86 percent, which gave me an A. No item bonus and no damage bonus with that, and I had an overall S rank! You don't need the no hit one. Aim for that if you're playing on DH mode or Human. I used to have a pretty high score on the leaderboards for that one, but people have gone way beyond me as of this writing and I've dropped down into the late hundreds. ----------------------------------------- Mission 04: Cold Blooded Do the usual power up thing here. Try to save red orbs to buy blue orbs, and to later on get purple orbs in a couple more missions. Red Queen combos are important but by now you probably have the basics to keep you busy for a while. Get the arm to level 2 if you haven't already, and get charge shot level 1. You should also have Air Hike, but it's no big deal if you don't yet. Time to use that Gyro Blade. A rule here is, if you hit it with the sword, it'll spin a bit after you activate it using buster. Up to three sword hits controls the speed of the Gyro. Hit it once then buster, line it up with the exit door gate, and buster it into that. Head out. Get into another fight in that well lit room, this time there are a couple scarecrows and two frosts. Style up to an A if you can, and an S is very possible as well. If you choose to activate the Gyro, be quick about it and remember that the more your sword strikes it the faster it goes when you Buster. You can kill everything in the room like this and gain an instant A rank if it works out. Retrace your steps back out to the grand hall (remember all my red orb locations from the previous mission) and activate the Gyro Blade. You want to eventually manuver it into the coffin, but you can also use it to take out all the chairs on both sides of the coffin for massive orbs. Now go into that winding hall we were in before to get a few things done. Enter through the eastern door of the grand hall ground floor this time and locate the brown double doors leading into the dining room. Kill the pair of Bianco Angelos and try to Buster slam them into the center dining table to get tons of orbs. By hitting the shields, knocking them down, and taunting a bit, you can get an S here, at least an A. Follow the path and use the Gyro Blade as a shield, hit it once or twice with your sword and use buster to fly into and through fire balls. Go all the way to the hall's end and you destroy the fire maker. There is also a secret mission to be found here. For more information on that and other blue orb fragments, please see my section below this walkthrough. Head on through the door. Go immediately to the right of the door and activate the Gyro Blade and send it flying after a good whack with the sword first. Do this three times and the room should be cleared of all demons and you'll have an easy A rank! Of course, if you combo and taunt well, you can manually score better. Clear the furniture for more orbs and use the blue switch to open the gate. Now, kill everything that moves with the Gyro and get to the faaaaaar end of the hallway here. Break open your other Gyro Blade. Send them both to the central area where the two Gyros are already on the purple, glowing floor pads, do this however you want. Once in place, the way to the courtyard opens. There is a boss behind this door, so if you want to use that gold statue now to power up or buy an item, do so, but this boss isn't so bad. BOSS: Bael The demon is hidden at first. Fight the blue ladies and enjoy the orbs, do alot of damage and it applies to the boss in a minute. Careful too, these ladies can put up a bit of a fight. Suddenly, the demon frog shows his true form. Now the real battle begins. Another slow, big demon, he will telegraph most of his moves like all the big guys do. He's a bit faster than Berial though, so watch out for him. Start by using the grab to fly at his head, and attack the upper region with air combos. Watch out for his spitting attacks, they will freeze you in place and he'll jump on you. He also likes to run from you alot, since he's not a straight forward killer, using his lures on prey and all. Try to corner him to score a couple air combos and he'll likely jump away to spit at you more. Keep pursuing him and dodging his attacks. If he leaps forward he can swallow you so try to keep above and to the back of him using the Buster snatch. You can charge shot 1 at him a bit, but mostly you want to strike the icicle head area with air combos. There isn't much time to taunt yet. If he dissapears on you after swelling up, streak at his feelers and avoid their strikes and ice attacks. Enjoy the red orb shower! Be ready for him to jump back into the battle, he can swallow or crush you like this easily and that damage adds up fast. You may notice his feelers turning red from the pain you inflict. If they go down to a sitting position, be sure to Buster them so that Nero can yank Bael foward hard. This is a smart way to stun him and gain lots of style points in the process. At this stage in the battle he will likely add a new move to his arsenal, if not sooner. He can fire icicle blasts from his head and they arc up and land on your head if you aren't moving. Try to Table Hopper dodge this attack and his lunging gulp attack for big style points. If you hit his front constantly you will stun him. Now you can Buster his fat tongue for alot of damage and style, or head around to his rear and buster his tail and throw him around the area like a ragdoll. If you have DT mode from another play through (if this is your first time you won't have it), activate that for even more violent Buster moves. At his tongue you will crawl into his mouth willingly (wow) and stab out of his head eventually. By now he's likely turned red and his speed has increased a bit. He'll send out his lures to do more of the fighting for him and he will like to try to swallow you alot. The lures can grab you and freeze you in place, which lets him swallow you up very easily. Just keep going, you're almost done, use the same tactics as before and he will die. When it's over note your new ability after you pass through the newest door available to you. At 14 minutes, style of 6000 or more, and 90 percent orbs found, you'll snag the S! ----------------------------------------- Mission 05: Trisagion (this name means Thrice Holy , an ancient latin anthem) Do the usual power up thing I've mentioned in past mission start points. You now probably have a good feel for Nero, so start branching out and doing what you like, but keep in mind in the next mission (well two technically) you'll gain more abilities to buy and another item that costs tons of red orbs. Don't forget, you can replay past missions for orbs and proud souls. The better you do in the mission, the better the payoff in proud souls at the end! Your main goal now is to get through this graveyard. You meet some new demons here called the Mephisto. Use your Snatch arm on them to lower the cloak, then combo the body. It is possible to destroy the body before it can heal, but they do like to heal quick sometimes, other times it takes a while. Keep moving. They dive bomb from any direction, shoot a laser finger at you, and use their tails to slash. Taunting them while down works well on style points. They recover with an upward claw attack, so watch that. Also, a direct Buster attack destroys the cape immediately. Keep in mind EVERYTHING can be destroyed here. The top of the fountain, the graves, the statues, the ice in the fountain itself. Get on top of the fountain by destroying the statue and look over at the awning near where you came from. It is possible to EX charge up full, charge up an EX Streak, shoot off the edge, use the Roulette move in the air, and finish with a double jump, landing on the awning topside. On one end is a large red orb, on the other is a more important Gold orb! The jump over to it is tricky and it's frustrating if you fall, take it easy. Your life bar will probably block your jump, so you kind of have to feel it out. After you conquer all that you will probably find a hard Secret Mission under and back of the steps. You can't physically do it yet unless you have Table Hopper 2 and lots of taunts ready, I'd come back when you gain the shield skill in Mission 9. See my blue orb fragment section at the bottom of this walkthrough for much, much more detail. Head up the steps and into Sanctus' bedroom. There is yet another secret mission here behind the mirror, again I direct you to the end of the walkthrough section. Time to fight some more knights. These Biancos are the same as before, so just use charge shot 1 when they fly, snatch to get behind them quick, high time and streak to knock them off balance, hit the shield and taunt some for rank up, and use Buster on their backs or unshielded bodies if you destroy the shield. Furniture here holds orbs. Make up for those weak Mephistos outside by getting an A or S rank against the trio of knights! Then use the door. Activate the blue wall switch and then smack the gyro blade to activate it, then hit it with the sword some, and sent it flying across. Don't worry, it won't fall off. Thank you for that Capcom! Nero leaps on down into the dungeon area. Note all the orbs you miss on the way down. Kill the pair of Mephistos, and watch out for them hiding within the walls and floor to spring on you. Go for a B combo here if possible. Now grab the cool looking Wing Talisman. If you have air hike this is a bit easier. Use the red pads to bounce up and grab the orbs. Note one orb is hidden UNDER a pad. Also, by landing on other small floors you can explore some jail cells for health orbs and eventually find a red orb statue. Same place, go to the head of the statue poking out with a white glowing ball in it's mouth, and touch the underside for a Holy Water! It's odd, your arm doesn't alert you to this. Now keep going up. Kill every scarecrow and go for the highest style you can muster! S is possible, I even got SS before here. I like to rush through the group to their backs and then start the killing. On DH they have just enough health to get some good style going. On Human they die pretty fast though. While you do this Mephistos appear in a pair. Try to kill off all the scarecrows in a "safe" corner and then go to work on the Mephistos. Do a direct Buster and they break right out of their capes! Go for the style! In the hall, try to lead individual Frosts into corners and combo them. A rank is not hard to get if you can corner them and end it fast. There are three to kill. Back in the Grand Hall, use the Pad here and get to the chandiler. Slash it and watch the scene. Go into the new hole you made. Go down the steps (get the Vital Star S with Snatch) and go all the way down this hall. At 10 minutes, style of 5200 or more, and 80 percent orbs found, you can get the S! ------------------------------------------------- Mission 06: Ressurection I hope you've saved up some red orbs! Do the usual power up thing I've mentioned in previous missions, but have some orbs ready for after this mission. I also recommend saving up lots of proud souls for after. Drop down the long shaft after you get the blue orb fragment (again remember my section at the end of the walkthrough for more info on blue orbs), and go into the door. (there are green orbs behind you near Dante's combat statue) Inside, after the cinematic, face the Cutlass! Luckily, you don't have to see these things much in the game. They are very annoying. Shooting them rapidly slows their progress a bit, giving you time to get near and slash them once to make them pop out of the ground. Combo them and hope they die. Be careful, they land where they jump from, so don't move from one right into the path of another. They like to jump down from the ceiling too. If you snatch at them you can get to their position faster, and can even combo them out of walls and the ceiling! Doing that nets you an A rank when all three die, if you can avoid hits. Follow the path into the next spot. The game room! Okay, the goal is to move your white figurine statue from it's start to nearest the exit door. Red spaces are fights with different demon types, white does nothing, blue fills the room with orbs and lastly, yellow teleports you to other positions on the map (right across from each other). Avoid yellows if you end up going backwards. Some don't land on blue much, but if you do over and over, you will also get treasure chests dropping, which contain orbs, but if you don't destroy they fast (gun works well), they dissapear with nothing. The sword is best, as the gun on some difficulties takes forever to blast open the chests. The trick here is to count the spaces you want to land on, and then find your chits (dots) on the dice. After you find your number, simply count up to six, and it will always be on the number you want. As six approaches in your mind, press the Buster button or use a simple strike, or even shoot, and the die spins. You can hit it after again and again, but it will make no difference at all, the face up side is the number you will ALWAYS get. The Lion statue store is now open to you, doubt you need it. Move on. BOSS: Agnus Very simple stuff here. The room floods with the Gladius. Concentrate on a couple small factors here. One, make sure you aren't in the direct line of a charging attack from a demon. While you do that, concentrate on using Snatch to make the demons fall solid. Then, run up and Buster that demon to fling him at Agnus' glass. That's all there is to it! Sometimes, Agnus will get involved and try to zap you. When this happens you can try to get on the little hub in the center, but I recommend just double jumping when you see it start to zap, and then fire the Blue Rose rapidly to stay in the air. If you are on a replay and already have DT, use it when you Buster the Gladius and you do more damage! After that kick ass cutscene, you now have DT power if this is your first run through! You will always have it now during mission replays and subsequent plays through different modes. Step into the containment chamber for a hidden red orb and smash the small bit of furniture for some more orbs. Head outside. There is a blue orb fragment you can snag here if Nero is equipped right. Check my section at the end of this guide for more details on fragments. Head upstairs and into the labs again, after you smash all the oil drums and use the blue switch on the edge there. Angel Creation eh? So this is where they come from. Agnus did admit it after all. If you need pointers on facing this trio of white knights, see previous missions above or the enemy section below in the right chapter. Note there is also a secret mission nearby, see that section below the full walkthrough as well. Now follow the path around the room, battling the Angelos as you come to them. At the end of this room you will take on two groups of three at one time, so you'll get a decent taste speedy combat with them. Go for the SS rank, if possible! There is also a hidden red orb near the raised, green -ish platform in the area. When you're done go back up to the Grand Hall area and make your way (use the large map on the pause screen) to the waterfall region. Just remember, as you come out of the portrait hole, take either door on your left or right to go through the central courtyard. Face the trio of Frosts and go for an S rank if you can, and continue past to the falls. Head alllllllll the way forward. If your end score is low, or you want an S, remember you can go into other parts of the castle to fight more demons before you take the Falls exit. All the orbs are in the same spots as well. 15 minutes, style of 8500 or more, 80 percent orbs found and a no item bonus nets the S rank! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mission 07: The She-Viper After that juicy cutscene, time to power up! Okay, you'll probably want to go check out the Yamato's upgrades, and note that you can now also extend your DT gauge by buying the purple orbs! That's why I wanted you to save some souls and orbs to spend. Upgrading the DT time is a MUST, and you could probably do with two purple orbs at this point, if not more. A few things on this map. To the left is a hollow log where you can grab tons of orbs by breaking these seed pods. They are how you find orbs in the forest. If you use Snatch at an open hole in the top of the log area, you can get a Vital Star M. You can also just hop and stick your head into the tiny hole. Under the stone awning structure is a hidden secret mission, but it's for Dante. Please see the section below the full walkthrough for orb fragments. Lastly, there is a red orb statue here to bash, be sure to ALWAYS use DT while you do it for the most orbs possible. Speed matters more than varied combos. Move on through the maps accordingly. Of note, on the ridge as you enter the next map, left side, is a holy water. Smash the seed pods for more orbs and get ready to meet the Chimera Seeds but don't worry they die pretty easy. A buster is a one shot kill. If they take over the demons you meet in this mission, however, the demon gets more durable and lethal. Head forward into the ruined church area and clear it out. Note that using gunshots a ton on the infected demons will temporarily put down the Chimera. You can bust up the glass in there to find orbs and a statue you can't use yet. When you're done here, head upstairs and hit the blue switch. Follow the path that forms quick and note the colors, when it turns lightish blue it will soon be red and gone. Get ready to be annoyed at first. Grip over a couple times and use the blue switch. You can techincally wait on this ledge for a loooooong time for the glass to reform and then double jump or streak out to it, but I recommend going for the style and stepping on the platform. Use Buster and slow down the Mephistos. The glass is pretty slow at first so no worries. When the white parts turn slowly deep blue, you need to move to the only white glass left, as they'll soon hit red and then dissapear. If you fall off, you end up in a special map where you kill off some various demons depending on which mission you're in. Then you can teleport up and try again. If you fall enough times the Mephistos eventually stop coming, I think. I recommend just Bustering and doing charge shot 2s at them. Near the end of the pattern, the glass gets a bit faster. Move on. The lapis river area has tons of seed pods to bust up for orbs. Don't forget under the bridge also. There is a Secret Mission to be found here as well, but check the section after the full walkthrough for that and more. In the next area, if you can lure the scarecrow demons into the circle and hunt down all the Chimera Seeds, this gets easy. If you let them get infected, not so easy. Just battle how you usually do (see my previous missions for notes, or my enemy section for more notes). Use the Gyro Blade in the next area to pass on, and then use it to kill all the enemies, unless you can beat the chimeras and get a better rank that way. Now use the Gyro again on the next barrier, and go into the new area. Time to meet the dragon. Race along the bridge and avoid the dragon, and don't stop for the orbs unless you're way ahead and have double jump. At the end, move on and there is a statue here to combo on for a fragment, see my section below the guide for more info. Skip the demons here and kill the chimeras first if you can, then mop up the rest. Use the statue here if you want, and head into the Den of the She-Viper. BOSS: Echidna A little faster than you're used to if this is your first time in. Dodge her tail and don't let the swirls fool you. Just keep moving to one side or the other, not towards or away. When she goes to eat you, use a charged shot on her "mouth". You can also Buster her here for some good hits, but it's hard to time it. When she stands odd and a small ball descends on her bottom side, use DT and Buster it for a funny sequence and lots of hits. Kill the Seeds she drops if you want to keep this battle between you two alone. Now she'll try to strike you with her "hair" so just know when her head bobs to jump as high as you can (air hike) or jump backwards. Keep slashing her up top, and shoot charged shot 1 or 2 at her, ocassionally doing the YY,Y air combo and in the air also use Back, Forward, Y for more style ups. When she eventually plants herself in the ground, rush up with DT on and combo as best you can. Avoid her tendrils that snake up from the ground, watch out for her hair whip attack again, and know that she can also repulse you away with an invisible barrier. Note that using the gun in DT sends out flying swords as well. When you stun her, you can DT and Buster her for yet another great scene and tons of damage! When she rises up and turns yellow in pain and fury, stun her from a few good, strong hits and then DT and Buster her again for a GREAT ride, lots of style and damage, and a fully revved up sword to boot! Now she's faster and will repeat her pattern but more erratically. The hits hurt a tiny bit more also, but the main thing here is her speed, as those hits add up! She can now also fly around fast and send out lots of seeds to hurt you and take away your style score. Deflect her once more with a Buster or charged shot. If you need health, note that her seeds scattered around the sides of this area give off some, plus lots of orbs. When you're done and she's gone, get rid of the branches blocking the path. S is tough to get at the end here. Try for 15 minutes, 6000 or so style points total, and 80 percent orbs found in the seeds around this level. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Mission 08: Profession of Faith You know the Power Up drill. Get to know your moves, and try for full health and DT gauges if possible. The upcoming boss fight is rough. There's HQ! Follow the path, getting orbs from seed pods, and the fragment (see my guide below the walkthrough), and race to kill the two Chimera Seeds, then clean up the Scarecrow demons. A rank is solid here. Move on and get orbs as you go towards the ruined church. The pause screen map helps some here. Near there, you will meet new elite demons, the Assualts! See my enemies section for details on beating them and keeping up style. Be quick and watch out for their long range attacks. The Back, Forward, and Y move works nicely. In the church, try to get the assualt seperated from his scarecrow buddies. Note they taunt sometimes, and that's a free hit for you. Take out everyone and two more assualts appear to battle. Speed is key. Clear out the pods here for red orbs and go under the stairway arch (trough the glass) and examine the tree to move on. In the Lost Woods here, red all around the column for clues, and keep in mind my fragment section is at the end of this main walkthrough to find that. Now, it's pretty simple here, keep your shadow directly at your back, where it belongs. If you near a wrong exit, it will be to your side or right under your body. You want it at your back, stretched out. If you pick wrong any time, you go into a fight screen, kind of like if you fell off the platforms last mission. Keep going through the correct doors, and you're done in like three or four screens. In the next area, don't jump off the left side or you will be really far off mark. Keep going straight, getting orbs from seed pods, and killing enemies. The demons here (assualts and scarecrow combos) can be a bit much, so to avoid hits and to keep up style, use DT. Press on and use the gold statue to purchase one Vital Star M, so that now you should have a total of two. It's just insurance. One gold orb might be good too, if you have zero. Onwards. BOSS: Angelo Credo He's fast and strong and probably the first real boss challenge of the game on lower modes. His shield blocks everything and can't be broken or taken away. You may want a couple of Vital Star Ms, a Gold Orb, and a Holy Water, just in case. Keep in mind that any time you hit him with the sword or Buster in DT mode during this fight, you can unbalance him a bit. When he throws a blade at you, you can Buster it back at him. It's hard to do though, I recommend dodging. If you do it, he's stunned for a second. While he struts around, shoot him. In DT mode, you will fire swords too. Treating him like a knight only gets you so far, because he teleports when his back is open to you. Careful of that. After time, he won't teleport as much when you're at his back though. If you bang on his shield a few times, then dodge up or back, he'll do a big sword swing whirlwind and then be open to some hits from the front and back. He also does a three hit combo that hurts bad, a four hit one, and a strong aerial attack that slams onto your head. When he yells "behold the power of an angel!", be ready for either a combo or if he's far off, a double sword throw you can try to buster at him, but I'd just dodge. After enough hard hits, the shield turns red and will "break" for a moment, giving you time to combo or Buster his body. Ideally, in DT mode. After this, he will start to combo and teleport and throw his weapon at you even faster than before. His health is hopefully at or below half now. Even lower in health, when you Buster him while he is stunned, you will beat him down massively and come close to ending the battle. Keep up the pressure, steaking in close and hopping around quick. Table Hopper 2 or 3 is good here, but hard to master. When it's all over, you will now be able to Grab enemies and use them as shields! Collect orbs and continue into HQ. 14 minutes, stylish points of 6000 or more, and 85 percent orbs found, plus no item, gets you the S rank! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mission 09: For You Power up and get ready to head on. Smash the furniture and head forward for a cool cutscene. Alto Angelos can be very tough, and make all the other knights around stronger, faster, and a cohesive fighting unit. See my enemy section for in depth tips. Also know that if you can charge shot the black ball Alto summons, you get an instant SSS rank. Every Alto can do this attack one time. The resulting explosion hurts and kills the other knights as well. Mop up the remains. The big tip for DH difficulty and below, is to just keep moving, use alot of charge shots and quick combos, and watch your back. Inside, smash up the furniture and see my Blue orb guide below this walkthrough for tips on the orb statue combos. Keep going forward and examine the red post for a scene, then head inside. Stick close to the wall and jump across, dodging the one laser beam. Go upstairs and you get sealed into the room with Angelos. Clear the room of the four demons and grab the Cronus Key. Smash the furniture for health and red orbs. Use the device in the center of the room and go upstairs. Inside, stand in the middle of the indentation and get red orbs, then use the blue switch on the wall. Welcome to the gauntlet. In this cage, you will face many types of demons. Nero is built to move, and for speed, so this is dangerous. Luckily, this time it's some scarecrows. Please see the blue orb guide below this walkthrough section for my take on a few hidden things here. Use the device to pass the lasers (dropping can get you red orbs), and head into the next cage elevator. Frosts now. Use quick hits and small hops, while dodging. Devil Trigger can end things quick here. After this trio, use the device and pass more lasers. In the next cage, there are three assualts to deal with. These lizards are FAST. Keep moving and using quick hits or small combos, a little dodging, some Buster, along with a nice end helping of DT. You'll end up facing six or seven of these guys, so feel free to build DT and if you have purchased the Back, Y and B move, use it on a pair for a quick SS rank. Use the gold statue here if you need to, and move on. BOSS: Angelo Agnus Odd how none of the furniture at the front gives you any orbs. Maybe he sucked it up? He's quick but honestly not as big a threat as Credo was. Avoid his lunging strikes and use the Buster to pull over to him quick and strike. He can use a portal to summon some more Gladius demons. Let them come, dodge or Buster snatch, and throw them at him or each other for orbs. The cages along the sides of this area hold health orbs. When he jumps back and charges up, get ready to dodge or charge shot him. I'm not sure if a Buster works here, but it probably does break his rush. If his dash attack connects to you, he will drain out alot of your health and make it his. If you DT during his grab, you break free. The key here is keeping up the pressure, really staying on him and laying in the hard hits and combos. Again, snatch keeps you on him most of the time. When he isn't glowing slightly, you can Buster him for a small attack but he sends you back off from him and can hurt you too. If he drains you consistently, this fight gets alot more dangerous, so keep up the dodge! Keep in mind returning a Gladius with Buster to him gets you some white orbs for your DT gauge. He can open his hell portal and shoot fire balls at you in groups of six or eight. Dodging here keeps you moving to him for some more damage. Keep up the hits and he will be stunned. When he screams out and reels, go into DT mode and use Buster to massively damage him and gain three or four style ranks! He will then blow you away. If you have a DT gauge of six or more, stay in this mode to regain some health, keep speed up, and shoot out swords at him with the gun. After he blows you back a bit, he may try floating up and getting an attack ready. Shoot him to make him stop. He'll summon fire again, and some more Gladiuses than before. Just up your speed and keep going after him, throwing Gladiuses at him when needed. Soon he will probably summon groups of simultaneous fireballs for you to dodge roll past, and then some Cutlass demons. Not only should you kill them as fast as you can, by any means you have available (even DT to hit him with harder), and throw them near him for hits, he will also grab two for himself to use in combat! He spins about with them and even throws them into you at high speeds. You can Buster them back, but it's really, really hard to time it right. I like to try and roll to the side of his spin attack, as double jumping sometimes just gets you hit faster. Rush him when you get an opening and go into DT, combo some, and when he's stunned, Buster, and the fight should end or be right near it. After this powerful scene, you'll see your score. 12 minutes or less, a style point total of 12,900, and 90% orbs found gets you an S all the way here. The trick for getting S for sure is to get the SSS marks here two times, and then to go for SS on the lizards and forsts in the elevators. After that, a solid A against the boss (when you Buster him in DT mode), and your style will more than make the grade. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Mission 10: Wrapped In Glory Do the power up thing and try to have your health and DT as full as you can. You can't max out your health yet if this is your first time through the game, but you can buy all the blue orbs. You should try to redo some missions to purchase all the purple orbs. A couple Vital Star S items may not hurt. Your goal is to retrace your steps, from Agnus' room, to the gauntlet, back into the main hall of the HQ, and to the bridge you saw lowered in the cinematic. On the way, you will face the Faust demon, and his Mephisto comrads. See the enemy section a couple chapters below this Walkthrough for details. Since it's such a tiny space, just keep moving like you did fighting frosts and the like, and get to know his patterns. If you get hurt badly, use a Vital S. The key here is a level 2 Arm or higher, for longer grabs, keeping you away from their attacks more. Don't forget to consult my Blue Orb section below the main walkthrough. If you get stung by the laser security too many times, once again, a Vital S is helpful to have, though items do ruin your score at the end of the level. Go for the SSS shot I described in the previous mission against the Alto and his friends, which leaves one stunned and shieldless knight to kill quick. If you can't do it, don't worry, consult my enemy section below this walkthrough on killing off the knights. Once downstairs, cross the bridge and head into the Security Corridor. Smash the benches here, and activate the time device. The pattern here isn't so bad. The trick is to have both Air Hike and know how to make quick, tiny hops by tapping the A button. Learn the pattern by watching frrom the sidelines, then leap in and just go for it! Slow lasts quite a while. There is a secret mission near the exit. Consult the Blue Orb section of my guide below the walkthrough for tips. Smash up any furniture and head into the next room. Avoid touching the giant blades while you hop about and dodge, Bustering and Snatching the demons. Now that you have more room, the Faust is a bit less dangerous. The crates in this room have red orbs. When you are open to do so, use the device to slow the fan. Careful, the giant blades do eventually speed back up and will hurt you bad. Hop up all the way and go into the opposite door from the one you entered the room from. Here in experiment disposal, face off against some durable Bianoco Angelos. Up to now you mostly got A ranks (except against Alto of course), so try for some S ranks if possible. Cross the cage, and leap up inside the stone rings for a fragment of health (see my guide at the end of the walkthrough for more info on blue orbs), and use the talisman to make the elevator here function. Be sure you slam all the statues on the way, get some health back if you need it, and hopefully you built up your DT by taunting and dodging the knights. Pass through the meeting room after you take down the very tough pair of Altos, (the key here being to destroy their shields after tons of damage, then Buster and combo like crazy on one at a time), and move down to the gold lion statue. You may want to purchase some health and devil stars at the time god, the next boss one room over is tough. Also, break all the candle sticks here for health and DT gauge orbs. There is a secret mission here, but I again should stress you to go check out my Blue Orb guide below this walkthrough for more details on it. BOSS: Dante Uh oh. Now that you have Yamato and a shiny, powerful DT gauge, Dante doesn't hold back as much. Though he is still obviously just testing you, he will now switch between his four styles and act accordingly. Trickster lets him dodge quickly, Swordmaster gives him some powerful attacks, Gunslinger makes him versatile at a distance, and Royal Guard will just allow him to block you. He has many of the moves from the first fight with him in mission 1, only now they hurt more and are faster. He starts slow though. When he swings a large attack from the air or the ground, the back, forward Y attack gets you in good, and you may even get off a small combo. Charge shot 2 can hit him here, but it's best to rely on your blade and Buster in DT mode. It's best to let him go at you first, because he can counter almost every move you have initially. As soon as your combos knock him into a corner space, go into Devil Trigger (which stuns him for a second) and use Buster to slam him over and over into the ground. This is your best move to use, so try and use it whenever possible. If you run low on health and/or magic, smash the candles, boxes, and jars around the two fireplaces for orbs. Continue to let him strike at you, dodge, and return combos until you get a window to Buster him in DT mode. Combos in DT work well, and he seems to be unable to dodge the swords from firing your gun as well, though this is a waste of your precious time compared to other attacks. If he catches you with his Dance Macbre combo, or any other massive multi-hitter, go immediately into DT mode to cancel him and do a quick Buster. If he gets stuck in Royal Guard style, refrain from shots or hits, he'll release your own power on you and it can be painful. Instead, Buster him. In Gunslinger, he'll bust out his shotgun, so watch for that and just try to stay above him during these moments. Come down hard with the Forward Y air attack. He'll "lose" to you eventually, just keep up your combo patterns and do your best to DT Buster him. At 15 minutes, 12,000 style points, and 70 or so percent orbs found, you'll gain an S every time on DH mode or below. ------------------------------------------------------------- Mission 11: The Ninth Circle Do the power up thing I've desrcribed in previous missions, and try to get comfortable with your character. You're going up, up, up in this mission. Okay, first see my Blue Orb section at bottom of the Walkthrough for info on that. Use the blue switch and then Grip up top quickly, by tapping B. Kill the floaters off (see my enemy section if need be below here), and grab the health orb when you're done if you need it. Activate the elevator at it's red device and head up. Portals appear so that if you ever fall off you can go one floor up without problems. Grab the scarecrow using snatch and then combo the duo of lesser demons to death. Head on up and stand in the elevator shaft for red orbs. Use the grips here carefully, tapping B when needed for quick grabs. Do a wall or double jump at the end to get on top of the next wall and over. To get the red orbs, by the way, just go in reverse order from up high. If you fall, there is a single, large red orb. The next grips are just like the last gap, only now if you fall you get to face some knights, and there are three of them, and the last two are moving up and down. Using double jump (air hike) after the final grip makes things easier. I do recommend falling, because of the fight for orbs and Style, plus you can get a Devil Star S down there! Anyway, once you actually cross the gap, try your best to land on the edge of the wall here and walk to it's end for several hidden red orbs. Drop and keep going. Take down the single Alto Angelus here in the usual manner and try to finish it off with a DTed Buster for some style points. Before using the blue switch, rush to the right for green health, and then further right still and double jump up the wall for a red orb. Now go back and use the switch, then grip up top for a big knight fight. Activate the switch and kill the three white knights and their gold leader. SSS rank is possible here through regular combo means. Don't forget to Buster and DT when you are able. Now go back down a couple floors and hop onto the elevator to go all the way up top and meet up with Sanctus. Of course, on the way you get held up by some...scarecrows?! Hmm. Take down two and an Alto Angelo pair appear. It's funny to let them kill the scarecrow, but I want style and orbs so I do it myself real quick. Take the knights and get ready for three more scarecrows, and then two bianco angelos! Wow. If you don't get hit, you'll have a great style rank! I hope you have decent health and DT gauge, because it's time to go up. BOSS Sanctus Oooh, I bet you were aching for this one. He has a pretty simple pattern throughout this battle. Just keep your eyes open and Snatch whenever possible to get close to him while he floats. Watch out for the various projectile attacks of his two orbs. Know that when you snatch them they dissapear, which is good to stop them from hitting you, but bad for when you want to Snatch close up. Level 3 Bringer is a must for comfort here. Sanctus can also summon down some narrow lighting for now, so watch that if you're on the ground or near his open areas without hitting him. Snatch up high and hit him three or four times, go for a total of six to break the shield up. Snatch to get in closer and hit him again to put him on the ground. Feel free to combo, but don't waste much time. Go into DT mode and then buster him, for a very satisfying damage dealer and to hear some of the best and funniest lines of Nero's in the game! After he will regain his shielding, so stay back for a moment so you don't take a hit. Snatch even faster and watch out for his lightning and ground travelling fireballs. Break him open again and once more DT and buster to do alot of damage. When he gets up and says "I sentence you to death!", hop back quite a bit, the lightning here is not narrow like the other attack. Stay on him with snatch and keep on breaking him open and using DT and Buster. He can now also use aerial fireballs. If you can't stay on him by quicking using Snatch to grapple over, he will renew his shield constantly and pummel you with fire from afar. Keep up with him and keep up the DT Bustering. "Pray for your Savior, cuz you're gonna need it!" When he's down to a quarter of his life bar, things get dicey. The Savior demon statue will try to smash you from time to time. A side roll is best, but double jumping can work as well. Sanctus comes back, and you should treat him just like before. His attacks seem faster and he's hard to catch now. He can also use another type of narrow lightning attack. He periodically goes into the Savior statue, so either wait it out and dodge, or try to attack the hand a little. The fist can be bustered, but it's hard to time it right as the fist crashes down. When you finally take the old man out, you'll see that things are rougher than expected, and the mission is over. With a time of 15 minutes, style from all those knights plus every time you Bustered Sanctus, and 90 percent orbs found, you should grab the S! -------------------------------------------------------------- Mission 12: A New Beginning After some crazy scenes, it's time for Dante! Power him up any way you like, but I recommend Trickster up to 2, maybe 3, Swordmaster to 3, Gunslinger to 2, moves for his Rebellion and a charge for his shotgun. As far as items go, try to buy every blue orb and purple orb. Dante moves a little slower than Nero, but more than makes up for it in terms of raw power. He can also change among four styles on the fly, which all have their own moves and skill sets, and to top it off, he will eventually total at 3 firearms and 3 devil arms, and they can all be switched up on the fly as well!! This basically means Dante's capacity for combos, and therefore style points, is unlimited! This mission is fairly linear. Get accustomed to the basic timing and combs of Dante, and learn a style or two to get good at during this basic scarecrow massacre. Follow the path to face off against the mega scarecrow trio. Just keep moving while you bust out some style (see my enemy section for more tips on megas) and head along the next path. Destroy furniture and collect orbs, and take on some more enemies as you note the timer firing up. Don't worry too much about it though, you have plenty of time to beat the mission and even do some extras if you want to. Fighting Frosts in an enclosed space is tough at first with a new character, so just do what needs to be done using what weapons you have. If you want a better score later, come back when Dante has more unlocked. You can get SSS easily once he is fully upgraded with all his weapons. Pandora and Lucifer alone are key to this, but any weapon and style can do it. You will eventually reach the main hall of HQ and you have to face several knights at one time. For Dante, things at first seem harder than Nero, who can Buster these guys to death. Just hit their backs and learn what unbalances them, combo some, taunt a little, and DT if things get hairy to regain health and flex your devil hunter muscles. They hate the shotgun and swordmaster works well on them too. Before you leave this place, go upstairs (like when Nero was going after Agnus) and you can snag a blue orb fragment after you fight some more demons in the laser rooms. See my blue orb section after this walkthrough for more details. Also note, that to get upstairs you have to go through some lasers and kill a room of gladiuses and on some difficulties, knights. Before you go (finally), be sure to check to the left of the doorway for a Devil Star S. Nero can get it too, earlier here. At one minute, near the front hall, you should probably get to the exit at the front door. When you're done, use the front door and head all the way to the end of the path back to the forest. 9 minutes, a style total of 7500 or so, and 87 percent orbs found gets you the S, plus don't use items. -------------------------------------------------------- Mission 13: The Devil Returns Time to power up Dante some more! For this mission, it's pretty good to have swordmaster and gunslinger up to 3 if possible. Get moves for your default weaponry if you haven't already, and look into learning a little about Royal Block if you care about that style. Max out health (as much as you are able, if this is your first play you can't have all the fragments as of yet) and your DT gauge should also be both full, and in the slow drain that you purchase from DT skill. Okay, we have to retrace some ground through the Forest again if Dante is going to save Nero and the city! Unfortunately for you, Echidna is taunting you from the start and has created weird shadow portals all over the place. Follow me carefully and we'll get through this. For enemies and blue orb information, please see the respective sections below for in depth tips and tricks. Turn around and backtrack some. Get orbs from the seed pods and fall off the ledge and go down under the stone awning (tunnel) area. Straight from here, go through that portal. Suprise, you're back! I asked you to do that to get the orbs in the level though, if you're intersted. Now, as odd as this is, go right back through the same portal you just came from (next to the lion statue shop). Turn around and go through the same opening YET again. You should be near where you can drop off a raised platform once again. Kill the chimeras immediately and then mop up the scarecrow duo. Go straight from here into the next portal after you get the orbs from the various seeds. In the Windswept Valley map (man you travelled far!), Dante meets his old friends, the Assualts. These guys are automatically infected by Chimeras, so enjoy that. Using the shotgun will put down the chimeras for a bit so they don't swipe you and ruin your combos, just try using swordmaster skills with rebellion and taunting quickly from a distance of five or so feet. Trickster level 3 helps alot here as well. When you are done here (see enemy section if you need more tips), head forward to the ruined church portal. You should now be in the Ancient Plaza map. Tadaa, time to face off against four regular assualts on DH or H modes. Enjoy. Avoid long strings of combos here, as they help each other break your stride and style. The shotgun and short sword combos can wear them down quick, especially with the shields down. If you have played before, use the Pandora and Gilgamesh. Head for the opposite exit from where you entered this map. Here in the Lapis River area, don't miss the giant seed pod for orbs on top of the columns near the bridge. Kill the Mephistos with the level 4 swordmaster Dance Macabre for style and ease. Use the portal under the bridge. Inside the ruined church, see my blue orb fragment guide below if you're interested (beneath this walkthrough). Go under the staircase here and through the door. After, do what you did as Nero in the Lost Woods. (follow your shadow trail, be sure it's behind you at all times) Use the statue for items if you want some healing or DT stuff, and head into the she-viper's lair again, this time as Dante! BOSS: Echidna As Dante, much remains the same as for Nero. Certain attacks can deflect her charges, but I like to use Trickster to dodge her and run up her body for sytlish points. Stay moving until she slows down or stops. Use swordmaster to aerial rave her when she drops out seedlings, and for any time you can hit her exposed main body. The shotgun is the weapon of choice here if it's your first time through. Just stay moving, use DT liberally, and combo her in the air using different styles whenever possible. None of her moves will change from Nero's battle. On replay, Pandora works well, using the bazooka (left, right, left, holding X). As is sometimes the case in Capcom games, this boss is kind of weak to her own weapon, so if you're replaying, use the Gilgamesh when she's stunned and open to combo like crazy for a high score and tons of damage. Lastly, Lucifer (on replay) also works very well. Swordmaster 4 is needed to truly use Lucifer correctly though. At mission's end, just under 15 mintues for time, with a style total of 5500 points, and 85 or so percent orbs found nets you the S rank! No item helps here tremendously if you aren't getting your style up high enough. Feel free to come back with more items to get a better rank later. ---------------------------------------------------------- Mission 14: Forest of Ruin Power up Dante however he suits you. I like to have Trickster and Swordmaster generally finished, with Gunslinger close to being max. Basic moves are important, and low to 2 charges, along with slow drain DT. If you want to be learning how to use Royal Block techniques, now is the time to start. Ah, finally, things are back to normal in the Forest. A few notes. See my enemy section well below the walkthrough for tips and hints on faster times and better style. See my blue orb section right at the end of this walkthrough to get through the secret missions and things. Your goal here is to simply travel the forest as quickly as you possibly can. You will fight the usual forest enemies here with one new demon twist, the Fault. If you get caught by one during the fighting, you get teleported to a demon world and made to battle tons of assualts and scarecrows, and chimera seeds before it lets you go. On the plus side, if you kill a Fault (time it well and slash three times with rebellion), not only does it leave you, you get small health orbs. Some areas contain more than one Fault, however. Next up, Dante gets to take on Fausts like Nero did. Use a charge 1 shotgun and you should be just fine on him. Combo with swordmaster as best you can and take him out within two turns if possible. DT can allow you to kill one in one turn, but you won't have time to taunt. Don't forget your usual seed pod orb spots and make your way back to the front of the Forest, using the map on the pause screen or previous chapters in my guide if you need to. If you forgot when the entrance is, it's up a cliff, way across from the ruined church (in the same map). Follow the loooong path back to the castle Fortuna. After all those battles and rushing about, with a time of under 16 minutes, a style rank of over 6000, and 80 percent orbs found, along with no item bonus, you should have the S rank! ------------------------------------------------------ Mission 15: Fortuna Castle For power ups, you should probably know the drill already. See previous Dante missions if you need some pointers. The Dreadnaught Royal Guard level 4 move is quite cool if you can build up your meter. Need some more pointers on killing a Blitz Demon? Check this out: http://youtube.com/watch?v= UmwEmZdlI80&feature=related See thanks section for credit. If the video is gone, basically, you can punch with Gilgamesh and quickly Royal Guard against the lightning that is supposed to hurt you for direct attacks. When the shield drops, use your best Royal Release (or other damaging) attacks and he should die before he even gets a move off! Takes seconds. As for items, a little health never hurts, but I mostly like Devil Stars for Dante IF I need anything, because you extend the amount of time you can wail on a boss or strong creature. Holy Water might be good if you don't get the hang of facing the Blitz in this mission. Be sure your health is as far along as possible up to this point, and also max out your DT gauge by now. Let me start his one again by saying, see my blue orb and enemy guide if you have any issues with this mission. You may also want to look at Nero's walkthrough of the entire castle in previous missions to locate the hidden orbs. Okay, the right side is blocked by magical ice with a massive magical barrier energy, so head up the left and go straight along the path until... It's a Blitz. Great. Don't hit him yet. Get out your shotgun and charge up to 1 and fire. Keep peppering him with shotgun blasts at close range, using Trickster to stay away from his own teleports, and learn his patterns. A hit from this guy HURTS, (on high difficulties at least) so watch it. When he takes enough shotty blasts, go for the DT combo on him after his lightning shield drops. At a certain point, he'll renew his assualt with Red lightning. He's faster and even stronger now, so just keep on using trickster and blasting him to death. He will now shoot out very powerful streams of lightning at you, both into the sky and on the ground. They cover several angles so it's hard to tell what's happening until he fires. Just double jump, air dash, and ground dash. Just before he dies he may try to kamakazie you. AVOID THIS CHARGE ATTACK! I can't stress that enough. Let him run around and keep shooting until he dies. If his charge hits you, first of all, he stabs you through the gut. Second, he pulls down a massive bolt of lightning onto the both of you and explodes while still tacked onto you. Even on DH difficulty, this hit drains you of half your health usually. Head for the grand hall and notice the ice. Feel free to explore the other side but you can't do too much. Note the high jump Nero couldn't reach on the right upper column of the grand hall? If you're facing the picture of Sacntus, it's on your right here. If you can DT for a bit, Dante can do a triple jump and up onto that spot, for a Holy Water! On the left column is some hidden red orbs. Anyway, pass the blue switch and head into the gallery, get some orbs (sweet health!) if you want, and move onto the library. Kill all of the knights here, concentrating on the golden Alto if possible first, since when he's distracted here he's subordinates won't attack as often. When everything is cleaned up here, go into the room where Nero found the Anima Mercury. Use the red orb statue while in DT for lots of orbs. Drop down and note the secret mission section of my guide if you want to do this. Head through the door. Follow the path to the dining room (it's a straight shot with all the ice blocking you). Battle some mega and many lesser scarecrows here, trying to combo with many weapons and styles if you are used to it by now, for an SSS or at least an S rank. Remember, when a megasc dies, avoid his blade! Proceed all the way over to the torture chamber area and kill off the four Frosts here. Ugh. They are fast, so stick to quick styles and fast attacks. Don't overdo it on the combos, as they always help each other out and will stun you often if you misdirect your attention too much. Don't jump too high in the center either, there are spikes here now. Head on over to the hole in the floor an drop. Locate the empty cell with the blue switch in it. Activate and soar up out of here. In the Master's Chambers, time for a bit of a challenge. This is a pretty small space considering you can't destroy the bed. Kill a couple scarecrows and boom, here comes a Blitz to join the party. Treat him just like the first one you faced outside. Keep moving and use Trickster and your shotgun. His attacks sometimes can kill off a foe, but I like to clean up any remaining demons so we can be alone. When you weaken him and his shield drops, DT up and go to town with swordmaster. Get him as weak as you can and when he turns to red, avoid his attacks and keep your eyes open for his kamakazie attack! You can't afford to lose health in this fight, the boss is near! Head outside into the graveyard and destroy every last stone object (including the fountain top) for tons of orbs and a little bit of health. If you couldn't reach the top area (3 overhanging stones) with Nero for the Red Orb and Gold Orb, you can definately do it with Dante and his DT triple jumps and/or Trickster air dashes. Use the Time god statue if you want some items for whatever, and get ready for the boss man! BOSS: Dagon Love the name. Okay, he's very much like his little brother Bael was. The most obvious difference here is that you're facing him using Dante, so the moves and tactics differ. Now, the best thing to do here is to use Ebony and Ivory from afar, have Trickster to air dash ready for the brunt of his attacks, and then get in close and use aerial rave (swordmaster) on his head. Also try some combos on his sides if you're afraid of taking hits and can't switch between trickster well yet. See the basic attack section for Bael in my guide to get a grasp of Dagon's move set. When the ladies come for a piece of Dante (like they always do!), swordmaster and shotgun work wonders. Stay on one at a time and avoid their spinning attacks and ice shots. Dagon rockets back onto the scene for yet another beat down after a few seconds. Hit him from his sides and try to go into DT for best results and bigger combo hits. When you weaken him, go over to his tongue and in DT, use Swordmaster and Rebellion, switching over to the extremely deadly Gilgamesh to finsh your combo string. If you have Forward Y, use it. This should just about end the fight. If not, you can finish him from afar with handgun charged shots, or get in and stinger into a short combo. If you're replaying him, use his own weapon, the Pandora, against him wisely. The laser to his tongue does great damage, but I prefer to use a string of different weapon combos there. However, the crossbow, bazooka, and the gatling gun are great for softening up his ugly hide, and for hurting his girls as well. Pinning the Lucifer into him in a big group and then detonating on his tongue is also a great tactic for eating his health away easy. C'mon, he's always wanted a tongue piercing! Oops, now you're in the labs. Drop down using Trickster to reach catwalks for orbs and finish up your mission. At 21 minutes, 12000 Style, and 85 percent orbs found, with a no item bonus, S is yours with ease! ---------------------------------------------------- Mission 16: Inferno Do the usual power up stuff and get ready to rock! Okay, the lab is flooded, so we need to get out of here as fast as possible. Learn to use the Pandora in a previous level and keep combos limited and strictly just to kill things. The Pandora will do much of your styling for you here. Avoid the Cutlasses group attack and use the shotgun rapidly to slow them when they are blue. Stinger into them (you can nail all three in a row actually) and then combo and scoop them into the air with back and Y, then use B,B,B,B on them in the air in swordmaster style. Pepper them with the shotty until they go back to blue when they go red. Watch your back. They drop health when they die and you can find it all along the hall here too. Use this to stay alive as the poison can really add up. In the game room, enjoy a good laugh at how differently Dante and Nero do things, and then kill all the Gladius demons using the shotgun and gunslinger style. It has various moves, so enjoy if you're at level 3 or 4 and have a charge or two! If you want more style, incorporate the Pandora into things, and use Ebony and Ivory from afar. Your Gilgamesh is slow but can add some style too with swordmaster skills. Each and very Gladius drops some health. Woo boy. In the next room, you are going to square off against a few knights and many Gladiuses. This is where having gunslinger and lots of Pandora skills come in hand. Sweep the room, using gunslinger and trickster, along with your Pandora, and if you're fast enough, maybe the shotgun too. Use every move available to you for the Pandora, even the laser if you've stunned the knight with a good rocket first. You can taunt here, but you really don't have to, since the Pandora and no damage on your part do the work for you. If you don't use the Pandora (for shame!), no worries. Use gunslinger style at all times and just concentrate on the white knights. When you feel like the Gladiuses are going to hit you fast, use the B button firecracker attack to back everyone around you off, while you combo the knights. Stylish! See my blue orb section below for some info on secrets. Leave this room via the window and then door, and emerge to fresh air and some drums to shatter. Fill your lungs and head upstairs. In here, I go for the shotgun and swordmaster with various weapon combos for some S ranks or even SS. Follow the linear path and face off against some more powerful knights. Pandora and gunslinger can really clean up here, but any normal knight techniques work out well for high style (see my enemy section in the next chapter for tips!). SS is very easy to get here, you probably won't even notice the poison sapping you if you're quick to kill them for health. Head up and out of the labs, and to the front of the castle. Feel free to stop for the usual orb spots throughout both the lab and the castle. There are also plenty of foes to take on in a few rooms that are out of your way. Keep in mind, the Pandora laser attack is awesome for clearing out the bench and chair combo in the grand hall! Quick and easy. In front of the castle bridge where Nero met Gloria, we discover some new pets, made by Agnus. How nice of him to send you half man's not so best friend. The Basilisk dogs are a bit annoying. They operate in packs so you always have to stay moving. They love to lunge on you but their favorite and most quick attack (ruins your style nicely...grr) is their skull shot attack. They will fire you on from almost any distance, and can do it in the air or on the ground. Stay moving however you like (trickster for me), and if you like guns use the Pandora's various attacks on them for some decent style IF you take no hits. I like to use some Pandora forms, then finish em up close with the Rebellion. Gilgamesh really hurts them, but it's too slow unless you only have one or two left to kill. See my enemy section for more detail on the dogs. Destroying some of the pillars here nets you health orbs if the dogs gang up on you any. Secret Mission that is very hard to find near here, use my blue orb guide below for help. Move on up the stairs here in this courtyard valley place, and get back to the mines. Time to take down Berial, after you fight through the mines of course. Go for style points! BOSS: Berial Okay. He's a little stronger and faster now, but you will probably hardly notice. See the Nero section for notes on his basic attacks. If you built up the Pandora's disaster gauge, you can immediately remove two to four of his health by using gunslinger and jumping high up, then pressing B to go into the missle pod. Then press B again for a volley, and spam X over and over until it runs out. Now switch to swordmaster and use rebellion or gilgamesh, whatever you know best. Switch them up if you know both well enough. When he is stunned, go into Devil Trigger and let him have it with every combo and offensive skill you know to really knock down his health! Keep moving and use Trickster if needed. If you like Royal Guard and have built up the meter enough, use Dreadnaught (level 4 max) to survive the hard hits and just keep on bashing if you don't care about being hit (no damage bonus). Dreadnaught with Gilgamesh really turn Berial into a joke on the lower modes. No matter how you like to do it, keep moving to avoid his hits, and slam him with your best, and semi-quickest moves. Stun him again and use Gilgamesh combos to finish the fight or get real close to it. Just watch out near the end, his homing dash and lunging overhead sword attack can slow you down and end your style score easy. If this is a replay, he hates the Lucifer! Feel free to stun him however you like, and then plant as many Lucifer blades into him as you possibly can. Swordmaster helps out here some if you know how the weapon works. Be creative! Cover him with blades and then do Back and Y to detonate them whenever! If he's stunned, man does it hurt him! Using Lucifer and Pandora well, along with maybe Royal Guard correctly, one could make this a very quick and one sided battle where you take no damage and score SSS easy! Go for a time of 16:30, style of 9500 total, and orbs found percentage at a nice 90 and you can snag the S rank, so long as you got the no item bonus too! --------------------------------------------------------- Mission 17: Adagio For Strings (by the way, Adagio means either a musical piece, or, more aptly here, moving in a liesurely manner, displaying skillful, well controlled movements.) See previous missions for power up tips. Really, Dante should be basically maxed out for the moves you enjoy, and two or even three styles should be completed now. Redo some missions if you want to keep your stylish combos going easily. I like to have the Pandora with every move possible, this means Gunslinger style has to be max also. As for items, you need to have already purchased all the blue and purple orbs available to you. Some health and magic restoration items, along with a few holy waters is a pretty good idea. If Dante doesn't use them, Nero can in the upcoming missions. NOTE: The Pandora, with all it's moves open to you and full gunslinger style, can consistently, and easily score you SSS ranks in every battle found here in this level. I do not use it exscusively on the boss, but it could be done there as well. Make your way through the city, going for a high style rank (take on scarecrows and both kinds of knight, then later assualts and mephistos) , and you'll end up at the "dead end" where Nero couldn't go back up. However, for Dante, the gate is open. Remember the streets teeming with demon-kind? Yeah, you're going in. Don't forget to check out my blue orb guide under this walkthrough, along with the enemy habits section further down. Lastly, see Nero's previous missions in this area to discover many hidden red orbs. Okay, during this long street battle (one of my favorites in the game), you can do many different things here to earn an SSS rank and keep it there the whole time. Standard swordmaster with every type of weapon (practice in older missions!) does it. Even gunslinger can do it. I recommend using gunslinger and a fully upgraded Pandora. You can cover the street with death from any range this way. Get into a good corner and stinger away scarecrows if they get close. Use varied attacks, crossbow, to bazooka, into laser, ocassionally taunting and repeating, and sometimes using up your disaster gauge to throw the blade-a-rang. When the mega scarecrows appear, use bazooka and laser and finish (around the time the dogs show) with a giagantic missle volley from the pod, full disaster gauge. Mop up what's left by cancelling the pod and opening the case to bathe the demons in deadly gold light, and your style will have been at SSS since around the time the first mega died. If the dogs give you problems and the pod doesn't work, use sword combos to keep them on the ground. That's the simpliest way to hit SSS, just practice not taking hits in between attacks! Now then, that was over quick eh? Head all the way up the street, breaking furniture and garbage cans for orbs. See my blue orb fragment guide below the main walkthrough for info on a couple pieces right here. Then go into the opera house where this all began. In the square, you'll face off against several shadow type enemies (faust, mephistos) and some alto angelos. Be careful about losing your style points here. You probably won't have much trouble killing them all though. If you let the demons hang around the knights, they fight each other as well! See my enemy file section if you need more tips. Head into the Opera House via the gated side door at the end of the fountain path. BOSS: Angelo Agnus Wow, GREAT scene. Hilarity ensued for all, now it's time to take him down for good and get back your Yamato! He's pretty fast and still has many of the same attacks he used on Nero, so see that section or the boss section below the guide for info on his moves. You probably remember most of them anway. Stay moving with trickster and use whatever guns you're most comfortable with. Shotgun seems to be just fast enough and strong enough to work out perfect. Pandora is great but, well, it slows you down alot so you have to time it just right to not take hits. I like to use the Rebellion with swordmaster style until he is kind of stunned, then I let lose with Lucifer and pierce him up a ton, detonating the blades when he regains his momentum, to floor him again and go in for a rebellion combo. Keeps him busy, hurts him really well, and gives you some style! He will likely begin by using his sword on you and summoning some dogs to play with you both. Keep the pressure on the dogs, they can wear you down and distract you enough for him to drain your health. Dodge his fireball attacks using trickster and keep on shooting and trying to cut him up. When he summons more demons to help him fight, use gunslinger the and pandora's missle pod barrage move to even up the odds. Rush in DT and combo him with either rebellion or gilgamesh, and when he drops from being stunned, use (still in DT mode) the best Lucifer moves you have. I like to use Y,Y,Y,Y, the go into Foward Y, then Forward B with Swordmaster style on. He will probably float up and yell "time to die!" at this point, like with Nero, or try to summon more demons. Either way, NOW is the time to detonate your Lucifer blades with Back and Y. Ka-boom! If he hits you with his "time to die" attack, you're going to lose a ton of health, so this method works well. After Pandora's missle battery attack and now the Lucifer's many blades exploding in him, he should be down to half his health or so. Continue to dodge his attacks (escpecially the health drain one, it can turn the tide on your fast), and get ready to go into Trickster to dodge his spinning cutlass attacks. When he summons fire or the "time to die" drain attack now, rush in and try to shoot or slash him as much as are able to cancel the attack. If you use Lucifer, don't forget to use Back Y to detonate the blades! And the rest was silence... Go into the portal end the mission! Great job!! With a time of 17 minutes, style of 15,000 or so, and an orb percentage at around 95 percent, you will have scored an S rank! Right on!! --------------------------------------------------- Mission 18: The Destroyer Powerup based around speed and health. See previous mission starts for power up tips. As for items, some health and blue/purple orbs are key. Congrats, you've got Virgil's coveted Yamato sword! The Dark Slayer style can be accessed via pressing the same style button over again. So if you were already on swordmaster, pressing right again brings it up, got it? BOSS: The Savior Use the bounce platform and be wary of the Angelos here. Use them for style if you like, but it's hard to avoid the savior's blows if you try. If you see the savior trying to slap you with his palm down run up his arm (both arms) and take out what blue crystals you can. There are two per arm, one at the forearm and one at his shoulder. Avoid his petty swipes and dark matter fire balls and use either the yamato, rebellion, or shotgun to take down the crystals. He shakes you off back to the start after time. In the meantime, rush left or right to the jump pads. Let him kill the Angelos for you if you like. You can deflect the dark matter balls back at him using B presses from the dark slayer style (yamato). Avoid his great Fireballs by using either trickster or jump pads. If you go to the right first you will come upon a flimsy metal platform. Get to the jump pad quick because if he destroys it you start over your jumps. On the far right side there is a device enabled by a blue combo switch. Activate it and he will be stunned. Good job. If it's a side you've already cleared of blue crystals, smash at his fingers from the ground to stun him even worse. Now race and use the pads on either side and follow them all around his body. Avoid the Faults (kill for health) and knights (kill for style points) and use the shotgun or pandora to take down every blue crystal you see. Get his back and feet this way. I wanted to add, if you want to kill his black matter balls off more effeciently, use the shotgun. Eventually, he will recover, and on high modes, fast. So just repeat what you've been doing to mega stun him again like before. Remember, DT to kill knights quick, kill faults for health orbs and take out the dark matter energy balls for devil orb refills. Timing is crucial on all this of course. Give it a few tries and you can get the hang of it! If you ever get stuck, use various jump pads and try to find middle pads to get back to where you were. He has blue crystal orbs on his feet, one on his back, on his shoulders and forearms, his forehead and his chest. You can shoot almost any of these crystals any time with Ebony and Ivory from the center platform. Also keep in mind if you come back around to the same places too often, the jump pads will not work for you, leaving you at the savior's mercy, or should I say malice? If you get stuck, use ebony and ivory on him, taunt, and wait for him to either get hurt enough or destroy your platform. ---------------Headshot!------------ When you finally take down the head crystal, (or the final one other than the chest) some things change a little. By the way, you can reach this crystal and number of ways, and Ebony and Ivory do the job fast. Best way to is crawl up an arm and blow it away fast that way. He is faster now and will swing wildly around you at times. He also likes to charge up his massive demon killing beam from the earlier cinematics and try to fry you with it. That one can end your day bad, so try to use the bouncing platforms to avoid it. Keep on using every single jump pad to your right until you get a special cinematic. Now we're into it, a health bar! Taunt him if you feel safe, and let it run fully. Shoot him with super long range guns and keep moving to the right until the second tiny platform with two blue pads on it. Here, wait patiently until he pokes his head up, and get Dark Slayer Style read to rock. Hit his head with the Rebellion and your best combos, DT if you want. When the chest cyrstal briefly shows itself, use the yamato ground and air combos. He then goes to destroy your platform. Repeat to that tiny, two pad platform again. You can bound left to right, back and forth on the three little platforms until he pokes up his face again. DT and slam him until you get a scene. Finally, a real change to damage him! Use all the pads ahead of you to reach his weak spot, and then DT up and go crazy with combos and end them with the Yamato. If you plan to use the big forward Y or backward Y combo, be in close to his crystal and give yourself enough time to execute the slashes properly. Nice damage! Go for the highest style you can and try to get him to a quarter health or so. Now he does a spinning kick and uses more long range, devastating fireball attacks. Keep moving and baiting him on to come for you. Try to keep moving and don't let him destroy your platform or you have to start these jumps over. His giant beam is faster now, so don't stop to taunt unless you are really confident. Repeat this process until you finally send him down. It usually only takes twice. At a time of 12 minutes (yikes), 5000 style (from mostly fighting him at the end there), and getting some orbs from his fire balls and/or enemies around, you will ace the S rank! Go for no item also. This one may take you a few tries to minimize your time and maximize your style. Hang in there! ----------------------------------------------- Mission 19: The Successor Back to Nero. If you want to get reaccustomed to him again, go back and play some early levels and relearn your combos, evasive manuevers, how to snatch and buster, when to taunt, etc. Practice against knights and even some bosses if you want. Now that you have a good grasp on him again, Power Up accordingly. Any and all combos are great, charge shot 2, devil bringer 3, dodging skills, air jumping, etc. are all key. As for items, know that in this mission it's just a straight up brawl. If you need any items, I'd suggest healing and holy water to get through tough spots. Keep in mind I have a detailed enemy section below this walkthrough (ctrl F to search the guide fast), if you need some tips on combat. That's right, back to another type of game room. Remember, spot the number you want on the dice, and then strike the die after counting to six with Buster or something quick like that, and it should always land on what you want. Head forward and enter the next area. The goal is to reach the spaces nearest to the purple portals at the back of each level. Red spaces are combat, and I recommend you avoid them unless you're aching for a fight to raise style. Frosts, Assualts, every type of Scarecrow (megas too), Blitzes, Basilisks and who knows what else await if you land on red. The blue spaces are great, and can even save your life, as they drop a rain of several orbs, with a few differently sized health orbs in there also. Use Snatch 3 or initiate Run real fast to get the most orbs possible. White spots do absolutely nothing, so aim for them if you can't reach any other desirable spots. Lastly, the yellow spots teleport you, just like before. Only this time around, they take you straight over to the end portal of that floor. Shoot for those if you want to ace your time, and move on in the level quick. Note: In the labs, the game board eventually dropped you some treasure chests with orbs on blue spaces. If you weren't fast enough, they ended up empty. This occurs very rarely here also, I think. Upon entering the first purple portal, you will be warped away to the HQ and faced down by five knights. One is an Alto and leads the others. You can shoot the dark matter ball for SSS here, like before, or go into DT mode when you're able to slam them that way. They are highly orgainized until the Alto dies (and he probably won't die first), so anticipate their movements as a unit, and then combo the group, avoiding the charges when they do. Big style rank this way. When you're down to the final duo or just one, use Buster moves to end it and keep up the style. Use the portal that appears after everything is dead to return to the game board. There's health and magic recovery orbs at the back of this floor. Use them if you need to desperately or if you plan on immediately leaving the floor using a teleport space. I recommend going for the blue spaces as well, for more orbs. Do whatever you want here and move on to the end space. When you enter the second purple portal, you are greeted by your old pal, Berial! See that chapter in the walkthrough or look beneath it for Boss strategies. Keep in mind, there are no shacks to destroy here for health this time. On the next floor, there are two tiny health orbs you can grab. If you need more orbs, use the blue spaces to your advantage, and circle around. However you do it, eventually progress. Careful about randomly fighting demons, as things are getting steadily more dangerous you've probably noticed. After that purple portal, you are put up against Dagon! He's faster and stronger than Bael, but the same tactics still apply. See the appropriate mission and/or enemy section below this walkthrough for details. Go for a high style here, as he's one of the easier bosses to avoid losing style on. On the next floor, collect the magic and health orbs up here, then use the blue spaces to your advantage for even more orbs and health! When you're finished here, head into the next floor. At this purple portal, suprise, Echidna! I like to go into this one with my sword already fully revved up. See my boss section or the Echidna Nero chapter for details on here if you need to refresh your memory. Use the right Busters at the right time for big style and try to end the fight like that to maintain the points. When she's dead, if time isn't an issue to you, go around the arena destroying the seed pods to the sides for health and red orbs. On this next, large floor, feel free to simply jump up five spaces and teleport to the finish if you don't need to use the blue spaces for orbs. However you do it (risking combat only if you really know how to fight and preserve your health), move on. After this purple portal, here comes Angelo Agnus! You know the drill, and if not, see his chapter or the enemy boss section I have prepared at a bit down after this section of the walkthrough. Remember to be especially careful of his drain, as it can really slow you down and keep him alive. He is the version Dante fights, I think, because he calls in Basilisks this time. Buster them and it's no issue. Finally, you've made it. Congrats on surviving and Capcom staple, the ultra boss fight level! Take out all the tiny columns here for orbs and slash the rocks to leave. With a time of (wow!) 25 minutes, a stylish of 12,000 points, and by hitting the blue platforms for orbs three or four times and getting 95 percent or so, you nailed the S rank! Try to use no items too. ---------------------------------------------- Mission 20: La Vita Nuova (small note: This is both verse and prose composed by a man named Dante, it means A New Life) Now then. You probably know the power up drill by now. Go for all out power, max health and devil gauge, and the best Snatch (devil bringer) at 3. As for items, none are needed here (as always), but you may want some Vital Star M or even L if you can afford it. Everything else is just icing on the delicious cake. Time to end this. BOSS: Sanctus Diabolica He will begin by renewing his shield, which blows you back. He likes to call down small lightning bolts of negative energy (he screams about the savior and judging you), that are easy to avoid by just backing off. He also fires out speedy fireballs and will send his hovering devices in pairs after you, like before but a little faster now. He can teleport freely about the arena and will if you corner him in the air too much. He will also summon a great bolt down onto you, which is one concentrated burst right under his body, and different from the small bolts. It doesn't pose a threat if you keep moving. Start by Snatching at him to get up high fast, then hack at his shield. You can also Buster it. When it breaks, he is surrounded by negative energy from the Sparda sword, but you still damage him when you strike or buster at him and his dark shield. Keep it up and stay on him to avoid his fireball attacks. When he renews his shield or calls down lightning bolts, jump backwards or roll away to the immediate open side. I like to snatch to him, strike once with the sword, snatch again quickly, and Buster in the air, repeating until he breaks open fully. Now you're getting somewhere. Rush in and do whatever you like, but quickly go into DT at some point to Buster him for a great sequence. If you aerial Buster him, you piledriver him down hard and then give him the massive punch to the body. Now he will begin to teleport at times and use the historical Sparda sword to strike you. He can also throw it a little bit. Keep moving and avoid taking hits if at all possible, so maintain combo rank. Try to be quicker than him and anticipate his movements. Snatch in, hack away, snatch in, Buster, repeat. Good. When he's around a quarter or less health, things change for you and if you mess up not only do you risk death from a major attack, you lose any style you had built up to this point from all the Buster combos. Sanctus flies up and yells at you, and summons the Sparda sword to run you through. The timing is hard, but you probably know what must be done. That's right, go into DT for the added hit and power (and style), and Buster the tip of the sword just before he can destroy you. You may need to do this more than once. CONGRATULATIONS! But is it over yet? After some great scenes, get ready for the last conflict. This isn't bad, so don't worry too much. Basically, you need to Buster away his hands. He first comes down with a punch from above, Buster it up at any point. He then swings from the side with a slapping chop. This one is slightly harder to learn. Buster it in the air. When he drops down, finish it all by air Bustering his ugly face. At around 3 minutes, with a style of 5000 or so, and no orbs to gather, along with no item bonus, you can snag the S rank! ----------------------------------------- Well you've done it! You took on the Missions and handled it like a Devil Hunter. Didn't you? Now try to top your previous ranks, take them to the leader boards online, or upgrade your characters and try a harder difficulty! There's also the Bloody Palace to enjoy, if you beat it on DH mode that is. See below this section for the Bloody Palace guide when it's up. ///////////////////////////////////// Hell or Hell Mode tips and tricks \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ The big time! It's easier to list a series of tips here rather than make tiny notes on the main walkthrough of the guide that could confuse new players. Thanks a ton to aspen1910000 (GT, username) for the pointers! aspen1910000: "It was not as hard as it was made out to be (as I had stated earlier in another thread). I found DmD mode to be maybe a bit more challenging.. only a tad bit more. I did not get good ranks though as it was my first try at it. I had used continues and gold orbs.. while I got S's or A's for time ,style and orbs.. the continues do play a big role in lowering my rank at the end. Yet.. using the 3 gold orbs did not count as using an item so I never got a " used Item" penalty. You do not even need to use the super characters to beat it, you just have to have certain tactics and be a bit more defensive and alert. Tips: (these are easy to perform and not ment to be all top tier and stuff.. but it helped me to not get touched) For nero I swtiched the devil trigger button to RT and the gun