Explaining the fundamentals of Devil May Cry 5.
Welcome to the DMC5 Combat Guide. This guide is targeted at players already familiar with the basics of DMC5 and are looking for more information to provide insight into the more nuanced components of the game. As such, tutorial information the game already offers sufficiently will be glossed over or only discussed briefly.
The information here is comprised from tons hours spent playing the game and experimenting. The Official DMC5 Japanese Strategy Guide was also used for small trinkets of tech, as well as the more stat based information about DMC5 such as boss HP values.
This guide will not hold back on spoilers, and will assume you’ve finished the game at least once, so read at your own digression.
CONTENTS
Game Overview
Devil May Cry 5 is a Character Action Game centered around player expression. The true beauty of the game, is that it is effectively a combat sandbox; it gives you a boatload of tools and just tells you to go out there and play stylishly. The player is given a lot of freedom in how they can choose to play the game.
But at the same time, I think that if this is your first Stylish Action Game, it’s quite easy to play through the whole game once and still feel a bit lost. You can have fun at any level of play, sure, but it’s easy to feel like you don’t know what you’re supposed to be doing in fights, or not know what the game really wants from you to play it properly.
But that’s the thing. It’s a game about player expression. There’s no ‘what I’m supposed to be doing‘ or ‘how2 play it properly‘ if you’re told to express yourself. There are optimal ways to kill enemies and surefire ways to deal high damage, yes. But how you do that, or whether you even choose to play like that, is entirely up to you.
The basis for expressing yourself is first understanding the ‘language’ of the game. In other words, how the mechanics work and where the true depth of the combat system lies. The game doesn’t do the best job of piquing your interest in its combat system if you weren’t already invested. It also doesn’t do a great job of bringing you up to a level where you can start expressing yourself. So this guide will aim to lay the building blocks for you to get the most out of DMC5 if you are willing to put in the effort to improve.
GAME SYSTEMS
Game Modes
Devil May Cry 5 has several difficulty modes. The difficulty you play affects enemy aggression levels, enemy attack patterns, player damage output, enemy damage output and more. Some difficulties also have their own gimmicks.
- Human – Journalist Mode. The game’s easiest difficulty. Don’t play this.
- Player DMG 1.5x
- Enemy DMG ~0.5x
- Low enemy aggression
- Devil Hunter – Normal Mode. The game’s standard difficulty for first time players.
- Player DMG 1.0x
- Enemy DMG 1.0x
- Normal enemy aggression
- Son of Sparda – Hard Mode. The game’s most fair difficulty.
- Unlock: Clear Human or Devil Hunter
- Player DMG 0.75x
- Enemy DMG ~1.25x
- High enemy aggression
- Enemies gain new attacks on this difficulty and higher
- Mission set pieces change from this difficulty and higher. Late game enemies will appear earlier on.
- Dante Must Die – Very Hard Mode. The game’s hardest difficulty.
- Unlock: Clear Son of Sparda
- Player DMG 0.5x
- Enemy DMG ~2.0x
- Very high enemy aggression
- All enemies can now Devil Trigger. This increases their defense and damage output (seems to be +50% each). Enemies in DT also gain added super-armor.
- Heaven Or Hell – The game’s joke difficulty.
- Unlock: Clear Dante Must Die
- The player as well as enemies all die in 1 hit.
- Uses a lives system where you have 3 lives per mission. Consuming lives counts as a Continue.
- Hell And Hell – The game’s unforgiving difficulty
- Unlock: Clear Dante Must Die
- This difficulty is the same as Son of Sparda but has one huge difference
- The player dies in 1 hit.
- Uses a lives system where you have 3 lives per mission. Consuming lives counts as a Continue.
- [DMC5 Special Edition Only] Legendary Dark Knight – The game’s 1vs100 brawler difficulty.
- Player DMG 1.3x
- Enemy DMG ~1.5x
- High enemy aggression
- Extremely high enemy count
Note: You can clear a difficulty prematurely by beating Urizen in the Prologue or in Mission 08.
The Bloody Palace mode is a survival tower style mode where you have to beat 101 floors in succession. The floors keep getting harder the higher you go, and this mode serves as a fun test of skill. Continues are not allowed, but you can suspend a run after clearing a floor and exit the game so you can keep playing another time. If you have a cloud save feature on the platform you’re playing on, you can use this to backup your data and save scum so that you can reload it if you die in the palace.
The Void is a practice mode and a heaven-sent for improving at the game. It’s recommended you make use of this as soon as you think you have a problem with any enemy type or want to experiment with your attacks and their properties. Or to practice stringing combos together.
The game also has an Auto feature. Use this to deliberately delete the fun out of the game. Might as well close my guide and slap me in the face too too. orz
Style Gauge
There are 7 style ranks during battle, ascending from D to SSS: Dismal, Crazy, Badass, Apocalyptic, Savage, Sick Skills and Smokin’ Sexy Style. Style ranks are generally a measure for how ‘well’ you are playing.
Actions that gain style:
- Landing different attacks
- Taunting enemies
- Enemy Step
- Dodging through attacks with perfect timing
- Parrying incoming attacks
- Reflecting enemy projectiles
- Guarding enemies with Dante’s Royal Guard
- Guard breaking enemies
Actions that lose style:
- Taking damage
- Performing the same attacks in succession
- Not landing attacks or idling
Each attack you land gains Style Points. However, there is a short time after landing the attack where it gets locked out from earning more style points. This system is in place to prompt you to not do the same thing over and over.
If you want to clear battles with high Style Points, try to avoid taking damage, varying up your attacks, and also don’t use high damaging attacks on enemies until you reach at least S grade.
Devil Trigger
Each character has access to a Devil Trigger (DT) state which is a powerup that typically gives them access to HP regeneration, more damage, powered up attacks and in the case of V, another means of attack. Devil Trigger can be activated when you have 3 DT blocks or higher. DT Blocks are earned through the exact same actions that gain Style listed above, with the addition of taking damage.
Similar to the style rank, playing well rewards you with more DT blocks. This gives you fuel to continue playing well and stay in control of the battle. Different characters gain and use Devil Trigger in different ways, but the more of it you become able to earn, the more aggressively you are able to use it.
Status Effects
The game has 4 status effects that the player can be inflicted with:
- Burn: Damage over time for 20sec. Remedy by rolling or jumping.
- Frozen: Encased in ice for 7sec. Move the left stick to break free or activate Devil Trigger.
- Electrocuted: Slows movement for 15sec. Dispel with Devil Trigger.
- Heavy Stun: Become unable to act for 10sec. You take double damage in this state. Move the left stick and mash buttons to break free or activate Devil Trigger.
COMBAT FUNDAMENTALS
Damage Types
DMC5 has several damage types namely Slash, Pierce, Blunt, Fire element, Ice element and Lightning elemental damage. Different character’s weapons inflict different kinds of damage. What kind of damage a weapon inflicts will be listed in its corresponding description in each character’s overview page.
Enemies have different affinities to different kinds of damage. Some enemies have weaknesses and some have resistances to specific attack types. This may affect how to they respond to different types of damage when they are being combo-ed.
Lock-on Moves
Moves such as Stinger are considered ‘special moves’ because they have a specific input. Hold Lock-on, move the left stick towards the target then input the melee attack button. An obvious thing to state is that the moves are always performed with directions relative to the target.
This means that the direction you input on the left stick can change depending on the orientation of the camera, and the position of the enemy. Always try to keep in mind the idea of “towards’ and ‘away” with respect to the player’s position in relation to the lock-on target.
Parrying Attacks
Certain attacks on certain enemies can be parried, or clashed with. You strike at the same time and if the hitboxes overlap, you cancel out their attack with a loud clang sound. Parrying is one of the defining characteristics of the Cavaliere boss fight, but many other enemies can be parried too.
You can also send certain projectiles back at enemies. This follows similar logic to parrying attacks.
Parrying earns you style, DT blocks, and it makes you feel good. Some enemies like Fury also demand to be parried, so it’s important you know what Parrying is and how it functions. Attacks useful for Parrying will be listed in each character’s overview page.
Guard Break
Some enemies have shields or try to guard and you can break through this. Many of the blocking type enemies try to parry you if you don’t break through their guard in time. Certain moves on each character have special properties suited to inflicting guard break. When you break through their guard you will hear a glass shattering sound and you will have an opening to deal damage. Attacks useful for inflicting Guard Break will be listed in each character’s overview page.
Energy Barriers
Some enemies have energy barriers that block ranged attacks. These tend to be enemies that fight from a distance too. When this guide discusses ‘Guard Break’, it is completely unrelated to these energy barriers. Energy barriers typically prompt you to get around them by getting in close.
Where’s The Invul?
A very common complaint for DMC5 was that it doesn’t have a dodge button. But all ground Jumps and Side Rolls have invulnerability frames (Note: not double jumps). In addition to this, each character has quite a few more ways to remain invul while attacking. Each of these abilities has been highlighted in each character’s corresponding overview pages.
COMBO THEORY
The basic idea of a combo in Devil May Cry 5 is to keep an enemy launched or unable to fight back until they die. But given how much freedom you have in this game, the sky is the limit in terms of how much you can style on an enemy in a combo before they die. Either way, combo strings are how your offense manifests and they can be thought of as rewards for conquering an enemy’s gameplan.
There are many factors that influence how you approach combos with different enemy types.
Combo Structure
The general structure of a basic combo in DMC5 follows the simple logic of:
- Enemy gets launched
- Air juggle
- Combo ender
At more intermediate to higher levels there is a lot more going on and the structure becomes something like:
- Enemy gets launched
- Air juggle
- Enemy/player displacement
- Catch or re-launch
- Air juggle
- Combo ender
In most cases, the displacement into a catch followed by an air juggle, is something that loops until the enemy dies or is low on HP and killed with an ender. Even at the game’s highest level, this fundamental combo structure is still present. The most fanciest combos out there are essentially cycles of displacement and catches with a lot of finicky stuff in between.
A lot of people know how daunting the combos are in Devil May Cry, but the combo structure itself is not really all that complicated. The hard part is stringing the inputs together properly so that the enemy you are hitting doesn’t drop out of the combo. But as long as you understand the basic structure and the applications of Enemy Step, you should be able to pull off an aerial combo with a bit of practice — no matter how small.
Importance of Enemy Step
When you jump into the air and hit an airborne enemy, each action you perform increases your character’s aerial weight, making you fall faster and faster to the ground. There is also a 1 use-per-jump limit on many aerial special actions such as Nero’s Calibur or Dante’s Air Trick. These are 2 of the biggest hurdles when juggling enemies in the air.
This is where Enemy Step comes in. In its simplest form, Enemy Step is an ability that lets you use any nearby demon as a stepping stone mid-air to jump off of them. But Enemy Step also has a special property that lets you cancel any air action with a jump while you are near an enemy in the air.
Enemy Step functions as a jump cancel that resets both your aerial weight and special move usages per jump. It is extremely important in creating stable aerial combat and finishing enemies in one combo. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Enemy Step is the bread and butter of air combos.
This is where Devil May Cry 5 starts to get a bit technical and hard on execution. But once you become able to jump cancel attacks with Enemy Step, so many doors become opened for you to expand your playstyle.
Hitstun Types
Hitstun is a fighting game term which refers to the animation of a player or an enemy taking damage. In Devil May Cry 5, there are many different kinds of hitstun for enemies. Familiarizing yourself with how they look and function will help you form an offense and tackle some of the game’s more tricky enemies.
Below is a brief list of hitstun types. Which moves inflict which kinds of hitstun will be listed on each character’s respective overview page.
- Flinch: Standing or flying enemy winces and flinches in response to damage. This means you’ve broken through their armor, and are ready to be launched.
- Stagger Flinch: Similar to above but they stagger for slightly longer.
- Crumple Stun: Standing enemies do a stagger flinch and then crumple to the ground. Useful for certain enemy types.
- Launched: Enemies get launched directly upwards off the ground into the air and can be followed-up with a combo.
- Juggle: Damage reaction to attacks while in the air. They flinch in the sky without much loss in altitude.
- Ground Bounce: Airborne enemies are sent downwards onto the floor and then bounce back up. Whether they will actually bounce or not will depend on their weight type, and whether they are in Devil Trigger state.
- Knockback: Knocks enemies away from the player towards the ground. Medium to Lighter weights can be picked up out of this.
- Rising Knockback: Similar to above but there is a height gain on the knockback.
- Sent Flying: A powerful knockback that sends enemies far away at high speed.
- Hard Knockdown: A special knockback that certain enemies can’t teleport out of.
- Heavy Stun: When enemies get ‘dazed’ and are unable to act for a few seconds. This is indicated by a bubble-like effect near their head.
Enemy Weight Classes
Every enemy type has a specific weight class. This ranges from Light, Medium, Heavy or Super Heavy. The weight of the enemy will dictate what kind of histun type reaction it will have to incoming damage. Lighter enemies will react and flinch to almost all attacks, but Heavies might not be juggled by weak gunfire while they are falling, and Super Heavies cannot be launched and juggled.
Knowledge of an enemy’s weight class is vital to keeping them juggled and killing them in one full combo.
More information on Weight Classes can be found in the Demon Database.
Enemy Armor
Similar to weight classes, each enemy has a sort of super/hyper armor stat. This refers to how many hits of attacks they can absorb before they get flinched or get launched. This typically increases with weight classes and also stacks with enemy Devil Trigger activation on DMD difficulty.
This is a core component of starting combos on heavier enemies. You’ll need to internalize how many ‘hits of armor’ an enemy type has before you can launch them and start a combo. Some characters also offer tools that work as armor burning attacks or launchers that are more consistent for heavier enemies.
Void Practice
Ultimately, executing combos is the product of practice, effort and study. That will take time. It is for that reason that you’ll need to spend a healthy amount of time in The Void to lay down the fundamentals required. You do not need to rush yourself, and you do not need to pull out your hair trying to mimmick overly complicated combos you saw online. But you will need to build up muscle memory and a familiarity of the character’s moveset in order to string competent combos together.
Devil May Cry 5 is a game that rewards your efforts. You just need to focus on having fun, trying to learn new things and never give up.
CAMERA CONTROL
The camera is a big deal in Devil May Cry 5. Primarily because special moves in the game requires camera-relative direction inputs. But also because the camera rotates on its own when enemies go out of view or when you push the camera closer to a wall or surface.
It is recommended you check the in game options and turn up the camera sensitivity so that you have more snappy control over it. You can also choose to pull it closer to the player or draw it further out to see more. You can reduce its tendency to spin behind the player too (not sure if this option actually even works).
There is also an unwritten rule in DMC5: non-boss enemies are not allowed to start attacks while they are off camera. This means that you can deliberately manipulate the camera to keep troublesome enemies off-screen. Making them do nothing except trying to move around to try to get on screen first. Having the camera closer to the player is more effective for this.
However, if they start an attack while they are on screen and you turn the camera to put them off screen during the attack, it’s fair game and you’ll probably get hit from off-screen.
If you want to play this game competently you need to become able to master camera control to some degree. Try to look at the terrain of the combat area and understand that the camera will have a tendency to spin erratically if you put a wall too close to yourself and the target. It can also help to get used to turning it on your own while you are playing so that you can be more sure of your directional inputs.
HOW TO GET GOOD AT DMC5?
The simple answer is that you just need to keep playing the game and have fun. The detailed answer is too hard to give because of how exponentially complex this game can be at higher levels. There is so much that one person can improve on in this game that you can end up playing it for a very, very long time. Maybe even forever(?)
To give a more useful answer, it helps if you are able to identify areas you think you need to work on and then try to formulate a plan to improve upon that. Try to play with the intent to get better and grow as a player. Set small achievable goals for yourself that will keep you motivated. Try to take away the most you can from every play or practice session and you should get better at the game as long as you keep at it.
The most important factor is to have fun. If you’re having a good time, you will become fulfilled from improving and continue to find enjoyment the more you play. Also remember to take care of yourself. Stretch your hands frequently and don’t overwork yourself.
Never give up.