DMC5 Proto Angelo

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Basic Information

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Overview

The Angelo commander. A swordsman with high HP, damage and defense. If there are Scudo Angelos in the battle, Proto Angelo can coordinate attacks with them. Overall, a very dangerous enemy and is tough to kill on higher difficulties.

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Attacks & Quirks

Proto Angelo only has close range attacks, but it can rush in from quite a distance. If you let it attack you, it primarily uses a basic 3 hit combo and a high time 2 hit combo. If you stand behind it, it also has a backswing that attacks behind it.

If you start attacking the Proto Angelo, it will try to guard your attacks with its sword. If you keep attacking it, it can parry you and retaliate with a high time or a backhand slash. The guard has a blind spot behind it where its parries won’t trigger. Note: you cannot guard break the Proto Angelo.

If you make the Proto Angelo guard but it doesn’t trigger a parry, it can rush in and use a heavy overhead attack or a powerful wide slash. These attacks are very dangerous when it enters Devil Trigger or Guts state.

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Proto Angelo’s Guts Mode

Proto Angelo has a Guts state that triggers when its HP drops below 30%. It glows red and gains +30% movement speed as well 50% damage reduction from all attacks. This stacks with Devil Trigger, making this enemy get incredibly high defense (~75% DEF increase) on Dante Must Die difficulty. It also becomes more aggressive while adopting a more focused ‘block-and-counter’ approach to combat.

While in Guts state, the Proto Angelo will always try to make space while guarding. If you pressure it at close range while it guards, it will try to parry you and retaliate with swift combo attacks. Otherwise, it will rush in and use its heavy overhead and wide slash attacks.

Note: ‘Guts’ is a term used in Guilty Gear. It refers to a passive defense modifier you get at low HP.

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Proto Angelo, The Battalion Commander

If there are Scudo Angelos present in the fight, Proto Angelo will fight by commanding them and they will attack as a unit. The Proto initiates this by raising its sword with both hands. There are 2 variations of these team attacks, and you can tell which one they are using by looking at the Scudo’s movements:

• If the Scudos twirl their swords, it’s Formation A: The Scudos charge in first and use a stab attack, followed by the Proto doing its wide swing.
• If the Scudos move backwards, it’s Formation B: The Proto charges in first using its heavy overhead attack, followed by the Scudos doing their shield bash attack (this shield bash attack also has the special break condition. Check the Scudo Angelo page for more information).

You can interrupt the whole team attack by making Proto Angelo flinch. If you interrupt Formation A, the whole group gets staggered. If you interrupt Formation B, all of the Scudos’ shields will all break simultaneously.

If any of the Scudos have a broken shield, they cannot participate in team attacks. Likewise, if the Proto Angelo is in Guts state, he will not coordinate team attacks. The Proto can also only command a maximum of 4 Scudo Angelo’s at a time.

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Strategy for Fighting Proto Angelo

Proto Angelo is a formidable demon that gets more dangerous at lower HP. The main challenges with this enemy are parrying its attacks, isolating it from a crowd and dealing damage to it.

All of the Proto Angelo attacks can be parried, even when its in Guts mode. When parried, it’s put into a stagger animation where it loses its armor hits. This is your biggest chance to launch the Proto Angelo making it well worth the risk of attempting a parry.

Since this enemy often appears with a group of Scudos, you can refer to the Scudo Angelo page to get some pointers on how to handle crowd control. It’s quite risky to take on a Proto Angelo with a bunch of Scudos surrounding him unless you are capable of launching the Proto and killing it in a full combo. It is for this reason that you should consider picking off the Scudos first.

The Proto Angelo Guts defense increase + Devil Trigger defense increase is seriously no joke. It’s a 75% damage cut. You can hammer this guy and he barely even feels it. You really need to bust out the high damage stuff or the fight can stretch out on DMD. Longer fight means more opportunities to make mistakes.

If you manipulate the camera, you can keep the Proto Angelo off-screen so that it does less actions. You can even quickly turn the camera away in reaction to its guarding action, so that you can negate the running power attacks.

Below are some character specific strategies for Proto Angelo.

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Nero Strategy

For parrying, use Split, Shuffle or Payline. Be very careful with your timing as this guy’s attacks hurt.

For dealing damage, use your Exceed to the fullest, Charge Shot Lv3 and use your Devil Breakers liberally but not recklessly. Feel free to use a Break Age on this enemy too. If you manage to knock it down, use Showdown.

If you absolutely do not want to deal with the Proto Angelo’s HP pool, you can bring a Buster Arm and use a Super Buster on it, to take out a fat chunk of its HP. You have to catch it during an air combo, knock it down or make it flinch in order for to land the Buster though, so aim for this after you knock it back or after a parry. It could also help to try to clear out all the other enemies first to lower the risk of taking damage during the Buster animation.

Proto Angelo gets extremely heavy with he enters Guts+DT. The only reliable way to keep the Proto juggled with Nero is to use Aerial Combo and Roulette chaining, but with Bringer Knuckles on every single hit. This is very hard to do but is worth learning if you can. Ragtime and Rawhide can also assist with this.

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Dante Strategy

For parrying, use DSD Helm Breaker, Dance Macabre first hit, Balrog Flint Wheel, Cerberus Revolver, Long Barrel and Ice Age.

You can also use Cerberus Percussion, King Slayer and Balrog Blow Mode attacks to build up heavy stun on the Proto Angelo. Since the fight draws out, you can aim to end up at SSS rank where you can use Sin Devil Trigger Sin Inferno as well. But don’t abuse it plz.

For dealing damage, use Balrog Real Impact (less effective when Proto is laying down), Cerberus Hot Stuff, Cavaliere DT Full Throttle, Cavaliere Air Combo B, Double Kalina Ann Mega Cascade, Dr. Faust Red Shot held down, Red Hot Night, Sin Devil Trigger SDT Combo, Sin Stinger and Judgement.

If you absolutely do not want to deal with the Proto Angelo’s HP pool, you can use Sin Devil Trigger’s Demolition to delete it in one blow. The downside is that this will lock you out of Quadruple S conditions and you’ll have to spend the rest of your SDT. (Exception: You can exit SDT early if the Proto was the last enemy alive on a Bloody Palace floor)

If you are performing an air combo on a Proto and it’s about to enter Guts+DT, try to transition into using Cavaliere’s Air Combo A or Air Combo B. Once all of its defense buffs kick in, this enemy gets so heavy that this is one of the only ways to keep it juggled without it falling out of the combo.

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Vergil Strategy

For parrying, use Beowulf Flush jumps, Lunar Phase, Rising Dragon, Mirage Edge’s Helm Breaker and Stinger.

You can use Mirage Edge attacks, in particular Million Stab, to build up heavy stun on the Proto Angelo.

For dealing damage, use Yamato Perfect Judgement Cut chaining, Yamato Combo A while in SDT, Beowulf Combo B while in SDT, or Vergil’s Super Moves.

If you absolutely do not want to deal with Proto Angelo’s HP pool, pin it to the ground with Heavy Rain Blades then move in and use Beowulf’s Hell On Earth while in SDT. If you have precise timing, you can use Dragon Breaker Lv3 charge with a perfect release.

If you are performing an air combo on a Proto and it’s about to enter Guts+DT, try to transition into chaining Judgement Cuts only. Once all of its defense buffs kick in, this enemy gets so heavy that this is one of the only ways to keep it juggled without it falling out of the combo.

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V Strategy

This fight is gonna take a while so might as well cozy up with your favorite book and brew some nice warm Devil Trigger. Try to air taunt every 20+ seconds and deal damage where you can. If your familiars die, pop DT to bring them back to life and have Nightmare deal some damage too.

Try to not fall below 3 DT blocks unless it’s an emergency and pace yourself.

If you absolutely do not want to deal with Proto Angelo’s HP pool, pause the game, quit to Main Menu and pick a different character ww

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Danger Case: How This Demon Can Kill You

Simple. It enters Guts+DT and hits you for 1 whole life-bar at a time. Proto tends to end up being the last enemy alive, and he thrives off the small mistakes you can make after a long tiring fight. You always assume he has less HP left than he really does, and eventually the question “How are you even still alive?” creeps into your mind as you fight.

Even in 1v1 fights he is still incredibly dangerous in Guts+DT and can kill you very easily. All it takes is 2 mistakes or maybe even 1, and you’re finished. To be honest, you should treat him as you would a boss when he is at low HP. I mean, he is technically the boss of Mission 7.

Respect his gameplan and go with safety first. You can try to style in the face of danger, but if you don’t know what you are doing you will pay for it. Like, legit pay at the Red Orbs revive screen because that’s where you gonna end up.

If you are panicking or starting to feel tired out from a long fight, you could always just pause the game and enter Photo Mode for a short while. A tiny 30 seconds break can do a lot to help you calm down, rest your hands and stop freaking out. Probably not cool to see someone do that in a video or stream though, but that’s different, I guess.

Overall, Proto Angelo is one of the game’s most dangerous demons, and he can kill you even if you know strategies and counter-play. All he needs is 1 mistimed parry, or for you to not realize you are tired.

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