DMC5 Empusa Queen

---

Basic Information

---

Overview

The blood and damage sponge. This demon is a huge cockroach that has high HP and attack damage. It tries to jump on you and drink your blood to power itself up. It’s usually the last enemy alive and is quite dangerous in Blood Absorption state.

---

Attacks & Quirks

Empusa Queen primarily fights with close range claw swipes and long range jump attacks. This demon can drink your blood, or blood from pools in the stage to enter Blood Absorption state. In this state, Empusa Queen glows red and gains increased damage, increased defense and becomes a lot more aggressive. Its threat level essentially doubles when it drinks blood.

At close range, Empusa Queen has a double claw overhead attack. It’s relatively slow and can be parried. But if it lands, it will start drinking your blood making it a bit risky to parry if you mess up the timing.

Empusa Queen has a swiping rush attack where she growls a bit then moves forward while swinging the claws left to right. If any of the hits catch you she will start drinking your blood. The turn radius of this attack is very weak so if you are behind her or on her sides, you don’t have to worry about getting hit. After the left to right swiping rush, Empusa Queen finishes with the double claw overhead mentioned above that can also be parried.

At long ranges, Empusa Queen can do a jumping press attack where she jumps upwards and then pounces on you. She can repeat this up to 3 times in a row. How this enemy can jump that high with those twig legs and weight distribution is beyond me, but if she catches you she will start drinking your blood. If you get hit with her body or butt, you will be grounded instead. This attack can be parried from the front when she lands.

If you see Empusa Queen pausing and looking around, she is trying to find a pool of blood to drink from. If she spots one she will jump on it and start drinking to enter Blood Absorption state. If there are no nearby pools of blood, she will try to do a jumping press attack and drink blood from you instead.

In normal state, Empusa Queen’s gameplan is to drink your blood, but that leaves her with a lot of openings as a result. However, she also has some fast swiping attacks that cannot be parried. These attacks are also more common if you’re on her sides or when she enters Blood Absorption state.

---

Blood Absorption State

In Blood Absorption state, you will see quick left and right claw swipes more often. These attacks have surprisingly long reach. The overhead claw into swipe combo attack also becomes more common, and she also has a higher chance to do the jumping press attack 3 times in a row.

Blood Absorption state ends after a set time, or if you manage to land a parry on Empusa Queen while it is in the state. The double overhead attack and the jumping press are the parries you want to look for, but the risks are high so you’ll need to stay cool and time your parry attempt properly.

It seems like Empusa Queen’s Devil Trigger activation makes parrying the jumping press harder.

---

Strategy for Fighting Empusa Queen

Empusa Queen is a damage sponge that can take a hell of a beating. The main challenges with this enemy are evading its attacks, parrying and dealing damage.

If she starts drinking your blood, you can break the grab with Devil Trigger activation or Nero’s Break Away. For this reason, it is recommended that you try to keep above 3 DT blocks when engaging Empusa Queen. Or don’t get hit.

Empusa Queen doesn’t have any attacks from behind it. This means that if you target its booty you can stay relatively safe since the claw attacks have a higher chance to miss you back there. You’ll give up some damage though as all body parts excluding her head are armored. Also keep in mind that the lock-on will always try to send you towards the head.

Since Empusa Queen is a Super Heavy, you cannot launch this enemy. The only stun type that is effective is heavy stun. You can make her flinch or knock her out of the air during the jumping press attack, but this is an enemy that will have you navigating its attacks while trying to deal damage. So you’ll need to learn its attacks and come up with a combat approach that suits you.

Below are some character specific pointers and things to look out for when fighting Empusa Queen.

---

Nero Strategy

You can Buster the Empusa Queen if you make it flinch, but the window isn’t that big so you’ll need to be swift.

For parrying, use Split or Shuffle primarily. The risk for parrying an Empusa Queen is quite high so use what you’re the most comfortable with.

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 since its HP pool on high difficulties is no joke.

If you absolutely do not want to deal with the Empusa Queen’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 or kill it entirely on lower difficulties.

---

Dante Strategy

If you want to Royal Release the jumping press attack, take note that you will have to input the command in the opposite direction. This is because the lock-on point is Empusa Queen’s head, but when she jumps on you, she hits you with her belly. So the lock-on point will be behind you when she lands, effectively crossing up your inputs.

For parrying, use DSD Helm Breaker, Balrog Flint Wheel, Cerberus Revolver and Ice Age.

You can also use Cerberus Percussion, King Slayer and Balrog Blow Mode attacks to build up heavy stun on the Empusa Queen. 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.

For dealing damage, use Balrog Real Impact, Divine Dragon, Cerberus Hot Stuff, 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.

If you absolutely do not want to deal with the Empusa Queen’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 Empusa Queen was the last enemy alive on a Bloody Palace floor)

---

Vergil Strategy

Empusa Queen’s lock-on point is her head. This means Air Trick will typically of teleport you into an airborne state which might be a bit disconcerting if you aren’t ready. Always keep this in your mind when teleporting to Empusa Queen.

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

You can use Mirage Edge Million Stab, repeated Helm Breakers or SDT Stinger to build up heavy stun on the Empusa Queen. This will give you a chance to charge up Beowulf strikes.

For dealing damage, use Yamato Perfect Judgement Cut chaining, Yamato Combo A while in SDT, Beowulf LV3 Charges, Beowulf Combo B while in SDT, or Vergil’s Super Moves.

If you absolutely do not want to deal with Empusa Queen’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.

---

V Strategy

V’s familiars take 2.5x damage from Empusa Queen’s double overhead attack. This means that if you screw up a parry on it, you are probably going to lose a familiar.

Try to build up DT blocks by reading your book and air taunting every 20+ seconds. Keep an eye on your familiars and when you see Empusa Queen try to hit one of them, use the corresponding dodge to bring them to safety. Just be careful to not let this end with you getting caught up in her successive jumping press combo.

If one of you familiars dies, pop Devil Trigger to bring them back to life. But try to not go below 3 DT blocks.

For dealing damage, call down Nightmare.

If you absolutely do not want to deal with the Empusa Queen’s HP pool, tough luck. Play a better character.

---