The wait is over for those anticipating Vergil’s side of the story. Vergil’s Downfall picks up where the bitter end of DmC left off. it’s presented as a whole other game when you boot up the disc, and starts off with a Frank Milleresque visual style absent from the original reboot.
And guess what? The combat in the Vergil DLC is, there’s no denying it, tougher than that of the original game. That’s where we come in.
Mission 1 — Personal Hell
Platform across and defeat the Stygians. The biggest differences to Vergil’s playstyle is the absence of a double jump, and a slower but more versatile ranged attack (the Summoned Swords).
Just after the flashback of Vergil and Dante play-fighting, take a left for the first lost soul.
Run back to the main hall and straight ahead for your first Health Cross Fragment.
You can find a second just ahead. Once you’ve teleported the platform closer, move through it and to the next platform. Look to your right and you’ll find a remote island that you can get to. Just hold A to get enough air and use Angel Boost. Beyond that is a ledge area with a second Health Cross Fragment.
Moving along, look to your left before teleporting up to the blue grip. You can cross over for a second lost soul.
Vergil Angel Lift (hereby, I’m calling that VAL) to the blue grip and move along the hallway. Jump down into the collapsed part of the way to encounter a new enemy.
New enemy: Wisp. They have to be made fleshy before you can deal any damage to them. Do this with a Summoned Sword and quickly follow through with combos. You’ll have to use more Summoned Swords pretty often. Defeat the Wisp, then another along with three Stygians.
Follow through the hallway and look left for a third Lost Soul. This is before the Divinity Statue.
Use the Divinity Statue. You should have enough points for an upgrade. Can’t go wrong with Summoned Swords, Level 2.
After the cut-scene of Vergil’s mother speaking to him, look right. There’s a Small Vital Star just out of reach. You don’t have to jump down anywhere. Follow the small clipped ledge to get to it (near the end, you will have to jump around the wall a bit).
Use the special Summoned Sword attacks on the next two Stygians as instructed. You’l then have to teleport a platform towards you. At the platform just beyond that one, explore the back-end of it for a third Health Cross Fragment.
Moving along, you’ll find the level’s last lost soul to be very visible. It’s right when you use Vergil Angel Lift twice in a row. Let yourself fall below for the last soul. You’ll be able to VAL back up.
The biggest battle yet is ahead. The flyers are fragile, though. VAL and a triple combo (you’ll be in the air for this) does the trick. This will also keep you moving against the numerous targeters. Take care of the flyers first, then the Stygians.
The clock is ticking on this next platforming sequence. Run ahead and keep your eyes on the right. That’s where you’ll proceed before continuing across several platforms. When you get to the one with the broken down church-like building on it, look up! You’ll find a sequence of VAL grips that you need to get through. Using Angel Boost between these isn’t necessary.
Once you get to the globe of light, you’ll be faced with one last battle and multiple Wisps. Keep using Summoned Sword on these guys, in whichever flavor you like.
Mission 2 — Hollow
Hold L for Angel Mode (like in DmC, it makes for quicker and broader moves) against these numerous Stygians.
Platform across. Near the end you’ll have to use VAL twice in quick succession.
Careful with these flyers. Use Vergil Demon Pull (VDP) instead of VAL to avoid falling into the emptiness. Used right, you can even destroy these guys with their own grenades. Alternatively, using Summoned Swords at a quick enough pace will destroy them.
Teleport into the portal as instructed.
You’ll come to a fork and a Divinity Statue.
Go left. Platform across and keep your eye on the left. There’s a hallway with a bright portal there. Jump into it and settle down. You’ll see a Health Cross Fragment on the other side of the fence-wall. Use jump, Angel Boost, and Evade to negotiate a quick U turn right where you came from.
Get back to the hallway and move through the portal. It leads to a Large Vital Star.
Then VAL to the grip below you, which doubles as a Boost Ring from the original game. Use these to get across. Once you’re at the big platform, look around for a lost soul.
Continue upward to face a Ravager (chain saw guy). To save serious time, lure it to an edge and Evade behind it as it charges if you need to. Then launch it up by holding B and knock it over the edge with a triple sword combo. This is an indispensable trick for high hit point enemies on edged platforms. You’ll still score loot drops.
You’ll face three more Ravagers. Knock them off!
Move through the portal.
Once through, you’ll chain VAL to a small arena battle.
Three shielded flyers are first. As with Dante, VDP will unshield them and bring them close for you to deal some damage.
Move through the portal, use the Divinity on the left if you need, and VAL across.
Immediately turn right and platform across for a full health cross (it’s on the platform with the spiky monument). Wow!
Keep moving along, minding the catapulted stuff, and VAL up to the big platform. Face off against a few Stygians and Ravagers. Another great move capable of Environmental knock-offs is Aerial Flush (the Angel Mode air move).
Mission 3 — Power Struggle
Platform across. Soon you’ll have a big platform before you with the option of jumping onto the lower left or upper right. Go for upper right, then walk through the arch and turn right back around. VAL up for a lost soul.
VAL to the next platform and hug the wall on your right. You’ll come full circle and make a short jump to a Health Cross Fragment.
Here’s a big arena battle. Use the new Demon Mode to break the Death Knights’ shields. You can also herd Stygians to the edge and knock them off with Aerial Flush.
VDP the train wagons out and platform across. When Vergil says “Where are you, Dante?” take a sharp right for a Small Vital Star.
Moving along, you’ll have to make some platforms solid with Summoned Sword as instructed. This is only temporary, so get going.
Just past a Divinity Statue you’ll be introduced to Vergil’s Devil Trigger Mode, which works pretty differently from Dante’s.
Your last enemy will be a Tyrant. Just Evade it and use VDP on its back. Then move in for standard combos.
After the arena battle, you’ll VDP to some Angel Rings before being treated to a cut-scene of Vergil beating his little brother up. Once that cut-scene is up, immediately turn around, walk a bit and look left for a Health Cross Fragment up on a platform.
Back through the hallway, keep an eye on your right for a room with a lost soul. It’s before the Divinity Statue.
Past the hallway is another battle: shielded flyers, Stygians, and Wisps.
Jump across to the left and move through the curved hallway. Jump and angel boost to the next segment of curved hallway, then immediately turn around. You’ll see a small ledge on the right of the first hallway. Jump and Angel Boost to it for a lost soul.
Go back in the same clockwise direction, using VAL on the grips above the “City Metro” sign. You’ll come full circle onto a narrow curved platform. A bunch of enemies will pop up, and this is the ideal place to use Aerial Flush on them. For the Hell Knights, you’ll have to break their shields first (using VDP or any Demon moves).
After the fight, go through the portal.
Platform across the monument’s debris, using Summoned Sword, VAL and VDP as needed.
Mission 4 — Heartless
You’ll fight new angel-like enemies here. Keep moving to avoid their quick and pretty devastating spears. Knock Stygians off the platform with Aerial Flush, and use VDP on the angels.
After the battle, platform across to the left and chain VAL for a Health Cross Fragment.
Moving along, look right and jump across before moving through the portal. There’s a lost soul there.
Move through the portal.
Big battle. Work your magic, then move through the next portal.
Moving through the hallway, destroy the wooden barricade with any old melee attack.
Defeat the angels, Stygians, and finally, Tyrant before moving on.
In the next area, immediately look up and to your left. There’s a VAL grip there that leads to a lost soul.
Go back down and VAL across the main path. Move through the portal.
Here you can platform across to the right and go nearly full circle for a Health Cross Fragment. It’s tucked away on a third small platform on your right.
Move back to the main platform, then use Summoned Swords on the hollow platforms. One of them is slowly rotating, so time it right to make for a nice flat island.
In the tough battle ahead, keep using that Aerial Flush. Don’t hesitate to use Spiral Sword (the devil trigger move) once the Wisps show up, either. Be sure to materialize them with Summoned Swords so that they take damage from it, though.
Move through the portal, platform across and move through yet another portal.
Somewhat behind and below the Divinity Statue here, you’ll find a Health Cross Fragment.
Platform across for another pretty tough battle, starting with a Witch. Pelt her with Summoned Swords to take down her shield, then VAL to her and use combos.
After battle’s end, a crypt will open up. Follow it down to face the Imprisoner, that huge six-limbed beast you saw chasing after Kat earlier.
This guy’s tough. You’ll have to avoid the weird red barriers it throws up, as well as its charges and thrown rocks. It might not seem like it takes damage, but it does. Throw as many Summoned Swords at is as you can when you’re at a distance, and use a few combos when up close. If you’ve saved up Vital Stars until this point, you’ll be glad you did. Also, don’t skimp on the Spiral Sword!
Mission 5 — Own Shadow
Dodge, use Summoned Swords. Watch for the sword storm attack.
Once you’ve knocked off a little over a third of Hollow Dante’s health, you’ll get to a cut-scene where he moves into the giant black floating heart.
You’ll have to dodge to sets of attacks before Hollow Dante shows up again.
The first is a ring of swords. Solution?
The second is much easier to cope with. Simply running continuously is enough to dodge these area of effect attacks.
Hollow Dante will return with a little more bite. Be sure to pelt him with Summoned Swords, especially when he’s just teleported into the air. He’s open to damage then.
He will regularly gather four Summoned Swords of his own and launch them at you one by one. You need to Evade these as they’re nearly upon you. Any earlier and you’ll get hit.
Hollow Dante will disappear again for large-scale indirect attacks. Again they come in two alternating sets. The seemingly unavoidable ring of swords is back. The other set requires some diligent jumping and Angel Boosts.
Mission 6 — Another Chance
Spawn a Doppelganger as instructed. Use Aerial Flush where you can, destroying Death Knight shields first.
After this battle ending with the Wisps, move on to the next platform and immediately look to your left for a lost soul.
Next you’ll have to solidify two hollow platforms before making it to the next island. As soon as you get to it, look to the right of the main door for a Health Cross Fragment. Above that same door is a lost soul.
Move through the hallway, jumping across the chasm and taking a right.
On the next platform you’ll come across two tough flyers and a Witch. It’s a lot of ranged attacks to keep track of. A wave of shielded flyers and then another Witch with three tough ones are ahead. VDP them and use combos. Mind the Witch’s fiery projectile, and Evade at the last second. That projectile can also be foiled by a VDP if done early enough.
After this battle, jump and Angel Boost to the Devil Trigger Star on your left before using the VAL grip.
Run through the hall to the medium-sized room with two fiery chasms running through it. Use that Aerial Flush.
After this battle, follow the hallway with the Divinity Statue. Use it if you need and keep going.
Big battle here. The Rage you first encounter seems pretty immune to Aerial Flush. Just use Evade, combos, and Summoned Swords.
Next are Stygians along with some Ravagers and Death Knights. Use Aerial Flush on these, knocking out Death Knight shields first. Then comes a pair of Rages.
Before using VAL to move on, explore the part on the right of the island as you face the door you came in from. There’s a Small Devil Trigger star there.
Then VAL up. Move across the next few platforms quickly, because they fall away! One of them needs to be solidified.
You’ll get to another tough, tough battle. Use items and doppelganger here. And Aerial Flush, of course!
Moving along, you’ll use VDP and VAL on a few grips. As soon as you’ve done the second, look left for a Health Cross Fragment.
Jump down ahead for a tricky platforming sequence. Keep moving, and remember that you can solidify a platform with a Summoned Sword even if you’re already airborne and heading for it! The last action in this platforming sequence is a VAL, not a simple leap of faith.
The gates will close on you for one last battle. A doozy. Two Ravagers and a Tyrant are first. Work the former into corners and use Aerial Flush to knock them off. Then Evade the Tyrant’s charges to use VDP and combo it while it’s down.
Stygians and Rages are next. Aerial Flush the Stygians and do your best against the Ravagers. Using doppelganger is smart here.
Finally, the six-limbed beast! Nope, can’t Aerial Flush this one. Just play defensively, jumping away often to use Summoned Swords. Use the entirety of the platform you’re on and work combos on it when you can. Doppelganger, again, is great here. Use any items you have! This is the final battle of Vergil’s Downfall.
