This is a post discussing tips and strategies for the Final Boss Battle in Devil May Cry 5, and discusses the Devil May Cry 5 Ending.  Don’t read any further unless you have already beaten the game, and are prepared for spoilers discussion.

* SPOILERS *

The tips & strategies provided here are based off the Devil Hunter difficulty.  Things may differ on the higher difficulties.  The aim of this guide is to help familiarize you to what awaits, so that you can reduce your damage and find opportunities for offense, to be able to unlock the ‘Battle for the Ages‘ trophy/achievement.  This achievements requires that you clear Missions 19 & 20 without using any continues (using red orbs or gold orbs to revive).



It is recommended that you purchase as many of the purple orb fragments that you can from Nico’s shop (Customize).  This increases the time you can deal major damage and heal.  Of course, the blue orbs are also important, since they contribute to increasing your vitality (health).

Below is a video to the Devil May Cry 5 Ending, complete with both boss fights.  You can skip to Dante v. Vergil at 13:57, and Nero v. Vergil at 22:31.

Devil May Cry 5 Ending – Mission 19: Vergil // (Dante v. Vergil)

This fight with Dante against Vergil is where you will learn all his attack patterns.  Vergil doesn’t introduce anything new in the Nero fight.  So you can study him here and apply that knowledge through Mission 20.  I suggest you switch to Dante’s Royal Guard stance (d-pad DOWN).  This lets you block any incoming attacks as long as you have Devil Trigger (purple gauge).  Make sure you have unlock the appropriate skills unlocked/purchased.

If you attempt to strike at Vergil, he can teleport above you in the air, and strike down.  You’ll only have a small window of time here to deflect or dodge the attack.  If you successfully dodge/block, you have an opportunity to punish him.  But it’s not something I recommend initiating just yet.

Devil May Cry 5 Ending – Mission 19: Vergil // Phase 1

This first phase of the battle will be mainly to fill up your Sin Devil Trigger gauge, from the Accumulate ability (Devil Trigger transfer).  As the game tells you, you do this by causing damage (or receiving damage).  BUT!  You can also do this by blocking at the exact time from attacks (while in Royal Guard stance).  And so this is where the trick to ending this fight quickly comes in.

When the battle starts, you’ll want to refrain from doing too much damage to Vergil while maintaining distance.  At a distance, Vergil will shoot blue projectile shards at Dante.  These can be hit back to Vergil by attacking with Dante’s sword, but it’s better to use Royal Guard and perfect block each hit so that it builds the Devil Trigger.  Once you get an opening to attack, any standard combo is fine.

You don’t want to do too much damage because it will hasten the end of this phase.  When Dante has done about 40-50% damage to Vergil’s health, Dante will say: “it’s just about time to settle this.”  Vergil will then transform to his Devil form.  You don’t want this to happen until you’ve got a full Sin Devil Trigger bar.  In fact, I recommend having a full SDT bar, as well as the Devil Trigger.

Devil May Cry 5 Ending – Mission 19: Vergil // Phase 2

Once Vergil has transformed into his Devil form, continue to block his attacks and study them.  He’ll shoot out three blue spherical damage bubbles.  Sometimes he’ll attack three times in a row, with a delay in between each attack.  Some times he can attack twice, and end the third attack with a damage bubble.  As long as your timing with the block is good, you’re pretty much invulnerable from everything he’s got.

Resist the temptation to turn on Sin Devil Trigger until Vergil focuses his attack in the center of the arena.  This is when he will start flying around and do three swoops into Dante.  During this attack, he’ll generate swords around Dante that need to be attacked to get rid of.  If you want to avoid this like I do, then that’s the time to transform to Sin Devil Trigger.

You don’t have much time to damage him in this form.  You can quickly teleport to him using Advent, but it’s a waste of time chasing him around.  I suggest unlocking two Sin Devil Trigger abilities: Demolition, and The Luce.  The Luce is able to take off a huge chunk of his health, and force him back to human form into Phase 3.

Devil May Cry 5 Ending – Mission 19: Vergil // Phase 3

Once Vergil is back to human form, switch to Dr. Faust (the hat Nico gave Dante).  Activate the Man in Red ability.  This will generate the red orbs around Dante acting as a protective barrier.  At some point during this phase, Vergil will summon a protective ring of swords around him, and the Man in Red ability will counter this.  If Vergil focuses an energy dome, you need to get clear of the area to avoid major damage.

Vergil should be down to about the last 30% of his health.  If you’ve got enough for another Sin Devil Trigger transformation, use it.  If you are good with countering, you can use the Royal Guard Royal Release ability, which will also do a lot of damage.  You might have to spend some time in The Void to practice all these skills.  (With the unusual stance of Dr. Faust, it’s hard to tell which direction is directly forward).  At any time you find yourself low on health, remember that Devil Trigger form regenerates health.

Devil May Cry 5 Ending – Mission 20: True Power // (Nero v. Vergil)

With the newfound knowledge of a father, Nero doesn’t know what to do.  He speaks briefly with Kyrie for guidance, and she centers him.  Overwhelmed by emotion and with the drive to keep his new family, he summons the strength to keep Vergil and Dante from killing each other.  He awakens his Devil Trigger form.  Dante steps this one out, and let’s Nero and Vergil settle things.

Devil May Cry 5 Ending – Mission 20: True Power // Phase 1

Just like with Dante, Vergil will shoot shard projectiles at Nero.  You can time your sword attack to send them back to Vergil, but it’s a risky move with little reward.  You can play it safe and just dodge them.  Dodge Vergil’s attacks, and immediately attack during the small window of opportunity.  Attack too late and he’ll deflect and block.  After taking his health down a bit, the game will prompt you with a tutorial message on how to activate Devil Trigger, and grab the prone Vergil.  You have a choice here.

The first choice is to do as the game says, and grab Vergil.  This will make Nero perform a very damaging move with the Yamato, but it will slow the pace of the fight a bit.  The second option is to continue attacking Vergil while he’s prone.  Varying your combos will allow you to get S Rank much quicker than if you were to perform the grab attack.  Secondly, there is the important fact that the initial Devil Trigger transformation has a priority interrupt action.

Devil May Cry 5 Ending – Mission 20: True Power // Phase 2

After taking Vergil’s health down about 30-40%, the music will change.  Vergil is likely to perform his dome area attack — if you’re within this dome, you’re going to get hurt bad.  But if you haven’t transformed into Devil Trigger yet, you can go up to Vergil and transform, knocking him out of the focused attack.  This transformation doesn’t always perform an interrupt, but it seems more likely to happen when you have a fuller Devil Trigger gauge (and while grounded).  The DT transformation is good for quickly getting rid of swords surrounding you.

After a while, Vergil will turn into his Devil form and spawn a clone.  It is recommended that you disengage the lock-on and focus on this enemy.  Stay in the air to avoid Vergil’s attacks, and pull the clone enemy towards you.   If you Exceed/Ex-Act most of your attacks, you might be able to finish off Vergil before he does his annoying swooping attack.  Keep in the air as much as possible — the Payline attack ability is very useful since it deflects the projectile shards.  If you are low on health, remember that Devil form regenerates health.  Just keep in mind that there is a rhythm between dodging and attacking.

What’s next for Devil May Cry?  Devil May Cry 6.

And that is it for the Devil May Cry 5 Ending.  Dante and Vergil are stuck in the Underworld fighting demons.  Nero, Lady, Trish, and Nico are the ones remaining on Earth.  It’s a satisfying ending that leaves both parties separate.  Morrison approaches Lady and Trish with a job for them.  Nero and Nico are still fighting the remaining demons.  It’s possible we may get a spin-off game that features Lady and Trish.  Although I’m not sure how likely that they would be the main characters in a direct numbered sequel.

One thing fans can look forward to, is a reunion between all members.  After all, Nero has just found out he has new family — with Dante as his uncle and Vergil as his father.  Nero’s intervention to end the sibling rivalry should close the already exhausted chapter of a continued clash between the brothers.  A new outside threat is likely to be introduced.  Devil May Cry 6 could explore the effects of the newly discovered family ties.  After all, Vergil did say that the next time he fought Nero, he would not lose.  What do you think will happen in a sequel?  Drop your comments below.