Alastor

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Alastor
Name information
Alternate names	Thunder Sword
Weapon information
Type	Devil Arm
User	Dante
Form	Sword
Element	Lightning
Real-life information
Appearances	Devil May Cry Devil May Cry Drama CD Vol.1

“

I am Alastor. The weak shall give their heart and swear their eternal loyalty to me.

”

—Alastor, Devil May Cry

Alastor is a living Devil Arm, the "Thunder Sword" and "Spirit of Lightning", appearing in Devil May Cry. It is also one of the two keys alongside Ifrit that can unlock Dante's inner power. It can only be wielded by the "chosen one" who can conquer it, but it is able to grant its possessor lightning speed and aerial capability.

Appearance

Alastor has the head of a dragon biting the blade, with the wings of the dragon acting as the guard of the sword. The hilt has a swirling pattern leading to skulls at the bottom with a spike pointing out.

Gameplay

Alastor's basic combos are the same as those of Force Edge, but it deals more damage and has a larger moveset, as well as providing access to the Devil Trigger. It is slightly faster than Yamato, which is otherwise a direct copy of Alastor. Its lightning element is effective against most enemies, though it deals decreased damage to Plasmas and even less to Frosts. It is faster to attack than Ifrit and offers better mobility options since Ifrit does not have Air Hike, but is significantly less damaging.

Alastor allows Dante access to several new techniques: Stinger is a rushing stab attack which allows Dante to quickly move between enemies and keep up his Stylish Rank. Like High Time, it can be inserted into any of Alastor's combos at any point to act as a "finisher" of sorts. It also allows the player to manually trigger the long-jump animation on platforms where it is not scripted. Round Trip allows Dante to throw the sword at an enemy, having it twirl around dealing constant damage. In this state, Dante lacks his sword and will switch to doing Ifrit's basic punch-kick combo until it returns, though it is nothing like as powerful as when the Devil Arm is equipped. Air Hike allows Dante to perform a second jump in mid-air, enhancing his mobility in combat and allowing him greater height and control while moving around the castle.

Using Devil Trigger allows Dante to take on the qualities of Alastor, increasing his movement and attack speed as well as his damage output. In addition, with the proper moves purchased the Alastor DT form is able to take to the skies, casting down lightning bolts at his enemies with Air Raid, which are more powerful than attacks from Ebony & Ivory or Luce & Ombra, or launching into a deadly swirling physical attack called Vortex. While in Air Raid, Dante can also simply fly horizontally at a fixed altitude: some of the castle's secrets can only be reached by doing so. In DT mode Alastor's damage output is similar to that of Sparda outside DT.

Alastor has an animation-cancelling exploit usually referred to as "slash cancelling" which is commonly used by high-level players. This is done by performing a complete rotation of the left analog stick during an attack animation: if done correctly, the recovery frames of the swing will be cut short. Attacking at this point will start the combo over, allowing for very rapid attacks. This can be performed with Alastor's first and second swing animations, and with the second upward swing of the 4-hit combo. It also works with Force Edge, Sparda and Yamato.

At any time, the player can switch between Alastor and Ifrit (once the latter is acquired) by clicking the right analog stick. This results in a short animation, usually long enough to break the current Style Rank. This can be avoided by going into the "Devil Arms" section of the pause menu and switching there: doing this, the effect is instantaneous.

Equipping Alastor results in a cosmetic change to the in-game menu, with arcs of lightning framing the screen. When Dante has Alastor, Ifrit and Sparda, the lightning will merge with fire and red faint sparks in the Divinity Statue menu.

Story

Devil May Cry - Dante Aquires the Alastor

Dante Aquires the Alastor

Devil May Cry

Dante finds Alastor embedded in the chest of a sculpture of an agonized woman, and it speaks to Dante of its intent to enslave him. It flies through the air and impales him through the chest, pinning him to the ground and seemingly killing him. However, Dante awakens, pulling himself upward and off the blade, causing heavy bleeding. He then reaches out and takes the sword, subduing the demon within.

After that point, Dante can use Devil Trigger and channel Alastor's power, enhancing his attacks with lightning and allowing him to take the form of a winged, tailed Demon.

Devil May Cry Drama CD Vol.1

Like many of Dante's Devil Arms, Alastor is held in Enzo's pawn shop, where Dante gives him a periodic payment to hold on to them. While fighting Lady who was "possessed" by Titania, Alastor flew to Dante and protected him from a strike. He subsequently used Alastor to destroy Titania. Dante uses Alastor along with various other Devil Arms to lure a demon who was stockpiling them. After the demon is defeated, Alastor is returned to Enzo along with the rest of the Devil Arms.

Movesets

Devil May Cry

Action	Cost	Command	Description
Alastor Combo I	N/A	,,	A quick 3-hit combo.
Alastor Combo II	N/A	,,-,,	Quickly slash the enemies in front of you 4 times before you slash down with great power. When using Devil Trigger, this replaces Alastor Combo I (in other words the need to pause between the second and third inputs is negated).
Million Stab	N/A	,,—, (rapid)	Quickly stab the enemy with blinding speed creating enough momentum to blast them backward.
High Time	N//A	++	Swing the sword in an upward rising motion, bashing up enemies into the air. Continue holding to jump, and again to slash down.
Air Hike	4,000	(mid-air)	Double jump in the air.
Round Trip	1,550	(hold and release)	Throw the sword like a boomerang.
Round Trip Combo	N/A	, , (Round Trip)	A right-left punch followed by a torso kick and a roundhouse kick.
Stinger	Level 1: 350; Level 2: 1400	++	With lightning speed, plunge the sword into enemies. Level 2 plunges the sword from an even further distance. If performed near an edge, the Stinger will continue into the air and become a long jump.
Vortex	Level 1: 1,150; Level 2: 2,400	(Air Raid)	Damage enemies with an intense spinning body attack. Level 2 keeps attacking as long as DT gauges last.
Air Raid	750	(mid-air, Devil Trigger)	Become airborne and be capable of performing aerial electrocution attacks. Press / to strike electrocution.

Other appearances

Viewtiful Joe

Main article: Blade Master Alastor

Alastor's manifested spirit, Blade Master Alastor, appears as a recurring boss and sometimes as a playable character in the Viewtiful Joe series, also by Capcom. It is revealed in Dante's story line of the game that Alastor has left the sword due to Dante's carelessness. Dante responds by saying Alastor "really knows how to hold a grudge." Also, Dante wields the Alastor during his appearances in Viewtiful Joe and Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble.

Devil May Cry 2 (novel)

Alastor is used by Trish in "alternate universe" Beastheads sends Dante and Beryl to.

Sengoku Basara

Alastor also appears as one of the final weapons for Date Masamune in Sengoku Basara 2, and there are six copies of Alastor that Date Masamune can use. When you first acquire Alastor with Azure Dragon, it is actually called "Azure Prophet".

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

Alastor appears as a craftable weapon for palicoes by using 2 "Amulet Keepsake"s from the mission "Gravios May Cry".

Monster Hunter World

Alastor was shown in a teaser for a Devil May Cry themed expansion in Monster Hunter World, as a celebration for the launch of the DMC: HD Collection on PS4, Xbox One and PC in March 13, 2018. Alastor, along with DMC Dante costume can be crafted with materials and Red Orbs obtained by playing an event mission. In the game Alastor is a different form of Force Edge that can be used during battle.

Background

Alastor, meaning "Avenger", was a genius or spirit of familial feuds in classical mythology, and encouraged violent retribution. In this respect, it often referred to Zeus, the lightning god. In Christian demonology, it became the chief executioner of Hell. 

Gallery

Main article: Alastor/Gallery

Trivia

• The model for Alastor is used as a generic sword several times in Devil May Cry, including multiple swords using its model shown in Dante's office.

Devil May Cry Trial Edition, Force Edge mode selection menu.

• In the Japanese version of the Devil May Cry Trial Edition, Force Edge used the model for Alastor and had the same element and some of the same abilities while in "Air" mode.
• One of the hosts of the series Mythbusters, Jamie Hyneman, has a prop version of Alastor which can be seen in his office. This is because his visual effects company, M5 Industries, was behind the US Devil May Cry commercial.
• Okami features a similar lightning sword called "Thunder Edge." The lunge attack performed when this sword is selected as a secondary weapon is very similar to Alastor's Stinger.
• In Devil May Cry 5, one of the advertisements seen in Red Grave City is for "Alastor Express."
• The speedrunning community for Devil May Cry jokingly refer to the Vortex attack as "Psycho Crusher" due to the move somewhat resembling M. Bison's signature attack in the Street Fighter series.