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Arachne are enemies in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, and are first encountered during Mission 9: Faded Memories. They are the souls of human women that were transformed into monsters as they entered the netherworld.[1]

Appearance[]

Arachne resembles a pack of giant spiders with vaguely humanoid features. They have many eyes and their forearms are transformed into a pair of blades, resembling those of a Praying Mantis, an abdomen detailed in colored segments and have smaller babies that sometimes come out upon death. The smaller, weaker variant have a blue and white body and the larger, stronger ones are green. Sometimes upon death, small white baby spiders spawn.

Gameplay[]

Arachne are weak to fire, so Agni & Rudra are the strongest weapon to use against them.

Arachne are aggressive, and fast for their size - the green "strain" even more so. They will jump around all over the place during the battle - let them come to you.

Arachne possess multiple attacks. The first attack is signified by a high pitch scream and the Arachne swing both of their claws damaging in a cross.

For the second attack, Arachne will let out a low pitch scream while lowering their bodies to the ground and lunging at the player. Once the launch begins it cannot be interrupted unless you use Beowulf's Killer Bee. This attack is also the follow up to the Arachne's parry - another ability of this demon. Watch out, as the lunge attack has a very long reach, and can hit you twice.

The third attack is signified when Arachne swells her abdomen. It immobilizes the player with webbing from the ground or wall. The web can be escaped from by wiggling the left analog stick or activating Devil Trigger. If not, then Arachne wil jerk you towards herself, only to slice you with her forearms.

The fourth attack is performed only when the Arachne jumps onto a wall: Arachne will suddenly kick off the wall and perform a dive-roll towards the ground. Evade from a large distance, as this attack starts quickly and the Arachne will recover soon as well.

The fifth attack is also done from the wall. The Arachne will again swell to charge another projectile attack, but instead of a websling, she will project a web fluid that cannot wrap you, and will instead damage you on spot. This rarely seen attack has a slight splash effect.

Arachne can be easily knocked out if you retaliate with a strong, knock-back attack (e.g. Stinger) at the right moment. Do so after the Arachne's first or second attack - interrupt her, then knock her back for an easy knock out. The wall-climbing Arachne can also be forcibly taken down, but that is much harder - try the aerial attacks to knock the spider demon down to the floor. However, DT Arachne are extremely hard to stun, and the green variety is all but impossible to knock out when in DT.

The post-mortem baby spiders will crawl on the player and explode after a few seconds for light damage. Once on the player, jumping or attacking will knock them off and kill them respectively. Gunfire can also kill them; use Ebony&Ivory for more reliable disposal. If you wish, Devil Trigger to kill off the baby spiders instantly with your energy aura (just approach the spiderlings to get rid of them this way).

Appearances in Other Media[]

TEPPEN[]

The Arachne is featured in its own card in the game (No. COR 099), as part of the Core Card Pack. It is a purple unit card.

Background[]

Arachne was a renowned weaver in Greek mythology. Her skills were said to be greater than even those of the goddess Athena, and so the jealous goddess challenged her to a weaving duel. While Athena wove a scene glorifying the gods, Arachne wove a scene which depicted all of the gods' misdeeds. Athena then transformed Arachne into the first spider. Tales vary as to why, from Athena winning and turning a despondent Arachne into one out of pity, a jealous rage over losing, or simply being disgusted by the tapestry’s images showing the gods’ antics.

Trivia[]

  • The miniature spiders that often appear when an Arachne is killed are similar to the Phantom Babies from the first game.

See also[]

References[]

  1. Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, Lesser Demons File — Arachne: "Once the soul of a human female, the soul transformed when it reached the outer crust of the netherworld. Uses her tightly spun spider webbing to ensnare her victims."
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