Demon King is the ninth mission in Devil May Cry 5 and the eighth "proper" mission.
June 15th 09:56am[]
Judging by Lady's account, there's little chance that Trish and Dante made it out of the battle against the demon king unscathed. Nero and V pressed on through the subway system and finally reached the roots of the Qliphoth. The ruins of an old house there prompted V to share his thoughts... which only deepened Nero's suspicions. Who or what is V?
Walkthrough[]
Style Points & Time Requirements[]
The following is a table that lists the S rank requirement (Style) based on difficulty level as well as the timing requirements for each "Speed Clear" Extra Bonus. This information was taken from the Devil May Cry 5 Official Complete Guide and was translated by @DMC5Info which can be found here.
| - | Human | Devil Hunter | Son of Sparda | Dante Must Die | Heaven or Hell | Hell and Hell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Style Points | 4000 | 5000 | 5500 | 6000 | ? | 5500 |
| Speed Clear S | 18:30 | 19:30 | 21:30 | 25:30 | 09:00 | 25:30 |
| Speed Clear A | 27:45 | 29:15 | 32:15 | 38:15 | 13:30 | 38:15 |
| Speed Clear B | 37:00 | 39:00 | 43:00 | 51:00 | 18:00 | 51:00 |
Mission[]
Continue down the path where a few Empusas will appear; they're not mandatory and can be safely skipped, as is the case for the following Empusas that will spawn in as you proceed further up the path. Fight them or don't, but either way continue moving forward until you reach a more open area for your first forced battle. Here you'll fight against several Riots and a Green Empusa, the latter of which will only spawn in once one of the Riots has been killed; defeat them and move on to the next room, where you'll see a lava waterfall straight ahead. Make your way to the waterfall where you'll jump onto the moving platform that's created and ride it up until you see a ledge on your left; jump off here to snag some red orbs, then circle back to jump back on the next moving platform that appears. Continue upward, where you'll take your next right just as the platform begins to sink into the waterfall.
Continuing this way, you'll notice some Grim Grips in front of you; shoot them and Wire Bound up to a solid platform with some red orbs and a Devil Breaker. Then continue onward down the path where several Qliphoth Saplings will appear; if you're in the air already, it's possible to simply combine Gerbera and Air Taunt to effectively fly over all of them. Otherwise, fight or ignore them as you run towards the blood elevator in front of you. Check behind it for another Devil Breaker if you're running low, then enter the elevator to progress to the next area.
Some Empusas will spawn in you land; fight or ignore them, but either way you'll want to keep moving forward until you come to an enclosed arena just a short drop from where you're standing. If you have Gerbera equipped, it's possible to skip this fight entirely by using Air Hike and juggling Air Taunt and Gerbera to propel Nero over to the ledge across from you. If you choose to fight, however, simply drop down into the pit where several Hell Caina and Hell Antenora will spawn in. It's possible to defeat all the enemies and proceed through the mission by jumping up onto the ledge opposite where you entered from, however the more likely scenario is that the platform itself is going to fall and take you with it. Any remaining enemies will despawn, the area will be closed off, and enemies will respawn in; for this second fight, you'll be faced with several Hell Caina and an Empusa Queen. Your Style will continue to tick down the longer you aren't fighting anything, so be sure to start swinging as soon as the first enemy appears if you don't want to lose too many points.
Once all enemies have been defeated, continue onward down the path where you'll end up jumping up some small ledges and utilizing a Grim Grip to reach the ledge above. Jump down into the next area and keep going until you reach a large, enclosed area where a new enemy will be introduced: Baphomet. Defeat it to spawn in the second wave of enemies, which will be another Baphomet and several Riots. Once all enemies have been defeated, proceed past the room to find another blood elevator; run around to the back to grab some red orbs before you go, then continue to the next area.
There will be a Divinity Statue where you land where you can access customization if needed. If you'd like to skip the next fight and/or grab a Blue Orb Fragment up ahead, it's recommended to grab Gerbera if you don't already have it equipped. Either way, keep heading down the path until you come across another pit with several Scudo Angelo in it. This fight can be skipped just like the previous pit and you'll snag yourself a Blue Orb Fragment in the process, but if you choose to fight it simply hop down like before. If the platform falls it'll cause a despawn/respawn like last time, only this time with more Scudo Angelo and a Proto Angelo.
Defeat them and continue onward to the next blood elevator.
Keep going until you enter another enclosed area with a forced battle against three Riots and two Baphomet. Once all enemies are defeated, head to the lava waterfall and once again ride the platform up. This time you'll find a platform off to your right that you can jump to; do so, and ride the moving Grim Grips up to the ledge above. This will lead you to Secret Mission 05.
Return to the lava waterfall room and make your way back onto the moving platform; riding it all the way to the top will give you a Gold Orb. Take an immediate left from here, and keep going to the next blood elevator—don't take it just yet. Instead, circle around the back to fight a Qliphoth sapling to spawn a Blue Orb Fragment; grab it, then head deeper into the Qliphoth via the elevator.
You'll notice a phone booth in the immediate area; run up to it and jump on top of the suspended upper half to find a Hidden Red Orb Cache. From here, jump on top of the ledge to your right, then jump over to the next ledge where you see some yellow coloration. Up here, you'll find several Red Empusas and a Gold Orb; defeat them then hop back down to where the phone booth was. Call Nico to prepare for the boss if needed, then proceed up the path just beyond the phone booth; note that multiple Empusas will spawn along the way and none of them are mandatory. You're free to just run past them as you head for Urizen's throne room.
Son of Sparda & Higher Difficulties[]
Enemy differences are as follows:
- The Empusas at the start will be replaced by Hell Caina, with the addition of a single Pyrobat near the entrance to the first forced battle. Just like before, you're free to ignore them; however, if you're attempting to S-Rank this mission you may want to use them to boost your Style in the next fight. Further explanation of S-Rank tactics can be found below.
- The first forced battle replaces the Riots and Green Empusa with two Hell Antenora followed by a Fury. On HaH specifically you are going to want to have Ragtime with you to deal with the Fury. Begin charging it just before the last Antenora dies, then release Slow World on the Fury. Devil Trigger → Showdown is a good way to kill him on SoS and HaH, while you may need to follow it up immediately with Devil Bringer or Devil Buster to finish it off fully on DMD.
- Hell Caina will be waiting for you when you exit the first Blood Elevator instead of Empusas. No difference in strategy, you can just run.
- The Baphomet introductory battle will contain two Baphomets and a Proto Angelo instead of Riots. Because they're capable of several ranged attacks, including one that can sneak up on you, it's best to deal with the Baphomets first and worry about the slow-moving Proto Angelo last. Fully upgraded shots from Blue Rose work well against Proto Angelo, and its sword attacks can be parried easily with Split. Helter Skelter is a good way to break through its guard, though Ragtime's Slow World and Devil Trigger → Showdown also work quite well, assuming that you're attacking from behind.
- The Angelo pit will be replaced with Empusas and a Behemoth will replace Proto Angelo. This fight is a good way to gain Style given the minimal threat posed by Empusas, however the Behemoth can pose a bit of a problem given the area isn't very big and there's minimal places to avoid its rampaging, beyond just staying airborne until its done. Like most areas in this mission, Slow World and Devil Trigger → Showdown against the Behemoth is a good way to deal some massive damage, just be sure to be careful of the Empusas nearby when you activate it; you're not immune to damage during Slow World, and enemies do still move at a very slow pace. On DMD and HaH, finishing the Behemoth off with a fully charged Devil Buster after a Showdown is almost guaranteed to kill it, so you can then focus on the low threat that is a room full of Empusas.
- The room with three Riots and two Baphomets will instead have three Baphomets and a Nobody. Fully charge Gerbera as you run towards the room from the elevator and jump into the air to release Petal Ray once the Baphomets have finished spawning in. Try to deal with them quickly so you can focus on the Nobody alone, staying in the air as much as you can to avoid taking surprise hits while you handle the Baphomets. Once they're gone, Slow World is a good way to beat the Nobody into a stunned state, where you can use Devil Bringer or Devil Buster on it for some major damage. This is a good room to use camera manipulation tactics in due to how small it is and how aggressive the enemies are.
On higher difficulties it's advised to skip non-mandatory fights both to preserve your current Style Points and to reduce the number of opportunities where you can be seriously damaged. The exception to this is the fight against the multiple Empusas and the Behemoth, as it's considered relatively low-risk and is more likely to increase your Stylish Points than tank them.
Ragtime is an extremely useful Devil Breaker to bring along for this mission and it's highly advised that you purchase all upgrades to Color Up as early as possible, with Showdown being another skill that's worth investing in for quick Style Rank Gauge accumulation. Punch Line can also be relatively useful for maintaining Style Rank while getting some distance between yourself and an enemy, though it has less priority than Ragtime or Gerbera.
You should be careful of using Devil Bringer or Devil Buster on enemies while on the ground as being locked in place for several seconds can be a death sentence on DMD or HaH. It's safer to use in the air as most smaller enemies will simply be thrown into the ground while Nero remains in the air, with the exception of Scudo Angelo who Nero will body slam into the ground like a wrestler, followed by several seconds where Nero cannot be controlled as he gets back onto his feet.
Earning a S-Rank[]
Mission 08 is one of the more difficult missions to S-Rank, and while defeating Urizen's two-phase boss fight guarantees you an S-Rank on all difficulties, it can be a sub-optimal strategy as the difficulty level raises. A single hit during phase two instantly ends the mission regardless of difficulty and getting hit at all on HaH immediately strips you of any end-of-mission Style Multipliers—which includes being hit during Urizen's phase two, when Nero is meant to get hit. It's easier to do on H and DH given Urizen's less aggressive AI and easier enemy battles on your way to the throne room, but becomes much harder once you hit SoS. For the sake of this walkthrough, we'll assume killing Urizen isn't our goal.
The important things are never needing to revive and reaching Urizen's throne room with your Style Points already high enough that the 1.2 modifier is enough to carry you over the finish line; this would be 3400 for H, 4200 for DH, 4600 for SoS, and 5000 for DMD. For HaH, you need to enter Urizen's throne room with 5500 points already accumulated because you will lose the 1.2 modifier the moment you get hit. If you go down a total of three times at any point during the mission, you need to restart.
It's possible to use Nero's Snatch and Hold abilities to pick up the enemies in the starting area, extending the fight from the beginning of M08 to the next set of enemies while retaining your active Style Rank Gauge. Ideally you would want to do this in order to enter the forced battle with an existing Style Rank of S or higher, allowing you to further chain your active Style Rank into this fight to maximize your starting score. Note that you can't actually bring the enemy you're holding into the forced battle with you, but you can use Nero's EX Provocation while holding them at the entrance and then kill them in that same spot to increase and preserve your score. On DMD and HaH in particular, if you leave this fight with a score less than 4400 it may be worth restarting the mission.
Aside from this you'll be skipping most non-mandatory battles with the exception of the one with multiple Empusas and a Behemoth. If you manage to retain a Style Rank of SS or SSS throughout the majority of the fight and have maintained at least an S for most of your previous encounters, this should theoretically be enough for you to reach Urizen with the required amount of points.
On HaH specifically, if you reach Urizen's throne room with anything less than 5300 Style Points you may need to restart. You should also ideally be entering the boss fight with no lives lost as you want the sole hit you take to be the one that ends the mission in phase two.
Boss: Urizen[]
This battle, initially, is a repeat of the previous battle with Urizen, following the exact same gameplay combat-wise. The difference now is that unlike the previous battle, Nero is required to shatter the crystal and land a single hit on Urizen in order to finish the mission. Failing to do so and reaching 0HP will result in Nero falling to one knee and you will be prompted to revive using either red or gold orbs.
The next phase begins following a cutscene, where you'll find that Urizen has left his throne and plans to fight you properly. While you can fight him here if you desire, much like the Prologue, Nero is fully expected to lose during this phase and it's generally much quicker and easier to simply allow Urizen to beat you bloody and finish out the mission.
Should you choose to fight, note that Urizen is much more active in his second phase; he not only has new attacks, but they're less spaced out and are harder to dodge effectively. Like the first phase, you will have to break his crystal in order to deal damage to him; should you reduce him to 0HP, you get the same secret ending that defeating him in the Prologue would give you and unlock the next difficulty level.
Note that if your goal is to defeat Urizen solely to unlock all difficulty levels, it's recommended to use Prologue Urizen due to him only having one phase to deal with. If you're attempting to S-Rank and/or no-hit this mission and struggling to do so, however, defeating Urizen here is also one way that you can guarantee yourself an S-Rank.
Attacks[]
Urizen's phase one attacks can be found in the Prologue Walkthrough. This section will address his moves for phase two specifically.
- Crystal Counter: The crystal protecting Urizen will launch a close-range counter attack after being repeatedly hit for a certain period of time.
- Shockwave: Urizen claps his hands together, creating a huge shockwave that deals no damage but will push Nero back. Can be dodged through using Nero's Table Hopper ability.
- Summon Qliphoth Sapling: Urizen will summon 2 Qliphoth Saplings somewhere near the outer edges of the arena. On lower difficulties, destroying these will drop Green Orbs.
- Homing Tentacles: A tentacle from Urizen's back will track Nero for several seconds, injuring him upon making contact. If it hits, a follow up attack is launched with multiple tentacles rapidly converging on Nero's location to do significant damage. While these tentacles are annoying, you only really need to worry about the first second or so that this attack begins and the final moment before it's retracted, as these are the moments when it is more actively attempting to harm Nero. Can be dodged using Table Hopper or avoided with well-timed aerial movement.
- Sweeping Laser: A large, long-range laser that sweeps horizontally in a wide swing. Urizen does not need to stand still once this has been placed down and can continue to use other attacks while this one is in motion. Can be jumped over.
- Laser Rain: Urizen will summon a barrage of lasers down on the spot where Nero is standing. This attack will not follow Nero if he moves once purple circles have started to appear under his feet and is slow on the upstart, making simply running in any direction a viable strategy for avoiding it.
- Scorching Bullet: Two giant, flaming spheres will be thrown in a straight line towards Nero's most recent location as of each sphere's individual start-ups. Because they're so big, it's unlikely that you'll be able to avoid them simply by running, as you can with a majority of projectiles. Instead, they can be dodged or sent back at Urizen using Gerbera or melee attacks. On SoS and higher difficulties, the spheres are no longer in a straight line and instead gain the ability to hit the ground and bounce, meaning jumping into the air to avoid them isn't a safe tactic unless you're also using Gerbera.
- Devil Eruption: Several geysers of demonic flame appear beneath Nero's feet, erupting from the ground after a second or so.
- Tentacle Sweep: The tentacles on Urizen's back sweep horizontally in an attempt to hit Nero. This is a close-range attack that triggers if Nero is within range for a long enough period of time and is often paired with Urizen jumping back, away from the player.
- Front Punch: Urizen raises his fist up and brings it crashing down to the ground in a strong punch. The tentacles on his back follow this attack, with several of them spearing the area of impact at the same time for a large amount of damage. Relatively easy to dodge.
- Back Knuckle: Urizen spins around to punch Nero at close range, with the tentacles on his back following suit. Similar to the above attack in terms of overall execution and how easy it is to avoid it.
- Slow Sphere: Only on SoS and higher difficulties. A large, time-slowing sphere will be thrown out to cover Urizen's immediate surrounding area. Being caught in this sphere will slow Nero down considerably.
Gallery[]
