King Cerberus is a shapeshifting Devil Arm acquired by Dante during the events of Devil May Cry 5. It is the weapon form of the demon King Cerberus, and embodies his powers over ice, fire and lightning, with the ability to transform between a three-handled nunchaku like the original Cerberus, a fire-tipped bō staff and a three-section staff charged with lightning.[1]
Appearance and Description[]
King Cerberus has three forms it can shift between in combat. The default form is similar to the original Cerberus, being a three-handled set of nunchaku with the chains connected together via a central ring. The handles of King Cerberus are rather different, however: rather than just having spikes at the very tip, the upper halves of the handles are covered in serrated ice structures, giving them an appearance like the head of a mace.
In its lightning form, the three handles separate, the ring disappearing and streaks of lightning connecting the three parts instead of chains: the three sections, meanwhile, shift into a form resembling a double-ended mace with two small spiked heads. The fire form fuses the three sections into a long staff with flames burning at its tip.
File[]
- Nico's Weapon Report - King Cerberus
- Dante used to have a Devil Arm called Cerberus way back when. If Dante went and turned that one in for an upgrade, this's what he'd end up with.
- The so-called king of the Cerberus clan wasn't just whistling Dixie, let me tell ya. This arm changes shape, releasing fire, ice, even lightning as it tears through everything in its path.
- As a craftsman, I'm pretty keen to figure out how you could cram all of those powers into this one slick weapon.
Gameplay[]
King Cerberus is acquired at the end of Mission 16: Diverging Point: Dante. It is a three-mode weapon. Unlike Balrog the mode selection is not based on toggling between modes: rather, it defaults to a moveset very similar to the Devil May Cry 3 Cerberus, with the lightning moves accessed through charge commands and the fire moves via standard combo commands using the Style button in Swordmaster Style.
King Cerberus in all its forms remains heavily ground-based and a fairly poor choice for initiating aerial combat due to its lack of a follow-through launcher in any form, though it is far less limited once actually in the air than the Devil May Cry 3 Cerberus as it now has a total of six aerial moves instead of two.
While in its ice state, King Cerberus performs rapid short-range attacks similar in utility to Balrog's Blow Mode: per-hit damage is low, but the rapid barrage of hits results in damage stacking up quickly. Because the weapon lacks any moves for rapidly moving between enemies, it can benefit from being combined with Trickster Style moves.
It shares most of Cerberus' moveset from Devil May Cry 3, though Flicker, Satellite, and Million Carats are not present, and Windmill is no longer a distinct move and now only occurs at the end of Cerberus Combo B. As with the back-command Windmill or the old Satellite Crazy Combo in Devil May Cry 3, the length of the final attack in this combo can be increased by hitting the melee button repeatedly while the Windmill animation is playing. Revolver returns as King Cerberus' forward command move, though unlike the original Cerberus' Revolver, it can also be performed in the air: quickly switching to King Cerberus to perform a Revolver is an excellent addition to an aerial combo. Another change is that Crystal and Ice Age are no longer Swordmaster moves: Crystal uses the command for Windmill, giving King Cerberus a basic back-plus-melee launcher (albeit still with no ability to follow an enemy into the air), while Ice Age is a back-forward command move. Ice Age retains its ability to render Dante briefly invulnerable while generating a damaging sphere of coldness around him. Though its utility is somewhat decreased now that Dante always has access to Royalguard Style, it's much easier to effectively use because it can be cancelled into several other actions.
The lightning attacks are performed using two charge inputs, holding either the melee button or the Style button while in Swordmaster mode. The game only checks directional inputs when the button is released, so a charge is "generic" and can be used to perform any move assigned to the button that is being held. A charge can be started while another attack animation is still going. Dante can hold charges for both the melee and Style buttons at the same time, though this is of limited practical use since most of the moves cannot interrupt each other. Releasing a charge during an animation the move cannot interrupt will waste the charge rather than queuing up the move.
The basic lightning attacks are all long-ranged: Long Barrel is a thrusting attack which extends the weapon a long distance, knocking an enemy into the air if used on the ground. Long Revolver is a more damaging and longer-ranged version of Revolver which can also be performed in the air, while Thunder Clap creates four electrical homing orbs that will slowly chase enemies around for a while, inflicting damage-over-time to foes that touch them.
The Swordmaster lightning attacks instead have a focus on area: Revolution and Turbulence perform short multi-hit combos which hit all around Dante, while King Slayer is a long canned combo like Balrog's Pyromania. Percussion is an AoE attack rather like Ifrit's Inferno which causes lightning to strike the ground all around Dante: the upgrade for the move increases the effect radius.
The fire-elemental attacks are a halfway point between the other two forms, the staff having good range and damage while still being reasonably focused. The staff does not really have any aerial moves, however: its only attack in the air drops Dante to the ground and deals most of its damage there. The two basic combos possess a spacing gimmick where the weapon will deal more damage if the flaming tip strikes the enemy rather than the main body of the staff.
King Cerberus has one move in each form that has a special enhancement when Devil Trigger is active, at the cost of increased DT Gauge consumption. These are the ice form's Revolver, the lightning form's Percussion, and the fire form's Hot Stuff.
Moveset[]
| Action | Command | Description | Gif |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cerberus Combo A |
PS: On ground, press XBOX: On ground, press PC: On ground, press |
Let yourself off the the leash and hit enemies with this ferocious combo. |   Cerberus Combo A |
| Cerberus Combo B |
PS: On ground, press XBOX: On ground, press PC: On ground, press |
Another breed of Cerberus Combo A. Sweeps the area around you while hounding enemies out front. |   Cerberus Combo B |
| Swing |
PS: In mid-air, press XBOX: In mid-air, press PC: In mid-air, press |
Whirl in mid-air, slicing any nearby enemies with split-second speed. |   Swing and Revolver |
| Crystal |
PS: Press XBOX: Press PC: Press |
Slam a chain into the ground, thrusting a massive glacial blade upward into enemies. |   Crystal |
| Revolver |
PS: Press XBOX: Press PC: Press |
Spin violently in mid-air before crashing into the enemy, dealing major impact damage. While Devil Trigger is active, the attack is more powerful, but expends the DT Gauge. |   Revolver |
| Revolver 2 |
PS: Press XBOX: Press PC: Press |
An improved version of the Revolver combo. Longer distance and a more violent spin. | |
| Ice Age |
PS: On ground, press XBOX: On ground, press PC: Press |
Conjure a skin of rock-hard ice, protecting you from enemy attacks | |
| Long Barrel |
PS: Hold XBOX: Hold PC: Hold |
Your weapon crackles with lightning as it stretches to full length, slamming into a distant enemy |   Long Barrel |
| Long Barrel Air |
PS: Hold XBOX: Hold PC: Hold |
Your weapon crackles with lightning as it stretches to full length, sniping a distant enemy from mid-air |   Long Barrel Air |
| Thunder Clap |
PS: Hold XBOX: Hold PC: Hold |
Launches four lightning orbs that slowly chase down their targets. |   Thunder Clap |
| Long Revolver |
PS: Hold XBOX: Hold PC: Hold |
Your weapon crackles with lightning as it stretches to full length, turning mid-air spins into violent attacks. |   Long Revolver |
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Trivia[]
- Like the original Cerberus, Dante makes Bruce Lee-style high-pitched sounds when using King Cerberus' ice form.
- This weapon was first shown at the New York Comic Con 2018, where it was simply titled " Cerberus".[2]
- All three versions of the King Cerberus are included with Dante's Sentinel figure.
- Chronologically, Cerberus is both the first and the last Devil Arm Dante gets from a demon.
Gallery[]
.jpg "King Cerberus on DMC5 Dante Sentinel figure (1).jpg (105 KB)")
.jpg "King Cerberus on DMC5 Dante Sentinel figure (2).jpg (82 KB)")
.jpg "King Cerberus on DMC5 Dante Sentinel figure (3).jpg (82 KB)")
See also[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Devil May Cry 5, Devil Arms File — King Cerberus: "The power of King Cerberus dwells within this shapeshifting weapon, charging attacks with ice, fire and lightning in each form."
- ↑ Devil May Cry 5 - NYCC 2018 Panel