The Devils' tower is the third mission of Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening.
Walkthrough[]
66 Slum Avenue[]
There's a hidden Red Orb cache at the very edge of the roof of the building that's the closest to you when you begin the mission. This will be the first battle of the Enigma, a stone-like, six armed moving statue that shoot blue or red arrow-blades similar to Lucifer, but it depends on the difficulty which color should come out. The red ones are very painful and highly accurate. Then, few sets of Hell Lusts and Hell Prides are waiting below. There are various ways to attack, defend, and proceed.
Dodge the arrow attacks of Enigmas. When you hear a sound fading in, it will begin to shoot arrows upward if you stand at a distance or horizontally if you stand close to it. Just simply Dash many times, or run in any direction but don't stop or jump when you are good at timing. There are two explosive barrels located at the corner of the place. Shoot them at the distance and enemies that are close to it will be damaged. Sneak over them below and perform a Helm Breaker two times, or more. They will either break into pieces or cry and drop itself into the ground.
Burning Hell Pride and Lust form number "3", depicting mission's number.
Dante's Office (front)[]
If you backtrack, you can fight some more Hell enemies for more Style points and Orbs.
Bullseye Bar[]
After you enter the bar, you will find yourself sealed in. Just find the Crest device which is located behind the dart boards and slash the wheel, don't shoot them, there will be no effect. When the whole wheel is lit, the seal will break. Break things around the room for Red Orbs, there are plenty of them to be found. There is a Shotgun located at the wall beside the seal. Get it and go through the door. There is also a large Green Orb found in one of the three barrels above the bar. There is a easter egg in this section of the level, which is the Jukebox; by destroying it, you will hear a short fraction of the song Public Enemy, the first battle theme of Devil May Cry.
Love Planet[]
Find and approach the red door that has blood streaks leading towards it for a cutscene. A red seal will cover the door and you will be introduced to the Hell Sloths. If you do not move after the cutscene of the Hell Sloths appearance, you will be immediately hit by three of them at the same time, so quickly jump away from the door right after the cutscene. Sloths don't actually walk - they teleport, and their favorite attack is to appear just behind you as they swipe with their scythes. They're easy to predict because of this. When they disappear, jump or dodge immediately, then retaliate. Just kill all the enemies that appear to unseal the door.
If you want to have some fun as Dante, try the Pole Play. Stand close to the pole and press the melee attack button. Instead of performing an ordinary attack, you will be riding a pole around. With Rebellion equipped, Dante can do a finishing landing slash after he concludes the pole spin. Another contextual attack is riding on the enemies. This move is called Free Ride and only Dante can perform this move. Just jump over a fallen Hell enemy and press any direction. While you are riding the enemy, you can fire away with Ebony & Ivory. This attack will end by just jumping. After defeating the enemies, the red seal will shatter. Obtain the Green Orb above the stairs before you go out. Go through the door and you are now about to visit the tower.
13th Avenue[]
This is the first area in the game with many points of interest to explore and discover. Before you do anything, there's another Red Orb cache on the very top edge of the Love Planet sign you just came out. Red Orbs are everywhere along with one Green Orb in the trash bin. In one corner, behind a garage-type door, there is a Red Orb Crystal. Do not worry about Styling on this one - just rapidly smash it for as many Red Orbs than you can muster from it (be warned that each Red Orb Crystal only exists once per save file). There's a Blue Orb Fragment way up high on the building to the right. Kick Jump up the ladder to get to the catwalk, pick up the Red Orbs, and Kick Jump again to reach the Blue Orb Fragment.
On the roof of the last building on the left is a Combat Adjudicator. You need a B Style Rank to break it. Perform different combos to break the statue (use the Rebellion: Combo 1 - High Time - Helm Breaker - Stinger - Combo 2 - Million Stab - Aerial Rave, start all over again). Then a Blue Orb Fragment will appear as your reward. If you are playing as Vergil, it's a Yamato Combat Adjudicator (Yamato Combo - Upper Slash with the downward slice - Aerial Rave - Rapid Slash, repeat). There's a Secret Mission "The Exorcist" in a door that is the nearest to the Divinity Statue. You need to defeat all the enemies in 60 seconds. After you finish it, access the Divinity Statue, where you can buy upgrades, items, and change your Style, and weapon loadout (the last function is not going to be available until a few Missions later).
When you are ready, go through the opening at the bottom of the tower - you are about to face Cerberus the Ice Guardian.
Boss: Cerberus the Ice Guardian[]
A cutscene will appear that you are now fighting against the first major boss, Cerberus the Ice Guardian.
Attacks[]
- Crystal Geyser: Cerberus will use this attack often, smashing the floor with his paw and sending rows of crystals trailing towards you. He tends to do a double Crystal attack, using each of his paws.
- It's Raining Icicles!: Cerberus' head with yellow eyes will howl and cause icicles to fall from the ceiling. White cracks on the floor will tell you where they'll fall. Side rolling or Dashing should easily avoid this, but you can try simply running away from the white spots. Never try jumping away from this.
- Bark-a-glacier: Cerberus' head with blue eyes will send a huge chunk of ice across the battlefield. Run to the extreme corners of the room to escape it. You can also slash it in half with a melee attack or guard it with Royalguard to get Red or Green Orbs. Both require good timing. This attack also has a relatively long warm-up, so if you're close you can whack at his legs while he charges it. If Cerberus enters berserk mode, then he will blast three ice boulders at the same time in a shotgun fashion. Whatever you do, never stand in front of Cerberus while he is executing this attack.
- Skating Rink: Cerberus' head with red eyes will breathe cold air on the ground, freezing Dante if he stands on it. Run to the sides to get out of the way, or jump, Air Hike, Wall Hike, or use Ebony & Ivory or Aerial Rave to stay in the air until the ground melts.
- Head butt: When Dante is close and in front of Cerberus, he will lower his head and attempt to push him back. This attack comes out fast, and can be hard to avoid if you're directly in front of him, so avoid attacking from there. Sky Star (Level 2 Trickster Style) or Air Guard (Level 2 Royalguard Style) are the best at dealing with this attack, but you won't have either yet on your first play-through.
- A Man's Best Friend: Cerberus will shake loose his restraints and leap to the far end of the room to deal massive damage. Stay to the side extremes of the arena to avoid this assault. You can attack his legs and heads as he is dragged back to the doorway after the rush attack. It's particularly advisable to stand in his armpit, as this will allow you to be dragged back with it so you can continuously attack him. Otherwise, you will waste much of the downtime running after the retracting Cerberus.
- Paw Swipe: Cerberus will slash at Dante with his claws. Jump up or dodge back, out of its range. His left arm deals lighter damage, but it's pretty unpredictable, while it's vice versa for his right arm.
- Ice Age: When Cerberus rears onto his back legs and howls, he regenerates his lost ice armor.
- Berserked Million Carats: Once one third of his health is gone, Cerberus will stand up with his hind legs and stomp the ground with great force. The area near him will sprout out frozen spikes like the Crystal attack, only all around him. This attack is extremely painful. Avoid standing near him, or you could stay airborne with Ebony & Ivory. He will shout "You're not human are you?!" before doing so. Afterwards, he will become more aggressive, and his attacks will be enhanced.
Strategy[]
Cerberus is covered with ice that must be removed before he can be harmed. Use Ebony & Ivory or the Shotgun to remove the ice armor. Use the R3 button to change your lock-on target to the next head or leg once you've cleared one, because the less ice that's on him, the more damage you can deal. Either gun or melee attacks can break the ice, but shooting the ice down is much safer than committing to the melee with Rebellion.
Once the ice is off, it's time to be daring and charge at the gatekeeper head-on. Jumping in with Aerial Rave (Swordmaster Style) or Helm Breaker to deal damage, but Cerberus will try to push you back if you stay too close. Slashing at the legs deals less damage, but it can cause Cerberus to fall down. When this happens, jump in and start attacking the heads. If you can, slash all the three heads at the same time. This will multiply the damage.
Air Hike would be very helpful in this battle.
You can also keep firing Ebony & Ivory or Shotgun from the corner. This method is safer but it is time consuming. In a similar manner, you can Kick Jump and then Wall Hike to get significant altitude, then fire Ebony & Ivory on the way down. This keeps you safely above all of his attacks except the falling icicles.
If you feel a need for more evasive options, choose the Trickster Style. Dashing sideways can help you avoid the ice bark and the lunge assault attacks, and Wall Hike is of great help when avoiding the raining icicles and floor freeze.
Future Playthroughs[]
When replaying this battle in future playthroughs, it is generally advisable to have Agni & Rudra equipped because not only does Cerberus have a weakness for fire-based attacks, but also because Agni & Rudra's movesets have more applicability for the contingencies the battle brings. For example, Whirlwind can be executed fully to propel Dante upwards, perfectly setting him up for an Aerial Cross or two before hitting the ground, dealing significant damage. Whereas Jet-Stream is ideal for punishing Cerberus in the aftermath of this lunge attack. Lastly, Sky Dance is the perfect move to use against uncovered Cerberus heads. You can try Million Slashing his legs for Style points, then Real Impact if Cerberus' ice armour is shattered.
Upgraded Gunslinger can do a lot of damage from a distance. Spiral is the best sniping option, while upgraded Shotgun and Artemis offer more close-range attacks.
Quicksilver can exploit longer openings, namely the rush attack and the Million Carats ones.
Doppelganger offers extra damage potential to be utilized when Cerberus is brought down after crippling one of his legs.
Upon defeating Cerberus and finish watching the cutscene, Dante will receive the Cerberus Devil Arm. Head towards the door to finish the mission.