Faded memories is the ninth mission of Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening.
Walkthrough[]
Rotating Bridge[]
As you start the mission, the camera pans out across The Rotating Bridge, indicating that you need to reach the other side. You have to find the power source for the bridge to turn it, though, so run across the existing path and enter the Provisions Storeroom.
Provisions Storeroom (first half)[]
Taking a few steps will cause the door to seal and a new demon, the Arachne, to appear. These demonic spiders have a hefty amount of health and are very difficult to knock off-balance, but thankfully are weak to Agni & Rudra. Their two primary attacks, a mad dash, and clawing at close range, are preceded by loud screeches and can be avoided by using Air Hike or a decently-timed side roll. They are also capable of trapping you with a shot of webbing, but the attack takes a few seconds to execute and is easy to recognize: their abdomens curl forward and begin to bulge. A well timed jump or side roll will do the trick for this too. Beware when an Arachne dies, though; if she rears up and splits in half, a cluster of baby Arachnes will appear where she died, and they are capable of jumping onto you and exploding to inflict minor damage. A second wave of Arachne will appear after you kill the first. There's also a small Green Orb up high straight ahead from the door you entered from. After you defeat the second wave, the door to the Subterranean Garden will unseal.
Subterranean Garden[]
"9mm" on the bullet's casing depicts mission's number.
There's an alcove to the right of the waterfall, high above and beside the Divinity Statue here that contains a Blue Orb Fragment. Reaching it requires Air Hike, level 2 Trickster and Ebony & Ivory; do a full jump by holding the jump button until Dante no longer gains altitude or a Wall Hike and a full Air Hike, then fire your handguns once; this boosts your altitude by a small bit and immediately use Sky Star into the alcove. It may take a few tries to reach it. At the far end of the area is the puzzle that unlocks the sealed door: a series of mirrors reflect a beam of light around and you must destroy certain mirrors so that the beam is redirected into the statue at the bottom. Hit the bottom middle and upper left mirrors so that the light forms a backwards "4" figure to solve the light puzzle. Stand on top of the tablet to reveal a hidden Red Orb cache, then proceed to the Subground Water Vein.
The Blue Orb Fragment beside the Divinity Statue can be difficult to obtain while playing as Vergil but it is possible to get. First make sure you have Yamato equipped then stand in front of the wall right below the opening where the Blue Orb Fragment is then jump, Kick Jump away from the wall and perform an aerial slash with Yamato towards the opening then perform Trick Up. It might take a few tries.
Subground Water Vein[]
Enigmas are scattered along this U-shaped map but you can ignore them and run to the other end of the U. Side rolls work well for dodging the ones at the top of the incline, and the one at the bottom of the ramp usually has a hard time hitting you because of your movement angle. Take the door to the first Rounded Pathway.
Rounded Pathway (first half)[]
Some demons spawn here, but they do not need to be defeated to continue. It's probably a good idea to kill them for Orbs and Style rank, but beware of the environmental hazards: The spinning columns on the walls will damage you and knock you over if you touch them, so stay toward the center of the path and jump over the demons instead. The Subterranean Lake is through the opposite door.
Subterranean Lake[]
Jump over the broken wall to the right to find a collection of Red Orbs, and jump onto the second floor by standing on the wall to reach more Red Orbs as well as a floating Green Orb, then head toward the main portion of the map. Head into the door beside the Divinity Statue to reach the second Rounded Pathway.
You may also run to the far side of the zone, past the waterfall, and jump up onto the pillars to collect the orbs. From there, jump onto the second floor area, where you can find the gun Spiral on a stone pedestal. This gun is long-range and has high damage that incurs knockback on most lesser demons; furthermore, its shots will pierce through all targets in its path until it hits a solid surface. Also nearby is a Combat Adjudicator with purple flames, but you can't break this until the next mission.
Rounded Pathway (second half)[]
An Enigma is past the first set of spinning columns; you can hide in the corner right in front of it to wait for a safe moment to strike (they are the perfect targets to test Sprial on). Another Enigma is just a little further down, and you can take cover in the same way behind the nearest wall. Grab the two Red Orbs that are in the two upper corners near the end of the hallway before entering the second Provisions Storeroom.
Provisions Storeroom (second half)[]
Here you'll find the key item Ambrosia resting on a small altar. Taking it will spawn two waves of Arachnes. Defeat them to unseal the door, then start backtracking. The Enigmas, at this angle, won't fire at you until they're visible on camera, which makes taking them out easier. Go back out the way you came, back to the Subterranean Lake. Use the Divinity Statue to adjust your arsenal if you wish, for a boss fight awaits a few maps away. Head into the waterfall now to enter the Limestone Cavern.
Limestone Cavern[]
A variety of Hells (Prides, Gluttonies, Lusts, and Sloths; varies by difficulty), or a swarm of Blood-goyles on harder difficulties, populates this map but they're optional. Turn your attention instead to an opening across from the cave entrance. There are several red glowing crystals here, marking the Secret Mission "Destroyer", where you must destroy all breakables in the Bullseye map. If you go further down, you'll drop down among the lesser demons. Head to the left to find some Red Orbs and a Devil Star hidden away in a smaller, luminescent cavern. Jump back up, then head toward the far side of the map where a bridge leads to a door. Examine it to unlock it using the Ambrosia, then enter the Sunken Opera House and prepare to fight the boss.
Sunken Opera House[]
Step forward into the room to trigger a cutscene with Nevan. Once it ends, the boss battle begins.
Boss: Nevan the Lightning Witch[]
Attacks[]
Nevan has a large variety of attacks, all of which are telegraphed well in advance:
- "Get ready... Sugar!" (Feedback): If you stand too close to her, she'll respond with a stationary, whirling attack preceded by “Get ready...”. You only need to move away about the distance of a single Dash or a full backflip and it won't hit you, and you can shoot her or charge moves while she's spinning. As the battle continues, she will use the backwards flip kick in an attempt to catch you off guard before using this. The flip kick spawns a series of dark, razor waves that home on you, so run away. Then, Nevan will come to you immediately afterwards.
- "How's This?/Don't you like me? (Nevan Combo/Distortion)": She can fire lightning-charged bats at you in two varieties – the first fires several separate groups of bats, preceded by "How's this?" and the second fires one large swarm that moves more quickly, saying "Don't you like me?". Both can be avoided by a decently timed jump to one side.
- Sometimes she'll follow the bats by floating right up to you and do a backwards flip-kick, sending a few waves of darkness at you. The attack is relatively slow and is readily avoided by simply running around her. Sometimes she follows this attack by a bout of laughing, giving you time to break her shield; she tends to laugh if you cannot destroy her shield for a long time.
- "Now you will become tired!": Nevan will retreat to one of the platforms at the ends of the opera house and call one or more pillars of white lightning from the ground, similar to the "Calling Dead Souls" ability of Phantom. When her health is still high, there will only be one column. As she gets weaker - and as the difficulty gets higher - more will appear, up to three. Dodge this attack by running away from the erupting white circles in the ground.
- Ground Charge: She's capable of disappearing and rematerializing at either end of the map; she'll appear on the side you're farther from; she'll then cackle as the ground crackles a bit with electricity, then is flooded with an electric charge. You can jump over the burst and hover with your guns or Swordmaster aerials if needed, but the raised platforms on either side of the map are safe to stand on, given that Nevan isn't on the side you choose, though the bigger set of steps near the stage area are safe even if Nevan is on that side, so long as you aren't standing too close to her.
- "Are you enjoying yourself?: She typically follows the ground-charge attack with a series of lightning bolt, fence-like attacks from where she stands. They come in horizontal and vertical bolts and are preceded by "Are you enjoying yourself?". Horizontal "fence" requires well-timed jumps or rolls; the vertical bolts move in straight lines towards you (aimed when Nevan conjures the bolts), so avoiding them is as easy as running from left to right between castings.
- Defenseless Snare: As you break her barrier, Nevan will be left helpless, allowing you to take full advantage of her powerlessness. While attacking her is fully open as an option, take heed of the dark shadow that pools around her as time goes on, as she eventually will fully recover, form a barrier of this darkness and have it crush Dante if he is around her too long. As long as one has enough DT energy, the Devil Trigger form renders this attack painless, only doing rather weak damage. After her defense vanishes, if you manage to hit Nevan immediately with a strong, knockback-inducing attack, she will fall to the ground, meaning she will stay helpless even longer. At this point, the only attacks that are capable of flooring Nevan into this extended stagger state are Stinger or a quick Spiral shot.
- Greater Swarm (Volume Up): As the battle continues, Nevan's flock of bats will increase greatly in number, giving her more range and endurance to her attacks as well as an increase in her barrier's durability. One can tell by the length of the skirt she wears, and it and its effects will shrink until all of the bats are exterminated. Through this passive powerup, Nevan Combo swarm will be greater in projectiles fired, Distortion will see a larger and harder hitting blast, and Feedback will see a greater radius which she will spin her skirt's blades.
- "You can't escape!": When her health is less than 25% remaining, she may disappear and reappear in the spot in middle of the map that is closest to the side you are on, and break her own shield. To further telegraph this attack, she'll say, "You can't escape!". She floats up to Dante and attempts to latch on him via a kiss, then proceeds to drain his health to fill hers. When you see her begin this attack, you can simply activate either Dante's Devil Trigger form to prevent her from even grabbing you, then just pound away at her while she's helpless. If you don't have enough runes, you can also jump over her as she approaches, then begin attacking with anything that slows down your descent. A much safer strategy is to run away when she teleports near you and go to a far away location, and run and attack when she stops, although you will only get a little bit of damage done to her before she reactivates her shield, thus making it long and tedious. It's also worth using Cerberus' Ice Age shield with Swordmaster Lv 3, if you can. Touching it instantly floors her, allowing you to attack at your leisure. If you are caught, you may survive this attack, but at an extremely high cost of damage, plus Nevan may get as much as 50% of her own health back at your expense.
Strategy[]
First playthrough[]
Nevan is weak to Cerberus' ice element, but this fight can still be tedious because she doesn't take damage until you destroy her bat shield. Nevan's fighting style is also mostly defensive, relying on throwing a large volume of projectiles at you from within the safety of her shield. Firing at it from a safe distance takes too long; it's much quicker to get up close and use your Devil Arms to destroy her defences.
To kill her faster, stand close to Nevan until she says "Get ready..." and dodge her attack after that. Keep using Crystal and Million Carats when she whirls. Then, when she stops whirling, use that opportunity to destroy her "dress" and she will fall to the ground. That is also your chance to damage her. Watch out for the darkness beneath her when she falls. That darkness will damage anyone in its radius but this attack is slow (Nevan will flash her eyes red just before the attack is unleashed). After 3.5 seconds, Dash or run away from the darkness so that it won't damage you. Repeat this procedure. For the beginners, try to dodge her attacks and attack her with Cerberus, thus removing her shield quicker. Then, you quickly evade her close attacks and wait for her next move. When she is left without protection, Devil Trigger with Cerberus and put the hurt on her. DT Dante doesn't flinch at her darkness counter but he still takes some damage. Quickly cancel the DT to preserve some runes. Rinse and repeat until she reaches her health-drain state, which you can find the beginners solution for in the "attacks" section.
Royalguard Style is another fast way to deal with Nevan. The primary Rage source in her case is Feedback, which has an easily predicted timing, and after Volume Up its length is extended enough to fill the Rage Gauge to full in one attack cycle. Save the Release for a shieldless Nevan. The triple lightning thunderbolt attack (signaled by the "Now you will become tired!" taunt) is another good source of Rage (and if you are feeling particularly confident, so is the Ground Charge). Other attacks of hers tend to be erratic and provide little Rage in comparison, so focusing on parrying Feedback is recommended.
Second playthrough[]
Use Swordmaster and Beowulf. Either Real Impact or fully charged Straight will destroy her shield in one hit and as long as you start the move relatively early (Straight is the safer option since it can be initiated from beyond Feedback's reach), it'll connect and stop her whirling attack just in time. Nevan also happens to be weak to Beowulf; with these two new advantages, the fight is sped up considerably. If you're quick, you can actually lock her in a loop: let her commence Feedback and wait it out, break her shield, attack her until she escapes, then repeat the process either until you down her, or until she breaks from the loop. If she manages to escape, close the distance with a Killer Bee - it is surprisingly effective too at taking down the bat shield.
Kalina Ann is very effective at thinning down the bat shield too, and may even floor Nevan with a rocket after her shield is broken.
Also, the Quicksilver is really helpful here. When her bat shield is destroyed, simply cast Time Lag then lay the smackdown on Nevan when she's helpless. This way, you can deal massive damage to her and defeat her in a few attack cycles. Moreover, both Time Lag and Doppelganger's After-image nullify Nevan's life steal grab.
For Vergil[]
Having bought Judgement Cut Lv. 2 proves to be extremely useful here, although you must learn how to time all three of the Judgement Cuts accurately, so practice how to time them before you fight her. Always stand close to her. When she's about to do the whirling attack by saying "Get ready...", back up a little bit and use Judgement Cut. Three successful hits will instantly destroy her dress and you can proceed to do massive damage on her with Beowulf. After that, she'll teleport to the other side of the Opera House. Follow her closely after she teleported by Air Tricking. Repeat the procedure. If you are too slow, she might electrify the floor. Just Trick Up and use Aerial Rave or stand at the nearest platform. If she summons the bats however, precise side rolling will avoid all of them (alternatively, a well-timed Trick Combo - using all three Trick moves in quick succession - allows to avoid Nevan Combo/Distortion bat barrages).
Grab the orbs that Nevan drops after Dante rocks out, and head through the second Opera House door to the left to end the mission.