Devil May Cry 5: Complete Walkthrough & Boss Guide
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🗺️ Main Story Walkthrough
Tick off each step as you go — your progress saves locally, no account needed.
The game opens with a cinematic showing a powerful demon named Urizen draining the Qliphoth tree, then jumps back in time one month. Mission 1 puts you in control of Nero in the ruins of Redgrave City, using the rebuilt Red Queen sword and Blue Rose revolver — Rev up Red Queen with the handle-pump to charge the Exceed gauge before landing a hit for bonus fire damage on release. This mission ends with the shocking scene of Nero losing his Devil Bringer arm to a mysterious hooded figure. The new Devil Breaker arms replace the supernatural arm; collect Blue Orb fragments hidden off the main path to begin expanding your maximum health early.
Mission 2 introduces V, the enigmatic new character who fights exclusively through three summoned familiars: Griffon (aerial ranged attacks), Shadow (melee shapeshifter), and Nightmare (heavy damage summon). V himself must land the killing blow on weakened enemies with his cane. Mission 3 features Nero fighting a gigantic airborne Qliphoth demon called the Elder Geryon Knight, which rides a spectral horse — use the Gerbera Devil Breaker's Petal Ray to intercept projectiles and target the horse's legs during ground phases. Stock multiple Gerbera arms before this mission, as they are consumed when you use the emergency break maneuver.
Mission 4 is V's first full solo chapter, teaching the Griffon-Shadow-Nightmare combat loop through the city streets. Mission 5 is a pure boss fight as Nero faces Gilgamesh, a crystalline demon that must be fought while continuously moving to avoid its spreading stone growth. Mission 6 introduces Dante, who starts with his full arsenal from Devil May Cry 4: Rebellion sword, Ebony & Ivory pistols, Shotgun, and the four combat Styles (Swordmaster, Gunslinger, Trickster, Royal Guard). Switch Styles on the fly with the D-pad and practice Royal Guard's charge-parry against minor enemies now — it will be essential against late bosses.
Mission 7 puts all three characters' paths in parallel as they converge on the Qliphoth tree. Mission 8 is a landmark fight as Nero confronts Cavaliere Angelo atop a collapsing bridge — Dante's flashback version of this encounter rewards mastering the Parry timing with Rebellion. Mission 9 is V's descent into the Qliphoth root system; use Nightmare strategically here because the tight corridors limit Shadow's mobility. Throughout these missions, collect Red Orbs obsessively to purchase Nero's Exceed EX skills and Dante's Style rank upgrades, both of which dramatically increase combat potential heading into the game's second half.
Mission 10 delivers the first proper encounter with Urizen, the main antagonist — this is a fight you are narratively intended to lose at this stage, but pushing through deals progress damage. Mission 11 is Dante's full assault on the Qliphoth, featuring Cavaliere Angelo as a rematch boss and the mid-game acquisition of the Devil Sword Dante, which unlocks new Sin Devil Trigger transformation potential. Mission 12 focuses on V's emotional climax and reveals his true identity to the player. Use this quieter narrative mission to fully upgrade Dante's remaining Style abilities before the cascade of back-to-back boss fights in the final third.
Missions 13 through 16 run the same story section simultaneously from V's, Nero's, and Dante's perspectives in separate missions, each culminating in a different boss encounter. All three are playable in order, and each diverging mission unlocks character-specific upgrades unavailable through the main path. Nero's diverging mission introduces the Rawhide Devil Breaker, ideal against armored enemies. Dante's path includes the toughest standard-enemy encounters in the game — use Quicksilver Style (time-slowdown) when overwhelmed by multiple high-tier demons. All three paths award maximum Red Orb payouts, making them worth replaying on higher difficulties.
Mission 17 delivers the dramatic reunion between Nero and the unmasked villain, restructuring the narrative entirely. Mission 18 is Dante's brutal assault upward through the Qliphoth tree against demon swarms of escalating difficulty — this is the ideal mission to practice Sin Devil Trigger activation, which requires filling the blue DT gauge and then holding the DT button to enter the more powerful transformation. The tree's interior also contains several hidden Divinity Statue altars; visit every one to ensure all purchased upgrades are active before the final sequence of boss fights.
Mission 19 is the penultimate boss fight against Vergil, Dante's twin brother and one of the series' most iconic antagonists. The fight has two distinct phases and demands high-level mastery of Dante's full toolkit. Mission 20 is the true finale, with a direct narrative resolution fought by the player character of your choice. Style rank is tracked across both final missions — maintaining SSS-rank throughout earns the Smokin' Sick Style achievement and grants bragging rights for completion. The ending cutscene sets up the events that predate the original Devil May Cry, completing the franchise timeline loop.
⚔️ Boss Guides
Goliath (Mission 1)
Attack Patterns
Goliath is a massive humanoid demon that uses sweeping fist slams creating ground shockwaves, a flaming projectile ball launched from his stomach mouth, and a powerful vacuum suction that drags Nero toward his stomach to be swallowed. His head is always the weak point. After taking significant damage, he adds a spinning body slam to his rotation and becomes noticeably faster.
Strategy
Keep moving to avoid his wide arm sweeps, then use Wire Snatch immediately after a slam to close distance and land Red Queen combos on his head. When he initiates the stomach vacuum, do not attempt to run — activate the Gerbera Petal Ray to fire backward and escape the pull, or deliberately let yourself get pulled in and use the Devil Breaker emergency break (hold then release LB/LT) to burst free with an explosion that deals significant damage. Rev the Red Queen Exceed gauge between attacks by pumping the right trigger to store fire charges for maximum burst damage during each combo window.
Artemis (Mission 3)
Attack Patterns
Artemis is a female human-demon fusion who primarily fights from mid-to-long range using homing laser arrays, a wide-fan spread beam from her chest, and a concentrated single-beam that tracks Nero's movement. She floats in the air for most of the encounter and only descends briefly after an attack string. Her laser arrays become more dense and faster in her second phase after losing approximately half her health.
Strategy
Jump to aerial combat immediately to match her elevation. When she fires the wide fan beam, the cores on her body briefly glow — fire the Gerbera Petal Ray to deflect one of her own projectiles back into a core, which deals triple damage. Blue Rose charged shots (hold fire button) are effective on stationary cores during her beam charging animation. Use Wire Snatch to maintain aerial position and keep hitting cores. When she descends for a melee phase, switch to Red Queen Exceed combos to maximize DPS in the brief ground window before she retreats upward.
Cavaliere Angelo (Mission 8)
Attack Patterns
Cavaliere Angelo is an armored undead knight wielding an electrified scythe and commanding a demonic horse. His scythe attacks are telegraphed with a brief wind-up glow and deal massive damage if they connect. He periodically dismounts to engage in ground combat with a rapid three-hit scythe combo followed by a delayed overhead slam. Mounted, he charges across the arena at high speed with the scythe extended, covering almost the entire width of the environment.
Strategy
Dante is the ideal character for this fight due to Royal Guard. Charge Royal Guard (hold block) during his scythe wind-up to absorb the hit and release a devastating counter. After a successful Royal Guard counter he is stunned for two full combo strings — use Rebellion's Stinger charge attack to maintain pressure. When mounted, the horse's legs are a secondary hit target: landing enough damage on the legs dismounts him and creates a free combo window on his exposed back. After his lightning discharge (which can be dodged by jumping directly up), his armor briefly cracks and he takes increased damage.
Urizen (Multiple Encounters)
Attack Patterns
Urizen fights from behind a massive crystal orb barrier that absorbs all direct attacks. He fires homing crystal shards, summons ground-spike fields beneath Nero's feet, and periodically casts a full-screen crystal burst that is nearly impossible to dodge without proper positioning. In his powered-up form encountered mid-game, he adds a sweeping energy beam and crystal pillar drops to his arsenal.
Strategy
First encounter (Mission 10) as Nero: the fight is beatable but extremely difficult — focus the Punch Line Devil Breaker's homing rocket attack on the orb while dodging crystal shards. As V (Mission 11 rematch): summon Nightmare directly onto the orb the moment the cooldown resets — Nightmare deals the highest single-hit damage of any familiar and can crack the orb in two to three summons. Once the orb breaks, redirect all familiars to Urizen himself immediately before he regenerates the barrier. Griffon's sustained lightning keeps DPS up between Nightmare summons.
Vergil (Mission 19 & Mission 20)
Attack Patterns
Vergil is the game's most complex boss. Phase 1 includes Judgment Cut (rapid multi-slash with brief charge), teleport-cancel combos, Summoned Swords (rapid-fire projectile spiral), and a Rapid Slash that crosses the entire arena. Phase 2 activates his Devil Trigger, accelerating all attacks, adding Judgment Cut End (massive arena-wide slash vortex), and making him significantly more aggressive between player attacks. He also uses Doppelganger in Phase 2 to strike from unexpected angles.
Strategy
Learning Vergil's attack wind-ups is the entire fight. Judgment Cut has a visible katana-raise tell — activate Royal Guard charge the instant you see it to absorb and counter. Never stay at Stinger distance after attacking; always retreat immediately after each combo because Vergil's counterattacks have zero startup delay. In Phase 2, activate Sin Devil Trigger when it is available and unleash full combo strings while transformed since SDT dramatically increases attack speed and damage. Quicksilver Style (Dante) slows Vergil during his Summoned Swords spirals, creating a free full combo window. For Mission 20 (Nero vs. Vergil), use the Buster Arm Devil Breaker — grabbing Vergil mid-combo deals tremendous damage and is his most damaging single interaction.