Styles

Dante's styles will let you unlock more abilities for your swords and weapons, and perform other miraculous maneuvers. We covered most of the Sword Master and Gunslinger moves in the respect weapon sections above, so we'll cover the Trickster and Royal Guard styles here.

If you want our advice, max out Swordmaster and Trickster styles before any of the others. Both of them are very handy, with Swordmaster perhaps being the most necessary one to use.

Trickster

Although it doesn't increase your offensive abilities like most of the other styles do, Trickster will allow you to be much more agile and mobile during gameplay, which will, in turn, let you avoid damage more often. In essence, using Trickster means that you'll take longer to kill enemies and you'll have a harder time getting your combo meter up high, but you'll have a much easier time getting out of the way of attacks, which is especially useful during the game's many boss fights. Trickster will also let you maneuver to out-of-the-way areas of levels much more easily than you would be able to with other styles.

Dash: If you press S while holding the left analog stick in a certain direction, Dante will dash across the ground much more rapidly than with his normal movement. It'll take a second to perform another dash after the first, and Dante will pause after completing this move, making it best for avoiding short-range attacks. DMC4 has eliminated the Double Dash and Triple Dash moves, so this isn't as useful as it was before, although you can still perform an endless succession of dashes while in Devil Trigger mode.

Sky Star: While in midair, press the left analog stick in a direction and tap S to cause Dante to perform something of a midair dash. We personally found this to be an endlessly useful maneuver, despite its simplicity, if only because Dante's great weakness is usually lateral movement; he just doesn't move tremendously fast when compared to some of the speedier enemy attacks. When going up against bosses, especially, combining Sky Star with the Air Hike manuever will let you get far away from wherever you're standing in a split-second, allowing you to avoid most any attack so long as you know it's coming. In Devil Trigger mode, you can perform two Sky Stars in a row.

Mustang: If you Dash into an enemy and hold down the S button, you'll perform a jump off of their body.

Flipper: If you get hit in midair or get knocked off your feet, hit S to return to the ground and land on your feet.

Air Trick: When you finally reach level three in Trickster, you'll be able to use your newfound talents to disappear and reappear at will. With Air Trick, you can press towards an enemy and then hit R1 + O to instantly appear in front of that enemy (or at least cover a certain amount of the distance, if you're too far away). This isn't quite as useful as Sky Star, but can be combined with that move to get in close to your enemy from a good ways away without ever needing to hit the ground.

Royal Guard

Royal Guard is an advanced style that will likely be unused unless you're a very skilled player, or one that's looking for a challenge. Royal Guard is all about blocking enemy attacks and absorbing the energy that your enemies are sending your way, then flipping it around and turning that energy into a destructive force. In general, you'll be better off dodging enemy attacks with Air Hike rather than attempting to block them. If you're very, very good, though, you can use Royal Block to absorb almost anything your foes throw at you.

Block: Hold S while on the ground. This will block incoming attacks. It won't reduce the damage from them entirely, but will reduce it somewhat. This accumulates power in the Royal Gauge.

Air Block: If you happen to be airborne while an attack comes your way, you can attempt to use Air Block to reduce the damage. This accumulates power in the Royal Gauge.

Royal Block: Royal Block requires you to press the S button just before an enemy attack hits you. If you do so, you'll avoid taking any damage and greatly charge up the Royal Gauge.

Release: Hold lockon, press forward on the LAS, and hit S. This will unload all of the energy in the Royal Gauge and deal heavy damage to them, depending on the amount of energy in the Gauge.

Air Release: A version of release that is performed while you're in mid-air.

Royal Release: Perform the Release maneuver just as an enemy is about to hit you, and you'll perform a Royal Release on the enemy. One of the most damaging moves in the game if you have a full Royal Gauge.

Dreadnaught: Hold lockon, press back on LAS, and tap S. This will turn Dante's body into a shell, preventing him from taking damage, but will drain your Royal Gauge over time until it runs out.

Dark Slayer

The Dark Slayer style only becomes available to Dante after you retrieve the Yamato, which occurs quite late in the game. The Yamato is a powerful sword…in cutscenes. When actually wielded, it's not nearly as impressive, unfortunately, although it is fairly flashy. You can use this style by double-selecting any of the normal styles. Just hit left twice on the d-pad, for instance.

You cannot upgrade the Dark Slayer style at the power-up screen, so the initial abilities are all you get.

Yamato Combo S: A basic three-swing combo. Tap S three times.

Aerial Rave V: While jumping, tap S twice to slash at anything near you.

Slash Dimension F: Hold lockon, press forward on the LAS, and tap S. This takes a moment to pull off, but deals decent damage to enemies in front of you.

Slash Dimension C: Hold lockon, press backward on the LAS, and tap S. A similar attack to F, but with the blades concentrated more closely to Dante.

General Abilities

Air Hike: Although somewhat expensive compared to other abilities, Air Hike is going to be something you should save up for early on in the game. After you jump, Air Hike will allow you to double jump by tappping X again while you're in midair; this will effectively double the maximum height of your jumps, allowing you to escape from tight spots and stay off the ground for a longer period of time. Incredibly useful; be sure to pick it up!

Side Roll: Hold lockon, press sideways on the LAS, then tap the jump button. This will roll your character to the side, allowing you to avoid oncoming attacks.

Speed: If you move forward for a bit of time, your character will suddenly double in speed and will remain moving at that speed until you move in another direction or attack. Handy for cutting the amount of time needed to run around in large areas.

Enemy Step: If you jump up into the air near an enemy, then attempt to jump again, you will use their head as a stepping stone for a second jump. In most instances, though, Air Hike will go off before Enemy Step does, making this less than useful.

Get More Orbs: A simple upgrade that will let Dante collect orbs from farther away. Handy, but not absolutely necessary.

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