Yamato

Yamato is a sword that offers Nero the opportunity to Devil Trigger, which lets him use stored-up energy to temporarily channel the demonic power of the blade. While in Devil Trigger mode, all of Nero's offensive maneuvers will deal more damage, his Buster attacks will display some new animations, and he'll regenerate health. Devil Triggering is an important part of being a skilled DMC4 player, and will also often be the only way to regenerate health during lengthy boss fights.

In addition to the benefits listed above, however, Yamato also offers a few purchaseable upgrades.

Trigger Heart: If you buy this, the DT Gauge depletes more slowly while your Devil Trigger is active. A must-have skill, so buy it when you have the cash.

Summoned Swords: While in DT mode, if you fire your gun, extra blades will fly through the air towards your enemies. This requires no special action on your part; it's simply extra ranged damage.

Devil Triggering will cause all of your attacks, even Buster, to deal more damage.

Maximum Bet: Press lockon, hold back on LAS, hit M+S at the same time. Nero charges up an attack that deals a good amount of damage if it hits, but he has to stay perfectly still before the attack comes out. You'll generally be hit by enemies before performing this maneuver, making it less than useful in most fights.

Showdown: Press lockon, hold back on LAS, hit M+S at the same time. Another charge-up attack, and one that requires Nero to again stand still for around three seconds before it activates. If you get hit while it's charging, it won't go off, and what's worse is that the very first sword strike here has to hit the enemy, or the rest of the combo won't be performed. In other words, it's only handy against completely immobile enemies who aren't fighting back. This can happen in boss fights, but you'll want to use Busters in those cases. You can sometimes get this to activate against a knocked-down Faust or Mega Scarecrow, but not often enough to make this worth purchasing.

Abilities

Nero has a number of special abilities that can be purchased, some more useful than others.

Side Roll: This is a free ability. Hold lockon, move the LAS left or right, and tap Jump. This will let you roll to the left or right, avoiding an enemy attack. Handy maneuver, especially in boss fights.

Table Hopper: Although it's name doesn't make much sense, this skill will be handy if you're a pro player. It's performed exactly the same as a Side Roll, but you have to perform it at the last second before an enemy attack hits you. If your timing is right, you'll dash off to the side a bit instantly, avoiding the attack and freeing you up more quickly for counterattacks. Most players will be able to get along without this and instead jump away from attacks, but if you're a super stylish sort, you'll probably find it handy.

Table Hopper also has a couple of upgrades that will let you continue dashing around the battlefield after you perform the first dash away from your foe.

Speed: Speed is a pretty straightforward skill: if you run in one direction for a certain length of time, your character will suddenly burst into a sprint, moving about twice as fast as normal. Handy for long runs and for cutting down your time score in a mission. The camera angles will sometimes screw you over here, however, as a sudden camera change may force you to move in a different direction and wait for Speed to come back online.

MAX-Act: Allows Nero to instantly charge his red queen all the way up by tapping the left trigger just after an attack. The timing on this is very twitchy, so pulling it off will be more of a random occurance than something you'll be able to do with regularity. Still, it can be fun to try and shoot for the moon in a boss fight; you'll occasionally get lucky.

Rainbow: If you're in Speed mode, you can hit the Back or Select button on your controller to execute a drop kick on your foe. You'll pretty much never pull this off, if only because it's difficult to hit that button without pulling your thumb off of the LAS, and also because you'll rarely be Speeding around enemies.

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

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!

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.