There are many skills and combos that you can unlock for each playable character in the game. You won’t have nearly enough money to buy them all on a single playthrough so it’s important to know which skills you should aim to get first to quickly become powerful.
Since you’ll be playing as all of the characters, it’s best to diversify your spendings. Here you’ll see some of the best skills to grab early, that you can continue relying on for a long time.
15.Royal Fork
This skill for V’s cane is quite expensive, so keep in mind that you won’t be getting it early in the game. But later on, once you get it will make your life a lot easier and you will be able to quickly clear out multiple enemies at once.
Royal Fork will summon a rain of canes from the sky at the cost of the Devil Trigger gauge. It’s practical to clear out many enemies at once, and you’ll be a little safer if you do it this way, rather than going to each one manually.
14.Speed
Speed (or Quickplay for V) is an essential skill that will just make your life easier. It will greatly lower the time it takes to get from point A to point B with each character and once you unlock it for a single character, you’ll feel weird if you don’t have the speed boost with all the other characters.
Speed won’t increase your damage or style, but it’s a good quality of life upgrade. It lets you move faster whenever you’re out of combat. It doesn’t do much for combat, but it’s cheap so there’s no reason not to get it early on.
13.Air Hike
Air Hike gives Nero the ability to jump once again in mid-air. Nero loves fighting in the air, since he can pull all sorts of crazy combos and cool attacks, and this skill gives you a little more freedom to move around in the air.
Nero is a very mobile character and this skill plays according to his strengths. While it doesn’t sound like much to the new players, this simple double jump can help you juggle your enemies in most situations.
12.Enemy Step
Enemy Step is an upgrade that each of the characters can unlock. It’s extremely useful to be in the air since you can combo for a long time without worrying about enemies on the ground.
Enemy Step will let you jump on top of your enemies to keep yourself airborne. All characters can unlock it, but Dante and especially Nero can produce amazing air combos. Once you get used to using your enemies for movement, the game will become a lot easier.
11.Flank Attack
Flank Attack is a charge for Griffon. What makes his charge different from others in the game is that he can hit multiple enemies and he will launch them in the air. It does a nice amount of damage, and leaves enemies vulnerable in air, which is probably the most aggressive thing that Griffon can do.
It’s nice that Griffon can do something more than just ranged attacks. It’s a little hard to coordinate his knock-up with Shadow to create a combo, but it’s doable and worth practicing.
10.Wire Snatch 2
Wire Snatch is a really useful way for Nero to close gaps and start his combo. Instead of dashing into enemies, Nero will instead pull them closer to him. When he does that, he can instantly start hitting them without worrying about knocking them back like he would with Streak.
Wire Snatch can be used in air, and it gives Nero an opportunity to start his combo straight after. And luckily, it’s downside - it having small range, is slightly fixed with Wire Snatch 2, which increases the range, thus making the skill even more useful.
9.SM Style Level 2
Each of Dante’s styles is useful and correctly using all of them will greatly increase your style and Dante’s usefulness. You wouldn’t be wrong if you put any other style upgrade instead of the Swordmaster, but let’s face it, giving Dante more intricate sword combos is cool as hell.
SM Style Level 2 will give new abilities to Dante’s melee weapons (Cavaliere excluded). It’s my favorite style due to how each weapon gains a whole new attack that can be used to switch up your combos.
8.Streak
Streak is Nero’s way of closing the distance between him and his enemies. It lets Nero charge forward and stab the enemy he charged. It’s useful for keeping up with enemies in any situation that you need to close the gap.
It’s a very adaptive skill, since after using Streak, you can easily use Wire Snatch to bring the enemy right in front of you, or you can shoot them with Blue Rose while they’re away as you’re closing the gap and so forth. Enemies often move away from you and this is Nero’s easiest way to get close and personal.
7.Stinger
Stinger is Dante’s equivalent to Nero’s Streak. It makes Dante charge into the enemy and stab him with his sword. It’s a good way to close the gap, but it knocks enemies back from Dante, so expect to chain it with something like Dante’s trickster style move.
Dante is good at rushing down enemies and using varying combos and attacks to dish out a lot of damage. Stinger is the easiest way of closing down gaps, which Dante desperately needs if you don’t want to use his trickster moves, because you’re using a different style.
6.Breakthrough
Breakthrough functions like Dante’s Sting and Nero’s Streak, but it instead makes Shadow close the distance between him and the enemy. Shadow deals a lot of damage when he’s in close combat, so you’ll be using this attack often.
Shadow has a lot of strong attacks, but he’s often strung between a few enemies. So getting Breakthrough is essential for him to get to the next enemy if he’s killed his target. Once he’s in close, you can use a variety of attacks to hurt your enemies.
5.Shadow Vigor
There’s not much to say about this skill. It increases Shadow’s durability and makes him last a little longer in combat.
Since Shadow is usually in the frontlines, you don’t want him to be squishy, so getting this upgrade early on can go a long way, especially if you’re struggling with keeping Shadow protected or rely on him a lot.
4.Million Stab
Million Stab is a skill that Dante can use right after using Stinger. It gets rid of the drawback of the Stinger (knocking enemies back) and it does a little extra damage while Dante pierces his enemy with great speed.
It’s a good way to stay connected to the enemy and stop them from getting knocked back away from you. You don’t have to use it for a long time since you will be vulnerable from attacks from behind, but you will stay connected and will have the opportunity to prolong combos.
3.Split
Split is Nero’s best combo finisher from air. As we’ve previously stated, most of Nero’s damage comes from Air combos, so a nice way to finish it is something very necessary in Nero’s kit.
Split makes Nero slash his sword downwards from air. It will hit his enemy right in the middle and throw him to the ground. It’s fast, deals a lot of damage and it’s pretty easy to start attacking the enemies again once you’ve brought them down to the ground.
2.Roulette Spin
Roulette Spin is the best way for Nero to stay in the air AND easily juggle an enemy while airborne. Nero is a mobile character that benefits from being in air, and this skill could very well be the reason for that.
You can get very creative with air combos. Using Roulette Spin, lets you stay in air for longer and deal a lot of damage while airborne. You can use Roulette Spin multiple times in a single jump, which lets you figure out what attacks you can mix in, to get the most out of your air time.
1.Trigger Heart
Dante’s Devil Trigger is probably the most useful Trigger in the game. It not only gives you a huge damage boost and an epic new look, it also heals you when you deal damage.
Trigger Heart makes Dante’s Devil Trigger gauge deplete at a slower rate. Which obviously makes him able to stay in his amazing form for longer. It can really help you out in a pinch, when you need to heal up in the midst of combat, since you can be a bit more careful with a longer timer.
