Now, these aren’t ‘combos’ in the sense of the word I normally apply here, but that is the term by which Devil May Cry refers to its more basic attack chains so that’s the header. Out of sheer defiance, however, outside of referencing their specific names, I’ll likely be referring to these as attack chains or attack strings simply for the sake of precision and clarity when it comes to talking about the concept of actual combos – which even Devil May Cry 3 uses the term in such an esoteric fashion, sort of.
Given that these are basic attack strings, there’s not too much to mention that isn’t ostensible, but overall I’ll cover what details are important to gameplay within Devil May Cry.
If you’re looking for some actual combos, I suggest you check this category out: The Lab.
Rebellion Combo I:
This is as simple as it gets: a three hit attack chain which delivers short knockback on completion, this combo has a few points of note.
The first is the second attack in the combo: it can be cancelled freely at any time in Devil May Cry 3, allowing for a Tsubame-Gaeshi after a connection by either swapping into another weapon to cancel with another basic melee attack or using a move such as High Time, Stinger, or even a Swordmaster move.
The knockback dealt by Combo I corresponds to half knockback distance.
Rebellion Combo II:
Rebellion Combo II is similar to Combo I but hits in a wider area for multiple hits with its second strike where Dante actually hands the sword off to his other hand behind his back.
The third input in string this deals short knockback similar to most other basic combos.
Million Stab:
Million Stab is a possible permutation from multiple moves – Stinger as well as Rebellion Combo II’s second attack. Functionally, both of these are the same move as far as the style system is concerned.
Million Stab does full knockback on completion, meaning that Stinger is the best distance closer to follow with; however, given that going into Million Stab from Stinger won’t be ‘fresh’ it’s not necessarily fully ideal even if it is easily accessible within Rebellion’s moves.
Cerberus Combo I:
Cerberus’s first combo attacks in a small area around Dante but also strikes just off to his right and left for the majority of the attacks.
Most of Cerberus’s attacks hit multiple times for a single input, and this is no exception.
Like most regular attack strings, Cerberus Combo I does half knockback distance.
Edit: I totally uploaded the wrong gif and never noticed it until now. This is fixed!
Cerberus Combo II:
Cerberus Combo II is initiated by pausing after the second input of Cerberus Combo I, then pressing melee again for a total of two more inputs to complete the string.
Interestingly, this combo does not deal knockback, however, there’s little to note other than it can bridge into the next move, Satellite.
Satellite:
Satellite, as with all of Devil May Cry’s Crazy Combos which can be triggered off of basic attacks, is initiated through mashing during the alternate combo for Cerberus II.
Again, Satellite like most of Cerberus’s attacks hit multiple times – and each time Satellite connects with an enemy, it deals knockback at half knockback distance. In the above, the enemy is pinned against the bus until the knockback angle changes to throw them away from it.
Agni & Rudra Combo I:
While Cerberus already attacked in a fairly wide pattern around Dante (although, admittedly, most of the weapons besides Beowulf share this trait), Agni & Rudra attack in an even wider pattern, and with an even longer five input string.
At the end of the string, Dante knocks enemies away at half knockback distance.
Agni & Rudra Combo II:
A three hit combo, which like Cerberus Combo II, doesn’t deal any knockback.
There’s not a lot to mention here, although typically, players who are attempting to perform Million Slash often get stuck in Agni & Rudra Combo II by attempting to mash the input too often.
Agni & Rudra Combo III:
The most complicated pause/delay based combo in Devil May Cry 3, A&R Combo III is performed by pressing melee followed by a brief delay, melee again, another brief delay, followed by melee a third time.
The attack ends in a high side kick which deals knockback at half distance.
Million Slash
Agni & Rudra’s basic Crazy Combo, Million Slash is performed out of A&R Combo III’s third and final attack.
It deals knockback at the full knockback distance.
For a small gameplay tip, this is one of the hardest Crazy Combos to perform out of a basic melee attack. If you’re struggling with this move, the best tip is to keep mashing even if you think you haven’t actually hit the buffer threshold to trigger it.
Nevan
Doesn’t actually have any regular combos. So that’s just being mentioned here for the sake of completion.
Beowulf Combo I:
As mentioned in the previous file on launchers, Beowulf Combo I is a three hit attack string which ends in a launcher as opposed to knockback.
Like most of the basic attack strings, there’s not too much to mention here, although like most of Beowulf’s attacks, the hit box is significantly smaller than Dante’s other options – and in exchange, hits harder.
As with all of its attacks, Beowulf effectively hits twice as hard on all knockback or launch dealing attacks as any other weapon in Dante’s arsenal.
Beowulf Combo II:
Beowulf Combo II starts off with the initial two attacks from Beowulf Combo I, but replaces the third hit with a series of snap kicks, followed by an axe kick which knocks enemies down.
This attack string is fairly simplistic, and typically, more desirable (given the knockdown effect) for most players to continue a combo than even launching an enemy by simply finishing with Combo I.
When an enemy is knocked directly down, they recover significantly faster than if they were knocked back or launched.
Hyper Fist
By mashing during the set of snap kicks (or immediately following the delay to initiate Combo II), Dante starts a Crazy Combo of good ol’ rapid anime punches.
The final attack deals knockback at full distance, like the other three main Crazy Combos.
Force Edge Combo:
Vergil’s basic combo with Force Edge actually has a number of interesting points to it, the first being that it has an initiating attack which hits twice.
Later in the combo, as Vergil unsheathes Yamato before drawing Force Edge and slamming it down, there is a window for an evasion based cancel. Evasion based cancels for Vergil are three moves:
- Jumping
- Dodge Rolling
- Trick (Style) Actions
Besides this, as the move ends with Vergil sheathing Yamato, completing the animation for sheathing the katana counts as a taunt.
Yamato Combo:
A very basic three hit attack string, there’s not much to mention here, but as with the above (and all of Yamato’s attacks), the attack ends in a sheathing animation which if completed acts as a taunt. Neat-o.
Vergil’s Beowulf Combo:
Vergil’s Beowulf combo is a three input combo which hits twice with its ending kick, once for damage and stun and the second time for knockback.
There’s not much to mention here again unlike Vergil’s Force Edge attack string and Yamato’s string, there’s no taunt mechanic associated with allowing animations to complete for Beowulf, and also it’s worth saying that there’s enough of a delay between Vergil’s initial two punches and his follow-up kicks that typically, without using Devil Trigger, attempting to juggle with this attack string in particular tends to result in a dropped enemy.
