Note: Even if you get hit, DO NOT restart right away. Sometimes, the attack may miss but you mistake it as a hit since your health decreases. Not only that but you will want practice on ALL parts of this mission.

Be prepared for a HUGE endurance fest here. The best way to do this mission is to play it safe with EVERY battle, and cheap tactics are the way to go. If you do decide to play “properly” then be very careful when attacking and kill the Lusts immediately as they will be the biggest threat. You prepared? Ok, let’s get this going.

Your first endurance test is the Temperance Wagon. However, surprisingly enough, this is the easiest/most controllable part of the mission (apart from the Geryon fight of course). You start off facing 3 Gluttons. This is VERY easy, though I would still suggest you Spiral RG cancel them to the far end of the carriage followed by a few combo 3’s & a Jam Session, this will hit you Stylish, and considering you can’t take damage at all it should stay relatively high, your aim for these first 3 is to kill them all around the same time.

Once they are gone, you are now dealt 3 Hell Prides with an Enigma coming on another carriage. Get in the closest right corner of the carriage and face the furthest left corner, then continue using Combo 2 with Nevan. This will keep the Prides at bay whilst absorbing the arrows. Once the Enigma is out of sight, you would have killed most of the Prides, giving the Lusts time to break on to the scene…

Don’t think for a second you’ll get away with combo 2’ing these guys. Whip out Spiral & begin RG cancelling, switching between each enemy per shot (Even if a DT’d Pride is on the screen). When all enemies are down, give a few extra shots on any Prides that may remain. If there are no Prides, then try and even out the enemies health bars before you go in for a combo 3 & Jam Session.

This is a wave of 4 Lusts and a Wrath. Once 2 Lusts are gone, the Wrath will appear so BE CAREFUL not to spiral him. However, when the Wrath appears shoot him once with Spiral and 4 times with E & I. On the 5th shot, press guard immediately after for a Perfect Parry. DO NOT at any point, use the rage you have built up. Once the Wrath dies, take out the few remaining Lusts.

This next wave consists of 4 Sloths and 2 Wraths. One of the Wraths will be patrolling on another cart. If you are using the Spiral tactic, kill him for some extra health and orbs. Then, proceed shooting the 3 Sloths that have appeared before you. Once one is dead another will appear, followed by a Wrath again. Once again, shoot the Wrath once with Spiral followed by 5 E & I shots, parrying directly after the last shot, then kill all the remaining Sloths.

Now here’s the only easy part. Once again a Wrath will be trailing on another Cart, & you will be facing a pair of Gluttons and 1 Sloth, closely followed by a Wrath. If you are quick, you can knock the 2 starting enemies back against the wall and kill the Wrath on the other cart quickly. Once again, parry the Wrath (your rage will be important later) and then finish off the enemies. Thankfully, this concludes the Temperance Wagon.

This is one of the few times in the game I will ever say watch out for the Prides… Health is a big factor in this room, you get very little health bonus and if the Sloths’ DT is at full health you can pretty much kiss your arse goodbye. That said from the get go, target the first Sloth you see. Use basic K Bee Rebound tactics to kill him off. If you have enough time and want to play safe, charge a level 3 Rising Dragon, steady him mid air with E & I then K Bee him to the ground (or until it dies). After that target the next Sloth and move on. One important thing to note is WHICH Sloth you have targeted. You have to target the Sloth that was fighting alongside the one you killed. Failure to do so will result in a full health DT. If you are unsure which one it is, whittle both Sloths to below 1 bar of health before killing one. After the first 3 Sloths it becomes a lot easier to tell which Sloth is which. 

Your other major problem is the Prides. Though slow they have a huge habit of tackling your mid K Bees, and if they are DT’d they take a LONG time to shove out the way of a downed Sloth, and killing one will risk an early DT from another Sloth. If you notice a Pride heading your way, Free-Ride the Sloth to a safe location and continue the onslaught. If you don’t have the time, Spiral Cancel the Sloth out the way of the Pride (rather than the opposite). If you get past this with no damage, give yourself a pat on the back. That is a challenge on its own. This concludes the Alter of Evil. 

The downside to this fight is its slight randomness, as you are running towards the screen it is hard to tell where the Goyle is coming from. That said, run as fast as you can and if you hear a sound, jump + Hike and hope for the best. Keep in mind that if a Goyle glides by you, don’t assume the worst. Sometimes it does no damage. At this point it is always worth completing the mission regardless of hits.  

Once you reach the other side, you should be able to easily RG Cancel EVERY Goyle into stone with Spiral. Rather than going for melee attacks, continue with the Spiral RG. Most of those in the front will take a lot of damage. Of course, if you need health kill one ASAP then RG Cancel the remaining enemies. This is purely for style and orb purposes - doing this should guarantee S ranks in style and orbs so it is well worth it, not to mention that Blood Goyles give huge rebates on health orbs. Short and sweet, this concludes the Alter of Evil Pathway.

Note: For the Gears of Madness run through as fast as possible, skip the red orbs path and jump + Hike from the middle gear to the top gear… BE extra careful to avoid any Goyle. If you are using RG for this mission, you won’t need to kill any Goyle here for a top up of health. Skip them all entirely. 

OK, welcome to hell. This is arguably the hardest (forced) fight in the entire game. The fact it is at the very end of Mission 12 is a kick in the teeth, but nevertheless let’s get going. From the absolute get go of this fight, run up to HVG as FAST as you can; you should KNOW where he appears. Start pummelling him with Beowulf ASAP. Once he guards, continue pummelling until he deflects the strike, then immediately Perfect (Air) Just Release on him and run to the corner of the room (right of the door closest to you). (Air) Parry the first 2 dashes HVG does and air Just Release the final dash, even if it’s a vertical dash (the ceiling will make your Gold Just Release hit). After that K Bee him to death and HOPE the Lusts below do not uppercut.  

Once HVG is dead, it’s total plain sailing, Jump + Hike with Beowulf and once you hit the ceiling, activate Air Raid and finish off the remaining enemies with Thunderbolt. Whether they DT or not doesn’t matter, and you can often find openings to drop down and collect the orbs enemies leave behind. Your vertical distance may look close (provided you are hugging the ceiling) but Lusts uppercuts will NEVER hit you, even if you stay in one spot. For your own sake, I suggest you try and push the enemies towards the right door as you will be able to see what you are shooting. And of course, shoot the non DT’d enemies first. However, if an enemy does DT, don’t fret. You should have plenty of health here. 

Set up - Swordmaster with E & I and Rebellion + Beowulf 

Runway 

For the runway, play it safe. Stay WELL back and once Geryon gets close enough, jump + Hike over him, Helm Breaker to the ground and hold /\ (if you feel a bit risky, Helm Breaker his carriage; it does damage). When he re-appears, release Drive and repeat the above steps. When he stops, you can do 3 Drives before he catches up to you. He’ll collapse in 1-2 more Drives. 

Arena 

For the Arena, IMMEDIATELY Stinger towards Geryon, then cancel into Real Impact + Tornado. When Geryon falls back to the ground, run towards the screen to the outline of the circle engraved on the ground. As Geryon swings the carriage towards you, jump + Hike AND HELM BREAKER (never Killer Bee) then Stinger, followed by a Real Impact + Tornado. This is what is known as the “Geryon Loop.” After Tornado, Geryon will fall to the ground and if you have enough time get in some Hammers, but always give yourself enough time to retreat. If Geryon looks like he won’t collapse, DTE him to aid with the damage. Once you get the loop sorted it becomes very easy to pull off consistently. This concludes Mission 12.