Fallens are tough on DMD. They’ll test your patience, so practice on them before attempting the whole runthrough once you get used to their attacks and can evade successfully, then proceed on. The key trick to consistently beating Fallens is this: When fighting 2 Fallens, work on 1 only. Fighting 2 of them with their shields removed is extremely unpredictable, but fighting 1 with and 1 without a shield will still allow you to hit both at the same time with DTE (as you’ll find out soon).

Let’s get started. Run up to the first Fallen and break his shield ASAP. You’ll need to hit him consecutively with 3 Air Crosses for his shield to break and you MUST be quick (no pause between blows). With a bit of practice you can break his shield before the second Fallen appears. When his shield is down, you’ll have to revise your attack plan, which will ALWAYS be: 

Wait for blade spin attack – Air Trick to him (Or basic jump if he is above you) – Air Cross – Air Hike – Air Cross – Gun shot – Air Cross 

The third Air Cross will knock him back and if you feel safe, do a Sky Cross towards him and Air Cross him again. For the explosion attack, do exactly the same but Air Trick or jump towards him as he throws the sword, not before, since it can knick you on the way down. You have to get this combination down perfectly so you can spend all your time concentrating on the other Fallen.

If you see him attack at all, Sky Star. Now, don’t just use DTE whenever you have an opening. The lower the health of the second Fallen, the easier he’ll be to kill later, so what you want to do is release DTE close to the first Fallen and during the attack of the second fallen. Doing this will hit both of them (Shielded Fallens are opening to damage when they attack).

An example of an attack with a significant opening is their “Stinger” attack, though with some decent timing you can damage them during any of their attacks. Once you have killed the first Fallen, the other will DT, but don’t go for him. Run directly to the next Fallen’s spawn location and be prepared to break his shield ASAP. DO NOT rush here; if the other Fallen is on your tail, take your time breaking his shield (it’s very common to get hit here). When he’s dead, get to the center of the room and prepare for a lengthy battle with a single Fallen.

Against this Fallen, you’ll notice that he does the swing attack A LOT, which is very unpredictable. The explosion attack, however, has a HUGE opening time and is easily prepared for. You’ll also find that it takes a lot of Air Crosses to knock him back, so hit him as often as you can during any openings and not just 3 times (use gun canceling). When he does do his swing attack, don’t sit still. Jump up as high as possible and then Air Hike. Use Air Trick or careful landing to get in line with the Fallen and mash away with Air Crosses, taunting during any openings to raise your style. This will take a while, but outside of very unsafe RG play, it is your safest bet, especially with the fights that follow.