Boss Attacks
As Nelo 2 and 3's, except for:
Phantom Swords:
Welcome to the world of Phantom Swords :p ... Nelo has a ton of different formations. Luckily, most can be evaded in the same basic way. Anyway, here they are.
"Halo" formations:
So-called, because a loose circle, or "halo", of swords appear above Dante's head, then contracts into a much tighter circle. All the Halo formations begin the same way; they don't, however, all end the same way.
1. Rapidfire - Once the halo has contracted, the swords will come down in rapidfire fashion. To evade, keep running without doubling back on yourself.
2. Bunched-up - Once the halo has contracted, it rises up out of sight above Dante’s head, then, about 1 second later, the bunched-up swords are fired down towards the ground. To evade, do the same as for the Rapidfire formation. Don't try to jump away, as this sometimes gets you hit.
3. Open Circle – Once the halo has contracted, it rises out of sight above Dante’s head, then, about 5 seconds later, the swords are fired down towards the ground – but this time they come down vertically in the shape of a large circle. When the halo first rises into the air, you should always keep running for long enough to ensure that it isn't the bunched-up formation which is going to come flying down. Once you have established that it isn’t, then you can safely stand still to let the circle of swords come down around you.
4. Flower – Nice romantic name, yeah :p ... Once the halo has contracted, the swords flip over 90 degrees so that they are all lying on a horizontal plane, with Dante stuck in the centre of this deadly 'flower'. They remain still for about a second, then fly outwards. To evade, simply jump out of the 'flower' before the swords have time to fly outwards.
Other formations:
This part covers all the various other formations. It doesn't matter where you stand to evade the halo formations, but for these ones you should be inside the large circle in the centre of the arena.
Horizontal Row – A horizontal row of swords line up in front of Nelo which are then rapidly fired from left to right. To evade, do a jump to the left at the same time as they are fired – you can run 1-2 steps left before jumping if you like, although it’s not essential to – but it may help with the timing of the jump.
Vertical Row – A vertical row of swords line up in front of Nelo which are then rapidly fired from top to bottom. To evade, do a jump to the left (or right) at the same time as they are fired.
Cross-shaped swords – A very loosely "cross" shape of swords appears in front of Nelo, which, once again, are rapidly fired out. This is a rather more dangerous formation than either the horizontal or vertical ones. Nevertheless, it can still be evaded with a jump to the left (or right) as soon as they are fired – you can either jump from the spot or run 1-2 steps first before the swords are fired and then jump.
Spinning Plate – A spinning 'plate', which resembles the rim of a saucer, appears above Dante’s head. The swords spin round above Dante’s head, stop, and are fired downwards about a second later. Just do a jump to the side or else straight up either just before the swords stop spinning or after they have stopped.
Blanket of swords – A 'blanket' of swords appears above Dante’s head, almost smothering him with swords. The swords are at different angles, but all are pointing in one direction only: that’s right :p And everywhere Dante goes, the swords merrily follow. Not long after appearing, some of them will begin to fire towards Dante, with the rest following soon afterwards. To evade them, keep jumping in a rough triangular shape as soon as they appear - it may sound odd, but it works. The only other way is to do an Inferno to get rid of the swords in one blow. Watch out for any stray lingering swords - one is sometimes left over which follows you around like a particularly bad 'tic.'
Blue Meteor (red lifebar only) - When Nelo's lifebar reaches the red, he becomes capable of firing blue meteors from his perch. These charge up even more slowly than the ones he fires from the ground. On their own, they're incredibly easy to evade with a roll or jump to the side. Their main danger is when you have to dodge both a blue meteor and a Phantom Sword attack simultaneously.
That's not the end of the Phantom Swords. Pfft, you should be so lucky :p
When Nelo drops down:
Once Nelo is done with sending out Phantom Swords, he'll drop down from his perch and do a sliding dash towards you - he can do this in one of three ways.
1. Unadorned - He has no Phantom Swords around him at all.
2. Vertical 'Skirt' - He will be wearning a vertical 'skirt' of swords around him - it doesn't really matter very much, but you won't be able to harm him until they disappear, which doesn't take very long.
3. Horizontal 'Skirt, aka, as the Tutu of Death - He will be wearing a horizontal 'skirt' of swords around him. Not only that, but when the swords finally disappear, they do so by firing outwards across the arena, not harmlessly evaporating.
After Nelo has finished his sliding dash towards you, he can finish with any attack in his range - including a teleport and another round of Phantom Sword attacks! To evade him as he approaches, do either a wall-jump or an Air-Hike over his head. This will work even for the Tutu of Death - after evading the Tutu, though, you should keep on wall-jumping or get onto the stairs to evade the swords when they finally fly outwards.
Stopping the Phantom Swords altogether:
After all that, you don't even need to see the Phantom Swords. Well, almost. You can't stop Nelo from flying up to his perch (except by very concentrated melee attacks), but you can bring him down early. Here are some ways:
1. Uncharged Meteors - The moment you spot Nelo flying up to his perch, send an uncharged Meteor. If you're too late, then you can send uncharged Meteors in between formations, as long as you're extremely quick about it. Don't try to send one while an attack is going on, as it won't work - except for the Open Circle formation.
2. Vortex Lvl 2 - This works well. Just be careful about where you drop down... :p
3. Running up to Nelo - Once you pass a certain trigger point, he will drop down. Wait until Nelo sends a halo formation before running up to him, as you'll end up with a faceful of swords if you try to run up to him during any other type of attack. Make sure to jump away as soon as Nelo drops down!
Phew. The Phantom Swords section is finally done with >_<.
