Devil May Cry Phantom Boss

Difficulty (DMD):
Location: Mission 3 and Mission 8.

Phantom is the first boss you meet in the game, and he certainly isn’t a pushover. Make sure you have your Alastor and handguns equipped. Phantom’s body is virtually covered with rocky armour and with only two noticeable weak spots: his face and back. He has several pretty diverse attacks, and recognizing the tell-tale signs Phantom gives off helps inform you of what he has lined up next so try and learn his techniques and stay focused. His primary attack is a claw swipe attack that he will use to brush you away if you’re attacking him head-on. Every so often he will also make a trio of lava pillars to erupt from the ground right under your feet; for this all you need to do is run to avoid them. Occasionally he will launch himself high into the air and attempt to land on you and squish you; try and jump away in the opposite direction and you should avoid it. His special attack is a fireball which he charges and launches from his mouth; provided you are at a safe distance you should be able to barrel roll out of the way, or if you’re close to one of the several columns in the room you can also take cover behind one of those.

Aside from those techniques I stated above, he does have a few moves which he will use in self-defence such as when you are standing and attacking his back, he will try and strike you with his scorpion stinger. Shooting at him from afar with your pistols can only do so good as well, as he puts up his pincers to shield his face and charge you. The best strategy for this battle is to get up close and personal with your Alastor and slash away at his face when possible, followed by his back when he attempts to cover his face, and retreating every so often to shoot him from a safe distance. If you have the Air Raid ability available at this point then that will help a lot. Fortunately, every time you have to face Phantom (yes, there’s a fair few times) he will also stick to the same strategy - the only thing that changes is the location - but the same basic strategy will work for every encounter with him.