Doguri's Vergil tech is still 1 week old.
Yep, it isn't that deep like his Dante. Though I did steal his summon swords pop-up to air stinger trick for side switching. That was a smart. Otherwise it is very difficult to position for that.
Vergil
Going to cover some basic tech concepts for Vergil in case anyone wants to flesh out their skills. Some stuff is early, some stuff I just don't get fully. I'm estimated about 60%, maybe 10-15 hours in. In comparison, to show how early this stuff is for most
players, it took me about 500 hours + with DMC3 Dante to make him do exactly what I want. Not joking
Judgement Cut (JC)
JC is the biggest unknown still with Vergil. Players have gotten some weird shit to happen with JC and not everyone has proper explanations. I myself get confused with my own play.
- Chaining
You can chain JC with just inputs. Right after a JC you can buffer for another when Vergil sheaths his sword. The timing is tricky and can produce some unexpected results. I have been able to do multiple JC's in a row without animation breaks on the ground. The timing is not completely understood, it might just be triggered on a few frames, but it basically bypasses the required buffer charge.
- Just input JC
You want to get good with just input JC. The best way to practice is with rapid slash. Your inputs with Yamato [toward + melee + hold melee again, instant buffer + just release]. You can chain these over and over again for cheap kills (or when you want to wipe out stupid plant rooms in BP).
It is good to practice with Vergil's aerial rave pause combo. Launch the opponent on third input and then buffer your charge. Release at the right point for a perfect JC. Next you can practice off Vergil's launcher. Just doing [back + melee + instant buffer + just release] will do the trick.
- Inertia JC
Inertia JC is something that has not been mastered yet. There is a lot of funky stuff you can do with it, including a range of attacks without using lock-on. You can practice pretty easily. With no enemies around do [buffer melee + trick + release charge]. Vergil will do a simple kind of jump into JC.
However, true inertia JC will require an enemy and practice. You can use trick up with sword embedded to JC at opponents. You can not use lock-on and inertia JC in all directions. The true skill is to inertia JC over opponents to side switch. The timing and execution in the air for this is very difficult. I have only done it a few times successfully as the buffer and enemy step cancel can be tricky.
- Enemy step cancel JC
I am pretty much clueless on these, even though I saw in this thread their execution. They are a parlor trick, not very entertaining, but I don't have the execution. I have pulled it off only a few times. If anyone can shed light, feel free, but I'm not going to focus much on repetitive glitchy cancels regardless.
Reverse Attacks (RA)
If you want to get good with Vergil, get good with reverse attacks. Reverse attacks happen when you release lock-on and attack in opposite directions.
- Back-hit
So DMC usually has attacks which hit behind and Vergil is no exception. His delayed aerial rave in the air can be done with an RA and still hit the opponent. I'm sure I will display this in future videos. If you have the correct positioning, you can also get some attacks with hitboxes from Force Edge (FE) and Beowulf to hit on RA. Experiment and practice. Note that Vergil auto-corrects often with aerial JC but I'm working on getting around that.
- Standard RA
You can see an RA I did here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K7TBBrPX-o
While I used it for side switching (not completely an RA cause I didn't reverse), it is just as simple to go the opposite direction. In fact, both FE helm breaker and Beowulf starfall in the air are quick enough for you to trick up after downward execution and continue the combo. You can then trick up into lunar phase or aerial raves. Some attacks are too slow but you can try to ESC out of them; try different tricks to remove lag. As usual, experiment.
Aerial Cancels + ESC
So everyone does aerial cancels but it is important to understand what works. Same with ESC even though it is more advanced.
Aerial cancels best:
Pause aerial rave (3rd input)
Lunar phase
Air stringer
Aerial cancels lose:
Starfall
Helm breaker
Aerial rave (3rd input)
Best cancels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQIbLw2n9uM
You can maintain aerial cancels using a core set of moves with your weapons. However, if you weapon switch haphazardly, you will kill your aerials with the "lose" attacks. If you lose an aerial combo, you can often recover with a trick up if you are quick enough. There are stylish opportunities there.
ESC best:
Lunar phase
Aerial rave
Lunar phase is the best move for Vergil to ESC. It is easy to do and works great in all facets. Use it to side switch over enemies for aerials (link below) or cancel ground combos. A little trick I like to use is instant starfall [jump + instant melee] on the ground. You can teleport before and it becomes a super fast launcher [trick + jump + instant melee]. Aerial rave can use ESC (similar to DMC3) on most enemies. You just have to position yourself high enough; try using paused aerial rave to get the height.
Side switch starfall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CXxkok72A0
Swords
Vergil's swords are something that will take months to fully unlock their potential. But I will cover the simple aspects, since only very crazy advanced stuff will come from using them properly.
- Surrounding swords
Used for bounce. Enemies bounce pretty much double the high of normal launchers, works in the air, and can allow stylish moves like going under enemies with air stinger as a side switch. This is all timing and takes a lot of practice to make sense in combos. Happy findings cause I'm not helping ya.
- Blistering swords
Are standard damage unless you know what you are doing position wide. The idea for style is not to use them as just a barrage of projectiles but as a juggle mechanism. This requires very precise movement in order to engage them properly and only the best of the best players will master it.
Final word
I'm going to stop here but there is more to Vergil that I am not covering. I advise serious players to pick up the PC version and turn off damage in BP. Practice and practice, then practice. The really advanced stuff has not been shown yet. I didn't cover DT stuff cause I haven't put enough time into it and can only comment on standard trick down into side dodging, DT explosion, etc... along with different effects for certain attacks. Once I know more, I will share.
Vergil is interesting since I can create most DMC3 style combos with his DMC4 iteration. However, his speed, added moves, etc... along with the DMC4 combo framework unlocks a lot of stuff. People will eventually crack something using a high speed combination of sword juggles, instant JC's, reverse attacks, rapid side switching, unknowns etc... Nothing shown yet matches what is in my head and I'm not enough hours in to show it.
Have fun!
EDIT:
I forgot instant drive and beowulf (melee + trick) cancels! Will talk about them later today.
