Preferred style: Royalguard (lv 2) 1. Keep attacking him wherever you see him, even if he blocks your attacks. Eventually, both Dante and Hell Vanguard will parry. Two choices: 1) Side roll away then attack 2) Jump over his head towards his back and attack. If you're using Royalguard, guard his attack. If done properly, he will be stunned and you can hit him for some time until he teleports away. 2. Never attempt aerial attacks on Hell Vanguard unless you have Air Hike. If you parry him in mid-air (e.g. while performing Helm Breaker), you are likely to get hit by his 2nd scythe swing. However, with Air Hike, when parried in mid-air, you can Air Hike (jump) over Hell Vanguard and land behind him to attack. 3. Do not shoot at Hell Vanguard if you don't want him to perform Hellgate, a move in which he teleports away and reappears to charge at you from random locations. If he does this, pay attention to the sound. When you hear a 'gong', jump to evade his charge attack. Hell Vanguard often reappears from the ground to charge at you upwards. To avoid this, make it a habit to keep running the moment you see him disappear. He will not hit you so long you're not in range. If you think you can't run away in time, do a side roll just as Hell Vanguard reappears from the ground. Note: In the harder modes, Hell Vanguard will perform Hellgate regularly, 3 times in a row. 4. Basic Royalguard: Hell Vanguard is really easy to deal with using Royalguard at LV 2 or higher. Practice Air Blocking his (teleport) charge attacks until you are confident (Air Blocks are easier than ground Blocks). It shouldn't be hard. Mastering this helps greatly down the road. With each guard, you build up "rage", which is shown as 3 little circles to the left of your life bar. The circles light up as they fill. After filling up your rage, you can perform a Release which deals a lot of damage. Releasing at an enemy as he attacks using the timing of a perfect guard will result in a "Just Release". Just Releases damage more than regular Releases, hence it's always better for you to Just Release rather than normal Release whenever you can. A single Just Release (with full rage) at Hell Vanguard on normal mode takes out 100% of its life.
Thanks, I've learned a lot.
italjha36 3 years ago