MVC3 Dante
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds - Dante character reveal trailer
Jackpot... yeah baby!
Dante
Aside from his signature broadsword Rebellion and his two .45 caliber handguns, Ebony and Ivory, Dante makes use of the three-headed ice nunchaku Cerberus, the fire and wind scimitars Agni and Rudra, the electric guitar Nevan, and the gauntlet/greaves set Beowulf. Along with these Devil Arms (all of which are featured in Devil May Cry 3) are firearms from the same game, namely Artemis, a Demon World multi-beam laser gun, Kalina Ann, a rocket launcher belonging to Lady and Coyote-A, a sawed-off shotgun. In his DLC Dark Knight Sparda costume, Dante uses the Force Edge instead of the Rebellion. His super moves consist of him entering Devil Trigger state, open-firing with Ebony and Ivory, and executing several Stingers (forward dash stabs) using Rebellion.
Dante has a massive amount of command normals and special attacks, more so than any other character in the entire series. Dante's moveset gives him a powerful rushdown game with lots of combos, crossups, mixups and pressure, making him a character that excels well in literally any field as a souped-up Jack-of-All-Trades character, with average health and damage output to date. He makes an extremely effective battery character (or on-point altogether) since his specials allow him to extend his combos greatly without using his hyper combos. His normals also have great range, and his crouching L is a superb low hitting poke. His moves only deal average damage, and Dante only using a few of his tools, can be just as lethal; Dante in the hands of an expert or novice alike can at times see no need to rely on his full moveset. But regardless, players must be mindful of his heavy damage scaling and lack of conversions off of his throws (making him lack a good way to open up foes during pressure).
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds[]
Out of all the characters who possess the most powerful loops in the game, Dante is by far the simplest character to use for making big combos compared to others, as most of them tend to hit multiple times for lax execution. With this in mind, unlike most of the cast who rely on tricks and strict cancelling, Dante is all about creativity with his whole moveset (as it is composed of legit additional inputs). His Bold Move is also a good move for command jump mixups akin to flying variable attack mixups, and a trick known as Bold Cancelling can even be applied to most of his non cancelable moves (by cancelling his non-cancelable attack with it, then cancelling his Bold Move into the desired attack just before he leaves the ground).
However, some of his moves also require strict inputting to use instantly, such as his Tempest, Beehive, The Hammer, and the like.
Despite sounding practically invincible at first, his moves do little damage and he is difficult to fully master, as his moveset is vast to the point of being hard to memorize. Also, execution on some of his combos are rather strict. One should learn to stick with their own personal bread & butter combo before getting too carried away in trying out other combos. Plenty of good practice beforehand is the key to using Dante well. As said before, Dante is all about creativity, but such creativity must be insured to be practical as well.
In UMVC3, Dante's executions have been tweaked and given different timing, in that all of his moves do increased knockback (making it less probable to pin opponents for juggles outside the corner at times). His hitboxes for some of his normals have been shrunk, and his minimum damage scaling was also retweaked as well. Bold Move now packs decreased startup time, making Bold Cancelling more strict. However, a few big buffs were earned in trade, his Million Dollars can now be mashed, as well as his Devil Trigger giving him the ability to double air dash and triple jump. The biggest one of all is that his followup specials that are done from repeated commands now only require a single button input, making his special-based combos much more easier to pull off.
However, despite his power, Dante has notably some major weaknesses. First is that in-spite of his versatility, his normals including some of his zoning options are rather slow, which are further exacerbated by how slow his standing L and crouching L are (making them bad confirms). On top of this, his damage conversions off of throws is non-existent which makes his strike-vs-throw game non-rewarding (especially off of his air throw) on top of his heavy damage scaling across his moves and combos.
Basic Moves and Command Normals[]
- Stinger: One of Dante's signature moves. Lunges forward with a sword stab. Only cancels into Bold Move and Million Stab (as an additional input). A "Lv.2" version of it can be followed up from Scat Shot, Clay Pigeon or Cold Shower which wallbounces airborne opponents.
- Million Stab: Followup to Stinger (as well as Stinger Lv.2), Dante stabs multiple times in succession, then finishes with a knockdown stab. A minor version of it also acts as Dante's crouching H/C.
- Prop Shredder: Spins Rebellion in a vertical pinwheel fashion to grind up opponents. Followup to Scat Shot, Clay Pigeon and Cold Shower. Launches opponent like a normal launcher, so it's possible to followup with a super jump to a normal air combo. Cannot cancel into anything else from this move.
- Scat Shot: Optional followup to his standing H/C, fires Ebony & Ivory forward. Can followup with Stinger Lv.2 or Prop Shredder.
- Cold Shower: A variant of his Wild Stomp attack from DMC3. Fires Ebony and Ivory downward to the ground. Can OTG. Can followup with Stinger Lv.2 or Prop Shredder.
- Weasel Shot: Optional followup to his standing H/C, Rapidly pressing H/C will have Dante fire gunshots with Ebony & Ivory. Dante leaps backward while firing gunshots from Ebony & Ivory. Assist version has him feint with a forward dash first. Followup to his standing C or done as a standalone command normal.
- Clay Pigeon: Followup to High Time with upward gunshots (a nod to gunshot followups from High Time in the DMC games). Can followup with Stinger Lv.2 or Prop Shredder.
- Rain Storm: Dante spirals in midair while firing Ebony and Ivory directly downward. Can hit OTG. A variant of it (plus one of his other moves called Wild Stomp) is used during his backward ground throw.
- Bold Move: Original move. Command jump forward that can be used to cancel attacks into aerial attacks, creating mixups as it acts as a normal forward jump. Can also be used to cancel any move to chain into another attack considered impossible to cancel into from there (by executing the desired attack just before Dante leaves the ground). Possibly a nod to most of the jump cancelable options in the DMC games.
Special Moves[]
- Multi-lock: Fire a shot from Artemis that stalks the opponent, applying pressure. A rather slow move. Can be charged for more shots. Dante can even walk around while charging, and the charge can be cancelled with any move.
- Acid Rain: Followup to Multi-Lock. Fires the Artemis upward to send the bullets into the sky and they scatter to rain downward afterward. Can execute before Multi-lock attack animation. The raining portion of the attack can hit OTG.
- Crystal: Dante points downward with Cerberus to create a flash of ice crystals in front of him. Can OTG.
- Million Carats: Followup to Crystal, Dante smashes Cerberus down on the ground to erupt a launching ice prison around himself. Can be executed before the attack animation of Crystal. Can OTG and puts the enemy into the air.
- Hysteric: Fires 8 homing missiles from Lady's personal gun from Devil May Cry 3, the Kalina Ann.
- Grapple: Followup to Hysteric where Dante can fire the Kalina Ann's grappling bayonet at his target to pull them in (which counts as a blockable throw). The target is then speared by the gun as they are pulled in (with Dante pulling it out from them for a knockdown), and the grapple upon connecting cannot be cancelled by anything (not even an X-Factor). A glitch can be done with this move that makes the wire and the bayonet stick to the foe (by cancelling the Hysteric with a Devil Trigger then immediately performing the Grapple right after the Hyper flash). Unlike most of Dante's followups, this move must be done at the beginning of the Hysteric's animation before the missiles come out, and can hit at full screen range.
- Drive: Slashes a powerful wave from the ground. Can be delayed. Both the wave and the sword slash do independent damage.
- Twister: Spins Agni & Rudra to create a flaming tornado of fire and wind. Can OTG.
- Tempest: Followup to Twister, a more stronger version of the aforementioned move where Dante twirls the two swords the other way around. Cannot hit OTG unlike Twister. Dante doesn't leave the ground for this version unlike the original DMC3.
- Volcano: Punches the ground with Beowulf to erupt a small quake of light. Can OTG, puts the enemy into the air and can be jump canceled.
- Beehive: Followup to Volcano, Dante with Beowulf eqippued rapidly kicks the opponent, then smashes his foot down to create a burst of light. Causes ground bounce and is an overhead on the final hit. Based on his Beowulf Combo II for Beowulf in DMC3.
- Jam Session: Slides forward on the ground while strumming a solo with Nevan to create a violet electrical storm/lightning pillar. In the original DMC3, a swarm of bats in an electrical whirlwind appears instead.
- Reverb Shock: Rushes at the enemy with a solo with Nevan that covers Dante in electricity.
- Revolver: Flips forward with Cerberus in hand to smash opponents. Can OTG can has a small ground bounce effect.
- Jet-Stream: Runs forward while executing alternating slashes using Agni & Rudra.
- Fireworks: Flails his shotgun, the Coyote-A, around like a pair of nunchaku as he fires away. Followup to Revolver, Reverb Shock, and Jet-Stream. Can hit at full-screen range.
- Dance Macabre: A rapid amount of four slashes with Rebellion. Followup to Revolver, Reverb Shock, and Jet-Stream, but must be done at strict timing in order to execute the move. No cancels are available (not even Hyper Cancels) if the attack connects. Holds the opponent in place and grounds them of any of the slashes connect. However, Dante must first connect with a dash forward to make sure the move starts first.
- Crazy Dance: Followup to Dance Macabre, Dante sticks Rebellion in the ground, grabs the hilt of his sword and does a spinning pole kick with it, then ends with a wide slash. Automatically used with Dance Macabre in MvC3.
- Killer Bee: Dive kicks diagonally downward with one of the Beowulf's grieves. Causes ground bounce.
- The Hammer: Acts as a followup to Killer Bee where Dante executes a downward double-fisted haymaker with the Beowulf's gauntlets. Can be executed before the animation for a quick air combo/aerial rave finish that does an untechable knockdown. Hits overhead.
- Sky Dance: Wildly slashes with Agni & Rudra in midair, then drops to the ground with a falling flipping slash. Causes ground bounce if aimed right, but works even if one was used earlier in the combo. Hits overhead.
- Air Play: Shoots a ball of lightning and bats from a solo with Nevan in midair. Can charge the attack, and Dante will freeze in midair while doing so. Causes stagger on hit.
- Air Trick: Teleports, then reappears in midair behind the opponent.
- Air Raid: Nevan's flight ability, only accessed during the Devil Trigger. Can also activate during jump and cannot block during flight.
- Vortex: Dashes forward while covered in electricity in midair/mid-flight, can only be used during the Devil Trigger.
- Thunder Bolt: Fires an electric beam while in midair/mid-flight downward-diagonally, can only be used during the Devil Trigger. Can hit OTG.
Assist Attacks[]
| Name | Type | Angle | Cross-Over | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| α | Jam Session | Direct | Front | Million Dollars |
| β | Crystal | Shot | Front | Million Dollars |
| γ | Weasel Shot | Shot | Downward | Million Dollars |
Hyper Combos[]
- Million Dollars (Level 1): Unleashes quick fired rounds from his guns, Ebony and Ivory, in DMC's Twosome Time fashion, ending with a dual charged shot (similar to the finishing blow to Mundus in the first game) and his trademark one-liner "Jackpot".
- Devil Trigger (Level 1): Taps into his demonic powers to enter into a demon form for a brief period of time. Increases Dante's strength by 15%. New moves are gained, including the ability to fly using Nevan's Air Raid technique from DMC3. Dante can also gradually heal his red health as well as having his assists undergo the same powerup effect while halting the duration if he's tagged out. Dante cannot build any meter in this state, though he can do so as an assist.
- Devil Must Die (Level 3): Unleashes 4, quick back-and-forth Stingers. He then prepares for the "Finale Stinger" which drives through the opponent and launches them forward in a devastating red ring of demon magical energy.
| X-Factor Boosts | Damage | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | 130% | 110% |
| Level 2 | 150% | 120% |
| Level 3 | 170% | 130% |
Dante's standing A, B, and C in that order, as well as the midair versions, are based on some of his standard combos in DMC3. His standing guard is based on the Royal Guard style. Forward and backward dashes and Air Trick are based on the Trickster style.
Gameplay Changes[]
- Increased knockback for all moves.
- Adjusted hit stun time and float heights for all moves.
- Decreased minimum damage scaling on normal and special attacks.
- Decreased hitbox size of L and M.
- Lowered float of Clay Pigeon.
- Decreased cancel time during startup of Bold Move.
- Commands that were performed through repetitive joystick motions can now be done with a single additional button press.
- Can now perform Killer Bee during Rain Storm, complete with The Hammer followup.
- Increased invincibility frame startup on The Hammer, and decreased total invincibility frames.
- Decreased damage of Volcano-Beehive.
- Slightly increased horizontal knockback from Beehive.
- Final hit of Beehive no longer hits overhead.
- During Devil Trigger, Dante can now triple jump and double air dash.
- Additional hits can be added to Million Dollars through rapid buttons presses.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite[]
Gameplay Changes[]
Dante's many moves have been reworked, due to him practically having way too many moves that output little damage. Moreover, his Stinger can be cancelled to Hyper Combos, finally giving him more offensive flair. Also, based on his voice, speech and speaking mannerism, he's wilder, perhaps more sadistic, and his voice tone indicates he is much more hotheaded. Unlike previous games, Dante has the ability to speak and retain his personality even when he uses more of his demon powers in Devil Trigger, which would normally limit his voice to just grunts.
His battle with Jedah may have awakened more malevolent traits in him, which he manages to keep under control, his sadistic and nigh demonic laughter being an example.
His Nephilim skin has been source of speculation about DmC Dante being originally planned in the game, but due to fan outlook of the game reboot, was relegated as such. Classic Dante's hotheaded voicing molds well with his DmC counterpart, with traits similar to Nero, who is rather short-tempered and cusses frequently.