Before you begin playing Devil May Cry 5, you’ll need to select a difficulty setting. The difficulty setting you choose is entirely up to personal preference, with easier difficulty settings being great for casual gamers, and harder difficulty settings offering more of a challenge to hardcore gamers.
In total, there are six different difficulty settings in Devil May Cry 5, though some of these difficulty settings (like Dante Must Die) aren’t immediately available. To help simplify everything, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide explaining all of the different difficulty settings in Devil May Cry 5!
All Difficulty Settings Explained in Devil May Cry 5
© Capcom
In Devil May Cry 5, there are six different difficulty settings to choose from that range from Human all the way up to Dante Must Die. If you’re looking to breeze through the campaign, you may want to choose an easier difficulty setting like Human in order to avoid having to replay challenging fights.
Alternatively, if you’re someone who relishes a good challenge, it can be useful to know the difference between settings like Dante Must Die and Heaven and Hell. Below, we’ve broken down each difficulty setting in Devil May Cry 5 from easiest to hardest!
Devil May Cry 5 - Human
© Capcom
The first, and easiest, difficulty setting in Devil May Cry 5 is Human. The Human difficulty setting is available at the start of the game and is ideal for both casual gamers and those looking to breeze through the campaign in order to absorb all story details as quickly as possible. By selecting the Human difficulty setting, all enemies you encounter will have the lowest health pool and deal the lowest total damage.
Devil May Cry 5 - Devil Hunter
© Capcom
At the start of the game, Devil Hunter is the hardest difficulty setting. By beating the campaign on Devil Hunter, you’ll unlock the Son of Sparda difficulty level. While it can be a pain to have to beat the campaign on Devil Hunter in order to unlock other difficulty levels like Son of Sparda, the good news is that Devil Hunter shouldn’t be too challenging to work with. On the Devil Hunter setting, enemies deal twice as much damage and have twice as much health as they do on the Human setting.
Devil May Cry 5 - Son of Sparda
© Capcom
The next hardest difficulty setting in Devil May Cry 5 is Son of Sparda. As noted above, Son of Sparda only unlocks after you beat Devil May Cry 5 on the Devil Hunter difficulty setting. As added incentive, you’ll be able to unlock a few new settings after beating Devil May Cry 5 on the Son of Sparda setting.
For example, the Dante Must Die setting, Heaven and Hell, and Hell and Hell all unlock after you beat Devil May Cry 5 on the Son of Sparda setting. By selecting the Son of Sparda difficulty setting, enemies will have twice as much health and deal twice as much damage as they did on the previous Devil Hunter setting.
To make things even more challenging, enemies will attack a lot faster under the Son of Sparda setting. Other changes include new attack patterns for boss fights, and harder demons spawning earlier on in the game and more often. Every facet of combat has been adjusted under the Son of Sparda setting, making it a worthy challenge in Devil May Cry 5.
Devil May Cry 5 - Heaven and Hell
© Capcom
In Devil May Cry 5, the Heaven and Hell difficulty setting is special in that it enables “one-hit combat” where not only do enemies die in one hit, so do you. The Heaven and Hell setting
Devil May Cry 5 - Dante Must Die
© Capcom
After beating Devil May Cry 5 on the Son of Sparda difficulty setting, you’ll unlock Dante Must Die. While Son of Sparda may seem like the ultimate challenge in Devil May Cry 5, the Dante Must Die difficulty is definitely one to take seriously. Again, by selecting the Dante Must Die, enemies will deal twice as much damage and have twice as much health as they did under the Son of Sparda difficulty setting.
The first change you’ll notice centers around enemy health bars which have been doubled under the Dante Must Die difficulty. Additionally, all enemies now have access to their own special Devil Trigger mode. Finally, combat as a whole may be similarly structured to the Son of Sparda setting, though demons are far more aggressive and quick to attack while playing Dante Must Die. Should you be able to beat the campaign on Dante Must Die, you’ll unlock things like Super Alternate costumes for Nero, V, and Dante, as well as the Infinite Devil Trigger ability.
Devil May Cry 5 - Hell and Hell
© Capcom
In name, this difficulty setting sounds as though it’d be similar to Heaven and Hell. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the Hell and Hell setting is a bit different. While you still die after taking a single hit, enemies are tuned the same way that they are under the Son of Sparda difficulty setting. As such, combat becomes far more challenging as you not only have to work your way through brutally tough opponents, slipping up and taking a hit can really cost you.
This is coupled with the fact that checkpoints have been removed, Gold Orb revives are disabled, and you’re limited to three total revives per Mission. After you use up your last revive, you’ll be booted all the way back to the start of the Mission. In our experience, the Hell and Hell difficulty setting is the most challenging one to play on in Devil May Cry 5. We recommend saving this difficulty setting for last, and taking the time to beat the game under Dante Must Die as having things like the Infinite Devil Trigger ability may prove to be particularly helpful when playing settings like Hell and Hell.
Now that you know the difference between all six difficulty settings available in Devil May Cry 5, be sure to check out some of our previous guides including how long it’ll take you to beat Devil May Cry 5, whether or not Vergil is present in Devil May Cry 5, and how to unlock the secret ending in Devil May Cry 5.
