Characters / Devil May Cry - Nero

Main characters index | Heroes (Dante | Nero | V) | Villains (Vergil) | Other | DmC: Devil May Cry

Character subpage for Nero, a recurring series protagonist introduced in Devil May Cry 4.

Be aware that some spoilers will be unmarked. Read ahead at your own risk of being spoiled.

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Nero

The Devil Hunter

^{Click here to see his Devil Trigger}

^{Click here to see his DMC 4 self}

"From that day forth... my arm changed... and a voice echoed, "Power. Give me more power!" And if I become a demon, so be it. I will endure the exile. Anything to protect her."

Voiced by: Johnny Yong Bosch

Joey Lem (DMC: Peak of Combat),

Kaito Ishikawa (DMC4: Special Edition, DMC5; Japanese)

Face Model: Karlo Baker (DMC5)

Image Songs: The Time Has Come (DMC4), Devil Trigger (DMC5)

An orphan raised as a demon slayer by the Sparda-worshipping church, the Order of the Sword, with a demonically-superpowered right arm, first appearing in Devil May Cry 4.

At the start of the game, Nero is sent by the Order to track down Dante after the Son of Sparda seemingly kills the Order's leader, Sanctus. However, Nero soon discovers a series of Hell Gates are being opened all over the island he lives on, his childhood love Kyrie has been kidnapped, and that he inherited the blood and power of Sparda.

As a quarter-demon, Nero has Super-Strength, Super-Speed, Nigh-Invulnerability, and a Healing Factor, along with the power to form spectral projections through his demonic right arm, the Devil Bringer. His weapons of choice are Red Queen, a custom single-edged messer, a double-barreled revolver called the Blue Rose, and a Japanese sword of Sparda's discovered in Agnus' underground lab (later given to him as a gift for good by Dante) named Yamato.

He returns as one of the protagonists of Devil May Cry 5. Now with a shorter haircut, Nero loses his Devil Bringer which contained most of his demonic power, and has Yamato stolen from him after his arm is severed by one of the new antagonists in the lead up to the game. After acquiring a new mechanical prosthetic from his equipment supplier, a woman named Nico, the pair venture into Red Grave City to combat the spread of the first demon invasion in years, and the demonic tree at the center of it all.

Nero has two major combat mechanics - Exceed and the Devil Bringer. Exceed allows Nero to rev his sword and "overclock it", so to speak, increasing its damage, knockback, and altering a few of its properties. He can overclock it a total of three times, with each successive level of Exceed stacking more damage and knockback. The Devil Bringer allows Nero to do a "Buster" on an enemy; when an enemy is vulnerable, Nero can grab and toss them around for massive damage. Nero can also use the Devil Bringer to drag enemies to him, or pull himself over to them depending on their size. Nero trades out the Devil Bringer for the Devil Breakers in 5, which is a series of mechanical arms that have different functions. For example, Overture causes him to shoot out a massive clawed energy hand, Punch Line causes him to fire his hand out like a rocket, and so on.

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• 11th-Hour Superpower: Gains his own Devil Trigger in 5 just in time to stop Dante and Vergil from killing each other. You then get to put this new power to the test in the Final Boss fight as Vergil challenges Nero, helped by a self-regenerating Devil Trigger on your first playthrough. Included in the package is the return of Nero's original "Buster" move and you get to keep this ability on subsequent playthroughs (along with buying all the stuff you were missing from 4 like Charge Shot, Showdown and Maximum Bet) in addition to keeping all his Devil Breaker options (via Nico modifying the Devil Breakers into gauntlets for a human arm rather than mechanical replacements and Nero having the ability to dissipate his new human-looking arm back into energy), meaning you get to play a completely synergized form of Nero that has complete access to both his 4 and 5 movesets, giving him a huge upgrade to his gameplay for New Game Plus.
• Ace Custom: Nero's main weapons, the Red Queen and the Blue Rose, are versions of customized equipment. Both of these weapons also relate back to Nero's character; with his explosive temper and unchecked emotions, they're suitable for an aggressive playstyle.
  • The Red Queen is a standard Order of the Sword blade overclocked to an absurd degree so that rather than having "centralized explosions" as the weapon's main gimmick, the entire sword ignites as Nero swings it. According to Nico's Report on the Red Queen, it was her father Agnus who drew up the base design, but Nero took that design and "souped it up" to make his own version. It's also referenced in the promo site of DMC5 and the 3142 Graphic Arts artbook; the standard-issue swords for the Order's Knights are named "Caliburn", while the swords used by the officers (such as Credo) are named "Durandal". Nero's Red Queen is a heavily-modified version of the latter type.
  • The Blue Rose is also one of Nero's designs; an obscenely oversized two-barrel revolver that fires armor piercing rounds and hollow point rounds at the same time. In particular, the Blue Rose is bigger than Nero's hands and if it wasn't for his absurd demonic strength, it would likely blow his hands off while firing it. The Art of Devil May Cry 5 artbook also states Nico made some modifications to the gun, which explains why it functions a bit differently, yet more powerful in 5 (thanks to the Color Up skill) compared to how it was in 4.
• Action Hero: He solves demon invasions by fighting his enemies, just like his uncle Dante.
• Air-Dashing: In 5, Nero's Gerbera Devil Breaker can fire a concussive blast that propels him through the air, making this a prime tool for maneuvering around enemies.
• Air Guitar: One of his more extreme taunts in 4 and 5 is to strum an air guitar in the middle of a fight. If you stop and listen, there's actual music playing. He keeps playing it indefinitely until the taunt is interrupted, either by being attacked, or from the player inputting another command. Your Style rank also rises while it's playing.
• Always Someone Better:
  • Make no question, Nero is one of the most badass combatants in the world of Devil May Cry, but Dante is on an entirely higher level. In their duels against each other, Dante is playfully toying with the dead-serious Nero, and it's repeatedly made obvious that Dante could easily whip Nero's ass at any time. Presumably this is also why in 5 he gets so peeved at Dante sending him away as "dead weight", feeling like Dante doesn't respect his skill even though they're now on the same side.
  • Vergil applies as well, since he doesn't play around as much as Dante does and is far more skilled with Yamato than Nero is. That said, Nero still comes out on top thanks to him discovering his own actual Devil Trigger and Vergil being winded from abusing his Sin Devil Trigger against Dante. In the end, it's clear that Nero managed to reach a point where despite having tapped into only a fraction of his demonic heritage (as Dante and Vergil both have their Sin Devil Trigger forms at that point, but Nero doesn't), he's already at least on par with Vergil and by extension, Dante (since they were evenly-matched immediately prior).
• Anti-Hero: Oh sure, he'll do the right thing and will save the girl, but he'll just snark, swear, and insult everyone he comes across, and his social skills leave much to be desired. He's also not so big on mercy, is pretty brutal while fighting, and has a massive case of Good is Not Nice with a healthy dose of Knight in Sour Armor. However, he really does care for his loved ones, no matter how deep down those feelings may be.
• Artificial Limbs: In 5, Nero no longer has the Devil Bringer after it gets ripped off by a dying Vergil. In place of it, his new business partner Nico sells him replacement artificial limbs, dubbed the "Devil Breakers", that can perform many of the same old functions (such as Snatch and Buster) but also with new features depending on the Devil Breaker type equipped (such as being able to detach from his arm as a rocket that he can then surf on). However, the Devil Breakers break if he's hit while using them or if he uses a Break Age or Break Away, so he has to replace them and restock from Nico. Fortunately, they can also be found around the levels as pick-ups. After he grows his arm back in the finale, Nico redesigns the Devil Breaker into a gauntlet he can wear over his restored arm; this allows him to continue using the Devil Breakers alongside regaining the use of the Devil Bringer going into New Game Plus.
• An Arm and a Leg: Loses his Devil Bringer to Vergil straight up yanking it off, forcing Nero to later use Devil Breakers in its place. He eventually regrows his arm after gaining his actual Devil Trigger ability.
• Arm Cannon:
  • Nero's Break Age for the Gerbera Devil Breaker allows him to fire off a massive laser while on the ground.
  • He can also use Mega Man's Mega Buster through the Deluxe Edition or DLC. It modifies his jumping and dodging moves into resembling Mega Man's, and it can rapid-fire small shots while moving, although it can't lock on to enemies or shoot diagonally (unless you're using its Break Age move). When you're not shooting with it, it automatically charges, making the next shot stronger.
• Attack Reflector: His Gerbera Devil Breaker can be used to deflect incoming attacks and projectiles.
• Audience Surrogate:
  • Partially so in 4, where he would take the place of a new protagonist who doesn't know Dante at first, making him an audience surrogate for Devil May Cry series newcomers who started with 4.
  • In 5, as he's the only member of the playable trio who has no idea what's actually going on in Red Grave City aside from there being a demon invasion.
• Back from the Dead: In 4, Nero blacked-out or lost consciousness when Agnus stabbed him with a Gladius, but he then recovers when the Yamato is resurrected and summoned to his hand. However, the "History of DMC" video in 5 revealed that Nero was actually "killed" during that time, before he was revived by the Yamato itself.
• Badass Longcoat: He wears longcoats in all of his appearances and unlockable costumes, even if their design varies depending on the game, with his DMC4 coat being longer than what he wears in 5.
• Badass in Distress:
  • He's captured by Sanctus for nearly the second half of 4 and spends most of the time being absorbed into the Savior alongside Kyrie. Dante becomes the playable protagonist in his place and it takes the latter jamming Yamato into the giant statue's crystal to rescue and wake Nero up inside.
  • Nero is almost captured after being beaten by Urizen during their second encounter in 5. Luckily, Dante arrives just in time to free him and have Griffon carry him somewhere safe.
• Battle Aura: His Devil Trigger ability in 4 gives him a flaming blue aura that is mostly noticeable around his upper body.
• Berserk Button: As a plot point! In 5, he flips out upon being called "dead weight" by Dante and spends a good portion of the game trying to prove himself again. It becomes clear in the opening cutscene of Mission 20 that this is because his lack of strength prevented him from being able to save his surrogate brother Credo from the Order in the last game, and he's hiding a lot of self-loathing over it. In said mission, realizing that Dante and Vergil are his only biological family and are about to Mutual Kill each other, this self-loathing manifests into pure determination to protect them both such that it awakens his Devil Trigger - for real this time. Shortly afterwards, Nero even gets to call Dante "dead weight" after a well-placed sucker punch with his Devil Trigger's spectral wing, then proceeds to clean Vergil's clock, proving that he's no longer worthy of the insult.
• BFS:
  • His Red Queen sword is a huge Messer and it's almost his own height in terms of length.
  • In 4, the ghostly spirit summoned by his Devil Trigger carries an even longer version of the Yamato. For reference, one of Nero's Action Commands involves leaping inside a frog demon boss by the mouth and attacking it from within. The spirit, which stays outside, attacks with slashes the size of the monster.
• Blade Spam: His Devil Trigger-exclusive move, "Showdown", has him barraging his target with slashes from both Yamato and Red Queen. The "spectral figure" over his head attacks alongside him to supplement his slashes.
• Blocking Stops All Damage: Nero can block attacks by meeting them with his Devil Bringer (especially during cutscenes). In-game, a well-timed Buster can block all sorts of attacks, from giant spears, massive demons, and even punches from the False Savior. There's also the "Hold" skill which makes him carry a demon as a makeshift living shield.
• Blood Knight: Nero loves fighting demons just as much as Dante does, as he often enjoys many challenges that are often put in front of him from even the most dangerous foes. It's demonstrated from time to time in 4, such as when he toys with the rampaging Scarecrows when he was just previously bored stiff at the opera house. This is especially shown in 5 as he tries to prove himself from the previous "dead weight" comment made by Dante, but at the same time, he's having an absolute blast testing out his new Devil Breaker arms and fighting whatever demon crosses his path. During the final battle with his now-resurrected father Vergil, he ends up unintentionally trying to get him to acknowledge his existence through his newfound strength brought by his complete Devil Trigger.
• Boring, but Practical: In 4, Nero was designed to have a simpler playstyle compared to Dante, to get new players accustomed to the mechanics. He definitely had very advanced mechanics such as Exceed, but these were far less daunting to get accustomed to than Dante's more complex moveset. In fact, the complaints that Nero was too simple and boring to play led to the creation of his Devil Breaker system in 5, which adds a lot more complexity but is also extremely accessible. Among his various Devil Breaker arms, Gerbera is easily one of the more useful Devil Breakers; even if it's not that great at killing enemies, it provides Nero with a significant boost of mobility in the air, and it greatly helps in evading enemy attacks.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: He has a tendency to use lines heavily associated with Vergil, such as "I need more power" or "Without strength, you can't protect anything". These make more sense after it's revealed that Vergil is his father.
• Bottomless Magazines:
  • Nero subverts this in 4 during gameplay since he can shoot as long as he wants but if he stops (don't do anything else), he will finish with what is apparently a quick reload animation by flicking his wrist. However, this is averted for one cutscene where he pulls off a slow-motion Unorthodox Reload.
  • In 5, this is subverted again for Nero's Color Up skill. He reloads the Blue Rose with special bullets (the in-game HUD displays the amount of loaded bullets underneath his health gauge), yet he never runs out of them as the skill can be used over and over again.
• Brought Down to Badass: At the start of 5, Nero gets his Devil Bringer arm ripped from his body alongside the Yamato, removing all their related abilities along with his Devil Trigger. He still has his superhuman physical prowess however, and thanks to Nico, he gets prosthetic arms with many abilities to compensate.
• Bulletproof Human Shield: The Aegis Shield enhances his Devil Bringer by allowing him to take a hold on one of the mooks to be used like this, shielding him from other mooks' attacks. It returns in 5 when Nero recovers his demonic powers at the end of that game.
• Bullying a Dragon: He keeps his usual taunts and cocky attitude towards Urizen even after the demon king easily defeats Dante, Trish and Lady. Even after being defeated himself and barely escaping alive, he keeps being arrogant toward the demon until he faces him again, and is defeated just as easily as he was the first time.
• Calling Your Attacks:
  • Sometimes when doing the Double Down (the Exceed version of Split), he'll shout the attack's name.
  • In 5, his Showdown super move makes him shout the attack's name at the end of a sentence.
  • In 5, Nero can randomly shout "Buster!" whenever he performs a Buster sequence against non-boss enemies.
• Casting Gag: Nero's character and design reflect some of Johnny Yong Bosch's most famous roles, intentionally or otherwise.
  • Nero's name is Latin for the word "black". This could be a reference to Adam Park, the second Black Ranger in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. It could also reference Lelouch vi Britannia, who is nicknamed the Black Prince and is the leader of the Black Knights.
  • Johnny Yong Bosch's first voice acting role was as the English dub actor for Vash the Stampede, a superhuman gunslinger who wears a red coat and has an Evil Twin brother. This description also fits Dante, who is Nero's uncle. In 5, Nero gains an Arm Cannon of his own just like Vash.
  • The Bosch character Nero has the most in common with is Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach. Like Ichigo, Nero is a Hot-Blooded teenager who fights with a BFS and has superpowers he inherited from his non-human father. Both characters also oppose villains who dress in white and are led by a man who is introduced as seemingly benevolent but is revealed to be anything but (the Order of the Sword for Nero, Aizen and the Arrancar for Ichigo). Nero's advanced Devil Trigger in DMC5 even resembles Ichigo's second Hollow form. And finally, both Nero and Ichigo have a red-haired love interest who wears a white dress and is voiced by Stephanie Sheh.
• Character Development:
  • Over the course of 4, he forgoes a bit of his anti-social behavior and learns to let himself be vulnerable around Kyrie. He also learns that the Devil Bringer isn't specifically a curse that should be hidden; since he uses its fearsome power to ruthlessly beat the shit out of demons, it can't be all bad. He develops even further in the interim between 4 and 5, losing even more of his cold exterior and becoming much nicer overall. It's mentioned in supplementary material that Nero basically became the foster father to an entire orphanage of kids who look up to him ala Kazuma Kiryu, and his first reaction to seeing the mysterious stranger at the beginning of 5 is to mistake him as a homeless person and offer him a free meal.
  • During the events of 5, he slowly becomes more and more frustrated about his lack of ability (especially in comparison to Dante), and in particular, takes Dante's offhanded "dead weight" comment pretty poorly. Upon learning that Vergil is his father and that him and Dante are going to kill each other over a blood feud several decades in the making, he finally snaps and speeds off to stop them. After a short talk with Kyrie, Nero resolves to never lose anyone close to him again, finally pulls a Devil Trigger of his own and forcefully interrupts the fight Vergil and Dante are having. This is symbolically represented by him regrowing his normal human hand and moving his Devil Bringer to a spectral wing form of sorts, finally showing that he's at peace with himself.
• Charged Attack:
  • For the "Collect" variant of the trope, Nero's Red Queen has a special mechanism called Exceed, where he can rev his sword to increase its power, and it has 3 levels. It is charged by either tapping the rev button multiple times, or doing it while you're attacking normally with the EX-Act skill.
  • His Devil Trigger-exclusive "Maximum Bet" ability can be held for more damage.
  • Nero channels the Devil Bringer's demonic energy into the Blue Rose for his Charge Shots. Later upgrades allow it to blow up adjacent enemies or add an additional delayed explosion.
  • In 5, the Color Up skill charges up Blue Rose's shots like in 4 through him loading a stronger set of bullets; he can have up to 3 powered-up shots at a time. After gaining his full Devil Trigger, he can use the old-style Charge Shot again.
  • His Devil Breakers also have their "Break Age" moves; by holding the Devil Breaker button until the arm shines, he performs a stronger attack (depending on the specific arm used), but the arm will break afterward and he'll equip a new one.
    • Overture gives Nero the ability to blow enemies across the room with an electrified palm strike. When charged, Nero can plunge the arm into an enemy in order to use it as a timed bomb which can be detonated early with gunfire.
    • Gerbera lets Nero fire shockwaves that can both force enemies back and propel him and nearby enemies through the air. When charged, it turns into a Wave-Motion Gun that fires a continuous stream of energy. The GP01 version of Gerbera functions the same way, but reverses the input for two of its attacks.
    • Punch Line lets Nero perform a Rocket Punch that can place enemies in stunlock for several seconds, and he can also use it as an impromptu mount. When charged, Nero can use it to perform a Megaton Punch.
    • Helter Skelter is a drill that can easily break through enemies' defenses. When charged, Nero performs a Foe-Tossing Charge with the drill extended.
    • Tomboy functions as a Super Mode-like power-up for Nero's weapons, changing his attacks and amping up his damage at the expense of finesse. When charged, it allows Nero to continue taking advantage of its power-up for a time, even when taking damage (which would otherwise destroy the Tomboy while activated). In particular and going with the Blue Rose's examples, the Tomboy Devil Breaker allows him to supercharge Blue Rose's shots, at the cost of having to manually aim it and hold down the shoot button.
    • The Buster Arm replicates the functionality of Nero's Devil Bringer, allowing him to perform powerful grappling attacks. When charged, Nero can perform a guaranteed grab without flinching.
    • Rawhide utilizes a whip to attack enemies in a wide range around Nero, and enhances the range and utility of the Wire Snatch skill. Charging it executes a wider-ranged attack that draws in smaller enemies.
    • Ragtime creates localized time distortions that can slow down enemies for a few moments. Charging it slows down everything around Nero.
    • The Mega Buster functions much like it does from Mega Man (Classic), allowing Nero to fire bolts of energy. It can passively charge power for a stronger blast, while overcharging it manually unleashes a massive and destructive projectile.
    • Sweet Surrender has no offensive capabilities whatsoever, but provides continuous healing when activated. When charged, it provides a quick but potent heal.
    • The Pasta Breaker is a Lethal Joke Weapon that combines the Rocket Punching ability of Punch Line with the timed explosive charge attack of Overture. While it is overall weaker than Punch Line and Overture, it can be used to shuffle the order of your reserve Devil Breakers.
• Charge Meter:
  • With his Red Queen's Exceed mechanic, an EX gauge near his health bar measures the number of Exceed levels stored in the weapon; one filled EX gauge gives one Exceed level. Its HUD design varies between 4 and 5.
  • The glow surrounding his right arm changes colour according to the level of charge achieved for his Blue Rose's Charge Shots.
• Composite Character: 5 makes him an odd example, as in New Game Plus, he basically becomes a combination of his 4 self and his 5 self, combining many aspects of both, and becoming a composite of himself. This is mostly reflected in his gameplay; he recovers his lost demonic abilities, but still keeps his new mechanical features.
• Cool Sword: Has two of them.
  • Red Queen is his trademark sword. Essentially, a BFS with a built-in engine that can be revved up to make attacks stronger. When fully powered, his special moves with his sword set the blade alight in flames.
  • Yamato, one of Sparda's swords, and the one that Vergil usually wields. Nero mostly uses it to enhance his demonic power after he absorbed it with the Devil Bringer, allowing him to enter a Devil Trigger state that summons a ghostly spirit above him. The ghostly spirit uses a larger spectral version of the Yamato while Nero only physically uses the sword in his "Showdown" move in-game (which can only be used in Devil Trigger). However, he also uses it extensively as an actual sword in the cutscenes of 4. By the events of 5, his "Showdown" move uses a spectral version of the Yamato instead, as the real Yamato returned to Vergil's hands.
• Counter-Attack: While his version of the trope is not as consistently explicit compared to Dante's Royal Guard Style, Nero's Buster move can intercept enemies' attacks. Some unique animations are played only when he uses his Buster as a perfectly-timed counter-attack. He can also grab and reflect some weapons and projectiles being thrown at him, such as Angelo Credo's spears.
• Crossover Cameo:
  • His DMC4 version appeared in a support card in Teppen before his DMC5 version was announced at TGS 2019 as a post-launch hero for that game.
  • His DMC5 version is an event-only character alongside Dante and V in a collaboration with Shin Megami Tensei Liberation: Dx2 from March 14, 2019 until April 3, 2019, and later a playable character in TEPPEN.
• Crucified Hero Shot: The Angelos pin him to the wall in this pose before he awakened his Devil Trigger in 4.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • In the finale of DMC4, Nero easily thrashes The False Savior with just three well-timed Busters from his Devil Bringer.
  • Nero spends most of DMC5 being completely thrashed by the prominent threats of the game. He doesn't last a single second against a dying Vergil, who yanks off his Devil Bringer in a mere instant, the only reason he's not instantly crushed in his first fight with Urizen is because the Demon King barely acknowledges his existence, and in their second fight when Nero isn't missing an arm, Urizen proceeds to annhilate him again after the young Devil Hunter manages to land a superficial wound. V goes so far as to call him "completely useless" while talking to Dante. He finally gets to repay the favor after awakening his true Devil Trigger, utterly mopping the floor with a (slightly winded) Vergil.
• Cursed with Awesome: He initially considers his Devil Bringer as a mark of shame and notably tries to hide it from several people despite its demon-slaying benefits, but grows to accept it in the end. It's lampshaded in the finale of 4, where Nero states that he now knows his hand was made for sending guys like Sanctus and The False Savior back to Hell. Knowing that his arm changed after a shoulder injury and that the Devil Bringer was part of his real Devil Trigger all along changes the entire context of the "curse" surrounding his demonic arm. The latent power in his blood had reacted to his bum shoulder in such a way that it left his right arm stuck in Devil Trigger form, while the rest of him stayed human because he had yet to learn how to hone and harness his true power. This is also the reason it didn't grow back after being ripped off; as the rest of his power was still dormant, any chance he could access his natural Healing Factor like that was taken with the arm. When the matured and experienced Nero was utterly overcome by refusal to let Dante and Vergil die, this finally awakened his full power, regrowing his human arm in complete sync with the rest of his body and unlocking his full Devil Trigger, thus breaking the curse.
• Cyborg: After losing his Devil Bringer, Nero has gotten it replaced with high-tech Devil Breakers with varying functions.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Nero is a part-devil who wears dark blue/navy blue coats with red shirts, but like his uncle Dante, he fights to protect others. For extra points, Nero's name is Italian for "black".
• Dash Attack:
  • His "Streak" attack is a dashing slash attack with Red Queen on the ground; when done with Exceed, he'll do extra spinning slashes.
  • His "Shuffle" attack has him backstepping first, then dashing towards the enemy for a powerful strike with Red Queen; with Exceed, he does an extra, more powerful strike.
  • His "Calibur" attack is similar to Streak, but performed in mid-air; with Exceed, the slash emits a wave of fire for more damage.
  • With the Tomboy Devil Breaker, he can perform a souped-up dash attack that propels him forward and launches the enemy in the air.
• Death from Above:
  • His "Split" attack is a falling chop attack from mid-air akin to Dante's Helm Breaker. If done with Exceed, he instead does a Sword Plant with his sword ablaze, called "Double Down".
  • In 5, he gains another mid-air attack called "Payline" where he dives diagonally from the air sword-first.
  • With the Tomboy Devil Breaker, he gains a special air attack with his sword where he performs a rolling slash that keeps going until he hits the ground.
• Death or Glory Attack:
  • Nero can use his Devil Bringer to reverse some powerful enemy attacks instead of dodging them, but this feat requires some precise timing. For example, knocking back the combined sphere attack from a Bianco Angelo and Alto Angelos, interrupting Echidna's bull-rushing attack, throwing Credo's spear back, or grabbing Sanctus while he is charging at you in 4. In the sequel, he can even use it to counter some of Vergil's attacks.
  • Nero's "Showdown" is a very powerful move, but it has a long animation and also requires the initial hit to connect with an enemy. Otherwise, he will be left defenseless for a few moments if it whiffs.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Dante sees the conviction within Nero after fighting him to a standstill, and despite questing for Yamato, he smoothly steps aside and lets Nero use it for the latter's mission of saving Kyrie. He eventually allows Nero to keep the Yamato by the end of 4.
• Difficult, but Awesome:
  • The EX-Act (and then its ramped-up counterpart, the MAX-Act), a mechanic exclusive to Nero's Exceed system and unique for any Devil May Cry character. Prior to purchasing the EX-Act, the only way to use Nero's revved up attacks are by charging the sword while standing still, which is drawn-out and doesn't allow you to use certain attacks revved (such as at the end of a four-hit string when you are only allotted three Exceed levels). Once purchased, the EX-Act allows you to rev up one Exceed level instantly by hitting the trigger as you slash. Every sword attack can then be revved like this (including attacks mid-string, which is the only way an entire string can be revved), meaning a really proficient Nero player will have to master all of his attacks' timings in order to consistently trigger EX-Act on all of them. By using Exceed-enhanced strikes, the damage output will be substantially higher, the slash comes out faster, and your style meter will rise faster. The timing for MAX-Act is even tighter (akin to a perfectly-timed "Just Frame" attack), but executing it will instantly grant you all three Exceed levels in one go. EX-Act and MAX-Act are easier to execute in 5 because the timing is less strict, but even then, it still requires practice to get the hang of it.
  • The Tomboy Devil Breaker in 5 soups-up Nero's Red Queen and Blue Rose for more damage output, but most of its attacks, consisting of wild button mash-controlled swings and having to manually aim Blue Rose rather than its usual lock on, are difficult to control. Nico's report on it mentions she "Might've overdone it this time", but also notes "What guy doesn't like a piece that's a little hard to handle?".
  • The Knuckle Bringer skill, only available in New Game Plus playthroughs of 5 is one for an extremely good reason. By default, it's bound to the R2 button/trigger and can only be used within frames of any of Nero's attacks, making it a companion to MAX-Act (It is the same button as his Buster grab, so messing the timing would make him perform the Buster instead). The skill resets the knockback on any enemy it hits by having his spectral arm punch the enemy while also guaranteed to stun them. While this sounds simple, underwhelming on paper, and requires fast reflexes, recall that all of Nero's combo finishers end in wide sweeps that blow the enemy away, forcing the player to close the gap with further movement or by snatching them back. Resetting their hitstun and knockback can basically let Nero juggle enemies infinitely, flowing easily from one combo to another without ever letting them fight back.
• Disability-Negating Superpower: In the beginning of 5, Nero loses his Devil Bringer right forearm to the mysterious hooded stranger Vergil who arrived in his garage. At first, he only used the Devil Breakers to compensate, which have different abilities of their own; however, this trope fully comes near the finale, where Nero's desire to stop his long lost father and uncle from killing each other awakens the demonic power within him, causing him to regrow his right forearm with said demonic power.
• Discard and Draw:
  • In 5, he can destroy and swap his mechanical arm, provided he has collected, equipped or purchased spares. The move can also damage close enemies. The DLC-only "Pasta Breaker" allows him to change the order of the Devil Breaker he'll swap into next.
  • In 4, Nero unlocks a pseudo-Devil Trigger by channeling through the Yamato. At the beginning of 5, his demonic arm (and Yamato with it) is taken from him, removing his ability to use his Buster and spectral Devil Trigger. But at the end of that game, he unlocks a natural, physical Devil Trigger that he can use at will and without needing a Devil Arm like Yamato to channel through. Nero also regains his original Buster move and Nico modifies his Devil Breakers in the final cutscene so that he can use them with his human arm and demonic powers into New Game Plus.
• Dual Wielding: Nero sort of does this with Yamato and Red Queen for his moves Maximum Bet and Showdown, but only when Devil Triggered.
• Elemental Punch: The Overture Devil Breaker can blast enemies with an electrical current via a palm attack as its normal ability.
• Emergency Weapon: Of a sort. Nero loses his Devil Bringer at the very start of 5, and thus loses natural access to the demonic arm's Buster grab attack. He later gains the "Buster Arm" Devil Breaker which has the exact same function as the grab attack from 4, but like the other Devil Breakers, it can be destroyed. Upon reaching the final mission and gaining access to a physical Devil Trigger, Nero gains permanent access to a grab attack using his newfound spectral arms, and is mapped to R2 by default. This grab attack can be used at any time regardless of what Devil Breaker Nero is using, but it's still considered a fallback option because a Devil Buster is weaker than the mechanical arm's Neo Buster, while the Super Buster Break Age is around sixteen times stronger than a Devil Buster, so as to not make the Devil Breaker obsolete.
• Energy Weapon: In 5, Nero can create a spectral copy of Yamato out of magical energy to perform the "Maximum Bet" and "Showdown" moves in his Devil Trigger state since the real Yamato that he used back in 4 is no longer in his possession.
• Establishing Character Moment: The opening intro to 4 pretty much establishes most of Nero's character. While he's sprinting through the streets to reach the opera house where Kyrie is singing at, he encounters a pack of Scarecrows blocking his way. With Red Queen being repaired, Nero rips the blade off of one Scarecrow and proceeds to go to town on them even with his right arm in a sling. His slightly frustrated expression indicates some lack of patience, and the action scene also shows that he fights much more aggressively compared to Dante and doesn't use as much flair as Dante does. After reaching the opera house, Kyrie turns to see him sitting at his designated spot when her performance ended, and Nero gives her a genuine smile that she happily returns.
• Extendable Arms: In the fourth game, Nero can extend a spectral hand out of his Devil Bringer arm to grab distant enemies and either bring them closer to him or bring himself closer to them (depending on their size). It's changed to a Grappling-Hook Pistol in the fifth game as he lost his Devil Bringer at the start. In the end, when he regains access to his demonic powers, he also gains two spectral wing-arms that can extend to grab distant enemies the same way as his old arm.
• Extremity Extremist: Most of his primary attacks are done with his left hand, either with his sword or his gun, but his Devil Bringer arm plays this trope straight as he grabs or punches enemies with it instead. In the first tutorial sections of 4, he can't even use his right arm yet because it's still in bandages, but he will exclusively use it during the Buster tutorial section. In the start of 5, it's been ripped off so it's off the table entirely until Nico made the Devil Breakers to replace his lost arm.
• Fighting Spirit: In 4, Nero's Devil Trigger doesn't change his appearance like Dante, Vergil or Lucia's. Instead, it summons a blue spectral creature resembling Vergil's Devil Trigger form that floats behind Nero.
• Firing One-Handed: With what is essentially a Smith & Wesson Model 500 revolver, but only for normal shots. Revolvers of that size are normally shot with both hands to brace for recoil. But when firing Charge Shots, Nero actually has to use both hands to soften the recoil and/or let his Devil Bringer charge it. In 5, the Tomboy Devil Breaker also makes him use this mechanical hand alongside his shooting hand to supercharge his shots.
• Flaming Sword: What happens when the Red Queen has at least one bar of Exceed stocked. However, it's not technically the sword itself on fire but rather the fuel injection system inside it that then ignites the blade when it's revved and swung.
• Flash Step: Nero's "Table Hopper" dodge is fast enough to leave a streak/after-image and pass through enemy attacks. Further upgrades increase the number of flash steps that can be performed in quick succession.
• Flechette Storm: When Nero unlocks and activates his Devil Trigger in 4 and 5, his charged shots with the Blue Rose are supplemented by up to six Summoned Swords that spawn simultaneously, then rapidly fling themselves towards the locked-on enemy.
• Flipping the Bird:
  • In 4, Nero sticks out the middle finger of his Devil Bringer to Dante after the latter joked about Nero being "so melodramatic" as he gets absorbed into The Savior.
  • He also does this in 5 when activating his Devil Trigger for the first time in gameplay, coupled with a loud "Fuck you!" against Vergil.
• Foe-Tossing Charge: Do not get between this man and his woman, as shown in 4 where Nero does this against several Angelos charging at him in order to quickly get to Sanctus and save Kyrie. He gets battered at first, but quickly throws the Angelos around before finally bursting through a group of them.
• Foreshadowing: Nero being Vergil's son is only hinted in DMC4 and the Deadly Fortune novelization before it was confirmed outright in the 3-1-4-2 Graphic Arts artbook and The Reveal in DMC5.
  • The biggest giveaway from the game comes from Sanctus' Wham Lines. He openly reveals that Nero has "inherited Sparda's power" and is the Legendary Dark Knight's descendant.
  • His white hair and blue eyes are hints to his lineage as a descendant of Sparda. Strong Family Resemblance also applies as Sparda and his sons, Dante and Vergil, have them too.
  • Nero's connection to the Yamato. The sword reforged itself to awaken his pseudo-Devil Trigger in 4, while his father is the Yamato's regular owner.
  • Nero's Devil Trigger creates blue spectral shurikens to supplement his ranged weapon, Blue Rose. They look and function similarly to Vergil's Summoned Swords, blue spectral copies of the Force Edge which serve as his ranged attacks.
  • Nero behaves a lot like his father. In 4, he monologues about his desire to seek power when he obtained his spectral Devil Trigger and the Yamato; his father is similarly motivated by the desire to seek power. Nero's battle cries also include "Scum", which is what his father also says in-battle.
  • The way Dante reacts during his second fight with Nero in Mission 10. The camera focuses a bit on Dante's glare as Nero summons the Yamato and his spectral Devil Trigger. After their fight, Nero says that he needs the Yamato, to which Dante allows after saying that the sword has to "stay in the family". By the end of the game, Dante lets Nero keep it permanently instead as a gift. 5 confirms that Dante already had his suspicions about Nero's identity as his nephew when they first met, but was more certain when he saw how the Yamato reacted during their second fight. The remark about the Yamato having to "stay in the family"? It's given a literal meaning in retrospect.
  • In his ending cutscene from the Special Edition of 4, Vergil walks away from Fortuna in his hooded cloak, but the shadow he casts on the ground is shaped like the specter summoned by Nero's Devil Trigger.
  • The Deadly Fortune novelization deviates from some plot points that happened in the game, but it gave more hints:
    • After their first duel, Dante muses about Nero having the same look in his eyes as Vergil did.
    • When Nero resurrected the Yamato, he was in a state of trance or dream where he met Vergil. Nero felt some kindness from that person, and they had a conversation on what their souls are crying for. The novel explains that Nero's own speech about wanting power in Mission 6 was actually borrowed from what the other person said.
• Freakiness Shame:
  • Nero's reaction to Kyrie grabbing and holding his Devil Bringer arm at the end of 4 shows that he's still quite ashamed of his demonic limb. She doesn't care about it anyway.
    Nero: Kyrie... If I'm a demon, and not a human anymore... is this what you want?
    Kyrie: Nero, you're you. And it's you I want to be with... I don't know anyone who is as human as you are.
  • Despite 4 ending with Nero accepting he is not a normal human, and that his Devil Bringer is in fact demonic in nature, with Kyrie loving him with her all no matter what, 5 shows that Nero still is not quite accepting of the fact he is part-demon, he knows he is not entirely human but Nero insistently can't refer to himself as a demon, as if he is in denial, to the point that even by the end of the game where he fully unlocks his full Devil Trigger and finds out Vergil is his father, Nero still fears someone may call him a demon as he asks Nico if she thinks he is one, she just jokes around by calling him a potential lizard since his arm grew back.
• The Gambler: Most of Nero's moves are named after betting and games of chance. His launcher is named High Roller, his own equivalent of the Stinger is named Streak (as in winning streak), his charged shot ammo-type upgrade/skill in 5 is called Color Up (referring to the practice of exchanging a ton of low-value poker chips for higher level ones in order to reduce clutter on the table) and so on. One of his most powerful moves, where he uses Red Queen and Yamato to shoot out a massive Sword Beam, is called Maximum Bet, and his other most powerful move, Showdown, may refer to the fact that many games of chance like poker or blackjack tend to boil down to a one-on-one as people get eliminated from the pool.
• Gathering Steam: His Red Queen sword has the "Exceed" system that lets you rev it in order to power up its attacks and there are up to three Exceed levels that can be gradually filled. Normally, you'd need to do quite a number of sustained revs while standing still in order to fully power up the next attacks, but the "EX-Act" and "MAX-Act" mechanics let him rev his sword and instantly gain Exceed levels while attacking. Particularly, EX-Act gives him one level while MAX-Act gives him all three levels at once. Both are Difficult, but Awesome in practice, but the latter is harder to execute because it requires frame-perfect timings.
• Giant Hands of Doom:
  • Nero's Devil Bringer can summon a large spectral arm which he can use to attack bosses and enemies in a variety of ways.
  • In the final battle against Vergil, Nero unlocks the complete form of his Devil Trigger. This form includes spectral arm-like wings at his back called Bringer Claws.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: In 4, Nero gets impaled by Agnus with a Gladius and nearly loses consciousness because of it. Thankfully, Nero's Devil Trigger awakens not long after, healing his wounds as if nothing happened. From that point onwards (especially in 5), he gets beaten up and stabbed a lot, but he still shrugs off most of his injuries.
• Grapple Move:
  • Using his Devil Bringer arm, his signature "Buster" technique is a grab move with specific variations depending on the enemy (although some enemy types such as Scarecrows, Mephistos and Fausts have the same grab animation where they're simply slammed to the ground). When he's in Devil Trigger, the "Devil Buster" is its similarly powered-up version. Nero can grab any enemy that he encounters, but against Elite Mooks or bosses, he would need to find the right opportunity first (such as countering some of their moves, or after he beats them up enough) before he can perform Buster on them; otherwise, he'll fail to grab his enemy. Certain enemy attacks and weapons can also be grabbed and thrown back at them. In 5, this ability is replicated with his "Buster Arm" Devil Breaker. Beat the latter game for the first time and he'll be able to use the original Buster move at any time again in New Game Plus playthroughs, just like in 4. By that point, he now uses spectral arms to perform the move.
  • In 5, the Rawhide Devil Breaker allows him to grab and swing his enemies around.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol: The Devil Bringer's functions in 4 include "Snatch" and "Hell Bound", two abilities that allow Nero to pull enemies toward him or fling himself towards them respectively by extending a spectral arm. Certain objects in the environment can also be gripped, allowing him to reach distant areas or grab collectibles that are normally out of reach. Nero later replicates these functions in 5 via his prosthetic arm's "Wire Snatch", although he recovers the original spectral arm variant at the end of the game, which can be used in New Game Plus playthroughs.
• Hair Color Spoiler: One of the numerous clues that Nero is Vergil's son and Dante's nephew is obviously the fact that he has the same white hair as the sons of Sparda, yet it wasn't formally revealed until the fifth game.
• Hand Cannon: His Blue Rose, a customized Smith & Wesson Model 500 with barrels at the twelve and six o'clock positions of its six-shot cylinder (normal M500s have five shots), which somehow fires two shots at once with a single hammer as stated in its description. He can fire it one-handed, and it can later be upgraded to have a demon-powered Charged Attack that fires delayed-detonation high-explosive rounds. With the "Color Up" skill in 5, Nero can fire special multi-hitting rounds that easily stun smaller enemies.
• Handicapped Badass:
  • Subverted in 4. His right arm is slinged in the prologue, so he has to compensate early on by fighting the Scarecrows and Dante with only his left arm. However, it's quickly revealed that his right arm isn't completely handicapped; he's just hiding his superpowered demonic arm in public, but that limb gives him Super-Strength.
  • Played straight in 5 as his right arm is torn off, but losing it hasn't stopped him from fighting demons.
• Hates Their Parent: Played with. While Nero may not have forgiven and is infuriated by his father, Vergil, for ripping off his Devil Bringer arm among his many crimes, and during their fight in the last mission of 5, Nero gives an atomic middle finger to the guy for insulting his existence, one would be hard pressed to argue he'd still try as hard as he did to prevent his duel to the death and protest his departure to Hell if he truly hated him in the end. In short, Nero hated what his father did to him (especially as a son), but he still sees Vergil as a family, and that's important for him.
• Healing Factor: One of the perks of being a quarter-demon, active in-game when he's in Devil Trigger. In cutscenes, this also explains why he can remain unscathed despite receiving injuries that would normally take long to heal. However, Nero's healing factor is only a small bit weaker than Dante or Vergil's as he often falls to his knees and needs several moments left alone to breathe and recover a lot more often then they do. But when he activates his true Devil Trigger when fighting against Vergil in 5, he heals faster than what he normally does.
• Heal Thyself:
  • The DLC-exclusive "Sweet Surrender" Devil Breaker lets him slowly recover his vitality by activating it. But when it's activated, any attack from enemies that hit him will make the arm explode. Its Break Age move instantly restores more health, but the arm is gone afterwards.
  • After beating 5, Nero unlocks a special taunt where he chews gum to restore some health, usable once per level.
• Hellish Pupils: His Devil Trigger ability in 5 gives him vertically-slitted pupils to go along with his newfound physical demonic transformation. When Nero stops Dante and Vergil near the final mission, the cutscene's camera focuses on his eyes to emphasize the change.
• The Heretic: He would later go against the Order of the Sword's teachings just to save the love of his life. It helps that its leader Sanctus did some questionable things as well beyond just kidnapping Kyrie. Nero also has a better understanding of Sparda's past and his capacity to love, unlike Sanctus who is a power-mad bastard with no understanding of love at all.
• Heroic Bastard: His mother and Vergil weren't married, and Deadly Fortune has Sanctus (and the rest of Fortuna) assume that Nero's mother was a prostitute.
• Heroic BSoD: He briefly goes through one after learning that Vergil is his father and that the latter and Dante plan on killing each other. Despite Trish and Lady trying to keep him out of it, Nero is conflicted until he makes a call to Kyrie who tells him he always knows what's right and wrong. At that point, Nero's self-doubt ends.
• Heroic Lineage: Grandson of the righteous demon knight Sparda.
• Hide Your Otherness: In 4, Nero hides his Devil Bringer in public by wearing an arm sling and a glove, or by rolling down the sleeve of his jacket. He drops this act by the end thanks to some Character Development and Kyrie accepting him for what he is. He lost his Devil Bringer arm in 5 and uses the Devil Breakers in its place, but he doesn't have any reason to hide his mechanical arms anyway.
• Hollywood Atheist: Nero was never particularly religious to begin with, but according to the Deadly Fortune novel, he lost all faith in God with the death of Credo and Kyrie's parents, thinking that if God existed, He wouldn't have let the kindest people Nero knew who supported and believed in him die. From that point onwards, he only hangs around the Order because of the siblings, not because he cares about the Order's preachy sermons. However, he seemed to have walked back a bit on this view by the end of 4.
  Nero: You know, God, I always hated that you made my arm like this... But now with it, I can destroy this thing. Who would've thought...
• Hot Blade: The Red Queen can be revved up with a flammable propellant to ignite the blade, make it glow hot red and power up its blows.
• Hot-Blooded: Certainly more than Dante. It's especially evident when he's outside of fighting; he has a bad temper, he is prone to emotional outbursts, and he expresses himself very loudly whenever he's triggered. As a result, he's very reckless and impulsive whenever he's facing unfavorable situations. Nero's fighting style often reflects this as he's much more overtly aggressive in combat, is prone to lots of shouting, and many of his attacks are over-committed and forceful compared to Dante's controlled and systematic attacks. He mellowed out a bit in 5, as his battle lines and taunts are more relaxed and playful akin to Dante's, but his techniques remain rather forceful and he can still be easily angered at times.
• Hot Wings: Nero's Devil Trigger in 5 comes with a pair of energy wings that double as an extra pair of arms.
• Human-Demon Hybrid: As a quarter-demon, Nero is born from a human mother while Vergil is his half-demon father.
• Hunter of His Own Kind: Nero's a quarter-demon courtesy of his father Vergil and he hunts demons. After the events of 4, he officially joined Dante's Demon Slaying Devil May Cry business.
• Hybrid Power: Despite his relatively low percentage of demon blood, he can go toe-to-toe with a son of Sparda when he gets motivated. It's implied that, like Dante, his human will to protect his loved ones is what truly gives him strength — first Kyrie and then his father and uncle themselves.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: It's clear he's much better at the whole "business" part of the Devil May Cry devil-hunting business than the guy who set him up with the gig, Dante. At the start of 5, Nero's Devil May Cry franchise is easily supporting his, Kyrie and Nico's living expenses, and he has a large array of equipment like a durable van and some mechanical arms courtesy of Gadgeteer Genius Nero. Their situation contrasts with Dante who has gone into debt to the point where the building's water and power have been cut.
• I Am a Monster: Suffers with this complex for a bit, until Kyrie assures him that she loves him for who he is.
• I Can Still Fight!: Nero says this phrase word-for-word in 5, insisting to fight Urizen despite it being clear that the demon king already thrashed all of the protagonists who went after him.
  Dante: V, get Nero out of here! This is a bad move!
  Nero: I can still fight!
  Dante: Nero, go! You're just dead weight!
  Nero: Back off!
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: 5 reveals he's still beating himself up over his failure to prevent Credo's death in 4, and he utterly refuses to fail his father and uncle in the same way.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
  • In 4, a Bianco Angelo pierces Nero with a lance, then Agnus impales him with a Gladius, an oversized living and demonic sword. This incident awakened his Devil Trigger.
  • During the fight against Vergil in 5, using his Buster on the boss will lead to a cinematic where Nero is impaled with the boss' sword, but then he pulls it out and uses it to impale the boss back. Nero doesn't take any damage in the process, but his counter-attack takes out a significant chunk of the boss' health.
• Implausible Fencing Powers: His sword, Red Queen, can be ignited in flames, yet Nero doesn't suffer any side-effects while swinging its Exceed moves around. Nico's Weapon Report in DMC5 explains how Nero's Exceed swordplay is possible In-Universe - His demonic nature gives him enough control or grip; without it, the sword could fly out of his hands. In a cutscene, he also used his sword to impale a Scarecrow on the ground and skate with it. In gameplay, some of his moves are difficult to replicate in real-life, such as "Calibur" allowing him to propel himself forward in mid-air with a slash.
• Impossibly Cool Weapon:
  • Blue Rose is a two-barrel revolver, while Red Queen is a petrol-powered BFS. Both are heavily-customized versions of some real-life weapons (a Smith & Wesson Model 500 and a Messer, respectively).
  • His Devil Breakers in 5 collectively make his mechanical stump into a Swiss-Army Weapon. They range from a rocket-powered arm that can fly away and be surfed on, a grappling hook arm, or an arm that can create sticky bombs. However, the most science-defying arm out of them is the Ragtime, a Devil Breaker that can extremely slow down time to a halt. These functions are mostly justified In-Universe as the Devil Breakers are reverse-engineered arms made out of demons' body parts.
• Improbable Use of a Weapon: In an early cutscene of 4, Nero uses his Blue Rose revolver like a shield to block a slash from Dante's Rebellion BFS.
• Infinite Supplies: Red Queen's Exceed system injects the sword with a special fuel to power up its attacks. This fuel never runs out and never needs to be refilled, allowing Nero to ignite his sword as many times as he likes.
• In-Series Nickname: Dante calls him "Kid" several times throughout 4 even after they formally introduced themselves to each other.
• Intergenerational Rivalry: Nero and Dante form a student-teacher rivalry through the course of 4. At first Nero is hunting down Dante for killing Sanctus, the holy leader of Fortuna. Dante constantly teases and goads Nero into trying to fight him, seeing a lot of potential in the young devil hunter. Of course Sanctus turns out to be Evil All Along, which gives Dante and Nero a common goal. By the end of the game, Dante entrusts Nero with his brother's sword, Yamato, and the two part ways implying they'll meet again. Come the sequel, Nero is trying to prove himself that he can handle protecting the human realm to Dante, who has grown colder towards him believing he can't defeat the Big Bad, Urizen.
• Interspecies Romance: Kyrie, a human, loves Nero even if he's a quarter-demon.
• I Shall Taunt You: His basic in-game taunt makes him shout "Come on!" against his enemies. In cutscenes, Nero also intentionally taunts demons like Berial in order to agitate them.
• It Was a Gift: Midway through 4, Nero is already in possession of the Yamato (the katana that Sparda and Vergil once used), but he still asks Dante to let him keep the sword to fight with, as he needs it in order to save Kyrie. In the finale of the game, Dante lets Nero keep the sword permanently as a gift "worth giving" when Nero tries to return it to its rightful owner, Dante. Of course, Dante merely wants it to "stay in the family", and the revelation in 5 retroactively means he already realized that Nero deserves the Yamato during their second fight in 4.
• I Work Alone: Nero is a member of the Order's Holy Knights, but his Character File in 4 says he eschews the other members of his group because he prefers to work alone.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being anti-social and a bit of a dick, Nero has a sense of justice rivaling Dante's, and can be quite amicable and kind once you get to know him. He's also unfailingly gentle and tender in all his interactions with Kyrie. Before the Nightmare, the prequel novel for 5, states when he isn't on a demon hunting job, he's helping Kyrie run an orphanage and acts as a surrogate father to many less fortunate children who've lost their parents, even putting most of the money he makes into caring for them. It's best displayed at the beginning of 5; upon noticing the hooded figure's haggardness, the first thing he does is offer him a meal wondering if he's hungry, and a place at his table. He's doing this to a complete stranger, but the act sadly becomes a case of No Good Deed Goes Unpunished later on.
• Joke Weapon:
  • The DLC-exclusive "Pasta Breaker" Devil Breaker. Its primary function is less as a weapon, and more to aid Nero in eating his pasta. In gameplay, its main attack is a weaker version of Punch Line, and its Break Age move is a weaker version of Overture's. But while weak, the attacks deal a lot of hits and keep the enemy stunned for a few seconds, opening them for his other attacks. It also changes how the Devil Breakers are swapped around.
  • The DLC-exclusive "Monkey Business" Devil Breaker. It's a reskin of his Helter Skelter and functions identically, but with a goofy "banana bunch" look and goofier effects during its attacks.
• "Just Frame" Bonus: Nero's optimal playstyle revolves entirely around this. Normally, the Red Queen's Exceed attacks need to be revved up, which is a lengthy process, but if the player presses the rev button at specific points in any attack, the Red Queen instantly gets one Exceed charge. One upgrade allows players to get all three Exceed charges at once, but has an even tighter timing window than the normal version. Nero also gains access to a move called Knuckle Bringer on a New Game Plus in 5 after he regrows his Devil Bringer demonic arm which allows Nero to reset his target's hitstun and keep them close to him during a combo if he uses it right as he hits an enemy with the Red Queen, acting as a companion piece to EX-Act.
• Launcher Move: Like Dante's High Time, Nero's "High Roller" move with Red Queen can be turned into a jumping upward slash by holding the "sword" button. If done with Exceed gauge filled, he rises much higher while spinning, dealing extra hits.
• Lightning Bruiser: Despite his demonic blood being much less than Dante and Vergil, Nero in 4 was fast enough to keep up with Dante (even catching his foot after punching him across the room), tough enough not only to get walk off getting impaled multiple times, and strong enough (thanks to his Super-Strength and his Devil Bringer) to make Dante actually consider using his Devil Trigger in their fight. In 5, not only does Nero recover easily after getting his arm ripped off, he became even more versatile thanks to the Devil Breakers. By the end of the game, Nero has unlocked his own Devil Trigger which helped him keep up with, and even hold back both Dante and Vergil simultaneously.
• Like Father, Like Son: Nero has several moments where he behaves like his father Vergil. Some of these moments shown in 4 also retroactively serve as additional hints pointing toward his father's identity, as it was only revealed to him in 5.
  • Before the Nightmare reveals that Vergil used to hate being called "dead weight" in his youth. Guess what Nero absolutely cannot let go of throughout the entirety of 5?
  • Some of his barks when fighting are just like Vergil, and he particularly has the same cadence when saying "Scum".
  • Both are motivated to prove their strength due to their failure to protect their family, and they openly say their desire to seek power. But while Vergil only thinks of gaining power for himself (in a big case of Motive Decay), Nero wants to use his power to protect those close to him, a trait that was mentioned way back in 4 when he monologues after he obtained the Yamato and his spectral Devil Trigger.
  • In the third mission of 5, Nero says "Without strength, you can't protect anything". He doesn't realize that it's the same phrase Vergil said to Dante in 3.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: From his attitude to his morals, Nero is very different from Vergil and can be said to be a mix of both his father and his uncle.
• Limited Loadout: In 5, the maximum number of Devil Breakers he can carry at once is determined by the "magazine" slots, for up to the cap of eight. More slots can be purchased from Nico's shop.
• Line-of-Sight Name: In-Universe, Nero was named as such because he was found wrapped up in a black blanket outside of an orphanage; "Nero" is the Italian word for "black".
• Little "No": Utters this in 5 when he learns Vergil is his father. It's a bit faint when he says it.
• The Load: The other two protagonists consider him as one in 5, mostly because having his Devil Bringer arm yanked off also took away most of his demonic powers (the mechanical Devil Breakers don't actually compensate for what was lost). Dante even calls him "dead weight" to hammer the message home, as Nero is too powerless to take on Urizen. V also calls him "completely useless" at one point.
• Locked into Strangeness: It was hinted in 4 that the Devil Bringer (and by extension, the spectral incomplete Devil Trigger) was the result of his right arm being permanently locked into something of a real Devil Trigger form as a reaction to the shoulder injury he suffered before the events of the game. It's confirmed in the final moments of 5. After Vergil rips out his demonic forearm to take back the Yamato inside it, forcing him to make do with Nico's prosthetic work, the arm never grows back until he learns just who his father is and decides once and for all that his family will not murder itself in a stupid feud. Then the arm grows back, fully human like the rest of his body, and then his true, physical Devil Trigger form is finally unleashed, complete with forearms that look very identical to how the Devil Bringer appeared before Vergil ripped it off. He can then switch back and forth between human and Devil Trigger forms at will, which his right arm now follows suit.
• Logical Latecomer: Played up in the final missions of 5. Unlike every other character who have come to view the Cain and Abel rivalry between Dante and Vergil as an inevitable clash of ideologies where one will eventually kill the other, Nero was only introduced to the series with one game prior, so he has no idea who Vergil is and why Dante is so keen on fighting the latter alone. He's eventually told that Vergil is Dante's twin brother and Nero's father, which only makes Nero more conflicted because he's suddenly gone from having no family to having a father and an uncle that want to kill each other. As such, he declares the entire Sibling Rivalry between the two a stupid waste of time. He unlocks his own Devil Trigger just to stop their fight and then beats Vergil himself to make them back down and focus on what's more important.
• Lured into a Trap: Agnus and Sanctus kidnap Kyrie as a bait so that they could find a way to lure Nero and steal the Yamato from him. They eventually succeed in their goal, trapped the two lovers inside the giant Savior, and opened the central Hell Gate using the katana.

M-Y

• Manly Tears: He sheds these while screaming out Kyrie's name as they are being absorbed into the Savior's body and core. He comes very close to a Despair Event Horizon in this moment.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: DMC4 marks the debut of Nero, the first playable character in the series who has an emphasis on new mechanics never seen in the prior games, such as the ability to enhance his swordplay on-demand (Exceed), he's also the first true grappler archetype of the series thanks to his Buster mechanic, and his Devil Trigger functions differently, as it supplements his attacks with extra strikes instead of directly boosting his damage.
• Messianic Archetype: Think about his circumstances in 4 and his role in the Order of the Sword for a second. Sort of a Good-aligned rebel of the society's church? Thought of as a nuisance by the powers that be at the time? Betrayed by the same Order where he belongs? Stabbed while in a crucifixion-esque pose? A blood-relative of the religion's god? Sounds about right to us.
• Meteor Move:
  • Nero's aerial downward strike, "Split", is his variant of Dante and Vergil's "Helm Breaker" move. It can send an airborne enemy crashing down.
  • Nero's aerial Buster also makes him throw a mook or boss down to the ground, powerful enough to leave a temporary crater.
• Moment Killer:
  • He sets out to do this on purpose at the end of 5 to Vergil. Vergil spends the entire game in his various forms to try and get his greatest duel with Dante and kill him. Vergil finally gets what he wants at the end of the game, but Nero decides to ruin it for him because it's the only way to stop either of them from dying. When Nero blocks the lethal blows, he knocks Dante out of the fight with a cheap shot. Vergil can be seen losing his composure in the background watching his victory be stolen, but quickly recovers, desperately grasping for what straws he can by deciding for himself that if he can beat Nero it means he won the duel by default, but at this point, Dante doesn't care who wins anymore. Unfortunately for Vergil, this is an extremely poor decision, as the combination of exhaustion from his fight with Dante and Nero's Unstoppable Rage just turns him into Nero's punching bag until Vergil gives up.
  • Taken to an extreme if the player manages to defeat Urizen in mission 8, as that causes an early ending and Dante never gets to have a rematch against Urizen. And it can go even further if the player defeats him in the prologue, preventing the entire game from happening.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Nero's build is roughly the same as Dante and Vergil's, yet he is capable of greater feats of physical strength than the other two thanks to his Devil Bringer granting him absurd Super-Strength. With the right input, he can pick up most enemies and even giant bosses like Berial and throw them around for massive damage.
• My Greatest Failure: Although it is somehow not brought up at all by the end of 4, Nero reveals in 5 he's still quite torn up over his inability to prevent Credo's death from the previous game. It motivates him to stop Dante and Vergil from killing one another, as he doesn't want to lose another family member again.
• Mystical White Hair: Indicative of his demonic heritage from his grandfather Sparda via his father Vergil. By extension, he also shares them with his uncle Dante.
• Mythology Gag: He uses a number of Zangief's moves (such as his Devil Buster against an Alto Angelo from 4 being the Final Atomic Buster) from the Street Fighter series, also made by Capcom.
• Named Weapons: His Blue Rose revolver, Red Queen sword, and all of his Devil Breakers in 5; Overture, Gerbera, Ragtime, Punch Line, Buster Arm, Tomboy, Helter Skelter, Rawhide, Mega Buster, Sweet Surrender, Pasta Breaker, Gerbera GP01, and Monkey Business.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: In-universe, his name is just coincidentally taken from the black blanket that he was wrapped with when he was a child, but having someone named Nero around a heavily Christian-themed group should sound quite a few alarms, right? Like that Nero, this Nero also ends up going against said religion.
• Next Tier Power-Up: Nero's Devil Trigger is fully unlocked in the final climax of 5, allowing him to enter a physical demonic form of his own like Dante and Vergil's standard DT. This is an upgrade to his first Devil Trigger in 4 which functioned more akin to a Fighting Spirit that mimicked and enhanced his attacks.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: As of 5, he is now a Quarter-Devil Cyborg.
• "No More Holding Back" Speech: A variant in 5, as he had already decided on his motives; he was simply declaring it aloud. Having failed to save Credo, Nero is determined to stop Dante and Vergil, his uncle and father, respectively, from killing one another, and as he declares this, he manages to not only regenerate his lost right arm, but unlock his true Devil Trigger.
  Nero: I couldn't protect Credo. To this day, I hate myself for not having enough strength. But this time is different, I swear! I'M NOT LETTING YOU DIE!!!
• No-Sell: In the final battle of 5, a couple of his Buster moves against Vergil have him no-selling the attacks thrown at him. If his opponent is down, Nero will clash with the boss and get impaled with his enemy's sword. He promptly pulls it out of his body, returns the favor and suffers no health penalty from it. If the boss tries to dive-bomb him, Nero can stop the boss by doing a DDT.
• Occult Blue Eyes: Nero has bright blue eyes, a common trait of those who share Sparda's blood and demonic heritage.
• Official Couple: He and Kyrie were already very close at the start of 4 to begin with, but by 5, they are apparently living together.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: As Nico describes the Yamato in her report, she also recalls witnessing the katana's ability to cut through space when it was still serving as Nero's arm, implying that he had a better grasp of the weapon's powers in between the events of 4 and 5.
• Older and Wiser: As of 5, Nero has mellowed out a lot and acts generally more mature than before. He even became a Hypercompetent Sidekick when it comes to his own stable Devil May Cry business unlike Dante who has gone broke. Appearance-wise, this is perfectly encapsulated by his shorter crew cut compared to his longer hairstyle that he had in 4.
• One-Handed Zweihänder: While Red Queen doesn't match Rebellion's length, it's still a BFS with mechanical components that Nero easily swings around with one hand in most of his attacks. His strength is justified due to his quarter-devil nature.
• Oni: While Dante's Devil Trigger makes him look like a Western-styled Satan, and Vergil's resembles a Western Dragon, Nero's matured Devil Trigger at the finale of 5 makes him look like a Japanese Oni, complete with horns and facepaint.
• Opposites Theme Naming: Nero's primary weapons are named Red Queen and Blue Rose.
• Outside-Context Problem: Becomes this for Vergil at the end of 5. Vergil has spent so long fighting Dante that when Nero shows up, he's completely blindsided by him. Nero's power-focused fighting style and raw strength are something Vergil's never fought before, which is only compounded by his exhaustion from fighting Dante. The result is that Vergil spends the entire fight being manhandled by Nero, and driven to his knees multiple times.
• Our Ancestors Are Superheroes: Nero is the grandson of the demon Sparda who saved humanity from an invasion from the demon world two thousand years ago. This was hinted at in the fourth game and confirmed in the fifth one.
• Our Demons Are Different: His Devil Trigger functions or appears differently compared to Dante and Vergil's. When he unlocks it for the first time in DMC4, it manifests as a katana-wielding specter that floats above him and supplements his fighting style (whereas Dante already had a physical demonic transformation when he unlocked his Devil Trigger form for the first time in DMC3). By the finale of DMC5, Nero would eventually unlock a more powerful physical demonic transformation, but the katana-wielding specter will be gone, and his appearance would resemble more of a Japanese Oni than the devlish/draconic Sin Devil Trigger forms Dante and Vergil acquired at that point.
• Parental Abandonment: Nero was abandoned in Fortuna at an early age by his biological parents, and his adoptive parents end up dying from a demonic attack in his early childhood. Growing up, Nero never met his father, Vergil (they had a brief exchange in Nero's mind during the Deadly Fortune novelization when he's activating his Devil Trigger through the Yamato, but Nero doesn't know his relationship to Vergil at that point), and his mother's identity is unknown. This situation is later played with in 5; Vergil never knew his visit to Fortuna had resulted in Nero, neither find out about their parent-child relation until the end of the game... and we still don't know anything concrete regarding Nero's mother.
• Perpetual Poverty: Nero suffers from this to a lesser extent, as it's mentioned in Before the Nightmare that he and his lover Kyrie adopted three orphans after the events of 4, with what little funds they have going towards them.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Nico in 5; she spends most of her on-screen time with him and serves as his reliable backup and mechanic, but Nero's heart clearly belongs to Kyrie and the two women are implied to be close enough that Kyrie sees nothing unusual about cooking dinner for her.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Granted, the man he's mocking is one of the villains, but Nero is not above making fun of Agnus' speech impediment.
  Agnus: Just as foul-mouthed as I had heard. The rumors prove true. As will the new ones concerning your d-d-d-demise.
  Nero: Don't you think that's a little harsh? Killing me because of the way I t-t-t-t-talk?
• Power Fist:
  • His Devil Bringer arm allows him to perform various feats using it such as Super-Strength, a Megaton Punch and mostly Grapple Moves. The arm usually summons an astral version of itself, which can enlarge or extend as Nero wills it.
  • In 5, many of his large arsenal of Devil Breaker arms he uses during combat are attributed to this.
• Power Gives You Wings: Nero's Devil Trigger in 5 has a pair of spectral energy wings which will be present even in his human form for the entirety of the final battle. They also double as extra pair of clawed arms. In the cutscene of Mission 20, Nero first demonstrates his control over these arms by holding the swords of Dante and Vergil, and he even cracks the arms' knuckles before fighting the latter. In-game, he can punch, pull and grab enemies, and glide in the air with them. His Super Costume permanently gives him these wings even in his human form, behaving just like how they did in Mission 20.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Nero's crew cut in 5 grows out to shoulder length when he turns into Devil Trigger form.
• The Power of Love: In 4 and 5, his desire to protect his loved ones such as Kyrie awakens tremendous power within him. He spells it out at the end of 4, claiming that what made Sparda so powerful was that he had a heart that could love others. In the endgame of 5, his desire to keep his father and uncle from killing each other awakens Nero's own full Devil Trigger. As a bonus, he regains his right arm, which is now fully matching the rest of his form, whether human or Devil Trigger.
• Power-Upgrading Deformation: Backstory and supplementary material of 4 mentioned that Nero obtained his Devil Bringer arm from a shoulder injury that transformed his arm into hard, demonic flesh, but it came along with the benefits of a Power Fist (mostly Super-Strength). This gets inverted by the end of 5; Nero regains his Devil Bringer arm and most powers stored within it after the old one was torn off by Vergil, but the new arm manages to match itself with his "human" appearance, and only becomes demonic flesh when he's in Devil Trigger form.
• Practical Taunt:
  • One of Nero's high rank taunts in 5 has him perform a flashy reload with the Blue Rose, which actually fills up his ammo meter.
  • Another high rank taunt in 5 (which returns from 4) has Nero rev Red Queen while it is planted to the ground. In 4, the taunt only revved it a little (not even enough to raise the EX Gauge's bar, let alone add a level), but in 5, this taunt will add an entire level to the EX Gauge.
  • While not as good as a real Double Jump, his aerial taunt does give him a decent burst of air, allowing it to be used as an extra jump for more altitude and can be good in a pinch by dodging larger enemies. While Nero can't be controlled during the taunt animation, he retains his momentum. In addition, he can perform EX-Act or MAX-Act with it to fill the EX Gauge. This video demonstrates the utility of it in 5; since Nero doesn't have the Air Hike at the start of the game, the player uses the air taunt to keep out of Urizen's reach.
    Nero: Let's get airborne!
  • Clearing the credits sequence in 5 will unlock a special taunt where he chews gum to restore some health, usable once per level.
• Primary-Color Champion: In 4, Nero wears wears a blue coat with red inner lining and a red hoodie underneath. His Devil Bringer has red scales and glowing blue flesh. In 5, he wears a dark blue hooded jacket and dark crimson shirt. His outfit colors reflect how he is a combination of Dante and Vergil who wear red and blue respectively.
• Punch-Packing Pistol: Nero only has Blue Rose as his firearm, but it has explosive firepower to compensate. When it made its debut in 4, its Charge Shot already deals significant damage even at Level 2, while its Level 3 upgrade adds a delayed explosion to deal even more damage and interrupt most enemies' moves. In 5, its normal shots are slower than it did in the previous game, but the Color Up ability allows Nero to fire special bullets that deal high damage and can stun enemies. The Tomboy Devil Breaker turns Blue Rose into a weapon of mass destruction by overcharging its shots, but the drawback is that Nero is forced to stand still to handle the recoil and has to manually aim rather than rely on lock-on or auto-aim. By the final mission of 5, Nero recovers the original Charge Shot ability and its damage output can still be supplemented by his Color Up bullets.
• Punny Name:
  • The Exceed version of Nero's Calibur is named EX Calibur, a play on Excalibur, the legendary and mythical weapon of King Arthur.
  • There is also EX-Act, the ability to gain one Exceed gauge instantly by pressing the Exceed button at the exact time of a sword attack.
  • 5 adds more punny names on his Devil Breakers and their abilities if you read them from certain perspectives; "Break Age" is the general term for his new powered moves that cause breakage to the arm when used. "Break Away" allows Nero to break away from an enemy's attack at the cost of a Devil Breaker literally breaking, the "Punch Line" Devil Breaker detaches the arm to punch enemies and allows Nero to deliver a powerful uppercut as its Break Age, the Ragtime Devil Breaker slows down time, while the Monkey Business Devil Breaker has a banana motif.
• Rage Breaking Point: Nero was never really calm to begin with and is normally Hot-Blooded, but whenever something emotionally triggers him enough, he oftentimes lets his anger loose in a more chaotic way. In 4, this happens when he failed to reach Kyrie in Mission 9; Nero is left alone crying and repeatedly punching the ground to vent his rage.
• Raised by Rival: A downplayed example. Dante becomes Nero's mentor of sorts when he decides to join Dante's demon hunting business after 4, which makes him a more qualified caretaker than his twin brother and rival, Nero's Disappeared Dad, Vergil.
• Razor Wings: In his Devil Trigger form in 5, his spectral arm-wings will lash out and swipe at enemies to supplement his melee attacks.
• Recoil Boost:
  • The Charge Shot of his Blue Rose briefly propels Nero backwards when it's fired in mid-air.
  • In 5, he can use the Gerbera Devil Breaker to propel himself to a direction with the recoil from its blast. If done close to an enemy, this can also deal damage. The DLC-exclusive GP01 version allows him to propel himself upward when used on the ground, and straight down when used in the air.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Nero stares down Agnus with these upon activating his Devil Trigger for the first time in 4, complete with Theme Music Power-Up, Power Echoes, Battle Aura, and a Badass Boast. It happens again when Sanctus (who's controlling an Alto Angelo at that time) escapes with Kyrie, leaving Nero to deal with some Mooks to vent his rage on. The red eyes, along with the blue aura and voice distortions, are also applied in-game as hallmark features of Nero's Devil Trigger in 4.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Nero is meant to be a synthesis of both Dante and Vergil, as evidenced by how his clothes incorporate both brothers' red and blue colors. As for his interactions with other characters; he's angry, brash, cocky, and prone to emotional outbursts in DMC4, so he's a Red for most of the time, but with a slight mix of levelheadedness in a few cutscenes. In that game, Dante also spends a boss fight getting Nero to cool off. This trope is continuously zig-zagged in DMC5. At first, Nero is hot-headed compared to the level-headed Dante, but the plot later on makes Nero play the straight man to larger than life characters like his lackadaisical badass uncle Dante and Wrench Wench Mad Scientist Nico. Notably, his hue of blue is royal blue instead of cyan — he's literally a warmer Vergil. 5 shows that Vergil is also a blue counterpart to Nero, although this is only seen in the final boss fight between the two. Lastly, Nero is more aggressive and direct than the calm and thoughtful V.
• Red Right Hand: Inverted. Nero is a protagonist and an all-around good guy, but his demonic heritage is most noticeable via his Devil Bringer, a demonic right forearm that has claws, glowing blue flesh, is covered in red scales, and can project a spectral arm.
• Reflecting Laser: Petal Ray, the Gerbera Devil Breaker's Break Age move in mid-air, has him shoot multiple small beams that ricochet off surfaces. If done in a small space, this move can fill the room with lasers.
• Reverse Grip: Nero's launch move, High Roller, uses this compared to Dante and Vergil's standard grip for High Time.
• Revolvers Are Just Better: Nero has Blue Rose as his default firearm. It's not just any revolver, it's a custom-made, double-barreled over-under revolver. Its fully-charged shots are extremely powerful to compensate for its slow charge time and limited moveset compared to Dante's default Ebony & Ivory handguns. And unlike Dante's default Coyote-A shotgun, the damage output of Blue Rose isn't affected by the distance from the target.
• The Right Hand of Doom:
  • While the Devil Bringer itself is the size of a regular forearm, using it conjures a phantom image of a massive claw which can grow into gigantic proportions as seen in 4.
  • The Buster Arm Devil Breaker in 5 is also large and bulky enough to actually count as this.
• Right Makes Might:
  • In the fourth game, Sanctus demands to know why he's losing even though he's wielding the Sword of Sparda and has gained Sparda's power. Nero explains it's because he lacks Sparda's compassion and ability to love.
  • Even after Nero fully awakens to his demonic blood and physical Devil Trigger form, he should be no match for the stronger and more skilled Vergil. That said, Nero still beats Vergil's ass in their duel at the end of the game. It's justifiable as Vergil had been fighting Dante moments prior, and thus was exhausted. 3 also established that Jester beat both Dante and Vergil at the Temen-ni-gru because the brothers were tired, but Nero's victory over them in 5 has more to do with thematic relevance.
• Rocket-Powered Weapon: Red Queen is a sword with an engine built into it.
• Rocket Punch: With the Punch Line Devil Breaker in 5, he can launch his fist like a rocket that can stun-lock enemies. With said weapon's Break Age move, he can also perform a powerful, rocket-boosted uppercut akin to Dante's Real Impact (or a strong downward punch when performed in mid-air), but the arm explodes afterwards.
• Rocket Ride: Just like how Dante did this to Lady's rocket in 3, Nero can ride on his Punch Line Devil Breaker in 5 as if it's a surfboard. This feature even has its own moveset and is extremely versatile; it can be used to damage enemies, rack up Style points, and quickly traverse the environment for a limited time before it explodes.
• Rule of Cool:
  • The Red Queen's Exceed function doesn't make any sense at all (revving the sword's handle like a motorcycle creates ignition and improves the sword's performance) but you'll be too busy trying to time your swings with the rev button to get the most of your fancy combos than thinking about this.
  • Nero's air guitar taunt somehow plays actual music, but it's both cool and beneficial in maintaining your Style gauge/rank.
• Rule of Symbolism: The color scheme of Nero's outfit in 4 consists of red and blue. According to scenario writer Bingo Morihashi in page 210 of the 3142 Graphic Arts artbook, this is meant to show him as a successor to both Dante and Vergil.
• Scarf of Asskicking: A part of his alternative "Prototype" costume in 4:SE that was based from one of his earlier concept art.
• Shaping Your Attacks: In his Devil Trigger state, Nero's Summoned Swords are more along the lines of a two-sided shuriken (in 4) or a kukri blade (in 5).
• Signature Move:
  • Nero has Snatch which functions as a grab attack to pull enemies close. It's a core mechanic for his Devil Bringer arm that's unlocked early on in 4, and used a lot in the cutscenes of that game, albeit to varying or overpowered degrees. When he lost his Devil Bringer arm in the beginning of 5, he still has a replacement of this move; the "Wire Snatch" that can be performed using his mechanical prosthetic arm, the Devil Breaker system.
  • In DMC5, the hand-shaped electric attack of Nero's Overture Devil Breaker is his most advertised move in the game's marketing artworks and trailers. It helps that Overture is his starting Devil Breaker arm.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Kyrie is the only girl whom Nero has eyes on. Even when put in situations where most would be Distracted by the Sexy, such as when he meets Gloria and the Rusalka feelers in 4 or when he carries a nude and unconscious Lady in 5, his reaction typically ranges from mild irritation to being completely unphazed.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Nero swears definitely more than Dante and really anyone else in the franchise before DmC came around. He then retains this characterization when the classic DMC continuity returned with 5 because even if the other characters also swear in that game, most of the vulgar words come from Nero.
• Son of a Whore: In the Deadly Fortune novel, Sanctus hints that Nero's Missing Mom is/was a prostitute. Growing up, other kids mocked Nero relentlessly for this, as with Fortuna's small population and tight-knit community (and the prevalence of prostitutes at the time), many assumed that he was a bastard child, as no one gave birth around the time he was discovered.
• Southpaw Advantage: Nero mostly wields Red Queen and Blue Rose with his left hand. It's justified as his right arm is used for other secondary purposes such as grabbing enemies or equipping breakable mechanical arms. However, there are times when this trope is played with, such as when he wields the Yamato with his right arm.
• Spanner in the Works: Both negatively and positively.
  • To Dante and Trish's plan in 4. While their plan involved giving the Devil Sword Sparda to the Order of the Sword, it only fell apart because of Nero. If not for him, Yamato would've never been restored. Yamato's resurrection then allowed the Hell Gate to be opened, which is a part of the Order's goals in their masquerade. Sanctus and The Savior also needed someone with the blood of Sparda in order to tap into the Devil Sword Sparda's power, and because Nero is revealed to be a blood-relative of Sparda, he was absorbed inside The Savior's core in order awaken it. Sanctus would've originally intended Dante to form The Savior's core, but considering how Dante is able to beat the fully-powered Savior, the Order has little chance of capturing him for their cause in the first place.
  • To Dante and Vergil's Sibling Rivalry. Various characters have noted that one way or another the rivalry would end up with either one's deaths. Nero's existence as Vergil's son, along with his awakening of his true Devil Trigger, allows the decade-spanning rivalry to end, and both characters would end up living after Nero's match with Vergil.
• Special Odd Hand: Nero has the demonic "Devil Bringer" for a right arm that grants him a host of supernatural abilities.
• Spinning Piledriver: A Devil Buster performed on an Alto Angelo involves Nero suplexing his enemy twice before jumping and pulling off the Izuna Drop.
• Stance System: Nero's "Tomboy" Devil Breaker in 5 gives him an entirely different moveset when activated, the drawback is that you lose it if Nero takes damage while it's active.
• Standing Between the Enemies: Once he finds out Vergil is his father, he becomes determined not to let another Credo situation happen and leaps into the fight between Dante and Vergil, using his newly obtained Devil Trigger to hold back their final blows. The development team of 5 admitted that this one scene was what the entire game was based around and built towards.
• Sticks to the Back: Nero doesn't have a harness behind his coat, yet the Red Queen easily sticks to his back when not drawn out. In an end-game cutscene of 4, he even carries both the Red Queen and Sparda on his back without worries.
• Straight Man: Moreso in 5, wherein a lot of his banter with Nico comes from playing off her geekiness and bizarre actions, such as when she's sniffing dead demon parts.
  Nico: Woo-e! I'm gonna make somethin' amazing out of this!
  Nero: Did you just sniff that? Do you have any idea where that's been?
  Nico: Up your butt?
  Nero: Focus on the mission!
• Stronger Than They Look: Bael says this trope almost word-for-word when he is surprised at Nero's strength after being defeated by him.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He shares the same white hair and blue eyes as his uncle Dante, father Vergil, and grandfather Sparda. This becomes a retroactive plot point in 5 when Dante tells Nero that he suspected the relation Nero shared to his brother back when he first met him in 4, then he saw how Nero was able to trigger the Yamato and that confirmed his guess that he was looking at his own nephew.
• Stunned Silence: After Dante confesses to Nero that Vergil is his father, he becomes shocked enough to shut up for a few seconds. You know it's serious when he stops talking crap at Dante.
• Summon to Hand: After acquiring his phyiscal Devil Trigger form in 5, Nero gains a Next Tier Power-Up to his demonic abilities, which include letting his sword magically vanish into Hammerspace, and make it manifest to his hands when he needs to use his weapon again. However, Nero can only do this trick with Red Queen if he's in Devil Trigger form, because he would just normally stick his sword to his back otherwise.
• Super Mode: Nero's Devil Trigger is an oddball in 4 because he doesn't physically transform into a demon (aside from the usual Regenerating Health effect and minor changes like glowing red eyes and blue Battle Aura), but instead gains a spectral entity that fights alongside him. Instead of directly boosting the damage of his moves, the entity adds extra strikes to his melee attacks, throws Summoned Swords to his targets when he shoots with his Blue Rose, and enhances his Devil Bringer's abilities. Not only does this entity use a larger copy of the Yamato, it also resembles a fusion of Vergil's Devil Trigger form and Nelo Angelo. Deadly Fortune states that it is a corporeal manifestation of Nero's soul. He gains a more traditional Devil Trigger near the end of 5, just in time to stop Dante and Vergil's Duel to the Death. Instead of a spectral swordsman, Nero's entire body now becomes demonic and the wings that appear off his shoulders provide the extra hits to his attacks, yet it still functions virtually similar to his Devil Trigger in 4.
• Super-Toughness: Because of his part-demon nature, he can shrug off many attacks and also has a massive Healing Factor to explain how he quickly recovers from stuff that can injure him.
• Superior Successor: By the end of 5 having gained a true Devil Trigger, then fought and defeated both Dante and Vergil (admittedly after they had just had a long drawn out fight) stopping them from killing each other. Dante more or less declares Nero as this.
• Supporting Protagonist: In 4, he is largely that Audience Surrogate character and the hero with the deeper character arc, while Dante is mostly there as a Trickster Mentor figure and the ace-in-the-hole with the plan of defeating the main villain Sanctus in the first place. However, the latter parts of the story zig-zag their roles as Dante gives Nero the spotlight in fighting and defeating the Final Boss. This trend continues in 5, where we start again from Nero's perspective before returning to the re-awakened Dante, who takes over in defeating the Big Bad Urizen right up until the end, where Nero ultimately subverts this trope and takes the reins of the story and finish things against Vergil himself.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: In two occassions, he is completely confident about defeating Urizen even after the latter easily crushes Dante. Unsurprisingly, Nero gets beaten even worse than Dante, and Urizen does not even acknowledge him as a threat at all. In the second fight, Nero only managed to leave a small cut on Urizen's palm, which is rendered useless since the wound quickly regenerates anyway.
• Sword and Fist: His Red Queen sword and Devil Bringer/Devil Breaker arms combine to form this brutal melee fighting style.
• Sword and Gun: Nero wields his Red Queen sword using his left hand and switches to his double-barreled Blue Rose revolver when he needs to shoot. When he uses his Red Queen and Blue Rose in tandem (usually in various promotional art), they form this trope.
• Sword Beam:
  • Nero has "Maximum Bet", a Devil Trigger-exclusive move where he uses his swords to fire off a wide X-shaped energy wave that also pierces through targets.
  • In the cutscenes of 4, Nero produces crescent energy beams by swinging the Yamato.
• Symbolic Wings: The stylistic Roman Numeral V in the title screen logo for 5 looks like a pair of wings layered on Nero's back. This subtly foreshadows Nero's fully-awakened Devil Trigger form sporting spectral wings.
• Take a Third Option: In 5, the other heroes try to keep Nero out of the final battle so that he won't have to kill his own father. Instead, Nero interrupts the fight anyway and declares he won't allow anyone to die.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Tall? Both in-game models and the life-sized statue of Nero put him at 190cm (about 6 feet, 3 inches) tall. Dark? He has demonic powers and slightly dark clothing. Handsome? In spades.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: He's about 6'3", he's a quarter-demon who dresses in dark blue, and he's extremely snide.
• Theme Music Power-Up: At the end of 5, he unlocks his own physical Devil Trigger for the first time and gets to fight the Final Boss as the background music plays "Silver Bullet", an awesome techno remix of "Devil Trigger".
• Theme Naming:
  • Many of Nero's attacks are named after gambling and/or card game terminology such as Roulette Spin, High Roller, Streak, Split, Double Down, Shuffle, Maximum Bet, Showdown, Hard Way, Color Up, and Payline.
  • The historic emperor Nero was a poet, just like how Dante and Vergil are respectively named after poets Dante Alighieri and Virgil.
• The Un - Reveal: It’s currently unknown, who Nero’s mother is, what she looks like, her name and if she’s still alive or not.

It’s unknown, if she abandoned Nero as a baby or not, but if she did abandon him why she did it is unknown

• This Is a Drill: His Helter Skelter Devil Breaker arm has a massive drill on the end, which makes it excellent for breaking through guards. Using its Break Age move, he'll fly forward while powerfully drilling through his foes.
• Time Master: Using the Ragtime Devil Breaker, he can briefly slow down time in either a small spherical space using its standard effect, or the entire battlefield using its Break Age move.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • In 4, by coming in contact with the Yamato, he unlocks his unique Devil Trigger, whereby his demonic energy takes the form of a spectral demon. He now has Regenerating Health, hits multiple times with each move, can use Summoned Swords and throw in extra moves when grabbing enemies using his Buster move.
  • Nero gets a massive one towards the end of 5. While he's already stronger and more powerful than regular humans, Nero has always been less powerful than the Big Bad at their strongest, and far behind his uncle and father. In his desperation to save them both, he unlocks his full-on physical Devil Trigger and interrupts their fight even if the two are exhausted from battle but are still in their Sin Devil Trigger forms. Not only does Nero manage to hold them back long enough for them to change back to their human forms, he also knocks the weakened Dante hard enough to make the latter give up on the fight, and takes his father down one-on-one. In a case of Gameplay and Story Integration during their fight, Vergil's hits aren't as powerful as they were in the previous battle, he no longer regenerates health in Devil Trigger, and he takes more damage from getting hit. Nero makes him submit (as much as Vergil can admit submission) without trying to kill him, and he impresses the twins enough that they have no problems in leaving Nero with the duty of protecting humanity. Vergil leaves Nero his book of William Blake poetry, and promises that he'll have a rematch with his son one day. Nero's Devil Trigger is usable in New Game Plus, along with a brand new set of gameplay mechanics that expand his original moveset from 4.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Downplayed, as Nero was already a bit like Dante in 4 when it comes to fighting demons, the only real differences being Nero's more moody demeanor. By 5, Nero seems to have developed much of his sass and casual taunting towards his foes and overall seems to be over much of the angst he exhibited from the previous game.
• Took a Level in Kindness: While he was never really bad or even mean, Nero was always a bit rough and usually angry. By 5, he has considerably mellowed out. Hell, the first thing he does in the game is offer food to a complete stranger.
• Trash Talk: While Dante's always been one to taunt and mock his opponents, Nero does a lot more flat out trash-talking.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening:
  • Nero has two such awakenings in 4. Nero's first awakening happened offscreen when a demon attack had Kyrie in grave danger, and his shoulder injury resulted in awakening his Devil Bringer hand. The other awakening happens in-game, when Nero is almost killed by Agnus and his Angelo and Gladius demons, resulting in the resurrection of Yamato and the unlocking of Nero's own spectral Devil Trigger, a Fighting Spirit that is very reminiscent of Vergil, who is revealed to be Nero's father in the fifth game.
  • Near the end of 5, Nero, shaken by the realization he has blood relatives in Dante and the recently-resurrected Vergil, realizes that the two are about to kill each other and either way, he'd lose a member of his new family, and it reminded him of his guilt from losing his adoptive brother Credo in the previous game. The emotional peak he reaches from this makes his devil powers truly awaken, regrowing his severed arm and unlocking a true Devil Trigger.
• Uneven Hybrid: Story details in Deadly Fortune, the 3142 Graphics Art artbook and Devil May Cry 5 put him as a quarter-demon courtesy of Vergil being his father. However, the ratio doesn't really matter that much as he has all the perks that come with having demon blood (such as Super-Strength and Healing Factor), he's just as powerful as any other foe that crosses his path and can even unlock his own Devil Trigger.
• Unflinching Faith in the Brakes: Nero doesn't flinch at all when Nico's trailer van slides to a stop inches away from him. He even quips "Perfect timing."
• The Unfought: He isn't fought at the end of Vergil's campaign in 5's Special Edition like one would expect when compared to their canonical fight in Mission 20 of the main campaign. Instead, Vergil simply continues his fight with Dante. In the following cutscene, Nero appears before the brothers descend to the Underworld, implying that his interruption of the Sibling Rivalry happened off-screen.
• Unique Protagonist Asset:
  • Being his debut game, Nero is very crucial to the plot of 4. His Devil Bringer arm can do many feats in-game and in cutscenes, but it's just what he needed to ultimately destroy Sanctus and The Savior. Case in point, Dante's endgoal while fighting the latter giant was to jam the Yamato so that Nero could wake up and finish the fight. In the first place, Nero's presence in the Containment Room managed to fix the broken Yamato katana (which the Mad Scientist Agnus couldn't accomplish), because it's revealed later on that Nero is actually a descendant of Sparda.
  • The entire conflict of 5 began because Nero had the Yamato inside his Devil Bringer arm, which Vergil had torn off in a flashback to regain the weapon. Nero and V are also the only two heroes who managed to flee in the Prologue, which later on allows them to find or rescue the other three who went missing.
• Unknown Relative: Nero and Dante met each other in the fourth game, but it's only until 5 where Nero learns that he's Dante's nephew and Vergil's son. To make things more complicated, Vergil doesn't realize Nero is his son until Dante spells it out for him at the end of 5, while Dante himself already had his suspicions on Nero's lineage ever since 4 but has kept quiet about it for a long time.
• Unorthodox Reload: Only done once in an early cutscene of 4, but stylish reloading for Nero basically means tossing the bullets up in the air, turning around, and then letting the revolver's cylinder catch the bullets. This act is justified because his other arm is slinged and immobile. In 5, he can do this as a taunt which also loads his gun with Color Up rounds.
• Unskilled, but Strong:
  • Compared to Dante, at least. While the latter is all about style, speed or instant weapon and Stance System switching in 4, Nero fights with wide, heavy swipes, is a bit slower, and most of his special moves and upgrades (MAX-Act, Charge Shot, Devil Trigger) are about dealing maximum damage with minimum effort, provided you learn how to use them properly. Compared to most playable characters, however, he's more like a plain ol' Lightning Bruiser.
  • Nero's weapon selection is also incredibly limited, as he only uses the Red Queen, Blue Rose, and Devil Bringer/Devil Breaker arms in his appearances, and while the Devil Breakers have their own traits, they still have relatively similar functions and limitations. On the other hand, Dante uses a wide variety of really weird weapons and firearms, each with a diverse moveset that can be chained with each other, and can even be further augmented with his Styles. The one thing that Nero can do but Dante can't is using his Devil Bringer to grapple and hurl even giant opponents.
  • With their choices in firearms, Nero only wields the Blue Rose, a single giant revolver which fires slowly but does considerable damage especially when charged. Dante's iconic guns are Ebony and Ivory, twin pistols that fire very quickly but do very little damage even when charged (they're mostly used to sustain combos).
  • Equip the Tomboy Devil Breaker in 5 and Nero's slashes become wild and reckless as he puts every ounce of strength he can into his powered-up attacks. His damage output ramps up high, but his moveset and combo potential will be limited.
  • His Devil Trigger in 5 gives him immense power, enough to match Dante and Vergil's Sin Devil Trigger, but his attacks in this form are average or straightforward, and he lacks the variety of enhanced abilities and super moves that the twins have.
• Unstoppable Rage:
  • He goes into a brief one when Agnus captured Kyrie and being unable to save her, Nero loses it for a moment by punching the ground beneath him with angry sobbing and yelling.
  • Once he faces Vergil with his newfound Devil Trigger power, Nero ends up losing his cool and unleashing all of his frustration out on Vergil by utterly dominating over him in their fight.
• Villain Killer: After Dante, Nero has the highest body count of slain demons and villains among the heroes. He kills Sanctus in 4, and kills Goliath, Artemis and Malphas in 5.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • He and Dante developed this dynamic since 4 by the time the final boss battle rolls around and they wind up saving the day together. They'll both throw sarcastic quips at each other, but through it all, Dante has settled into the role of a Big Brother Mentor and is fond enough of Nero to entrust him with Yamato, for which Nero is very visibly grateful, and even hopefully asking if they will meet again.
  • In 5, he has this dynamic with Nico. She's living with him, is his "pet mechanic" and is putting her life in danger to help him fight demons. The two of them also can't talk for more than a minute without throwing shade or lapsing into bouts of familial bickering. They are constantly snarking and insulting the other throughout the entire game from Nero's tendency to break his Devil Breakers along with everything around him, to Nico's crazy driving and her "quality control" with her inventions. However, they have little moments showing that despite all their bickering, they really are friends. She even calls him "little bro" at the end.
• Weapon Across the Shoulder: Nero rests his sword across his shoulder like Dante does in multiple cutscenes, but is in no danger of cutting himself because it's a single-edged blade.
• Weapon Specialization: Nero has two weapons exclusive to him.
  • Red Queen, a sword with a motorcycle-type handle that allows him to rev it. Said revving allows him to light the blade on fire for certain attacks by coating it in flammable liquid and lighting it with the gears in the handle, sending him spinning and sliding all over the place with explosive force.
  • Blue Rose is used to supplement his attacks when it comes to long-distance targets, or flying enemies too far away for him to use Snatch in 4 and Wire Snatch in 5.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy:
  • An uncle/nephew version, although unknown to Nero at first. By 5, it's clear Nero wants to prove himself to Dante and takes it REALLY personally when Dante says that he will only be dead weight if he stays around. Nero holds onto that line for the rest of the game, wanting to prove Dante wrong.
  • A straight yet warped version happens in the finale of 5 with Nero beating the shit out of his Disappeared Dad to make him acknowledge Nero enough to actually listen to him and stop The End of the World as We Know It instead of doing another Duel to the Death with Dante.
    Nero: Taking me seriously now? Feeling accepting yet?
    Vergil: Of your existence? Or your strength?
    Nero: Both, you fuckin' asshole!
• Wave-Motion Gun: His Gerbera Devil Breaker arm fires a massive continuous beam when fully charged. The beam also bends whenever you manually aim it around.
• Whip Sword: The Rawhide Devil Breaker arm has a high-tech razor edged whip built into it. Aside from whipping enemies around, it also enhances his Snatch move, and its Break Age move has him grab onto an enemy and then spin/smash it around with the whip arm, potentially hitting other enemies around him.
• Who You Gonna Call?: Sometime after the events of DMC4, Dante extended the Devil May Cry demon hunting business to include Nero. By the events of DMC5, Nero and Nico run a mobile version of it. They even placed a Devil May Cry neon sign on Nico's van and use the same "Devil May Cry" catchphrase when answering the phone.
• Why Am I Ticking?: In 5, the Overture Devil Breaker's Break Age move involves him jamming his hand into the target's body and then detaching it, turning it into a time bomb that explodes after a few seconds. He can also detonate it manually by shooting at the target with his Blue Rose.
• The Worf Effect: In 5, the mysterious hooded man who visits Nero at his garage easily rips the Devil Bringer off Nero's arm in one fell swoop as he's tossed around and can only scream for Kyrie to run as he bleeds on the floor. It's a stark contrast when 4 already hinted Nero as an Uneven Hybrid, and revealed his Devil Bringer to be strong enough to defeat Sanctus Diabolica then crush the giant Savior's face, and durable enough to block Dante's Rebellion. This is subverted later on as the man is revealed to be Vergil, a recurring series character whose power was already established in the previous games, and he was exhausted enough to be defeated by a powered-up Nero in the final mission.
• World's Strongest Man: This is given a twist in the final mission of 5. With his physical Devil Trigger form, Nero holds back Dante and Vergil while they were still in their Sin Devil Trigger forms, and beats Vergil enough to make him submit. Nero's advantage is justified because the brothers were exhausted from their previous fight, but he became strong enough that Dante feels comfortable leaving him behind to handle any demon issues on Earth while the brothers dive into the Underworld.
• Wrestler in All of Us: In 4, he knows how to perform Zangief's Final Atomic Buster against the Alto Angelos and lands a dropkick on Dante's face of all people. The dropkick itself is an actual move in-game, usable by taunting while in a full-on sprint. 5 retains the dropkick taunt and adds several wrestling moves such as powerbombs, DDTs, and a few varieties of brainbusters to his Buster move's animations. For example, Nero can give a pretty satisfying suplex to the Final Boss Vergil when the latter flies around the arena and divebombs him. He can also perform devastating triple-powerbombs on Hell Antenora demons, to Michinoku drivers/fisherman suplexes on the Angelos (complete with kneeling on their throat to add insult to injury), to spinning around on the arm emerging from the backs of Nobodies and flipping them into a cross armbar.
• Wrong Side All Along: Nero ends up learning this the hard way in 4 when the Order of the Sword are revealed to be Evil All Along. In fact, him meeting Agnus actually tips him off that they're not what they seem...
• You Remind Me of X:
  • Berial gets some serious Dante vibes from Nero after their fight. Although Berial doesn't name-drop Dante in the game, it's better hinted at in the Deadly Fortune novelization.
    Berial: I see... Neither demon, nor human... So that is the case. You, too, are the same as him...
  • After their first duel in 4, Deadly Fortune has Dante muse about Nero having the same look in his eyes as Vergil did.
  • According to Deadly Fortune, the orphanage that adopted Nero took a special liking for him because he resembles Sparda.
• You Will Not Evade Me: His Snatch move allows him to pull enemies closer to him, or (for large enemies) pull himself closer to them. In Devil Trigger mode, he can pull in multiple small enemies at once. It's changed to Wire Snatch in 5, which works similarly regardless of the Devil Breaker he's equipped with. When Nero acquires his true Devil Trigger form in the end, he regains the regular Snatch (which is interchangeable with Wire Snatch in subsequent playthroughs), and its upgraded "multi-pull" function in Devil Trigger mode is performed by his spectral wing-arms.

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"This baby sure can pack a punch."