Description:
After the defeat of the Phantom, the Griffon, the oldest and most loyal of Mundus' dark henchmen, rises up to take Dante down. His skills may be fading, but fights with a determination that is truly inspiring.

Griffon is a giant bird with brown feathers and a gaping hole in his chest filled with a blue swirling energy orb. His face is odd; it's the top half of six birds all joined at the jaw in a circle. It's very weird indeed. Its voice is somewhat
garbled and deep- the first time I saw him I didn't understand what he was saying.

Sounds: Typical bird-based sounds I guess. He screeches every once in a while and usually before he attacks. He's a boss; it will be hard not to know when he shows up.

Attacks:
-beak swipe (medium-heavy, close): The Griffon runs up to Dante, rears it's head back and then swoops down, hoping to take a bite out of Dante.-energy wave (medium-heavy, far): The Griffon crouches slightly, forms red energy in it's mouth and shoots a thin wave of energy at Dante's position.

-energy scissors (medium, far): The Griffon forms red energy in its mouth and shoots out two simultaneous beams of red energy in opposite horizontal directions. It then makes the beams become parallel to each other by narrowing their aim (like closing a scissors).

-dual energy scissors: like the above energy scissors, except Griffon creates four or five of the lines rather than two. The formation looks like the open end of a cone.

-energy wall (light, far): Griffon shoots a row of long red energy lines towards Dante. The attack resembles a jail wall...

-energy net (light-heavy, far): the Griffon causes energy to streak across the ground in a large grid-like formation.

-energy landing (medium, far): the Griffon rises into the sky. After a moment, red energy streaks out from its feet at a particular point (usually where Dante is). It then lands fairly slowly, sending a long straight line where it lands.

-energy bomber(light-critical, far: In flight, the Griffon rises high and then swoops low and straight across the arena, dropping a stream of red energy balls in a bomber run.

-energy platforms (no damage, anywhere): created as a side effect of the Griffon's energy, these red platforms appear randomly in the arena. They can go as high as three stories (of platforms anyway).

-phoenix (light-critical, far): The Griffon creates a bird of pure red glowing energy and attaches it to Dante like a yo-yo string.

-throes (light-heavy, close): Similar to the Nobodies, Griffon has a spastic fit when he dies, summoning countless red energy bolts than rain about him.

Strategy:
Coming after the assault of the Phantom and the duel with Nero Angelo, Griffon isn't as hard as he looks. In fact, Griffon is probably the easiest boss to beat in the game, depending on your viewpoint. His attacks are fairly easy to see coming, and they aren't anything to really worry about.

The Griffon is a distance fighter, as is evidenced by his overwhelming number of distance-based moves. His basic tactic is to sit at a distance and pelt you with energy shots, coming close once in a while for a peck. To avoid his peck (which you will see coming a mile away btw) jump out of the way or roll away. His energy wave is avoided by jumping above it. This move tracks Dante's height, and Griffon uses it several times in succession, so it may nail you if you keep him jumping around like a freak. His energy scissors and its dual variety can only be avoided by
jumping as well (or in the case of dual, a roll might help, depending on its setup). This move can also track position; in fact, just about all of Griffon's long-range moves track positions. The energy net doesn't move to attack Dante, but if he runs into it he takes damage, so be careful.

When Griffon takes to the skies, he sends a few energy scissors and the energy net your way. He also performs the bombing run in this mode. To avoid the bombing run, either run sideways out of Griffon's path or just follow directly underneath him (essentially outrunning the bombs). His energy landing is easy to avoid if you're not a stationary target.

You face the Griffon three times in the course of the game. The first time you face him, use the Ifrit and the Handguns or the Grenadegun. The Grenadegun packs more punch per shot, but the recoil limits repetition. Cancel the recoil animation by rolling immediately after a shot. The Handguns are a better choice because they never miss their target due to the fact that they shoot really fast. The obvious tradeoff is that they are weak. If you have the ability to use Air Raid, then use it. It's fast and does heaps of damage. Faster than Inferno, and all around does
more damage.

Use whatever gun you have to build up DT gauges and inflict damage in him. Once you have a substantial amount, then initiate DT and fire away. Ifrit-enhanced shots seem to do more damage than Alastor (I'm not too sure, can anyone verify this?). When you deplete the gauges, build it up and attack again. Repeat until he's dead.

Every once in a while, the Griffon will be dazed and crash into the ground, twitching. He's helpless in this mode, so run up to hit and combo (preferably DTed) until he recovers. You do more damage with your fists than with the gun, but you can rarely hit him when he's moving, so beware.

In the second battle, Griffon does not become dizzy, so don't get your hopes up. He also rarely lands, choosing to torture you with an aerial assault. The ground is very small and makes you an easy target, so climb the masts and take him out from the vantage point. The height also gives you a better view of the phoenix when it's about to crash into Dante. When you see it coming, jump!

In the third battle, the Griffon pulls out all the stops, but compared to his second battle he's a piece of cake. For one thing he loses the ability to summon the phoenix to make your life hell, so it's the same tactics as the first battle.
Halfway through this stormy fight, Griffon falls and becomes unable to fly. He can still jump and use the energy landing, but otherwise he's completely ground-attack based. Finish him off with Alastor.

In the first two cases, as you deliver the last blow, Griffon becomes ablaze with red energy bolts for a few moments as he struggles to get up and away. Don't get close to him when you deliver the blow and stay away as he fries.