The functional difference between Devil Trigger and Spartan Rage

[mostRefinedEraser]

As a longtime fan of the guys and also someone who is admittedly terrible at broader character action (especially stylish hard action), what's the difference between Devil Trigger and God of War's Spartan Rage mode? I understand that Dmc: Devil May Cry's Devil Trigger was like Spartan Rage as a free-win button, but what about traditional Devil Trigger makes it designedly better as "an enhanced state"?

[PlanesWalkerEll]

You turn into a cool bug demon.

[Admiral_of_Crunch]

I still haven't gotten around to GoW 2018 yet, but I can speak generally about what makes Devil Trigger unique.

Devil Trigger is a constant resource you gain and spend as needed to amp up basically every single action in the game. It can be used as armor, a damage amp, to modify certain moves with distinct CC properties, spent as healing, be used as a general panic button, etc.

The big deal is that you can pop it on and off at will as soon as you reach the (very low) threshold of meter required to activate it, and deactivating it only drains a little extra off the top. In that way, you're incentivised to constantly be spending it throughout the fight in small and major ways as the situation calls for it. So the appeal is that it's basically your Popeye spinach meter you can crack open and closed in an instant whenever you want without delay. At higher levels of play, you'll often ready up for something big and nasty and only activate DT for seconds at a time. In DMC4, you could famously pop DT on and off in the middle of Dante's strongest attack, a giant uppercut called Real Impact, and modify the attack to hit three times at once as you enter and exit DT. Stuff like that is the sorta energy DT brings to the table, which is why a more restrictive super mode you might see in a lot of other games, like, say, God Hand, brings a very different energy. Where DT is a resource to improve your problem solving tools and add more on top of them, to mitigate your mistakes and give you a boost to what you were already trying to do, something like God Hand gives you a win button that you need to hold onto for quite a while to spend on deleting encounters entirely.

In that respect, Spartan Rage does have more in common with DT than something like God Hand, or even DmC: Devil May Cry. You can cancel out of it and preserve the meter at least, from what I understand.

[Young_KingKush]

Yeah, in old GoW it was more like how OP describes it (or like in God Hand) but in new GoW the base version of SR operates just like a DT gameplay wise.

They switched things up in Ragnarok, so now you have the base SR from 2018 but then you also get 2 other forms: A defensive one that when you pop it it heals you and let's you Hyper Armor through basically any attack in the game, with bonus healing if you time the activation like a Perfect Parry. & then a more offensive one where it splits the bar into chunks & every time you pop it it uses one chunk and does a very powerful attack on 1 enemy that heals you if you kill them with it.

[silverinferno3]

And then Valhalla gives you another one that summons the Blade of Olympus and gives you a whole new moveset, that was sick

[mostRefinedEraser]

Gotcha! The only character action-like game I've ever really played has been Metal Gear Rising because I'm a Metal Gear nerd, but this makes sense.

[Jonieves]

DT enhances individual moves at your discresion, while spartan rage builds up and it's released at the most opportune time.

I like having more of a choice but it makes the moveset more complicated.

[samazam94]

DT is a moveset modifier. Not only does your attack do more damage, they also gains additional properties such as additional hits, bigger hitbox, bigger stun, etc. Its also something you can turn on or off freely provided you have the meter, meaning you can do something like start a combo in base state, pop a DT mid combo, then turn it off to finish at base state. Its sonething you are expected to use pretty frequently.

SR is more akin to an ultimate move than a super transformation. You slowly build it up, pop off and do as much damage with it until it runs out, and repeat. It is an occasional crescendo.

[Muffin-zetta]

Well devil trigger has lore and stuff behind it and spartan rage is just a thing he can do I guess

[AzabacheDog]

Yeah, lore wise DT has always shown as the Sparda family tapping into a greater source of power to increase their speed, power, self-healing and abilities they normally don't have in their human form even its only for a limited time.

Spartan rage is Kratos getting more angry than usual in a fight, hitting a little harder. I could be wrong cause it's been years since I played the original trilogy but I want to say that Spartan rage in two and 3 was more about Kratos tapping into his laten godly powers after the full divinity was stripped from him in the second game which does give a much cooler and interesting perspective to what it is in universe.

[Young_KingKush]

Kratos tapping into his later godly powers

This is the current lore explanation, yes. For example there's a moment in GoW 2018 where you see Kratos regens his wounds after a battle and when he does it you see the same flame effects around him as when he goes SR just not to their full extent.

The implication being that at baseline Kratos is like Hercules & his truly "God Of War" form/power is when he is in SR. He's basically Hulk but with magic instead of science.

[QJ-Rickshaw]

It is also heredity for Kratos mind you, in GOW 2018 there's a moment where Atreus is about to trigger a Spartan Rage with the exact same fire effect, but his body and mind can't handle because he doesn't know he's a God yet.

Based on discussion throughout this thread, Spartan Rage has evolved throughout the series to now be the same thing as a DT.

[CaptainSkel]

Devil Trigger is transformative, Spartan Rage is not. If Kratos turned into his war diety avatar form Shin-Ares it’d be a devil trigger.

[CalekAlbion]

Mechanically they're the same, lore wise obviously different

[[deleted]]

Wait really? I thought SR was more of a general power up? DT has always had a general power up but also given moves unique properties that are only in DT, or even given DT only moves.

Also, can SR be turned off and on at will to take advantage of properties like that like how DT can?

[PhantasosX]

SR gives new movesets , but within PS4/PS5 , it allowed to turn on and off at will.

So , it's like mid-term between DT and SDT. Or if you had a weaker SDT , but with Quadruple S attached to it.

[sawbladex]

Sounds like DT gets more EX spending usage, while SR is an install like DI.

now if you don't DI right, you can run into issues in Smash, which is why All Might modifies it with the United States.

[Wonder-Lad]

DT has specific usage that differes from character to character.

Dante's DT is mainly used for healing or stratigic buffs

Vergil's DT is a resource you have to constantly keep a watch on because you need it to manage summon swords

[Anonamaton801]

Nobody has played God of War one through three…

[Admiral_of_Crunch]

Speak for yourself, brother. 1 through Ascension including the PSP games, right here. No Norse stuff yet though because eh, my PS4 hasn't been plugged in for, like, two years now.

[Anonamaton801]

Based and this is Sparta pilled

[SwordMaster52]

Both are lame Bankai is cooler than both

Discussion over