Heritage for the Future ★ Evil Incarnate DIO
Evil Incarnate DIO (邪悪の化身ディオ, Ja'aku no Keshin DIO), or "Shadow DIO" in the English localization, is the form DIO takes for most of Part 3 while waiting for his body to completely assimilate. To reflect this, his moveset involves mainly open-hand light and heavy attacks (which ties into how weak the left side of his body was if Dio happens to have his animations be performed when facing right).
The World in this form, is also depicted as a faint-and-clear silhouette.
Costumes
Color A (default)
Color B (2)
Color C (3)
Color Stand (4)
Color Select (5)
Moveset and Gameplay
In the game where Active Stands are prevalent, Shadow DIO is a passive Stand User. He can deal a lot of damage with full offensive attacks without an Active Stand via a solid amount of frame-traps and pseudo-disjointed pokes with his silhouette-version of The World, even though he lacks the more defensive and utility-type traits of having an active Stand. He also has a counter-reversal move, a reference to his encounter with Hol Horse, that helps this playstyle to be more effective, which can be used either for offense as a reversal punisher, or defense when DIO himself is under pressure.
While not shown in the manga or anime in earlier chapters, Shadow DIO is capable of throwing knives. These knives, while not too fast for up-close combat, can push enemies further back and gives him a semblance of anti-air defense. The angle of the knives can be varied (straight forward or in a fanned-spread either upward or forward, and he can throw knives twice. The first knife throw has a large amount of hitstun and can be used to ease into combos, though either version is meant to control a certain range of space.
His eyebeam projectile can be charged to an incredibly powerful and unblockable level, sometimes causing a Stand Crash in one hit. But like his normal form, it can easily be ducked under.
His Stand attacks are effective as surprises, and capable of juggling and/or short bread-and-butter combo finishers. Combined with his own attacks, he deals a lot of damage in a short time, more so within The World, when he stops time.
His Super Combo, "Punishment", deals heavy damage if it connects. However, it cannot be incorporated into combos easily and works better as an out-of-pressure reversal or a frame trap. His other Super Combo, called "Charisma", takes two levels of power, but the buds coming out of his hair are unblockable and home in on the enemy. The slow start-up animation of this move requires it to be a part of the combo, in order to perform the move without being interrupted by the enemy's attacks (or to be used during the opponent's wakeup to lock them down more effectively).
Trivia
If Shadow DIO is transformed by Alessi's Stand, he will transform into Wang Chan carrying Dio's severed head in a jar from the final few chapters of Phantom Blood.
