That's pretty much what my view was for DMC4, which is why I barely used DB, and use two styles, one gun, one sword sometimes to challenge myself.
Edit: Just realized something will playing the game on SOS with no lv.2 upgrades.
1. The less enemies in the air, the faster you will drop.
2. Exploits like staying in the air may save you, but will possibly not give you a high rank. Since you'll be weak as hell, and will reach to a hand full of enemies. You have to come up with a great combination of weapons and tactics in not just in the air, but on the ground to get up with around 600,000 points or more. Not even Demon Dodge Lv.1 can make things much better.