The South Africa captain made an unbeaten 162 off 66 balls, with 17 boundaries and eight sixes, including his century off 52 balls as he dismantled the West Indies' attack.
He smashed 34 off one over from rival skipper Jason Holder as he lofted several big sixes to push the total past 400. The South African batsmen were relentless late in the innings, adding 80 in the last 3.2 overs. Holder took the most punishment, conceding 95 runs in his last five overs after starting with a respectable 1-9 from his first five.
The innings wasn't always so hectic.
De Villiers combined with Rilee Roussow (61) for a 134-run stand inside 13 overs to help their team recover from a slow start. The South Africans were coming off a heavy loss to India and took a while to get settled, needing almost 15 overs to reach 50.
South Africa's batsmen began cautiously against some disciplined West Indies bowling, with Quinton de Kock finally teased into a poor shot to be caught for 12 off Jason Holder in the sixth over.
Hashim Amla and Francois du Plessis weathered the tight line to each score half centuries and add 127 for the second wicket as South Africa built momentum in the middle overs.
Chris Gayle, who scored 215 in the West Indies' win over Zimbabwe this week, returned 2-21 Friday, including the wickets of du Plessis and Amla within three balls in a rare highlight for the Caribbean team.
Gayle removed du Plessis for 62, with wicketkeeper Dinesh Ramdin taking a sharp catch off the top edge. Two balls later Gayle had Amla trapped lbw for 65, his fifth consecutive score above 50 against the West Indies.
De Villiers and Roussow, selected ahead of J.P. Duminy, accelerated the scoring and were prolific in the batting power play, adding 72 in five overs as each brought up their half-centuries.
Roussow, especially, took a liking to Jerome Taylor, cutting the paceman for six to bring up his 50 in 31 balls, while de Villiers went one better in reaching his half-century in 30 balls.
Roussow was eventually caught behind off Andre Russell (2-74).
Taylor took a spectacular one-handed catch on the boundary to dismiss David Miller for 20, with the fast bowler leaping in the air to haul in the catch while running to his right and deny Miller a six.
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