[This article was written for base SMT V. SMT V Vengeance update coming soon™]
Along with a new Shin Megami Tensei game, comes a new challenging Super Boss fight. In SMT V, if you get the Return of the True Demon DLC, you can fight the protagonist of SMT III: Nocturne, Demi-Fiend. It’s a very hard fight, and you will need some luck in order to beat it, but with proper preparation it becomes very manageable.
I made a video of beating the fight using 1 single party, consisting of 4 Demons only (including Nahobino). Since I went for a Strength build, that’s what this post/video covers. The gist of this guide and strategy is contained here:
To begin, there are important things to note about this fight:
- You have to kill one of Demi-Fiend’s ally Demons every 3 or so turns. If you don’t, Demi-Fiend will use Gaea Rage, a move that will do 10,000+ damage to your entire side. (He’ll cast it after he has used 6 actions and you have not killed an ally Demon recently)
- When Demi-Fiend reaches certain HP thresholds, he will use Chaotic Will, a move that can insta-kill your Demons and halves your press turns.
- At half HP, Demi-Fiend will use Mediarahan to heal himself and his current ally Demons to full health.
- Demi-Fiend’s AI acts differently depending on your team’s Physical resistances. If there are party members neutral to Physical, he’ll spam Javelin Rain (40% seal chance) and Deadly Fury (100% crit rate). If all party members block Physical, he’ll spam Freikugal (Almighty move with high Crit rate). If most party members block Physical, but one resists, he’ll use Deadly Fury on the resist Demon (the resist will prevent the move from getting a crit). You can greatly lower Demi-Fiend’s damage output by keeping one or two resist Demons to redirect his attacks. If you bring in a new Demon with Repel Physical, Demi-Fiend will always attack them and lose turns.
- If you put too many buffs on yourself, or too many de-buffs on the enemies, they will automatically use Dekaja/Dekunda. I’ve found that keeping 3 buffs on yourself and 3 de-buffs on enemies will prevent them from using Dekaja/Dekunda too often. For example, Attack/Defense/Accuracy up on the party (3). And Defense lowered by 2 stages plus Attack down 1 stage on the enemies (3). Not stacking too many buffs/de-buffs will be better for keeping them throughout the fight.
- Two of Demi-Fiend’s ally Demons can heal: Pixie and Parvati. So they need to be taken out ASAP when they appear.
So you want to create a party that easily buff, de-buff, take care of the ally Demons and do damage to Demi-Fiend. One good party set-up for that is Shiva, Idun and Zhuque. You can of course keep additional Demons for back-up, along with these Demons. I’ll explain their roles with pictures of the builds used.
Shiva is here to lower defense to the minimum with Tandava. You use Tandava at the start of a Magatsuhi Critical Turn to create more press turns and lower defense immediately. Shiva innately resists Physical, so he soaks up most of Demi-Fiend’s attacks. In addition, Donum Gladi is used to buff Nahobino on certain turns.
Idun is an essential party member due to her skill Golden Apple, which is Mediarama and Luster Candy in one move. Being able to heal and buff at the same time is super valuable, especially in this fight where each turn matters. Idun also has Force Skill Potential, so she is able to do consistent damage to Girimehkala and Thor. This extra damage is crucial for taking out the ally Demons and letting Nahobino focus on Demi-Fiend. Idun is a better pick than [Spoiler Character] here, because she gets much better stats due to being fusible and Force coverage is better than [Spoiler Character’s] Light/Almighty coverage in the fight. I used a ton of Stamina Incenses to raise Idun’s MP stat.
Zhuque might be an unexpected pick, but they are essential for cutting down the length of the fight. Avian/Raptor race Demons get access to the Magatsuhi skill Accursed Poison. Accursed Poison will 100% apply an ailment to the enemy and casts Debilitate. Higher tier ailments are prioritized, so this skill can apply Seal to Demi-Fiend. If Demi-Fiend is sealed, he is not able to use Mediarahan, so his effective HP shrinks from 90k to 60k. You have to time it so you use Accursed Poison on the turn his HP goes below 50%, but it can make the fight drastically more manageable.
[Vengeance Edit: In SMTVV, Accursed Poison on Demi-Fiend seems to be a bit less reliable now, either because it has a lower chance rate or it doesn’t always prioritize Seal. Haven’t been able to test myself yet.]
So an Avian/Raptor Demon is required for Accursed Poison, but why Zhuque? Zhuque is the only Avian/Raptor with both Fire and Support skill potential. Fire is a great element in the fight, because both Jack Frost and Parvati are weak to it. Idun’s Force damage and Zhuque’s Fire damage can be enough to take care of the ally Demons’ HP bars. Support skill potential reduces the cost of Donum Gladi (used to buff Nahobino at times) and Matarunda. I have Matarunda instead of Debilitate, because I don’t want to lower too many stats, causing enemies to use Dekunda immediately. Matarunda also costs much less MP.
Instead of building Zhuque, you could just keep an Avian/Raptor Demon in reserve and bring them in on the turn you need Accursed Poison. Make sure to put Repel Physical on this Avian/Raptor if you are bringing them in for 1 turn, so Demi-Fiend loses all his press turns when he attacks them. This would allow you to use Nuwa/Inanna/another Force Demon when Girimehkala or Thor are on the field, and Amon/Inanna/another Fire Demon when Jack Frost or Parvati are on field. That requires building more Demons, so it’s up to you.
Nahobino is on a standard Murakumo build. I added Revival Chant in case a party member died from Chaotic Will. See my Nahobino Build post for more on him. Because of the amount of ailments, insta-kills, etc., every Demon used in this fight has to have Abyssal Mask and Enduring Soul.
The basic turn order with this team is:
- Activate Magatsuhi Critical skill and use Tandava on Shiva
- Idun Golden Apple
- Nahobino Murakumo
- Zhuque Agibarion
- Shiva Donum Gladi on Nahobino to buff him
- Idun Zanbarion or item
- Nahobino Murakumo
- Zhuque Agibarion or Matarunda or item
On non-crit turns, use Element gems to gain press turns so Nahobino can use a Critical Gem/Critical Aura and land Murakumo. Watch the video above to see exactly how it plays out.
You can definitely keep more Demons in reserve, such as Cleopatra, Demeter, Nuwa, Amon, etc., in case things go sideways. Cleopatra is a great Demon in general, but in this fight, Frolic lowers too many stats (she’s still pretty good and you can use her). I like this strategy because it heavily lowers the grinding you have to do: you only need to build 3 Demons. Even with a great set-up, the fight can go south due to some combination of ailments, misses, Freikugal crits and Chaotic Will BS. But with enough perseverance, this fight is completely doable even on Hard mode.
You can also use the Magatsuhi Adversity skill (from Beast race Demons) to end the Demi-Fiend fight in record time. [Vengeance Edit: SMTVV nerfed the amount of Magatsuhi gauge you get from sacrificing Demons from 30% to 15%, so this exact strat doesn’t work anymore. There are still quick Demi-Fiend kills, they just work differently.]
I got this strategy from a YouTuber named Pser Hanser, so full credit to them. View the 2-Turn video above to see my builds for this strat.
And check out the rest of my YouTube channel for more boss fights, builds and more:
