SMT V - Nahobino Tsukuyomi (Low Level, No Fusion/Demon Customization, Hard)

Challenge rules: 1. Hard difficulty on a New Game. 2. No fusing demons or using essences to alter the skillsets of demons. 3. EXP gain shall be minimized as much as possible and may only be earned from battles required to complete the main story or side quests and from quest completion. 4. No Balms, Incenses, Sutras, Gospels, Grimoires, use of petrified demon statues, or Omagatoki: Luck. 5. No use of the Skill Manifestation miracle. 6. Demons with unique recruitment may not be recruited until the Nahobino reaches their level. 7. Resistance-altering passives may not be used on the Nahobino. 8. Null/Repel/Drain Phys essences may not be used on the Nahobino, and Phys Block may not be used (Phys Dampeners are acceptable). 9. Taunt/Fierce Roar may not be used on the Nahobino alongside any Null/Drain/Repel resistances relevant to the current battle, and Tetrakarn/Makarakarn may not be cast on a target with Taunt/Fierce Roar. 10. Use of Accursed Poison will be avoided whenever possible. Tsukuyomi is faced in the Law and Neutral routes, and like Abdiel, his stats are identical in both battles. However, the Neutral battle is easier since he is fought after Abdiel, so there is a small level advantage relative to the Law route. Tao can be used on the Law route, but isn’t really helpful at this point. In any case, I only recorded this battle for the Law route since it’s the more challenging version. Tsukuyomi is a good example of a gimmick boss that actually functions well. Even though he only has a single press turn for much of the battle, he still has a solid damage output thanks to Yabusame Shot. Most of his other attacks, Bufubarion, Hamabarion, Mabufubarion, and Myriad Slashes, are all standard; what really makes him stand out are his signature skills. At various points throughout the battle, Tsukuyomi uses False Replication to create copies of himself, starting with one then making two or three depending on how much HP he has left. These copies are immune to all attacks while Tsukuyomi’s true body continues to take damage as normal, and the copies disappear at the end of the turn. If Tsukuyomi’s true body doesn’t take damage at least once during the False Replication turn, he’ll use Diarama to heal himself for about 4000 HP on his next turn, but if he does take damage, then he’ll use True Replication instead, creating copies of himself that all take damage normally. On the turn following that, his replicas will provide Tsukuyomi with extra press turns, then the replicas disappear. He’ll lead off that turn with Debilitate then use his other attacking skills, making him significantly more dangerous than usual. False Replication and True Replication also wipe out Tsukuyomi’s debuffs, putting him in a more advantageous position before he gets his extra press turns. His final skill is Moonlight Frost, which he spends a turn getting ready for. Moonlight Frost pierces and has a ludicrous base power, making it even more powerful than Zeus’ Maziodyne after Impaler’s Animus. Even with a turn to prepare, it’s quite difficult to handle. Since this battle plays out so differently from other boss battles, I made several major changes to the Nahobino’s moveset. I finally got rid of Thalassic Calamity to make space for Ragnarok and High Fire Pleroma and swapped out some other skills for Mediarahan, Kannabi Veil, and Safeguard. Mediarahan is helpful since Bead Chains are in short supply, while Kannabi Veil is great for Moonlight Frost and Safeguard is nice to have for False Replication. There’s a lot of unique stuff going on in this battle, so the overall strategy isn’t as straightforward as usual. First, this is one of the few battles in which healing every turn isn’t always necessary, since Tsukuyomi begins many of his turns with Yabusame Shot. That’s pretty weak on its own, so healing back to full can sometimes be a bit of a waste of a turn and MP. Tsukuyomi’s False Replication can be countered with Safeguard and a Fire Shard, allowing the Nahobino to hit all targets without losing press turns, but True Replication is a lot more dangerous. Using Debilitate twice is important to reduce Tsukuyomi’s damage output on the True Replication turn, while an Ice Dampener should be used to protect from Mabufubarion. Finally, Moonlight Frost is extremely powerful, and Kannabi Veil stacked on top of maxed buffs and debuffs still isn’t enough for some demons to survive. Fionn Mac Cumhaill needs to guard on top of that, while other demons with Endure have to be swapped in to prevent deaths. It’s also worth noting that I could have torn through the last third or so of Tsukuyomi’s HP by using Omagatoki: Dance with Ragnarok and a Bucketgetter Special, but that’s not interesting so I chose to not do so. The difficulty here can be subject to the frequency of which Tsukuyomi uses his Replication skills and Moonlight Frost, but it's usually fairly reasonable.