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Originally a DLC quest for the vanilla release, ‘Return of the True Demon’ is back inShin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance. Much like other previously-DLC content, it’s available by default. As a result, you can unlock rather early on - though you certainly can’t finish it for some time to come.
With our guide, we’ve mapped out every boss encounter in this gauntlet of fights, including our lineup, our tactics, and the ways in which we endured some pretty tough adversaries on our way to obtaining the ultimate power: Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne’s very own Demi-Fiend himself.
This guide’s awork in progress! We’re currently about halfway through the fights, but we’llcontinue updating over the next couple of daysafter publishing until we’re finished.
How To Begin ‘The Return Of The True Demon’
In Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance, you’llautomatically begin ‘The Return of the True Demon’after a certain point. Namely,after you’ve returned to ‘real’ Tokyo for the first timefollowing the events in Minato.
The first time youreturn to the World of Shadows, Sophia will hand you an all-important key item:Menorah of Knowledge. This is precisely what we’ll need to take all subsequent steps in this epic questline.
How To Beat Matador
To reach Matador,return to the very first leyline,which is inMinato - Tamachi.You will see a rather-hard-to-missglowing purple beam up into the sky, which we’ll be looking for with most of the fights to come.
Matador is, frankly, pretty darn tough for how early you may take him on. He’slevel 24, which isfairly likely to be several levels higher than you if you attempt the fight as soon as possible.
We’d suggest waiting until your party’s around the same level, but it’s doable beforehand. The biggest problem with the Matador fight is thathe’ll raise his evasion sharply. Every time he dodges,you’re losing Press Turns, too.
It’s just one of those things we’re going to have to deal with, preferably through brute force. He’sresistant to force, light, and dark,butweak to electric-type attacks.
Takemultiple demons with Zio, Shockbound, and similar fareif possible.Use debuffs liberally, especially anything thatreduces Matador’s accuracy and evasion. BringPhys Dampenersto soften the blow fromAndalucia, andavoid using demons weak to force.
How To Beat Daisoujou
To find Daisoujou,search to the right/east of the Tennozu Leyline Fount. You won’t find the telltale purple beam until after Matador has been defeated, as these must be completed in order.
Daisoujou iscompletely immune to both light and dark attacks, whileweak to fire.Daisoujou uses bothMamudo and Mahama, both of which have +4 modifiers to make them more threatening propositions.
Make sure the Nahobino isn’t weak to darkbefore starting this fight. We mention it because if youhaven’t used essences to modify his affinities, he’s weak to dark.These attacks have a chance ofauto-killing.
Arguably the toughest part of this fight is dealing withPreach, which can cause charm, confusion, and/or sleep to all party memberswith a certain chance of success.
HavingAmritas and Amrita Showersis highly recommended;Patra and Me Patraabilities are equally handy.Daisoujou’s HP and especially vitality are relatively low, so slice through him quickly.
How To Beat Hell Biker
Hell Biker iswest of Shinagawa’s Konan Leyline Fount. There’s acollapsed overpasshere; rather than climbing its ruins, you’ll want totravel beneath ituntil the beam is visible.
We love Hell Biker. He’sone of our recommendations for thebest mid-game demonsto have with you. We love him less when we’re fighting him.
Here’s a rare suggestion:try to bring party members with higher Agility stats than your foe, whose stat is34. Hell Biker’s innate ability, Speed Star, elevates critical hit chance against enemies with agility lower than his.
Hell Biker has a whopping three unique skills:
To make matters worse,Hell Biker has two resistances and two immunities: light and dark resistance, and fire and force immunity.He has asingle weakness: ice.
How best to handle all this? We broughtForneus, whoseIce Breathattack works wonders on Hell Biker, but who crucially lacks a serious issue with many other ice-users:Forneusisn’tweak to fire.
Since we were playing onCanon of Vengeance, we also broughtTao, as we did not yet have access to theKnowledge of Toolsmiracle that allows demons to use items. Thus, we had two item-wielders.
That said,Hua Po is a better choicefor healing than Tao. You sacrifice double item usage, sure, butHua Po is immune to fire. This helps tremendously in making sure your healer actually stays alive!
How To Beat White Rider
Beginning The Four Horseman Battles
Starting with White Rider,things change somewhatfrom previous fights.You must meet the Four Horsemenbefore this quartet’s fights unlock, andthe meeting location varies between story routes.
If you’re playingCanon of Creation, you’ll meet theFour Horsemanafter thefight with Surt in Chiyoda.ForCanon of Vengeanceplayers, a cutscene will trigger as you explore the newShinjukuregion.
Follow the quest markers on the respective mapsthereafter to begin your next phase of this quest by challenging White Rider.
White Rider isweak to electric, butresistant to light and dark, and most troublingly,he reflects fire. It usesGod’s BowandRagnarokfrequently; the former is alight attack to one target,while the latter istwo to five medium fire attacks.
AfterMagatsuhi charges, it will commonly castMahamaonwith a strong +7 affinity. Absolutely avoid using demons weak to light, andbring Light Dampenersto preempt the move on the turn he’s charging when you can.
But the hardest thing about this fight is that itbegins the Four Horsemen trend of summoning two powerful allies, whose defeat will result infurther summoning.
In this case, the allies areDominion,which improve the chances ofcritical light-based hits. They’ll alsobuff White Rider and heal the party.
In a way, however, the game telegraphs what you’re supposed to do here. We don’t like thatDominion keeps healing White Rider,do we? So, we want to get rid of them, don’t we?
Our goal is toeliminate the Dominions in one to two turnsevery time, as this will causeWhite Rider to waste Press Turn actions re-summoning them.
Usemultitarget dark spells- yes, White Rider will resist them, but it’s not like he’s nulling, absorbing, or reflecting them!Alice is excellent here, with Die for Meand asky-high magic stat.
By constantly culling White Rider’s allies, you can chip away at its health inch by inch,launching powerful attacks like Freikugal EX(available with Alice, among many others) whenever you can.
More To Come
We’ve still got several more battles to cover in our guide, so we’ll hardly blame you for looking at other sites if you need to! That said, we hope our coverage of each fight we have conquered is in-depth enough to be valuable in the meantime.
