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With 270 demons to choose between,Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeancedoesn’t always make it easy to pick your perfect party. That’s what makes the game so fun, mind you - fine-tuning your party composition is as engaging as it is rewarding.
But at each point in SMT 5: Vengeance’s pretty-tough story, there are demons who number among the most valuable allies to consider bringing with you into the Netherworld. In the early hours, when your Demon Compendium is still looking a little thin, finding the best partners (and leveling them up to their full potential) can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
Mermaid
Mermaidmight be our favorite early-game demon. We haven’t really organized this list in ranked order, but still. She’sweak to both fire and lightning, so plan accordingly, but for solid elemental damage very early into SMT 5, look no further.
Stormcaller Song, her unique skill,strikes random foes three to six times with ice damage. Mermaid’s high ice affinity and decent magic stat combine to ensure gobs of damage with it. That magic stat means Mermaid’s a prime candidate for other moves, likeWind BreathandHama.
Pandemonic Feastsynergizes well with yourdefault, critical-ensuring Omagatakiskill,boosting accuracy and maximizing the possible hit count. That second part is key;have the Nahobino use Aramasawith Take-Minakata in tow and you might strike even more times.
Take-Minakata
It’s good to have at least one demon in your stock who’s designed to bring the big guns forphysical damage, andTake-Minakata is primed to do just that. One of the easiest early ways to get him is through fusingMermaid and Tsuchigumo.
There’s not much else to say about Take-Minakata; he’s truly just here to pummel your enemy into submission.Shockbound works great for himif you want some lightning-based might, though - but mainly stick withstrength-based hits,and rev those hits to higher damage thresholds in hard fights viaCharge.
Angel
Mandrake, Pixie, Agathion, Slime, and many more Minato-dwelling monsters are potential ingredients to fuseAngel, alight-elemental demon with robust support skills.
Blessed Melodyboosts party-wide light-elemental damage. Good stuff if you’re packing more allies with Hama, but if nothing else, this will benefit Angel himself!Humble Blessing, Patra, and Recarmare all terrific early-game healing skills.
You’ll bump into status ailments almost from the jump, soPatra is especially handy to have around.
Jack-o'-Lantern
You can getJack-o-Lanternin plenty of ways, butamong the earliest methods involves fusing Slime with Kodama. As such, you shouldn’t have to wait long before thishighly-talented fire-type attackeris yours.
Maragideals weak fire damage to all foes, and Jack-o'-Lantern’s high fire affinity (which you may boost all the higher with items) means it’ll hardly feel especiallyweakin the early game.
Better yet,Jack Agilao, its unique skill,deals medium fire damage to one foe while lowering the target’s attack by one rank. This will curb the enthusiasm of anything that isn’t resistant to the element, while bringing real pain to anyone who’s also weak to it.
Leanan Sidhe
Although you’regiven a choice between Apsaras and Leanan Sidheduring"The Water Nymph"sub-quest in early Minato,you can fuse whichever demon you didn’t chooserelatively easily. That said, we do preferLeanan Sidhefor the choice.
Mamudo is a multi-target dark-type spellthat is quite a boon against the fair number ofdemons weak to darklater on in the region, andMarin Karin’s Charm ailment effectcan help to lower the number of times a powerful foe’s attacks are successful.
High Pixie
High Pixiewill take a bit more legwork to recruit to your side, so you’llwant to rely upon a demon like Pixie or Neko Shogun for healinguntil you’re able to get her. Thankfully, this isone of the easiest special fusions in the game, as it requires onlyPixie and Angel.
Once you’ve got High Pixie, she’ll serve as a stellarhealing-oriented party memberfor the remainder of the Minato region and early into Shinagawa as well.Recarm is a revival spell, and while the restorative Dia is fine,see if you can get Media on High Pixiefor party-wide HP restoration.
High Pixie’sElec Gestaltunique skillboosts her electric-type damage potentialbased on the combined potentials of the rest of the active party. This may or may not be a big deal for you, but it’s surely enough reason to keep electric magic on her.
