Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne Protagonist Skills FAQ
version 1.1 By Alessar
(c) 2005 Matt Redding. All rights reserved and commercial
duplication prohibited. Please send comments and corrections to
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I. INTRODUCTION
II. SKILL PROGRESSIONS/EXPLANATIONS
A. Attacks
1. Magic
2. Physical
3. Almighty
B. Defenses
C. Support Skills
1. Healing
2. Regeneration
3. Status Altering
4. Attack Command Enhancing
D. Miscellaneous Skills
III. BUILD ADVICE
IV. SKILL CHART
V. THANKS AND CREDITS
I. INTRODUCTION
There are 113 skills in total which the protagonist of Shin
Megami Tensei: Nocturne can learn. In order to give people a
tool to sort through the many obscurely-named skills which the
protagonist can learn, I've constructed this FAQ. This FAQ
focuses on explaining the skills and trying to make it
understandable which skills are upgrades to others, and provides
some general advice as well.
It's important to remember that this FAQ is centered solely on
the protagonist. I will occasionally compare a skill to one that
the protagonist cannot get, but it is not my purpose here to
list and explain every skill in the game.
There is one extra note I want to put in here: Once the
protagonist has learned 8 skills, when he learns a new skill,
one will have to be discarded. You don't have to discard an
existing skill, you can just select the new one and pass on it.
Some Notes on My Terminology:
Attack Power: The game uses four standard levels of attack
power/damage: light, medium, high, and mega. While it would be
nice if I could just list the standard damage level for each
move, the truth is that it can sometimes vary. Each attack skill
and spell has an actual attack power and in some cases the in-
game text may be inconsistent as to what it labels (for
instance) a "high" damage spell; some attacks are on the
borderline for a damage category, or may just perform
better/worse than you might expect; to make it more complicated,
a few physical skills start at a certain power level but
increase in damage. Therefore, some of the listings may be
something like "medium-high." Truthfully, all your attacks get
a little more powerful as you level up and gain in your stats,
but some gain noticeably enough to be worth special mention.
Physical weapon-based attacks are supposed to power-up in this
way.
Targets: Skills can target five different ways. Some affect the
user only, "Self," some target a single enemy or ally, "Single,"
some target the protagonist's party, "Party," and some target
all enemies, "All." Additionally, quite a few of the skills
target random enemies a random number of times, I call this
"Multi." Multi skills have a variable number of attacks
depending on the skill, but generally 2-5. Multi-hit skills may
sometimes hit a single target 2 or 3 times, but I have not ever
seen one hit more than that. While Multi skills may be
inadequate when faced with a truly large number of demons in an
encounter, when used on a boss the chance of a double-hit is
usually more than enough compensation.
Physical Attack Subtype: There are a number of different kinds
of physical attacks in the game, however, the game does not
distinguish the varieties of physical attacks the way that
Persona 2 did. And for most purposes, there are only two main
kinds: the ones where the main character conjures up a weapon
and attacks with it, and all the other ones. The reason for
this is that weapon type physical attacks gain extra power as
previously mentioned. Therefore, I called everything else
"blast," as in the skill "Hades Blast."
II. SKILL PROGRESSIONS
The following lists detail which skills are upgrades of others.
It is worth noting that there are some glaring gaps in these
progressions; that's because in some cases the Protagonist
doesn't get a skill generic demons can learn. For example, he
never learns a high damage fire attack on multi-targets; that
would be the skill Prominence. In some cases, the "upgrade" to a
skill may not be very different than the lower skill; some
skills are only different by a very small amount of attack
power, or by how much they cause criticals. Refer to the chart
in section IV if you have questions in particular about attack
moves. I detail the effect of the miscellaneous skills which do
not upgrade in the last section.
A. Attacks
1. Magic
a. Elemental Types:
ELEC (Electric)
Shock (light multi) -> Bolt Storm (high multi)
*Electricity has a chance of paralyzing those it targets.
FIRE
Fire Breath (light multi) -> Hellfire (medium multi) -> Magma
Axis (medium-high single)
*Magma Axis increases in power based on Magic attribute and can
actually be one of the most damaging spells in the game, even
without Fire Boost. Part of this is probably because single
target magic attacks simply deal more damage than their
equivalent attack-all move. Fire has no special properties; it
just causes a lot of damage.
FORCE
Tornado (high multi) -> Wind Cutter (mega single)
*Wind Cutter is one of the highest damage spells in the game,
and one of the few the protagonist can learn that is of the mega
damage level. Force has the ability to shatter those who are
petrified. Because the protagonist only learns two of the most
powerful spells in the game, and at lower than usual levels, it
is often perceived to be a "more powerful" damage type. This is
a false perception.
ICE
Ice Breath (light multi) -> Absolute Zero (high multi)
*Ice can freeze opponents, effectively paralyzing them. However,
the frozen status diminishes enemy defense, making it a little
more useful than shocking.
b. Death and Expel:
There are basically three subtypes of these attacks.
The most common are Instant Kill. They have a relatively low
chance of working but if they do, the target dies (or
technically, is exorcised/banished in the case of Expel). Both
Death and Expel have plenty of instant kill moves. The second
kind is percentage damage; mostly these are Expel skills. If
they land, they deal a certain % of the target's current hit
points (usually 50%). The Curse skill Evil Gaze is similar in
that it reduces the successfully hit target to 1 hit point (just
think of it as 99% damage). The third kind is direct damage. In
this case they are no different than a standard elemental attack
skill. Only Expel has moves like this.
The Anti-Expel and Anti-Death skills apply to attack accuracy
only for the first two kinds of attacks. Therefore if
Thunderclap manages to land on someone with Anti-Expel, they
will still take the full 50% hit points of damage that it
normally deals; the chance of it working is reduced by half,
though.
DEATH Instant Kills
Mamudo (about a 20% chance of killing each enemy)-> Mamudoon
(about a 40% chance of killing each enemy)
EXPEL Instant Kills
Hama (about a 20% chance of killing each enemy) -> Hamaon (about
a 40% chance of killing each enemy)
EXPEL % Damage
Thunderclap (50% damage, high chance, single target) -> Divine
Wrath (50% damage, high chance, all targets)
EXPEL Direct Damage
Violet Flash (high damage, single target) -> Radiance (high
damage, all targets)
c. Almighty:
Almighty is a sort of damage. It can be contained in a spell or
a physical attack. Generally, there is no defense against
Almighty and only a couple very special bosses have any defense
against it all.
Megido (medium all) -> Megidola (high all) -> Megidolaon (mega
all)
*They act like spells but penetrate "magic" defenses including
Makarakarn. Note that Freikugel is a single-target Almighty
skill, but it is described under single-target Phys attacks.
2. Physical
COUNTERATTACKS
Counter (light) -> Retaliate (medium) -> Avenge (high) -> Phys
Repel (special)
*All counter moves have a 50% chance of having the character
strike back at their attacker. Counter is similar to a standard
"attack" but Retaliate and Avenge deal higher base damage. Phys
Repel is not the same kind of skill, but makes a good final
upgrade; in particular by the time the protagonist can learn
Avenge, enemy demons start to show up with Phys Repel. Phys
Repel reflects the incoming damage back at the attacker instead
of dealing it to the target. This means that you may counter and
actually inflict high damage on yourself if the enemy has Phys
Repel. On the other hand, if you are the one repelling physical
attacks, it works 100% of the time, and will never cause the
protagonist to take damage. It will also end the enemy's turn if
they make a basic attack on you, even if they themselves have
Phys Repel. Although the damage may be smaller than Avenge
(depending on if the attacking demon's attack is weak),
tactically it's a better choice.
PHYS ATTACKS, Single (Striking animation)
Lunge (light) -> Iron Claw (high)
*These attacks are not particularly good; Iron Claw in so
inaccurate that it's better to pass it by and upgrade to the
Beam attacks instead. Lunge isn't a horrible move, it's just
that the protagonist has unique skills which are much better. It
misses enough you're usually better of just making normal
attacks. If you are going to have a single-target physical
attack, learn Divine Shot as soon as possible.
PHYS ATTACKS, Single (Beam animation)
Divine Shot (medium, criticals a lot) -> Spiral Viper (large,
criticals above average) -> (Freikugel) (medium-large, stronger,
criticals some but less than Spiral).
*These all have enhanced accuracy. Also, Divine shot criticals a
LOT. As in probably 6/8 times for me. Spiral viper does slightly
more base damage but criticals less; I'd guess it was about 3/8
times. Freikugel is above-average in accuracy but I have had it
miss; it criticals about normal (1/8) but that it can critical
at all is special. You see, Freikugel is actually Almighty not
Phys damage, but it works just like the other skills and gains
power with Tarukaja instead of Makakaja. It does in fact work on
enemies that have Phys Absorb and Phys Repel because *it's not
physical.* There are only two bosses in the entire game that
have any kind of defense against Almighty, so for the most part
its just like a defense-piercing physical attack. It's hard to
explain but on paper, Freikugel is a weaker attack than Spiral
Viper, however in practice it does more damage. Just chalk it up
to a mysterious game mechanic and move on.
PHYS ATTACKS, MULTI-HIT TYPES
Berserk (light blasting multi) -> Deathbound (Medium weapon
multi)
*Berserk, like lunge, is just lackluster. The skills Chaos Blade
(light weapon, with panic) or Xeros Beat (light blast, with
bind) could be an intermediate step after Heat Wave, and Javelin
Rain (medium blast, with mute) could rival Deathbound; however,
these Ailment-inducing attacks cost a lot in Hit Points and they
only have a small chance of inflicting a status, so I can't
really recommend any of them. However, if you would like to try
them out, that is where they would fit in the progression.
PHYS ATTACKS, ALL-TARGET TYPES
Heat Wave (light weapon all) -> Tempest (medium blast all) ->
Oni-Kagura (medium blast all, high accuracy) OR Hades Blast
(higher medium blast all, but not as much critical chance) ->
Deadly Fury (medium-high, high-accuracy, high-criticals) OR Gaea
Rage (high blast damage)
*Blight (light weapon with poison) is similar to the other
Ailment skills, it could be an upgrade to Tempest, then again,
you might want to skip it. Oni-Kagura and Hades Blast have
identical power levels but Oni-Kagura critical hits a lot and
costs less to use. Deadly Fury is almost as strong as Gaea Rage,
but it criticals a lot more and doesn't cost so much in HP, so
many people prefer it. It also has a weapon animation, even
though it isn't listed as a weapon/scaling damage attack in the
help text--but I think it is.
My suggestion for an attacking all physical move progression is
to learn whatever you can until you get to Oni-Kagura, then
stick with it until you can get Deadly Fury and then stop with
that. For me, Gaea Rage cost too much to use and did not do
enough extra damage to be worth it.
MIND ATTACKS (Panic)
Wild Dance (Medium-high chance of panic on enemy party) ->
Tentarafoo (medium damage AND small chance of panic on enemy
party)
B. Defenses
All the defense skills take effect in order of strongest taking
precedence over weaker. So if you have both Absorb and Repel,
Repel will take precedence. They override the status of magatama
as well, so if you are equipped with a magatama that is Weak to
Expel and know the Void Expel Skill, you will Void Expel.
All of the Anti- skills give a 50% resistance to the effect or
damage they represent, except in the special cases of Death and
Expel %-damage skills already noted. Void skills flat-out
negate the damage and effect of the attack they represent. The
Drain skills take the incoming damage and convert it to healing
as well as negating any status attack, and the Repel skills
reflect the entire attack back at the sender. While the main
character can not learn any absorb ailment skills, some demons
can and an Absorb Mind demon will in fact be healed by moves
such as Tentarafoo
ELEMENTAL DEFENSES
Anti-(Elec/Fire/Force/Ice) -> Void (Elec/Fire/Force/Ice) ->
(Elec/Fire/Force/Ice) Drain -> (Elec/Fire/Force/Ice) Repel
DEATH/EXPEL DEFENSES
Anti-(Death/Expel) -> Void (Death/Expel)
*As noted above in the Death/Expel attack section, the Anti-
Expel and Anti-Death skills in some cases do not reduce the
damage taken. If you put an Anti- skill on someone who already
has innate resistance, the effect multiplies instead of adds
(50% + 50% more =75% total). To make this really confusing the
hero actually has a hidden 50% resistance to Death and Expel.
The Void skills simply work though. Please note, there are a few
bosses with instant-kill attacks tat are not based on Death or
Expel, so these skills will work in spite of the Void Death
skill. Usually these are Almighty skills, but a couple abilities
based on Mind or Curse exist which instant-kill someone who has
a particular status ailment.
AILMENT DEFENSES
Void (Curse/Mind/Nerve)
*Though there are Anti- skills for ailments, the main character
can only learn Voids for them. Thus, none of these have an
upgrade path.
PHYSICAL DEFENSES
*The only physical defense skill the main character can learn is
Phys Repel. See "counterattacks" for details. The skill "Drain
Attack" is unclearly named and is unrelated. It actually
upgrades the basic attack command with vampiric properties so
that a fraction of the damage dealt with an attack is counted as
healing for the user.
DEFENSE SPELLS
Makarakarn
Tetrakarn
Tetraja
*These spells have no upgrades to them. Makarakarn reflects one
magic attack (not including Almighty), and Tetrakarn reflects
one physical attack (also not including Almighty). Both spells
have a duration of one round. Tetraja blocks Death and Expel
skills 1 time, but persists until used.
C. Support
1. HEALING
Dia (light single) -> Diarama (medium single) -> Diarahan
(full-heal single)
Media (light party) -> Mediarama (medium party) -> Mediarahan
(full-heal party)
*In terms of healing you can consider the path to be Dia->Media-
>Diarama, etc., however, I think most people go with the single-
target or party heals and stick with them.
Samrecarm - this skill revives a demon from the dead with 100%
hit points. There are items to do this though, so I recommend
not learning it on the protagonist.
2. REGENERATION
Life Refill/Life Aid
Mana Refill/Mana Aid
Mana Drain
*The Refill skills heal a % of the character's hit points or
mana points with each change in phase of Kagatsuchi. The Aid
skills heal a % after each fight concludes. Neither is truly an
upgrade of the other, it is simply a matter of play style. There
is a preference for the Refill skills though, on the basis that
normally you go a phase or two before another encounter occurs;
with the use of an item (Repel ball) or spell (Estoma, you can't
learn it ;) to decrease encounter rates, or by going to a no-
encounter area, you can run around and fully recharge. On the
other hand, if you are using an item (Attract Pipe) or spell
(Riberama, you can't learn that one either) to increase your
encounter rate, then the Aid skill might be more useful. All
four skills only work on active party members. Mana drain can
be used offensively to shut down a foe by stealing all their MP.
Bosses may have thousands of MP, though.
Generally, healing spells and cheap enough and healing items are
plentiful enough that most people would be better off skipping
the Life restoring skills and focus on recovering mana to cast a
cure, even if you use a lot of Phys attacks that use hit points.
As mentioned already, Drain attack cures the user for a small
amount of hit points when making a basic attack. I must stress,
Drain attack is very weak and only heals a pitifully small
amount of damage. Mana Drain is a spell which sucks MP away from
a target and replenishes the user (about 35 MP before enhancing
the user's power or weakening defenses). I also want to briefly
mention the skill Makatora. The protagonist cannot learn this
skill, however, it is so useful I'm going to explain it anyway.
Makatora transfers 10 MP from the user to any target. It's not
very useful in combat, but outside of combat it can be used
repeatedly from the skill menu to transfer MP from a source
demon to any other party member, including the main character. A
demon with Mana Refill and Makatora is essentially an endless MP
regeneration battery. Another use is to "top off" the active
party from a demon in the stock; when that demon finally runs
low then you can use a few MP restoring items on it. Keep this
option in mind when selecting your mix of abilities.
3. STATUS ALTERING (ENHANCEMENT)
Dekaja - cancels all -kaja spells on All Enemies
Dekunda - cancels all -kunda and related spells on caster's
party
*These spells cancel positive and negative parameter shifts. As
far as I know, however, Dekaja cannot affect Focus. Dekaja and
Dekunda are very important skills and while you may not end up
having the protagonist learn these abilities, you should make
sure you always have access to them.
All of the following spells can be "stacked" four times to make
a total enhance of +100% or decrease of -50%. The game keeps
track of enhance levels and decrease levels separately and I'm
not sure how it resolves the math, but if you cast Rakunda on
the enemy 4 times and it casts Rakukaja 4 times, it seems you're
about back to normal; but if you then apply a Dekaja spell to
wipe all its boosts out, it'll immediately be shifted back to
the -50% defense level.
The important thing to keep in mind is that if you boost your
attack four levels, your stats are doubled; if you diminish the
enemy's defense four levels, their defense stats are halved; you
do both, and they'll be taking at LEAST 4x damage.
Tarukaja - enhances physical attack by 1/4 for the Party
Sukukaja - enhances accuracy and evasion by 1/4 for the Party
Makakaja - enhances magical attack by 1/4 for the Party
Rakukaja - enhances defense (phys and magic) by 1/4 for the
Party
There are no upgrades to these skills; they're all fairly
useful, though your play style will dictate which you find most
useful.
Tarunda - decreases physical AND magical attack by 1/8 for All
Enemies
-> Warcry - decreases physical and magical attack by 1/4 for all
enemies
Sukunda - decreases accuracy and evasion by 1/8 for All Enemies
-> Fog Breath - decreases accuracy and evasion by 1/4 for All
Enemies
Rakunda - decreases defense (phys and magic) by 1/8 for All
Enemies
-> Taunt - decreases defense by 1/4 for All Enemies BUT it also
increases physical attack by 1/2 for the enemy party (Taunt is
2x Rakunda AND 4x Tarukaja on the enemy).
Warcry and Fog Breath are clearly upgrades but they cost a lot
of mana. (In fact, you may need to discard them because their
costs are so high early on. Later in the game, it's not
difficult to toss out 40-50 MP spells. But early on, they're
almost unusable. You may wish to avoid learning them until later
in the game if you are planning to use them.) Taunt, however, is
different. Since taunt sends the enemy party into a "berserk
rage" they get seriously powered up by it. For some people this
is enough to keep them from using the skill. My personal
experience with it, though, is that the defense decrease is so
massive I am usually able to wipe out the targets before they
can hurt me, at least, after the early part of the game that's
true. I would not use Taunt on a demon that was significantly
stronger than me, but if it is about equal, the weakening will
be worth it. There are other considerations as well; the
Tarukaja component is tracked separately so you can use Taunt
and then Dekaja and then its just like you cast two Rakundas on
the enemy. That's not so efficient but two Taunts and then a
Dekaja gets you the effect of casting Rakunda 4 times with only
3 actions. If the demon has used any kaja spells on itself so
that you need to cast Dekaja on it anyway, then it's definitely
worth a quick Taunt to weaken it as well. Using Taunt on a demon
with a very weak attack is also quite safe. There are many
"spellcaster" oriented demons with very weak physical attacks
that even if you boost them with Taunt, they don't do serious
damage. Finally, combining Taunt with Phys Repel can help your
enemies kill themselves: their now-more-powerful attacks will be
reflected back on their now-very-vulnerable selves for big
damage.
Just as a side-note, the spell Debilitate is the equivalent of
casting Rakunda, Sukunda, and Tarunda all at once, though it
costs a whopping 48 MP; unfortunately it cannot be learned by
the protagonist.
4. ATTACK COMMAND ENHANCING
Attack All - the normal attack command targets all enemies. This
is automatic and you cannot choose to attack a single target;
you will need a single-target physical skill to do so. Though a
powerful skill this is generally regarded as an awful choice for
the protagonist because by the time you can learn this skill you
will be dealing with Phys Repel demons; it is generally
considered better to use a Phys Attack skill that targets all,
but some may disagree.
Drain Attack - heals the user when making a normal attack, but
only by a very small amount.
Focus - "more than doubles the next physical attack." What this
actually means is that after using this skill the next physical
attack the user makes will do about triple damage. Focus is
separate from everything else. It is nice in that once you've
focused you stay focused and can cast spells and use items
without using up the focus (until the fight ends anyway). If you
are planning to use a significant amount of Physical moves,
Focus is the only irreplaceable skill that you can get early on.
Focus affects all physical techniques, not just the attack
command.
Might - This increases the chance of critical hits. I found it
not a useful skill; most of the good protagonist physical skills
have a bonus chance to critical.
Pierce - Negates defenses less than Repel when making a physical
attack. What this means is that if you make a physical attack or
use a physical attack skill on a demon that has Anti-Phys, Void
Phys, or Drain Phys, you will go through them like a hot knife
through butter. HOWEVER, if they have Tetrakarn up or Phys
Repel, you will hurt yourself. ALSO, this skill extends to
Freikugel because it is a physical-Almighty hybrid. I am not
clear if it also extends to Magma Axis; I think it does not. It
does work on Surt's basic attack though
D. Miscellaneous
Finally, these are miscellaneous skills the protagonist can
learn. I'm just detailing them here for quick reference.
Analyze - scans the enemy and tells you its stats. Doesn't work
on bosses, naturally. Completely pointless if you're willing to
use a strategy guide or an FAQ.
Boost - (Elec/Fire/Force/Ice) Boost
These skills pump up the damage of their respective element by
50%. Handy, even if you don't keep them forever. Fire boost even
applies to Magma Axis (and interestingly, the demon Surt has
"fire" damage for his normal attack; Fire Boost works on his
normal attack.)
Charisma - enhances chance of success when negotiating; makes
any neutral impression into a good impression.
Endure - if the main character is killed, whether from an
instant death attack or from damage, he instead survives with 1
hit point. Can only be used one time per fight. A nice way of
getting a dose of Void Death and Void Expel along with "Void
Lucky Shot From a Boss" all in one.
Fast Retreat - enhances chance of retreat. Unnecessary in normal
difficulty and I have been told it doesn't work in hard mode.
Jive Talk - allows the protagonist to try to recruit foul, haunt
and wilder demons. It's pretty useless, really; you can get
those three types of demons may join you by randomly begging for
mercy in a fight. However if you really want to directly recruit
them, this is your only method.
Makajamon - a curse spell which attempts to Mute the entire
enemy party, but with only a small chance of success.
Mind's Eye - reduces the chance of a back attack by a lot
III. BUILD ADVICE
One thing I've noticed from discussions people have had about
character building is that people tend to look at builds as
having three stages. I think this is probably because Ian Kelley
had the first FAQ for this game and he gave a few sample builds
and detailed them in that way; also, most of the spells in the
game go through a light/medium/high power progression. The
problem is, that approach is a bit simplistic for actual use.
It's OK for rough planning but it doesn't work very well if you
try to actually get your character to match one set of skills.
It is VERY important to keep in mind that the character is going
to grow and evolve over the course of gameplay. You can think
about what you want to have at the end-game, but be flexible in
getting there. Having said that, here are some of the skills
that you can get below 50th level that you might want to still
have at the end of the game:
Focus - universally useful for boosting physical attacks. It
roughly triples attack power at the cost of a turn. If you are
planning to go with a physical attacker, this is unquestionably
your first "keeper" skill and of all the skills I mention here
for consideration, this is the only one that I actually think is
something to keep until the very end of the game. Everything
else can be cast by a demon for you or simulated with an item.
Fog Breath - You can actually learn this before Sukunda, even
though it's a double-strength Sukunda.
Mana Drain - magic-heavy players sometimes like to use Mana
Drain offensively in an attempt to shut down certain bosses.
It's a play style choice. If you're using it to replenish MP,
there are replacement skills. If you are using it to shut down
enemy spells, there is no upgrade.
Might - I really have nothing else to add; I don't like it but
it belongs on this list.
Warcry - similar to Fog Breath, this is a double Tarunda and you
can learn it earlier.
Elec/Fire/Force/Ice Boost - Even if you are playing an elemental
specialist you will probably drop these at the end game,
however, at least some of them may be good through the mid-game.
Rakunda -I think that in the same way Fog Breath is better than
Sukunda, Taunt is better than Rakunda. However, Taunt is a
double-edged sword and casts Tarukaja's effect 4x on the enemy
while also giving it a 2x Rakunda effect; some people might
prefer to stick with a plain Rakunda. Personally, I found I
could kill anything affected with Taunt so quickly the attack
boost didn't matter, but again, clearly a play style choice.
Mind's Eye - only really useful if playing on hard, and if you
find it useful, then you should probably keep it to almost the
very end of the game. At that point you can replace it with
something else and simply reduce encounters with Estoma.
Void Curse/Death/Expel/Mind - There are no further upgrades to
these skills and they can potentially be useful through the
endgame. Generally you can get by with equipping a magatama to
void one of these, however there are several annoying mid-game
bosses who use two of these at once (like Mind and Expel, Curse
and Death, Death and Expel, but never Mind and Curse that I
remember) at the same time. At the endgame the Magatama you have
available make these all obsolete, but until then if you want to
learn one or two of them, it would not be bad. My suggestion
here is curse OR mind, and death OR expel; equipping magatama or
trusting to luck would be enough in most cases. (Personally, I
just used Tetraja and ignored both Void Death and Void Expel.
Later I picked up Endure, mostly to avoid cheap shots from
random encounters. Void Mind was very useful for me though; at
least a third of the game you have a lot of Mind attacks in
random encounters, and there are several bosses that use it. I
dropped it eventually but it was much better than having to
stick to the one magatama that blocked mental attacks all the
time.)
Tarukaja, Makakaja, Rakukaja, Dekaja, Dekunda - Again, no
further upgrades are available. I dismiss Sukukaja but some
people swear by it; I can see having Tarukaja or Makakaja if you
are a dedicated fighter or mage. Rakukaja is quite useful
against any boss that deals big damage (as long as they don't
counter it with Dekaja much). Dekaja is universally useful. Then
again, there is an item to cast Dekaja, but not to cast Dekunda.
When it comes to an actual build my only advice is to have a
balanced selection of skills. Try and be useful in any
situation, and in any party mix. So many skills can be taught to
demons that to me the main focus is on the attack and defense of
the main character. Ian Kelley has some nice sample builds you
might like and I think that with the descriptions I've given it
will be easier to customize them further to your taste. It's
possible to completely change your build in the middle of the
game and not really be stuck by it. The only skill that really
is irreplaceable is Focus, and even then it's not an essential.
This game rewards versatility and punishes you for a lack of
flexibility. One of the first things people think about is
whether to orient themselves towards a Physical or Magical
build. The truth is, if you were to 100% limit yourself to one
or the other, there are points in this game you could not win.
You can be 80% one or the other, though. I always advise magic-
oriented characters to take at least one good Phys skill, and I
recommend physical-oriented characters take at least one good
elemental skill. In the end, Freikugel is a good upgrade for
both.
IV. SKILL CHART
At last we arrive to the complete (hopefully!) list of all
skills. They are sorted by which magatama teaches them. I
originally had this chart presented in one large table but
GameFAQs wouldn't let a landscape format FAQ go through, so I
have broken it into several lists.
Notes for the chart:
LEVEL: Skills marked as having a level of X actually have a
level of 1, however, they are all special skills and I did not
want people mistaking them for starter abilities.
ALSO KNOWN AS: Names used in Ian Kelley's FAQ based on his
personal translation of the Japanese version. I only listed the
ones that were more than trivially different than the names used
in the US release. Some elements/statuses were referred to by
different names in his FAQ and I have put them in parentheses.
ATTACK TYPES: In the Attack/Type column, moves are listed by
their primary type (such as Physical, Magic, or Mental) first
and then after a slash I list the exact variety/effect.
POWER: Some ratings are approximate as a power level can
actually encompass range of attack powers. I applied the
descriptive ratings where they were not given based on my
personal experience and to be consistent; I did consult the in-
game help text as well as the strat guide and I still tweaked a
few of the listings. As noted above, some skills power up
exceptionally, and I have noted this in the chart with a + on
the damage category. The skills which feature enhanced accuracy
and/or critical rates are noted with a * after their damage.
You'll notice that Deadly Fury gets **+. This is because it hits
well, criticals well, and it appears (by the attack animation)
to be a weapon skill. However, it is not actually listed as a
weapon skill so I might be wrong on that count.
I would liked to have inserted skill detail for everything on
the chart, however, it was simply too much, and I think having
the power and targets for the attack moves was most important so
that is what I focused on.
List of Skills by Level:
LVL Skill AKA Magatama
3 Lunge Charge Marogareh
4 Analyze Marogareh
5 Dia Ankh
6 Life Bonus Life Spring 10% Marogareh
7 Ice Breath Wadatsumi
9 Fire Breath Shiranui
9 Tarunda Iyomante
10 Berserk Rampage Marogareh
11 Mana Bonus Magic Pulse 10% Wadatsumi
12 Fast Retreat Ankh
13 Sukunda Iyomante
14 Fire Boost Shiranui
15 Ice Boost Wadatsumi
16 Rakunda Iyomante
17 Tornado Hifumi
18 Heat Wave Kamudo
19 Media Ankh
19 Taunt Shiranui
20 Counter Counterattack Marogareh
21 Fog Breath Wadatsumi
21 Shock Discharge Narukami
22 Force Boost (Shock Enhance) Hifumi
23 Anti-Fire Fire Resist Shiranui
23 Focus Kiai Kamudo
24 Anti-Ice Ice Resist Wadatsumi
24 War Cry Battle Cry Hifumi
25 Mind's Eye Sixth Sense Kamudo
26 Elec Boost Narukami
27 Anti-Force (Shock Resist) Hifumi
28 Mana Drain Drink Magic Anathema
29 Might Critical Kamudo
30 Anti-Elec Narukami
31 Wild Dance Color Dance Miasma
32 Anti-Death (Curse Resist) Anathema
32 Violet Flash Hama Lightning Nirvana
33 Anti-Expel Nirvana
33 Hellfire Gehenna
34 Void Mind Murakumo
35 Mamudo Anathema
36 Life Aid Breath of Victory Iyomante
37 Diarama Geis
37 Void Nerve Murakumo
38 Evil Gaze Evil Eye Anathema
39 Life Refill Breath Shoes Geis
40 Chaos Blade Rannyuken Murakumo
40 Void Force (Shock Immunity) Hifumi
41 Divine Shot Haja Lightbeam Nirvana
41 Tetraja Geis
42 Tarukaja Djed
42 Void Curse (Magic Immunity) Murakumo
42 Void Fire Gehenna
43 Sukukaja Djed
44 Makakaja Djed
44 Mediarama Geis
44 Void Elec Narukami
45 Blight Venom Zapper Kamurogi
45 Mana Gain Magic Pulse 20% Gehenna
45 Rakukaja Djed
45 Thunderclap Judgment Bolt Sophia
45 Void Ice Miasma
46 Dekaja Djed
46 Life Gain Life Spring 20% Kamurogi
47 Diarahan Geis
48 Iron Claw Kamurogi
49 Mamudoon Anathema
49 Tentarafoo Muspell
50 Endure Withstand Vimana
51 Jive Talk Satan
51 Mana Refill Chakra Shoes Geis
52 Glacial Blast Absolute Zero Miasma
53 Makajamon Muspell
54 Retaliate Fierce Counterattack Kamurogi
55 Void Death (Curse Immunity) Satan
56 Void Expel Nirvana
56 Xeros Beat Zeloth Beat Muspell
57 Samrecarm Sophia
58 Mana Aid Chakra of Victory Satan
59 Drain Attack Absorption Attack Sophia
59 Tempest Reppu-Ha Vimana
60 Bolt Storm Shockwave Adama
60 Charisma Satan
60 Fire Drain Gehenna
60 Ice Drain Miasma
61 Deathbound Gaea
62 Mana Surge Magic Pulse 30% Adama
63 Mediarahan Sophia
64 Oni-Kagura Kishin-Raku Kamurogi
64 Wind Cutter Shinku-Ha Gundari
65 Deadly Fury Deathsport Satan
65 Magma Axis Gehenna
66 Force Drain (Shock Absorb) Gundari
67 Elec Drain Adama
68 Javelin Rain Vimana
69 Avenge Death Counter Gaea
70 Holy Wrath Divine Retribution Sophia
71 Life Surge Life Spring 30% Vimana
72 Makarakarn Kailash
72 Spiral Viper Spiral Snake Gundari
73 Hades Blast Meikei-Ha Vimana
74 Gaea Rage Mother Earth's Dinner Gaea
75 Megido Kailash
76 Attack All Gaea
78 Tetrakarn Kailash
80 Freikugel Supreme Blast Kailash
84 Megidola Kailash
x Elec Repel Masakados
x Fire Repel Masakados
x Force Repel (Shock Repel) Masakados
x Ice Repel Masakados
x Megidolaon Masakados
x Phys Repel Masakados
x Pierce Penetrate Marogareh
x Radiance Unblemished Power Masakados
List of Attacks & Spells by Level and Power
LVL Skill Attack/Type Power Targets
3 Lunge Phys/Blast Light Single
5 Dia Healing Light Single
7 Ice Breath Ice Light Multi
9 Fire Breath Fire Light Multi
10 Berserk Phys/Blast Light Multi
17 Tornado Force High Multi
18 Heat Wave Phys/Weapon Light+ All
19 Media Healing Light Party
20 Counter Phys/counter Light Attacker
21 Shock Electric Light Multi
31 Wild Dance Mind/Panic Med Chance All
32 Violet Flash Expel/Damage High-Mega Single
33 Hellfire Fire Medium Multi
35 Mamudo Death/Instant KO Low Chance All
36 Life Aid Regeneration Light Self
37 Diarama Healing Medium Single
38 Evil Gaze Death/% Damage Low Chance Single
40 Chaos Blade Phys/Weapon/Panic Light+ Multi
41 Divine Shot Phys/Blast Medium* Single
44 Mediarama Healing Medium Party
45 Blight Phys/Weapon/Pois Light+ All
45 Thunderclap Expel/& Damage High Chance Single
47 Diarahan Healing Full Single
48 Iron Claw Phys/Blast/Strike High Single
49 Mamudoon Death/Instant KO Med Chance All
49 Tentarafoo Mind/Panic Low Chance All
52 Glacial Blast Ice High Multi
53 Makajamon Curse/Mute Low Chance All
54 Retaliate Phys/Counter Medium Attacker
56 Xeros Beat Phys/Blast/Bind Light All
57 Samrecarm Healing/Revive Full Single
59 Tempest Phys/Blast Light All
60 Bolt Storm Electric High Multi
61 Deathbound Phys/Weapon Medium+ Multi
63 Mediarahan Healing Full Party
64 Wind Cutter Force Mega Single
64 Oni-Kagura Phys/Blast Medium* All
65 Magma Axis Phys/Fire@ Medium+ Single
65 Deadly Fury Phys/Weapon Medium**+ All
68 Javelin Rain Phys/Blast/Mute Medium* All
69 Avenge Phys/Counter High Attacker
70 Holy Wrath Expel/% Damage High Chance All
72 Spiral Viper Phys/Blast High Single
73 Hades Blast Phys/Blast Medium-High All
74 Gaea Rage Phys/Blast High* All
75 Megido Almighty Medium All
80 Freikugel Phys/Almighty Medium-High* Single
84 Megidola Almighty High All
x Megidolaon Almighty Mega All
x Radiance Expel/Damage High-Mega All
A * indicated enhanced accuracy or critical rate. A + denotes a
weapon skill which increases in power.
V. Thanks & Credits
Thanks to all the regulars on GameFAQs Shin Megami Tensei:
Nocturne message board. Not only those who provided a tip or
their thoughts on builds or skills, but to all the gang who
chatted about the game so much and put so much thought into it,
or who asked a good question. In particular, but not limited to,
in alphabetical order:
Bio-Hazard EX
ChoHakkai
Divona
EntropicSoul
GoudenDraak
Ian Kelly
JohnnyG118
Kao Floppy
Mamonsoti Djinn
Montegoraon (gs) - for correcting -kaja errors
NeoCrusader
ShaggyDog2
Valorous
Virtual-Human (who we don't hate just because he's gs)
Thanks to Double-Jump for translating the Japanese strategy
guide.
Thanks to Atlus for releasing this game. Thanks to SCEA for
LETTING them release this game.
And remember . . . "Let's positive thinking!"
-----------------------------------------------
Version History:
1.0 - 1/28/05 - Initial draft with new tables
1.1 - 1/31/05 - corrected for kaja errors and used the
spellchecked version
