Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance – Superboss Guide

There are a total of 3 Superbosses in the game: Demi-fiend, Masakado, Satan. One unique to the Canon of Creation path, one unique to the Canon of Vengeance path, and the other is available on both paths. Each of these bosses have their own trophy linked to defeating them, as well as unlocking the ability to fuse them to use for yourself after you defeat them.

The Set-up

The set-up for all 3 super bosses is relatively the same as they all have the exact same premises in order to defeat them, so once you build this you should be ready to take on all 3 fights as long as you do the strategy correctly.

Prerequisites/Notes

Before you actually start the build, there are a few things you’re going to want to do or get first.

1. It’s recommended you’ve cleared the Canon of Creation True Ending before you do any of these super bosses, that way you have access to a demon whose essence has repel/drain physical. This step isn’t 100% required, but it makes the fights go a lot smoother, especially Demi-fiend.
2. It should also go without saying that you should be level 99 before taking on any of these super bosses, including your demons you bring with you. You can grind Gospels and Grimoires from Kushi Mitama’s and Ara Mitama’s respectfully in order to raise your levels. If you have access to the Mitama DLC, this will also make the grind go a lot faster as you can dramatically increase the Mitama’s spawn rate at their fixed locations instead of waiting hours for them to respawn.
3. You should have all of your skill points invested in the Strength stat. The set up uses a strength scaling attack and since the rest of the stats aren’t important for this strategy, you’ll want to dump every single skill point into strength. It’s recommended to have at least 150 to 175 strength before taking on any of these fights so you can do tons of damage, but the higher the stat the better. You can get free skill points every playthrough by visiting Aogami in the Demon Haunt after certain story events, so grinding up your strength stat should be pretty easy without the need of grinding for balms.
4. It’s also good to know that this method really only works on Safety difficulty. Any other difficulty you won’t do enough damage to pull the strategy effectively. It’s still possible, but will take a lot longer and possibly result in a death if you get unlucky.
5. You’ll also need a lot of Macca for this, as you’ll need to buy quite a bit of essence as well as fusing some more expensive demons. If you have the Mitama DLC, Macca shouldn’t be a problem as you can endlessly grind the Saki Mitama’s for unlimited Macca. If you’re not running the DLC, you’ll struggle a bit more on getting Macca. You can hit up relic spots and Saki Mitama spawns for Macca, as well as do another playthrough to collect the Macca rewards for quests again.
6. If you need more essence of a specific demon that you can’t buy, you can summon it from the compendium at its original form so it’s the lowest level it can be. You’ll then want to make a save and start using Grimoire’s on it to level it up, using one at a time. You’ll sometimes get rewards for leveling up demons, and one of the rewards can be their essence. If you don’t get their essence, you can reload the save and try again.
7. Lastly, if you don’t know how to fuse a specific demon or don’t know where a specific Aogami essence is, you can refer to the Compendium Guide and Collectible Guide to help you with that. All of the superbosses also have subquests linked to them, so if you need any help with specific ones, you can also refer to the Subquest Guide.

Nahobino Build

Starting with the build for the star of the show is the Nahobino. You don’t need to use these exact essences that are mentioned here. There are some essences which will have multiple skills that we need on them, but may be locked to a specific path or are harder to get. The essences mentioned here are just the easiest ones to obtain, but feel free to use any essence you want as long as you get the correct skills.

1. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to get level 99 with a minimum of 150 strength.
2. Invest in all the Almighty Mastery miracles, so your Almighty skill potential +9. This way you’ll do more damage and use less MP when using your main attack. You can also get +5 Support skill potential, but this isn’t required.
3. You’ll want to defeat Metatron at the top of the Temple of Eternity in order to get Metatron’s essence and then set the Nahobino’s affinities to Metatron’s so you resist all magic, null light, and are neutral to physical and dark.
4. Loot the Aogami Type-0 essence in Da’at: Taito and transfer the skills “Murakumo” and “Almighty Pleroma”.
5. Use Metatron’s essence and transfer the skill “High Almighty Pleroma”.
6. Use Bicorn’s essence and transfer the skill “Charge”.
7. Use Aogami Type -7 and transfer the skill “Bloody Glee”.
8. Use Ananta’s essence and transfer the skill “Murderous Glee”.
9. Use Hecatoncheires’ essence and transfer the skill “Critical Zealot”.
10. Lastly, use either Fallen Abdiel’s essence and transfer the skill “Repel Phys”, or use Transformed Nuwa’s essence and transfer the skill “Drain Phys”. This means you have to have completed the True Ending on Canon of Creation. If you haven’t done that, you can use Ongyo-Ki’s essence and transfer the skill “Null Phys”, but it won’t be as effective.

After everything is done, your Nahobino should look like the screenshot below.

Demeter Build

Next, you’ll need to fuse Demeter. Unlike the Nahobino, you don’t need to have to build extremely specific as her only job is to cast one specific skill. In order to fuse Demeter, you’ll first need to accept the Subquest “A Plot Revealed“, which will unlock her fusion.

1. The main skill you’ll need on your Demeter is Luster Candy, which she learns normally at level 77.
2. Use either Fallen Abdiel’s essence and transfer the skill “Repel Phys”, or use Transformed Nuwa’s essence and transfer the skill “Drain Phys”. This means you have to have completed the True Ending on Canon of Creation. If you haven’t done that, you can use Ongyo-Ki’s essence and transfer the skill “Null Phys”, but it won’t be as effective.

Cleopatra Build

Just like Demeter, you’ll need to fuse Cleopatra and you don’t need to build extremely specific for her either as it’s again, here just to use a single skill. In order to fuse Cleopatra, you’ll need to complete the Subquest “The Rage of a Queen“, which will unlock her fusion.

1. The main skill you’ll need on your Cleopatra is Frolic, which she already has innate.
2. Use either Fallen Abdiel’s essence and transfer the skill “Repel Phys”, or use Transformed Nuwa’s essence and transfer the skill “Drain Phys”. This means you have to have completed the True Ending on Canon of Creation. If you haven’t done that, you can use Ongyo-Ki’s essence and transfer the skill “Null Phys”, but it won’t be as effective.

Mara Build

Lastly, one of the most important parts of the build is Mara because of its skill Omagatoki: Savage, as well as its passive, Fear of Death. This combination is where the big damage is going to come from.

1. You’ll need to get the Tyrant Talisman by completing the Subquest “The Winged Sun” so you can use actually use Omagatoki: Savage.
2. Use either Fallen Abdiel’s essence and transfer the skill “Repel Phys”, or use Transformed Nuwa’s essence and transfer the skill “Drain Phys”. This means you have to have completed the True Ending on Canon of Creation. If you haven’t done that, you can use Ongyo-Ki’s essence and transfer the skill “Null Phys”, but it won’t be as effective.

Demi-fiend

Demi-fiend is a superboss that is available on both the Canon of Creation and Canon of Vengeance paths. He is regarded as the hardest boss in the game and can very easily wipe out your entire party if you don’t go in prepared. Thankfully Safety difficulty and this strategy makes him easy.

How to Unlock the Demi-fiend Fight

1. Accept the quest “Return of the True Demon” from Maria in the World of Shadows.
2. Defeat all 9 of the bosses throughout the Subquest.
3. Visit the World of Shadows and Maria will unlock the “???” area at the Leyline crossing. The Demi-fiend will be at the end of this area.

How to Beat the Demi-fiend

Now that you’re able to fight him and you’ve created the above setup, you’ll want to order your party “Nahobino, Demeter, Cleopatra, Mara”, as well as make sure you have a full Magatsuhi bar before starting the fight. If you have a party full of Repel Phys demons and have at least 150 strength, you won’t need to land a critical as you should deal 1/3rd of the Demi-fiends health in just repelling the physical damage, and can finish him off with a full charged attack, even if you don’t hit a critical

1. As soon as the first starts, he’ll summon 3 demons and open up with a party wide physical attack. Because you put either repel/drain physical on all 4 of your demons, it will do nothing and instantly end his turn.
2. Use Charge on the Nahobino.
3. Use Luster Candy on Demeter.
4. Use Frolic on Cleopatra.
5. Use Omagatoki: Savage on Mara, and then pass your turn.
6. Use Murakumo on the Demi-fiend and hope you hit a critical, which should one shot him, instantly ending the fight.

Masakado

Masakado is a superboss that is available on the Canon of Creation path. There are actually 2 forms of Masakado you can fight. The regular version, and his true form. True form Masakado is pointless as he gives you nothing extra for defeating him, so you can just fight the regular Masakado instead and still earn all the rewards. Masakado’s regular version is the easiest of the 3 super bosses, so the strategy and safety difficulty should make the fight go that much more smoothly.

How to Unlock the Masakado Fight

1. Once you reach Da’at: Chiyoda, fuse Yoshitsune, which will give you the Subquest “Will of the Samurai” in the Demon Haunt, and complete it.
2. Accept and complete the Subquest “Trial of the Seven Stars” located in Da’at: Chiyoda, which will appear after clearing the previous Subquest.
3. Go to the location that gets marked on the map after finishing the previous Subquest and accept “Guardian of Tokyo” from Masakado.
4. Accept and complete the Subquest “The Search for Oyamatsumi” in Da’at: Chiyoda.
5. Accept and complete the Subquest “Clash with the Kunitsukami” in Da’at: Chioyoda, which will appear after clearing the previous Subquest.
6. Accept and complete the Subquest “The Ancient Guardian” in Da’at: Chiyoda, which will appear after clearing the previous Subquests and reaching Da’at: Taito. This will reward you with the Lord’s Sword.
7. After getting the Lord’s Sword, you’ll need to find the Four Heavenly King and complete their Subquests, which asks you to fight them. You can get their location by talking to Okuninushi in Da’at: Chiyoda. There will be one in each of the 4 Da’at areas.
8. After completing all 4 Subquests linked to the Four Heavenly Kings, you can go back to talk to Masakado and give him the fully charged Lord’s Sword, which will finally let you challenge him.

How to Unlock the True Masakado Fight

1. On the Canon of Vengeance path, you can find the Kiou Sword in Da’at: Shinjuku, and Arahabaki will end up taking it saying you can use it in another timeline. 
2. Complete the game like normal, then make a Clear Save Data and create a New Game+ on the Canon of Creation path.
3. Once you reach Da’at: Chiyoda you can talk to the Arahabaki in the same area where Okuninushi is in order to get the Kiou Sword back.
4. Complete the regular Masakado unlock steps and once you’re done, you’ll now be able to choose between which fight you want to do.

How to Beat Masakado

Now that you’re able to fight him and you’ve created the above setup, you’ll want to order your party “Nahobino, Demeter, Cleopatra, Mara”, as well as make sure you have a full Magatsuhi bar before starting the fight. You’ll need around 150 strength and if you land a critical, you should deal 99,999 damage, leaving Masakado on 1 HP. This method also works on True Masakado, but he has 200,000 HP instead of 100,000 HP, so you’ll need to fight him a bit longer.

1. Use Charge on the Nahobino.
2. Use Luster Candy on Demeter.
3. Use Frolic on Cleopatra.
4. Use Omagatoki: Savage on Mara, and then pass your turn.
5. Use Murakumo and hope you hit a critical.
6. He should now be one 1 HP and when it’s your turn, you can hit him with any attack to finish him.

Satan

Satan is a superboss that is available on the Canon of Vengeance path. Satan is extremely tanky and also summons a lot of demons, which he’ll consume after a few turns in order to use their abilities, which can be super annoying. Thankfully just like the other superbosses, using this method on Safety should deal with him pretty easily. Defeating Satan will also unlock Godborn, as well give you a miracle you can purchase for 999 Glory that will raise the level cap to 150.

How to Unlock the Satan Fight

1. You’ll first need to complete the True Ending on the Canon of Creation and load the Clear Save Data you create afterwards so the game remembers you beating the true final boss.
2. After reaching the Empyrean, go to Da’at: Shinjuku, then accept and complete the Subquest “The Serpent King“.
3. If you’ve done the above 2 steps, you should be able to accept “The Great Adversary” in the same place, which lets you challenge Satan.

How to Beat Satan

Now that you’re able to fight him and you’ve created the above setup, you’ll want to order your party “Nahobino, Demeter, Cleopatra, Mara”, as well as make sure you have a full Magatsuhi bar before starting the fight. You’ll need around 175 strength and if you land a critical, you should end up dealing 99,999 damage and one shotting him.

1. He’ll start the fight by summoning 2 allies and using Megido Arts, which does a ton of damage and can possibly one shot one of your demons. If this keeps happening, you can put Enduring Soul on all your demons to make sure they survive his opening.
2. Use Charge on the Nahobino.
3. Use Luster Candy on Demeter.
4. Use Frolic on Cleopatra.
5. Use Omagatoki: Savage on Mara, and then pass your turn.
6. Use Murakumo and hope you hit a critical, which should one shot him.