SMT Digital Devil Saga - Secret Boss: Demi-Fiend (Red Star Strategy)

I’ve seen several forum posts saying what the Red Star Strategy is, but they don’t explain it specifically enough to replicate it. I know, supposedly, the guy who discovered it went by the name of Red Star. There are also very few videos showing this strat from what I’ve seen. When searching, I found mostly “No Red Star“ challenges. I decided to upload a proper demonstration (in high-ish quality). I did use a video for help/reference. First and most universal rule, NO VOID/REPEL/DRAIN BARRIERS OR PASSIVES. The rest of the “rules“ for this fight are pretty standard. Turn limit, resist passives are okay, etc. Realistically, you could do use this method with any set of characters as long as you have the proper skill setups. I rarely see any videos with Heat so I just used him. The only character who will need a passive to cover their weakness is Gale (Pixie has Maziodyne). With this strat you won’t be seeing any other character’s weakness other than the first (and only) Dormina which Cielo is weak to. You actually want to get hit by this because being asleep with the “Null Sleep“ skill will allow you to dodge Gaea Rage (instant kill and unavoidable otherwise). Null Sleep doesn’t actually null sleep. It basically let’s you evade everything while asleep. The Japanese name for the skill is actually “Avoid Sleeper“ and I guess they didn’t know how to accurately describe the skill. I would’ve called it “Sleep Walker,“ personally. For this reason, you don’t want your characters to have maxed out luck. They might wake up too early and not dodge Gaea Rage. I don’t know if Cielo’s ailment weakness actually increases his odds of getting hit by them or if it just gives a press turn to the enemy and that’s all. There’s still a good chance that Dormina won’t put anyone to sleep, in which case the run is dead (unless you have Close Call fodder). Surviving Girimehkala and Cu Chulainn is the first step. This is the same as in most other Demi-Fiend fight’s you’ve seen. You can use any multi-target almighty attack of your choice for this phase. I went for Ragnarok so I’d have an excuse to use Heat with his maxed out strength stat. However, you also want to have Last Word on two of your characters. Giri has more HP than Cu, so you might need Last Word to even them out so you can kill them simultaneously. You don’t want Pixie to come onto the field with a half beaten foe beside her or else she won’t use Megidolaon, which consumes the most MP (60 MP). You especially don’t want her casting Vanity as this can ruin your whole strat. You want a full health Arahabaki on the field with her because he’s a lot easier to set up against. Giri’s Mamudoon is not something you want to deal with while stalling and neither is Cu’s Taunt. Parvati’s buffs and Titania’s debuffs also make it harder to set up on, so Arahabaki’s the least threatening. The worst he has is Ragnarok, but he won’t even use it every turn. Once Pixie and Arahabaki are together, DO NOT ATTACK EITHER OF THEM. Pixie will always use Megidolaon so long as her partner is not low on HP. With a weakened ally, her behavior becomes more random bouncing from Diarama to Maziodyne to Vanity which is actually worse to deal with. Pixie has 1700 MP. You want to her to spam Megidolaon so she’ll consume her MP as fast as possible. Use any spare turns you have to either restore MP or attack Demi-Fiend only (not too much though, you don’t want to put him within healing range). She will use Recarmdra if you don’t kill her fast enough, *however,* her AI is scripted to prioritize removing debuffs with Dekunda above all else. Once she gets below 70 MP, start casting Debilitate and let her use up the rest of her MP on Dekunda. For reference, here are her skills and their MP costs so you can keep track: Megidolaon - 60 Maziodyne - 32 Vanity - 25 Dekaja - 10 Dekunda - 10 Diarama - 7 Mediarama - 18 Mediarahan - 36 Dormina - 9 Once she runs out, fully debuff the opposing party. As long as you keep applying a buff every turn, Arahabaki will keep using Dekaja and Pixie won’t be able to remove the debuffs or heal Demi-Fiend. While Demi-Fiend *is* able to heal himself, for some reason he won’t when another demon with Mediarahan is on the field. PAY ATTENTION to your buffs and the enemies’ debuffs. If by chance Arahabaki is able to use Dekunda (this means you either forgot to buff this round or Demi-Fiend got lucky and scored a crit and an extra press turn), Pixie will be able to cast Recarmdra and the strat is ruined. As long as you’re able to keep the enemy AI in this loop, you can focus your attacks on Demi-Fiend and take him out (this is another reason you want Last Word). Maximum debuffs and Sukukaja before Dekaja goes off will eat up their press turns and help you avoid most hits. He’s basically a sitting duck now. After having your 50 billionth “Last Word“ with him, you will eventually finish him off with your last, last, last.... LAST Word.