Shin Megami Tensei 5: How To Beat Shohei Yakumo

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• Shohei Yakumo’s Potentials, Attacks, and Resistances

• Recommended Party Setup

• Preparing For Battle

• Battle Strategy

So you’ve made it to the dreaded third area in Shin Megami Tensei 5, and you are going toe-to-toe with Shohei Yakumo – the first boss of Chiyoda. Like every boss before him, Shohei Yakumo can be quite the thorn. Especially if you go in unprepared.

Combining high damage with a high health pool, Shohei Yakumo is no slouch in combat – even if the narrative stakes are comparatively low. Thankfully, Shohei Yakumo is easy to exploit with a bit of pre-game knowledge and should go down pretty easily once all the pieces of the puzzle are in place.

Shohei Yakumo’s Potentials, Attacks, and Resistances

Potentials

Right off the bat, Shohei Yakumo’s Potentials reveal he is going to be smacking you in the face with physical attacks, with the occasional electricity blast to keep you on your toes. Having a +3 and a +2 respectively may not seem all that threatening, but he has a monstrously high Strength stat and a fairly admirable Magic stat to put those Potentials to work.

Attacks

There is a lot to unpack here, and none of it is good for the long-term health of your party. Firstly, Galvanic Slash is very dangerous. It may only be a +2 attack, but it scales of Shohei Yakumo’s impressive Strength stat, not his middling Magic stat. It also deals Heavy damage, which is nothing to scoff at. Any demon weak to Electric will be a one-shot.

Fatal Sword is the next attack to concerned about. Not only does this attack deal decent damage thanks to it being a +3 that scales off Strength, but it also has a high chance of landing a Critical Hit. This is more than enough burst damage to kill a squishy caster, and if Nahobino is not rocking the appropriate defenses, he will likely go down in one lucky hit.

The rest of Shohei Yakumo’s attacks are noticeably less threatening, but still not to be overlooked. His ability to buff his Attack stat can scale his damage to terrifying heights, and his ability to remove buffs from your party means you can’t just buff yourself to counter him.

Mist Rush applies the rather nasty Mirage ailment, which you simply don’t want to deal with. Mirage lowers your accuracy, which forces an item or spells usage to get rid of – otherwise, you will lose turns.

The last standard attack to be wary of is Deathbound. It only does Medium damage, but it does hit your entire party. It’s unlikely to kill a healthy demon, but with a Tarukaja or two applied, that possibility creeps into sight.

Mazionga is Shohei Yakumo’s second Electric skill, and if it lands, can do some work on the party. Naturally, you don’t want an electric-weak demon floating around in this fight. In the grand scheme, however, this spell is pretty underwhelming compared to everything else Shohei Yakumo does.

Resistances

Shohei Yakumo is Resistant, but not Immune, to Physical and Electric damage. This more-or-less removes these damage types from the equation. He is only weak to Dark, which is a little tricky to deal with at this point in the game, but certainly not impossible.

Recommended Party Setup

There are several very powerful demons available to you for this fight, but some of them are rather difficult to obtain. These tricky demons are Black Frost and Alice.

Black Frost

Black Frost is perfect for this fight simply because it doesn’t care about any of the things Shohei Yakumo is throwing out, it has a great Strength stat, and comes pre-equipped with the devastating Black Dracostrike – a Strength-based Dark attack.

Black Frost can be obtained by either an expensive Special Fusion or by killing Dionysis during a side quest earlier in the area. There are few demons as capable as Black Frost at dealing with Shohei Yakumo, and, to make him even more appealing, he is excellent at taking down the next boss too. A must-make investment.

Alice

Alice, of Alice In Wonderland fame, is a beast in this fight. Not only does she have access to the brutal Die For Me unique Dark spell, but her Magic Stat is through the roof. To top it all off, she can even recover her lost mana through Spirit Drain, making her completely self-sufficient.

Alice, unfortunately, can only be summoned via Special Fusion, and the demon cost is pretty high. This means you will likely need a lot of Macca, or spend a fair amount of time tracking the demons required down. Like Black Frost, however, she is very handy for other parts of the game, so the investment is well worth it.

Other Demons

Outside of those two, Anubis makes a fantastic alternative. Annubis deals great Dark damage, has a hefty mana pool, and has access to some powerful Dark spells. Not quite as good as Alice or Black Frost, but he can act as a substitute in a pinch.

The final Dark demon worth considering is Macabre. Whilst a lot of his strength comes from his Poison synergy, he does have access to Black Dracostrike – like Black Frost. His Dark Potential is only +1, but he has a decent Strength stat to make up for it. A great pick for Shohei Yakumo.

Support Demons

Any support demon will do. Ideally, one that has access to an Attack debuff to counter Shohei Yakumo’s Tarukaja. Two stand out in this fight, however. Either of these demons will do work in this fight – there is no wrong answer here.

Parvati

Parvati is not weak to any of Shohei Yakumo’s attacks and has a very high +4 Potential in Healing. Furthermore, she has access to Heal Pleroma which further enhances her healing, and Media, for a decent AoE heal. Finally, Bowl Of Hygieia allows her to Overheal party members, making her incredibly proficient in this role.

Idun

Idun is, like Black Frost and Alice, a Special Summon. She is fairly easy to obtain comparatively, however, and even comes from the aforementioned Parvati. In terms of stats, she is a straight-upgrade from Parvati too, coming with high base Vitality and Magic, whilst sharing her Potentials for healing.

She doesn’t naturally gain Heal Pleroma, Media, or Bowl Of Hygieia, but both of these are easily transferred to her kit. In return, she has Golden Apple, a powerful Unique spell that heals and buffs the entire party, and Diamrita, a powerful single-target spell that also cures debuffs.

Her biggest weakness, however, is Electric. This makes her susceptible to Shohei Yakumo, but this is easily offset.

Preparing For Battle

Providing you have the right demons, you should be more or less ready to go toe-to-toe with Shohei Yakumo. There are a couple of things you want to do before you pull the trigger, however.

Essence Fusion

Before you fight Shohei Yakumo, you want Nahobino to be resistant to Physical and not weak to Electric. Previously, you would have fused with Oni, however, this is not possible with Shohei Yakumo due to Oni’s weakness to Electric. Therefore, Shiki-Ouji is your best bet – although others fit the bill – like Black Ooze.

Providing you explored Chiyoda before bumping into Shohei Yakumo, you should have access to Aogami Type-5. You will want to transfer Kannabi Veil to Nahobino as it’s a support spell that reduces the amount of damage your entire party takes for one turn. This is a noticeable increase in durability, and it’s pretty darn cheap to cast too.

You should still have access to Sakanagi which will be your go-to attack throughout the fight if you are running a Strength-based Nahobino. This is an Almighty attack that bypasses all of Shohei Yakumo’s defenses and deals massive damage. Magic Nahobino will want to learn Mudoon.

Finally, you want to have Taunt on Nahobino to attract as much Physical damage as possible and to prevent Galvanic Slash from landing on someone like Idun. This is a basic Tank and Spank strategy – and it works a treat.

Dampers

As always, Dampers are fantastic for this fight. Buying three Electric Dampers for the low-low price of 450 Macca functionally removes an entire turn from Shohei Yakumo every time he enters Magatsuhi.

Gems

Dark Shards and Dark Gems can do work in a pinch if all your Dark demons are killed during the fight. It’s fairly unlikely this will happen, but they are there if you need them.

Battle Strategy

Since you’ve prepared for the fight, Shohei Yakumo should go down pretty easily. Each turn, have Nahobino cast Kannabi Veil, and if Taunt is not up, Taunt. If Taunt is up, then Sakanagi all the way.

Your Dark demons should all be landing their strongest Dark attacks, such as Black Dracostrike or Die For Me. This will give you extra turns, and deal the most damage. If mana becomes an issue, down a Chakra Drop or cast Spirit Drain.

Your support Demon should be using Attack debuffs, Bowl Of Hygieia, and healing based on the situation. Bowl Of Hygieia should nearly always be active since the buff persists until you cast a healing spell. Don’t forget Bowl Of Hygieia also Overheals, upping your party's max health.

Finally, remember to drop a Damper whenever he goes into Magatsuhi and then open up with everything you have.

Shohei Yakumo should fall, and you can continue your journey through Chiyoda unimpeded.

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