SMT V: Vengeance [CoV] - Hydra (Low Level, No Fusion/Demon Modification, Hard)

Rules: 1. Hard difficulty, New Game. 2. No fusion or using essences to alter the skillsets of demons. 3. The Nahobino may only acquire skills from Proto-fiend essences, and essences used for his resistances may only be Proto-fiend essences, purchasable from the Cadaver's Hollow, or be from recruitable demons at or below the Nahobino's level. 4. EXP gain is limited to forced battles, Main Quest completion, and abscesses, minimized when possible. Additionally, abscess completion will be delayed as long as possible. 5. No Balms, Incenses, Sutras, Gospels, Grimoires, use of petrified demon statues, Omagatoki: Luck, or stat-boosting Miracles. 6. The Demon Haunt may not be used for stat boosts or items. 7. No use of the Skill Manifestation miracle. 8. Guest party members or demons may not be used when their level exceeds that of the Nahobino. 9. No Dampeners, Block skills, Tetrakarn, Makarakarn, Attack Mirrors, Magic Mirrors, or Luminescent Mirage. 10. No Taunt/Fierce Roar. 11. No Knowledge of Tools or Enhanced Summon. Between the original SMT V and Vengeance, I’ve now battled Hydra with three different low-level restrictions, and each time I feel like it’s given me a run for my money. However, not only do I think that this was the most difficult challenge of the three, I also believe that it’s the most entertaining by a significant margin. Some of the unique traits of this challenge, most notably the prohibition of Dampeners, really does wonders for a battle like this. I completed both the Mermaid and Sudama abscesses prior to this, which are both necessary for the EXP they provide in addition to the Miracles to change the Nahobino’s affinities, increase the capacity of the demon stock, and improve the buildup of the Magatsuhi gauge. Hydra’s behavior is a bit different from the original SMT V with mostly predictable actions in Vengeance, although I wasn’t certain about some of the specifics at the time. In Vengeance, it follows a three-turn cycle with Fire Breath + Attack, Attack + Attack, and Fire Breath + Attack before repeating the cycle. However, it has scripted Magatsuhi gathers for Toxic Breath when it drops to around 80% HP and 60% HP, which I believe resets the turn cycle. After the first Magatsuhi gather, Hydra’s second action on any given turn may randomly be Fire Breath instead of a basic attack, regardless of its first action. Then, when Hydra drops below about 40% HP, it enters its Frenzy phase, in which it uses Frenzy + Attack once every three turns, with Fire Breath on the other two turns of the cycle. However, it doesn’t always use Frenzy on the turn that it loses the rest of its heads, so I think that may be linked to the overall turn count of the battle. Aside from Dampeners being banned, the biggest problem here is how poorly suited nearly every available demon is for this battle. While there are three Bufu users in Preta, Gremlin, and Peallaidh, all three are weak to fire and are quite risky to use for the majority of the battle. On the other hand, Daemon and Onmoraki, the only two demons with Fire resistance, have no utility whatsoever aside from their defensive prowess, and almost every other demon dies to two hits of Fire Breath even after debuffs. However, Yoko, in her first appearance of this playthrough, proves to be a godsend (ironically) thanks to her ability to use items, high Magic stat, and…slightly above-average durability. Without Yoko’s contributions, plus Rooted Soul and Tarunda, two new tools granted to the Nahobino in Vengeance, victory simply would not be achievable at this point in the playthrough. The best time to use the Bufu demons is right at the start of the battle, when Hydra’s scripted Toxic Breath uses can be exploited to avoid Fire Breath. I used Preta and Peallaidh early on for a bit of extra damage, but beyond that I avoided fielding them at all because it would really have been playing with fire (if there were a more suitable way of phrasing that, then I would have done so instead). For Toxic Breath, I just let demons and Yoko tank the hits that couldn’t be nullified, since the demons being poisoned wouldn’t matter as I was swapping them out for the remainder of the battle anyway. Aside from those early turns, the battle is a lot more defensive; the Nahobino keeps Tarunda and Rakunda applied while he and Yoko keep the party healed, and Yoko attacks with Ice Shards and Mudo until the Magatsuhi gauge fills. Omagatoki: Critical then creates real offensive opportunities, although the damage still isn’t too impressive. After pushing Hydra below 60%, my goal was to use Omagatoki: Critical twice to drop Hydra’s HP to red, then finish it off with Ice Gems from the Nahobino and Yoko. Surviving until then was a bit tricky, but I was able to manage it thanks to some good luck, Onmoraki and Daemon’s resistances, and Sandman taking advantage of Hydra’s sleep vulnerability so I could finish it off with a modified Bucketgetter Special.