Скачать или смотреть SMT IV: Apocalypse - King Frost (Low Level, Apocalypse Difficulty, No Fusion)

STILL the king after all these years

Rules:
1. All forced battles are fought on Apocalypse difficulty.
2. Experience gain is minimized by only fighting forced battles and recruiting demons when necessary.
3. No fusing demons. Compendium usage is fair game.
4. No skill changes or using the Skill Plugin app.
5. No stat boosting items or apps, including Armor Boost Kits. (RIP my endgame +380 HP, +60 AG on Nanashi from Armor Boost Kits)

King Frost can be a very tough boss in low-level runs if you don't know what you're doing. He has a hefty 1500 HP, but the big problem is Smile Charge, which removes his weakness and makes King Bufula much more dangerous. The two skills that would counter it, Rakukaja and Magaon, are both unavailable at this point, and ice resistance alone just isn't enough to tank more than a few King Bufulas. However, the developers apparently realized that this battle would be very difficult to win without those two skills, so they mercifully left a chest with a Magic Mirror in the Fairy Forest, which is more than enough to win when used effectively.

One important thing to note is that King Frost only starts using Smile Charge when his HP reaches 50% or lower. This is why I intentionally held back offensively and allowed the Assist Gauge to build up to max. After pushing him past 50%, I could switch in three demons with Agi, use the Magic Mirror to cover King Bufula, then get two full turns and the partner attack to roast him for the remainder of his HP. Makarakarn does a lot more damage if it covers a weakness rather than a resistance, and since King Frost gets a defense debuff from having a smirked King Bufula reflected, it's very easy to take out the rest of his HP.

I used Nozomi for this battle because she's pretty much useless for most of the future bosses, and I want to use all of the partners at least a few times in this run. Navarre is the only other viable option, since Asahi gets one-shotted by Bufula, and I needed the Assist Gauge to build up for this strategy to work. I actually didn't plan for her to get the kill here beforehand, but I was really surprised when the partner attack didn't finish him off. I figured that I'd let her take a shot at getting the kill because I was pretty sure he was almost dead, and it turned out that my gut feeling was right.

On another note, I've seen a lot of people complain about how the Assist Gauge is a bad mechanic, and I think this is a great example of why they're wrong. It encourages the player to go on the offensive at a specific time, which really paid off here. Allowing the player to alternate between playing offensively and defensively is an interesting addition to the game, and War and Apocalypse are often more than difficult enough to make up for the free turn.