SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI V-Vengeance: Marici (Hard / Low Level [62])

Rules / Restrictions

No DLC Demons (No Konohana Sakuya or Dagda).
No NG+, must be on New Game.
Haunts are allowed on the Protagonist only, Balms & Incenses are not allowed. (Rule Broken: Same Build as the Tehom Video)
No Demons above MC’s level (May make an exception for Human Guest Party members, cause their stats and movesets cannot be customized).
Must Stay on Hard Mode
Items are allowed, and Grimoires are allowed (At least ones I earn through quests or find in the world)


[Boss Stats]
Level & Resistances: Marici [LV78]
(Weak: Dark, Resists: Phys, Ice and Elec, Nulls: Fire, Repels: Light)
Strength: 71
Vitality: 43
Magic: 71
Agility: 59
Luck: 69

[Skills]
Formless Shadow
Mist Rush
Mabufubarion
Mahamabarion
Patra
Haze Invocation


Level & Resistances: Stitching Mirage [LV75]
(Weak: Dark, Resists: Phys, Ice and Elec, Nulls: Fire, Repels: Light)
Strength: 69
Vitality: 51
Magic: 69
Agility: 47
Luck: 64

[Skills]
Formless Arrows
Debilitate
Fogna
Patra

Level & Resistances: Warding Mirage [LV75]
(Weak: Dark, Resists: Phys, Ice and Elec, Nulls: Fire, Repels: Light)
Strength: 69
Vitality: 51
Magic: 69
Agility: 47
Luck: 64

[Skills]
Formless Arrows
Dark Block
Patra


Level & Resistances: Conquering Mirage [LV75]
(Weak: Dark, Resists: Phys, Ice and Elec, Nulls: Fire, Repels: Light)
Strength: 69
Vitality: 51
Magic: 69
Agility: 47
Luck: 64

[Skills]
Formless Arrows
Luster Candy
Donum Gladi
Patra

Well this is a nice surprise, alongside getting multiple new navigators for the game, such as Idunn, Mothman and even Mara. Atlus decided to also give us a new demon for this game, free of charge, Marici isn’t new to SMT but if I’m not mistaken this is her first ever 3D Debut in a Mainline Game and I think her design is awesome (I do show off her stats as a recruitable demon at the end of the video, and she looks like she can be a great late game demon for casual playthroughs). Now obviously I did not plan for this, so my save isn’t the lowest level you can be for this fight, and I didn’t feel like completely replaying the game just to show this new quest off. A 16 Level Difference is still somewhat low level, so my title isn’t inaccurate. Just think of this as a fun bonus video. This is the same build I used for the Tehom Video, so Broken the Balms / Incenses rule, but it’s not so overwhelming that I annihilate this fight.

So onto Marici herself as a boss, for starters she has insane resistances, not only does she resists phys, ice and elec, she also nulls fire and Repels Light, with her only weakness being to Dark Skills. This fight is designed around having multiple dark users in your party, and for those curious I did try my strength build on this fight first, but Marici’s Innate Skill, Might of Dawn, makes it so if she’s hit by moves that have a Pierce Effect (For Example: Hell Thrust), she has a chance to counter with a Heavy Light Attack of her own that also naturally pierces (So having the Null Light passive is useless). So yeah Crit Aura + Hell Thrust was off the table (And Black Dracostrike’s damage is overall pretty bad). So while this team I have is overprepared, because this is the same build I used for Tehom, hopefully this can give ideas to any other challenge runners of SMTV that need a basis for their strategy. So I brought in my Magic Nahobino, gave them Profaned Land + Dark Pleroma (From Baphomet’s Essence) and brought in my OP Alice and Mannangal, to do as much Dark Damage as I can. I also brought in the Motherf***er that nulls physical.

Marici’s got fairly good offensive magic, being Mabufubarion and Mahamabarion, so I would recommend bringing in at least one Party Member that Nulls Light and Ice, and a reason Arahabaki is so good is because her two Physical Moves don’t pierce. Marici throughout the fight can summon 3 different clones of herself, labeled as Mirages each with their own gimmick (All of them have access to Formless Arrows and Patra). The Stitching Mirage has Fogna and Debilitate, The Warding Mirage has Dark Block, and the Conquering Mirage has Luster Candy and Donum Gladi.

There are two quirks about her A.I that makes this fight easier though, she is weak to both the Poison and Confusion ailments, and if she recieves one of those ailments she will waste a turn to use Patra, so Profaned Lane is a fantastic skill for her cause not only is it equal to Mudoon in Damage, it also can inflict Poison. The other quirk is if she inflicts Mirage on someone in your party, she and her clones will ALWAYS follow up with Formless Arrow, and this can heavily be exploited on a demon that nulls Physical like Arahabaki or my Nahobino, she will waste all her turns trying to use this skill. I did try and see how this would be with simply resisting Physical and I’m sure it’s doable but Formless Arrow gets a bonus damage perk on Miraged Targets, so even if you Resist Physical it’ll hurt like hell.

This was a fun boss, and I will be certain to use this boss in my future replays…or very soon ;)