Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne Protagonist Skills FAQ version 1.1 By Alessar (c) 2005 Matt Redding. All rights reserved and commercial duplication prohibited. Please send comments and corrections to erydanus@yahoo.com, and put an appropriate subject line on your email, like "SMT FAQ."Or, contact me on the GameFAQs message boards. If you're not GameFAQs, YOU CANNOT have this document on your website. I. INTRODUCTION II. SKILL PROGRESSIONS/EXPLANATIONS A. Attacks 1. Magic 2. Physical 3. Almighty B. Defenses C. Support Skills 1. Healing 2. Regeneration 3. Status Altering 4. Attack Command Enhancing D. Miscellaneous Skills III. BUILD ADVICE IV. SKILL CHART V. THANKS AND CREDITS I. INTRODUCTION There are 113 skills in total which the protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne can learn. In order to give people a tool to sort through the many obscurely-named skills which the protagonist can learn, I've constructed this FAQ. This FAQ focuses on explaining the skills and trying to make it understandable which skills are upgrades to others, and provides some general advice as well. It's important to remember that this FAQ is centered solely on the protagonist. I will occasionally compare a skill to one that the protagonist cannot get, but it is not my purpose here to list and explain every skill in the game. There is one extra note I want to put in here: Once the protagonist has learned 8 skills, when he learns a new skill, one will have to be discarded. You don't have to discard an existing skill, you can just select the new one and pass on it. Some Notes on My Terminology: Attack Power: The game uses four standard levels of attack power/damage: light, medium, high, and mega. While it would be nice if I could just list the standard damage level for each move, the truth is that it can sometimes vary. Each attack skill and spell has an actual attack power and in some cases the in- game text may be inconsistent as to what it labels (for instance) a "high" damage spell; some attacks are on the borderline for a damage category, or may just perform better/worse than you might expect; to make it more complicated, a few physical skills start at a certain power level but increase in damage. Therefore, some of the listings may be something like "medium-high." Truthfully, all your attacks get a little more powerful as you level up and gain in your stats, but some gain noticeably enough to be worth special mention. Physical weapon-based attacks are supposed to power-up in this way. Targets: Skills can target five different ways. Some affect the user only, "Self," some target a single enemy or ally, "Single," some target the protagonist's party, "Party," and some target all enemies, "All." Additionally, quite a few of the skills target random enemies a random number of times, I call this "Multi." Multi skills have a variable number of attacks depending on the skill, but generally 2-5. Multi-hit skills may sometimes hit a single target 2 or 3 times, but I have not ever seen one hit more than that. While Multi skills may be inadequate when faced with a truly large number of demons in an encounter, when used on a boss the chance of a double-hit is usually more than enough compensation. Physical Attack Subtype: There are a number of different kinds of physical attacks in the game, however, the game does not distinguish the varieties of physical attacks the way that Persona 2 did. And for most purposes, there are only two main kinds: the ones where the main character conjures up a weapon and attacks with it, and all the other ones. The reason for this is that weapon type physical attacks gain extra power as previously mentioned. Therefore, I called everything else "blast," as in the skill "Hades Blast." II. SKILL PROGRESSIONS The following lists detail which skills are upgrades of others. It is worth noting that there are some glaring gaps in these progressions; that's because in some cases the Protagonist doesn't get a skill generic demons can learn. For example, he never learns a high damage fire attack on multi-targets; that would be the skill Prominence. In some cases, the "upgrade" to a skill may not be very different than the lower skill; some skills are only different by a very small amount of attack power, or by how much they cause criticals. Refer to the chart in section IV if you have questions in particular about attack moves. I detail the effect of the miscellaneous skills which do not upgrade in the last section. A. Attacks 1. Magic a. Elemental Types: ELEC (Electric) Shock (light multi) -> Bolt Storm (high multi) *Electricity has a chance of paralyzing those it targets. FIRE Fire Breath (light multi) -> Hellfire (medium multi) -> Magma Axis (medium-high single) *Magma Axis increases in power based on Magic attribute and can actually be one of the most damaging spells in the game, even without Fire Boost. Part of this is probably because single target magic attacks simply deal more damage than their equivalent attack-all move. Fire has no special properties; it just causes a lot of damage. FORCE Tornado (high multi) -> Wind Cutter (mega single) *Wind Cutter is one of the highest damage spells in the game, and one of the few the protagonist can learn that is of the mega damage level. Force has the ability to shatter those who are petrified. Because the protagonist only learns two of the most powerful spells in the game, and at lower than usual levels, it is often perceived to be a "more powerful" damage type. This is a false perception. ICE Ice Breath (light multi) -> Absolute Zero (high multi) *Ice can freeze opponents, effectively paralyzing them. However, the frozen status diminishes enemy defense, making it a little more useful than shocking. b. Death and Expel: There are basically three subtypes of these attacks. The most common are Instant Kill. They have a relatively low chance of working but if they do, the target dies (or technically, is exorcised/banished in the case of Expel). Both Death and Expel have plenty of instant kill moves. The second kind is percentage damage; mostly these are Expel skills. If they land, they deal a certain % of the target's current hit points (usually 50%). The Curse skill Evil Gaze is similar in that it reduces the successfully hit target to 1 hit point (just think of it as 99% damage). The third kind is direct damage. In this case they are no different than a standard elemental attack skill. Only Expel has moves like this. The Anti-Expel and Anti-Death skills apply to attack accuracy only for the first two kinds of attacks. Therefore if Thunderclap manages to land on someone with Anti-Expel, they will still take the full 50% hit points of damage that it normally deals; the chance of it working is reduced by half, though. DEATH Instant Kills Mamudo (about a 20% chance of killing each enemy)-> Mamudoon (about a 40% chance of killing each enemy) EXPEL Instant Kills Hama (about a 20% chance of killing each enemy) -> Hamaon (about a 40% chance of killing each enemy) EXPEL % Damage Thunderclap (50% damage, high chance, single target) -> Divine Wrath (50% damage, high chance, all targets) EXPEL Direct Damage Violet Flash (high damage, single target) -> Radiance (high damage, all targets) c. Almighty: Almighty is a sort of damage. It can be contained in a spell or a physical attack. Generally, there is no defense against Almighty and only a couple very special bosses have any defense against it all. Megido (medium all) -> Megidola (high all) -> Megidolaon (mega all) *They act like spells but penetrate "magic" defenses including Makarakarn. Note that Freikugel is a single-target Almighty skill, but it is described under single-target Phys attacks. 2. Physical COUNTERATTACKS Counter (light) -> Retaliate (medium) -> Avenge (high) -> Phys Repel (special) *All counter moves have a 50% chance of having the character strike back at their attacker. Counter is similar to a standard "attack" but Retaliate and Avenge deal higher base damage. Phys Repel is not the same kind of skill, but makes a good final upgrade; in particular by the time the protagonist can learn Avenge, enemy demons start to show up with Phys Repel. Phys Repel reflects the incoming damage back at the attacker instead of dealing it to the target. This means that you may counter and actually inflict high damage on yourself if the enemy has Phys Repel. On the other hand, if you are the one repelling physical attacks, it works 100% of the time, and will never cause the protagonist to take damage. It will also end the enemy's turn if they make a basic attack on you, even if they themselves have Phys Repel. Although the damage may be smaller than Avenge (depending on if the attacking demon's attack is weak), tactically it's a better choice. PHYS ATTACKS, Single (Striking animation) Lunge (light) -> Iron Claw (high) *These attacks are not particularly good; Iron Claw in so inaccurate that it's better to pass it by and upgrade to the Beam attacks instead. Lunge isn't a horrible move, it's just that the protagonist has unique skills which are much better. It misses enough you're usually better of just making normal attacks. If you are going to have a single-target physical attack, learn Divine Shot as soon as possible. PHYS ATTACKS, Single (Beam animation) Divine Shot (medium, criticals a lot) -> Spiral Viper (large, criticals above average) -> (Freikugel) (medium-large, stronger, criticals some but less than Spiral). *These all have enhanced accuracy. Also, Divine shot criticals a LOT. As in probably 6/8 times for me. Spiral viper does slightly more base damage but criticals less; I'd guess it was about 3/8 times. Freikugel is above-average in accuracy but I have had it miss; it criticals about normal (1/8) but that it can critical at all is special. You see, Freikugel is actually Almighty not Phys damage, but it works just like the other skills and gains power with Tarukaja instead of Makakaja. It does in fact work on enemies that have Phys Absorb and Phys Repel because *it's not physical.* There are only two bosses in the entire game that have any kind of defense against Almighty, so for the most part its just like a defense-piercing physical attack. It's hard to explain but on paper, Freikugel is a weaker attack than Spiral Viper, however in practice it does more damage. Just chalk it up to a mysterious game mechanic and move on. PHYS ATTACKS, MULTI-HIT TYPES Berserk (light blasting multi) -> Deathbound (Medium weapon multi) *Berserk, like lunge, is just lackluster. The skills Chaos Blade (light weapon, with panic) or Xeros Beat (light blast, with bind) could be an intermediate step after Heat Wave, and Javelin Rain (medium blast, with mute) could rival Deathbound; however, these Ailment-inducing attacks cost a lot in Hit Points and they only have a small chance of inflicting a status, so I can't really recommend any of them. However, if you would like to try them out, that is where they would fit in the progression. PHYS ATTACKS, ALL-TARGET TYPES Heat Wave (light weapon all) -> Tempest (medium blast all) -> Oni-Kagura (medium blast all, high accuracy) OR Hades Blast (higher medium blast all, but not as much critical chance) -> Deadly Fury (medium-high, high-accuracy, high-criticals) OR Gaea Rage (high blast damage) *Blight (light weapon with poison) is similar to the other Ailment skills, it could be an upgrade to Tempest, then again, you might want to skip it. Oni-Kagura and Hades Blast have identical power levels but Oni-Kagura critical hits a lot and costs less to use. Deadly Fury is almost as strong as Gaea Rage, but it criticals a lot more and doesn't cost so much in HP, so many people prefer it. It also has a weapon animation, even though it isn't listed as a weapon/scaling damage attack in the help text--but I think it is. My suggestion for an attacking all physical move progression is to learn whatever you can until you get to Oni-Kagura, then stick with it until you can get Deadly Fury and then stop with that. For me, Gaea Rage cost too much to use and did not do enough extra damage to be worth it. MIND ATTACKS (Panic) Wild Dance (Medium-high chance of panic on enemy party) -> Tentarafoo (medium damage AND small chance of panic on enemy party) B. Defenses All the defense skills take effect in order of strongest taking precedence over weaker. So if you have both Absorb and Repel, Repel will take precedence. They override the status of magatama as well, so if you are equipped with a magatama that is Weak to Expel and know the Void Expel Skill, you will Void Expel. All of the Anti- skills give a 50% resistance to the effect or damage they represent, except in the special cases of Death and Expel %-damage skills already noted. Void skills flat-out negate the damage and effect of the attack they represent. The Drain skills take the incoming damage and convert it to healing as well as negating any status attack, and the Repel skills reflect the entire attack back at the sender. While the main character can not learn any absorb ailment skills, some demons can and an Absorb Mind demon will in fact be healed by moves such as Tentarafoo ELEMENTAL DEFENSES Anti-(Elec/Fire/Force/Ice) -> Void (Elec/Fire/Force/Ice) -> (Elec/Fire/Force/Ice) Drain -> (Elec/Fire/Force/Ice) Repel DEATH/EXPEL DEFENSES Anti-(Death/Expel) -> Void (Death/Expel) *As noted above in the Death/Expel attack section, the Anti- Expel and Anti-Death skills in some cases do not reduce the damage taken. If you put an Anti- skill on someone who already has innate resistance, the effect multiplies instead of adds (50% + 50% more =75% total). To make this really confusing the hero actually has a hidden 50% resistance to Death and Expel. The Void skills simply work though. Please note, there are a few bosses with instant-kill attacks tat are not based on Death or Expel, so these skills will work in spite of the Void Death skill. Usually these are Almighty skills, but a couple abilities based on Mind or Curse exist which instant-kill someone who has a particular status ailment. AILMENT DEFENSES Void (Curse/Mind/Nerve) *Though there are Anti- skills for ailments, the main character can only learn Voids for them. Thus, none of these have an upgrade path. PHYSICAL DEFENSES *The only physical defense skill the main character can learn is Phys Repel. See "counterattacks" for details. The skill "Drain Attack" is unclearly named and is unrelated. It actually upgrades the basic attack command with vampiric properties so that a fraction of the damage dealt with an attack is counted as healing for the user. DEFENSE SPELLS Makarakarn Tetrakarn Tetraja *These spells have no upgrades to them. Makarakarn reflects one magic attack (not including Almighty), and Tetrakarn reflects one physical attack (also not including Almighty). Both spells have a duration of one round. Tetraja blocks Death and Expel skills 1 time, but persists until used. C. Support 1. HEALING Dia (light single) -> Diarama (medium single) -> Diarahan (full-heal single) Media (light party) -> Mediarama (medium party) -> Mediarahan (full-heal party) *In terms of healing you can consider the path to be Dia->Media- >Diarama, etc., however, I think most people go with the single- target or party heals and stick with them. Samrecarm - this skill revives a demon from the dead with 100% hit points. There are items to do this though, so I recommend not learning it on the protagonist. 2. REGENERATION Life Refill/Life Aid Mana Refill/Mana Aid Mana Drain *The Refill skills heal a % of the character's hit points or mana points with each change in phase of Kagatsuchi. The Aid skills heal a % after each fight concludes. Neither is truly an upgrade of the other, it is simply a matter of play style. There is a preference for the Refill skills though, on the basis that normally you go a phase or two before another encounter occurs; with the use of an item (Repel ball) or spell (Estoma, you can't learn it ;) to decrease encounter rates, or by going to a no- encounter area, you can run around and fully recharge. On the other hand, if you are using an item (Attract Pipe) or spell (Riberama, you can't learn that one either) to increase your encounter rate, then the Aid skill might be more useful. All four skills only work on active party members. Mana drain can be used offensively to shut down a foe by stealing all their MP. Bosses may have thousands of MP, though. Generally, healing spells and cheap enough and healing items are plentiful enough that most people would be better off skipping the Life restoring skills and focus on recovering mana to cast a cure, even if you use a lot of Phys attacks that use hit points. As mentioned already, Drain attack cures the user for a small amount of hit points when making a basic attack. I must stress, Drain attack is very weak and only heals a pitifully small amount of damage. Mana Drain is a spell which sucks MP away from a target and replenishes the user (about 35 MP before enhancing the user's power or weakening defenses). I also want to briefly mention the skill Makatora. The protagonist cannot learn this skill, however, it is so useful I'm going to explain it anyway. Makatora transfers 10 MP from the user to any target. It's not very useful in combat, but outside of combat it can be used repeatedly from the skill menu to transfer MP from a source demon to any other party member, including the main character. A demon with Mana Refill and Makatora is essentially an endless MP regeneration battery. Another use is to "top off" the active party from a demon in the stock; when that demon finally runs low then you can use a few MP restoring items on it. Keep this option in mind when selecting your mix of abilities. 3. STATUS ALTERING (ENHANCEMENT) Dekaja - cancels all -kaja spells on All Enemies Dekunda - cancels all -kunda and related spells on caster's party *These spells cancel positive and negative parameter shifts. As far as I know, however, Dekaja cannot affect Focus. Dekaja and Dekunda are very important skills and while you may not end up having the protagonist learn these abilities, you should make sure you always have access to them. All of the following spells can be "stacked" four times to make a total enhance of +100% or decrease of -50%. The game keeps track of enhance levels and decrease levels separately and I'm not sure how it resolves the math, but if you cast Rakunda on the enemy 4 times and it casts Rakukaja 4 times, it seems you're about back to normal; but if you then apply a Dekaja spell to wipe all its boosts out, it'll immediately be shifted back to the -50% defense level. The important thing to keep in mind is that if you boost your attack four levels, your stats are doubled; if you diminish the enemy's defense four levels, their defense stats are halved; you do both, and they'll be taking at LEAST 4x damage. Tarukaja - enhances physical attack by 1/4 for the Party Sukukaja - enhances accuracy and evasion by 1/4 for the Party Makakaja - enhances magical attack by 1/4 for the Party Rakukaja - enhances defense (phys and magic) by 1/4 for the Party There are no upgrades to these skills; they're all fairly useful, though your play style will dictate which you find most useful. Tarunda - decreases physical AND magical attack by 1/8 for All Enemies -> Warcry - decreases physical and magical attack by 1/4 for all enemies Sukunda - decreases accuracy and evasion by 1/8 for All Enemies -> Fog Breath - decreases accuracy and evasion by 1/4 for All Enemies Rakunda - decreases defense (phys and magic) by 1/8 for All Enemies -> Taunt - decreases defense by 1/4 for All Enemies BUT it also increases physical attack by 1/2 for the enemy party (Taunt is 2x Rakunda AND 4x Tarukaja on the enemy). Warcry and Fog Breath are clearly upgrades but they cost a lot of mana. (In fact, you may need to discard them because their costs are so high early on. Later in the game, it's not difficult to toss out 40-50 MP spells. But early on, they're almost unusable. You may wish to avoid learning them until later in the game if you are planning to use them.) Taunt, however, is different. Since taunt sends the enemy party into a "berserk rage" they get seriously powered up by it. For some people this is enough to keep them from using the skill. My personal experience with it, though, is that the defense decrease is so massive I am usually able to wipe out the targets before they can hurt me, at least, after the early part of the game that's true. I would not use Taunt on a demon that was significantly stronger than me, but if it is about equal, the weakening will be worth it. There are other considerations as well; the Tarukaja component is tracked separately so you can use Taunt and then Dekaja and then its just like you cast two Rakundas on the enemy. That's not so efficient but two Taunts and then a Dekaja gets you the effect of casting Rakunda 4 times with only 3 actions. If the demon has used any kaja spells on itself so that you need to cast Dekaja on it anyway, then it's definitely worth a quick Taunt to weaken it as well. Using Taunt on a demon with a very weak attack is also quite safe. There are many "spellcaster" oriented demons with very weak physical attacks that even if you boost them with Taunt, they don't do serious damage. Finally, combining Taunt with Phys Repel can help your enemies kill themselves: their now-more-powerful attacks will be reflected back on their now-very-vulnerable selves for big damage. Just as a side-note, the spell Debilitate is the equivalent of casting Rakunda, Sukunda, and Tarunda all at once, though it costs a whopping 48 MP; unfortunately it cannot be learned by the protagonist. 4. ATTACK COMMAND ENHANCING Attack All - the normal attack command targets all enemies. This is automatic and you cannot choose to attack a single target; you will need a single-target physical skill to do so. Though a powerful skill this is generally regarded as an awful choice for the protagonist because by the time you can learn this skill you will be dealing with Phys Repel demons; it is generally considered better to use a Phys Attack skill that targets all, but some may disagree. Drain Attack - heals the user when making a normal attack, but only by a very small amount. Focus - "more than doubles the next physical attack." What this actually means is that after using this skill the next physical attack the user makes will do about triple damage. Focus is separate from everything else. It is nice in that once you've focused you stay focused and can cast spells and use items without using up the focus (until the fight ends anyway). If you are planning to use a significant amount of Physical moves, Focus is the only irreplaceable skill that you can get early on. Focus affects all physical techniques, not just the attack command. Might - This increases the chance of critical hits. I found it not a useful skill; most of the good protagonist physical skills have a bonus chance to critical. Pierce - Negates defenses less than Repel when making a physical attack. What this means is that if you make a physical attack or use a physical attack skill on a demon that has Anti-Phys, Void Phys, or Drain Phys, you will go through them like a hot knife through butter. HOWEVER, if they have Tetrakarn up or Phys Repel, you will hurt yourself. ALSO, this skill extends to Freikugel because it is a physical-Almighty hybrid. I am not clear if it also extends to Magma Axis; I think it does not. It does work on Surt's basic attack though D. Miscellaneous Finally, these are miscellaneous skills the protagonist can learn. I'm just detailing them here for quick reference. Analyze - scans the enemy and tells you its stats. Doesn't work on bosses, naturally. Completely pointless if you're willing to use a strategy guide or an FAQ. Boost - (Elec/Fire/Force/Ice) Boost These skills pump up the damage of their respective element by 50%. Handy, even if you don't keep them forever. Fire boost even applies to Magma Axis (and interestingly, the demon Surt has "fire" damage for his normal attack; Fire Boost works on his normal attack.) Charisma - enhances chance of success when negotiating; makes any neutral impression into a good impression. Endure - if the main character is killed, whether from an instant death attack or from damage, he instead survives with 1 hit point. Can only be used one time per fight. A nice way of getting a dose of Void Death and Void Expel along with "Void Lucky Shot From a Boss" all in one. Fast Retreat - enhances chance of retreat. Unnecessary in normal difficulty and I have been told it doesn't work in hard mode. Jive Talk - allows the protagonist to try to recruit foul, haunt and wilder demons. It's pretty useless, really; you can get those three types of demons may join you by randomly begging for mercy in a fight. However if you really want to directly recruit them, this is your only method. Makajamon - a curse spell which attempts to Mute the entire enemy party, but with only a small chance of success. Mind's Eye - reduces the chance of a back attack by a lot III. BUILD ADVICE One thing I've noticed from discussions people have had about character building is that people tend to look at builds as having three stages. I think this is probably because Ian Kelley had the first FAQ for this game and he gave a few sample builds and detailed them in that way; also, most of the spells in the game go through a light/medium/high power progression. The problem is, that approach is a bit simplistic for actual use. It's OK for rough planning but it doesn't work very well if you try to actually get your character to match one set of skills. It is VERY important to keep in mind that the character is going to grow and evolve over the course of gameplay. You can think about what you want to have at the end-game, but be flexible in getting there. Having said that, here are some of the skills that you can get below 50th level that you might want to still have at the end of the game: Focus - universally useful for boosting physical attacks. It roughly triples attack power at the cost of a turn. If you are planning to go with a physical attacker, this is unquestionably your first "keeper" skill and of all the skills I mention here for consideration, this is the only one that I actually think is something to keep until the very end of the game. Everything else can be cast by a demon for you or simulated with an item. Fog Breath - You can actually learn this before Sukunda, even though it's a double-strength Sukunda. Mana Drain - magic-heavy players sometimes like to use Mana Drain offensively in an attempt to shut down certain bosses. It's a play style choice. If you're using it to replenish MP, there are replacement skills. If you are using it to shut down enemy spells, there is no upgrade. Might - I really have nothing else to add; I don't like it but it belongs on this list. Warcry - similar to Fog Breath, this is a double Tarunda and you can learn it earlier. Elec/Fire/Force/Ice Boost - Even if you are playing an elemental specialist you will probably drop these at the end game, however, at least some of them may be good through the mid-game. Rakunda -I think that in the same way Fog Breath is better than Sukunda, Taunt is better than Rakunda. However, Taunt is a double-edged sword and casts Tarukaja's effect 4x on the enemy while also giving it a 2x Rakunda effect; some people might prefer to stick with a plain Rakunda. Personally, I found I could kill anything affected with Taunt so quickly the attack boost didn't matter, but again, clearly a play style choice. Mind's Eye - only really useful if playing on hard, and if you find it useful, then you should probably keep it to almost the very end of the game. At that point you can replace it with something else and simply reduce encounters with Estoma. Void Curse/Death/Expel/Mind - There are no further upgrades to these skills and they can potentially be useful through the endgame. Generally you can get by with equipping a magatama to void one of these, however there are several annoying mid-game bosses who use two of these at once (like Mind and Expel, Curse and Death, Death and Expel, but never Mind and Curse that I remember) at the same time. At the endgame the Magatama you have available make these all obsolete, but until then if you want to learn one or two of them, it would not be bad. My suggestion here is curse OR mind, and death OR expel; equipping magatama or trusting to luck would be enough in most cases. (Personally, I just used Tetraja and ignored both Void Death and Void Expel. Later I picked up Endure, mostly to avoid cheap shots from random encounters. Void Mind was very useful for me though; at least a third of the game you have a lot of Mind attacks in random encounters, and there are several bosses that use it. I dropped it eventually but it was much better than having to stick to the one magatama that blocked mental attacks all the time.) Tarukaja, Makakaja, Rakukaja, Dekaja, Dekunda - Again, no further upgrades are available. I dismiss Sukukaja but some people swear by it; I can see having Tarukaja or Makakaja if you are a dedicated fighter or mage. Rakukaja is quite useful against any boss that deals big damage (as long as they don't counter it with Dekaja much). Dekaja is universally useful. Then again, there is an item to cast Dekaja, but not to cast Dekunda. When it comes to an actual build my only advice is to have a balanced selection of skills. Try and be useful in any situation, and in any party mix. So many skills can be taught to demons that to me the main focus is on the attack and defense of the main character. Ian Kelley has some nice sample builds you might like and I think that with the descriptions I've given it will be easier to customize them further to your taste. It's possible to completely change your build in the middle of the game and not really be stuck by it. The only skill that really is irreplaceable is Focus, and even then it's not an essential. This game rewards versatility and punishes you for a lack of flexibility. One of the first things people think about is whether to orient themselves towards a Physical or Magical build. The truth is, if you were to 100% limit yourself to one or the other, there are points in this game you could not win. You can be 80% one or the other, though. I always advise magic- oriented characters to take at least one good Phys skill, and I recommend physical-oriented characters take at least one good elemental skill. In the end, Freikugel is a good upgrade for both. IV. SKILL CHART At last we arrive to the complete (hopefully!) list of all skills. They are sorted by which magatama teaches them. I originally had this chart presented in one large table but GameFAQs wouldn't let a landscape format FAQ go through, so I have broken it into several lists. Notes for the chart: LEVEL: Skills marked as having a level of X actually have a level of 1, however, they are all special skills and I did not want people mistaking them for starter abilities. ALSO KNOWN AS: Names used in Ian Kelley's FAQ based on his personal translation of the Japanese version. I only listed the ones that were more than trivially different than the names used in the US release. Some elements/statuses were referred to by different names in his FAQ and I have put them in parentheses. ATTACK TYPES: In the Attack/Type column, moves are listed by their primary type (such as Physical, Magic, or Mental) first and then after a slash I list the exact variety/effect. POWER: Some ratings are approximate as a power level can actually encompass range of attack powers. I applied the descriptive ratings where they were not given based on my personal experience and to be consistent; I did consult the in- game help text as well as the strat guide and I still tweaked a few of the listings. As noted above, some skills power up exceptionally, and I have noted this in the chart with a + on the damage category. The skills which feature enhanced accuracy and/or critical rates are noted with a * after their damage. You'll notice that Deadly Fury gets **+. This is because it hits well, criticals well, and it appears (by the attack animation) to be a weapon skill. However, it is not actually listed as a weapon skill so I might be wrong on that count. I would liked to have inserted skill detail for everything on the chart, however, it was simply too much, and I think having the power and targets for the attack moves was most important so that is what I focused on. List of Skills by Level: LVL Skill AKA Magatama 3 Lunge Charge Marogareh 4 Analyze Marogareh 5 Dia Ankh 6 Life Bonus Life Spring 10% Marogareh 7 Ice Breath Wadatsumi 9 Fire Breath Shiranui 9 Tarunda Iyomante 10 Berserk Rampage Marogareh 11 Mana Bonus Magic Pulse 10% Wadatsumi 12 Fast Retreat Ankh 13 Sukunda Iyomante 14 Fire Boost Shiranui 15 Ice Boost Wadatsumi 16 Rakunda Iyomante 17 Tornado Hifumi 18 Heat Wave Kamudo 19 Media Ankh 19 Taunt Shiranui 20 Counter Counterattack Marogareh 21 Fog Breath Wadatsumi 21 Shock Discharge Narukami 22 Force Boost (Shock Enhance) Hifumi 23 Anti-Fire Fire Resist Shiranui 23 Focus Kiai Kamudo 24 Anti-Ice Ice Resist Wadatsumi 24 War Cry Battle Cry Hifumi 25 Mind's Eye Sixth Sense Kamudo 26 Elec Boost Narukami 27 Anti-Force (Shock Resist) Hifumi 28 Mana Drain Drink Magic Anathema 29 Might Critical Kamudo 30 Anti-Elec Narukami 31 Wild Dance Color Dance Miasma 32 Anti-Death (Curse Resist) Anathema 32 Violet Flash Hama Lightning Nirvana 33 Anti-Expel Nirvana 33 Hellfire Gehenna 34 Void Mind Murakumo 35 Mamudo Anathema 36 Life Aid Breath of Victory Iyomante 37 Diarama Geis 37 Void Nerve Murakumo 38 Evil Gaze Evil Eye Anathema 39 Life Refill Breath Shoes Geis 40 Chaos Blade Rannyuken Murakumo 40 Void Force (Shock Immunity) Hifumi 41 Divine Shot Haja Lightbeam Nirvana 41 Tetraja Geis 42 Tarukaja Djed 42 Void Curse (Magic Immunity) Murakumo 42 Void Fire Gehenna 43 Sukukaja Djed 44 Makakaja Djed 44 Mediarama Geis 44 Void Elec Narukami 45 Blight Venom Zapper Kamurogi 45 Mana Gain Magic Pulse 20% Gehenna 45 Rakukaja Djed 45 Thunderclap Judgment Bolt Sophia 45 Void Ice Miasma 46 Dekaja Djed 46 Life Gain Life Spring 20% Kamurogi 47 Diarahan Geis 48 Iron Claw Kamurogi 49 Mamudoon Anathema 49 Tentarafoo Muspell 50 Endure Withstand Vimana 51 Jive Talk Satan 51 Mana Refill Chakra Shoes Geis 52 Glacial Blast Absolute Zero Miasma 53 Makajamon Muspell 54 Retaliate Fierce Counterattack Kamurogi 55 Void Death (Curse Immunity) Satan 56 Void Expel Nirvana 56 Xeros Beat Zeloth Beat Muspell 57 Samrecarm Sophia 58 Mana Aid Chakra of Victory Satan 59 Drain Attack Absorption Attack Sophia 59 Tempest Reppu-Ha Vimana 60 Bolt Storm Shockwave Adama 60 Charisma Satan 60 Fire Drain Gehenna 60 Ice Drain Miasma 61 Deathbound Gaea 62 Mana Surge Magic Pulse 30% Adama 63 Mediarahan Sophia 64 Oni-Kagura Kishin-Raku Kamurogi 64 Wind Cutter Shinku-Ha Gundari 65 Deadly Fury Deathsport Satan 65 Magma Axis Gehenna 66 Force Drain (Shock Absorb) Gundari 67 Elec Drain Adama 68 Javelin Rain Vimana 69 Avenge Death Counter Gaea 70 Holy Wrath Divine Retribution Sophia 71 Life Surge Life Spring 30% Vimana 72 Makarakarn Kailash 72 Spiral Viper Spiral Snake Gundari 73 Hades Blast Meikei-Ha Vimana 74 Gaea Rage Mother Earth's Dinner Gaea 75 Megido Kailash 76 Attack All Gaea 78 Tetrakarn Kailash 80 Freikugel Supreme Blast Kailash 84 Megidola Kailash x Elec Repel Masakados x Fire Repel Masakados x Force Repel (Shock Repel) Masakados x Ice Repel Masakados x Megidolaon Masakados x Phys Repel Masakados x Pierce Penetrate Marogareh x Radiance Unblemished Power Masakados List of Attacks & Spells by Level and Power LVL Skill Attack/Type Power Targets 3 Lunge Phys/Blast Light Single 5 Dia Healing Light Single 7 Ice Breath Ice Light Multi 9 Fire Breath Fire Light Multi 10 Berserk Phys/Blast Light Multi 17 Tornado Force High Multi 18 Heat Wave Phys/Weapon Light+ All 19 Media Healing Light Party 20 Counter Phys/counter Light Attacker 21 Shock Electric Light Multi 31 Wild Dance Mind/Panic Med Chance All 32 Violet Flash Expel/Damage High-Mega Single 33 Hellfire Fire Medium Multi 35 Mamudo Death/Instant KO Low Chance All 36 Life Aid Regeneration Light Self 37 Diarama Healing Medium Single 38 Evil Gaze Death/% Damage Low Chance Single 40 Chaos Blade Phys/Weapon/Panic Light+ Multi 41 Divine Shot Phys/Blast Medium* Single 44 Mediarama Healing Medium Party 45 Blight Phys/Weapon/Pois Light+ All 45 Thunderclap Expel/& Damage High Chance Single 47 Diarahan Healing Full Single 48 Iron Claw Phys/Blast/Strike High Single 49 Mamudoon Death/Instant KO Med Chance All 49 Tentarafoo Mind/Panic Low Chance All 52 Glacial Blast Ice High Multi 53 Makajamon Curse/Mute Low Chance All 54 Retaliate Phys/Counter Medium Attacker 56 Xeros Beat Phys/Blast/Bind Light All 57 Samrecarm Healing/Revive Full Single 59 Tempest Phys/Blast Light All 60 Bolt Storm Electric High Multi 61 Deathbound Phys/Weapon Medium+ Multi 63 Mediarahan Healing Full Party 64 Wind Cutter Force Mega Single 64 Oni-Kagura Phys/Blast Medium* All 65 Magma Axis Phys/Fire@ Medium+ Single 65 Deadly Fury Phys/Weapon Medium**+ All 68 Javelin Rain Phys/Blast/Mute Medium* All 69 Avenge Phys/Counter High Attacker 70 Holy Wrath Expel/% Damage High Chance All 72 Spiral Viper Phys/Blast High Single 73 Hades Blast Phys/Blast Medium-High All 74 Gaea Rage Phys/Blast High* All 75 Megido Almighty Medium All 80 Freikugel Phys/Almighty Medium-High* Single 84 Megidola Almighty High All x Megidolaon Almighty Mega All x Radiance Expel/Damage High-Mega All A * indicated enhanced accuracy or critical rate. A + denotes a weapon skill which increases in power. V. Thanks & Credits Thanks to all the regulars on GameFAQs Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne message board. Not only those who provided a tip or their thoughts on builds or skills, but to all the gang who chatted about the game so much and put so much thought into it, or who asked a good question. In particular, but not limited to, in alphabetical order: Bio-Hazard EX ChoHakkai Divona EntropicSoul GoudenDraak Ian Kelly JohnnyG118 Kao Floppy Mamonsoti Djinn Montegoraon (gs) - for correcting -kaja errors NeoCrusader ShaggyDog2 Valorous Virtual-Human (who we don't hate just because he's gs) Thanks to Double-Jump for translating the Japanese strategy guide. Thanks to Atlus for releasing this game. Thanks to SCEA for LETTING them release this game. And remember . . . "Let's positive thinking!" ----------------------------------------------- Version History: 1.0 - 1/28/05 - Initial draft with new tables 1.1 - 1/31/05 - corrected for kaja errors and used the spellchecked version