The Let's Play Archive

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2

by Dragonatrix

Part 31: Feinne's Notes: Botis, Dyning and Dancing

Unkillable, Lightning Round Edition!

So, as Dragonatrix noted, most of the threat of this map is Botis himself as long as you're smart about pushing forward and clearing out the chaff before you engage him. So, if we were playing in a less... scattershot way we'd actually have been able to crack two skills off of Botis and not had to choose between Elec Repel and Ziodyne. Since we haven't gotten to that point yet I won't spoil how this might be. So, let's say we are Dragonatrix here and had to choose between Elec Repel and Ziodyne. This sort of goes against the grain of what you'd expect from me but I'd take Ziodyne all day every day with that choice, because having a single target -dyne this early is pretty amazing. Both skills won't be back again for a long time, but you'll be able to get good use out of Ziodyne basically immediately. So, Botis tips! He's scripted to Shield All if he's still got his Abraxas buddies and that skill is INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE. So, I'd actually suggest you just harry him with skirmishes and induce him to blow all his MP without making a serious effort to clear both of the Abraxas out. Once he can't use Ziodyne anymore, he's pretty toothless. Getting him from a range is also a good option, since it negates his advantages. He probably won't target any party leaders while they still have demons alive and even if he does they'll benefit from taking half damage, so as long as you're smart about getting people at risk away from him he's not as big a threat to Unkillable as you'd expect.

Since I brought it up, let's also talk about Dynes vs Dances. So, I honestly don't like elemental dances for most applications. They're strong against bosses that are alone in their party, since the hits focus, but otherwise they're not so great. They have a bad habit of not hitting what you want them to, and you can't safely use them against some mixed parties. They're also a lot less MP efficient than Dynes, especially when they only hit twice. This is not to say that Dances aren't great of course, just that things aren't as clear-cut as some people make them out to be.

And yes I'm pretty sure Viles have even more extra turn delay than Dragons.