SMT V: Vengeance [CoV] - Mara (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.

Mara is the first non-DLC optional boss that I consider truly worthy of its own video when considering the weight of his reputation in the series, great unique battle theme, and several interesting traits that set him apart from other bosses. In all, those characteristics often make this battle quite unpredictable and it can really reward creative strategic approaches that make use of an entire stock worth of demons, which makes it one of the most fun among all bosses in the series for me.

Mara’s skillset is quite interesting since it can wreak havoc in a variety of ways. His only attacking skills are Hell Thrust and Megaton Press, which are both dangerous since they can one-shot many targets, and there are only a few demons that resist Megaton Press as well. He also has Toxic Spray that is tripled in potency by Poison Master, so at this level any demon that is poisoned will succumb to poison damage unless it is cured immediately. His final skill is his signature Dance of Mara, which has a high chance of inflicting Charm to all enemies, but will also instakill any targets that are already charmed. Lastly, Mara has the innate skill Fear of Death, which slightly boosts the power of Hell Thrust and Megaton Press and also gives them a slight chance of instakill under Magatsuhi, which I believe can even activate on guarding targets.

Given the frequency of which Mara can use Dance of Mara, being prepared for constant Charm infliction is vital in this battle. The Nahobino can have Charm immunity, but there aren’t any viable demons with it. Additionally, the Nahobino doesn’t have access to Me Patra courtesy of the rules of this challenge, and only one Amrita Shower is available here. While there is a sole Me Patra user available in Mothman that could be swapped in to cure a few targets, a Charmed demon that Mothman swapped for wouldn’t be cured and might be rendered unusable for the remainder of the battle, and I also didn’t realize that my level 30 Mothman had even acquired Me Patra to begin with. Instead, I made use of a much more obscure tactic to combat Charm, which involved using Tao’s innate skill Saint’s Prayer to cure demons. My pinned comment goes into further detail on Saint’s Prayer, but Tao is great here since the Nahobino can swap her in to the third slot to cure the ally she is swapped with and a Charmed demon in the second slot may be able to swap itself out, then Tao can use an Amrita Soda to cure the party member in the fourth slot. This can be repeated a number of times throughout the battle, largely making up for the lack of Amrita Showers.

While using Omagatoki: Dance in combination with Ice Breath and Pandemonic Feast provides the greatest possible damage output in this battle, that’s difficult to set up consistently because of Mara’s constant ailment use and tendency to one-shot demons. My approach here was more based around chipping down Mara with weaker attacks while searching for a decent opening to use Omagatoki: Dance, rather than relying on it wholly like I did against Khonsu. While one Omagatoki: Dance with a buffed Jack Frost did a nice chunk of damage, I still had to rely on damage from a variety of other sources throughout the battle. Rasetsu Feast also wasn’t an option for much of the battle, but there are a number of debuffing options available between Toxic Spray, Jack Bufula, Fang Breaker, and Tarunda from the Nahobino. Defensively, I had to swap between many demons due to the ailments and scarcity of healing sources, and I also had to swap Tao out of the battle at the end of almost every turn so she would be safe and available when Dance of Mara was next used. Mara only gathered Magatsuhi once late in the battle here, which could have spelled a lot of trouble but he didn’t make any use out of it because Dance of Mara was nulled.