SMT V: Vengeance [CoV] - Abdiel (Low Level, No Fusion/Demon Modification, Hard)

Current abscess completion: 17/18

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, and 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

While Abdiel is meant to be a major boss in the game, she’s probably the biggest pushover faced since Glasya-Labolas, and by no insignificant margin. As far as I know, this battle is virtually unchanged from the one in the Canon of Creation, in which it was already one of the easiest battles. Since Abdiel only targets the Nahobino and follows a simple attack pattern, this battle is quite easy with only a basic understanding of how it functions.

Abdiel follows a three-turn cycle in which she uses one of Pierce Armor, Dark Sword, Mighty Cleave, Myriad Slashes, or Agidyne for the first two turns, exclusively targeting the Nahobino, and every third turn uses Light’s Descent to attack the entire party. She also gathers Magatsuhi for Maragidyne at half health, but any change in her behavior (probably gaining access to Mighty Cleave and Myriad Slashes) is pretty insignificant, aside from Maragidyne itself delaying her turn cycle and Light’s Descent. With Physical resistance, the Nahobino can easily survive almost all of her attacks, and vulnerable demons can simply be swapped out to avoid Light’s Descent or Maragidyne. In this attempt, I used a few extra Dark attackers alongside the Nahobino, with Senri for Diamrita so the Nahobino wouldn’t have to heal himself. Shiki-Ouji’s resistances was the best available option for the Nahobino, since he could still survive Agidyne without having to guard unless Abdiel followed up with one of her stronger Physical attacks, which I’ve rarely seen her use. Abdiel’s HP is unimpressive, so this was a very quick battle with Profaned Land.


Although the Taito bosses are the next story bosses in Vengeance, there are quite a few significant optional bosses available in the Taito area that can be pretty interesting, so it’ll be some time before I actually get to the story bosses.