SMT V: Vengeance [CoV] - Konohana Sakuya (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.

Konohana Sakuya is the first of two new DLC bosses in Vengeance and is designed to be beatable at around this point in the game. She can be battled after defeating Oyamatsumi from the base game, who isn’t as much of a challenge. I decided not to feature that battle since it’s not as interesting to me, and with my restrictions it was mostly about shuffling around the Fire attackers I had access to.

Konohana Sakuya always acts in two-turn cycles. At the beginning of the battle she uses a basic attack followed by Agidyne on the first turn, then Sakuya Sakura followed by Agidyne on the second. After gathering Magatsuhi for Maragion at 80% HP, she replaces the basic attack on the first turn with Wind Breath, then after gathering Magatsuhi for Maragion a second time at 40% HP, she replaces the Agidyne after Wind Breath with Elec Block. Sakuya Sakura heals her for around 650 HP every time it is used unless all of her stats are buffed, which will double its healing power. However, this should never come into play since any realistic attempt to beat her should never allow her to remain buffed.

Konohana Sakuya is pretty unique in that this is one of very few boss battles in the game that demand a sizable damage output to overcome constant healing. Luckily, her Electric weakness is more exploitable than other potential weaknesses would likely be, since Ruinous Thunder is the Nahobino’s strongest attack and Restore makes MP a non-issue for him. Yoko and Lamia are the other two Electric attackers of note, but Lamia is fragile defensively and Yoko requires a lot of Chakra Drops to keep using Ziodyne. Since the Nahobino needs to attack as often as possible, this is the first battle in which I used Matarukaja instead of Inflaming Divinity, which requires fewer actions to keep applied than Inflaming Divinity would be even with only two relevant attackers.

The problem with attempting this battle this early is that Konohana Sakuya’s attacks are strong enough to one-shot some targets even after buffs and debuffs, so offense has to be balanced with defensive considerations. However, even though Konohana Sakuya only uses two elements and does so in a predictable pattern, the Nahobino needs more offensive help to significantly outdamage Sakuya Sakura, and the demons with favorable resistances here aren’t the best attackers. While there is a lot of swapping between Fire and Force-immune demons in this battle, Yoko and Tao are in the party for most of it since their offense and support capabilities are often more valuable than immunities. However, later in the battle, at least two Force-immune demons are almost a necessity to prevent Konohana Sakuya from using Elec Block after Wind Breath, which would make it almost impossible to outdamage her healing.

Aside from what’s mentioned above, the strategy for this battle isn’t that complicated. Loa should be brought in for Rasetsu Feast in four-turn intervals after Sakuya Sakura, so Konohana Sakuya’s attack will always be at -1 or -2. I got lucky with the Nahobino being targeted by Agidyne a lot early and pushed her into the second phase before bringing in Yoko and Tao, but wasn’t able to overcome the healing for a while after that since I was trying to ensure that those two were able to survive Wind Breath and Agidyne. It wasn’t until I had both Matarukaja and Marakukaja applied that the Nahobino and Yoko were really able to make progress, with Tao supporting and using Chakra Drops. Near the end I had to swap to more demons for their immunities since I ran out of Chakra Drops and ended it with a Bucketgetter Special, otherwise it could have dragged on for even longer.