Shin Megami Tensei V is the hottest new JRPG currently out on the Nintendo Switch, and for good reason. It’s been a hotly anticipated release for years now, and the quality of the game has completely lived up to its hype. Now, players are finding a completely new challenge in the game’s many difficult bosses, chief among them being the light demon Abdiel.

Abdiel is a main story boss enemy faced by your main character, and she carries the Shin Megami Tensei legacy of being intensely difficult to fight and also requiring very specific strategies to get through. Seasoned Shin Megami Tensei players should see through these fairly quick, but for new players, we’ve made a thorough guide on the best strategies you can employ to beat Abdiel.

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Boss Stats

  • Level: 58
  • Strength: 60
  • Vitality: 44
  • Magic: 59
  • Agility: 43
  • Luck: 33

Only Attacks Main Character

One interesting facet of Abdiel’s boss fight is that outside of Light’s Descent and Maragidyne that hit all opponents, she focuses all her attacks on the main character. It’s a clever quirk of the character that marries their narrative structure with their gameplay function, and also serves to make her a more threatening boss.

You can actually make Abdiel target a different character through the use of Taunt or Fierce Roar, so crafty players could actually build a strategy around this. In fact, some players already have built strategies around it, which we’ll look into later.

Another small thing to note is that if Abdiel charges up her Magatsuhi, that means she’s preparing to use Maragidyne and will fire it the very next turn. It’s good to keep in mind in case you find yourself getting hit by it a bit too much.

Elements to Use

The demon Abdiel is encountered at Da’at’s Minato Region, and as a Light elemental demon, she’s naturally weak to Dark elemental attacks. Physical, Fire and Ice attacks hit her for neutral damage, while she resists Force, Electricity and any form of Ailment you try to throw her way. Also, forget about using any Light attacks, she completely reflects those back at you, so it’s a pointless endeavor!

As for her own attacks, she mainly employs the use of Fire and Light elemental attacks, so you’ll want to build up your Nahobino to be able to resist these elements. Most crucially, however, you’re going to want to build your party so that everyone resists, or is at least hit neutrally by Light.

This is mainly because Abdiel’s most powerful move, Light’s Descent, deals severe Light damage to your entire party, and can even instakill if it hits a demon weak to light. It’s a terrifying attack, and one you’ll always want to keep an eye out for. Other than that, Abdiel packs Agidyne and Maragidyne for fire spells, and a bunch of physical attacks that are all single target attacks.

Team Building

As we said earlier, make sure to bring a party of characters that resist Light, because Abdiel will absolutely destroy them if they don’t resist it or are at least neutral to it. You’ll also want to put emphasis on characters that can use Fire, Physical and Dark attacks, since they’re the only ones who can nail Abdiel without being resisted.

You’re going to also need a healer on your party, so make sure she’s in there before you get reason to rumble it out again. It’s also good to get some characters who can throw out debuffs and soften the enemy up for your main character.

Strategies

There are many strategies you can employ to beat Abdiel, with some being more gimmicky than the rest. Today, we’ll be looking at the standard sample combinations and seeing which ones work the best.

First of all, always keep your healer on standby. In the case that you take damage, you’ll need your healer to keep your party members alive. Next, spam the love out of Tarukaja and Matarukaja. This keeps them occupied flawlessly while they collect black markers. It’s not really all too different from normal boss matches in that regard.

Another strategy you can employ is the Tetrakarn trick. As we stated earlier, Abdiel only targets the main character, and smart players have managed to use this to their advantage by casting Tetrakarn on Nahobino. That way, every time you’re hit by a physical attack by Abdiel, it’ll bounce right back to the boss and hurt themselves.

Overall however, as long as your main character has some powerful teammates, a competent healer and constant debuffs, you’ll be able to make it through the fight perfectly. Just never forget to apply debuffs and use your items in a situation like this.

Fight the Good Fight!

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Abdiel is an incredibly tough boss fight, and one many players struggle with on their way through the game. We hope our guide has helped you get through this troublesome boss, and stay tuned for more soon!