All-bosses, Low-level, Lunatic Playthrough Notes

This guide contains notes about my low-level, lunatic playthrough. It may prove useful if you are struggling on a boss, or want to do a similar challenge run. Take everything you read here with a grain of salt: I'm no expert.

Disclaimer

I am not an expert and there will be mistakes in this documentation. Everything that isn’t clearly factual or taken from the game itself (e.g. the screenshots) is just a suggestion on my part. These suggestions (such as party compositions for bosses, affinities for Sumireko, etc.) are not perfect and are likely based on one successful attempt of a boss. Please take most of what you read here with a grain of salt.

Also, since this is essentially a walkthrough of the entire game, there will be SPOILERS.

Rules

• New Game
  
• Lunatic Difficulty (not counting Tokiko since the first anomaly is in the underworld cave to the Palace of the Earth Spirits)
  
• Ending C
  
• Can only gain XP from bosses and forced encounters
  
  • Fighting optional bosses and getting their stat upgrades/items is fair game (hence all-bosses low level)
    
  • F.O.E.s do not count: encountering one means death
• Keep the spirit of the challenge alive

The Spirit of the Challenge

For this run, keeping the spirit of the challenge alive means not going out of my way to get powerful sleepers or items “early” (e.g. buying the broken rocket launcher after farming Monolith 1, going to Hell/TORIFUNE first when given multiple options on where to go next, etc.). As such, when met with open areas, I’ll proceed in the order of increasing sleeper level.

Terminology

• Phys = Physical
  
• Pierce = Pierce or gun (I will try to call it pierce, but I may refer to pierce as gun)
  
• Agni = Fire
  
• Acala = Ice
  
• Azani = Electric
  
• Ajira = Force or wind
  
• Yomi = Mind
  
• -Atma = On allies (buff), -Para = On enemies (debuff)
  
  • Vayu = Evasion and accuracy
    
  • Puri = Defense
    
  • Bala = Attack
• AoE = Area of Effect (or targets all)
  
• Hi- = AoE
  
• Status effects = Ailments
  
• Apahani = reflect
  
  • -jala = magic
    
  • -kopa = physical
    
  • Hi- = On user and one other ally.

The Plan

• Sumireko is support and tries to live through everything
  
  • All points go into VIT and INT to keep her alive
    
  • Dying = losing XP. Avoid at all costs by reloading saves.
  
  
• Recruit a Runner (a sleeper with the highest AGI) in each dungeon. Run from most encounters unless farming for yen (money) or items.
  
  • Alternatively, buy a LOT of light balls (you can only buy them from Udonge in the human village).
    
  • Turn order seems to be LV + AGI
    
  • RUN chance seems to be based off the runner’s AGI vs highest enemy AGI and the number of enemies.
    
  • Sleeper alarms can only last so long
  
  
• Recruit pocket healers (sleepers that sit in your stock and use healing skills to keep the active party healthy. Ideally they have high MAG and INT stats for more and better heals).
  
  
• Gather sleepers and optimize them for the boss of the dungeon
  
  • Utilize the SP buff upgrades when available
    
  • Hijacking sleepers when they are at full HP is possible but much more difficult due to level differences.
    
    • Taking one or two basic attacks at an enemy then hijacking it makes things easier.
  • The upgrade that lets you see enemy HP makes this process much less stressful.
    
    Hijacking a paralyzed sleeper makes the minigame much easier.
  
  
• Accidentally killing a sleeper = reload last save.

Random Information and Tips

• Huge thanks to Mistiry Shak and their associates for creating this spreadsheet full of useful information.
  https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3041839710
  
  • Note: it does not contain passive skills and has multiple convert to item options for some sleepers.
    
    • Every sleeper should only convert to one item. The other items listed may be drops from defeating the sleeper.

• Put skills you may want in the future (passives skills like boosts and springs) on a low level sleeper (e.g. Kisume). Save the sleeper to the database. It should be cheap (320 yen in the case of my Kisume) to resummon them so you can easily put good passives on your new sleepers.
  
  
  
• STR affects phys and pierce damage
  
  • Sumireko's GUN ability is NOT affected by STR: the stat of the gun affects its damage.
    
    • I am assuming SWORD is affected by STR.
  
  
• Some moves have priority (will act faster than usual).
  
  • I am not sure how much faster priority moves are in terms of turn order, but I do know that not all priority moves are the same.
    
  • Priority moves can be outsped if the priority move user moves really slowly.
    
  • Here’s what I came up with: the more priority, the faster the move.
    
    • Cover has +2 priority
      
    • “Fast” moves like quick thrust, DEFEND, (and summon?) have +1 priority
      
    • Reflect moves have +0.5 priority
      
      • It’s barely noticeable unless you are close in turn order.

• Evasion (buff) influences accuracy
  
  • I don’t know the percentages that each buff/debuff gives. I am assuming they function similar to SMT, where the first stack of the buff/debuff is the most effective, then diminishing returns.
    
  • It is also possible that some bosses may behave similarly to that of SMT bosses when concerning buffs.
    
    • That is, some bosses go nuts with clearing buffs/debuffs if there are too many stacks (think Beelzebub in Nocturne, who seems to hard dekaja/dekunda at +4/-4). If I haven’t raised enough red flags, then let me be clear: these last two points are just conjecture. I have no idea if any part is actually true. In my experience, I haven’t seen any boss go crazy about buffs/debuffs.
  
  
• Hijack damage is affected by Sumireko's level vs. the sleeper's level.
  
  • The lower Sumireko's level is comparatively = less damage per shot.
• There is no damage-level scaling; your level vs. the enemy's level will not affect how much damage is done/received
  
  • That is: damage is based off stats, not level.
  
  
• Unique skills can only be transferred through fusion, NOT skill transfer.
  
  • Some late game sleepers can’t inherit unique skills (consult the spreadsheet: TIPS tab section, line 44)
    
  • New game+ allows for unique skills to be transferred via skill transfer.
    
  • This information will likely be of no help to us in this run.
  
  
  • Healing HP is slightly more expensive than healing MP. Heal your party before healing at H.E.L.P to save yen.
    
    • Reviving a sleeper with the skill animus instead of reviving them at H.E.L.P cuts the cost down significantly.
      
    • The same goes for status effects: it’s much cheaper to heal the MP than it is to heal the status effects.
  
  
• Bosses seem to have a resistance to ailments (blind, paralysis, stun, sleep, and poison).

Passives and the Sleepers That Have Them

• Agni amp: Kutaka (+15% fire damage)
  
• Acala amp: Letty (chance to -1 evasion)
  
• Ajira amp: Aya (chance to confuse)
  
• Azani amp: Marisa, Nitori (chance to paralyze)
  
• Yomi amp: Mamizou, Satono (drain a little MP)
  
• Overbuff: Sakuya (chance for buffs (not debuffs) to be applied twice)
  
• Cleanse: Cirno (Ailments go away sooner, poison has a chance to go away on its own)
  
• Resourceful: Udonge, Nitori (Use items quicker)
  
• MP spring: Maribel, Misumaru, Sagume (+100 max MP)
  
• HP spring: Mayumi (+100 max HP)
  
• Status amp: Ellen (Higher ailment proc rate at low HP)
  
• Last Resort: Momoyo, Junko (At lower than 20% HP, move (estimated: ) 20% faster and do 20% more damage)
  
• Debilitating Aura: Mima (-1 defence applied to attacker)
  
• Revenge: Yuuma, Hisami (heal +25% HP and MP when an ally dies)

Tutorial

• Use both members to attempt to run away
  
• Dying sends you to the tile screen since you can’t save here
  
  • Since you can't hijack or defeat enemies, you can't get yen, which means no H.E.L.P.
• Sumireko uses her MP to heal, using items is probably wasteful but not the end of the world
  
• Grab the liberator.

Tokiko Boss Fight

• Use gun and Azani. Heal with Sumireko or items as necessary.
  
• The fight gives enough XP for one level, with 1 XP remaining to level 3.
  
  • I recommend you put all 3 points into VIT.

Underworld Caves

Cave 1

• Contains the first anomaly: put on lunatic mode.
  
• Forced recruit of Kisume
  
  • Put her in front of Sumireko
• Yamame converts to 2x antidotes
  
• This cave is bad to farm for money because Kisume only knows attacks, the payout is bad, there are 3x lesser fairy encounters that are deadly.

Cave 2

• Contains Oni Bone: not useful. You can completely ignore this.

Palace of the Earth Spirits

• Recruit best girl Orin as a runner
  
• Satori makes a good pocket healer
  
• Run from Orin, convert Satori into items, convert Koshi into money.
  
• Farm every upgrade from the terminal (don't take fast hijack)
  
• Grab gear from the towers (student uniform and student hat, esper gloves are optional)

Former Hell

• Recruit Chiyari as a runner
  
• Pick up Utsuho, Parsee, and Yuugi for the boss.
  
  • Parsee knows Himedi and Bala-para (attack down)
• Give Sumireko Chiyari’s (or Orin’s if you’re lazy like me) affinities.
  
  • Also give her Parsee’s Himedi and Bala-para

Utsuho Boss Fight

• Has two actions per turn.
  
  • Unique skill is AoE fire
    
  • Has very low INT, so Yomi will hit the hardest.
  
  
• Front row Yuugi and Chiyari, back row Sumireko and Parsee
  
  • Yuugi and Chiyari spam vision stab for damage, blind, and SP.
    
  • Parsee uses Bala-para and Himedi as necessary
    
  • Sumireko defends since she’s really squishy
    
    • On turns that Utsuho is blinded, you can squeeze in a Bala-para.
      
    • Her Himedi is bad due to her low MP but can be used to top off the party.
• Use Evade+ upgrade when available. Starting the fight with max SP can help if you’re really struggling but isn’t necessary.
  
• Fight gives enough XP to get to level 7, I recommend an even split of VIT and INT (14 of each in total).
  
• She will offer to fly you back to the palace after beating her.

After Utsuho

• Visiting Orin in a room before Utsuho gives you the rusty chestplate (+11 DEF)
  
• Koishi and Parsee fights become available.
  
• A new set of upgrades are available in the terminal.
  
  • You can farm yen for these in the Monolith (next section), but SP defend, Attack +, Defense +, and HP display are very nice to have. I suggest picking up at least attack + for the next fights, but it isn’t necessary.
    
  • SP Defend is 5k, Defense+ is 1.75k, Attack+ is 3k, HP display is 4k.

Koishi Boss Fight

Find a room on the ground floor in the center of the palace, where you'll be teleported back into former hell

• Enter each teleporter in a clockwise manner, starting from facing South (South, West, North, East...)
  
  • After 15 teleports you’ll arrive back in the palace. The boss fight is through the next door.

• Koishi has two actions per turn
  
  • Her unique skill is peace of mind, which consumes her buffs and heals her
• Same party as the Utsuho fight, and same idea.
  
  • If she spams Peace of Mind she will out-heal all of your damage and drain your MP. Using the attack+ upgrade can help counteract this.
• Yuugi’s Show of Force skill isn’t recommended since it buffs Koishi’s attack too, giving her more damage and a free setup for Peace of Mind.
  
• You can give the party vayu-para from a Koishi and try to lower her speed so she never has an evasion buff to heal
  
• If you minimize her attack and she decides to not think (or heal), you can just basic attack her to death.
  
• Rewards: 165 xp 1250 yen, Mask of Hope equipment. Not enough xp for level 8.

Parsee Boss Fight

Exit the palace and go to the bridge to the lower right. Once you step on the bridge, a fight with Parsee will begin.

• Parsee has one action per turn
  
• Moves: Ajira, Hijira, puri-atma (+defense), mediusa (medium single target heal)
  
  
• Replace Yuugi with Utsuho.
  
• Chiyari uses Agni, Utsuho hits weakness with Azani, Sumireko and your Parsee debuff her attack and play support.
  
• Utsuho has low INT so magic attacks will hit her pretty hard.
  
• Boss Parsee can buff her defense and heal, but otherwise can’t deal much damage. Minimize her attack, buff yours with the command, and she’ll go down pretty easily.
  
• 42 xp, 78 yen, still not enough xp for level 8

Once you beat Parsee, you can enter the Former Capital and find Yuugi in a house opposite of the entrance. She wants you to distract Parsee. You can do this by buying a burner phone at H.E.L.P for 2k yen and giving it to Parsee. Reporting this to Yuugi will give Sumireko a permanent +3 strength.

Dreamer's Monolith 1

• Converting Letty to an item gives a soul stone, converting Cirno to an item gives a life chunk (both sell for 750 yen)
  
• Gengetsu is a good pocket healer
  
• Mugetsu has hipuri-para
  
• Cirno is one level higher than Chiyari but has the same speed, so she’s just a slighty better runner.
  
  • Cirno’s affinity is also good to give to Sumireko if you’re farming this area.
    
  • Cirno also has the cleanse passive, which makes ailments go away faster.
• Pick up acala casters (namely Letty for acala amp) for skill transfer.
  
• Finding the way to the next floor unlocks the Human Village, which provides and easy to access terminal, H.E.L.P, and anomaly.

Human Village

Talking to Akyuu and then going to the exit will let you progress through. Giving Keine a student uniform (your old one or buy one from Rinnosuke for 1k) will reward you with a +3 to INT.

Myouren Temple

• Futo is a runner, but this dungeon is short so she’s pretty unnecessary.
  
• Seiga is a good pocket healer with ailments, Yoshika knows Pierce + ailment moves.
  
• Kogasa is a good pocket healer and knows hideluo: great for poison dungeons.
  
• Best girl Nue is here.
  
• Tojiko and Miko are good recruits for the Miko boss fight. Give them acala + acala amp (from Letty).

Toyosatomimi no Miko Boss Fight

• She has two actions per turn.
  
• She can buff up with Cult of Personality (+1 buffs of attack, defense, and evasion per enemy that is lower level than her).
  
• Miko and Murasa are the only LV 15 sleepers you’ll have access to. Anyone else you bring to the fight will make Cult of Personality that much more scary.
  
  • Murasa has an elec weakness, making her not ideal to take.
    
  • Tojiko and Miko are immune to her elec attacks, Yoshika resists elec.
  
  
• Miko and Tojiko in front, Sumireko and Yoshika in the back. Miko and Tojiko do damage with acala, Sumireko defends/heals and Yoshika heals.
  
  • When Cult of Personality comes out, have your Miko use Dai-atma to clear all the buffs. The boss Miko seems to move last, so you’ll be able to clear the buffs before she can act on them.
    
  • Use one defend+ upgrade and save your SP for if she clears it. Having her use Dai-para is better than Cult.
    
    • If you will get a full SP bar when you attack next, then you can use an attack+.
      
    • I tried having Yoshika use ailments, but they never worked. A good confuse/sleep can prevent Miko from using Cult.
  • Other than the upgrades and maybe having Sumireko lower attack when she’s at full HP and +1 defense, don’t try to play the buff game. Your priority should be to keep Miko at neutral buffs since your affinities should tank everything that isn’t crit slash.
    
  • Cult into critical slash hurts, but you should be able to tank it at full HP.
• 537 xp 1k yen. Enough to get to lvl 9. Dumped everything into VIT.

Scarlet Devil Mansion

Approaching the SDM initiates a boss fight against Meiling.


The team for Miko will work just fine. She can’t do anything if you buff yourself.

• 413 xp 200 yen. Enough for lv 10. More INT.

After the fight, best girl Sakuya abducts you and throws you into jail. She also fully heals your party.

SDM Basement

Sakuya has overbuff: a passive skill that has a chance for buffs (not debuffs) to be applied twice; +2 instead of +1.

• She’s also a good runner until you get Remilia, who you’ll need for the Flandre fight.

Any sleeper you recruit in here is viable. Notably, Patchouli is a good pocket healer.

In the bottom right corner of the first floor of the Mansion (not in the dungeon) is a path that leads upstairs, then downstairs to a loot room. The leather armor, silver crossbow, and money is good to grab.

Flandre Boss Fight

Her unique skill is Under Pressure: Remove paralyze, -2 to all buffs

• She can paralyze with liver punch

Miko and Sumireko with Miko’s affinities can more or less duo this fight.

• Other than her paralyze + Under Pressure, Flan doesn’t do much with buffs/debuffs. Buff defense then auto the fight.
  
• You do need a Remilia sleeper in your party to start the fight. If nothing else, have her defend for SP or lower Flan’s attack.

289 xp, 1k yen, +3 LUK, and an enchanted doll. Enough for LV 11, more INT.

Patchouli Boss Fight

Patchouli is assisted by 2 Koakumas. They prioritize buffs and occasionally heal.
Her unique skill, Evil Magic, does AoE moderate non-elemental damage. She throws one spell per turn.

Take out the Koakumas first. Status effects won’t do much in this fight since both Koakumas can heal it.

• Kurumi, Flandre, and Remilia have no weaknesses for this fight.
  
• Sumireko can actually do damage this fight with the silver crossbow, and if you’ve been pumping enough VIT/INT she can stay in the front.
  
• Dai-atma (from Miko) greatly helps. I would recommend putting it on Kurumi since she can outspeed Patchouli but gets outsped by the Koakumas.
  
  • If nothing else, debuff Patchouli’s attack.

They cannot debuff you.
Kurumi and Sumireko in the front, Remilia and Flandre in the back.
Stack defensive buffs early while also keeping Patchouli’s attack buffs in check.

• Remilia with overbuff, Hivayu-atma (AoE evasion), and healing
  
• Defend+ upgrade
  
• Flandre heals and lowers attack
  
• Needle throw on Kurumi, Sumireko shoots with silver crossbow.

I ran this setup with Miko instead of Kurumi and Sakuya instead of Remilia, but I don’t recommend this due to their elemental weaknesses.

• Reminder: if an enemy hits a weakness you lose SP = less upgrade buffs.

660 xp, 700 yen. Enough for lv 12, more VIT.
You can now use the fast hijack command on Cirno. Pair this with the defend SP upgrade and making money farming in the monolith is very efficient.

• Letty is lv 12, so you’ll have to wait one more level to use fast hijack on her.

Remilia Boss Fight

Garlic steak gives -1 to all buffs, Broccoli does nothing, Chili steak gives +2 attack and -2 evasion. I recommend the garlic steak.

Her unique skill is bloodsucking universe: a weak pierce to one target, can paralyze, and heals Remi for half the damage it does

Buff defensively, keep her attack buff in check, don’t go too hard on debuffs, etc.

• The vampire party will get hit hard by quick thrust.
  
• Miko is weak to force, Sakuya nulls pierce. I had these two frontline with Sumireko and Remilia in the back.
  
• Meiling resists pierce and force and may be a good addition if needed.

660 XP, 2,000 yen. Lv 13, more VIT.

After exiting the SDM, the recovery and debuff commands become available at terminals. I'd recommend avoiding the recovery command: it's 100 SP and makes menuing to fast hijack take another input.

Dreamer's Monolith 2

Climb to the second floor and immediately encounter Reimu


Two actions per turn, as usual.
Her unique skill is Even Flow: +2 evasion.

Miko and Sakuya in the front, Sumireko and Remilia (should probably use Meiling) in the back

• Everyone knows azani, Sumireko and Remilia heal, Sakuya buffs, Miko does damage and clears her evasion as needed.

Reimu can’t do anything about debuffs except raise her evasion.
Mugestu on the first floor of the monolith knows Hipuri-para for lowering defense, which can make the fight faster.
Minimize her attack, don’t spend too much MP on defensive buffs.

289 xp, 100 yen

You can turn around and head to the Human Village to continue the story after beating Reimu.

Bamboo Forest of the Lost + Eientei

Bamboo Forest of the Lost

Tewi is the best runner, though Udonge and Kagerou aren’t too far behind.

Udonge has the resourceful passive, which makes her use items faster in combat. If you're having bad luck running away from encounters, consider picking up resourceful and a few light balls from the Udonge trader in the Human Village.

If you exit Eientei and head to the left, there is another section of the forest. Mokou is in the bottom left and offers you a sidequest to write profanities on the walls of Eientei

Here’s a scuffed path to Mokou since the spreadsheet didn’t have a map for this section:

Eientei Floor 1

I recommend having magic fabrics on you. Handheld batteries or trips back to the anomaly will be needed since this dungeon is quite large and you probably want to roll with a full party for the best chances of survival/running. While you're at it, you may want a few bags of tea (from Meiling or Mugetsu converts).

• There is an anomaly at the end of the first floor

Kotohime is immune to mind and pierce, which most enemies in this dungeon throw. She is weak to fire, so watch out for Mokou.

The three walls you have to grafitti are near the entrance area. On the 3rd wall you graffiti, you enter a boss fight with Kaguya.

Kaguya Boss Fight

Her unique skill is Sacred Serenity: ally moves use no MP for this turn

No sleeper except Mokou is weak to force, so most parties will work

• I used Kagerou and Tewi in the front, Sumireko and Udonge in the back
  
• She clears buffs, does nothing to debuffs. Minimize her attack and go nuts with pierce.
  
  • Kotohime and Udonge have medium damage pierce skills (Head shot)
• Have something to prevent her evasion from getting too high (leg stab).

619 XP, 1k yen. Enough for lv 14 and more VIT.
Lv 14 allows you to fuse Byakuren, who has praying stance and all AoE buffs.

After the fight, Mokou will abduct you and put you back where you found her in the bamboo forest

• You won’t have a chance to heal unless you’re in combat or make it back to a light area.
  
• Take the _| path back and hope you don't get ambushed.

Eientei Floor 2: The Gas Mask

Be sure you have magic fabrics.

Kaguya sleepers have Yomiusa, which is very good for the upcoming boss.

• Converting Kaguya to an item gives you Royal Lunarian Armor, a slight upgrade from the leather armor from the SDM.
  
  • Alternatively, you can find a Royal Lunarian Armor in a chest that is a few rooms above the entrance to the second floor.

Eirin is a good pocket healer and has himediusa and hideluo.

Kaguya is in the bottom left. You can pay 20k for the gas mask or just steal it (recommended)

• This will cause patrols throughout all of Eientei.

Eirin is in the top left. There’s a H.E.L.P. room right next to hers. Entering Eirin's room the first time will not the start the fight, re-entering it will.

Eirin and Udonge Boss Fight

This fight is significantly harder than any of the previous fights. These two cover every weakness but fire and wind.
Starting the fight with max SP is highly recommended. With the available sleepers, even buffing defensively immediately may result in a party wipe or a friendly sleeper dying. Any sleeper of relevant level can be hit by their weakness in this fight.

Udonge gets two actions per turn, Eirin gets one.
Eirin’s unique skill is The Perfect Drug: +1 to all buffs.
Udonge’s unique skill is Electric Eye: Weak mind damage to all targets. If the targets don’t resist mind, they get confused.

• Mimic works on unique skills, so she can use The Perfect Drug as well.

Letty or Cirno’s affinities will keep Sumireko safe.
Kagerou’s affinity can work, just mind the electric weakness.

• Udonge tends to use mind skills more often than hizani, from my experience.

Kotohime and Udonge in the front, Sumireko and Kagerou in the back. Having the cleanse passive on everyone (from Cirno) may be helpful to counteract the ailments.

• Kotohime: Acala, yomiusa, acala amp, bala-para, and himedi
  
• Udonge: Yomiusa, himedi, acala, acala amp, resourceful, and electric eye
  
• Sumireko: All AoE buffs, overbuff, bala-para, and resourceful
  
• Kagerou: Hivaya-para, hipuri-para, himedi, dai-atma/para, and resourceful
  
  • I avoided using himediusa for MP reasons (10 MP vs 24 MP).
    
  • Most of the time, only one weakness was hit, so using a life gem (and a himedi from someone else if needed) was enough to sustain.

The goal is to take out Udonge first.
Start off with defense+ upgrade, Kotohime lowers (enemy) Udonge’s attack, (friendly) Udonge defends, Sumireko buffs defense, Kagerou heals. If you have the SP and your Udonge is healthy, use electric eye. This will do damage and confuse Udonge.

• Once she is confused, go on the offensive. Have both Kotohime and Udonge target her with Yomiusa.

Keep stacking defense, then evasion, and lastly attack. Don’t stack debuffs too much or Eirin will cleanse them. Once Udonge is down, ensure your party is healthy, then spam acala (with acala amp) on Eirin.

758 XP, 200 yen. Enough to get to lv 15, more INT
Use the magic fabric: it’s not worth the risk traveling back to an anomaly.

Better battery and affinity display upgrades are now available at terminals for 10k and 12k respectively.

Magic Forest

This place has many poison tiles. The gas mask will only prevent Sumireko from being poisoned, everyone else in the party will still be affected.

• Kogasa and Eirin both know hideluo: good for removing poison from the party
  
• Enoko, who can be recruited here, also knows hideluo.
  
• Having other backup pocket healers can help spread the MP toll

Luna and Star convert to 3 life chunks: 2,250 yen per convert.

• Luna has the easier pattern.
  
• Monolith farming is probably better for money, especially if you don’t want to deal with the hijack minigame.

Mystia, Luna, Sunny, and Star all have the same level and AGI. Any of them will work as a runner. Consequently, you’ll be taking more damage when running from encounters.

The three fairies of light sidequest is for the explorer grimoire
Marisa knows azaniusa and azani amp
Ellen's affinities for Sumireko

Marisa Fails to Perform the Precious Incantations

Marisa’s house is near the bottom right of the forest. Entering the area starts a sequence of two fights.

3 Koakumas:

• Same stats and moveset as the one’s with Patchouli
  
• 495 xp 300 yen

Louise:


Buffs do not carry over into the next fight.
Neither fight is too difficult. The Koakumas can be dealt with by using needle throws and head shot. If you leave one Koakuma alive, you can farm SP off of her with defend. Be sure your team is healthy, then you can continue onto the Louise fight.

Louise can do nothing against buffs or debuffs.

I used Narumi, Mystia, and Sunny for this fight and spammed head shot the entire time.

Once you finished the fight, don't forget to talk to Marisa again to get the books from the SDM back. You'll get +3 MAG if you return the books to Patchouli in the SDM library.

Alice Boss Fight

Two actions per turn. Her unique skill is Master of Puppets: a status effect that can take over an ally and make them fight against you.

• Can be cleared by status clearing effects (deluo/hideluo).
  
• The status usually lasts a long time. It can get to the point where 3 team members are against you. Be sure to clear it when you can

Buff defensively and keep her attack buffs in check. Agniusa works wonders.

Same party as the one used for Marisa. The pierce weakness hurts at the start, so have Mystia and Sunny defend while you buff up. Alternatively, you can use Marisa and Alice, but I was lazy.

990 xp, 500 yen, and the Dilemma grimoire (sleepers don’t drain battery but don’t gain xp. Perfect for us).

Muenzuka

Keep a magic fabric on you at all times while you’re in here.

Komachi knows hideluo if you still don't have a caster with it.

Using sleeper alarms here is highly recommended. Nazrin would be your best runner in this area, but she is weak to elec (which Lily Black casts). She also converts to a handheld battery

Resourceful passive + light balls are your best bet for escaping fights.

• Encounters of 3x Lily Black and 3x Nazrin are somewhat common
  
• Lily Black’s speed matches Nazrin’s: even with an optimal party you’ll likely take hits when trying to run
  
• Sumireko should be defending in your attempts to run.
  
• Nazrin uses force, Lily Black uses force, elec, and mind
  
• Since there are no pierce attack here, the three fairies of light (and their affinities) may be the best team for navigating this area.
  
  • Marisa and Alice can work, but Eiki knows agniusa and outspeeds both of them.

I had to reset in this area more times than I care to admit. Probably because I didn't take my own advice and use light balls. Regardless, here’s a map:

• Blue dots that are circled are cats (5 in total), black dots are chests, the blue path is to Nazrin.
  
• Bottom left chest contains a bulletproof vest: +30 defense
  
• Top left chest contains an assault rifle: +90 damage and hits all enemies
  
• Returning to Chen after saving all five cats gives you cat ears: +20 MDEF, +5 AGI.

Nazrin Boss Fight

I hesitate to call this a boss fight, especially since you’ll probably only fight her if you’re mashing dialogue. However, I had a 3x encounter of Nazrins target and kill Sumireko. So for my story, this makes sense.


One action per turn. Buff defensively, use Marisa and Alice for Azaniusa.
289 experience, 100 yen, enough for level 17: more VIT

After acquiring the ability to swim, you’ll be pulled into the dream world next time you visit an anomaly. This will unlock fast travel. Additionally, the prevent command (10k yen) and hijack attack (7k yen) upgrade become available for purchase at terminals.

Ruined Western Mansion

Recruit best girl Youmu as a runner. Yuyuko is a good pocket healer.

Lunasa Boss Fight

2 actions per turn.

Put ajirausa from Nazrin or Eiki on anyone not weak to elec and mind. Debuff her attack, and keep your defense up. 289 xp 100 yen

Genbu Ravine + Canal of Willows Cave

Wakasagihime is a good pocket healer and has acalausa. Nitori has resourceful, azaniusa, and azani amp.

Nameless Hill

Small area, but filled with poison tiles: have hideluo casters.

Medicine Boss Fight

2 actions per turn. Likes to use ailments.
Toxicity: AoE chance to apply random ailments

Takane knows agniusa if you need a source of fire. Debuff her attack and have someone in the party know hideluo (or resourceful + hideluo stones).
990 xp, 500 yen, and the Loner grimoire. Enough for LV. 18: more INT.

Youkai Mountain Route

Youkai Mountain: Lower Cave System

Encounters with 2x Momiji and 1x Mike are very hard to run away from. A sleeper alarm from max SP can get you through the entire lower portion of the cave if you know where you're going. If not, use light balls + resourceful.

The Great Youkai Forest

If you take one step forward, a fight with Aya will start. To your left is a H.E.L.P., to your right is an anomaly.

Ayayayayaya

2 actions per turn.
News of the World: -1 to all buffs.

Aya will outspeed you and use both actions before your party can act.

• Other than ajirausa, her attacks do low damage.
  
• Nitori has azaniusa and azani amp, which are great in this fight.
  
  • If you have a team that can support her, she can do all the needed damage.
• I used Wakasagihime for heals and Yuyuko for debuffs/support

990 xp 700 yen

Recruit Aya as a runner.

Youkai Mountain: Upper Cave System

Sanae is a good pocket healer, Suwako knows acalausa.

Rainbow Dragon Cave

Stepping on the blue tiles damages the party.

• Sumireko can wear the gas mask to avoid taking damage from the tiles

Have pocket healers and a magic fabric if you want to be safe after grabbing the blue dragon gem. Enemies are easy to run from, but if they get a turn they can devastate the party.

Misumaru has the MP spring passive: +100 max MP, which is very nice to have. She also comes with himediusa, animus, and Yomiusa, which is good for a future boss.
Sannyo also has Yomiusa and Hiyomiusa.

The three dragon gems are useful pickups, here’s a map:

• Yellow dot with an "X" is a trapped chest
  
• Green dots are items
  
• Dragon gems circled and labled

Momoyo Boss Fight

Two actions per turn
Apahani-kopa = reflect physical attacks

Buff defensively, keep her attack low. She has overbuff and can buff up fast if not kept in check.
Yuyuko and Suwako attack with Yomiusa or Acalausa, Sumireko buffs, and Sanae heals.
495 xp, 200 yen

Kanako and Sanae Boss Fight

Kanako gets two actions, Sanae gets one.

• Debilitating Aura: When user is hit by any element, lower the attacker’s defense by 1.
  
• Defenders of the Faith: Reduce damage taken by the party this turn.
  
  • Weaknesses don’t count as weaknesses while this move is up (neutral damage, no SP)
• Reality in Motion: All allies get two actions this turn.

Use Mystia's affinities for Sumireko. Yuyuko and Nitori in front, Sumireko and Sanae in the back.

Take out Sanae first.

• Prevent action command for the first turn
  
• Everyone but Sumireko use azaniusa with azani boost on Sanae
  
• Sumireko buffs defense
  
• Sanae keeps the party healed, Yuyuko and Nitori keep attacking or helping balance buffs/debuffs
  
• Keep Kanako’s attack in check
  
• Don’t overuse buffs/debuffs

After Sanae is defeated, you can go all in on debuffs on Kanako.

• Kanako usually uses either apahani-kope or Defenders, then an attack
  
• Be mindful of debilitating aura
  
• Kanako can survive for a long time. Make sure to have MP spring, and be prepared to swap sleepers or restore MP.
  
  • Megumu and Suwako are good swap-ins
    
  • Blue dragon gem for MP if nothing else

1238 xp 2k yen, enough for level 19: more INT.
MP refresh (30k), more SP (20k), and Better Fusion 1 (15k) are available from terminals.

• More SP is the only one I’d recommend buying.

Dream World Route

Dream World

Aya can outspeed everything here. Reimu and Doremy are good recruits for the rabbit soldiers fight.

Sea of Tranquility

Best girl Sagume is here.

• Sagume has every AoE debuff and MP spring (+100 MP).
  
  • If you didn't pick it up in the Rainbow Dragon Cave, you should pick it up here. MP spring is good to put on your pocket healers for even more pocket healing.
    
  • It’s also good to have on your active party so you don’t run out of MP during long fights.

Ringo converts to 5x life chunks. Couple that with the high encounter rate here, and you get a lot of money. I think she may be more common in the Sea of Serenity.

Sea of Serenity

A short way in (before the anomaly), you'll be attacked by 3x Moon Rabbits

Last Resort: When user’s HP is below 20%, user acts quicker and deals more damage.

• After some testing with Shion hitting Doremy, I concluded that this boosts damage by 20%. I’m assuming it also makes the user 20% faster.

Doremy with hiyomi and Reimu with azaniusa can make short work of these rabbits. This fight doesn’t last too long, but try to keep your defense up just in case. If you're struggling, consider using hiyomiusa from Sannyo.

853 xp and 474 yen, enough for lv 20: more VIT

Moon Palace

Teleporters launch you in the direction you’re facing when you enter them.
The lower left side of the first floor has a memory ball in a chest. Before the boss are chests that contain a burner phone and magic fabric.
Toyohime’s affinity is neutral to everything. If you don’t like swapping affinities, I’d recommend you just use her’s and have Sumireko defend whenever you’re not defensively buffed.

Udonge Side Quest

You can get a moon rabbit rifle from converting Reisen to an item. You can also get it from a chest near the top right of the second floor.
The moon rabbit uniform is in a chest on the second floor, marked by the circled black dot:

Watatsuki Sisters Boss Fight

Yorihime gets two actions per turn, Toyohime gets one.

• Revenge: If any of the user’s allies fall, restore 25% HP and MP.
  
• Moon’s Domination: Moderate force AoE. Non-alien species also take MP damage
  
• Divine Intervention: User reflects both physical and magical attacks this turn

Meiling’s or Satori’s affinities for Sumireko. You could also try Reimu's affinities, but be careful of its electric weakness. Toyohime and Yorihime in the front, Sumireko and Sanae in the back. Focus Toyohime first.

• First turn: prevent command.
  
• Friendly Yorihime uses strong phys skills (or just leg stab)
  
• Friendly Toyohime uses spells. Any medium damage spell will work.
  
  • Yorihime absorbs elec and force, so if you want to use these for ailmenting Toyohime, be sure to have something else for her to use.
    
  • Azaniusa (with azani amp) to fish for paralyze.
    
  • Ajirausa (with ajira amp) for stuns
    
  • Acalausa (with acala amp) for debuffing evasion
    
  • Yomiusa (from Misumaru or Sannyo) will hit Yorihime's weakness.
• Sanae and Sumireko buff defense and debuff attack
  
• Spread buffs and debuffs: Toyohime can only clear one at a time.
  
• Keep buffs and debuffs up while chipping away at Toyohime

When Toyohime falls, play defensively.

• Full stack buffs and debuffs
  
• If fully buffed and debuffed, have everyone defend (heal as needed) until you can use prevent command
  
  • Yorihime can outspeed your team and use Divine Intervention, reflecting all of the buffed damage.
• MP spring on everyone lets them comfortably drag out this fight as needed, without needing to restore MP.

1609 xp 2k yen, enough for lv 21: more VIT

Higan Route

Kutaka Boss Fight

She will outspeed everyone in your party. Don't be weak to fire.
She removes buffs and can buff her own defense. Debuff her attack and evasion. Leg stab helps.

Use the same party as you did for the Watasuki sisters, swapping Sanae for Suwako. Try to only use pierce attacks since she can reflect mind. Once her attack is fully debuffed she’ll struggle to kill anyone in your party, even with her debilitating aura. At lower HP, she usually spends an action on aphani-jala or hipuri-atma, and then attacks with her other action.

1032 xp 1500 yen

Hell

Recruit Kutaka as a runner (she also has agni amp). Eika is a good pocket healer

Animal Realm

Recruit Yuuma as a runner. Friendly reminder (mostly to myself) that memory balls and magic fabrics are good. You can’t run from the animal spirits. Again, I’m not counting these as boss fights so I’ll die/reload a save if I get caught by them.

When you get to the bottom of the towers, there is a Yuuma boss fight on the bridge. Mayumi will heal your party before the fight starts.

Yuuma Boss Fight

Appetite for Destruction: Weak AoE physical attack. Half the damage dealt is returned to the user as HP.
She will outspeed your party and can quickly burst someone down if she double targets them.
If you don’t prevent command on the first turn, be sure to have Sumireko defend.

Konngara and Yachie in the front, Sumireko and Eika in the back

• Flandre’s affinities for Sumireko.
  
• Frontline uses yomiusa, backline buffs and heals.
  
• Buff defensively, keep her attack buffs in check.

990 xp 500 yen, enough for lv. 22: more INT.

Primate Spirit Garden

Keiki is a good pocket healer. Mayumi has HP spring: +100 hp. Put this on everyone, especially Sumireko.

The boss fight is a choice between fighting Saki and Yacchie or Mayumi and Keiki. Mayumi is the only person that healed me before a boss fight. All my homies (I have none) side with Mayumi.

Yachie and Saki Boss Fight

Atrocity Exhibition: Weak phys attack to one target. Minimizes target’s defense.
Yomi amp makes mind attacks drain MP.
Yachie has two actions per turn, Saki has one

Same party as the Yuuma fight.

• Yachie’s affinity for Sumireko
  
• Focus Saki first since atrocity exhibition is a pain to deal with.
  
• HP spring, MP spring, and cleanse should be on most/all party members.
  
• Yachie likes to throw sleep and paralyze, and the MP drain from her mind attacks stacks up.
  
• Hideluo can be used instead of cleanse. Resourceful + hideluo stone works too.
  
• Hit Saki with yomiusa, debuff attack, and buff defense.
  
• Someone in the party should know dai-para (or have a stone) to deal with atrocity exhibition.
  
• Once Saki falls, azaniusa + azani amp Yachie and hope to paralyze.

2517 xp, 1500 yen, and Idol armor: enough for level 23: more VIT

As a reminder, make/update your low level sleeper with good passives: it makes creating new parties much more efficient. HP spring, MP spring, overbuff, resourceful, and cleanse are really good passives to put on new sleepers.

Dreamer's Monolith Floors 1-6

Nothing really to add here. Your current party should be able to navigate through all the floors with ease.
Once you arrive on floor 6, best girl Yukari will give you the power to fly.
The pierce command and better fusion 2 upgrade become available. Neither of these are worth buying.

Youkai Tannuki Forest

No bosses here, just many trapped chests.
Recruiting Shou for ajirasol makes this place worth visiting since Yuuka is weak to force.

Recruiting Kyouko here is good since she isn't weak to fire, which is useful in the Garden of the Sun. She's also the runner for this area, but will be outclassed by Wriggle.

Mamizou sells expensive, but powerful equipment that I’m choosing to ignore. The guns, chestplate, and gloves are the only things that may be worth coming back for. The other equipment is a marginal upgrade at best, and Sumireko doesn't do much other than defend and buff.

Garden of the Sun

Recruit Wriggle as a runner
Eternity Larvae is to the right of the terminal and has a sidequest to spread scales in the first area of the garden.

After spreading scales in all the areas, you’ll be attacked by 2x Wriggle and 2x Eternity Larva
Yuuka with higniusa/agnisol + agni amp clears this quite well
2033 xp, 796 yen, and butterfly wings armor

Yuuka Boss Fight

Three actions per turn
Bloody roots: moderate pierce damage to one enemy, minimizes target's evasion

Yuuka’s affinities for Sumireko
Kyouko and Yuuka in the front, Sumireko and Shou behind.

• Yuuka will move last, but hits hard when she does. You can heal and buff/debuff before she does anything
  
• Minimize her attack, mind her defense buffs, and buff your defense conservatively.
  
• Ajirasol with ajira amp to hopefully land a lucky confuse.
  
• Keep dai-para handy in case she bloody roots an attacking party member.
  
• 4950 xp 500 yen, enough for lv 25: VIT and INT

ǝʅʇsɐꓛ ǝʅpǝǝN ɓuᴉuᴉɥS

Recruit Shinmyoumaru as a runner.

Be sure to have memory balls, magic fabrics, sleeper alarms, and light balls. Encounters with multiple Shinmys are common, and this dungeon can be long.

Seija Boss Fight

Attack her first in the dialogue, or she will give you one of every debuff and attack you.

Three actions per turn
Social Distortion: Swap stat changes (buffs/debuffs) with the target
She will outspeed your party and your priority moves

Shinmyoumaru and Seija in the front, Sumireko and Yuuka behind.

• Defending against her is useless
  
• She can double target and kill Sumireko if you’re using Toyohime’s affinities
  
  • Use Seija's affinities. You can use Shinmy's affinities, but it has a weakness in the following fight (that you can cover up with defend).
• Shinmy, Seija, and Yuuka use acalasol, Sumireko can heal since you’ll likely only be taking chip damage.
  
• With these affinities and Yuuka’s general tankyness, it’s difficult to die as long as you keep buffs/debuffs neutral.
  
• Vision stab can be annoying, but it won’t kill you. Having cleanse or Hideluo is unnecessary but nice.
  
• 3713 xp 1900 yen, enough for lv 26: more INT

Magic fabric out and head to the Hakurei Shrine. Once you enter the shrine, you’ll teleport back to the Shining Needle Castle and immediately enter a boss fight with Shinmyoumaru.

Shinmyoumaru Boss Fight

Three actions per turn.
Boss Shinmy has much lower agility than the sleeper.

Seija and friendly Shinmy can use acalasol without having to worry about apahani-jala reflecting.

• Same team composition, same idea. Sumireko can and should defend since she can actually take damage.
  
• Hit her with every debuff, buff defensively
  
• She can only buff her evasion.
  
• 4538 xp 500 yen, enough for lv 28: more INT and VIT

You can now fast-hijack Luna and Star in the magical forest for 3x life chunks (if you’re tired of the Ringo grind). I hate dealing with the poison and prefer the Ringo grind, but it is an option.

Tenshi Boss Fight

Tenshi is on the tip-top of Youkai Moutain.

Three actions per turn

Same party as the previous fights, same tactics too.

• Dump every debuff onto her, spam acalasol

1980 xp 100 yen, +2 to all stats

TORIFUNE

Recruit Chiyuri as a runner. Have magic fabrics on hand, and I'd recommend using a map (either from the spreadsheet or the item) because of the pitfalls and F.O.E.s.

Chimera Boss Fight

Three attacks per turn, outspeeds your party

Junko’s affinities for Sumireko. Going through the dungeon with this affinity is a bad idea. Toyohime’s affinities work fine, but if you have a memory ball before the boss or are light balling every encounter with a resourceful Chiyuri then go ahead and use Junko's affinities.

Rika and Mizuchi in front, Sumireko and Rikako behind

• As long as you don’t let its attack buffs get out of hand, it probably won't kill you. This party has resist/null pierce.
  
• Praying stance alone is probably sufficient healing
  
• Cleanse is meant to cure poison, so hideluo shouldn't be necessary
  
• Agnisol and agni boost on everyone but Sumireko
  
• 5775 xp, 3k yen: enough for LV 30: more INT and VIT

Dreamer's Monolith Final

Recruit Chen as a runner (floor 9).
Recruit best girl Yukari and Ran.

Dreamer's Monolith Top

Make sure you have at least 50% completion of the sleeper database and that you have talked to Nitori (in the Genbu Ravine).

• Nitori’s dialogue should mention a Ran.Y in the code.

Take off your melee weapon and gun. Stick with Toyohime's essence.
Once you’re prepared, enter the door on the top floor.

Dream Sumireko Boss Fight

Two actions per turn
She copies your stats, affinities, and gear. The only difference is her skills and her level. She will always have 3k HP and 6k MP.

Yukari is built to be able to solo this fight.

• Yukari knows dai-atma, so she can clear Dream Sumireko’s defense buffs
  
• Spam yomisol to win.
  
• 4125 xp, enough for lv 31: more INT

Accuse Yukari of being the culprit and bring up Ran.Y to enter the real boss.
You get fully healed after the Dream Sumireko fight

Yukari Boss Fight

Three actions per turn
Master of Reality: Swap HP and MP values for all enemies

• Example: Sumireko has 100/500 HP and 200/400 MP, this skill gets used and now she has 200/500 HP and 100/400 MP (can’t go over max HP or MP). This skill actually helps keep MP sustained in this fight.

She can return sleepers to your stock as one of her actions


Yukari and Chen in the front, Sumireko and Ran behind

• Block with Sumireko until a few buffs are out. Yukari can focus Sumireko, and if you die, you have to redo the Dream Sumireko fight again.
  
• Spam debuffs, namely attack and evasion since she can’t do anything about those
  
• Yukari and Chen have azanisol and azani amp
  
• Replace Ran’s himedisol with himediusa for MP conservation
  
• Cleanse or hideluo for dealing with confusion mist.
  
• Try to re-summon sleepers as quickly as you can. The less targets there are, the more likely Yukari will focus Sumireko.
  
• Lv 34: INT and VIT

Sealed Cave

Talk to Reimu and she’ll unseal the cave to the right of the Dreamer’s Monolith.
Stock up on everything: it’s a long road to Makai.

• Memory balls, light balls, sleeper alarms, a burner phone, and magic fabrics

Recruit Meira as a runner and also get Orange as a backup.
Mima has debilitating aura.

• Converting Mima to an item gives you the crescent staff: a +15 MAG sword. This doesn’t seem to give any extra MP, unfortunately.

Ruins of Vina

Your team should be able to outpseed everything in here.
If you fail a run, you’re going to take a LOT of damage depending on the encounter. Use light balls and don’t be afraid to drop a memory ball + magic fabric to restock.

• If nothing else, use the memory ball to save your progress. It takes one ambush to kill Sumireko.

Enemies will outspeed Sumireko’s defend.

When you are in the top right corner of the second area of the Ruins of Vina, drop a save.

Sara Boss Fight

Three actions per turn.

Meira and Orange in the front, Sumireko and Ran behind.

• Reflect will come out first, but Meira knows quick thrust (which will outspeed it) and Orange nulls pierce (so reflect won’t hurt her).
  
• Hit her with every debuff, use Miera and Orange’s pierce attacks.
  
• If Sumireko struggles to survive, use Unzan's or Yuuma's (mind the force weakness) affinities.
  
• 4620 xp, lv 35: more VIT

Fallen Temples

West will drain health with every step, East will drain MP.
West temple has Yuki (fire), East has Mai (ice).

Orange and Meira still outspeed everything: same drill as Vina
Once the boss is defeated, the tile effects go away.
Have magic fabrics on hand for a quick exit

The first floor of the East temple has a treasure room near the bottom with six doors leading to chests. All but the top left, West door is trapped.

• This chest contains the Iado Katana, which gives Sumireko +15 AGI (she can finally defend before being attacked now).

The second floor of the East Temple, near the middle of the bottom of the map is a chest that contains demon armor: +66 DEF.

The second floor of the West temple contains the metal face (+60 MDEF, +5 INT, MAG, and VIT). The chest can be found in the bottom part of the “cross” the map makes.

Yuki Boss Fight

Two actions per turn

Debuff her and use acalasol + acala amp
As long as you debuff her attack, you can get away with the same team you used for Sara. Same pierce attacks too.

• If that doesn’t work out, replace Orange with Elis and Ran with Louise and use ice
  
• Suika’s affinities for Sumireko
  
• Cleanse or hideluo for the paralyze
  
• 6600 xp 2500 yen, enough for lv 36: more INT

Mai Boss Fight

Two actions per turn

Same team and same pierce attacks will still work.

• Buff defensively, use agnisol and agni boost.
  
• Letty or Mai’s affinities if Sumireko takes too much damage
  
• Cleanse, resource + hideluo stone, or hideluo for sleep and paralyze (from liver punch)
  
• 6600 xp 2500 yen, enough for lv 37: more VIT

Once you've beaten both Mai and Yuki, they will be at the gate above Makai City.

Mai and Yuki Boss Fight

Same stats as before, each gets two actions per turn

Elis and Sara in the front, Sumireko and Louise behind. Have backup sleepers like Meira, Mai, and a Yuki that knows acalasol + acala amp

• Focus Mai: she has less HP and agni boost makes agni attacks do more damage
  
• Don’t go to max stacks of either buffs or debuffs; they can clear both
  
• They can buff/debuff attack and defense
  
• Kisume’s affinities for Sumireko
  
• There will be tons of ailments going around
  
  • Cleanse, hideluo, or resourceful + hideluo rock

Once Mai goes down, you will probably be low on MP even with MP spring.

• Swap out sleepers or take the time to restore MP with items
  
• Yuki and Meira can replace the frontline. Mai can act as a healer and survive well enough if Yuki’s attack is fully debuffed

13200 xp 5k yen, enough for lv 39: VIT and INT

Pandemonium

Recruit best girl Yumeko as a runner

• Paralyze helps greatly with this

Give her resourceful and stock up on light balls. There are many encounters with multiple Yumekos that will make running away normally difficult.

Refill all of your dungeon items and use them often. You will likely not survive an ambush or a full turn from these encounters.

• Remember when Sumireko could defend before being attacked? Me neither.

In the bottom left of the lower stratum (the invisible map floor) are stairs that lead up to a chest that contains the metal fingers (+40 MATK, +5 STR, AGI, and LUK).

• The swords go away after beating Yumeko.

Yumeko Boss Fight

She also knows dai-atma and dai-para
Three actions per turn

• Loves to use pierce + ailment moves
  
• Will outspeed your party

Your best bet is probably using Yumeko and Mima in the front, with Sumireko and Yukari in the back

• The ailments are the worst part of this fight, so a full pierce immune team would likely clear this. Her magic attack is really low and she hardly ever uses acalasol.
  
  • Please disregard this idea if Yumeko detects the immunities and starts spamming Megidolaon.

I used Yumeko and YuugenMagan in the front, Sumireko and Sariel behind.

• Any drain pierce affinity for Sumireko
  
• Yukari, Mima, or Reimu are other sleepers you may have in stock that are good against pierce
  
• Regardless of the party, spam azanisol + azani amp and don’t go too crazy with buffs/debuffs.
  
• 12375 xp 10k yen, enough for lv 40: more VIT. Sumireko should be at 67 INT and VIT.

Best Girl Shinki Superboss

She has every amp passive, knows bullet hell, guard pierce, poison dart, dai-atma/para, focus, charge, hideluo, and dark fog (AoE blind).
Paradise Lost: Maximizes her buffs (+3 to all) and minimizes yours (-3 to all).
Three actions per turn

She is always weak to pierce on the first turn of the fight.
She uses Paradise Lost on turn 1, then every 6 turns. If she is paralyzed/stunned/prevented and doesn’t use PL, she will do it on the next turn.

When she uses Charge or Focus, her next 3 moves will be of the same type (all physical or all elemental respectively)

• If she does charge and focus, on her next turn she will have a normal attack pattern (usually has at least two attacks)
  
  • Using charge and focus on the same turn = Yuddha-samira, meaning she can pierce.
    
    • Massive thanks to developer Potemki11 for clarifying; I never would have thought she could pierce like that.

https://youtu.be/YqUAD-QfLJw

The plan is to lower her health until she is just above 5k HP (you don’t want to activate last resort). Then, bring out Yukari and use Master of Reality to swap Shinki’s HP and MP.

From there, we let Shinki drain all of her MP (by attacking) until she can no longer use any abilities (she can still basic attack and use PL).
Once her MP is low, we can use a sleeper (Yuuma drains phys, so I chose her) with yomisol + yomi amp + yuddha-samira to drain Shinki’s MP to 0.

• Yukari is then brought out to use Master of Reality again, which defeats Shinki.

Keep track of PL.
Resourceful + items are the only way to outspeed her. When she is in last resort, you likely won't outspeed her at all.
Have max stacks of the important consumables (namely life chunk bundles, hideluo stones, dai-atma/para rocks, energy drinks, and first aid kits). Bring many soul stones.
Sumireko needs cover for most/all of the fight.
Cover provides some damage resistance, but not ailment resistance. Prioritize survival.

All of this is much easier said than done.
I believe this is the best strategy for Shinki. However, I probably I exhausted my only braincell over the duration of trying to beat her, so I may be missing something.
Between this section and the video, you get the general idea.

For more information, read on. Apparently each section of a Steam Guide has a character limit of 8k, and my additional notes on this fight exceed that, twice.

I'd only recommend scrolling down there if you really want more information. I repeat and re-state many things and theory-craft strategies that ultimately culminate into the strategy you see in the video.

Shinki is Brutal...

There is a lot of RNG in this fight, and you’ll likely get unlucky given the length of it.
It doesn’t help that the two highest level sleepers (Kikuri and Shinki) have pierce and elec weaknesses.

When she is in last resort, she can (not necessarily will, but usually does) outspeed your +1 priority moves. That means you can’t consistently defend and can’t throw items before she wreaks havoc on your team.
Her outspeeding isn’t consistent in last resort.
I’ve had a friendly Shinki be able to guard before enemy Shinki moves and a resourceful Kikuri (who I believe is the fastest sleeper other than Yumeko and SinGyoku) use an item after enemy Shinki attacks.
Then the next turn, I had friendly Shinki try to throw a dai-para stone, only for it to not come out before Shinki one-shot three party members (Sumireko included).
Since you can’t consistently clear PL buffs/debuffs at a time when she is the most dangerous, I’m willing to say trying to defeat her normally is a lost cause.

The other strategy for her is draining her MP, which comes with a load of it’s own problems.
Consequently, my winning strategy was a combination of both fighting her normally and draining her MP.

Once again, Shinki is brutal. That being said, she is the epitome of a superboss.
If you leave Sumireko un-covered, Shinki can decide to target her and end the fight. With the amount of ailments Shinki throws and how long this fight is, you WILL get unlucky once.
Even if you do cover Sumireko, Shinki can focus (previous turn) + hit weakness to kill the coverer and still have enough turns to kill Sumi.

You need to pray Shinki doesn’t hit weaknesses and doesn’t ailment anyone.
I cannot overstate how RNG this fight is. After PL, Shinki can any member of your party. If she doesn’t kill, you will be ailmented (if you weren’t defending) and/or severely low on health and need to use items to recover.

She loves to use any skill + focus/charge + paradise lost. That first skill can be an attack that can ailment or focus/charge (a.k.a setting up Yuddha-samira).
You can’t have everyone defend because someone needs to clear the other set of buffs/debuffs, and since you can’t move faster than Shinki, someone will have to eat a charged attack from her at neutral buffs.
If her attack crits (it will if she used Yuddha) or hits a weakness, it usually kills.

Even with the AGI from her gear (she has 27 total AGI), Sumireko can’t defend faster than Shinki can move.
If you respec Sumireko to have better AGI, she’ll be even more fragile. Trust me when I say she dies enough, even with high VIT and INT.

If you can’t consistently outspeed Shinki you’re in trouble. The resourceful passive is the solution.
You can only heal consistently (when she isn’t in last resort) with items (life chunk bundles: 300 hp restored, 450 on a crit).
You need someone to cover Sumireko almost always. Shinki can randomly decide to end the fight by double/triple targeting Sumi. Depending on the attack, two hits is enough to kill Sumi at +3 defense.

Even with cover you aren’t safe. Focus/charge into paradise lost can result in Shinki one-shotting a coverer (from near full HP) and then taking her last two turns to kill Sumireko.
First aid kits remove ailments.
Shinki can do it all: ailments, buffs/debuffs, charge/focus, crits, and damage.
If you get close to winning, she also has last resort (I cannot mention this enough; BEWARE LAST RESORT), which means she’ll hit 20% harder and is able to outspeed resourceful (turn order is not a consistent thing).
Unless you’re using Yuddha-samira, don’t bother attacking on turns when she is in last resort and is going to use PL. Normally PL comes out after all of your party members (not including Sumireko) attack, but in last resort, she can use PL before you attack (which can lead to you healing her).

The only consistent things about her is her PL timing and her actions after a focus/charge. Most of her other actions are random.
Someone will get paralyzed/confused and the worst thing will happen. (Shinki, Yumeko Kikuri are weak to it, Sariel and YuugenMagan can get confused, SinGyoku can get hit with both).

Keep track of PL. She uses PL on turn 1, then every 6 turns after. If she doesn’t cast it on the turn she is supposed to (prevent command or you ailmented her), she will use it on the next turn. Before Shinki uses it, have Sumi throw a dai- stone. Since Sumi is so slow, it’ll come out after PL but before the next turn. Next turn, have a resourceful party member throw the other dai stone, have someone cover Sumireko, and have Sumireko buff defense.

Have at least two coverers
When deciding who should cover, ask which one needs more defense and have them cover. Covering will not stop you from being ailmented, but if you are already ailmented, you cannot get a different one. Therefore, if deciding between two coverers at full HP, and one is blind, then you should have the blind one cover Sumireko and the non-blind one defend (so they don’t get ailmented).

Example: Shinki set up charge + PL on the previous turn, you used a dai-atma stone with Sumi afterwards. You have Yumeko, Shinki, Sumi, and Kikuri, and still need to clear debuffs.
Since Yumeko nulls pierce, she can live without the defense bonus from cover, thus, she should throw the dai-para stone.
Kikuri is weak to pierce and needs the defense, so she should cover.
Shinki can do whatever. Ideally she should guard but she probably needs to throw a life chunk bundle.
Sumireko buffs defense/debuffs attack


How do we lower Shinki’s HP?
Using Yuddha-samira (pierce move):
Pros:

• Hits are less frequent so you’ll suffer less defense penalties due to debilitating aura
  
• More consistent damage (i.e. only having Shinki attack, consistently hitting with spells benefiting from her high MATK)
  
• Can use an amp passive

Cons:

• Attacking twice results in more damage than a Yuddha (I’d estimate 30% more damage).
  
• Weaknesses seem stronger than crits. Bypassing resistance = neutral damage.
  
• Yuddha takes more MP than attacking twice (55 vs 46)
  
• The two turn setup can get destroyed by ailments.
  
• More to keep track of

Using coverage:
Pros:

• More damage than Yuddha-samira (estimated 30% more)
  
• Less MP (46 vs 55)
  
• Ailments won’t mess up a sequence
  
• Less to keep track of

Cons:

• Tight on slots: 5 slots are taken by near mandatory passives (HP spring, MP spring, resourceful, debilitating aura, and cleanse)
  
  • MP spring probably shouldn't be considered "mandatory," but it is nice to delay restoring MP as much as possible on the chance you get unlucky. You could easily get away with foregoing MP spring with an elemental, elemental passive, or bala-atma.
• Inconsistent damage (e.g. Shinki may not be vulnerable to the magic attacks that friendly Shinki has, causing you to use low-damage Kikuri’s physical attacks)
  
• More hits = more defense drops due to debilitating aura

I think there’s a lot going on in this fight already, so the last thing I’d want to do is add another thing to keep track of. Therefore, I would recommend using coverage instead of pierce strats.

Cover priority > resourceful priority meaning that if anyone uses cover, it will go before an item. This is bad when your cover-er is stunned/paralyze and you can’t do anything about it.
Sariel and Yuugenmagan cannot be paralyzed (but can get confused) so they are the best to cover Sumireko.

Party speed: Yumeko, SinGyouku, Kikuri, Shinki, Sariel, Sumireko, then YuugenMagan

• YuugenMagan will not get their items out before Shinki, even with resourceful. They can still cover since it has high priority, but it’s not recommended to bring them into the fight since they can’t use items first.

...very brutal...

Charge is physical, focus is magical

At +2 defense and full VIT/INT build, Sumireko dies in one, non-focused crit.
Last resort makes me sad.
Never have Sumireko defend with no AGI.
Double target Sumireko after PL = dead

I prefer to use Sariel instead of Yumeko: higher level, better def and matk.

• I have seen Yumeko outspeed Shinki, but most of the time she doesn’t. If this Shinki is lv 99, they are tied for turn order, and that’s not factoring in Shinki’s LUK stat.
  
• It’s a gamble on who goes first, but often what happens is Shinki uses all three actions and, if Yumeko isn’t paralyzed after, then Yumeko moves.
  
• Either way, Yumeko is really squishy and loves to get hit with azanisol + paralyzed.

On focus/charge turns, defend or pray.

• Sumireko needs cover.
  
• Cover-er takes reduce damage but still gets weaknesses hit
  
• Resourceful is a waste on Sumi. Sumireko uses items after Shinki’s last turn
  
• This applies at base agility. May have to mess around with Sumi’s stats.

Shinki can kill a party member at neutral buffs (triple target). She doesn’t even need focus/charge.

No one can outspeed Shinki except Yumeko sometimes.
Everyone else in the party gets ailmented before they can move
Sumireko dies easily after Paradise Lost. Cover is mandatory almost always

Junko’s affinities can be used so Sumireko doesn’t need to be covered on charge turns.

Shinki doesn’t even need to crit to kill (focus/charge).
Crits are more common than you think thanks to Shinki’s high LUK.
Focus + charge = guaranteed piercing crit

Heaven and Hell/Social Distortion strats won’t work

• In hindsight, this is probably the only other viable strategy, but still requires luck to pull off.
  
  • Keep track of PL, have Seija/Hecatia use their skill on the turn Shinki casts PL.
    
  • Go full coverage on everyone to farm SP while the buffs/debuffs are still up.
    
  • Pray Shinki doesn't land hits or clear buffs/debuffs

No outspeed = Shinki will hit a weakness, drain your SP and the skill will fail.
Covering does NOT get rid of weakness.
She can remove debuffs/buffs, so even if you have a successful cast, its mileage will vary.
There is not nearly enough xp from bosses to level Hecatia/Seija to the point where they are acceptable contrubitors in the fight that don’t need constant cover.

• From the Watatsuki sisters to before Shinki, Sumireko earned 86,999 xp.
  
• The sleepers would be getting less xp than Sumireko (due to the sleepers being higher level) and the xp sleepers need to level up increases with each level.
  
• Base Seija needs 15,314 xp to reach level 57, at best, she would be level 61.
  
• Base Hecatia needs 7,746 xp to reach level 41, at best, she would be level 52
  
• Even with better fusion 1 and 2, the max level sleeper I could fuse is 50.

Cover strats fall apart when the cover-er is ailmented or dies. The fight goes on long enough that you’ll get unlucky once.
Be sure to have at least two party members that can cover.

Poison does 50 damage to her and she knows hideluo.
She doesn’t seem to prioritize casting hideluo, and the poison effect seems to last indefinitely until she removes it.

Alice’s Master of Puppets skill makes Shinki attack herself for one turn (she focused, acalasol’d herself, then used dark fog), then the status effect is removed.
If Shinki is under the effect of Master of Puppets on a turn where she is supposed to cast PL, she won’t cast PL but her resistances will change. The next turn she’ll cast PL.

You will need to restore MP at some point during the fight.
Restore MP when you can (usually at high defense buffs, high health, and when Shinki didn’t focus/charge on the previous turn)
You do NOT want to be low on MP when Shinki is in Last Resort range.

Be careful when YuugenMagan or Yumeko are in the fight; both are squishy, low level, and have bad weaknesses (not that Shinki or Kikuri are that much better)

SinGyoku can live, but their offensive stats aren’t the greatest. Use them only if you have to.
You’ll want to end the fight ASAP when in Last Resort range.

• That is, if you choose to try to fight her in Last Resort (not recommended).

Guess who is also weak to pierce?

MP drain strats prolong an already extremely long fight. Drawing out the fight means you’ll eventually get hit with triple targeting and many ailments, even while playing defensively.

The largest red flag of this strategy is the fact that you will likely run out of healing items. No items = not being able to heal before she attacks. I would still recommend it over trying to kill her normally (because last resort haunts me 😊).
Sustaining through abilities is not consistent due to ailments.
If you have an ailment on you, she cannot apply another one. Dropping cleanse is a possibility but...

• This is problematic: blind goes away and keeping everyone poisoned = more healing or more dying.
  
• Without cleanse, paralyze and stun last longer and require you to use more resources (that you need to conserve in the long fight) to clear, or deal with the consequences.

99 first aid kits, life chunk bundles, and hideluo stones to live off of for 500ish turns is not a good bet.
There are turns where you need to use multiple of these items.
I still wager a combination of a sustain party + a reflection strat has more success than trying to reduce her HP to 0 normally.
However, a combination of both fighting her normally and draining her MP is probably your best best.

Yukari’s unique skill in an AoE swap of HP and MP values. This means if you use it on Shinki, you will reduce her MP from 90k to 25k (her health stays at 25k).

Junko’s affinities + Junko + Hiapahani-jala strats are doomed to fail since Shinki can setup Yuddha-samira with charge + focus. Because the point of this strat is to draw out hundreds of turns, you’ll probably get hit with her pierce combo and die.
I have gotten lucky and went over 200 turns without seeing this combo. This strat may be a good opener for you to burn through many turns quickly. You passively gain SP from this strat and so when you decide its time to transition to a full team instead of just Sumi + Junko you can use prevent command and summon a coverer.

Turning on instant turns may be worthwhile. However, once you try to survive without the reflection loop, this may be your demise since you cannot tell when Shinki is using focus/charge.

• I don’t think it’s possible to fully drain Shinki’s MP with just the reflection loop alone

If using reflection for the first part, I would recommend starting with Sumi + Junko in the front, and a throw-away sleeper + Yukari in the back.

• Sumi + Junko start the reflect loop (Sumi casts Hiapahani-jala, Junko throws MP restores)
  
• Throw-away covers Yukari, and Yukari uses Master of Reality.
  
• Throw-away and Yukari are expected to die afterwards.
  
• Continue to push your luck with the reflect loop.

Assuming Shinki doesn’t use her pierce combo, you can survive 350+ turns with this loop if you don’t waste any MP from Coffee and Energy Drinks.
You can go even longer if you sprinkle in tea and blue dragon gem uses, along with command halts to have both Sumi and Junko use MP restores.
Once you think you’ve gotten far enough, halt command and start summoning a party focused on sustaining.

...last one I promise

Burst damage at the start (all pierce) then Yukari’s skill can cut down some time, but without buffs/debuffs you’ll probably do <1k damage

Boosters + halt command can buy you more time, but Yukari still needs SP for her skill.
You will have to survive hundreds of turns: we’re talking in the 400-500 turn range
You may want Sumireko to defend instead of be covered.
60 base AGI + 20 from gear seems enough for Sumi to always defend before Shinki.
Defending still won’t stop her from getting two shot at no buffs. She needs covered until you get defensive buffs up.

You will need:
Max items (99 consumables of each stone/bundle/MP item)
Have everyone be built for sustain and have cover
Rotate everyone’s MP for sustaining. Others use defend/healing items as necessary.
Restore MP when you can

• Praying stance is risky. +30% damage taken, can be removed with an ailment, but can also remove an ailment (depends on which gets applied second)

You can’t be ailmented while defending
Buff defense and debuff her attack. Try to do an even split of buffs/debuffs so she doesn’t clear all of your defenses with one dai-atma/para

If her MP is drained she will only use basic attack and PL.
Have someone with a way to drain her MP to zero, then Yukari’s skill will kill.

• Satori’s spiritual healing skill
  
• Yomisol + Yomi amp + Yuddha-samira

Conclusion

That's about all I have to say. I hope you found this guide useful, or entertaining at the very least.

I apologize for any inaccuracies and if my formatting and eccentricities were annoying.

On the off-chance you were following along with your own playthrough, congratulations!

Regardless, have a nice day :)

[⛏]

@Yurification
No problem, hope it helps! :)

[遊びで人を殴る]

Very informative. Thank you.