SMT V ~ Vengeance - Shiva [No Cheese Strats/Early Empyrean] (Low Level [80], Hard, Path of Creation)

L RIP BOZO
Rules:
1) Hard difficulty, New Game. Godborn difficulty is bullshit for Low Level.
2) This run aims for FULL completion of Talismans and Abscesses (which is not "true low level" for many of you people, so go cry about it on /smtg/) on the Transcended Lucifer route with the intention of defeating Demi-fiend; minimizing EXP gain before Shiva level gate as much as possible.
However, as Talisman/Abscesses are very minor and not interesting in general, there will be no recording of the fight as it's very similar to base V, so the run will focus ONLY on the mandatory fights, unless stated otherwise.
3) Allowing Macca cheats to minimize grinding as much as possible as well as allowing Grimoires to be used, but banning the usage of EXP/Macca/Glory DLC, and Gospels. This will also ban the usage of the DLC items you received at the beginning of the game. Statues are naturally banned.
5) All essences are allowed on Nahobino. Incenses/balm or miracle that alters demons/Nahobino stats are not allowed. [July 2nd, 2024: Also, no Sutra allowed.]
6) [NEW - June 28th, 2024] Restricting the use of Accursed Poison in recorded runs. This skill HAS been nerfed, HAS been readjusted so now it's not as broken as it was before, however, the effect it has can still turns the tide of a fight significantly - therefore it will be banned, and depending on how Demi-fiend goes, this can be lifted SPECIFICIALLY for that fight.
7) [NEW - June 28th, 2024] Banning the usage of Fiend demons and old DLC demons (Cleopatra; Artemis; Mephisto).
8) [NEW - July 1st, 2024] For the sake of "no bullshit", RNG-related Miracles such as Skill Manifestation is disallowed.
No Cheese Strats = No Adversity, No Arioch, No Arahabaki, No Accursed Poison, etc etc...
No Early Empyrean = Get through the alignment lock part to get essences then come back to fight him, which makes the fight easier because of stuff like Boon Boost EX.
The level scaling changes has tremendously decreased Shiva's difficulty as a superboss. Granted, he is still locked behind 80 (sucks for True Creation Ending] but at least I was dealing 15 times more damage than what it originally was back in V, lmao.
Still, this is no braindead boss.
Our team is a very solid and well-rounded one. No, this is NOT a meme waifu team, this is a legit sustain offensive defensive team. I tried to deal with Impaler's Animus combo with Fire resist on everyone, but in the end, the nerf was too big making his attacks pretty much harmless, so the only thing that's trouble some is his Tandava and Megidolaon. Luckily, Kannabi Veil is a very good option for them early in the fight and later on when buffs are not properly applied. Because Nahobeeho is of Fairy Race, we get to choose not two but THREE options for Magatsuhi: Prayer + Samarecarm stock-wide on crack, "1.5x more damage for nothing" and Fairy Banquet, my beloved. This lets us play more flexible when something goes wrong.
As you can see, there are two main attackers, and two main supporters. The rest in stock are for backup if one dies, though if one dies in the first place I'd have reset the fight immediately, plus with the exception of Idun everyone has Enduring Soul so it's not much of a big deal when things go south. I've ditched Thalassic Calamity completely and this will stays that way for True Lucifer due to how inconsistent it is, and there's better options available for damage now. Nahobeeho should mostly be spaming Dracostrike rather than his signature move because 1) It can hits the other two and we need them alive to not gain extra EXP 2) This is very inconsistent and consumes a lots of MP, for something that Dracostrike can do for less MP, and only half the damage. Whenever Anahita appears, we HAVE to kill it before the third turn begins, otherwise we lost the fight due to the pushback in damage. This is why I have to make sure Kali AND Ganesha not die: Kali only spams Masukunda and Fogna throughout the fight, which is annoying, but at least it's NOT Sexy Dance; Ganesha uses Matarunda, which is fine, but most importantly: Critical Wave. This basically lets us skip two turns they have and they're generally better to dealt with than Parvati and Dakini. Dekaja is not really big of a problem, because Shiva uses Tandava, and we have Fairy Banquet to fix it up anyways. And that's it. We keep them in a loop - kill the snake, then focus on Shiva, heal up, reapply debuff/buff, then repeat. I think this is the least EXP that I could gain from this fight with this pace. Overall it's satisfying to beat without having to resort in cheap cheese strats anymore - what we got is already good enough for this fight, no more, no less. Alright! That's two down. Transcended Lucifer and Demi-fiend left. It's gonna be a rough week, I gotta sleep...

[@nathan7031]

> meme waifu team
nahobeeho is best girl truly
EDIT: Also comparing this to Bucketgetter's old clear in vanilla is like night and day lol. Level scaling really was a bitch huh

[@YurificationTrademark]

Also the extra stats gained from bench-talking with Aogami.
Honestly this being my first and final attempt is pretty funny, too. If this was fought at a lower level, this fight would be significantly more interesting. Oh well...

[@steam-powereddolphin5449]

@@YurificationTrademark I know that mods may be considered cheating for serious challenge runs (unless they're major mods like Nocturne Hardtype), but I wonder if someone could make a mod for SMT5V PC that removes the minimum level requirement of 80 for the Shiva fight...

[@YurificationTrademark]

​@@steam-powereddolphin5449i'd be down for that, honestly

[@flynn1545]

Jack Tempest, my beloved...

[@felipezamora9711]

Nahobeeho is the GOAT FR

[@kishannathan4186]

i did this at 85 and thought rhat was crazy nvm

[@adityajatin6598]

Bro, I had a level 95 party and still had to retry 4 times lol

[@Magnet977]

Shiva really is all about setup with some RNG. Once you understand the mechanics of the fight and what the pain points are (IE Ananta and other healing shenanigans) it gets MUCH easier. The other superbosses are way worse to be honest. Back in vanilla SMT 5 though we only had this and Demi-fiend though lol.