Quite possibly the most important element in SMT5, Ice skills will form a key part of your repertoire at key points in the game. Sure, you could argue that Dark should be up there for it’s last-boss-killing status, but Ice is the weakness of both the first major boss and the secret post game target, never mind the countless targets in between. Regardless of your opinion, you will at some point need to get yourself some powerful Ice skills, so we’ve broken down 5 choices of Ice-specialising Demons that will serve you well throughout the game. Fair warning however, we really do not like one of the choices… See if you can work out which one it is.
5. Mermaid
Alright, we’d like to preface our first choice by saying that Mermaid is unequivocally a bad Demon. Azumi is for all intents and purposes a better Demon, with more options, better all round performance and arguably more useful statistics in the long run. However, Mermaid has access to one Ice skill in particular that was clearly designed with the early game in mind: Stormcaller’s Song. This is a multi-hit Ice spell that deals 3-6 hits, and it’ll demolish pretty much anything that is weak to Ice… Like the first main boss of the game.
It’s hard to argue against something that’s so perfectly created for such a purpose, unfortunately, so we’ll be completely honest with what you should do: Get Mermaid, use the broken spell to deal with the Hydra, then fuse it with a Slime to make Azumi, which is an Ice demon that’s actually useful for literally any other encounter in the game. We’ve written about countless Demons or Persona in our time, and this is honestly the first time that we’ve been annoyed with having to include one in our articles…
Demon Benefits
- Innately knows Stormcaller’s Song, a very powerful multi-hit Ice spell.
- Very high Magic stat.
- Literally useless after the first boss. If you want a low level Ice demon for regular battles, grab Azumi. You can fuse Mermaid with a Slime to achieve this. Seriously, you’ll hate this demon in regular battles after a while.
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4. King Frost
You’ll likely note that there’s a fairly large gap in levels between our first and second choice here, for which there are two reasons. Firstly, you really don’t need us to tell you how to get the occasional Bufu or Mabufu spell at this point. And secondly, there really aren’t that many that perform better than the basic Azumi (not Mermaid, grumble). Fans will likely point towards Jack Frost, after all it is an iconic series favourite, however the unique spells that it features really aren’t that great in practice. No, if you want the next real highlight, you’ll have to wait for King Frost, which includes completing his ‘A Wish for a Fish’ quest.
Thankfully the effort is worthwhile. Not only does this demon have access to the medium single target Ice skill Bufula, but it also innately knows the unique King Bufula skill, which deals big Ice damage to every target and simultaneously inflicts them with Rakunda, decreasing their defence. Were that not enough, it also innately knows Ice Pleroma, which boosts Ice damage by a chunky 20%. All of this combines to make King Frost a mid-game Ice-based powerhouse.
Demon Benefits
- Innately knows Bufula, the medium single target Ice skill.
- Innately knows the unique King Bufula, which is an all-targeting Ice skill that also inflicts Rekunda to all struck.
- Innately knows Ice Pleroma, which increases Ice damage dealt by 20%.
- Even features a +5 Ice Affinity, for super reduced costs!
- Some may note that it learns Concentrate at level 36, however this particular skill is a trap in SMT5, since it only increases damage by 80% for the next spell. Casting two spells in two rounds will deal more damage, and the MP saved is limited given that it costs MP too.
3. Sui-Ki
Yet another chunky gap here too, however this is more down to the power of King Frost than anything else. Realistically, that particular demon will keep your Ice damage up for quite a long time, and this meant that we really didn’t have to search for another until the mid 50’s, which is where Sui-Ki comes into play. Given that this is around the time that strength based elemental attacks are introduced, most notably via Surt with Fire skills, Sui-Ki introduces the Ice version of such things.
As you might imagine then, it has access to Ice Dracostrike, which deals strength-based Ice damage, and it has a good stat spread to back this up too. This will do very well against single targets around this point in the game, however it does eventually back this up by learning Mabufudyne at level 59, which is the heavy group targeting Ice spell. This is pretty much the size of the Ice side of the equation, however it does also feature a few useful physical skills too, making it reasonable at dealing with enemies that aren’t weak to Ice, which will be handy towards the end of a tough mid game in SMT5.
Demon Benefits
- Innately knows the strength-based Ice attack, Ice Dracostrike.
- Learns Mabufudyne at level 59, which is an all-targeting heavy Ice spell.
- Also innately knows Fang Breaker, which reduces the target’s attack whilst dealing physical damage.
- Learns Deathbound at level 58, which is a useful all-targeting physical skill.
- Has a high Strength stat and a useful +4 Affinity for Ice and +2 Affinity for physical, to keep those costs down.
2. Skadi
Long time readers and fans of the SMT series of games may already know how we feel about Skadi, but it’s worth noting at this point that it’s one of our favourite visually designed demons/persona in the entire series, spin offs included. There’s something very menacing, intimidating and altogether cool about its dark design, and we tend to gravitate towards it regardless of its power. Happily in SMT5 the visuals are backed up by some real power too.
We’ll start with the Ice skills, which are Mabufudyne and Bufubarion. The former picks up where our prior choice left off, retaining an all-targeting heavy Ice spell, but the latter is particularly special, because it’s one of the earliest points at which the severe single target Ice spell can be found. This makes it ideal for taking on single targets that are weak to ice, and it’ll easily cover your Ice requirements in the late game. Oh and, in case you were wondering, it also has both of the same spell types but in the Dark family, which is a nice bonus.
Demon Benefits
- Innately knows Mabufudyne, the all-targeting heavy Ice spell.
- Learns Bufubarion, the severe single target Ice spell, at level 69.
- Also has access to Mamudoon and Mudobarion, which are Dark skills of the same type as those above.
- High Magic stat, to take advantage of those powerful single target spells.
- +4 and +3 Affinities in Ice and Dark respectively.
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1. Gabriel
Given that the end game of any modern Shin Megami Tensei game is replete with route requirements, there can really only be one winner in the end game Ice category, and that’s Gabriel. Yes, you have to clear a quest called ‘The Holy Ring’, but it’s wholly worthwhile for this beast of a demon. You’ll have all of your Ice requirements covered here, and a whole lot more to boot, so make sure you clear it as soon as you can.
As you might imagine, Gabriel has access to the ‘Pierce’ Ice skill Ice Age, which is a trend shown on pretty much all end game elemental demons. This means that the skill will ignore any defence and deal a great amount of damage at the same time. Further to this, Gabriel will learn Glacial Blast at level 88, which strikes random enemies, or indeed one target, between 2 and 5 times for big damage. All of this might sound rather normal for an end game demon, however it’s all backed up by a massive 40% damage boost in the form of High Ice Pleroma, learned at level 87. This, combined with a good Magic stat, means that it’s pretty much unmatched in terms of Ice damage, outside of those willing to tinker like crazy for max stats. It even features a full HP resurrect spell and a single target heal, because why not, right?
Demon Benefits
- Innately knows Ice Age, the single target Ice skill that features the Pierce effect, to ignore defence.
- Learns Glacial Blast at level 88, which is a powerful multi-hit Ice spell.
- Learns High Ice Pleroma at level 87, which boost Ice damage by a huge 40%.
- Has a huge +5 Ice Affinity.
- Additionally, has access to the strongest regular Bless group attack Mahamabarion, a single target heal and cleanse combined in Diamrita and even the full HP revive, Samarecarm.
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Categories: Shin Megami Tensei 5