Shin Megami Tensei V Beginner Tips - Press Turns, Demons, and Da'at Survival

Shin Megami Tensei V is a challenging turn-based RPG developed by Atlus and published by Nintendo in Europe, with regional publishing handled by Atlus and Sega elsewhere. This guide covers the original Nintendo Switch release, where the Nahobino explores Da’at, recruits demons, builds parties through fusion, and wins by controlling the Press Turn system.

Content warning: Shin Megami Tensei V is a mature fantasy RPG with violent combat, demonic and mythological imagery, bad language, blood, partial nudity, and sexual themes. This guide stays focused on non-graphic gameplay advice.

Shin Megami Tensei V is harder than a typical beginner RPG guide can make it sound. The goal here is not to remove the danger from Da’at, but to give you habits that make losses useful, boss attempts cleaner, and party-building less overwhelming.

Essential Tips

1. Treat Weaknesses as the Real Health Bar

Damage matters, but turn control matters more. When you hit a weakness or land a critical hit, you stretch your side of the round. When you miss, hit an immunity, or run into a reflect or drain, you can lose the momentum that was keeping the party alive.

Build every party around elemental coverage first. You want enough options to test enemies, punish known weaknesses, and avoid wasting turns when a boss resists your favorite attack.

2. Protect the Nahobino Before Everyone Else

Your demons are replaceable during the long arc of a playthrough. The Nahobino is the center of your battle plan. If his affinities leave a common weakness exposed, enemies can chain extra turns into a fast loss.

Use defensive Essence changes carefully when a boss or area keeps punishing the same weakness. A slightly less flashy Nahobino who survives the enemy’s best element is better than a glass-cannon build that hands out free turns.

3. Recruit Often, Then Fuse Without Sentiment

Demons are party members, skill carriers, fusion material, and negotiation tools. Recruit broadly, but do not try to keep every early demon forever by leveling it like a normal RPG companion.

Fusion is how your team keeps pace. A newly fused demon with better affinities, better skill potential, or useful passives is usually more valuable than an old favorite with outdated stats and poor coverage.

4. Use Guard When the Game Warns You

Guard is not a wasted turn. It reduces damage and can stop enemies from gaining extra actions when they strike a guarded weakness.

When a boss gathers Magatsuhi, when you do not know the next attack, or when a party member is exposed to a dangerous element, guard can turn a wipe into a reset point for your plan.

5. Spend Glory on Systems, Not Just Power

Miracles shape how flexible your party becomes. Stock space, skill slots, Essence options, item access, negotiation upgrades, and Magatsuhi support all change what you can solve.

Early damage is tempting, but quality-of-life and flexibility upgrades often pay off in every fight afterward. If a Miracle gives you more room to build, recruit, inherit, or survive, treat it as long-term power.

6. Keep Items in the Battle Plan

Skill slots are limited, and your perfect coverage demon may not be in the active party. Elemental shards, gems, healing items, and support items can fill gaps without rebuilding the whole team.

Items are especially useful when you need one specific element to claim a Press Turn, finish a Mitama, or recover before the enemy acts again.

7. Let Boss Attempts Scout the Problem

You are not failing if the first boss attempt teaches you the enemy’s elements, status pressure, or Magatsuhi timing. SMT V expects preparation.

After a loss, adjust affinities, bring demons that resist or null the dangerous element, add buffs or debuffs, and return with a party built for that fight instead of grinding blindly.

8. Explore Before Assuming You Need Levels

Da’at hides resources off the direct route: treasure, demons, artifacts for Macca, Miman, Mitama, quests, and useful encounters. If a wall feels too steep, search the surrounding area before repeating the same fight.

Exploration often gives you the currency, Glory, items, or fusion material that solves the problem more cleanly than raw levels.

9. Use Magatsuhi for Timing, Not Panic

Magatsuhi Skills do not spend a normal action, so a full gauge is a chance to swing a round without giving up your turn plan.

Use the gauge when your party is ready to capitalize: buffs active, weakness coverage lined up, healing stabilized, or a boss near a dangerous phase. Do not fire it just because the meter is full.

10. Build Demons for Jobs

A demon does not need every kind of skill. A strong party is easier to pilot when each demon has a purpose: elemental attacker, healer, buffer, debuffer, physical damage, item support, or resistance wall.

Match attacks to affinity strengths, cover key weaknesses where possible, and use passive skills to support the job the demon actually performs.

Build Around Press Turns

Press Turns make Shin Megami Tensei V feel punishing because both sides play by the same logic. Your reward for good scouting is more actions; your punishment for careless attacks is losing the round.

Start new encounters by learning affinities. If you have analysis information, use it. If not, test with low-risk elements and watch what works. Once you know a weakness, plan the turn so the demon who can hit it acts before the demon who needs setup.

Passing is part of that plan. If the current character cannot do anything useful, pass to preserve turn value for someone who can heal, hit a weakness, or set up a buff. Changing party members also costs tempo, so use it deliberately rather than as a panic button.

Enemy weaknesses matter, but your party’s weaknesses matter just as much. A demon with a great attack but a terrible exposed weakness can turn a boss round into a disaster. Before difficult fights, check the whole active party for repeated liabilities.

Demon Fusion and Essences

Fusion is the heart of long-term progress. Do not wait until a demon feels useless before replacing it. If fusion gives you better resistances, more relevant skills, or a cleaner role, the upgrade is doing its job.

Essences let you solve problems that leveling cannot. They can pass useful skills and, with the right Miracle support, change the Nahobino’s defensive affinities. Use them before roadblock fights where one element keeps deciding the battle.

Think in roles rather than favorites. A healer should have enough MP and support to keep turns stable. An elemental attacker should carry skills that match its strengths. A defensive demon should resist the attacks you expect to face. A support demon should survive long enough to apply buffs, debuffs, or items when needed.

The compendium is your safety net, but it costs Macca. Register important demons before fusing them away, sell artifacts when you need funds, and avoid draining your wallet on summons that do not solve the next problem.

Exploring Da’at

Da’at is not just space between battles. Its routes, cliffs, ruins, and side paths hide the materials that make combat manageable.

Miman are worth checking corners for because their rewards feed your Miracle growth. If an area offers help marking uncollected Miman for Macca, use it when cleanup becomes tedious. The faster you collect Glory, the sooner your party-building options open up.

Mitama encounters are valuable but awkward. Their weaknesses can change, and guessing wrong wastes the brief chance to defeat them. Use analysis tools or elemental items when possible, then act quickly before they escape.

Abscesses and tough roaming enemies are signals to prepare, not just warnings to grind. If one blocks progress, build for the demons inside it the same way you would for a boss: affinities first, buffs and debuffs second, damage third.

Leyline Founts should become part of your rhythm. Save, heal when needed, manage fusion, sell artifacts, restock items, and check whether your current party still makes sense for the area ahead.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Do not spam your strongest attack into unknown affinities - Test safely before risking a lost turn on a null, repel, or drain.

2. Do not ignore the Nahobino’s weaknesses - A single exposed element can let enemies chain turns into a loss.

3. Do not hoard every demon you recruit - Fuse regularly so your team keeps pace with the areas and bosses ahead.

4. Do not treat Guard as cowardice - Guarding at the right time prevents extra enemy turns and keeps the party alive.

5. Do not spend all Glory on short-term damage - Stock, skill slots, Essences, items, and negotiation upgrades can matter more over a full run.

6. Do not enter bosses with one damage type - Bring several elements and support options so you can adapt after scouting.

7. Do not waste Magatsuhi on an unprepared round - Use it when your party can convert the gauge into pressure, recovery, or control.

8. Do not skip side exploration when stuck - Miman, artifacts, Mitama, quests, and demons often solve the wall you are facing.

9. Do not build demons with unfocused skill sets - Give each demon a clear job and support that job with affinities and passives.

10. Do not forget that enemies use your rules too - They can exploit weaknesses, pressure your turn economy, and punish sloppy party construction.

Summary

Category	Top Tip
Combat	Win the Press Turn economy before chasing raw damage
Defense	Protect the Nahobino’s affinities and guard dangerous turns
Demons	Recruit broadly and fuse regularly instead of overleveling favorites
Essences	Use them to solve skill and resistance problems before roadblocks
Magatsuhi	Spend the gauge when your turn plan is ready to exploit it
Miracles	Prioritize flexible systems like stock, skills, Essences, and items
Exploration	Search Da’at for Miman, artifacts, Mitama, quests, and demons
Bosses	Treat losses as scouting, then rebuild for the actual threat