[ Guide ] SMT / Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne HD Remastered Demon Tier List

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While the English release of SMT / Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne HD Remastered is still a while away, you’ll be thanking us for our foresight in making this handy dandy tier list to avoid maybe one less endless ENEMY TURN scenario. Jokes aside, you can, of course, finish the game with your favourite demons by manipulating game mechanics like the turn press, innate resistances and inheritable skills that can make the same demon vastly different from playthrough to playthrough.

BASICS

This SMT 3 tier list is based on a given demon’s:

Number of resistances
Difficulty on inheriting skills
Initial level
Fusion difficulty

Physical damage wins out magical damage, as physical damage can continuously be raised as you level up even when your STR is capped (40). Magic damage will be capped according to your MAG stat (also 40). Thus inheritable physical skills have more weight, namely Thrust, Weapons, Claws, Fangs. This also means a demon’s ability to become a magic dealer will not be considered, but as long as they have skill slots free, you can throw in a magic-based skill as needed as all magical skills can be inherited by any demon.

You may see some demons with low initial levels still be ranked highly. This is because all demons can be capped out fully with mitama and levelled beyond 99. The game’s max level is 250, but visually you will only see this as lv. 99. This just means that lower initial level demons can still outclass others. Without further ado, the SMT 3 Tier List.

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TIER S DEMONS

Vishnu	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Vishnu	Deity	3	None	Prayer, Hades Blast, Radiance
Resist	Phy, Fire, Ice, Force, Mind, Nerve, Curse
Repel	Expel
Nul	Death
Inheritable Skills	Thrust, Weapon
Shiva	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Shiva	Fury	3	None	Victory Cry, Hassohappa, Megidolaon
Resist	Phy, Fire, Ice, Force, Mind, Nerve, Curse
Nul	Expel, Death
Inheritable Skills	Thrust, Weapon
Beelzebub	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Beelzebub	Tyrant	2	None	Deathflies, Victory Cry, Megidolaon
Resist	Phy, Ice, Elec, Force
Repel	Expel, Death
Nul	Mind, Nerve, Curse
Inheritable Skills	Thrust, Claw
Metatron	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Metatron	Seraph	5	None	Fire of Sinai, Victory Cry, Debilitate
Resist	Phy, Fire, Elec, Force
Nul	Expel, Death, Mind, Nerve Curse
Inheritable Skills	Thrust
Surtr	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Surtr	Tyrant	3	None	Attack All, Ragnarok, War Cry
Absorb	Fire
Weak	Ice
Nul	Death, Mind, Nerve
Inheritable Skills	Thrust, Weapon
The Harlot	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
The Harlot	Fiend	3	None	Focus, Beast Roar, Dekunda
Absorb	Elec
Repel	Phy
Nul	Expel, Death, Mind, Nerve, Curse
Inheritable Skills	Thrust, Bite

These demons have generally many resistances, immunity to status effects and nullifying instant deaths. Exceptions will be noted, namely:

Surtr
- Packs a physical attack dealing fire-based damage, thus can be boosted by relevant fire-boosts
- To make him more durable you’d want a slot to nullify ice damage e.g. Void Ice / Drain Ice / Repel Ice
- This ends up making Surtr hard to customize, but the sheer firepower he packs makes it worth while
Beelzebub
- Only 2 innate skills means he can be fit into any role
- Cons: mutating Hamaon, Mudoon or Diarama will be needed if you want him to learn Iron Claw, the highest DPS Claw ability
Harlot and Beelzebub deal the highest single target damage through Iron Claw and Hell Fang
- Sacrifices the least HP out of the Tier S demons
Metatron
- Least customizable demon, but many useful support spells e.g. Tarukaja, Debilitate
- Also possesses arguably the best in-game passive, Victory Cry

TIER A DEMONS

Futomimi	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Futomimi	Kishin	4	None	Focus, War Cry
Resist	Phy
Nul	Expel, Death, Mind, Nerve, Curse
Inheritable Skills	Thrust
Seiten Taisei	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Seiten Taisei	Fury	3	None	Hassohappa, Tarukaja, Sukukaja
Nul	Phy, Expel, Death
Inheritable Skills	Thrust, Weapon
Aciel	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Aciel	Tyrant	2	None	Victory Cry, Hell Fang, Hades Blast
Resist	Fire, Ice, Elec, Force
Nul	Expel
Repel	Death
Inheritable Skills	Thrust, Bite
Albion	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Albion	Entity	3	Diarama	Hades Blast
Nul	Phy, Ice, Expel
Inheritable Skills	Thrust, Weapon
Michael	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Michael	Seraph	2	None	Deathbound, Victory Cry, Megidolaon
Nul	Fire, Ice, Elec, Force
Repel	Expel
Inheritable Skills	Thrust, Weapon
Hell Biker	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Hell Biker	Fiend	2	None	Hell Exhaust
Absorb	Fire, Expel, Death, Mind, Nerve, Curse
Nul	Force
Inheritable Skills	Thrust
Matador	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Matador	Fiend	2	None	Red Capote, Dekunda, Focus
Nul	Force, Expel, Death, Mind, Nerve, Curse
Inheritable Skills	Thrust, Weapon
Ongyo-ki	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Ongyo-ki	Brute	3	Megido, Mudoon	Victory Cry
Nul	Phy, Death, Mind, Curse
Weak	Expel
Inheritable Skills	Thrust, Weapon

All demons featured in this tier do not have weaknesses, but fall short in several places in having lesser resistances and non-mutatable innate skills for less flexibility. Noteworthy demons in this tier are:

Aciel
- Victory Cry, Hellfang, Hades Blast being the best combination of innate skills
- Highly customizable and easiest demon to fuse
Michael: With skills no longer requiring RNG, it’s much easier to assemble the skills for this unit
Metador and Hellbiker have somewhat useful innate skills and pack a good number of resistances
- Also has access to Physical skills like Thrust
Futomimi
- Has good resistances but 4 innate skills make him less flexible to use
Ongyo-Ki
- Will need a skill slot for void expel. Otherwise has overall good resistances
- With the removal of RNG for fusing skills, this demon becomes far more viable

TIER B DEMONS

Titania	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Titania	Fairy	2	None	Prayer
Resist	Fire, Ice, Elec, Force
Repel	Expel, Death
Inheritable Skills	None
Atropos	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Atropos	Femme	3	Bufudyne, Ziodyne, Zandyne, Megidola	None
Nul	Expel, Death, Mind
Inheritable Skills	None
Lachesis	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Lachesis	Femme	3	None	Rakukaja, Sukukaja
Nul	Mind, Nerve, Curse
Inheritable Skills	None
Cu Chulainn	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Cu Chulainn	Genma	3	Retaliate, Zandyne	Sukukaja
Repel	Force
Nul	Expel
Inheritable Skills	Thrust, Weapon
Valkyrie	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Valkyrie	Wargod	2	Counter, Diarama, Agilao	None
Absorb	Fire
Nul	Expel
Inheritable Skills	Thrust, Weapon
Loki	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Loki	Tyrant	2	Mudoon, Mana Gain	None
Resist	Phy, Fire, Ice, Elec, Force, Mind, Nerve, Curse
Inheritable Skills	Thrust
Pale Rider	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Pale Rider	Fiend	2	Megido, Mudoon	Bright Might, Dark Might, Pestillence
Nul	Ice, Expel, Death, Mind, Nerve, Curse
Inheritable Skills	Thrust, Weapon
Red Rider	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Red Rider	Fiend	2	None	Dekunda, Wind Cutter, Terrorblade
Nul	Elec, Force, Expel, Death, Mind, Nerve, Curse
Inheritable Skills	Thrust, Weapon
Daisoujou	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Daisoujou	Fiend	2	None	Prayer, Meditation
Absorb	Mind, Curse
Repel	Death
Nul	Expel, Nerve
Inheritable Skills	None
Black Rider	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Black Rider	Fiend	2	Megidola	Megidolaon, Soul Divide
Absorb	Ice
Nul	Death
Inheritable Skills	None
Lilith	Race	Innate Skills	Mutatable Skills	Notable Skills
Lilith	Night	2	None	Hell Fang
Resist	Fire, Ice, Elec, Force
Nul	Expel, Death
Inheritable Skills	Bite

Most of the demons in this tier do not have weaknesses, and even have pretty good resistances. However, their inheritable skills aren’t up to par and it takes a lot of effort to make them viable. Some specific examples are:

Valkyrie and Loki
- No weaknesses and quite a few mutatable skills, making them super flexible
- However, mutating their skills as well as levelling them up will require a fair amount of investment
  - Example skill set 1: (DPS + debuffer + recovery support + buff) – Focus, Pierce, Hades Blast, Delibitate, Prayer, Samrecarm, Tarukaja, Victory Cry
  - Example skill set 2: (DPS + buff + canceler + recovery support) – Focus Pierce, Hades Blast, Tarukaja, Rakukaja, Dekaja, Dekunda, Prayer, Victory Cry
Titania, Lachesis, Atropos, Daisoujou, Black Rider all have good resistances, hampered by their inability to learn Physical skills and are forced into healing / support / debuff roles
- They can be made into Magic DPS units, but as we’ve established, Magic Damage gets hard-capped late game and thus not as efficient
Pale Rider and Red Rider can learn Physical skills, but their innate skills are bad
Lilith has good resistances but only has Hellfang and cannot inherit Hades Blast
Cu Chulainn has no weaknesses, but resistances are subpar
- Seiten Taisei ranks higher due to having Null Physical

CLOSING WORDS

To reiterate, yes, you can play through the game however you like. Our SMT 3 tier list is merely our recommendations to get through the game as painlessly where possible.

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster will be available in the west in Spring 2021 with Dante available as an add-on paid DLC.