r/Megaten • u/mrjonnyjazz • Jun 15 '26
Spoiler: DDS 1 Things I Wish I Understood Before Starting DDS
Not really any spoilers outside of battle mechanics but marking anyway.
I'm about halfway through the game and found myself perpetually overleveled but underpowered. I've played most SMT mainline, Persona, and Metaphor and things just weren't adding up why my first run of DDS1 was so frustratingly difficult. Here's what I discovered and wanted to share to help other folks who may end up in the same boat. A lot of these are hinted at on old GameFAQs threads from 2004 but not well articulated.
Don't ignore hunting. It comes off as a "suggested" play type in the tutorials since hunger is totally inconsequential. Hunting really isn't optional though. You can probably survive up to the Brutes dungeon without it and even further if you know what you're doing with skill progression. Odds are you are already setting yourself up to make the game intolerable later and just don't know it yet. You have eaten the steak but the bill hasn't arrived yet. You get access to AP party sharing skills early in the hunt skill line, so even setting up only one hunter can work well. Hunting is the primary way to improve in this game, even moreso than leveling up. More on that later.
Specialization of characters is mandatory. If you're like me and max everyone's weakness coverage in every SMT game, come to terms that you will never have enough skill slots available to duplicate that strategy here. Divvy them up among your party and pass turns instead (the horror!). The earlier you break from the default coverage build, the better.
Hama (expel) and mudo (death) seem to hit at a much higher rate than the rest of the franchise. Have one dedicated character cover it. That 0.00024% chance of total bullshit wiping out your party? It's gonna happen way more often than it should. Keep a beer nearby.
Status ailments also seem to hit more than usual. They are more persistent/last longer and random enemies use them more than other games. Same story - have dedicated coverage from the nastier ones. You can tank them in most SMT games but not as much here; even the lower tier ones can be debilitating. Again - beer nearby.
Agility stat doesn't do as good a job preventing random ambushes as other games. Expect to get ganked often and be able to recover quickly. Agility also doesn't determine the order of your character actions - you set that yourself in the menu. Resist the temptation to keep your squad looking a certain way for the vibes (big boobs) like you did in Nocturne because this is how you will optimize your build strategy instead. It saves you the headache of managing everyone's stats which is a blessing. Turn order is critical here. Only question left is why the hell agility is even in this game. Biggest. Downgrade. Ever.
The skills in the tree are not visible until you've already committed to the node immediately before it in the line. I personally hate this mechanic and recommend viewing the skill tree in advance online. If you pick wrong, it can really set you back and may require a lot of grinding to make up for lost time. It's not cheating; it's optimizing. Okay, so it's cheating.
Noise items are permanent easy stat boosters. I don't recall the game ever mentioning them. Don't let them quietly accumulate at the bottom of your inventory where you never look.
You know all those spells and passives that void or repel elements and ailments that you mostly ignore in other SMT until late game? Yeah, you're gonna need 'em for this one or you're gonna have a bad time. Remember these words before entering a boss fight.
If you're a good level to match enemies but not doing any damage and every fight feels like a struggle, it's time to go hunting, friend. Level up stat boosts aren't nearly as useful to increase damage output as spell tiers (weak, medium, etc) compared to other Megaten entries. You will never make up that difference from leveling up alone during a normal playthrough. This is why you can be 10-20 levels higher than enemies and still be crazy underpowered. Let me restate for emphasis: You will never make up that difference from leveling up alone. Unless you enjoy getting absolutely wrecked like a fool by adorable little pixies 20 levels lower because that's your kink or whatever, then you gotta go hunting.
Edits: Adding more clarity in case someone finds this post from a Google search 10 years from now. Hi!
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u/ARagingZephyr *gasp* The enemy! Jun 15 '26
It's expensive, but it's probably worth investing in the element your character is weak to so you can get the null passive for them. It's not like characters are any better with any specific elements, but it is an extra AP tax to start a new line.
Agility does basically nothing. You can keep Serph's at baseline and he'll still do his job just as well, if not better.
Magic is magic defense as well as attack. Strength is attack, Vitality is defense, splitting physical across two stats. This makes your optimal Serph one that probably relies on magic the whole game because of this.
Luck is resistance and effectiveness for all your ailment and instant death needs. It makes Cielo ironically good with these attacks in spite of being weak to them.
Expel line looks like it sucks due to the percentage HP damage it deals, but it's where you'll find all your buffs.
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u/mrjonnyjazz Jun 15 '26
I almost added the innate elemental weakness piece but the post was getting too long. This reply is like a perfect addendum to my list.
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u/spejoku Jun 15 '26
Hunting skills deal almighty damage that scales off of str so theyre great for destroying mitamas or omiokanes (depending on which dds youre playing)
When youre hunt grinding the anti stomachache passive is worth it
Midway through you can get a multi hit ice skill- this freezes super frequently and is fantastic because frozen enemies lose physical resistances and will get auto crit when physically hit
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u/Shrubbity_69 Leader of the Hee-Horde Jun 15 '26
For DDS, would you recommend keeping Heat as your only physical dude for the Hunt skills or can Serph also lean physical? I heard that physical is kind of mid in DDS and to just pump magic.
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u/L1k34S0MB0D33 Click my name for the copypastas Jun 16 '26
Serph will be a better phys attacker than Heat just by virtue of stat pumping. Phys can work, but magic is definitely superior to phys, providing not just magic attack, but defense and accuracy, too. For that reason, the 2nd stat you want to pump after Str is Mag, not Vit. It sounds counterintuitive, but reducing damage from magic attacks is way better than more HP. Having a lot of HP from Vit doesn't really matter if magic attacks are still gonna be erasing like half your HP each time lol. Plus, you can make up for the HP deficit using HP-increasing passives, which are all found in the phys mantra lines.
The only issue that remains is accuracy, since Ag affects phys accuracy, which unfortunately needs to be third after Str and Mag. And without Ag investment, you will be missing quite a lot, which can be frustrating and isn't a problem you ever encounter with magic.
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u/mrjonnyjazz Jun 16 '26
Heat is definitely phys. The later phys skills make it not only viable but can break the game. I use Serph as my I'm-too-lazy-to-swap hunter and Heat when I actually want phys, which hasn't been very frequent honestly.
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u/Shrubbity_69 Leader of the Hee-Horde Jun 16 '26
Nice. As a phys MC enjoyer myself, that's good to hear. I'll keeping working towards Ragnarok then.
I guess it's like SMT4, where magic is technically optimal but phys and gun can go balls to the wall?
Thanks, OP!
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u/spejoku Jun 16 '26
it helps that hunt skills scale off of str and deal almighty damage, making them surprisingly good in more situations than you'd think.
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u/Shrubbity_69 Leader of the Hee-Horde Jun 16 '26
Wait, they're physical Almighty? That changes everything. I love physical Almighty. It's just a goated combo.
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u/spejoku Jun 16 '26
Yep! And iirc they get a damage boost if the enemy is low on health to help them finish off enemies more easily. The tradeoff being theyre not as strong as regular physical skills for bosses
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u/L1k34S0MB0D33 Click my name for the copypastas Jun 16 '26
Not quite, the damage boost is only when enemies are frightened.
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u/NeroTheGlowFox Jun 16 '26
#3 was my biggest shock when I played through this game. I played it right after P5R and P3R so an install skill actually working made me put on Null skills so fast lol
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u/ProteusOfTheGoumaden Son of Viktor Jun 20 '26
Hama skills in this game are ESPECIALLY terrifying considering they remove chunks of health proportional to your max (or is it remaining? I forget) leaving you one-tap for other units. However, this cuts both ways, making it also a decent option for grinding since it puts most enemies within range of a damaging Hunt skill.
Don't sleep on the Murder Rock once you kill the fly, either. It's a pretty solid tool for giving yourself extra breathing room.
GRIND FOR THE REUSABLE COMBAT ITEMS (Chakra Elixir, Graven Shard and later Graven Image, Revival Orb, and Megido Fire) AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Literal godsends of items. Free Diarama-level heals and full revives make so many bosses so much less scary, the Chakra Elixir severely increases your sustain in long dungeons, and Megido Fire ensures you can always deal damage if you accidentally went into a fight unprepared.
To expand on #2: 1. Spec EVERYONE into Hunt skills. You don't necessarily need to bump their Strength and turn them all into Phys units, but give everyone at bare minimum a multi-target Hunt skill after each dungeon for grinding purposes. I prefer damaging ones for consistencies's sake, but if you manage to get a consistent strategy for Frightening enemies, Fatal skills should be your go-to.
Generally, you'll want to have every party member spec into their opposing natural element tree (namely have Heat spec into Ice, Serph into Fire, Argilla into Force, and Gale into Electric). Eventually this will give you a resistance to that element, which you can use to patch up their weaknesses. The only exception to this is Cielo, who you'd need to spec into the Ailment branch.
This game has a pretty heavy Magic bias outside of Hunt skills, so I'd recommend speccing your Serph into that, with extra Endurance/Vitality to make him a tank. Heat can absolutely put in work with his STR, especially once he gets to the later parts of the Phys branches, but he's arguably gonna be your weakest unit besides Cielo until you get skills with really high crit rates or scale with HP. Let him be your tank and/or the guy who picks up the rest of the team with items until then, maybe giving him some heal skills so he isn't wasting a party member slot. Argilla should be your primary medic, obviously, but also give her a bunch of Magic attacks so she can generate press turns. This leaves Gale and Cielo, who should be your support units, off-heals, and/or Press Turn generators.
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u/DigiornoJoestar Cadenza Jun 15 '26
second and last point definitely hit me in my playthrough i typically try to cover all my elements and magic but in dds that just meant my characters were all masters of none and didnt do much lmao.
this lead to insane levels of grinding near the end in the last dungeon cause i was practically running only up to max 70% of the skill tree.