⚠️GUIDE UNDER CONSTRUCTION, if you spot mistakes please report them to me⚠️

Welcome to this guide to SMT Nocturne. If you are :

• a new player wondering what kind of build you should do, which skills to keep/look for, or simply what skills actually do
  
  
• a seasoned player who wants to improve his/her knowledge of the game

then this is the right place.

Nocturne is not very clear about how it works, what the stats actually do or how the formulas work. And it is part of its charm. But some people might want to have a better understanding of what actually happens when you put a stat point in Luck or Agility.

Thankfully, people have been working in the past 15 years to try and uncover what's under the hood. This guide is an attempt at summarizing everything that has been found so far.

This guide assumes all values, variables, algorithms and formulas are identical to the PS2 version (which, considering the effort put in by Atlus for this remaster, is a high probability).

Credits and sources will be available at the bottom of the page.

First of all let's establish what stats do. While some of them may seem a bit obvious (Strength lets you hit harder with your fists, Vitality gives you more HP...), the rest of them are not really clear about what they do. Here is a rapid explanation of what everything does.

• Strength of physical attack and skills
  
• Pass certain checks in the game (notably to open some doors in Mantra HQ and Third Kalpa)

• Total MP amount
  
• Strength of magic skills and magic accuracy
  
• Pass certain checks in the game (notably to open some doors in Third Kalpa)

• Total HP amount

• Order in which demons will play while in battle (from highest who will act first to lowest who will act last)
  
• Physical accuracy
  
• Physical and magic evasion
  
• Chance to inflict a critical
  
• Chance of getting ambushed
  
• Chance of having a turn before the enemy at the start of a fight
  
• Chance of escaping a battle (if not hard mode or a scripted/boss battle)

• Magic evasion
  
• Magic accuracy (very slightly)
  
• Chance of getting ambushed (very slightly)
  
• Chance of having a turn before the enemy at the start of a fight (very slightly)
  
• Chance of escaping a battle (if not hard mode or a scripted/boss battle)
  
• Chance of a demon recovering from an ailment
  
• Pass certain checks in the game (notably to open some doors in Third Kalpa)

Yes you read that right, luck plays no role in probabilities of critical hits, ailment infliction or item drop rate.

• All of the above except chance of escaping a battle
  
• Fusion limitation (can't fuse or summon a demon with a level higher than that of the MC, except on New Game Plus)

Maximum level : 255 (while the maximum level displayed in-game is 99, the real maximum level obtainable is 255)

• Maximum amount of damage you can soak up before you ded
  
• Strength of some physical skills

Maximum value : 999

• Consumed to use almost all magic skills

Maximum value : 999

Now let's delve into how the stats are used. First we'll go over the basic formulas which are simple to grasp. Then we'll go over advanced battle formulas, like physical accuracy or chances to escape from a fight. Finally we'll take a look at how damage is calculated, for both physical and magical attacks.

Very simple, every time you level up or put a point in Vit you get 6 more HP. The earliest you can get to raw 999 HP is at Level 127 assuming you have 40 Vit.

Also very simple, every time you level up or put a point in Mag you get 3 more MP. The earliest you can get to raw 999 MP is never, so you would need a skill like Mana Surge to artificially inflate the number.

Before going further, here are some shortcuts we will need.

PA = party average
EA = enemy average
[] = truncation to lowest integer (floor)

Here is one very important yet overly complicated dumb formula.

Skill Accuracy can be calculated by subtracting the Miss Rate from the Base Hit Rate. Don't worry about these values, they are all specific to each skill and will be available later in the guide. The issue is not here.

It all comes down to two big problems : the function itself, and truncation. Dividing Agility by your Level means the more you level up, the more chances you have to miss. You would think you can mitigate this by investing more points in Agility. This is where the truncation problem comes in.

The fact that the result of this division is truncated before being multiplied by 6.25 means you can only increase or decrease your chance to hit by multiples of 6.25. Even worse : it scales very badly. The more you level up, the more points you will have to invest in Agility just to maintain the same accuracy. Having 10 Agility at Level 10 gives the same probabilities to hit than having 40 Agility at Level 85.

Bottom line is : don't worry too much about this, the formula is terrible. If you want to make sure you will hit your target, focus more on using accurate skills with buffs and debuffs.

Take the result of the formula above, divide then multiply. Physical skills also have a defined Critical Rate, that you can find later in the guide.

Already, a formula that makes more sense.

If you wish to hit your enemies with magical skills, just have a high Magic stat. It's that simple, and makes Magic self sufficient.

Don't spend too much time on this one, just know you have at worst a one in a two chance to go first, and that no matter how high your stats are, you can still go second.

Note: This formula only applies to random encounters.

If you want to escape with 100% certainty, use the Trafuri skill or the Smoke Ball item. Or disable all enemies before trying to escape (sleep, shock, freeze, bind, stone)

Note: This formula only applies to Normal difficulty. If you play on Hard, do not even attempt to flee. Exception : if all enemies are disabled you should be able to escape.

This check is only applied if you don't go first in a random encounter. As long as your stats are similar to the enemies', you have a one in eight chance of getting ambushed if you don't go first.

Note: You can notice only the MC's stats are taken into account : the demons in your party have no incidence on your chances of getting ambushed. This formula only applies to Normal difficulty, in Hard chances to get ambushed are much higher (and deadly).

Each ailment has a specific multiplier to know if you have more or less chances to recover from it. Here is the list :

• Charm = 40
  
• Panic = 30
  
• Bind = 30
  
• Sleep = 20

Ailments are an issue in the early and mid game, when you don't (shouldn't) invest your points in Luck. In the end game however, your chances of recovery are high, and most demons are getting immune to them.

Note: The ailment will remain for at least one turn, this formula is only applied when your turn ends.

These formulas are given to calculate an estimate of the average damage dealt by a skill. There are variables you need to take into account (buffs, debuffs, (hidden) weakness and (hidden) resistances...). These formulas give the raw damage before taking all of this into account.

Damage calculation in Nocturne is done in multiple ways. Mostly, it depends on the type of attack. It's always one of these :

• Physical attack
  
• Physical attack, HP Based
  
• Magical attack

Let us start with the easy ones.

This is the simplest formula. The higher your Level and your Strength, the harder the skill will hit. Each physical skill has a certain Skill Power value ; it is not displayed in game, but you can have a rough idea if it is high or low by reading the skill description. There is always an adjective like "Light", "Medium", "Heavy", etc. Check the end of the guide if you want to know exact values.

Some of the physical skills you'll encounter in the game will have this in their description : "Based on User's Max HP". They are what we call "Weapon Skills", because only demons who visibly hold a weapon can learn them (and Demi-Fiend, because he is the weapon).

These skills are unique in the fact that they do not scale with your Strength or Level (directly). They only check the Skill Power, and your Max HP (your maximum total, not your current HP). You already know that the maximum HP value is 999, so all you really need is the Skill Power to know the skill's maximum possible damage.


Disclaimer : There are rumors Atlus has tweaked the formula from the PS2 version, so it may not apply to the remaster. This is yet to be confirmed (I don't see why they would go to the lengths of tweaking algorithms but not unlock 30 FPS).

Here comes the pain train.

Each magic skill has what we call a Limit Value and a Correction or Complement Value. We must use these values to calculate the Peak.


Then there are four formulas that can apply ; to know which one, you must compare your Level to the Peak.

Lvl < Peak

Lvl = Peak

Peak < Lvl ≤ 160

160 < Lvl

You see, not only is this way too complicated for what it does. It also weakens your magic skills over time. You may have noticed that the moment your Level is higher than the Peak value of the skill, you start subtracting your Level in the formula. Most magic skills have a Peak of around 30. What this means is that 9 times out of 10, your magic skills will inflict less and less damage the more you level up after Level 30.

This simple fact, coupled with other things like :

• the existence of Focus (which gives a 2.5 multiplier damage boost to your next physical attack)
  
• the fact that physical attacks can crit (so only consume half a press turn and deal 50% more damage)
  
• the fact they consume HP instead of MP, which is a resource easier to replenish

is why old Nocturne players have been memeing on magic builds for so many years.

The game is beatable with an MC knowing only magic skills. It just so happens that all the best skills in the game you can learn are physical ones. I recommend using Magic only in the early game when HP is too valuable to use, so you can hit weaknesses and get free press turns. Just don't invest too much points in it.

Here is a quick spreadsheet done for calculating damage. Download it, or click File -> Make a copy, so you can edit it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sgBK64UbjzTAhibMlF-f_OojROwFWwWm/view?usp=sharing

You only have to :

- select the skill in the dropdown
- input necessary info, like user's level, user's str/mag and user's max HP

And you will get an accurate approximation of the raw damage that would be inflicted to an enemy with no resistance/weakness or buffs/debuffs.

Then you need to check for the conditions below :

There is always some variance to the raw damage calculated (more or less 5%). This comes before everything else.

The damage inflicted will be multiplied by 1.5 if hitting a critical hit.

The damage inflicted will be multiplied by 1.5 if hitting an enemy weakness.
Be aware some enemies have hidden weaknesses : they will take more damage from certain attacks, but not give free press turns. Such demons include Slime, Blob or Black Ooze.

The damage inflicted will be multiplied by 0.5 if hitting an enemy resistance.
Be aware some enemies have hidden resistances : they will take less damage from certain attacks, but the multiplier will be different. Such demons include Fomor and Black Frost.

Tarukaja buffs offense by 25%. It can stack up to four times. Which means you need to multiply your raw damage according to this table below.


Rakukaja buffs defense by 25%. It can stack up to four times. Which means you need to multiply your raw damage according to this table below.


Tarunda debuffs offense by 12.5%. It can stack up to four times. Which means you need to multiply your raw damage according to this table below.


Rakunda debuffs defense by 12.5%. It can stack up to four times. Which means you need to multiply your raw damage according to this table below.

All the skills below have a chance to instant kill targets suffering from the stone status effect

This is YOUR section ! Write some of your tips while playing the game, and if they are really good and make sense, I will add them here. The list will get bigger with time.

• Buffs and debuffs stack up to 4 times. USE THEM. Each buff stack gives a 25% bonus, and each debuff stack gives a 12.5% penalty, so a full 4-stack gives a x2 effect. As an example : buffing yourself with 4x Tarukaja and hitting an enemy with 4x Rakunda multiplies the damage inflicted by 4.
  
  
• If you need to heal your party at a Fountain of Life and have some MP, use skills to heal your HP before going in. Recovering 1 HP costs 1 Macca, recovering 1 MP costs 2.5 Macca. Do the math. You will save money by spending 12 MP to cast a Media before going in.
  
  
• Try to get yourself a mana battery. Get a demon with an MP Drain and give him Makatora. Daisoujou is the absolute best candidate : try to give him Makatora when fusing him, and you will never have money problems again thanks to his Meditation+Makatora combo.
  
  
• The game doesn't display your exact level once you pass lvl 99 (even though it caps at 255). If you wish to know your exact level, use the following formula :
  
  
  [Current Lvl] = ([Max MP] / 3) - [Magic Stat]

- zombero, for all his work on making Nocturne Hardtype https://zombero.wordpress.com/
- Robin Goodfellow, for his videos explaining how formulas work https://www.youtube.com/c/RobinandZephyr
- atwiki, https://w.atwiki.jp/noctan/pages/1.html
- https://web.archive.org/web/20160214190956/http://xn--ehqs60c2gs6ptzjh.jp/archives/shin3_skill004.html
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/18gBfzm1hlBDoWuYvjaAcjBSBtNlChWV0/view (in english, by Hyunckel)