How to Beat Zouchouten: Zouchouten Weakness and Strategies

This is a guide to Zouchouten, a boss in Shin Megami Tensei III HD Remaster (SMT Nocturne) for the Nintendo Switch, Steam, and PS4. Read on to know how to beat Zouchouten, Zouchouten's weaknesses, and best strategies against this boss!

Zouchouten Articles
How to Beat Zouchouten	How to Fuse Zouchouten

Zouchouten Pre-Battle Guide

Only Available After Collecting All Magatama

Players will only be able to access Bandou Shrine near the Tower of Kagutsuchi once they collect all the Magtama in the game. If in possession of a complete set, simply go to the Cathedral of Shadows and they will give you the key item needed to access Bandou Shrine.

For a complete list of all the Magatama and how to get them, visit our Magatama page for more information!

List of Magatama

Where to Find Zouchouten

3rd Pillar from the Top in Bandou Shrine

There will be 4 pillars on different levels in Bandou Shrine. Players will fight Zouchouten if they lower the 3rd Pillar from the Top.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Weaknesses

Zouchouten's weakness to Force is very easy to exploit. Couple this with his predictable moveset and you have one of the easier bosses of the Bandou Shrine.

Strengths

Zouchouten will almost always use magic attacks. He uses his single press turn to open with Dragon Eye (granting him 4 press turns), before casting Makakaja, 1 time. Zouchouten will then use either Bolt Storm or Maziodyne until he runs out of press turns. This is easy to counter as players can bring along 1 demon resistant to Elec in order to cancel out Zouchouten's turn.

Zouchouten will also rarely use Beast Eye, and when he does, he uses it at the last press turn of his Dragon Eye sequence. Beast Eye grants Zouchouten 2 more press turns and he'll use them to cast Tarukaja before attacking once. While unecessary, players can bring demons that can reflect Phys such as Girimekhala in order to return Zouchouten's buffed hits.

Best Demons to Use Against Zouchouten

Best Demons to Use
Daisoujou	Titania	Red Rider
Garuda	Albion	Mother Harlot
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How to Beat Zouchouten

Have at Least 2 Elec Resists in Your Party

Bolt Storm targets random foes, Maziodyne targets all, while Ziodyne only targets one. To increase the chances of Zouchouten wasting his turn, have at least 1 more demon with Elec resist alongside the Demi-fiend (who himself should be equipped with a Null or Repel Elec magatama).

This strat guarantees that your party will take very little damage throughout the course of battle.

Summon Demons with Wind Cutter or Similar Force Spells

The Wind Cutter Force spell is all you need to kill Zouchouten. Make sure to bring a demon with Wind Cutter or have the Demi-fiend learn Wind Cutter from the Gundari Magatama. Other high-level force spells will also work, but Wind Cutter alone can get the job done.

How to Learn Wind Cutter

Summon Demons with Makakaja

Zouchouten doesn't normally remove -kaja buffs from your party. To kill him quickly, bring along a demon with Makakaja in order to raise the power of your Force spells. Remember, Force spells will be your main damage if you want to finish this fight, quickly. While Physical will work, Force will just keep stacking you with extra press turns.

Fuse Red Rider

Red Rider is powerful against Zouchouten because he is immune to Elec attacks. This wastes Zouchouten's Dragon Eye press turns while also allowing Red Rider to emerge, undamaged. Red Rider is also the perfect demon for this fight since he can learn Wind Cutter - a powerful Force spell that exploits Zouchouten's weakness.

Red Rider Stats and Skills

Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne Related Boss Guides

Boss Guides

Story Boss Guides

Story Bosses
Forneus	Specter
Thor	Berith
Ose	Kaiwan
Mizuchi	Moirae Sisters
Specter (2nd Encounter)	Girimekhala
Sakahagi	Specter (3rd Encounter)
Aciel	Skadi
Albion and Zoas	Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel
Futomimi	Mot
Mitra	Samael
Ahriman	Noah
Thor (2nd Encounter)	Baal
Lucifer	Kagutsuchi

Maniax / Chronicles Only Boss Guides

Matador	Daisojou
Dante	Hell Biker
White Rider	Red Rider
Black Rider	Pale Rider
Dante (2nd Encounter)	Mother Harlot
Trumpeter	Beelzebub
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Mini-Boss Guides

Troll	Orthrus
Yaksini	Eligor
Koppa Tengu and Incubus	Naga
Surt	Mada

Optional Bosses

Nekomata	Oni
Fuu-Ki	Kin-Ki
Sui-Ki	Ongyo-Ki
Black Frost