Bandou Shrine Walkthrough, Boss Battles, and Item Locations

This is a walkthrough for Bandou Shrine in Shin Megami Tensei III HD Remaster (SMT Nocturne) for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Steam. Here you'll find a guide on how to complete this area, boss strategies, general tips, and a list of items that can be found.

How to Unlock Bandou Shrine

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

Bandou Shrine Maps

Inner Cloister

Bandou Shrine Walkthrough

Bring the Lord's Sword to Masakados' Grave

Upon getting the Lord's Sword, present it to Masakados' Grave. The grave can be found to the northeast of the Tower of Kagutsuchi, after warping to the Assembly of Nihilo: Marunouchi.

Presenting the sword will unlock Bandou Shrine where the Masakados Magatama can be acquired.

Bandou Shrine

Advisory: Players will need to lower 4 pillars to gain access to Masakados' shrine. Lowering each pillar will trigger a boss fight. Make sure to prepare for a fight before lowering each pillar.

	Objectives
1	From your start position in the outer cloister, head for the yellow warp point and use it to teleport down.
2	Follow the path until you reach a ramp. Go down the ramp and pass under the small bridge.
3	After passing under the bridge, use the ramp to your right to go down another level. Follow it until you reach the 3rd Pillar from the top.
Boss Fight	Lower the pillar and fight Zouchouten. This boss is weak to Force. He also mainly uses Elec skills.
5	With one pillar lowered, retrace your steps back to the ramp/bridge area. This time, pass over the bridge. Players will be able to come and go from the shrine without losing progress. If you find yourself in a bad state after any of the boss fights, you can leave and come back later.
6	Head down this long ramp until you come to a T-intersection. Go right once there.
7	Players should now be in a similar area to the ramp/bridge that we passed through to get to the first boss fight. Go under the bridge again.
8	You should now be able to see the ramps that lead to the bottom pillar. Head for the lowest pillar in the area.
Boss Fight	Lower the pillar and fight Jikokuten. This boss is weak to Fire. He also mainly uses Ice skills.
10	With a second pillar lowered, retrace your steps back to the T-intersection. This time take the left path.
11	Before the pathway ends, there will be a right turn. Take it and follow it up until you reach the blue warp point.
12	Use the blue warp point to teleport to the previously inaccessible back portion of the outer cloister.
13	From here, go to the green warp point and use it to go down again. The path to the topmost pillar should be visible. Head for it.
Boss Fight	Lower the pillar and fight Koumokuten. This boss is weak to Elec. While he uses Force skills, be careful of his Phys attacks as they are more deadly.
15	Retrace your steps and head back through the green, blue, and yellow warp gates. You must go back to your original position after first entering Bandou Shrine. It is recommended that players recover before going through the next steps, as the last boss is the hardest of the four.
16	Once ready, head for the red warp point and use it to go down to the lower level.
17	Follow the path down a series of ramps until you reach the 2nd pillar from the top.
Boss Fight	Lower the pillar and fight Bishamonten. While this boss is weak to Ice, it is harder to exploit than the others. Exercise caution when fighting him as both his magic and phys attacks hit very hard due to multiple buffs.
19	With the last pillar lowered, Bandou Shrine will descend. From your position, simply head for the door in front of you.
20	Go inside and meet Lord Masakado. Use the following responses to acquire the Masakados Magatama. Why hast thou come this far to see me? "I want your power." Wilt thou bring peace to Tokyo? "Yes."

Bandou Shrine Boss Fights

Zouchouten

Zouchouten is the easiest boss in Bandou Shrine. However, make sure to equip a Magatama that has Null: Elec.

How to Beat Zouchouten

Weaknesses

Weaknesses
Force

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

Attacks	Normal Phys Attack, Elec
Void	Light, Dark, Ailments
Support	Dragon Eye, Beast Eye, Makakaja, Tarukaja

Zouchouten will always prefer to cast magic over his Phys attacks. He'll use Makakaja buffs to power up before he casts. Deny the extra turns Dragon Eye gives him by equipping Magatama with Null: Elec and bringing demons that can void his Elec magic.

Jikokuten

Jikokuten will freeze his opponents before beating them down with charged Phys attacks. Make sure to equip Magatama that has Null: Ice.

How to Beat Jikokuten

Weaknesses

Weaknesses
Fire

Exploit Jikokuten's weakness to fire when possible, but the key to winning this fight is having immunity to ice since it allows your party to shrug off most of the damage he deals.

Strengths

Attacks	Phys, Ice
Void	Light, Dark, Ailments
Support	Dragon Eye, Beast Eye, Makakaja, Focus

Jikokuten will always cast magic when he uses the ability Dragon Eye. He'll buff using Makakaja before casting high-level ice spells like Bufudyne, Mabufudyne, and Glacial Blast.

Anyone he freezes will be focused down as he'll cast Beast Eye and use Physical attacks to deplete the frozen party member's HP. Equip Magatama and summon demons that void Ice.

Koumokuten

Koumokuten is a Phys damaging boss that can one-shot or two-shot your demons with the right buffs.

How to Beat Koumokuten

Weaknesses

Weaknesses
Elec

While Koumokuten is weak to Elec, players can still focus him down with either Phys or other Magic. However, exploiting Elec will grant players more turns to either heal or deal damage.

Strengths

Attacks	Phys, Force
Void	Light, Dark, Ailments
Support	Dragon Eye, Makakaja, Rakukaja, Rakunda, Focus

Koumokuten's biggest strength is the skill Focus and the combo that he performs with it. First he'll buff his defense using Rakukaja. Then he'll debuff your party with Rakunda. Finally, he'll cast Focus along with any of his Phys attack skills to deal massive damage.

Players will need to have demons that can repel or absorb Phys in order to survive. Constantly heal your Demi-fiend as no Magatama can void Phys (only Strong Resist).

Bishamonten

Bishamonten is the last of the Heavenly Kings and perhaps the most powerful. Exercise caution when fighting him.

How to Beat Bishamonten

Weaknesses

Weaknesses
Ice

Bishamonten is weak to Ice. Make sure to have at least 1 demon that can cast strong Ice spells like Mabufudyne or Bufudyne. The extra press turn is a nice advantage to have since you'll be dealing with Bishamonten's very large HP pool.

Strengths

Attacks	Phys, Almighty, Fire
Void	Light, Dark, Ailments
Support	Tarukaja, Makakaja, Dekaja, Debilitate, Dragon Eye

Bishamonten's strengths lie in his constant buffs and debuffs. Throughout the battle he will either buff himself with multiple instances of Tarukaja and Makakaja, or debuff the players with two casts of Debilitate.

In order to beat him, players will need to have a specialized party which can counter these buffs and debuffs using Dekunda and/or Dekaja.

Bandou Shrine Obtainable Magatamas

Lord Masakado bestows Masakados to the player after they beat the Four Heavenly Kings and meet him inside the inner shrine.

How to Get Masakados Magatama

Bandou Shrine Obtainable Items

Note: Item #3 is only obtainable after defeating all 4 bosses in the area.

	Obtained from	Items
1	Cache Cube	50000 Macca
2	Cache Cube	50000 Macca
3	Cache Cube	50000 Macca

Bandou Shrine General Tips

Always recover to full before lowering pillars

Lowering pillars will always trigger the boss fights. Make sure you're ready for each of them before you decide to go through with the prompts.

While some bosses may be easy, they can still be unpredictable due to their high-level and massive HP pools.

Be comfortable using multiple demon teams and tactics

Bandou Shrine is an end-game dungeon. It will test the player's ability to field different teams, use different skills, and equip different Magatama. Remember, a single strategy will not work for all the bosses.

Bring High-Level Demons

Base demons will not do for all of the boss fights in this dungeon. Even if you have the demons with the right abilities, it is advisable that players level them up first before putting them in battle. Anything below 20 Vit. can be one-shotted.

Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne Related Links

Story Walkthrough

Story Walkthrough Guides

Shinjuku Hospital Walkthrough	Yoyogi Park and Shibuya Walkthrough
Amala Network 1 Walkthrough	Ginza and the Great Underpass Walkthrough
Ikebukuro Walkthrough	Assembly of Nihilo Walkthrough
Kabukicho Walkthrough	Asakusa and Obelisk Walkthrough
Amala Network 2 Walkthrough	Yoyogi Park 2 Walkthrough
Amala Temple Walkthrough	Mifunashiro and Yurakucho Walkthrough
Diet Building Walkthrough	Bandou Shrine Walkthrough
Tower of Kagutsuchi Walkthrough

Endings Guide: How to Get All Endings

Labyrinth of Amala Guides

First Kalpa Area Recommended level: 20	Second Kalpa Area Recommended level: 35
Third Kalpa Area Recommended level: 50	Fourth Kalpa Area Recommended level: 65
Fifth Kalpa Area Recommended level: 75

DLC Dungeon Guides

Where the Demi-Fiend was Born

Center of the Conception