Pale Rider is a fiend that you must defeat in the DLC Subquest “Return of the True Demon” in Shin Megami Tensei V. Most Subquests will reward you with a large amount of experience, some Macca, and then you’ll receive an item of sorts. Most of the time, it’ll be a Talisman which allows you to have access to the different Magatsuhi skills in the game.
Pale Rider will be the last of the Horsemen you face
| Recommended Level | Location | Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| 57+ | Chiyoda - Tokyo Station | Large Glory Crystal, Strength Balm, Calamity Sutra |
How to Unlock Return of the True Demon - Pale Rider¶
As this entire quest line is DLC, you will need to purchase the Return of the True Demon DLC from the Nintendo eShop. Before being able to take on Pale Rider, you will need to have defeated Black Rider. Once you do this, head to the Tokyo Station area and go to the southern part. To the west of where you encounter Ishtar during the main story, you will see the familiar purple pillar of light. Interact with the light to begin the fight.
You will find the familiar purple light near where you fight Ishtar
Pale Rider’s Stats¶
| Icon | STR | VIT | MAG | AGI | LUC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
44 | 40 | 38 | 37 | 51 |
Pale Rider’s Resistances¶
 Physical |
 Fire |
 Ice |
 Electric |
 Force |
 Light |
 Dark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – | WEAK | BLOCK | – | – | RESIST | RESIST |
Pale Rider’s Skills¶
| Type | Skill | Effect |
|---|---|---|
|
Pestilience +3 | Heavy Physical attack to all foes. Greater effect if target has an ailment. |
 |
Toxic Cloud +7 | Chance of inflicting Poison to all foes. |
|
Mabufudyne +3 | Heavy Ice attack to all foes. |
 |
Call Evil | Summons a demon |
|
Dekaja +2 | Negates status buff effects on all foes. |
Recommended Party¶
Pale Rider is definitely the most challenging of the four Horsemen, as there is a lot at play here. First and foremost, you will probably want to wait until you’ve at least finished the Demon King’s Castle, as Pale Rider is level 57 and you likely won’t be able to reach that before then. In fact, being level 58 is ideal, since you gain access to being able to fuse Lachesis, who can be a tremendous help. The reason for this is that this battle can revolve around ailments, and Lachesis will resist all ailments (not block). Specifically, you will see Poison, Sleep, and Seal here, and while they can be annoying on their own, the bigger problem involves one of Pale Rider’s skills.
He has a unique skill called Pestilence, which is a heavy Physical attack on the entire party, a bad enough skill on its own. However, if you happen to have an ailment, then Pestilence will deal more damage and you definitely don’t want that happening. As with the other Horsemen, Pale Rider will begin the battle by summoning two Loas, then use the extra turn to cast Pestilence. As with the extra enemies in previous battles, you definitely want to get rid of the Loas as soon as possible. Not only can get inflict Poison with Toxic Sting, but also Sleep with Dormina, and Seal with Makajama. Thankfully, all of those skills are single target.
(1 of 3) Pestilence does a lot of damage without the ailment bonus
They also have access to Mudoon, so you don’t want anyone weak to Dark. By far, the worst ability they have is Debilitate, a skill that is all three debuffs in one. That means you will have your attack, defense, and accuracy/evasion all debuffs whenever they use this. The best way to counter this is to simply use Dekunda. Loas are immune to Dark and weak to Light, and also immune to Poison. You will want to be careful with buffing your own party in this fight, as Pale Rider does know Dekaja, which will remove all of them (makes Dekunda the better option to not use so much MP, too).
Other than Dekaja and Pestilence, Pale Rider also has Toxic Cloud, which has a chance to inflict Poison on everyone, and Mabufudyne. So, the only two resistances you need to worry about are Ice and Dark, meaning having at least one character immune to either one will help cut down on the boss’ turns. Pale Rider is weak to Fire, while being immune to Ice, and resistant to both Light and Dark. Debuffs will help a lot in this battle, too, since the enemies have no way to counter them. Masukunda is probably the first one you want to use, because it gives your party a chance to dodge the ailments, then Matarunda second to cut down on the damage. If you do use Lachesis, have her with Me Patra to help cure any ailments that come up on your party.
Sign up
No Comments