I should note that you don't have to read it, I'm just expressing thoughts about gameplay so I won't forget them later, and Demon forums just happen to be the best place for Demon-related posts (who would've thought ).
Basically, I re-read my own report of the last winning run, the one where 2TKO of chlonic power sent me into rage-win . And I don't really want to experience it again. In fact, I want a no-death (barring sacrifices and deletions, duh) run. It'd be perfect.
So, in order to prevent deaths, I need more than few simple sustenance tools. I need to have a system, which would consist of:
1. OFF- / DEF+
to cut a good chunk of enemy damage off (36% of it, if my math is correct). Single-target spells, while nice and effective, are too slow, so I'm turning my eye to cries (I can't find an AoE defense buff, it's probably deeper in tier 3, and I don't need a spammable version of offense debuff). Quelling Cry is available (Actaeon comes with it!), cools down faster than debuff wears off, and rather cheap (20 SP). Cool. Now, Guardian Cry... Guardian Cry is a problem. I can't find a single demon which comes with it, it looks like I need to transpose\revelate\hope for a random generation of Imbued demons with it, which is... unreliable at the very least. And transposing only allows to have this cry on me, when I'd rather leave the buffing business to my allies (I can't track buffs at all )
2. Disabling statuses.
Fun fun fun. Enemies can't kill when they can't do damage, and they can't do damage when they're sleeping. Now I'm not really into statuses that much, but I appreciate my allies paralyzing enemies sometimes, so I want to incorporate this as well into my future strategy. I especially like charm. Turn 4v4 into 5v3 for X turns, 4v6 into 5v5, get summoner to attack his own demons, fun! Now, in this department, thankfully, faithful heart got me covered - alluring gaze is here! And it is another reason I don't want to transpose guarding cry: they will share presence cooldowns, and that's not good.
Now, of course, other statuses exist, panic, paralysis, sleep, stun, even shock, they're all good, but charm just blows them out of the water.
It's also no doubt that other ways of inflicting charm exist, but they're are not as cheap, not as reliable, and mostly limited to tier-2 and tier-3 demons.
As a side note...
Pink Sign (Mind, 35 SP, Self Area, range: 7)
40 Power attack, enemies only. 20% chance to inflict Charm, turning the targets against their allies. Cannot miss.
I hoped I won't see AoE charm in this game, but what would you know. Now I really hope I will only see it in demons' ability list in the postgame.
3. Healing.
Poor dead unicorn proved to me that single-target heals aren't enough for endgame. So healing rain is a necessity, while eternal heal wounds would make a nice back-up. Seeing as AoE charm does exist, I'll also need a mind-immune (not taking any risks here) demon with calming rain, or 3 with simple calms.
As a side note, pyre rite. Nice, but not very reliable, because allies won't gather around the bonfire that is ignited enemy.
4. Sustenance
Probably the part I'm most familiar with: keeping HP and SP up without actually doing things to keep it up. Seeing how I'll utilize offense down liberally, tormentor and afflicter sound like a good idea. Ever Ready is also nice to have, but not as much once I come to the next part. Vigorous is okay, vengeful is good for frontliners, meditate is great, furious rage is hard to get and probably not worth it, considering I won't be damaging enemy every turn...
Bloodthirst alone is not enough, leech abilities are expensive SP-wise, maxHP draining abilities are even worse in this regard. They're nice when you build around them, but I can't build around them because my build has very different things in mind.
Guilt is good, 10% per strike is good on it's own, especially with abilities which hit multiple times (shocking spear hits each enemy twice, right? so that's 20 SP and 40% of HP to recover with each use), but setting it up to work isn't reliable or quick task. At least, until inquisition, but inquisition is far-away ability.
5. Damage
Tier 1 abilities are not strong enough unless one builds for defence as well. Unless I'm playing a tanky build, I'll get flattened before enemy exhausts itself, so I need to strike first, I need to strike hard, and I need to kill them before they kill me. Still, tier 1 abilities are nice as backup abilities, because any of them is still better than basic 55 power attack.
6. Resistances
My power died because it had dark weakness, and I faced enemies with dark attack. That is reality of that run. I wasn't able to react fast enough, but ultimately, it was the weakness that got him. So what should I do? Just bring more balanced loadout next time! Now, this is probably the hardest part of the plan(tm), because I'll have to find the demons, I'll have to get them ("X turns to defeat" comes to mind...), then I'll have to find a replacement once I start outleveling them. And above all, I'll have to keep track of party elemental report at all times... Not to tell that Capacity Up upgrades are very desirable, because they make it easier to fill elemental gaps.
My god, planning it out is a headache, but if I won't plan it out beforehand, I'll get rekt. Heh, that's what I love about Demon: it makes me think.
So what I need is: quelling cry, guarding cry, alluring gaze OR obsession OR reprogram OR pink whisper OR pink sign, healing rain, mind immunity, calming rain | tons of calm, healing rain, heal wounds, tormentor, ever ready, vigorous, vengeful, some way to deal AoE damage, resistances all over the board, inquisition, Capacity Up I...
Whew. I know I won't get all of them, but I might as well have a reference sitting right here.
So, that is what I will try to play and report once I get far enough. If I even get far enough...