SMT ShowdownPress turns and Guard
Battles go in phases: one side acts, then the other. At the start of your phase you get one press turn icon for every demon you have in battle, normally 4. The result of each action decides how many icons it uses.
| Result of the action | Icons used |
|---|---|
| Normal hit, resisted hit, Guard, or an ailment skill that missed | one blinking icon if you have one, otherwise one full icon |
| Weakness or critical hit | a full icon starts blinking: a free extra action |
| Pass, or Summon (swap in a reserve demon) | a full icon starts blinking, like a weakness hit |
| Miss or null | two icons |
| Repel or drain | all icons; your phase ends at once |
| Magatsuhi skill | no icons; the same demon acts again |
A blinking icon gives one more action but cannot become another extra action, so 4 icons give at most 8 actions.
When a skill hits several demons, the worst result for you counts: repel or drain, then miss or null, then weakness or critical, then a normal hit.
Pass is cheap in SMT V
In SMT IV, Pass uses a blinking icon if you have one. In SMT V it always turns a full icon into a blinking one while you have full icons, so passing to your best demon costs only half a turn. Summon works the same way.
Guard
Guard protects a demon until its next action:
- it takes ×0.8 damage;
- hits on its weaknesses deal normal damage and give no extra turn;
- it cannot be hit critically;
- ailments are half as likely to land on it.
Sleep, Panic and Charm cancel Guard.