Kusumi-no-Okami



Kusumi-no-Okami (クスミノオオカミ) is a new enemy who appears in Persona 4 Golden.

History
Kusumi-no-Okami is probably based on the male Japanese god Kusubi, who is more formally known as Kumano-Kusubi in Kojiki and Kumano-Kusuhi (熊野櫲樟日命) or other variations in Nihon Shoki. When Susanoo was saying farewell to Amaterasu, the two gods were exchanging their treasures in a vowing ceremony. Amaterasu used Susanoo's Totsuka-no-Tsurugi sword to give birth to the three goddesses known as Munakata-San-Jojin collectively. Susanoo received Yasakani-no-Magatama bead from Amaterasu, bit it and blew out the fragments which gave birth to five or six gods, and the last of them was Kumano-Kusubi.

Biography
Marie transforms into Kusumi-no-Okami after the fog takes control of her, which has her voice change into a deeper version of Izanami's voice. She despairs and wishes to deny the truth in all its form along with everything else, while wishing to embrace peaceful lies and blissful ignorance. Marie's ego struggles for control during the battle itself and her power to absorb the fog has also gone out of control, sucking anything in that's around her regardless if it's fog or not. The party defeating Kusumi results in the destruction of the fog she had absorbed and returns her back to her human form.

Strategy
Before fighting Kusumi-no-Okami, you will face Marie. Similar to Shadow Rise, this battle cannot be won no matter what you do. However, you will only need to lower her health by about 1/3 (or more depending on difficulty setting). Then the battle will end after a certain number of turns. However, unlike the battle with Shadow Rise, you will NOT recover HP and SP prior to the next battle.

When fighting Kusumi-no-Okami, note that all attacks (excluding Almighty) will be repelled, making her near invincible. However, this defense can be negated through the use of an "(Element) Break" skill, or the use of an "(Element) Break" item you can find in the "Hollow Forest".

Kusumi-no-Okami has four notable abilities that will be used throughout the battle.

The first ability, "Hot Thunder", will randomly attack two of your party members with an Almighty-affinity thunder bolt, making them "Dizzy" if the attack is successful.

The second ability, "Run Amok", will randomly damage the party with a light Almighty-affinity attack.

The third ability "Draining Fog" will remove 50 SP from each party member, but will also damage Kusumi-no-Okami.

The fourth ability is where Kusumi-no-Okami will cover herself in her cape, which will protect her from all damage, similarly to Ameno-Sagiri's "Bewildering Fog", until she removes her cape.

The battle itself is simple and straightforward. However, since physical attacks are quite useless in this battle, it is recommended that you avoid Personas that rely on Physical-type attacks, as well as Chie and Kanji, whose personas focus on Physical skills rather than Magic skills. It is also highly recommended that you gather items that restore SP, since it will be the key to ending this battle efficiently.