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This article covers information on Koromaru as a party member, including uses and strategies, in Persona 3.
Overview[]
Koromaru joins the team on August 8th after fending off a Shadow attack on Naganaki Shrine. The party determines him to also be a Persona user and he gets outfitted with a custom Evoker before he joins SEES.
Koromaru specializes in raw offense, having variety in affinity, power and range, while making up for it with high evasion from his Agility stat and his unique armor type, which has an increased evasion stat compared to others. Koromaru wields both Fire and Dark skills, and is unique in the sense that he's the only party member able to cast multi-target insta-kill skills. That being said, he is unable to directly support his allies, and all of his skills cater directly towards the enemy faction.
Koromaru also has access to Counter skills to enhance his protection against physical attacks; anything that he fails to dodge dodge runs the risk of getting reflected.
In The Journey episode of Persona 3 and FES, Koromaru is also able to induce enemies with Fear, causing them to not only be paralyzed, but also have a greater chance of sustaining Critical hits. Though Koromaru himself has no specialized means of exploiting it and he lacks the time needed to take another turn, it is highly recommended for another ally with Physical skills to follow through with it. That being said, should Koromaru team up with another combatant in that manner, their synergy allows both to overwhelm Physical-based enemies.
The Answer and Portable exchange his Fear-inducing skills for Sukukaja and Masukukaja, lending party-wide support with a pre-emptive agility buff to aid in evasion from incoming attacks. Portable also drops his Fire Break skill for Mudo Boost to greatly increase his insta-kill accuracy.
Koromaru is immune to Fire and Darkness, and is weak against Light. Unlike other party members, Koromaru never experiences a second awakening, and only uses Cerberus in battle. However, Koromaru already has all the benefits of a second awakening, with innate immunities and the ability to learn a full suite of skills.
In Reload, Koromaru is still the party's Fire and Dark specialist, emphasis Dark. While he no longer learns single-target Fire spells, he now gets both Mudo and Ei lines that let him assassinate mobs and still do damage to bosses. He also picks up Amps for both Fire and Dark to make him proficient in both damage elements, though without any source of Mudo Boost his (Ma)Mudoon can be a bit inefficient. Not helping matters is his rather small SP pool that makes him run dry rather quickly with frequent use of his expensive area attack spells.
He also drops the Counter series and Evil Smile skills for other kinds of utility - Revolution is his crit-boosting party buff that helps allies get knockdowns, he gets Getsu-ei as a Full Moon boss-slayer, later trading it for Tempest Slash for the endgame. He tops off with Debilitate at the very end of his skill set to become a valuable asset in endgame bosses.
Koromaru's still one of the fastest party members so he's prone to going first, and this pairs with his Soul Shift ability if he gets a knockdown first and then hands off to a party member who needs the bump in SP. His high speed also makes him very difficult to hit, which is further augmented by his Combat Characteristics: Auto-(Ma)Sukunda will reduce enemy hit rate to make it even harder for attacks to connect.
As before, Koromaru only uses Cerberus as his Persona as he already has all the perks of a second awakening. This also means that he gets two Theurgies right off the bat. Hound of Hades is his Dark-based burst damage skill, while his second skill Power Howling works as a party-wide Charge that is handy for setting up incredible burst combos. Fielding Koromaru alongside bruisers like Junpei and Aigis allows his Power Howling to dramatically amplify the strength of their physical Theurgies, although Koromaru himself may struggle in making the most of his own group Charge.
In Episode Aigis -The Answer- Koromaru also starts with Swift Strike in his skill set, and while he never picks up any better Strike skills, it is likely to remain in his moveset for most of the game, as it gives him an additional angle of attack to scout for weaknesses or fish for crits. He also only starts with Hound of Hades as his only Theurgy, only regaining Power Howling later in the episode when the other SEES members begin re-learning their second Theurgies.
Fire and Dark specialist moveset, with a side of critical boosting with Revolution to knock down enemies that resist both elements. Optimize with your choice of Fire Boost, Dark Boost, and/or Auto-Tarukabellion equipment.
