| This article is about the Soul Hackers 2 mechanic. For other uses, see Sabbath. |
Initiating Sabbath with 2 demons.
Sabbath (サバト or 魔宴 , Sabato or Ma-en)? is a gameplay mechanic in Soul Hackers 2.
Soul Hackers 2[]
Sabbath is a powerful attack triggered at the end of the party's turn, performed by Ringo's demonic allies. It affects all enemies on the field and its power is determined by the current stack count.
Stacks are primarily accumulated by hitting weaknesses on enemies. In doing so, a demon from the player's stock joins the stack. Stacks are added on a per-action basis, rather than the number of enemies hit. For example, if a multi-hit skill strikes multiple enemies' weaknesses, it will still be counted the same as if attacking a single enemy. The maximum number of stacks is determined by the number of demons in the player's stock. If the player only possesses 5 demons, their Sabbaths will also be limited to 5 stacks. The maximum number of stacks regardless of stock size is 16.
As the player increases their allies' Soul Levels, certain Summoner Skills can be unlocked that increase the number of ways to add demons to the stack. Examples include additional damage types, critical hits, ailments, and killing blows. These skills can all activate independently.
To illustrate: Arrow inflicts gun damage on an enemy weak to it, which is also a critical and a killing blow. Assuming he has all Stack skills, the calculation is as follows:
- Weakness Stack: +1, innate
- Gunfire Stack: +1
- Critical Stack: +1
- Deathblow Stack: +1
- Weakness Stack+: +1, chance-based
This results in a potential +5 to the stack count from a single action. Note how Weakness Stack acts independently of Gunfire Stack.
Stack counts can be further increased with certain battle skills and Commander skills, such as Concentrate and Stack Optimization.
Unless Damage Condenser is active, Sabbath damage is distributed among all enemies. The more enemies present, the less damage each individual demon will take. Damage dealt is affected by buffs, such as Rakunda, and enemy stats, such as Level and Vitality. Sabbath attacks cannot miss or be reflected/blocked, but certain rare bosses can "consume" the current stack and prevent a Sabbath. Ringo can still activate the Sabbath even if she is afflicted with ailments or is KO'd.
Tandem Skills can be activated during the Sabbath, which grant secondary effects to the attack. The effects range from extra damage, heals, buffs/debuffs, and status ailments. Up to four tandem skills are randomly selected from the available pool, but only one can be activated. Moreover, demons with Tandem skills do not have to be in the active party for their skills to trigger.
Demons defeated in a sabbath are more likely to join the party through Demon Recon afterwards.
Trophies & Awards[]
| Trophy | Icon | Description | For | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Sabbath Begins | 
|
Performed a sabbath. | SH2 trophy | 
|
| Walpurgisnacht |
|
Performed a sabbath with a Stack of 10 or more. |
| |
| Witch-Queen of Demons |
|
Performed 100 sabbaths or more. |
|
Trivia[]
- Sabbath is inspired by the All-Out-Attack system from the Persona series, both which involve inflicting powerful damage after exploiting enemy weaknesses.
- Demons joining the stack will appear in the background as a floating silhouette and may occasionally utter their voice. As the stack increases, the background will grow increasingly distorted and the number of voices will increase.
- In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath is observed as a holy day for rest and worship.
- The achievement "Walpurgisnacht" alludes to a Christian celebration of European origin, Saint Walpurga's Eve. In some cultures, it is also known as "Witches Night".
- Walpurgisnacht also appears in Shin Megami Tensei V as the unique skill of Mephisto.
- Although not confirmed in-game, Sabbaths likely inflict Almighty damage.
Gallery[]
