Fiend

The Fiend is a race of demons, often powerful in major attributes. With a few exceptions, the Fiends are dominantly portrayed as clothed skeletons due to the fact that they are often the incarnations of death or evil in various forms, and even then, most of the exceptions tend to be closely associated with death and disaster of sorts. In some games, such as Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner, some bosses of the Fiend race are demon-related humans, like Dante and Sid Davis.

Appearances

 * Shin Megami Tensei - Secret Boss Exclusive
 * Shin Megami Tensei II - Secret Boss Exclusive
 * Shin Megami Tensei: if... / Hazama's Chapter - Hidden Boss / Guardian Exclusive
 * Shin Megami Tensei: 20XX Devil's Colosseum
 * Shin Megami Tensei NINE
 * Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
 * Shin Megami Tensei IMAGINE
 * Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey / Redux
 * Shin Megami Tensei IV
 * Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse
 * Shin Megami Tensei V
 * Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - Boss Exclusive
 * Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon
 * Giten Megami Tensei: Tokyo Mokushiroku
 * Megami Ibunroku Persona
 * Devil Survivor / Overclocked - Boss Exclusive
 * Devil Survivor 2 / Record Breaker
 * Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2

Shin Megami Tensei
Fiends appear very rarely (1/256) in fixed locations, in squares where there will always be an encounter the first time it is stepped in and will say "There is no one here" afterwards until a save is loaded again (all Fiend encounter locations will remain empty after the first encounter in any one of them). If they are successfully defeated, they have an equally slim chance (1/256) of dropping the most powerful weapons of each Alignment: the Reaper's Bell (Chaos) from Daisoujou, the Stradivarius (Neutral) from David and the Angel's Trumpet (Law) from Pale Rider.

Shin Megami Tensei II
As in the previous game, Fiends are rare encounters in fixed locations and have a very rare chance (1/256) to drop the strongest weapons in the game. However, unlike the previous game, the fixed points at which they appear are not marked with a fixed encounter and message, but are only marked with a subtle hint, as magnetite does not decrease when stepping into one of these squares, however Fiends will not spawn unless Aleph is facing a specific direction within the square. The determination for whether a Fiend will spawn is made when Aleph steps in the square and faces the correct direction; if a Fiend does not spawn, or if a Fiend is encountered and defeated, the spawn points are reset by saving at a Terminal. In addition to spawning at fixed points, Alice has a 1/128 chance of appearing and asking for the gem contained within when a Magic Box is opened during the Full Moon.

The general spawn rate for Fiends has been increased from 1/256 in the previous game to 1/32, however in the post-game there is a Fiend-spawning point in the Diamond Realm, which is almost guaranteed to spawn one of the Fiends, but the door to the room cannot be opened unless Aleph's Luck is at least 25 (not counting bonuses).

The general locations where Fiends can spawn are listed below.
 * Center 21F
 * Holy Town Church 1F
 * Factory Excavation Site B2F
 * Old Aqueduct
 * Camp B1F
 * Old Shinjuku B1F, B3F
 * Old Akasaka B2F
 * Old Roppongi B1F-A, B1F-B
 * Watchtower 13F
 * Tiphereth
 * Yesod
 * Hod
 * Netzach
 * Chesed
 * Geburah Fort
 * Binah
 * Chokmah Tower 1F
 * Ark 52F, 55F
 * Diamond Realm (Lu 25+)
 * Maps for specific squares and directions can be found here

Shin Megami Tensei: if...
In Shin Megami Tensei: if..., the Fiends are easier to encounter and defeat than in Shin Megami Tensei, yet still challenging for newcomers of the series. They spawn at specific tiles within the dungeons in the Expanse. Provided they are higher in level than the protagonist, their battles are optional; if not, they will not let the protagonist pass without a fight. As in the previous two games, some of them drop the strongest weapons in the game.

Maps for specific squares where a Fiend can spawn can be found here (Marked with §-symbol)

Every Fiend is available as a Guardian, most of them only for the protagonist (both genders), however Alice is exclusive to Charlie and Gotou is exclusive to Akira.

Shin Megami Tensei NINE
Fiends can only be acquired via Race Shifting.

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
The Demi-fiend starts out with the race title of "Fiend" (which changes depending on the number of mastered Magatama and their alignments). However, aside from this, the Fiend race demons are not available in the original Japanese release of the game, and were added in the Maniax version, upon which the international releases are based. They serve as semi-optional bosses rather than encountered randomly with extremely low odds as in the previous installments.

As part of the blond boy's machinations, the Demi-fiend is given a special Candelabra, part of a set required to illuminate the darkness of the Labyrinth of Amala, and is informed other demons, the Fiends, have stolen the other pieces of the set and separated them. By killing the Fiends and collecting the Candelabra, the Labyrinth's deepest corridors and the highest powers are made available. This unlocks the sixth, "True Demon" ending.

Each fusable Fiend has a nonstandard fusion method. The player must first obtain a Deathstone (easily found in the Labyrinth of Amala). Then, depending on the Kagutsuchi phase, attempting to fuse a demon of another race will instead produce a Fiend, and the fusion process consumes the Deathstone. The player will be forewarned of the fusion that will produce the Fiend in the fusion results menu; should they want a different outcome they must attempt the fusion in a different Kagutsuchi phase. Rank-up/Rank-down fusions will never produce Fiends.

The phase-based mechanics of this fusion also means that you can only enhance the creation of Daisoujou or Trumpeter through sacrificial fusion, and this also means they will interfere with the process of enhancing Nights and Tyrants this way. Attempting to fuse two Fiends will produce no valid result.

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
The Fiends appear as powerful resident demons of each of the Schwarzwelt Sectors from Carina onwards, found rarely via Enemy Search.

Shin Megami Tensei IV
In Shin Megami Tensei IV, most of the Fiends appear as random encounters in specific locations, each of them having a 1/256 chance of spawning. Only David, Mother Harlot and Plasma are not encountered this way, with the first two appearing in Challenge Quests and Plasma's fusion data requiring the Death Has Its Applications DLC. Most Fiends also spam Almighty skills if Flynn's party can resist or nullify the other attacks in their arsenal.

Fiend Spawn location are shown below.

Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse
Here, each Fiend is found at a certain floor of Twisted Tokyo, and is unlocked for fusion after defeating them for the first time. With the exception of David and Matador, each Fiend has a special fusion recipe requiring a previous Fiend.

The boss fights with each Fiend at the end of their segment have a time limit of 10 turns, after which Nanashi will be ejected to the entrance of Twisted Tokyo. However, challenging the Fiend again will resume the battle from where the party last left off, to make it possible to beat them over multiple runs. With the "Depths of Twisted Tokyo" DLC, En no Ozuno can be fought at the bottom of Twisted Tokyo. Defeating En no Ozuno will cause all the Fiends to return at a higher level and enhanced stats to match it.

Each Fiend drops a number of items equal to the current Twisted Tokyo cycle the party is on, maxing out at 6 from the 6th cycle onwards. Fiends are capable of dropping rare items like Incenses, Battle Plans, Compendium Tickets or Armor Boost Kits. Each Fiend also has an incredibly rare chance of dropping their unique equip from the 2nd cycle onwards. In-battle, the Fiends have 3 Press Turns, gaining 1 Press Turn for every 2 additional cycles of Twisted Tokyo the party is on - i.e. 4 turns on the 3rd cycle, 5 for the 5th, 6 for the 7th, and so on.

Shin Megami Tensei V
All Fiends, with the exception of Alice, can only be obtained via the Return of the True Demon DLC.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner
Appears as the substitute of the Human Race.

Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon
Fiend Order is a classification of demon. Fiends are demons of misfortune and death that became drawn to Tokyo due to the Luck Locusts eating all of its luck. Several of them appear as bosses during the story, and the Riders can appear during New Moons (their chances of appearing are much higher on Hard Mode). They can also be fought as optional bosses in the Case Files inside the Catholic Church. Similar to Evil Order demons, Fiends do not have an Investigation Skill and can only be made through fusion fever; if the fusion count is a multiple of 7 during a New Moon, there is a chance for the Fiend Fusion Fever event to occur (Bad Luck increases the chance of Fiend fusion over Evil fusion); using higher quality gems during this event increases the chance of creating higher level Fiends. Fiends are considered to be Skill Order for purposes of normal fusion.

Giten Megami Tensei: Tokyo Mokushiroku
"People who have become Fiends by fusing with demons. They reject divine protection and rely solely on their own strength. However, since their personalities as humans are not observed, they sometimes work for some other person or cause."

Devil Survivor
The Fiend race is a race exclusive only to certain bosses in this game (with the exception of one playable demon). Every member of this race has their Racial Skill known as "Fiend," which prevents them from moving but allows them to attack enemy teams from up to 3 squares away.

Devil Survivor 2
Fiends have the Uncanny Form Racial Skill, which allows their entire team to move and act a second time, albeit at the cost of over half the Fiend's MP. However, this cannot be used twice in succession within the same turn. Stronger Fiends have this skill changed to Unearthly Form, which reduces the MP % consumption. All members of the Fiend race are Unique demons, have to be unlocked for fusion and each one has their unique fusion recipe. Most Fiends, however, have low MP.

* Available only in Record Breaker.

Music
Battles against the Fiend demons (excluding Dante, who has his own battle theme) use separate battle themes in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne which is composed by Kenichi Tsuchiya, and Shin Megami Tensei IV uses the remix version of the former. This battle theme is distinctive that it uses more classical instruments than the other battle themes of rock and roll style. Originally, the theme was utilized for Fiend battles in the PlayStation remakes of the original Super Famicom titles in the series (with the exception of Alice, who had her own battle theme). Tsuchiya later remixed the theme in 7/8 time signature for Shin Megami Tensei V.

The Fiend battle theme in Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon composed by Shoji Meguro is more unified with other battle themes in terms of style.

Trivia

 * The Fiend race has the highest quantity of non-mythological demons, with Ghost Q, Alice, David, Matador, Daisoujou, Hell Biker, Chemtrail, Sid Davis, Dante and the Demi-fiend.
 * According to some sources, Tenma Crusader was originally intended to be a Fiend.