Everything You Need To Know About Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance's Sakura Cinders of the East DLC
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance includes (almost) all the DLC from its original 2021 release. However, if you want to give Atlus more of your money, Vengeance adds two extra quests that you can purchase for $5 USD a pop. The first of these is the Sakura Cinders of the East DLC, which players are expected to access around the midpoint of their adventure. The default store pages for this DLC don’t disclose many more details than this, so to help you decide if it’s worth your cash, here’s everything the pack entails.
Sakura Cinders of the East is a level 47 quest in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. You don’t have to be level 47 to complete it, as you’ll meet the minimum requirements to unlock it after completing the game’s first major open area. As long as you can complete the two battles required to finish the quest, your actual level is irrelevant. All told, Sakura Cinders of the East consists of 15 minutes of gameplay at most. Completing this quest allows the DLC-exclusive demon Konohana Sakuya to join your party, which ostensibly is where the pack’s $5 value comes from.
If you’ve purchased the Sakura Cinders of the East DLC, or you own the Digital Deluxe edition of the game, here’s how to access your new goodies.
How to unlock the Sakura Cinders of the East quest in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
Sakura Cinders of the East won’t appear in your quest list the moment you purchase the DLC. To begin the quest, you’ll have to return to the Tokyo Diet Building. If you haven’t gotten to the Tokyo Diet Building yet, then you’re almost certainly too low-level to be doing this quest anyway. Just keep playing!
Once you return to the Tokyo Diet Building, go through the exit on the south side of the Terminal Room. In the next room, keep running down the hallway and go down the staircase. Talk to the Head Researcher, and select the “Offer assistance” option. As long as the Sakura Cinders of the East DLC is registered to your account, the Head Researcher should point you towards a Researcher in the same area who will give you the titular quest.
From there, travel to Onarimon in Minato, and Konohana Sakura herself will be waiting for you. She’ll say that she needs to test your power, and to do that, you’ll need to face off against her father Oyamatsumi. To jog your memory, this is the first major Punishing Foe you’re introduced to in Minato. You may better know it as “the giant golem that the game tells you not to fight right away.”
If you’ve already defeated this monster, you have nothing to worry about here. Otherwise, go to the location shown above and engage Oyamatsumi in battle.
How to defeat Oyamatsumi in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
Though Oyamatsumi looks fearsome when you first encounter it, this giant rock monster is easy to exploit. It uses Ice and Physical attacks, though its AI seems biased towards using Crusher Onslaught. This is very convenient, since Crusher Onslaught has low accuracy, and missing just one party member is enough to cut its turn short. Additionally, Oyamatsumi is weak to the Mirage status ailment, which lowers its accuracy even further.
All told, you can coast to victory by harassing its hit rate with Mirage and spells like Sukunda while buffing your party’s accuracy and evasion in turn. You’ll want to avoid bringing party members weak to Ice to be safe, but that’s about it. Oyamatsumi is weak to Fire, so use any fire elemental attacks you have and you’ll crush this golem in no time at all.
With your victory in hand, you can now return to Konohana Sakura. However, you’re not done yet, as Konohana Sakura will challenge you herself as the final test of your power. Heal your party and agree to her challenge.
How to defeat Konohana Sakura in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
Konohana Sakura uses Fire and Wind attacks, though her AI seems to make her cast Fire attacks more often. Conversely, Konohana Sakuya is weak to Lightning, though she can nullify this by using Elec Block. You’ll still want to zap her with electric attacks, just keep an eye out for whether or not she has a shield up.
Honestly, Konohana Sakura isn’t especially challenging. Her main gimmick involves using Sakuya Sakura, which heals her and buffs all her stats. If her stats are raised, she can activate the Oath of Plenteousness passive, which boosts her healing potential. To best handle this, keep her stats debuffed (as you should against many enemies in Shin Megami Tensei) so she can never activate her own passive. She doesn’t heal herself by too much otherwise (roughly 650
If you’re trying to take Konohana Sakura down at an especially low level, the Fire Block spell and the Fire Dampener item will go a long way towards minimizing her outgoing damage. Dis and Quetzalcoatl both can impart Fire Block via their Essences. However, if you’re level ~45 on Normal mode, you can take down Konohana Sakura in much the same way you’d defeat any other boss in the game.
Once you defeat Konohana Sakura, she’ll acknowledge your strength and agree to join your party, regardless of what level the Nahobino has reached.
Konohana Sakura’s stats and abilities
Out the gate, Konohana Sakura is a dedicated healer with some supplemental elemental coverage. She natively learns Zandyne, Agidyne, and Maragidyne, allowing her to hit enemies weak to Force and Fire damage (just like the version of her you defeated).
However, the star of the show is Sakuya Sakura, which is honestly a little too good. This Unique spell will heal your party’s HP, MP, and raise everyone’s stats by one stage whenever it’s used. The MP healing is relatively minor, but it still restores ~35 MP per party member once her Oath of Plenteousness passive activates (which technically requires just one cast of Sakura Sakura). This spell is a flat-out upgrade of Idun’s Unique Golden Apple spell, which is already very good. Sakuya Sakura even has the same MP cost, despite also providing MP regen.
The only arguably negative trait of Konohana Sakura is that her Magic stat is good, but less than Idun’s. Also, you’ll likely want to cover her Thunder weakness with Resist Elec, which can be hard to access via Essences early on. Otherwise, she’s a very good demon that you’ll almost certainly take with you into the endgame just for the sheer turn economy that Sakura Sakura provides. You certainly don’t need Konohana Sakura to beat Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, but if you have her, enjoy her and the crazy buffs she can apply!
