These are former humans that got turned into abominations primarily due to the incompatibility or misuse of Crests and Heroes’ Relics. While most demonic beasts you’ll encounter are part of the story missions, there are certain optional battles where you’ll have to fight them as well.
Demonic beasts are very dangerous enemies, due to their exceptional toughness, powerful attacks, and multiple HP bars. It will require several allied units to work together to take down one. Demonic beasts start off with protective shields activated. You’ll know this if there are yellow tiles under the beast, as shown below. While the barrier is active, the Damage the beast receives is lessened and it can also take advantage of its Barrier Ability. (can be seen in the beast’s details screen)
Demonic Beasts also have Latent Abilities. These are abilities that the beast will use once its remaining HP (represented by the diamond) reaches a certain level. Be wary and anticipate these attacks as your allied units work on inflicting armor break to the beast.
Demonic Beasts cover up to 4 tiles, allowing multiple allied units to surround it from all angles. That also means you have to break through 4 tiles of barriers to fully stun and weaken the beast. However you may have to focus on a single barrier tile and land multiple attacks to break it.
Gambits are essential for taking down demonic beasts since they will allow you to break barriers easily and even Damage other barrier tiles or layers. If you manage to pull off a Gambit Boost, the effects are even greater. Gambits also take the beast’s aggro and direct it to the last gambit user.
Once a barrier is broken, the beast will become confused and unable to counterattack or move for a turn. It will also receive more Damage from attacks directed at that “opened” tile. If ever the beast was able to manage to unleash its wide-ranged attack, it will re-activate all of its broken barriers and you have to repeat the process again.
After all of its barriers are broken, an Armor Break will occur. This will severely hinder the beast, preventing it from moving, attacking or counterattacking to any kind of attack. If it’s charging up its powerful area-of-effect attack, it will be interrupted and receive more Damage. It won’t be able to re-activate its barrier for a short amount of time. Furthermore, you’ll also be able to receive special forging materials, exclusive only as demonic beast drops:
* Giant Bird: Mythril
* Giant Wolf: Wootz Steel
* Wild Demonic Beasts: Umbral Steel & Venomstones
* Giant Crawlers: Agarthium