Quick Links
The fight against Masayoshi Shido brings the gamePersona 5 Royalfull circle. Not only did Shidoruin Joker’s life for a petty reason, he also killed Futaba’s mother, manipulated Akechi, and framed the Phantom Thieves for all his misdeeds.
In December, Shido runs for Prime Minister of Japan, but the Phantom Thieves have one last chance to punish his Shadow and steal his Treasure. As players might imagine, this task is far from easy. Unlike most Palace rulers inPersona 5 Royal, Shido never interacts with the Thieves during the infiltration phase, but this isn’t because he’s hiding from them.
RELATED:Persona 5: The Phantom X Seems Like a Possible Clue for Atlus' Persona 6 Plans
The Beast of Human Sacrifice
During the first phase of the Shido boss fight,the Thieves don’t fight against Shido himselfbut instead must defeat the Beast of Human Sacrifice, a cognition that combines all of Shido’s supporters into a single entity. Shido will use spells and abilities (and act twice every round) during this phase, but the health bar belongs to the Beast.
For the first part of the fight, the Beast will repel both Physical and Gun attacks but have no affinities for the magical elements. Shido will mostly usebuffs, debuffs, and physical attacks, but he can also use the skillWage War, which has a chance of inflicting the Berserk status ailment. Combined with the Physical repel, this can easily end in disaster, especially if Joker goes Berserk and players can’t cure it before his next turn.
Once players have taken out around one-third of the Beast’s health bar, Shido will transform it, turning it into Wings of Human Sacrifice. In this form, the Beast swaps its affinities: it is now strong against every magic element and neutral to Physical and Gun. If they weren’t in the active party before, players shouldconsider swapping in Ryuji, Yusuke, and Haru to make use of their appropriate skills.
As for attacks, Shido will switch to using the single-target -dyne versions of all eight magic elements, and he tends to target each character’s weaknesses. If this phase of the fight drags on for too long, Shido can also useRoyal Wing Beam, which will hit every party member with heavy Almighty damage and has a chance to cause Dizzy.
When the Beast is down to one-third of its starting health, Shido will transform it once again into the Tomb of Human Sacrifice. The Tomb only has two attacks, but these attacks are no joke. Shido will start by usingCannon Fireto deal severe Almighty damage to one target, then charge up usingUnholy Convergence. If players can’t defeat him after two rounds of Convergence, he’ll unleash aPyramid Blastthat deals colossal Almighty damage to everyone.
On the bright side, the Tomb has no special resistances, and it only gets one action per turn, so players can go all-out with their attacks and use any party members. A partywith an average level in the 60sand good weapons should be able to defeat the Tomb before it can fire its Pyramid Blast.
RELATED:Persona 5 Royal: Yoshizawa Deserved to Help Beat Shido’s Palace
Samael
Once the Beast of Human Sacrifice goes down, Shido will tear off his shirt and reveal his strength-training harness. This representsthe training Shido has given his Shadowthanks to his access to Wakaba’s cognitive psience research.
Shido dropped to one action per round during the Tomb form, and he sticks with just one during this phase. Shido’s Shadow is also named Samael, an archangel of sin and temptation. Samael has no affinities, positive or negative, so players can hit him with any skill.
Most of Samael’s attacks are Physical, and so Physical barriers and Personas with a good Physical affinity are useful. Samael can also useHeat Riserto give himself all three buffs at once, and he can useDekajato remove the party’s buffs. Even so, players should devote one party member to buffing and debuffing since he’s more likely to use these abilities when he has a reason to do so. Sacrificing one party turn to prevent Samael from attacking is worth the cost.
Samael can also cause Fear using the Physical skillTyrant’s FistorEvil Touch, and he gets the special attackTyrant’s Purge. Tyrant’s Purge deals heavy Physical damage and has a chance to instantly kill a party member (though thankfully not Joker). Items and skills that block instant death will prevent the Purge, including the damage, so this fight is a good time to use anInvincible Ofuda.
RELATED:Why Persona 6 Shouldn’t Follow the Action RPG Trend
True Samael
Once players take Samael down to zero HP, he’ll burst out of his harness and face the Phantom Thieves with his full power. True Samael gains two actions per round again, and he gets access toevery all-party -dyne spells. He also keepsTyrant’s Fist,Tyrant’s Purge,Heat Riser,Dekaja, and gainsCharge. If he knocks a party member down, he can useDebilitate, which hits one party member with every debuff.
True Samael’s super move is calledTyrant’s Wave. Once his health goes below 50 percent, he’ll combine Charge with Heat Riser and then useTyrant’s Glareto take three actions at once. These actions are Fist, Purge, and Wave, and players should either remove the Heat Riser buffs and guard or knock Samael down to one-quarter health to trigger the last phase of the fight.
At 25 percent health, Samael will push all the other party members out of the fight arena and force a one-on-one fight against Joker. Samael drops back down to one action per round, but he starts usingsevere elemental attacks likeInfernoandDiamond Dust.
To protect against this, players should make sureJoker has a Persona with a good magic attackand no elemental weaknesses, or else give Joker theRing of Vanitywhich negates all of a Persona’s weaknesses. The ring’s active skill,Bleeding Dry Brush, is also a useful way to convert one of Samael’s attacks into a free heal.
One other thing for players to consider is that this marathon of a battle is a good time to spend powerful items likeSomaandSoul Food. Samael isn’t the last boss if players areon the path to the true ending, but this fight is one of the best reasons to use rare items.
Persona 5 Royalis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
