Fight Masayoshi Shido to round out the Persona 5 Royal game. Shidou not only ruined Joker’s life because of trivial things, but also killed Futaba’s mother, manipulated Akechi, and framed the Phantom Thieves.
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 the player imagines, this task is by no means an easy task. Unlike most Palace Rulers in Persona 5 Royal, Shido never interacts with the Rogues during the infiltration phase, but it’s not because he’s avoiding them.
beast of human sacrifice
In the first phase of Shido’s boss fight, Thieves did not fight Shido himself, but had to defeat the human sacrificial beast, a recognition that unites all of Shido’s supporters as one. Shido uses spells and abilities during this phase (and acts twice per round), but the health bar belongs to the beast.
During the first part of combat, the beast will repel physical and gun attacks, but has no affinity for magical elements. Shidou mainly uses buffs, debuffs, and physical attacks, but he can also use skills to wage war, which has a chance to cause an abnormal state of rage. Combined with physical repulsion, this could easily end in disaster, especially if the Joker goes into a berserk state and the player can’t heal it before his next turn.
Once the player has taken about one-third of the Beast’s health, Shido transforms it, turning it into Human Sacrificial Wings. In this form, the Beast swaps its affinity to : which is now strong against all magic elements and neutral against physics and guns. If they were not in the event group before, players should consider swapping in Ryuji, Yusuke, and Haru to bring out their appropriate skills.
As for attacks, Shido would instead use single-target dyne versions of all eight magical elements, and he tended to target each character’s weaknesses. If the battle at this stage drags on for too long, Shidou can also use the Royal Wing Beam to cause omnipotent damage to all team members and have a certain chance to cause dizziness.
When the Beast’s health drops to one-third of its initial health, Shido will transform it into the Tomb of Human Sacrifice again. The Mausoleum only has two attacks, but those attacks are no joke. Shidou will start off with Cannon Fire dealing heavy all-around damage to a target, then charge with Unholy Concentration. If the player fails to defeat him after two rounds of fusion, he will unleash a pyramid explosion, dealing massive all-around damage to everyone.
On the bright side, Tomb has no special resistances and only one action per turn, so players can go all out attacking and using any party member. A team with an average in the 60’s and a good weapon should be able to beat the Tomb before it fires a pyramid blast.
Sameer
Once the Beast of Human Sacrifice is down, Shidou tears off his shirt to reveal his strength training straps. This represents Shidou’s training on his shadow due to his contact with Wakaba’s cognitive psionic research.
Shidou reduces one action per turn in ancient tomb form, and at this stage he insists on doing only one action. Shidou’s shadow, also known as Samuel, is the archangel of evil and temptation. Samael has no affinity, either positive or negative, so players can hit him with any skill.
Most of Samael’s attacks are physical, so physical barriers and personas with good physical affinity are useful. Samael can also use the Heat Riser to give himself all three buffs at once, and he can use Dekaja to remove buffs from the party. Even so, players should still have a party member focus on buffs and debuffs, as he’s more likely to use those abilities when he has a reason to do so. It’s worth sacrificing a turn to stop Samael from attacking.
Samael can also use the physical skills Tyrant’s Fist or Evil Touch to inflict fear and gain the special attack Tyrant’s Purge. Tyrant’s Purge deals a lot of physical damage and has a chance to instantly kill a team member (thankfully not the Joker). Items and abilities that block instant death will prevent purges, including damage, so this fight is a good time to use the invulnerable Ofuda.
real samael
Once the player drops Samael’s HP to zero, he bursts from his harness to face the Phantom Thieves with all his strength. True Samael again gains two actions per round, and he can use all party-dyne spells. He also keeps Fist of the Tyrant, Purge of the Tyrant, Heater, Decaga, and gets Charged. If he knocks a team member down, he can use debuffs, each debuff will hit a team member.
True Samael’s super move is called Tyrant’s Wave. Once he’s below 50% health, he’ll use a combination of Charge and Heat Riser, then use Tyrant’s Glare to perform all three actions simultaneously. These actions are Fist, Purge, and Wave, and players should remove the Heat Riser buff and ward, or knock Samael down to a quarter health to trigger the final phase of the fight.
At 25% health, Samael will drive all other party members out of the arena and engage the Joker in one-on-one combat. Samael drops to one action per round, but he starts using heavy elemental attacks like Inferno and Diamond Dust.
To prevent this, the player should make sure the Joker has a Persona with good magic attack and no elemental weaknesses, or give the Joker a Ring of Vanity, which negates all of the Persona’s weaknesses. The ring’s active ability, Bleeding Dry Brush, is also a useful way to turn one of Samael’s attacks into free healing.
Another thing players need to consider is that this marathon fight is a good time to use powerful items like Soma and Soul Food. Samael isn’t the final boss if the player is heading towards the true ending, but this fight is one of the best reasons to use a rare item.
Persona 5 Royal is out now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.