'Persona 5' Combat Guide: How To Exploit Enemy Weaknesses, Trigger All-Out Attacks And More

Persona 5 ’s turn-based combat system seems old-school and simple at first glance, but there’s a lot of complexity and depth to be found there. What’s more, as you progress further into Palaces and face off against stronger Shadows battles become unforgiving, with little margin for error. If you’re struggling in Persona 5, whether it’s against standard Shadows or bosses, the basic info outlined here should help you get a handle on how fighting works.

Persona 5 Combat Basics

• If MC dies, it’s game over, no matter what. Yep, this applies to one-shot spells. If he’s been knocked down or his health is dangerously low, make healing him top priority.
• Only certain kinds of restoratives can be used in battle. Most food you buy in restaurants or convenience stores must be used outside of battle only. Keep this in mind as you’re buying items to prepare for a Palace run. Don’t buy only food; even a modest 50 HP recovery can make the difference between victory and defeat.
• Don’t forget: you can press down on the D-pad at any time to see who is next in the turn order. This can be critical for making smart decisions during intense fights.
• Don’t leave things up to chance. We suggest manually controlling all of your party members. You can do this through the main menu outside of combat (press triangle), or by pressing L1 in battle.

Enemy strengths and weaknesses

• There are two types of physical attacks, melee and ranged. Some enemies are weak to one and not the other. Others resist one or both. There are eight kinds of magic: fire (Agi), ice (Bufu), lightning (Zio), wind (Garu), psychic (Psi), nuclear (Frei) light (Hama) and dark (Mudo). Another ninth type of magic, Megido, is non-elemental and cannot be resisted.
• There’s only one kind of weakness (indicated by Wk) in the stats screen, but three kinds of strength against attack types: resist, null and absorb. Resist takes reduced damage, null takes no damage at all, while absorb will restore HP equivalent to a normal damage amount.
• Pressing R1 will allow you to see an enemy’s weaknesses and strengths, something you’ll use in almost every battle. Your first few times facing off against a new enemy type won’t show any info, so you’ll have to use trial and error.
• Persona 5 will play with your expectations. Think that blue guy who uses ice spells is weak to fire? Think again, sucker! That guy’s weak to wind and eats fire for breakfast. The point: always check with R1, never assume.
• As you progress further into a Palace, watch for pairings of enemies that couple baddies weak to a certain attack with those who resist or absorb it. (For instance, three enemies weak to ice and two that block ice.) Consider taking out the baddies with single-target spells, or eliminating one type and then using a Ma- level spell that hits all enemies on the field.
• Utilize Baton Pass to change up your turn order when dealing with different enemy resistance types.

Triggering All-Out Attacks (AOAs)

• Unless the group of enemies is so weak you can use Auto-Attack with little worry (option button), your goal will usually be to knock down every enemy on the field by targeting their weaknesses.
• Knocking down every shadow will allow you to use an All-Out Attack or start a Negotiation. This can be via physical or magic-based attacks.
• Hitting an enemy weakness will grant you an extra attack; the same also applies to when foes attack your party.
• AOAs are roughly equivalent to a critical melee attack from each party member, all at once. Often, these attacks do enough damage to automatically end the battle.
• If a party member is knocked down or afflicted with a status ailment (or dead, obviously), they won’t take part in the AOA and the damage will be reduced.

Always be ready

• For the love of god, avoid getting ambushed at all costs. Sometimes it may feel a bit unnecessary to sneak around to get the jump on every single shadow, especially if you’ve been working on a Palace for a while and fatigue is starting to set in. Be patient. A one-round enemy advantage is all it takes for some cheap-shot Hama or Mudo spells, or a critical hit knockdown.
• Try to be aware what Persona your protagonist has equipped at all times, and what its weaknesses are. Your Persona’s weaknesses become your weaknesses, so if you notice enemies using Agi spells and you’re currently equipped with a Persona that’s weak to fire, swap that Persona for another one fast!
• Any time a boss does some kind of “charging up” motion, drop your usual strategy and have everybody guard. Morgana will usually tip you off.
• We mention this elsewhere in our Persona Fusion guide, but try to keep a diverse sampling of Personas on your MC at all times. You don’t need three different lightning-magic personas. Build your roster to complement, not overlap that of your current party setup.
• MC will likely be on the offensive most of the time, but it never hurts to have a dedicated healing and/or buffs Persona.

Using items in battle

• Unless you find yourself in a truly desperate, losing-hours-of-progress type of situation, try to avoid using revive items outside of boss battles. KO’ed characters will be revived with 1 HP after the battle is over and can be healed as normal.
• If the main character is KO’ed in battle, you can’t use revive items on him. It’s just plain-old, controller-tossing Game Over.
• If you’re facing off against a group of enemies that are weak to a magical element no one on your team currently has, scroll through your item inventory. You’ll likely have picked up a few items as random enemy drops that can be used as one-time spell casts; one of them might be enough to trigger an All-Out Attack.

Know when to walk away, know when to run

• Bitten off more than you can chew? If you’re facing a tough group of enemies, you can choose to run away by pressing L1. This option is not available if the enemy has ambushed you (indicated by “Danger” appearing on screen at the start of the battle) or during boss fights.
• Sometimes you don’t need to clear every room; consider stealthing your way past some enemies to conserve HP and SP.
• If you’re getting roasted by a boss or sub-boss -- even a particularly tough regular enemy type you keep running into -- consider visiting the Velvet Room and fusing some new Personas. Having something even a few levels stronger, or able to resist a certain type of attack, might make all the difference between victory and defeat.

Any basic strategies that helped you in Persona 5 ? Something that seems obvious you wish you’d known from the start? Feel free to chime in on all things combat in P5 below!