Just like in Persona 5, Persona 5 Strikers has eight elemental types of damage. These include Psychokinesis, Nuclear, Ice, Electricity, Fire, Wind, Curse, and Bless. There are also physical and gun-based attacks for technically eleven in total. Plus there is a non-elemental type too, but it doesn’t adhere to any enemy weaknesses so it doesn’t really count in the grand scheme of things.
It is also worth mentioning that there are eight Jails, Persona 5 Strikers’ version of Palaces. Not all of them have traditional bosses and the game overall only has five major story bosses. Along with going through those fights, there are some other things worth mentioning as well.
There will be spoilers in terms of which characters become bosses.
Updated January 6, 2022 by Mark Sammut: During January 2022, PS Plus subscribers can download Persona 5 Strikers. The sequel to the beloved JRPG took the franchise in an unexpected direction, incorporating hack and slash elements akin to a Musou title. Consequently, the combat is very different from the mainline entries, and while Strikers is overall easier than Persona 5 or Shin Megami Tensei 5, it is still a challenging game for its genre. The boss battles are a blend of strategy and reflexes, and putting together the ideal party for each encounter is crucial. This guide has been expanded to provide more information on how to defeat Persona 5 Strikers' bosses.
Mad Rabbit Alice
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Alice's Elemental Weaknesses |
Alice's Elemental Strengths |
Alice's Type Of Attacks |
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Mad Rabbit Alice is the boss of the first dungeon set up in Shibuya. She is weak to Fire and Wind Persona attacks; consequently, Morgana and Ann should be brought along. The latter makes the most sense since this Jail is related to Ann in the first place.
Elements aside, Alice's first phase is not too hard. Players should simply fire spells at her and dodge attacks when necessary. The move to keep an eye on is "Feast Your Eyes," which will see Alice swing around the arena's central pole while shooting out hearts. During this section, fire one of the wind poppers located around the stage to stun Alice, leaving her open for a direct attack.
Once she gets mad, Alice's speed will increase and she’ll start doing pinwheels across the map which makes things trickier. Dodge those too and wait until she gets dizzy before firing off more Wind and Fire attacks.
Recommended Party For Mad Rabbit Alice
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Phantom Thief |
Reason |
Recommend Persona For Joker Or Moves For The Phantom Thieves |
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Joker |
Mandatory |
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Ann |
Target Mad Rabbit Alice's Fire Weakness |
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Morgana |
Target Mad Rabbit Alice's Wind Weakness |
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Nightmare Dragon Ango
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Ango's Elemental Weaknesses |
Ango's Elemental Strengths |
Ango's Type Of Attacks |
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Ango Natsume turns into a giant dragon for his boss battle of the Sendai Jail. He is weak against Ice and Bless Persona attacks. Yusuke will be strong here plus he is related to this story’s arc so he is the automatic starter. Sophia should also be brought along for her Bless and healing abilities.
The hard thing about Ango is that his dragon wears armor, making it difficult to cause damage at first. Plus, he is simply a lot tougher of an opponent with his literal power than Alice. Take advantage of the ice shards to knock him out as well as throw Persona skills at him. Eventually, he’ll get easier the less armor he has.
Recommended Party For Nightmare Dragon Ango
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Phantom Thief |
Reason |
Recommend Persona For Joker Or Moves For The Phantom Thieves |
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Joker |
Mandatory |
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Yusuke |
Target Nightmare Dragon Ango's Ice Weakness (but also weak to the boss' Fire attacks) |
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Sophia |
Target Nightmare Dragon Ango's Bless Weakness |
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Snow Empress Mariko
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Ango's Elemental Weaknesses |
Ango's Elemental Strengths |
Ango's Type Of Attacks |
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The Sapporo Jail's boss, Mariko has a similar setup to Ango in that players will be aided by higher planes in order to avoid her attacks. The hardest thing about Mariko is not her power, which is significant, but the fact that one of her later attacks can swallow teammates. If this happens, another character must be fast enough to cast a spell the boss is weak against so that their companion will not die.
Mariko's weaknesses include Curse and Psychokinesis skills. Haru should be added to the party since she too has a stake in this story’s arc. As Joker is the only one capable of inflicting Curse damage, either have a Persona set up with those types of attacks or get another Psychokinesis Persona in there to aid Haru.
Recommended Party For Snow Empress Mariko
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Phantom Thief |
Reason |
Recommend Persona For Joker Or Moves For The Phantom Thieves |
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Joker |
Mandatory |
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Haru |
Target Snow Empress Mariko Psy Weakness & Viable For Technical Damage |
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Morgana |
Healer |
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Sophia |
Extra healer |
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Akane’s Joker
Akane does not directly fight the Phantom Thieves in her Kyoto Jail, instead, she sends out copies of the Phantom Thieves that divide the group into single battles. Thankfully, the only fight players have to win is Joker versus Joker. That’s all well and good but this might be the hardest story fight in Persona 5 Strikers.
Akane’s Joker has no elemental weaknesses and is just as adept at dodging attacks, speedily cutting at players, and summoning Persona as the real Joker. A few quick combos from him can mean death. The best advice is to make sure to have buff spells as well as a few healing options. Focus more on Persona skills than direct hack and slash attacks as Akane's Joker will dodge most of the latter. When the boss is in the vicinity of the scooters parked around the arena, Joker should destroy them to burn Akane's Joker. This makes the boss vulnerable to Technical damage courtesy of Nuclear or Wind attacks.
Recommended Persona For Akane's Joker
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Persona |
Moves |
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Koppa Tengu |
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Setanta |
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Mithras |
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Zephyrus Mech/Akira The Hero
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Zephyrus Mech's Elemental Weaknesses |
Zephyrus Mech's Elemental Strengths |
Zephyrus Mech's Type Of Attacks |
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The fight with Akira in the Osaka Jail is, at first, presented as the final boss encounter in Persona 5 Strikers. The first phase has him piloting a giant mech. It’s weak against Nuclear and Electricity attacks so Ryuji and Makoto should part of the party. Another healer is also a good idea since this fight does get divided into two consecutive ones. Plus, this mech packs one heck of a punch. Luckily, there are ridges set up to dodge its laser blasts along with canons to fire back at it. For a “final” boss, it’s actually not that tricky if the player takes advantage of its Persona weaknesses and the previously mentioned cannons.
Akira The Hero Phase
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Akira the Hero's Elemental Weaknesses |
Akira the Hero's Elemental Strengths |
Akira the Hero's Type Of Attacks |
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Once he exists the mech, Akira becomes a bit stronger but primarily faster. He can kill a party member almost instantly at times so be diligent about healing. His weaknesses are the same as his mech’s so the same strategy mostly applies, however, as the boss is quicker in this form, Ryuji should take a backseat, allowing Joker, Makoto, and Zenkichi to assume center stage. Keep an eye out for Akira's Almighty attack as it hits hard and wide.
Recommended Party For Zephyrus Mech/Akira The Hero
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Phantom Thief |
Reason |
Recommend Persona For Joker Or Moves For The Phantom Thieves |
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Joker |
Mandatory |
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Ryuji |
Target Akira's Electricity Weakness |
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Makoto |
Target Akira's Nuclear Weakness |
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Zenkichi |
Not vulnerable to any element and offers a great selection of support and physical moves. Valjean's Fury Mode is also useful. |
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Bosses Of The Abyss
For Persona fans, it’s not that hard to believe that Akira wasn’t the final boss. There is always another. Jail of the Abyss is the next dungeon that has a quick fight against Sophia once Ichinose turns her against the party. Sophia is weak to Curse attacks but they won’t hit no matter what. All one needs to do to win is to avoid her attacks and the story will take over from there so it is not much of a boss.
The “big” battle of the dungeon instead is a wave-based attack of monsters Ichinose sends out as she is guarded by a giant crystal. These include normal monsters from the dungeon such as Lilith, Mot, Nebiros, and others. Elemental weaknesses that will appear include Psychokinesis, Fire, Nuclear, Wind, and Bless as the big ones. This battle is followed by a switch to Sophia, who will take on Ichinose's Hecatoncheir.
Main Persona Fought During This Battle
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Persona |
Weak Against |
Strong Against |
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Bugbear |
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Lilith |
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Mot |
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Nebiros |
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Hecatoncheir |
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False God Demiurge
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False God Demiurge's Elemental Weaknesses |
False God Demiurge's Elemental Strengths |
False God Demiurge's Type Of Attacks |
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The actual final boss of Persona 5 Strikers is EMMA who turns into a god by merging with the Ark of the Covenant. The False God Demiurge is also divided into two battles, both of which are weak to Curse and Bless attacks. They also have the same amount of attacks which are fairly easy to avoid as the boss is a bit slow.
The first form is easy and mostly requires keeping an eye on Demiurge's tells for her moves. For the second phase, hold back from wasting SP in the initial stages as the boss will fully recover its HP until the Phantom Thieves divide into three parties. One will continue to fight Demiurge while the other two fight its protective balls.
Each team will have to destroy five spheres that have their own elemental strengths and weaknesses. Due to the spheres covering quite a vast range of elements, the team selection is not that important. Just keep Joker and Sophia for the Demiurge, and split the healers between the other teams. For Joker, Persona with Curse or Bless attacks should be prioritized. If they happen to be resist, block, or absorb some of the elements, that is an added bonus.
Energy Spheres Group 1
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Sphere |
Weak Against |
Strong Against |
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Binah |
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Chesed |
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Chokmah |
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Gevurah |
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Keter |
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Recommended party: Zenkichi, Ann, Ryuji
Energy Spheres Group 2
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Sphere |
Weak Against |
Strong Against |
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Hod |
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Malkhut |
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Netzach |
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Tiferet |
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Yesod |
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Recommended party: Morgana, Haru
Recommended Party For False God Demiurge's Second Phase
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Phantom Thief |
Reason |
Recommend Persona For Joker Or Moves For The Phantom Thieves |
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Joker |
Target Demiurge's Bless & Curse Weaknesses |
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Sophia |
Target Demiurge's Bless Weakness |
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Makoto |
Support option |
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Yusuke |
Physical attacks |
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The Lock Keepers
Of the eight dungeons in the game, there are five Lock Keepers. They act like mid-bosses before the big showdowns, but they are worth going through quickly. They all have different weapons, but ultimately their strategies boil down to the same thing: spam their elemental weaknesses and everything should be fine.
- The Shibuya Lock Keeper is weak against Fire, Wind, Bless, and Curse spells. Consequently, Sophia, Ann, and Morgana are good bets.
- The Sendai Lock Keeper is weak against Ice, Bless, and Curse spells, so Sophia and Yusuke will do nicely.
- The Sapporo Lock Keeper is weak against Psychokinesis, Bless, and Curse spells, so Sophia and Haru should be in the party.
- The Okinawa Lock Keeper is weak against Bless and Curse spells. It’s actually the only boss of that Jail so it’s a little stronger than most, but not by much. The only party member that matters then is Sophia and, of course, Joker for his Curse spells.
- The Osaka Lock Keeper is the final one and is weak against Electricity, Nuclear, Bless, and Curse spells. Therefore, Sophia, Ryuji, and Makoto are all great counters for it.
Persona 5 Strikers is available on PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.