Persona 5 Tactica Slaughtering Salmael – A Guide to Victory
Slaying Salmael in Style Mastering the Persona 5 Tactica
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Everything you’ve been working for so far in Persona 5 Tactica has led you to this – the final battle with Salmael, the God of Control who’s been behind this entire nightmare metaverse he created to test Toshiro. He offers you an “out” before the final battle, but as if the Phantom Thieves would back down now!
Related Persona 5 Tactica: Achievement/Trophy Guide With 40 total achievements and trophies to collect, you’ll need to switch out your party and make the most of their skills in P5T.
Fight your way through Salmael’s Kingdom, re-challenge familiar faces from earlier in the game, plan your Skill Trees carefully, make any last-minute adjustments in the Velvet Room, and help Toshiro stand his own in the final boss fight of Persona 5 Tactica against Salmael.
This guide contains major end-game spoilers for Persona 5 Tactica.
Battle Your Way To The Final Boss
Salmael introduces himself to the Phantom Thieves after you beat Shadow Toshiro in the Third Kingdom. Immediately after taking down the memory of Eri, Salmael appears to lay everything on the line.
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He says that he’s the God that’s been organizing this alternate reality for Toshiro in an effort to squash the rebellious nature he has in his heart, in an effort to prepare him for his race for Prime Minister of Japan. Toshiro, though, denounces this, and says he’s ready to fight.
Salmael offers everyone the option to stop fighting and be returned to reality without any questions asked. Unfortunately for him, he’s asking the Phantom Thieves, so the answer is, of course, no thank you.
Following the conversation with Salmael, you’ll find the team boarding the Velvet Room train and speaking with Lavenza about what’s going on. She volunteers to take you all to where Salmael is hiding out.
Aboard, you’ll have one of your final chances to visit the Velvet Room to make any powerful new Sub-Personas for your team, take on optional quests that unlock the final skill in each Thieve’s individual Skill Tree, and talk to the group for extra background information.
Once you’re ready, you’re brought to Salmael’s Kingdom, which is sterile, gray, and offers fewer opportunities for cover, and you’ll need to fight your way through several Mission stages to advance.
Now, though, you’ve finally gotten a fourth party member – Toshiro joins your party for the final stretch to Salmael. He won’t be replaced by Baton Pass should he faint, so be sure to keep Toshiro in good health, but he and Ernesto make for excellent additional firepower.
Re-Fight Major Boss Battles
After every few Mission stages you complete in Salmael’s Kingdom, you’ll be made to face second versions of several major boss fights from throughout the game so far. These include Lady Marie, Lord Yoshiki, and the memory of Eri Natsuhara.
When you get to them, these fights function the same as the original fights did, with the same victory parameters as before. Marie will still use her tank, you still have to get up to Lord Yoshiki, and the memory of Erina knows the same attacks as before.
If anything, though, the fights are more difficult than before, now that you and your Thieves have a drastically higher party level and you’ve been filling out your Skill Trees to make the Thieves more powerful.
As long as you remember the keys to victory in these fights, they should be no problem to handle a second time.
You’ll finish up with Mission 51 before being given one more chance to regroup on the train to fill out Skill Trees, create new Personas, and anything else you need to do before proceeding into the game’s final battle.
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Salmael Battle Guide
Phase One
The battle against Salmael at the end of Persona 5 Tactica requires careful use of all battle tactics you’ve learned to date. All your other fights have been practice, leading up to this enormous, end-game blowout. Like before, Toshiro joins you in the fight, but he cannot be replaced by Baton Pass, just like before.
Salmael’s battle takes place on five platforms in a semicircle in front of Salmael, and you find soon enough that he’s able to rotate the platforms forward or in reverse as he sees fit between turns.
This attack is called Cogs of Fate, and you’ll be shown the direction the platforms will be moving on Salmael’s next turn, and how many spots they’ll move when the time comes.
However, the platforms that cycle out one end reappear on the other end, meaning any Phantom Thief standing on a platform all the way to the right will be cycled back toward the left side of the screen once Salmael moves the platforms.
This can be a help or a hindrance – you can use this to get closer to Salmael, or you can tactfully use the opportunity to move the Thieves around the board to set up for later attacks.
The most widely damaging attack is Final Judgment, which sends two circular saw blades at your Thieves.
This attack will hit the entire party if they’re close together, so allowing for some space between them when you’re able is usually the best bet. When the party isn’t clustered together, the attack only chooses one Thief.
Individually, you’ll also see Mercy from Heaven, which targets and hits one Thief only.
What’s worth noting is that there will be several Legionnaires around the board who are also trying to take you out, but keep in mind that inflicting damage on Salmael is your ultimate goal. When his HP is gone, the battle is over regardless of how many Legionnaires remain.
The best way to handle these Legionnaires, provided they’re not hurting your party too much with their attacks, is to use them to string together One More attacks that let the Thieves move a second time. This is a great way to cover more ground on the battlefield.
And when dealing with Salmael, skills are most effective from the platform directly in front of Salmael, and while they do tend to inflict more damage than your guns, they require proximity to Salmael to execute.
Overall, your main goal is to deplete Salmael’s HP and survive everything he throws at you. He’s imposing and his attacks are varied, but there aren’t many tricks to fighting him in this stage.
Phase Two
When Phase Two begins, Salmael’s health refills, his mask comes apart, and you’re tasked with depleting Salmael’s HP one more time.
Except now, he’s bringing out bigger guns for his attacks. New to this phase is Holy Numbers of Salvation, which can cause devastating harm if you don’t plan accordingly.
Salmael lines up an attack on one platform specifically, which will hit anyone on that platform and inflict damage unless you move the requisite number of party members to the platform on your turn to cancel out the attack.
Any fewer than that, though, and everyone who did make it to the platform is struck. This attack deals shock damage, rendering any party members struck by the attack unable to move on their next turn.
However, another perk of Salmael having Legionnaires in the fight is that every Legionnaire on the board gets a turn when Salmael moves as well. They go after him, but they’re still dangerous if your party is low on HP or you’ve allowed too many of them to accumulate on the board.
While not directly one of Salmael’s attacks, the Legionnaires deal damage to your party all the same, acting as Salmael’s army in a way.
Spire of Judgment Requires An All-Out Attack
Potentially the most demanding of all Salmael’s varied attacks, though, is Spire of Judgment, which sees Salmael erect an enormous golden antenna tower in the center of the battlefield.
Futaba warns you the first time Salmael uses this attack that you’ll need to perform an All-Out Attack to cancel the Spire of Judgment’s attack, which has homing properties that will hit any Phantom Thief on the board to deal massive damage, potentially KOing anyone it hits, depending on your game difficulty.
The challenge, though, is using One More attacks to move your Thieves around the board and into position for the All-Out Attack.
Performing this attack requires your Thieves to all be separated, which may be tough given the rotating nature of the platform. However, if Salmael is rotating the platforms between attacks, you can use the rotation to your advantage to get one of your Phantom Thieves to the other side of the board.
Once you’ve executed the All-Out Attack, the Spire falls and frees you up to refocus on Salmael once again. Futaba is able to use the Spire’s defeat to deal massive damage to Salmael instead.
Repeat this process until he goes down, and you’ll have defeated Samael in Persona 5 Tactica! Enjoy some wrap-up cutscenes before the credits roll and you begin a NG+ run or head into the DLC.
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And there you have it, fellow gamers! The ultimate battle against Salmael in Persona 5 Tactica. It’s been a long and challenging journey, but with your wit, strategy, and a touch of luck, you’ve come out on top. Now, it’s time to bask in the glory of victory and relish in the satisfaction of a job well done.
But hey, don’t put those controllers down just yet! There’s always another game waiting for you to conquer. Until then, keep gaming and keep embracing the joyful madness that comes with it. Stay tuned for more exciting game guides and reviews that will tickle your gamer’s funny bone. Happy gaming!
