Battle Mechanics

Learn about Persona 5 Royal battle mechanics including status ailments, Technical Damage, Baton Pass, Showtime Attacks, and Treasure Demons.

Status Ailments:

• Burn: Inflicts damage every turn.
• Freeze: Prevents action.
• Shock: Prevents action; melee attacks against a shocked enemy may transfer Shock.
• Sleep: Prevents action; HP and SP restore gradually; recovers after being hit.
• Rage: Reduces all stats, buffs attack, and causes automatic melee attacks.
• Fear: May cause the enemy to ignore commands or run away from battle.
• Brainwash: May cause the enemy to heal or support allies, or attack allies.
• Hunger: Reduces attack.
• Forget: Prevents skill use; recovers after being hit.
• Confuse: May cause the enemy to discard money or items, use an item, or do nothing; lasts for 1 turn.
• Dizzy: Greatly reduces accuracy; recovers after being hit.
• Despair: Prevents action; results in death after 3 turns; the Reaper cannot be afflicted.

Technical Damage:

• When a combatant has an ailment, certain elemental attacks inflict Technical damage.
• Burn: Wind and Nuke attacks.
• Freeze and Shock: Phys and Nuke attacks.
• Dizzy and Sleep: All attacks.
• Dizzy, Sleep, and all other ailments: Psy attacks.
• Technical damage functions as if a weakness was struck, dealing additional damage.
• It starts with a low chance of knockdown.
• You can raise the entire party's Technical Rank through billiards.
• Rank 2: Provides a light boost to Technical damage.
• Rank 3: Provides a medium boost to Technical damage.
• Rank 4: Provides a heavy boost to Technical damage and a medium chance of causing a down.
• Rank 5: Provides a severe boost to Technical damage and a guaranteed chance of causing a down.
• Reading "Knowing the Heart" unlocks additional combos for the party.
• Forget: Electric skills.
• Confusion: Gun and Wind skills.
• Fear: Ice skills.
• Rage: Fire skills.
• Brainwash: Bless skills.

Baton Pass:

• If a party member downs an enemy, they can pass their One More (an extra turn) to another party member.
• You cannot Baton Pass to any member who has already received a pass in the same turn, limiting passes to a maximum of 4 per turn.
• Each subsequent pass in the same turn increases the receiver's damage output.
• The third pass receiver will have their skill costs set to 0 for that specific pass.
• Baton Pass is available by default for new party members.
• Each party member has a Baton Pass Rank that activates upon receiving a pass and can be leveled up through darts.
• Rank 2: Grants a medium damage boost and HP recovery.
• Rank 3: Grants a heavy damage boost, HP recovery, and light SP recovery.

Showtime Attacks (Royal):

• A prompt may occur at the beginning of a party member's turn, initiating a pair attack that deals almighty damage to one enemy.
• Damage scales with the character's current level, buffs, and activated traits.
• Showtime Attacks can occur during boss fights.
• More Showtime Attacks become available over the course of the story.
• Morgana x Ann: Available during the first non-scripted infiltration of the Bank Palace.
• Ryuji x Makoto: Available after securing the Treasure Route in the Bank Palace.
• Ryuji x Yusuke: Available starting 7/17.
• Panther x Yusuke: Available during the first non-scripted infiltration of the Spaceport Palace.
• Morgana x Haru: Available after securing the Treasure Route in the Spaceport Palace.
• Makoto x Haru: Available during the first non-scripted infiltration of the Casino Palace.
• Joker x Akechi: Available starting 1/9.
• Joker x Kasumi: Available at Faith Rank 10, during the next non-scripted infiltration of the Laboratory Palace.

Treasure Demons:

• After a special Museum Palace event, objects have a low chance of containing Treasure Demons.
• Treasure Demons will flee if not defeated quickly.
• Defeating one yields large amounts of money and experience points.
• When negotiated during a holdup, they will automatically join as a persona.
• They cannot be created through fusion.
• Treasure Demons count towards compendium completion.
• They may also appear in normal encounters.
• Each palace and its corresponding floor of Mementos has its own Treasure Demon.
• Regent: Found in the Museum Palace, Path of Qimranut, and Path of Aiyatsbus.
• Queen's Necklace: Found in the Bank Palace and Path of Chemdah.
• Stone of Scone: Found in the Pyramid Palace and Path of Kaitul.
• Koh-i-Noor: Found in the Spaceport Palace and Path of Akzeriyyuth.
• Orlov: Found in the Casino Palace and Path of Adyeshach.
• Emperor's Amulet: Found in the Cruiser Palace and Path of Adyeshach.
• Hope Diamond: Found in the Depths of Mementos and Path of Da'at.
• Crystal Scope: Found in the Qliphoth World and Path of Da'at.
• Orichalcum: Found in the Research Lab Palace.

Savage Enemies (Royal):

• Flaming red shadows encountered during normal battles indicate a higher-level enemy.
• These enemies possess significantly higher stats and HP compared to surrounding encounters.
• They will refuse negotiation until their HP is dangerously low.
• Savage enemies drop sooty armor upon defeat.

Disaster Shadows (Royal):

• Normal encounters have a low chance of replacing one enemy with an upgraded version called a Disaster Shadow.
• Disaster Shadows share the same shape as their normal counterparts but have a shiny texture.
• They possess the same resistances and skills as their normal counterparts.
• Disaster Shadows will immediately counter any skill that does not down them with heavy damage.
• Upon defeat, they explode, dealing heavy damage to all remaining enemies.
• Disaster Shadows drop rarer items upon defeat.

Will Seeds (Royal):

• All human rulers have 3 Will Seeds hidden within their palaces.
• Collecting a Will Seed restores some SP for the entire party.
• Gathering all 3 Will Seeds causes them to fuse into a unique accessory with a standard skill.
• Showing the fused accessory to Jose after the palace collapses will prompt him to upgrade it to possess a unique skill instead.
• Jose will also sell any Will Seeds you missed from previous palaces at a high price.