Shido's Cruiser - Persona 5 Guide - IGN (2024)

The following is IGN's walkthrough for the seventh Palace in Persona 5, Shido's Cruiser.

You can freely infiltrate this Palace starting 11/25 and your deadline is December 18.

The following Personas are available in this Palace: Sarasvati (Priestess), Titania (Empress), Dakini (Empress), Oberon (Emperor), King Frost (Emperor), Forneus (Hierophant), Parvati (Lovers), Narcissus (Lovers), Cerberus (Chariot), Kurama Tengu (Hermit), Emperor's Amulet (Hanged), Baphomet (Devil), Hanuman (Star), Garuda (Star)

Infiltration

It's time to infiltrate Shido's Palace to find and steal his treasure! You can clear this Palace in one day, but make sure you enter no later than 12/15 so that you can send the calling card on 12/16 and steal his heart on 12/17.

Front Deck

Head into the Palace when you're ready.

Entrance Hall

Just like before, head up two floors and go through the door on the third floor. There will be Shadows patrolling the floors and halls from now on, so watch out!

Central Hall

You need to start finding VIPs to get their letters of referral. To get to the first, head down the path to the south and up the stairs to go through the door to the next room.

Full video walkthrough for the infiltration of Shido's Palace available via this [link], starting at 1:08

In this new room, head down a floor and then through the door to the south-east that leads to the restaurant.

Restaurant

Head down the path and speak to the waiter. He will tell you that you need a membership card to enter the restaurant. Head back out to the previous area.

Central Hall

Head up the stairs and over to the north-west corner of the second floor. You'll find a group of men and women chatting and they'll have a speech bubble over their head. Go listen to them and you'll find out that one of the men lost his membership card and that one of the bartenders most likely has it.

Head back down a floor and go speak to the bartender at the north-east bar. Ask him if anyone has turned in a membership card and he'll hand it over to you.

Head to the south-east corner of the room and go to the restaurant.

Restaurant

This time, you can go up to the waiter and show him your membership card. That will let you go into the restaurant.

After speaking to the waiter, someone will need to take a seat. Regardless of who you pick, Skull will forcibly volunteer and Queen will go with him.

After some less than pleasant conversation with Mr Ooe, he will become his Shadow-self and you can fight him.

Politician Ooe seems to be susceptible to critical hits, so physical and ranged attacks might prove efficient against him for you as they did for us. In addition, he is weak to Psychic. More so, he will use a number of buff and debuff abilities, so if you make sure to clear his buffs and your debuffs, you will be able to mostly prevent him from doing any substantial damage to your team. He does, however, use Ice skills, so watch out for those.

Defeating Ooe will grant you your first letter of introduction. From there, head to the north-west side of the restaurant and go up the lift into the next area.

Mid Starboard Hallway

Make your way up the stairs and into the room with the statue of Shido. You'll all turn into mice! This is one of the main mechanics of this Palace. When in the range of an active Shido statue, you'll turn into a mouse. However, use this to your advantage by going through ducts that are too small for your human form and by sneaking behind Shadows that won't notice you as easily. Additionally, you won't be able to open doors while in your mouse form and you will be very vulnerable to attacks, so keep that in mind.

In this room, there's a small duct you can go through on the east wall. Head through and unlock the door to the south since you'll now be in your human form. From there, head through the door to the north.

First head down the path to the west and into the larger room. There will be several Shadows in there, so watch out! There are a few small ducts you can crawl through in this room, but the first you'll want to go through is the one on the east side of the north wall. Head through and unlock the door at the west end of the hall you'll enter. Then, head through the rooms and to the lantern-like statue. Interact with it to disable the Shido statues in the vicinity.

Once you've turned the lantern off, head back up the path to the east and proceed south through the room you'll enter into. Since the Shido statues can't change you anymore, head through the door down the south path and then south again (your first left) back to the area you previously came from.

Head down the east path you'll quickly from across and then south in the room you'll enter into since you can now open the door in it. Make sure to unlock the locked door to the west as you make your way south down the path.

As you head south down the main path on the east side of the map towards the lift marked on your map, you'll have the option to go west (the middle of the three western paths). There is only a single chest down that way, so it's optional. Your destination lies to the south-most west path. Head through the door at the bottom and into the lift at the end of the path.

Pool Deck

Make sure to get the safe room to the south when you first enter the Pool Deck area. Additionally, there should be a Treasure Demon located in the north-east corner of this area by the door on the pool level.

Head north out onto the pool deck itself and take a look around. The Noble you're looking for is located in the south-west of the area. He's lounging on a pool chair and has a speech bubble above his head. Speak with him when you're ready.

Since he seems to have no interest in speaking with you, you'll need to get his interest. Go to the woman in the south-east part of the pool area and speak with her. She'll tell you about the swimsuits that are on rental.

Head back to the west side of the area and talk to the waiter at the bar about renting swimsuits. Unfortunately, you can't get any without a boarding pass, which you have no way of getting since you've snuck in.

To get into the fitting rooms, head around the stairs you came down and into the duct on the wall. Kick it to open it and then crawl through. Examine the fitting room stalls to continue.

Though you will get a letter of referral due to Ryuji's baring plan, you'll still have to fight. The Former Noble in his Shadow form is weak to Electric skills, so be sure to bring Ryuji to take him down quickly. He will try to brainwash team members, too, so be careful. Having Haru on your team to remove ailments will help a lot.

Once you've defeated the former noble, head to the north-east part of the pool deck and through the door to the next area.

Upper Starboard Hallway

Take your first left to the north down the hallway until you reach a hall that will turn you back into a mouse. You will now find Shido statues in the halls as well as the rooms and will have to deal with them accordingly.

Make your way east, though be sure to go through the ducts on the south wall to unlock doors as you proceed. You will also be able to properly fight Shadows while in the southern hall that is parallel to the one that turns you into a mouse. Unlocking the doors allows you to make your way through that section of the area without having to worry about transforming.

Eventually, you'll have to go south after going east to the end of the path. Head south and up the stairs and then all the way down to the west end of the hall you'll be in so that you can unlock the door. Then, head down the hall you just passed and into the next room.

There will be a lantern that you can interact with toturn off the effects of the Shido statues. Only do so if you want to then head down the hall to the room to the west where there will be a chest to the north. It might also be a good idea to do this to take out the Shadow along the way.

Either leave the lantern on or turn it back on and then head into the room to the west. You'll turn into a mouse so you can now crawl through the duct in the south-east corner of the room.

Watch out for the Shadow patrolling the hall you can emerge into. It's best to wait until it's walked by so that you can ambush it with its back turned to you. From there, head up the first hall you'll come across and unlock the door (to the north). Then, return to the lantern and turn it off.

Head back to the hall that you were just in and proceed to the east into a room and through its eastern door. We recommend you go to to the room at the end of this hall and take out the Shadow as you will need to return to that room soon. After that, take the first north path you came across. It does not matter if you go east or north on this path here as both paths will lead to the same location.

You'll want to get onto the northern path from your location and head west to unlock the door. Once again, interact with the lantern to turn it on and go to the room at the east end of the parallel hall to the south as indicated previously. You'll be able to crawl through a duct in that room and go into the locked off hall.

Unlock the door at the west end of the hall and then go to the lantern and turn it off before heading east down the hall into the next part of the area.

Head east down the hall and then north when you reach the room to get closer to the exit of the area. Before you go north into the larger room with a few Shadows, make sure to unlock the door to the west of it.

Head through the east door of the large room and you'll quickly reach the exit to the next area.

Back Deck

Watch out for the powered up Shadows. They now have assault rifles that can shoot you from a distance.

Head down to the lower level of the deck and get the safe room near the stairs.

From the safe room, head around the stairs to the north and you'll see a door. Head up to it and you'll be intercepted by someone who works for Shido. He will then summon two Heretic Goats (Baphomets) for you to fight.

Despite their appearance, they will use Ice and Electric attacks on top of Fire and block Curse but are weak to Bless. However, they aren't very strong on their own so they'll go down quickly. After you beat the, get the chest under the stairs and then head through to the Entertainment Hall.

Entertainment Hall

Head down the spiral staircase and into the main area of the gambling hall. Then, head north and around to the south to make your way down the grand staircase. There's a safe room located very close to the stairs you just came down.

Head down the stairs in the centre of the floor you're on and you'll quickly come across the television station president. After getting the invitation from him, you'll face off against him and his two minions.

The flying Shadows (Raging Bird Gods) are weak to Electricity while the TV station president is weak to Ice, so be sure to exploit those with Ryuji and Yusuke on your team.

Head back up the stairs once you've defeated the TV station president and go through the door to the north-west.

Lower Port Hallway

Head into the large room and then directly across from where you enter so that you can go through the south door on the west wall. All other doors are currently locked.

Head south down the path and through the south door, since the west door is currently locked. Then, go to the checkmark on your map and activate the lantern, though you might want to take out the Shadow first.

From there, head to the southern-most part of the hall you were just in and you can walk through a small duct to a room that is locked off. In your human form, unlock the door to the east and go turn off the lantern. Then, head back into the room you were just in and go through the north door.

In this hall, make sure you unlock the east door before proceeding west. Head west again from the room you'll enter into and then head north when the west path is blocked by a locked door.

Since you can only head onwards east in this next room, do so and unlock the door at the end before taking the north path that branches off from it.

As you head down the path, make sure you unlock the door in the first hallway you come across in case you want a faster route back to the safe room. Otherwise, keep heading down the path to the door at the end.

Keep moving along the linear path until you reach a room with a locked door and an inactive lantern. Activate the lantern and then head back into the hall you just came from. There will be a small duct you can go through in your mouse form on the south wall.

Head down the west path and unlock the door. Then, deactivate the lantern you just activated beyond it. Head back to the previous room and then south down the path. Follow it and go into the second (east) of the two rooms you come across. You'll probably want to take out the Shadow here and then unlock the door to the west.

Now, head all the way back to the lantern and activate it. Then, head into the west of the two rooms. Since you've unlocked the door, head through and then through the small duct on the north wall. Make sure you unlock the door to the west in this new hall in case you need to head back before continuing east.

Make our way south into a room that will turn you into a mouse and go through the small duct on the east wall. In this hall, you can unlock the door to the south that leads to the large room. Now that the mouse trap is activated in the large room, head into it and into the small duct at the south of the room near the south door.

Just in case you want to head back, there's a lantern that you can deactivate before heading through the exit to the south.

Side Deck

There's a safe room to the west that you might want to get before continuing on. From there, head a bit more to the west and you'll face off against a few more Shadows summoned by the man from before. These are the same Heretic Goats (Baphomets) as before. Use Bless skills if you have them as they are weak to them.

Once you've defeated the Shadows, continue west to the next area.

Mid Port Hall way

This area is much shorter than the others and only requires you to move from room to room, turning the lanterns off and on until you get to the exit, much like a block-based puzzle. This area also has some very powerful Shadows/Personas, so it's worth exploring to get them and for training.

For this section, we will simply tell you which way to go. If the direction says "door," then you'll be in your human form. If it says, "duct," then you'll be in your mouse form.

The path is as follows once you're in the south-eastern most room: north door, west duct, west door, north hall, east door, north duct, west hall, elevator.

Central Hall

You will end up back in the central hall once you exit the mid port hallway. From there, head to the restaurant.

Restaurant

Speak to the waiter inside to get some intel on the IT company's president. After that, head back to the side deck.

Side Deck

Head over to where all the smoke is coming out of on the east side of the Side Deck from a duct on the wall. However, you don't need to worry about that just yet. Instead, climb up the wall across from it and traverse the side of the ship to the IT company president's room. The west leads back to a previous area.

Futaba will take the lead and display her aptitude with technology to get an invitation, but you'll still have to fight it out.

The fight will pit you against the IT President and two Scandalous Queens (Titanias). The IT President will use Bless skills that kill in one hit (Hamaon), so make sure to bring a healer who can revive allies or stock up on reviving items for this fight. The Queens are weak to Psychic and not very strong to begin with, so bring in Haru into this fight, however, the IT President can summon more of them. He is weak to Nuclear (the Queens block it), though, so Makoto should be able to help a lot.

Once you've defeated the Shadows, you need to head to the Engine Room.

Head down to the floor level and interact with the duct and crawl through to the engine room. You might not be able to save for a while, so make sure you do so in the safe room on the Side Deck before progressing.

Engine Room

You'll quickly enter a fight against the Cleaner's Shadows. You'll face off against four Heretic Goats, all of which are weak to Bless skills. Take them down to continue.

Once they're all defeated, follow after the Cleaner. Since you can't get into the door he went through, head around to the west and climb up the red crate so that you can crawl through a duct that leads to the room he's in. Jump out and you'll fight against him.

He'll use powerful Curse attacks that hit the whole team (Maeigaon), a strong physical attack that targets a single ally with high critical hit rate (Myriad Slashes), a number of skills that lower your stats or raise his, and an instakill Curse skill (Mudoon). He's very tough and has no (known) weaknesses, so this fight might take a bit of time to get through. Rangda (Magician) is a prime choice for this fight as it resists Curse and reflects Physical skills.

Once he's down, prepare for another fight. Heal up and restore your SP before pressing on to face off against the Crow of Justice: Goro Akechi. During your conversation with him, you'll rank up to Rank 9 with the Justice Confidant.

Akechi won't fight alone at first. He'll have two very strong Shadows at his side, both of which he'll turn Berserk with...a different Persona?

Both Shadows will use Desperation to start off the fight, meaning their attacks will increase dramatically and their defences will drop substantially. Neither has any weakness but the Guard Dog of Hades will drain Fire and the Spear-Wielding General will drain Electric, Dish out as much damage as you can while keeping your health up.

Once they're down, Akechi will enter the scene and face off against the Phantom Thieves. He'll use Light and Dark attacks with Robin Hood and has no resistances or weaknesses. After bringing him down about half of his health, he'll use Megidolaon, a Heavy Almighty attack that will hit your whole team.

However, the fight isn't over once his health has gone down. The harder fight is only just beginning. Akechi will summon the powers of his Persona Loki, the original Trickster, and make himself go Berserk to fight you.

In this fight, Akechi will resist Curse (and presumably Bless) skills but will otherwise have no other resistances. He will, however, be able to use two moves in a row. The first will usually be a support move and the second and attack, but not always.

In the first third of his health, he can create a reflective shield against physical attacks (Tetrakarn), use a Severe Physical attack with a good critical hit rate (Brave Blade), and another strong physical attack the can cause despair (Negative Pile). Bring Haru for creating your own physical barriers and consider also bring Ann so that she can both attack, heal, and remove buffs from or debuff Akechi.

Once you get him below the first third of his health, he will start creating magic barriers (Makarakarn) and will shift to using magic attacks, such as Eigaon (single-target medium Curse), Maragion (party-wide medium Fire), and Maeiga (party-wide medium Curse). He will also start using Megidolaon (party-wide Severe Almighty) as you bring his health down.

In the final third of his health, he might not always attack, but when he does, it'll be very powerful. He'll use the move Laevateinn, a Severe Almighty attack (though it looks like Curse) that can even one-shot you if you have full health and high defence. It's incredibly strong.

Upon defeating Akechi in his most powerful state, he'll have to face himself in more ways than one. In his one last act of defiance against Shido, you will create an unbreakable bond with Akechi, the Justice Confidant.

Head up the stairs and out of the area and you'll automatically go to the central passage.

Central Passage

Approach the Main Assembly Hall door with all your invitations to gain access. Head in and up the lift.

Main Assembly Hall

Here you'll find the treasure which means you've secured your route. Head back for the day and send the calling card when you're ready.

Send the Calling Card!

Sending the calling card this time around is more epic than ever. Take Tokyo by storm and send a message to Masayoshi Shido that he could never miss. More than anything, though, it rallies the support of those most loyal to you. Get ready for a fight!

You will infiltrate Shido's Palace the same night that you send the calling card due to how public it is.

Steal His Heart!

Make your way into the Main Assembly Hall and face off against Shadow Shido!

This first section of the boss battle comes in three parts. The beast, the wings, and the pyramid. He'll transition into each successively based on how many thirds of his health he has left, respectively. Shido will use two actions on each of his turns.

Beast of Human Sacrifice

Shido's mount will take the form of a beast for the first third of his health. The following are the analytics of the first part of this fight:

• Reflects Physical and Ranged.
• Attack: Single target Physical.
• Masukunda: Lowers accuracy/evasion.
• Beast King's Wrath: Physical sweep on the whole party.
• Wage War: Chance of Rage for the whole party.
• Makarakarn: Reflect magic.
• Army of Destruction: Almighty sweep + Change of Rage

For this fight, having someone who can dispel rage or having items to remove it will be very helpful. Only use magic skills and don't try using Down Shot (if you have it) as it won't work.

Full video walkthrough for the boss fight versus Shadow Shido available via this [link], starting at 2:54:11

If it charges, it's going to do a strong attack the next turn, but this will be negated if you drop it below the first third of its health.

Wings of Human Sacrifice

Shido's mount will transform into a winged beast once you take out a third of its health. The following are the analytics for this creature:

• Resists all magic attacks but is now damaged by Physical and Ranged.
• Royal Wing Beam: Almighty magic attack sweep.
• -dyne: This form can use the Heavy damaging forms of each magic affinity, such as Agidyne or Psiodyne.

For this fight, bring out two heavy physical hitters (Skull and Fox for example) and one healer (Queen or Mona). Have the two brutes beat down the enemy while the healer heals the team and provides other forms of support. Shido is smart and will sometimes target your teammates with attacks that represent their weaknesses (such as Ziodyne against Mona), so having Haru use Makarakarn on your party could be a useful tactic if needed.

Tomb of Human Sacrifice

Shido's mount will turn into this pyramid to protect him when you get him down to the final third of his health. The following are the analytics for this foe:

• No resistances or weaknesses.
• Cannon Fire: Severe single-target ranged attack.
• Unholy Convergence: Charges up attack for 2 turns
• Pyramid of Light: Colossal attackon the entire party.

This is arguably the easiest form in the fight as it only has one (known) attack and no resistances. Take it down in any way you wish to progress to the next fight. The pyramid will use its attack after charging up with Unholy Convergence.

Masayoshi Samael Shido

Just because you've defeated the manifestation of his distorted vision of the masses doesn't mean he's down yet. Now you need to take on an empowered Shadow Shido head on! Shido still cannot be affected by Down Shot.

Not only does this form have a ton of health, it also packs one hell of a punch! Thankfully, he only has one action per turn this time. Shido has no weaknesses or resistances in this form but here are the moves that he uses:

• Tyrant's Fist: Severe Physical to one target with the chance of Fear.
• Dekaja: Nullifies all stat bonuses on your party.
• Megidola: Heavy Almighty to all foes.
• Evil Touch: Chance to inflict fear on one target.
• Deathbound: Heavy Physical to all foes with the chance of Fear.
• Heat Riser: All stats up.

When you get him down to half health, he'll use Deathbound. We recommend that you remove Fear from your allies as quickly as you can to deal as much damage as possible each turn. If you've ranked up with your allies enough, they might automatically remove an ailment from an ally.

Shido will use Heat Riser when you get his health down to a quarter and will most likely follow up with another Deathbound or Megidola. Bring Ann into this fight to remove his statue buffs if you allowed her to know Dekaja.

True Masayoshi Samael Shido

The fight isn't over yet, though! Once you get him down to 1 HP, he'll fully restore himself and power up to his max! Though none of his resistances and weaknesses will change, he will now be able to use two actions each turn and will know a few new ones.

• Ma- -dyne: He can now use a Heavy version of any affinity skill against your whole team.
• Matarunda: Lowers the Attack of all foes.
• Tyrant's Glare: Increases Shido's actions count.
• Sukukaja: Increases Accuracy/Evasion.
• Masukunda: Decreases all foes Accuracy/Evasion.
• Tyrant's Wave: Heavy magic attack against your whole party.
• Inferno: Extreme Fire damage to one target.
• Diamond Dust: Extreme Ice damage to one target.
• Tarukaja: Attack up.
• Mudoon: Medium chance of instant death from Curse.
• Panta Rei: Severe Wind damage to one foe
• Thunder Reign: Severe Thunder damage to one foe

At half health, he'll use Tyrant's Glare and then Tyrant's Wave. He will also start boosting his accuracy/evasion and lowering your team's, so make sure to items and skills to nullify those changes. He will also add Inferno and Diamond Dust to his move set.

Once you get him down to a quarter of his health, he'll use Tyrant's Glare again and then focus on boosting his attack and lowering your team's accuracy/evasion once more. He will also start using Mudoon.

The Aftermath

Escape from Shido's Palace before you're taken down with it. It's Skull's time to shine to help get you all out of there, as though he's making up for tripping during the escape from your first Palace.

Head home and rest up. That's another job well done for the Phantom Thieves, and hopefully the last.

Upon going to bed, both you and Morgana will have your own very different dreams.