Persona 5: How to Beat Shadow Kamoshida

How to Beat Shadow Kamoshida in Persona 5

Shadow Kamoshida is the first major boss you face in Persona 5 when you reach the end of the very first Palace, which is the Metaverse version of your school, Shujin Academy. He represents the innermost desires of Kamoshida, the PE teacher and volleyball coach at the school. Turns out that underneath the champion smile is a sick, sadistic man who views the school as his castle and the helpless students as his slaves and playthings.

The fight against him after finally sending your Calling Card can be challenging if you approach it the wrong way. It has several parts and he has several attacks at his disposal. We recommend tackling this Persona 5 encounter at level 10, mainly so Ann can learn Tarunda, a Persona ability that lowers a target’s attack power for three turns. Since Shadow Kamoshida can attack twice in a row, minimizing his damage output will make the fight much easier. It’s also recommended that setting Morgana to Heal/Support will make things easier.  You will also need to be on the lookout for a few moves that the boss uses:

Volleyball Assault – Uses his slaves to bombard a target with volleyballs. He can use this ability twice in one turn and not necessarily on a singular target. With his attack lowered, it only does around 30 points of damage, which is very manageable.

Golden Knife – A single attack that does slightly more damage than Volleyball Assault. Can also be used twice in one turn.

“Looks at …” – This is a setup maneuver for Lick. He will only attack the target mentioned on his next turn, so immediately have them Guard. During my time he only targeted Ann for some reason, but still make sure to pay attention to what name pops up.

Lick – A powerful attack against a single targeted enemy. You don’t have to worry much about this as long as you Guard. If you don’t Guard, though, it can do a ton of damage.

Golden Spike – His strongest attack. Shadow Kamoshida will send his slaves out during a turn, letting you know this is coming. Set all of your party members to Guard as this hits everyone and does massive damage. It can put you on low health even while guarding depending on your level, so don’t get caught slipping.

Libido Boost – Heals all of the damage he’s received (can be very annoying).

Drinks From Wine Glass – Raises his attack.

Now that we have all the attacks down, it’s time to get into the fight. 

Fighting Shadow Kamoshida requires multiple steps. First, you’ll have to waste a bit of your time attacking him. After about two turns, he’ll heal, providing you a new target: the Trophy of Obsession. It’s like a large goblet filled with female bodies (presumably the bodies of female students that he’s been coveting). It allows him to completely heal all damage, so left unchecked, this fight will be endless. Simply have everyone one of your characters target it, but every three turns, have Ann use Tarunda to keep the main body’s attack power down. Don’t worry, the Trophy itself doesn’t attack and Kamoshida won’t bother to use it as long as you don’t attack him.

Another thing that happens after the boss heals is that you’re informed of a new mechanic in Persona 5 – Special Orders. This allows you to send any one of your party members to do something separate from the team. It makes your attack power weaker, since you’re removing a member from your party, but if it works, you can win the fight easily. In the case of Shadow Kamoshida, you can send someone to knock his crown off, which also happens to be the treasure you were trying to steal. You can choose anyone, but you should choose Ryuji. This way you can keep Morgana healing and have Ann weaken the boss as you fight.

All you really need to do is take out the Trophy of Obesession and survive for around five turns. If you manage that, then Ryuji will knock off the Crown, greatly weakening the boss. Now all of your attacks will do a few hundred points of damage. Use your strongest Persona abilities and you can end the fight in a single round.

Ann won’t kill him so that the real Kamoshida can confess his sins in the real world. You’ve just beat your first major boss in Persona 5 and the Phantom Thieves are on the rise.