How to Survive Joker’s Diversion in Persona 5 Strikers

A good rule of thumb for Persona games is that you don’t want to be by yourself if you can help it. All of the protagonists are quite strong in their own rights, but since teamwork is an integral part of the battle system, even more so in Persona 5, solo missions can be quite dangerous. Nevertheless, sometimes you just gotta put on a show for the people. Here’s how to survive Joker’s diversion in Persona 5 Strikers.

Near the tail-end of the Shibuya Jail, right after you’ve successfully stolen the cores from all of the Prison Keeps, the Phantom Thieves will attempt to make a run at Alice’s castle in the 705. However, this’ll prompt the raising of a massive security wall and an outpouring of Shadows standing guard. The only way the team’s getting in there is if someone keeps the mobs busy while the rest of the team dismantles security behind the scenes. Naturally, distraction duty falls on Joker. You’ll need to keep an endless mob of Shadows, both revealed and generic, busy until Futaba drops the wall and breaks the searchlights.

How to Survive Joker’s Diversion in Persona 5 Strikers

There’s a couple of measures you should take to prepare for this little show. First of all, in addition to the generic guard Shadows, the mob will contain copious Pixies, Pyro Jacks, and Bicorns, which specialize in Electric, Fire, and Wind magic, respectively. The sheer volume of Shadows means you’ll have a lot of attacks coming at you at once, which in turn means that you could get killed after just two or three hits to your weakness. Keep a Persona that isn’t weak to any of those elements as your active one. Arsene and Pixie are good choices. Secondly, as soon as the distraction ends, you’re moving into the castle, so make sure to keep some healing and SP restoration items handy for the aftermath.

As for the distraction itself, the name of the game is motion. Use your Phantom Dash to leap to high vantage points, using the spin attack to wipe out any Shadows that spawn right underneath you. You don’t want to give them a chance to gang up on you, so try not to touch the ground for longer than a few seconds. You don’t need to kill them all, you just need to keep them busy.

The other Thieves will keep you posted on their progress as they go. If you can survive for a few minutes, the wall will fall and your team will rejoin you, allowing you to mop up the Shadow crowd before moving on to the castle.