Facing off against Salmael serves as the final challenge inPersona 5 Tactica, requiring players to make good use of everything they’ve learned up to this point. Once again, it falls to the Phantom Thieves to kill a “god” and protect humanity.
Salmael’s motivation inPersona 5 Tacticaisn’t necessarily an evil one. Salmael wants to protect humanity from harm, after all. The issue lies in Salmael’s method, as it believes that all change is a source of potential pain and decides to eliminate anyone with a rebellious will to protect the status quo. Naturally, the Phantom Thieves oppose this on principle and fight back, battling for humanity’s right to change on its own for good or ill.
How to Beat Salmael
Phase 1
Salmael fights the Phantom Thieves on a rather unique battlefield, consisting of several platforms arranged on a large cogwheel. The Phantom Thieves can jump from one platform to the next by using the green tiles, allowing them to traverse the map and reach Salmael. Salmael floats in front of the center platform and can attack any point on the map with its attacks, so leaving a character away from cover can be especially lethal here.
Salmael is supported by several Legionnaires and will bring in reinforcements periodically throughout the battle. Players should deal with any that are in their way while advancing towards Salmael to minimize damage taken. Bringing healing skills into this fight can help improve the Phantom Thieves' survivability.
Once Salmael is in range,the Phantom Thieves can hit it with their attacks and skills to deal damageand begin depleting its health bar. Salmael has two attacks during this phase, “Mercy from Heaven” and “Final Judgement.” The former is a single-target attack that Salmael will normally use against a Phantom Thief that is alone, while the latter hits multiple targets that are close together. As long as the Phantom Thieves are in cover it shouldn’t be too difficult to tank the damage from these attacks and heal the damage.
After taking some damage, Salmael will begin using “Cogs of Fate.” This skill will always include a second section saying something like “Forward 1” or “Reverse 2.” This skill allows Salmael to spin the platforms around the Cogwheel, destroying those that cycle more than two segments away from him and creating new ones in empty spaces within that same distance. The second section indicates the direction the platforms will move and how many segments they will move by.
It is important to keep the Phantom Thieves from getting stuck on a platform that is destroyed,since this will cause them to take damage and then be transported to the newly created platform on the opposite side.Fortunately, the platforms will only move the turn after Salmael uses “Cogs of Fate”, providing players with an opportunity to react.
When Salmael uses “Cogs of Fate”, the newly created platforms will appear with enemies on them, serving as Salmael’s source of reinforcements.
Phase 2
After depleting Salmael’s health bar, it will begin a cutscene and trigger phase 2. Revealing its monstrous true face, Salmael adds new attacks and tactics to its Phase 1 moveset. This includes spawning large legionnaires in addition to the other varieties seen in Phase 1.
Salmael will periodically use the skill “Holy Numbers of Salvation” and mark one or more of the platforms. There will be a number in the middle of each marked platform, which indicates how many Phantom Thieves need to be standing on that platform at the end of the turn. If there aren’t enough Phantom Thieves on each marked platform at the end of the turn,all the Phantom Thieves will be struck with “Divine Judgment” and get shocked, preventing movement on their next turn.
Players should do everything in their power to ensure Salmael can’t use “Divine Judgement,“since it makes maneuvering much harder and can cause the Thieves to rack up lots of damage. When Salmael uses Cogs of Fate, the platforms will move but the marks from “Holy Numbers of Salvation” will remain in place. This means that players should position the Phantom Thieves on whatever platform will be in that position after the platforms move if they want to avoid “Divine Judgement.”
Salmael’s final trick during phase 2 is “Spire of Judgement.” This spire rises from the center of the arena and is used by Salmael to aim his attacks.By performing a Triple-Threat that hits the tower, players can destroy it. This allows Futaba to redirect Salmael’s attacks back into it for extra damage. The attack the tower helps to aim will fire three turns after the spire appears, providing players with a few turns to get into position and down an enemy for the Triple-Threat.
Keep all this in mind and deplete Salmael’s second health bar to end the fight and put an end to Salmael’s plot.
