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As a remaster ofPersona 5,Persona 5 Royalhas upgraded Palaces and added new phases to the original boss fights. Notably, Kunikazu Okumura of the fifth Palace has gained a difficulty spike that can make him extremely frustrating for some to defeat. What’s worse is he’s the first (and thankfully last) boss fight to have a timer counting down. If players can’t defeat him within 30 minutes, they’ll get an instant game over.
Thankfully, there are a few different ways to make Okumura’s battle easier inPersona 5 Royal.The first is to be around level 44 before sending the calling card. The second is to have certain Confidants maxed out or at least far enough in to get the right benefits. Finally, players should have Skills that can erase enemy buffs and cure their team’s status ailments.
Related:Ways Persona Changed Between Revelations & Royal
Updated on June 30, 2025 by Ritwik Mitra:Persona 5 has established itself as one of the greatest JRPGs of all time, with its amazing art style and wonderful story enamoring many players who loved what this franchise brought to the table. The game is absolutely dripping with atmosphere, and players will see the hours fly by as they infiltrate many creative palaces and take out the bosses that are housed within.
While most boss fights in Persona 5 are a blast to fight against, the same can’t be said for Okumura. This boss fight is one of the longest and most frustrating ones in the entire game, with a single mistake causing almost half an hour of work and effort to go completely down the drain. Players have to be wary about the time limit and utilize the best strategy they have to take out rows of enemies before finally getting a shot at Okumura.
Best Set-Up Against Okumura
The best way to fight Okumura is to have a team set up in advance. Since Okumura’s boss fight relies heavily on Okumura buffing his robots, players will want to bring a Persona or a Phantom Thief that can castDekaja. This is a non-damaging spell thatremoves buffs cast on enemies.Ann Takamaki/Panther learns this spellat level 16. Those who accidentally erased Dekaja can have Ann relearn the Ability by going to the Confessional in Kanda. Another useful spell isDekunda, whichgets rid of debuffs for all allies.
If Panther’s level is too low or if players simply don’t want to use her, then they can getDekajafrom the following Personas:
52
28
10
12
21
Kumbhanda
45
Alternatively, players can get Dekaja as a Skill Card by putting Mokoi in theElectric Chair during a Fusion Alarm. This way, any one of Joker’s Personas can learn Dekaja.
Recommended Team
A recommended team to bring to this fight is:
Depending on Joker’s Personas, this lineup can be changed and swapped around, but having Morgana and Noir is recommended.
The next thing players will want to check for is that each teammate has aMa- Ability. These are Affinity Abilities (ex.: Frei, Psio, Agi) that will hitall enemies. At this point in the game, each Phantom Thief should have learned at least one of their respective Ma- Spell.
Players should have a Phantom Thief that can buff the team with either Accuracy/Evasion or Defense.Yusuke will learnMasukukaja(Accuracy/Evasion buff on party for 3 turns) atlevel 49while Johanna learnsMarakukaja(Defense buff on party for 3 turns) atlevel 48. If these characters only haveSukukajaandRakukaja, then players should just cast it on the Phantom Thief that Okumura targets.
Milady, Haru/Noir’s Persona, will haveAmrita Dropwhen she first joins. Players will want to keep this because it is a spell thatgets rid of all ailments for the party. During the fight, Okumura will inflict the Hunger Ailment on the entire team, so they should have this spell just in case.
Items
If players don’t have the right spells, they should make sure they have the following items and equipment:
1,000
Only available onSundays
1,900
800 (400 discount)
80,000
100,000
Confidants
It’s best to have Hifumi’s Confidant at Rank 10 for the Togo System Ability. This allows players to swap out current party members with back party members onanyone’sturn. This will save having to cycle back to Joker just to swap out.
Also, havingMaruki’s Confidant at Rank 2will give Joker the Detox X ability, which will sometimes cure any status ailment that he may receive. Note that this will only work for Joker and not any of the other Phantom Thieves. However, if Joker gets afflicted with Hunger during the boss fight, Detox X may kick in and save a turn.
Related:Persona 5 Royal: A Step By Step Guide To Fusion
Okumura Boss Fight Walkthrough
Okumura’s battle has a timer of 30 minutes. Since there’s quite a bit of talking during this boss fight, players will want tohold down the Triangle/Y button to skip through it.
In order to defeat Okumura, players will need to take outall robots at the same time. If one robot is left standing after three of its allies are defeated, it will run off. This will cause Okumura to summonthe exact same line of botsand players will have to start over.Okumura will sometimes order one robot to self-destruct. If a robot self-destructs, it doesnotcount as a “defeat,” meaning the cycle will restart.
The Phantom Thieveswon’tbe able to perform an All-Out Attack on Okumura’s robotseven if they’re downed.However, players can still use the Baton Pass.
First Wave
At the start of the battle, Okumura will summon a line oflevel 43MDL-WKR Corporobos. He will then randomly select a Phantom Thief for his bots to attack during their turns. This will change when Okumura brings in a new wave of Corporobos.
In any case, these MDL-WKRs all have an Affinity Weakness toFireandWindwhile resisting everything else except Gun damage. To combat this, players should use Panther’s Maragi or Morgana’s Magaru.
Second Wave
Once WKRs are taken out, Okumura will summon Cognitive Haru to assist him.Cognitive Haru lets Okumura move twice in a row, allowing him to debuff and then buff the player’s team and his robots respectively.
Okumura’s next wave is Corporobos MDL-CH, which has an Affinity weakness toIceandPsy. First, players should get rid of the Defense buff with Dekaja (or Baptismal Water). Next, they’ll want to use Haru’s Mapsio to Down the enemies and then proceed to take them out as quickly as possible.
Third Wave
The third wave is full of MDL-AM robots, which resist everything exceptGun,Electricity,andNuke.Players should use Makoto’s Mafrei or Ryuji’s Mazio to take care of these bots. Alternatively, players can use Haru’s Triple Down, which deals1-3 Gun Damage on all enemies.
Players should get into the habit of using Dekaja (or Baptismal Water) and buff spellsso that all of the robots takeequal damage.
Fourth Wave
The fourth wave is made up of MDL-DM robots, which again resist everything exceptGun, Wind,andBless. They have a Weakness to Wind and Bless, so Morgana’s Magaru is very effective. If Joker has a Persona that can use Bless skills, players should feel free to bring it out to help.
Fifth Wave
The fifth wave consists of MDL-GM. They resist all Affinities and physical hits (sans Gun)and are weak toPsyandCurse.
Sixth Wave
Okumura will send out MDL-ED. There’s no easy way to Down this guy, but, fortunately, he doesn’t have any resistances, so players can really go to town. If the team is low on SP, they should restore it with SP items like Leblanc Coffee, or swap affected party members out for someone in the back row. At this point, no further enemies will have Affinity Weaknesses, so there’s no need to worry about keeping specific teammates on the front lines.
When MDL-ED usesBig Bang Order, the best strategy is toBlock. His next move,Big Bang Challengewill deal heavy Almighty damage with a 2.5x increase and inflict Hunger on everyone it hits. In the case that someone is already afflicted with Hunger,the Big Bang Challengewill “cure” the Hunger ailment.
Final Wave
After MDL-ED is defeated, Okumura will send out Cognitive Haru. Luckily, Cognitive Haru is pretty weak, but she will use Selfless Devotion when she’s at low health. This will destroy Cognitive Haru but will deal heavy Almighty damage to the party. The best bet here is toBlockwhen Okumuragives the orderfor her to sacrifice herself as if Joker is knocked out, it’s an instant game over even if his teammates are still standing.
With all his robots destroyed, Okumura will be left alone.His defense is pathetic, so It will only take one or two hits to take him down. After he’s been defeated, players can enjoy a well-deserved cutscene and then Save the game.
Players should be sure tokeep an eye on the timer. If the timer’s at 5-10 minutes and the Phantom Thievesstillhaven’t fought MDL-ED, then it’s probably best to restart the battle.
Persona 5 Royalis available now on PS4, PC, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PS5.
