Persona 5 Palaces Guide: Palaces List, Bosses, Tips, More

Much of the time that a player spends in Persona 5 will be with the dungeons in it that are known as Palaces. The Persona 5 Palaces guide that we have come up with includes all of such dungeons that you will visit throughout the 100+ hour adventure.

This guide will go over each of them individually, talk about what is unique about that particular dungeon and reveal some tips for each of the major boss fights you tackle. For everything you need to know about the Palaces in Persona 5, let’s take a look.

Bottom Line Up Front

Palaces are the nifty names for the dungeons that you can do in Persona 5. They take place in the Metaverse, have shadows (that can become your Persona) roaming around them, and there is a ruler who presides over the area. The goal of the main characters is to steal the treasure (and heart) of the evil ruler before time runs out.

Depending on how you look at it, there are eight Palaces in total if you are playing the original Persona 5 and nine in total if you are playing the Persona 5 Royal version. Keep an eye out for slight spoilers for the names of these Palaces but here is the full list of the dungeons in both Persona 5 and its Royal version:

• Kamoshida’s Palace
• Madarame’s Palace
• Kaneshiro’s Palace
• Futaba’s Palace
• Okumura’s Palace
• Niijima’s Palace
• Shido’s Palace
• Qliphoth World/Mementos
• Maruki’s Palace

What Are Palaces in Persona 5?

For starters, what even is a Palace in Persona 5? This is something that players should know about before they hop on the long journey that is this game. Palaces are one of the most important elements in the entire Persona 5 adventures and they are essentially the dungeons.

As this is a JRPG with leveling and collection aspects, it is expected that you would have some dungeons to crawl through. This event harkens back to the original Persona on the PS1 and the Shin Megami Tensei series before that from Atlus.

As such, it should come as no surprise that Persona 5 also has its dungeon system, but one that the game works hard on to make into its trendy topic. Rather than simply having regular dungeons do, Atlus attached the Palaces’ names to them to make them more interesting.

This plays into the story of the game, too, as there is someone who is possibly causing people to die by using the Metaverse, which is the other world where the shadows (Personas) roam. To investigate this serial murder case and the actions of the villains, the main characters known as the Phantom Thieves enter the Palaces.

They are known as Palaces because they are elaborate dungeons, each with its unique theme and look. One might be a literal castle location while another might be a pyramid in the desert and yet still another one might be a spaceship with an alien vibe to it.

These Palaces have a ruler of their own and this person is typically someone that is antagonizing society in some way. They are the villains of Persona 5 and the people that must be taken down to better the world.

This requires the use of the treasure that each ruler has in their Palace. Stealing that treasure is the ultimate goal of the Phantom Thieves in Persona 5.

Deadlines

One crucial part about the Palaces is that they have time limits associated with every one of them. The reasoning behind this is the fact that Persona 5 takes place canonically over about a year of real life. This means that you go throughout every single day that Joker, the main character, lives in that year.

As such, you cannot just waste time and do the Palaces whenever you like as the fate of the world is hinging on you doing it in a decent period. Because of this, there are deadlines that you must worry about when it comes to the major Palaces that you visit in the game.

In general, the deadline is pretty generous, though, usually giving you roughly a month or just under that to complete the dungeon. This is not so bad, either, since you can complete most dungeons in just a couple of in-game days, so you usually have plenty of time to get this done.

Finding the Treasure Tips

The main goal of entering the Palace in the first place is to steal the treasure of the ruler in question and force them to change their heart in the real world. It is a strange setup but just rolls with it as this is how the story progression works in Persona 5.

The first goal when a new Palace is introduced to you in the game is to locate the treasure. This is the first step to changing someone’s heart as you are not able to steal that treasure without doing this beforehand. To locate the treasure, you need to traverse almost the entirety of the Palace.

This is by far the longest part of the entire Palace system you need to go through the entire dungeon and find the treasure waiting for you at the end of it. This can take several hours depending on the Palace that you are working with, especially for the later dungeons that have some sometimes annoying puzzles in them.

The treasure is going to be waiting for you at the end so you will need to dedicate a lot of time to just get this part of the game done. Fortunately, the best part is that you can usually get the bulk of this done in just a day or two of in-game time.

My tip for players and what I do myself is trying to locate the treasure, first and foremost, as soon as I unlock a new dungeon. On the first or second day I can, I will enter the Palace and essentially complete the entire map in just that first day. Some Palaces have checkpoints that require you to go back to the real world but you can still do most of them in only one or two days.

Finding the treasure right at the start of the month will alleviate the stress regarding the deadline and free you up to do whatever else you want in the game. I use this mainly as a way to get the hardest part done and then I can focus on part-time jobs, building up my relationships with the Confidants, earning money, and even grinding levels in Mementos (more on this dungeon in a bit).

Sending the Calling Card

Locating the treasure might be the bulk of the adventure but it is only one part of the equation. The other part is sending the calling card in the real world, which is the signature move of the Phantom Thieves. With the treasure in the Palace, it is usually locked under guard and key when you first find it.

You are not able to steal it immediately, which requires the Phantom Thieves team to send out a calling card in the real world to let the ruler in question know that they are going to have their heart stolen. This sends them on high alert and ironically leaves their treasure vulnerable to being stolen.

What is great about this part, though, is that it does not take nearly as long as finding the treasure. You already know the route to the treasure so you will just go there and get it. This allows you to use checkpoints to get there much faster so the bulk of this side of the Palace is fighting the final boss.

You are almost always going to have to fight the final boss of the Palace, which is the ruler, so the draw here is that you need to be prepared to take on a powerful enemy who will test your skills to the max. Once you have defeated them, you will steal the treasure, change the person’s heart, and be ready for the next part of the storyline.

All Persona 5 Palaces Explained

To help you with getting ready for each of the Palaces in Persona 5, we have listed them all below with detailed info about what to expect from the dungeon, who the final boss is, and some strategies for winning that final fight. We will also note any elements that are unique to each dungeon.

Please keep in mind that we are going to go over every single dungeon in Persona 5 and Royal so this means that some spoilers are unavoidable. Be sure to only look at the dungeons that you are interested in or else you may be spoiled to later events. They are in chronological order based on when you enter each Palace.

Kamoshida’s Palace

Like most of the Palaces in Persona 5, it is a real location in the game world that has been converted into the Palace. The first one is Kamoshida’s Palace with the high school coach turning Shujin Academy, the school for many of the lead heroes, into his Castle of Lust.

There is a general gimmick that most Palaces have that is usually for puzzles and the one for Kamoshida’s Palace is the keys. Players simply need to find a few different keys and they will be able to progress through the areas of the castle until they reach the treasure. Kamoshida’s Palace is one of the few in the game that requires more than one day for locating the treasure alone so be sure to tackle this task early.

Final Boss Guide

As with all of the Palaces out there, sending the calling card will unlock the treasure for stealing but a final boss fight will precede that. In the case of the first dungeon, players will face off against Shadow Kamoshida in his horrifying ultimate form.

For the most part, Shadow Kamoshida is a physical attacker, but with some serious damage, so players should watch out for the warnings of major attacks. About a fourth of the way into the fight, he will restore his health and you will need to destroy the trophy that appears to weaken him. Guard when you have warnings of major attacks and you should be good.

Madarame’s Palace

Madarame’s Palace is the second one that you visit and is based on an art gallery or museum. One of the key points about this particular Palace is that there are several locked gates that you need to take care of. Through the process of opening them, you will have to traverse through the paintings themselves.

Players will need to hop through paintings in different directions to progress to the other side and complete the puzzle to proceed. Like the first Palace, this is another one that has a checkpoint in the middle where you will not be able to locate the treasure in one day.

Final Boss

The catch with Madarame’s final boss fight is that he will summon multiple portraits, each being immune to different elements. As such, physical attacks, especially those that do AOE (area-of-effect) damage will be most beneficial.

Once you defeat all of the portraits, Madarame will appear and you can start damaging him directly. At one point in the fight, a party member can cover the portraits in black paint to help out the team. It takes a few turns for this to happen, though, so they will be useless in the process.

Kaneshiro’s Palace

The third Palace in the game is Kaneshiro’s and it is a massive bank that players have to infiltrate. There are not too many special traits to this bank other than the key cards that you must acquire to press on through the areas that it contains.

It is worth noting, though, that since it is a bank, loads of patrols and cameras are waiting for you. It can make exploration a bit troublesome and annoying in this particular Palace.

Final Boss

The Kaneshiro Palace concludes with facing off against the mobster himself in a boss battle. For starters, Yusuke is not recommended for this fight because the boss has elemental attacks that he is weak to and will result in more press turns for Kaneshiro.

In the beginning, there are status effects that you must worry about but taking out the initial Bael enemy is fairly simple enough. The problem begins when Kaneshiro summons his Piggytron and the fight changes. The attacks here are very strong, especially when attempts to run over the party. To stop this, you must hit him until he falls off or you will suffer some serious damage.

There is a special party move like in the past and later boss fights, but it is rather useless most of the time so it is best to just focus on taking out the Piggytron to win the boss fight.

Futaba’s Palace

The next Palace is a rather unique one in the fact that it features Futaba, one of the soon-to-be party members of the group. In this case, she is not an evil person at all but someone who is suffering from severe trauma that has awakened this Palace in the Metaverse.

The Futaba Palace takes place in the desert and features a pyramid that she rules over, though there are some outdoor sections, too. There are a few gimmicks here in this Palace, starting with the hunt for the bandit in the town.

Once inside the Palace, there are strong enemies and other pyramid puzzles to watch out for. The main puzzle has to do with gathering up gems that you find and placing them in new pedestals to unlock new passages to traverse. There are other puzzles, too, like codes and unlocking new areas that players have to deal with, making this one of the more confusing Palaces in the game.

Final Boss

The final boss fight is not against Futaba herself but against her mom, Wakaba Isshiki, who is in a Sphinx-like form. She is a tough fight and physical attacks are going to be useless for the first part. She has a ton of health, too, making it hard to beat her in the first part of the fight.

If you do want to damage her, focus on elemental attacks. Eventually, the second phase will begin and the canon will appear on the battlefield. Send one party member to use it to bring her down and you should then unleash all of your most powerful attacks against her. Keep this up by switching to a new party member to use until are you able to finally bring Wakaba down.

Okumura’s Palace

Okumura’s Palace takes the idea of a corporation and turns it into a strange spaceport. This futuristic location is one of the most unique in the entire game but it is also one of the least favorites in Persona 5. That said, it retains the corporate structure of its inspiration in its design.

Throughout some of the floors that you go through in this Palace, there are different levels of management that you have to get keycards from to progress through the location, starting with the lower management and going higher up. There is also the airlock situation in space that is one of the more thorough puzzles in the game.

Final Boss

The Okumura boss fight is one of the most confusing, difficult, and annoying fights in the game. For this purpose, we recommend gearing up and making sure to have enough recovery items to make it through this lengthy fight.

You fight wave after wave of robots and there is a 30-minute time limit to win this fight. Thankfully, each enemy has a weakness so we recommend using a mix of Morgana, Haru Okumura, Yusuke, and Makoto Niijima.

Niijima’s Palace

In this Palace, it is one of the most visually striking dungeons in that it takes place across an entire casino, which may look familiar to players from the beginning of the game. With this location being a casino, it means that players must earn coins by playing minigames and proceeding to new areas.

Final Boss

When facing off against Niijima in her boss fight, she will have a wheel that she will spin. Early on when you are given the chance to note her cheating in this part, be sure to do so and have one of your teammates complete the special order.

The main part that you need to worry about is the buffs that she has for herself. Counter these by buffing your team or debuffing her to minimize damage from her powerful attacks.

Shido’s Palace

The final Palace (sort of) in the original Persona 5, is a massive cruise ship. The gist of this one is that you have to meet several VIPs on the ship and retrieve their letters to gain access to Shido and his treasure.

Through this, you have to engage in one of the more annoying puzzles of transforming into a rat to navigate through vents and corridors through carefully selected paths.

Final Boss

When it comes time to finally face Shido in battle, this is one of the most challenging fights in the game due to its length. It starts with a few different enemies you must defeat, the first of which is immune to all physical and gun attacks. The second is immune to magic, while the third has no major weaknesses or immunities.

Shido himself is very strong and will use powerful attacks after you take them down. Have your strongest party members available and be sure to switch out whenever you can to tackle different situations.

Qliphoth World

While this is not technically a Palace in the normal sense, the end of the original Persona 5 makes players travel through the Depths of Mementos. If you have not explored this entire area, you will have to do so now.

Fortunately, once you do this, the dungeon itself is straightforward with only some movement-based puzzles and a linear path through mini-bosses.

Final Boss

The final boss of the original Persona 5 is Yaldabaoth. This fight is extremely hard, mainly due to the arms that it summons. Each of them will allow him to attack multiple times so you need to prioritize taking them out, even though they will keep coming back.

This includes the final attack that it charges over a couple of turns. You will either need to take out all arms again or take the boss out first or suffer insane damage.

Maruki’s Palace (Persona 5 Royal)

For Persona 5 Royal only, there is another final dungeon in Maruki’s Palace. The progression here is pretty linear as you mainly just follow the story paths that it has for you.

Final Boss

The final, final boss fight of Royal is against Maruki. The key here is to take out the tentacles when you can and watch out for some very powerful attacks.

Also, the boss changes as the fight go on so analyzing weaknesses is important to winning.

Finally, be sure to be very high level, at least level 85, if not even level 90 or more, to do well in this fight.

Mementos Explained

Lastly, we need to talk about Mementos. While not explicitly one of the dungeons in the game that is known as a “Palace”, it is still an important part of the game. For the most part, minus the one section above, Mementos is an optional dungeon that you can visit.

You could consider it the underlying Palace of the entire city of Shibuya and it houses many different requests that you can take on in the game. These are optional side missions that you do not have to do but will give you great rewards and even help with raising the Confidant ranks for some characters.

There are many floors to Mementos and sections that encompass them. It is recommended that you venture into Mementos a few times during the story to unlock as many levels as you can and to do requests there as well. This will help to get the most out of the game for you as well as prepare you for the final journey near the end of the story.

FAQs

Conclusion

This Persona 5 Palaces guide is here for helping out with a major part of the overall Persona experience. You will be spending a lot of time in these eight or nine dungeons, which contribute a lot to the more than 100 hours that the JRPG can take just to finish off its main storyline.

But the Palaces are still only one slice of the entire adventure for the Phantom Thieves. This does not include the slice-of-life and high school aspects that are also a crucial part of the story. For more on that and everything else in this game, be sure to read our Persona 5 overview guide.

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Cody Perez

Cody is a writer who discovered the Persona series about 10 years ago. As a huge Pokemon fan growing up, he was recommended to check it out on his PSP. He started with the very first game and when in sequential order before catching up with Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden cemented his love for the series. He was proud to be able to eventually spread his passion into the Shin Megami Tensei series and be there in time for the launch of Persona 5, which is one of his favorite games of all time.

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