Persona 5 Strikers - Guard Dog of Hades Cerberus Boss Guide

Guide on How to Defeat Guard Dog of Hades Cerberus in Persona 5 Strikers

Guard Dog of Hades Cerberus is the second Powerful Shadow mini-boss enemy the Phantom Thieves must defeat in Persona 5 Strikers (or Persona 5 Scramble). The mini-boss is encountered at Osaka’s Jail, a Metaverse version of Osaka, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture in Japan’s Kansai Region. This shadow can only be encountered when Powerful Shadow Requests are made available by Lavenza starting on 8/24.

Clear All Powerful Shadow Requests

Below is a list of Requests that unlocks the Reaper secret boss battle. The Metatron Request is locked in the Post-Game also so you need to clear the main story first. We recommended defeating Powerful Shadows when you already unlocked Wolf as a party member in the game.

Trophies

Trophy	How to Unlock
A Helping Hand	Clear a Request.
Those Who Heed the Call	Clear 50 Requests.

Trophies List

Guard Dog of Hades Cerberus Information

Here is a breakdown of the mini-boss’ stats, strengths and weaknesses, and skills:

Cerberus Persona Stats and Skills

Guard Dog of Hades Cerberus Stats

Guard Dog of Hades Cerberus Strengths and Weaknesses

–	–	Resist	Weak	–	–
					Technical
–	Resist	–	–	–	Weak

Guard Dog of Hades Cerberus Skills

Guard Dog of Hades Cerberus Party Build

Here is our recommended party member setup against the boss. You can choose other party members except for Panther and Queen.

Member	Persona	Essential Skills	Notes
Joker	Arsene	Damage: Bufula/Bufudyne or Mabufula/Mabufudyne (Ice)	Has access to Ice skills from other Personas obtained or fused. Can also play the role of healer, buff caster, and debuff caster. Can use Amrita Drop to cure allies when inflicted with status and mental ailments.
		Recovery: Diarama/Diarahan or Mediarama/Mediarahan, Recarm or Samercarm, Amrita Drop or Amrita Shower
		Buff: Matarukaja, Marakukaja, Masukukaja, Dekaja, Heat Riser, Charge, Concentrate
		Debuff: Tarunda, Rakunda, Sukunda, Debilitate
Fox	Goemon	Damage: Tempest Slash or Myriad Slashes (Phys), Bufula/Bufudyne or Mabufula/Mabufudyne (Ice)	Has access to Ice skills that Cerberus is weak against. Has access to Physical skills that Cerberus does not have resistances against. Inflicts Freeze status ailment on Cerberus that causes it to take increased damage from Physical and Gun attacks. Can use a buff skill like Masukukaja to boost allies evasion/critical evasion in battle.
		Buff: Sukukaja or Masukukaja
Noir	Milady	Damage: Hysterical Slap (Phys), Triple Down or One-shot Kill (Gun), Psio/Psiodyne or Mapsio/Mapsiodyne (Psy)	Has access to Physical, Gun, and Psychokinesis skills that Cerberus does not have resistances against. Also, Physical and Gun attacks from Noir can deal Technical damage to Cerberus when afflicted with Freeze status ailment. Can use an all-in-one buff skill like Heat Riser to boost an ally in battle. Can also use Amrita Drop to cure allies when inflicted with status and mental ailments.
		Recovery: Amrita Drop or Amrita Shower
		Buff: Heat Riser
Wolf	Valjean	Damage: Deathbound (Phys), Triple Down or One-shot Kill (Gun), Megido/Megidola (Almighty)	Has access to Physical, Gun, and Almighty skills that Cerberus does not have resistances against. Also, Physical and Gun attacks from Wolf can deal Technical damage to Cerberus when afflicted with Freeze status ailment. Can use an all-in-one buff skill like Heat Riser to boost an ally in battle. Similarly, Wolf can cast an all-in-one debuff skill like Debilitate to decrease enemy attack power, defense power, and evasion/critical evasion in battle.
		Buff: Tarukaja, Rakukaja, Sukukaja, Heat Riser
		Debuff: Dekaja, Debilitate

Guard Dog of Hades Cerberus Strategies

Here is a breakdown of the battle strategies against the mini-boss:

Carry HP and SP Recovery Items

Before engaging the boss, bring a stock of HP and SP recovery items. These items can be bought from accessible vending machines, food stands, stores, and restaurants. You can also buy ingredients from Sophia’s Shop and other real-world stores. Then, cook these ingredients for additional HP and SP items through Joker’s Kitchen.

Joker’s Kitchen Guide

Land Debuffs

Start the battle by landing multiple debuffs on Cerberus. Debuffs can be in the form of attack power decrease (Tarunda), defense power decrease (Rakunda), and evasion/critical evasion power decrease (Sukunda). These debuffs can be accessed by Joker (from Arsene and other Personas). Another option is by using Debilitate for an all-in-one debuff. This special debuff can be accessed by Joker (from other Personas) and Wolf.

Cast Buffs

Follow-up the debuffs with party members buffs. Buffs can be in the form of attack power increase (Tarukaja or Matarukaja), defense power increase (Rakukaja or Marakukaja), and evasion/critical evasion increase (Sukukaja or Masukukaja). These buffs can be accessed by Joker (from other Personas), Fox, Noir, and Wolf. Another option is by using Heat Riser for an all-in-one buff. This special buff can be accessed by Joker (from other Personas), Noir, and Wolf.

Avoid Elemental Attacks

The mini-boss will unleash third-tier elemental or magic skills to hurt your party. Joker can equip Seth to nullify Fire attacks while other party members can wear armor or accessory that nullifies or reduces Fire elemental damage. Since you’re using Fox in this boss fight, be very careful when using him against the boss to avoid getting downed and inflicted with status ailments such as Burn and Dizzy.

Cure Inflicted Ailments

If a party member got inflicted with an ailment such as Burn or Dizzy, make sure that you have access to a Status Recovery skill called Amrita Drop or Amrita Shower to cure it. You can also use status recovery items to remove the status or mental ailment if available. Status Recovery skills can be accessed by Joker (from other Personas) and Noir.

If left unchecked, Cerberus’s next attack will deal technical damage and knock out the afflicted party member.

Use Ice Attacks

Cerberus is weak to Ice attacks which Fox and Joker can capitalize. Continue on using elemental attacks in order to break the shields and stagger the boss. Make use of narrow range elemental skills if you’re close and wide range elemental skills if you’re far from the boss.

Capitalize on Terrain Gimmicks

If Cerberus is beside the floating orbs, you can use a Phantom Dash to deal additional Psy damage to the boss.

Deal Technical Damage using Phys, Gun, and Nuke Attacks

When the boss is inflicted with a status ailment such as Freeze, deal technical damage by using Physical, Gun, and Nuclear attacks. Switch between Joker, Fox, Noir, and Wolf to avoid running out of HP.

Unleash Showtime Attacks

While engaging Cerberus, you may build up your showtime gauge. When it’s available, unleash the showtime attack against the boss. If Joker’s showtime attack is available, make sure he has the right Persona that can capitalize on the weakness of the boss. Also, there is a consumable item that will quickly boost your Showtime gauge build up so feel free to use it against the boss.

Guard Dog of Hades Cerberus Boss Video

Here is a boss fight video against Cerberus. The battle is already timestamped so you no longer need to browse through the whole video:

Other Bosses

All Jail Monarchs

Lock Keepers

Powerful Shadows

Dire Shadows