Persona 5 Strikers - Sendai Jail Monarch Boss Guide

Guide on How to Defeat Nightmare Dragon Ango in Persona 5 Strikers

Shadow Ango Nastume or Nightmare Dragon Ango is the second boss enemy the Phantom Thieves must defeat in Persona 5 Strikers (or Persona 5 Scramble). Shadow Ango’s monarch form appears as a demon king. He also transforms into a dragon wearing golden armor. The boss is encountered at Sendai’s Jail, a Metaverse version of Sendai. Sendai is considered the “City of Trees” and serves as the political and economic center of Japan’s Tohoku Region.

Defeat the Lock Keeper First

In order to face the Sendai Jail King or Monarch, you need to defeat the Sendai Jail Lock Keeper first.

Sendai Jail Lock Keeper Boss Guide

Trophies

Trophy	How to Unlock
Cage of Vanity Conquered	Clear Sendai Jail.

Trophies List

Nightmare Dragon Ango Information

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

Nightmare Dragon Ango Stats

Nightmare Dragon Ango Strength and Weaknesses

–	–	Strong	Weak	Strong	Strong
					Technical
–	Strong	Weak	Strong	–	Weak

Nightmare Dragon Ango Skills

Source(s): Megami Tensei Wiki

Nightmare Dragon Ango Party Builds

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

For Main Story

Member	Persona	Essential Skills	Notes
Joker	Arsene	Damage: Bufu/Bufula or Mabufu (Ice), Kouha/Kouga or Makouga (Bless)	Has access to Ice and Bless skills from other Personas obtained or fused. Can also play the role of healer, buff caster, and debuff caster.
		Recovery: Dia/Diarama or Media, Recarm, Amrita Drop
		Buff: Matarukaja, Marakukaja, Masukukaja, Dekaja
		Debuff: Tarunda, Rakunda, Sukunda
Fox	Goemon	Damage: Giant Slice or Vicious Strike (Physical), Bufu or Mabufu (Ice)	Has access to Ice skills that Ango is weak against. Has access to Physical skills that Ango does not have resistances against. Inflicts Freeze status ailment on Ango that causes him to take increased damage from Physical and Gun attacks. Can use a buff skill like Sukukaja to increase an ally’s evasion/critical evasion in battle.
		Buff: Sukukaja
Noir	Milady	Damage: Hysterical Slap (Phys), Snap (Gun), Psi or Mapsi (Psy)	Has access to Physical, Gun, and Psychokinesis skills that Ango does not have resistances against. Also, Physical and Gun attacks from Noir can deal Technical damage to Ango when afflicted with Freeze status ailment. Can use Amrita Drop to cure allies when inflicted with status or mental ailments.
		Recovery: Amrita Drop
Sophie	Pithos	Damage: Kouha or Makouha (Bless)	Has access to Bless skills which Ango is weak against. Can use a debuff skill like Rakunda to reduce the enemy defense power. Can also use healing skills.
		Recovery: Dia/Diarama or Media
		Debuff: Rakunda

For Painful Past Requests

Member	Persona	Essential Skills	Notes
Joker	Arsene	Damage: Bufula/Bufudyne or Mabufula/Mabufudyne (Ice), Kouga/Kougaon or Makouga/Makougaon (Bless)	Has access to Ice and Bless skills from other Personas obtained or fused. Can also play the role of healer, buff caster, and debuff caster.
		Recovery: Diarama/Diarahan or Mediarama/Mediarahan, Recarm or Samarecarm, Amrita Drop or Amrita Shower
		Buff: Matarukaja, Marakukaja, Masukukaja, Dekaja, Heat Riser, Charge, Concentrate
		Debuff: Tarunda, Rakunda, Sukunda, Debilitate
Fox	Goemon	Damage: Myriad Slashes, Brave Blade or Sword Dance (Phys), Bufula/Bufudyne or Mabufula/Mabufudyne (Ice)	Has access to Ice skills that Ango is weak against. Has access to Physical skills that Ango does not have resistances against. Inflicts Freeze status ailment on Ango that causes him 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
Sophie	Pandora	Kouga/Kougaon or Makouga/Makougaon (Bless)	Has access to Bless skills which Ango is weak against. Can use a debuff skill like Rakunda to reduce the enemy defense power. Can also use healing skills.
		Recovery: Diarama/Diarahan or Mediarama/Mediarahan, Recarm or Samarecarm
		Debuff: Rakunda or Marakunda
Wolf	Valjean	Damage: Deathbound or Agneyastra (Phys), Triple Down or One-shot Kill (Gun), Megido/Megidolaon (Almighty)	Has access to Physical, Gun, and Almighty skills that Ango does not have resistances against. Also, Physical and Gun attacks from Wolf can deal Technical damage to Ango 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: Heat Riser
		Debuff: Debilitate

Nightmare Dragon Ango Strategies

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

Carry 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 Nightmare Dragon Ango. 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) and Sophie. 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.

When you face the boss again through Painful Past requests, it will immediately cast its “Masterpiece” special move at 90% HP. It cannot be nullified by Dekaja but the party can remove it by breaking the initial seven stagger gauge shields of the boss.

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) and Fox. Another option is by using Heat Riser for an all-in-one buff. This special buff can be accessed by Joker (from other Personas) and Wolf. You may also use Charge and Concentrate buffs to boost your damage even further if available. These buffs can be accessed by Joker (from other Personas) and Panther.

Keep Engaging the Boss from behind

Position your character and party members behind Ango. Most of his attacks and special moves are unleashed from the front so this will increase your chances to avoid receiving damage.

Use Ice and Bless Attacks

Nightmare Dragon Ango is weak against Ice and Bless attacks which make Fox’s Goemon and Sophie’s Pithos effective against him. 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

There are three terrain gimmicks accessible in the battlefield. Quickly transfer on them and use Phantom Dash to hurt the boss.

Terrain Gimmick	Strategy
Pillar	One of the gimmicks are pillars that can help you deal physical attacks from a higher spot.
Pile of Swords	The second gimmick are a piles of swords that deals bless damage. You can move non-bless attack users on this spot to break the stagger gauge shields of the boss.
Ice Shards	The third gimmick are ice shards. Some of your teammates who don’t excel in ice skills can make use it to hit the boss. Lure the boss close and interact with the gimmick to unload the icicles.

Cure Inflicted Ailments

If a party member got inflicted with a status ailment such as Burn, 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 ailment if available. Status Recovery skills can be accessed by Joker (from other Personas) and Noir.

Deal Technical Damage using Physical and Gun Attacks

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

Dodge Fire Attacks

Nightmare Dragon Ango can use Fire attacks such as Maragion. It can also inflict Burn status ailments as mentioned earlier.

Avoid Special Moves like Judgement Hail

While damaging the boss, it will unleash its unique attacks to your party.

Special Move	Strategy
Judgement Hail	When Ango goes up in the air, move away from the front and anticipate the ice attack. Jump or double-jump to avoid getting frozen on the spot.
Outrage Blade	The boss also tends to use the tail sweep which has a long reach. Fortunately, a well-timed air jump is enough to dodge it. You can tell when he’s about to go for the tail sweep when it begins to lift its tail.

Unleash Showtime Attacks

While engaging Ango, 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.

Nightmare Dragon Ango Boss Video

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

Nightmare Dragon Ango Main Story

Nightmare Dragon Ango Post-Game

Other Bosses

All Jail Monarchs

Lock Keepers

Powerful Shadows

Dire Shadows