Special Orders

Special Orders are a significant element in certain boss battles in Persona 5.
==Profile==
When the protagonist's turn arrives, he may be given the choice to send out a specific ally to perform a certain task that may help with the flow of battle: When a party member is sent out, there will be a period of time where they will be busy with their order and be inactive in the party. Only active party members who are neither incapacitated, downed, nor afflicted with an ailment can be sent out. Sent party members still have their Persona Traits and navigator duty (in the case of Morgana) active as normal.
If the order is successfully carried out, powerful effects will be delivered against the enemy. For example, striking down Kamoshida's Treasure from his head will have him act once instead of twice per turn, and his Attack and Defense will be greatly lowered.
The party member sent out might play an essential role in determining the chances of success. For example, in Kamoshida's Palace, he can only choose between Ryuji, Morgana and Ann. On the selection menu, Ryuji and Morgana make neutral comments, and Ann only makes a remark about Kamoshida staring at her. Based on these statements, it would be very difficult for Ann to sneak away and succeed.
The order only appears during certain phases and during specific boss fights, particularly those in Kamoshida's Palace, Madarame's Palace, Kaneshiro's Palace, Futaba's Palace, Niijima's Palace and the Holy Grail in the Qliphoth World.
All of the boss fights can be completed without performing any special orders, but their effects are generally much advantageous for the player, so it is generally recommended to go for them at any given chance.
== Orders ==
=== Suguru "Asmodeus" Kamoshida ===
In both Persona 5 and Royal, the protagonist is given the option of performing a special order in the boss battle against Kamoshida a few turns after he performs his Gold Medal Spike attack. Morgana will notice that the crown on the boss's head can be removed to weaken him, and the protagonist is given the option to send one of the party members to take it off.
If he goes for the special order, one of the party members is taken out from the active party and attempts to hide from the boss. After the party member has been sent, at least one of the active party members will need to attack Kamoshida for the three subsequent turns (unless he charges Gold Medal Spike, in Persona 5 only) to keep the boss distracted; if one fails to do so, the special order will fall apart as a whole and Kamoshida will notice the missing party member, forcing them back into the battle. This special order always fails if the protagonist sends Ann too. If enough damage is dealt, the character that was sent will knock the crown off Kamoshida's head, lowering the boss's attack and defense, as well as reducing the boss's number of turns from 2 to 1, forcing him skip his first.
In Royal, the order will be initiated right after cognitive Shiho Suzui is either killed or driven away. The execution is virtually identical to the original, but Kamoshida never uses Gold Medal Spike in this phase (and thus the party has to constantly attack him), and he must take significantly more damage for the operation to succeed.
=== Ichiryusai "Azazel" Madarame ===
The special order for Madarame can be triggered once he used his signature move, The Artist's Grace, at least once, and the party has not defeated the paintings after two cycles (in Persona 5) or when he uses Restore at least twice (in Royal), and can only occur during the first phase, where the boss is in the portrait form. The protagonist will be prompted to use some black paint to apply the same effect as Artist's Grace on the boss itself, in order to make it weak to every attack and overwriting the absorption of each painting. Similarly to the Kamoshida fight, the protagonist will need around three turns of attacks for the order to be successful. In Royal, the order is always successfully executed at the start of the protagonist's third turn even without attacking. When the order is executed, the effect will be applied to all the active paintings, allowing to get rid of them much quicker than normal, since their original type absorptions will be ignored and they will take increased damage from every move. Unlike normal ailments, the condition afflicted by this order will wear out on all the paintings at once at the beginning of the protagonist's fourth turn. The protagonist is subsequently prompted to do the special order again.
=== Junya "Bael" Kaneshiro ===
This special order can only occur during the Piggytron phase, after Kaneshiro has attempted the March of the Piggy attack twice. Morgana will point out how Kaneshiro is a money monger, and suggests the protagonist throws a valuable item in order to keep him distracted. The remaining party members will pick an item each from the item inventory: whoever is chosen will throw said item at the boss and point their gun at him.
The success of the order is dependent on the item, which is telegraphed by the party member's comments on the item. Regardless of the given options, the special order will only succeed if the protagonist chooses the item suggested by the topmost character, which could be either Bead, Bead Chain, Snuff Soul, Soma, Hiranya, Physical Ointment, Magic Ointment, Soul Food, Idaten Ofuda or Awake Incense; every other item will be ignored by the boss, with no further consequences. If the boss collects the item, he will stop acting for a few turns, allowing the party to deal free damage. This special order does not require any turns of distraction, but it is generally only recommended if the player party is in a bad spot, since the accepted items are generally extremely rare and might be more valuable for subsequent battles.
If the protagonist does not have aforementioned items in his possession, the Special Order will not be prompted.
=== Cognitive Wakaba Isshiki ===
The special order for this battle will trigger in the second phase, after the battle is restarted. Futaba will summon a ballista in order to shoot the cognitive Wakaba, and one of the current party members can be sent to adjust the alignment and fire. This special order will need three turns to be completed, but the party is not required to constantly attack the boss during that time, meaning this order cannot fail as long as the party stays alive. After three turns, the ballista will fire and the arrow will hit Wakaba, leading her to crash down and making her vulnerable to any source of damage; additionally, Physical attacks deal five times the normal amount of damage. If the boss is not defeated within a single cycle, the special order can be repeated right after, but, if a character is sent for a second time, the order will take an extra turn to execute.
=== Sae "Leviathan" Niijima ===
This special order takes place during Sae's first phase, where she forces the party in a roulette game. In this phase, her HP is absurdly large, towering even later bosses and it is nigh impossible to defeat her conventionally. After the first spin, which will be unsuccessful regardless of bid, Morgana will ask the protagonist if he noticed something wrong. If the protagonist successfully observed her cheating and answered as so, and mentions the glass screen, the special order is unlocked and one of the party members can be sent to hide and shoot at said glass in order to break it and expose the cheat, allowing the fight to move on to the next phase.
Since the party is warned not to attack or debuff during the first phase due to the Penalty, this special order does not require any particular action as well. On the next bet, the glass will be shot by the sent character, leading to a win for the party and therefore making use from the bid for a good chance of recovery. The party can still advance in the fight if the protagonist fights alone without fulfilling the order, as Futaba will expose the cheating automatically after some turns.
=== Holy Grail (Qliphoth World) ===
During the second battle in Qliphoth World, the protagonist is given a special order as soon as the battle starts, as the Holy Grail will automatically use Will of the People before the party can act, and Futaba will realize that the supply lines can be cut in order to prevent the boss from getting healed back up to full. This special order works similarly to the orders seen in the fights against Kamoshida and Madarame, requiring three turns and the party dealing constant damage to the boss in order to distract it.
Since Will of the People is guaranteed to recover the boss's entire healthpool, this special order is almost required unless the party can deal enough damage to get rid of the boss in no more than a couple of turns, which can end the battle without the need for the order but is extremely unlikely in a normal playthrough due to the 10,000 HP of the Holy Grail; however, if the protagonist is fighting alone, the boss will only use Will of the People three times, in order to still allow the battle to be completed.
==Quotes==
<tabber>
Kamoshida's Palace=
Party 	Comment
Morgana 	Time to show you my skills.
Ryuji Sakamoto	I can go whenever you want.
Ann Takamaki 	Ugh... Gross. He keeps looking at me...!
|-|
Madarame's Palace=
{|class="table p5" style="text-align:center;" align="center"
!Party
!Comment
|-
|Morgana
|Leave it to me
|-
|Ryuji Sakamoto
|I can go whenever, man!
|-
|Ann Takamaki
|I'm ready for it!
|-
|Yusuke Kitagawa
|I'll do it. Leave it to me.
|-|
Kaneshiro's Palace=
Party 	Comment 	Comment
Party 	Valuable 	Worthless
Morgana 	How's (item)? It smells like sweet, sweet cash to me! 	How's (item)? I worry that it might be a little cheap...
Ryuji Sakamoto 	Let's try throwin' (item)! It's super expensive! 	Here, let's try throwin' (item)! I bet... it'll probably work! ...Maybe!
Ann Takamaki 	I think (item) will work, Joker! It's super rare, after all! 	What do you think of (item)? It... might work... maybe?
Yusuke Kitagawa	What about (item)? It has an air of pure luxury about it! 	What about (item)? It's plain, but it's better than nothing...
Makoto Niijima 	How about (item)? An object this rare is sure to distract him!	How about (item)? I have doubts about its effectiveness though...
|-|
Niijima's Palace=
Party 	Comment
Morgana 	I'll show off my perfect accuracy!
Ryuji Sakamoto 	I can go whenever.
Ann Takamaki 	You want me to do it...? Okay, I'll give it my all.
Yusuke Kitagawa	I'm going to go? Well, I will try my hardest.
Makoto Niijima 	As long as I get close, even this gun should work...
Haru Okumura 	I'm ready whenever.
Goro Akechi 	Leave it to me! I won't miss the mark!
|-|
Qliphoth World=
Party 	Comment
Morgana 	Leave it to me!
Ryuji Sakamoto 	I can go whenever!
Ann Takamaki 	I'm ready to do this!
Yusuke Kitagawa	I will do this. Allow me!
Makoto Niijima 	You want me? I can do it!
Haru Okumura 	Mm-mm, I'll go!
</tabber>
==Gallery==
SpecialOrderMadarame.gif|Yusuke Kitagawa performing a special order against Ichiryusai Madarame.
SpecialOrderHolyGrail.gif|Morgana performing a special order against the Holy Grail
==References==
Category:Mechanics
Category:Persona 5