Part of the replayability of Persona 5 is going through and completing the requirements necessary to obtain all the trophies in the game. While not an essential part of beating the game, these trophies do represent a mastery of the game and are necessary for 100% runs.
While some trophies are obtained simply by playing the game naturally, others require a major strategic effort to obtain, and some will require multiple playthroughs for the player to even have a chance to try for it. For those completionists looking to finish out the game, here are the hardest ones to complete and some tips to hopefully make them a little easier.
10 A Unique Rebel
This is by far the easiest and second-hardest trophy to achieve in the game, depending on how you approach the fight. The trophy requires you encounter and defeat the Reaper, an incredibly powerful character with no weaknesses, an immunity to status effects, and capable of dealing lots of damage.
Finding him is simple: go to a floor in Mementos and wait for him to show up. The reason he’s incredibly easy and ranks at the bottom of the list is that there’s an in-game exploit to defeat him. Simply encounter him during flu season (November-December) and there’s a chance that he’ll suffer a condition called Despair which will cause the Reaper to commit suicide. It’s not a satisfying victory, but it’s a victory nonetheless and will get you that trophy.
9 The City’s Hard Hitter
This trophy requires players to go to the Yongen-Jaya Batting Cages and hit a home run. The difficulty comes from getting the timing right, and many players have found this extremely difficult to achieve.
To get this trophy, save your game, go to the cage, aim for the lower half of the ball, and swing away. If you fail, reload and try again. It really is all about the timing, so you may get this right away or could be here for a while depending on how good your reflexes and hand-eye coordination are.
8 Competent Negotiator
This trophy isn’t difficult to achieve. Upon encountering a hostage scenario, either agree to the hostage taker's demands or give the Thieves’ Guild a call to resolve the situation.
The trophy makes the list because the odds of encountering this scenario is randomized and somewhat rare. Players have reported going through the game a number of times without ever experiencing a hostage scenario. Supposedly New Game + will guarantee a hostage scenario, but it takes some patience and grinding for it to happen.
7 Perfect Job
This trophy is tied to the Mementos requests that various characters in the game task the player with. They’re optional and very easy to miss, which is why this trophy is so challenging to achieve. It’s a terrible feeling getting to the end of the game and thinking you accomplished the requirements for this trophy, only to find out you overlooked one of the requests at the beginning of the game.
Writing down every request you receive so you don’t forget is helpful, but for those having a really tough time, getting a guide might be necessary. Once you complete all the requests, the trophy is yours.
6 Mask Collector
This one is tedious, which is why it ranks so high. The player has to discover and obtain every possible persona in the game. You’ll be spending a lot of time in the velvet room, tracking down rare treasure demons, and fusing personas together to get the unique personas like Shiva or Alice. You’ll also have to complete the game on New Game + as it’s the only way to obtain the persona Satanael.
It’s highly recommended to follow a guide to let you know how to obtain the various personas and also get your party ready for New Game + to obtain this trophy.
5 Beyond Rehabilitation
Getting this trophy requires unlocking the Mementos dungeon on New Game + and uncovering a major story twist. At the end of the story, you will be given the opportunity to take on the secret bosses of the game: Caroline and Justine. These two velvet rooms twins put up a brutal fight that some players have reported spending almost an hour on.
You’ll need a strong party, and having Yoshitsune is strongly recommended to win this fight and get the trophy.
4 Great Phantom Thieves Convene
Maxing out all the confidants in a single playthrough is murder, even for those following a guide, which you should be doing. Some confidants won't be available towards the end of the game and you’ll have no hope of raising their rank, making the trophy impossible.
Two confidants make this trophy easier to achieve: Sadayo Kawakami (Temperance) and Chihaya Hifune (Fortune). Kawakami frees up your time to get more done during the day, which maximizes your efficiency. Hifune helps with ranking up the more difficult confidants if you have the money, which you will want to have a lot of, as it gets expensive but is absolutely worth the cost.
3 Passionate Listener
This trophy will be familiar for those who’ve struggled with the Hardcore Risette Fan trophy in Persona 4, and it’s every bit as annoying as that trophy was. This trophy requires the player to listen to all 250 of Futaba’s navigation lines during battle in a single playthrough.
The best way to do this is to max out Futaba quickly, trade party members in battle often, let your party get hit by various attacks and ailments, and grind out fights until you’ve heard them all. Fortunately, there are 479 possible lines and you only need 250 of them, but getting those 250 is very time-consuming and an extremely annoying process.
2 Golden Finger
Hands down, the second most difficult trophy to achieve in the game surprisingly has nothing to do with persona battles or the social aspects of the game. It’s beating the mini-games in the video games you find in the Overworld.
To do this, purchase the Retro Game Console, the Game Secrets magazine, and the six games found at the Second Hand Store and Akihabara Retro Game Shop. Use the cheats any chance you get and, while five of the games are fairly easy to beat, the fighting game, Power Intuition, is brutal. It’s a series of quick time events that requires lightning speed, even when using the cheats. Many players struggle with this one game and it remains an elusive trophy for most.
1 Legendary Phantom Thief
By far the most difficult trophy to achieve in Persona 5 is the trophy awarded to the player for obtaining all trophies in the game. Getting this trophy requires completing every trophy listed above over numerous playthroughs. All the quick time events, time-consuming grinds, and tedious social events must be completed to get this trophy.
There are some that claim they’ve gotten this platinum trophy with only two playthroughs, which is theoretically possible but highly unlikely. It will take some time, effort, and a bit of luck for you to get the most challenging trophy in Persona 5.