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Persona 5 Royal added an unbelievable amount of content to a story that was already fantastic in P5, and one of those new additions is possibly the most dynamic and versatile of all – Fusion Alarms.
These are a high-risk, high-reward feature in the Velvet Room that drastically increase the chances of accidents happening during fusions, which can be either a blessing or a curse, in exchange for more powerful fusions. When utilized effectively, it’s one of the most essential mechanics in the game, so let us show you how to take advantage of Fusion Alarms in Persona 5 Royal.
Updated on December 26, 2022 by Gabrielle Castania: With P5R’s Fusion Alarms being just as powerful as they can be confusing, we wanted to polish our walkthrough on how to use them most effectively. Follow along with our Persona 5 Fusion Alarm guide below for optimal fusion opportunities!
How To Trigger A Fusion Alarm
The ability to trigger Fusion Alarms unlocks during the third palace, after you’ve secured the route to Kaneshiro’s treasure during June-July. When this occurs, you’ll be prompted to enter the Velvet Room automatically as you’re leaving the palace. Provided that you’ve been finishing Justine and Caroline's fusion requests, you should have access to upgraded versions of the executions.
The alarms are triggered at random after you win a battle. The great news is that any battle qualifies, even ones you finish via insta-kill. The alarm will continue going off until you get back to the Velvet Room to either use the power of the alarm or turn it off by talking to the twin wardens.
The chances of triggering an alarm get much lower after your second alarm of the day, but there is a way to make sure you’ll consistently be getting alarms throughout your Metaverse visit. Rank 8 of the Fortune confidant grants you the ability to ask Chihaya for a reading that will increase the frequency at which alarms occur.
The alarm will continue to sound until you either use the alarm, turn it off, or experience a fusion accident.
In the case of a failed execution, which becomes more likely the more you fuse during alarms, there will be a short cutscene, after which the twins will kick you out of the Velvet Room. When you return to the Metaverse, the alarm will have finished.
Performing Executions During Fusion Alarms
When fusing two or more Personas together during a Fusion Alarm, the number of skills they can inherit from the “parent” Personas increases by one or two.
In addition, anywhere from one to three skills that the resulting Persona receives may be subject to mutation after the fusion has finished. If this happens, you’re given the option to stop the process if you'd like to keep the originally intended skills or watch it happen to see what you get.
These mutations can be beneficial, or they may end up erasing useful skills in favor of ones you didn’t need, so accept mutations at your own risk. However, there seems to be a higher likelihood that elemental magic skills will be upgraded to a more powerful version.
Thankfully, you’re allowed to save in the Velvet Room during an alarm.
Simply save before your fusion, reload into the game, and re-roll if you’re not happy with the resulting skills.
It's important to note that, when a mutating skill lights up partially yellow as well as red, this means that it will evolve into a very powerful skill that would otherwise have only been available in the late game.
If an accident occurs during this particular execution, then the resulting persona will not have the opportunity for skill mutation.
To remember which Personas were the results of fusions during Fusion Alarms, those fusion Personas will be listed in yellow in your Persona stock.
You're able to fuse this fusion Persona into something else, but it has a much higher risk of resulting in an accident. However, if you're successful with it, the risk is worth the reward: every skill inherited by the resulting Persona will mutate into something more powerful.
This is a great, relatively reliable way to gain access to skills you might not normally have been able to pass between Personas, as well as a fun way to experience new skills.
Using The Gallows During Fusion Alarms
When using the Gallows during a Fusion Alarm, the amount of experience gained is increased, and the strengthened Persona has a chance of inheriting two skills from the original Persona instead of the usual one. In addition, a Persona can be strengthened any number of times throughout the same day during an alarm.
However, Gallows fusions can fail during alarms as well. If this happens, the resulting Persona receives no skills or experience, but will get a significant stat boost instead. Because of this, the Gallows is the best place to end an alarm, and it offers the best opportunity to strengthen Personas when used efficiently.
Using The Electric Chair During Fusion Alarms
The Electric Chair is useful when you'd like to turn your Personas into items instead, and this feature is also enhanced during Fusion Alarms. When you use the Electric Chair, the item you get is one tier more powerful than you'd have gotten without the alarm.
Any skill cards received are also one level more powerful than their counterparts (for example, if you'd have gotten Mabufula from the execution, you'd receive Bufudyne instead).
In Royal, itemization can also yield accessories that grant the ability to cast certain spells. During Alarm itemizations, the accessories are one tier higher than they would have been normally as well.
Equipment is a bit different, as itemization will instead yield a unique version of a piece of equipment that has higher attributes and may also have more powerful secondary effects.
If itemization fails, you'll receive a random skill card or accessory. Occasionally, however, you may get a skill card you'd not have otherwise had access to!
Avoiding Accidents During Fusion Alarms
The likelihood of accidents increases with each execution, so plan your fusions during the alarms carefully to optimize them! This is especially true if you continue to use the same execution method repeatedly during the alarm. The twins will warn you about doing so.
It's also wise to save before using a Fusion Alarm in the Velvet Room, as you may not always be happy with the results.
We won't judge you for reloading if things go awry.
One way to try to get around this restriction is to rotate what kind of executions you're performing during the alarm. Spreading the wealth a bit can help lower your chances of accidents and the unintentional ending of the alarm.
The other factor that influences the duration of the alarm is how many Personas you purchase from your registry during the alarm. Buying even one increases the chances of accidents drastically, while buying a second Persona during an alarm will guarantee failure on your next execution.
If you know you'll be doing a lot of dungeon-crawling and stand a good chance at setting off an alarm sometime during that day, it may be helpful to get any Personas you need ahead of time.