Late-game party members aren't new to the Persona franchise, and Persona 4 Golden is no exception. Naoto Shirogane is the final playable character to join the Investigation Team (IT). The protagonist and the others can spot her as early as May 16th, but she'll take on a supporting role for the majority if P4G.
Once Naoto is seen on the Midnight Channel, players will need to do a series of investigations around Inaba before the Secret Laboratory dungeon can appear. It's recommended to be around level 55 before facing off with Naoto's Shadow. Although Shadow Naoto is far from the most difficult boss in Persona 4 Golden, battling her without a strategy will have consequences.
Shadow Naoto: Best Skills and Persona
Shadow Naoto's dungeon (Secret Laboratory) unlocks on September 16th and has a deadline on October 5th. If players are at the right level (lvl 55), they can swoop in and complete the entire dungeon in one sitting. However, if this is a first playthrough, players may want to wait until September 21st before tackling Shadow Naoto. This is due to a Fusion Forecast for the Sun Persona, Tam Lin. If players fuse Tam Lin on September 21st, it'll learn the Amrita Skill and receive bonus XP and stat-increases.
The protagonist must be level 53 or higher in order to fuse Tam Lin. Players can XP farm by fighting the Golden Hands on the 6th floor of the Secret Laboratory.
Tam Lin can only be created via Special Fusion (Square). Players will need the following Persona of the Sun Arcana:
- Phoenix
- Gdon
- Narasimha
- Yatagarasu
While not required, players are advised to get the Sun Social Link to a higher Rank (ex: Rank 8-9) if they're unable to reach Rank 10 before September 21st. This will increase the XP gained from fusing Tam Lin and any other Persona of the Sun Arcana. If player's Sun Social Link isn't Rank 10 by September, then focus on the IT's Social Links since they'll be far more useful in battle.
Team Set-Up
Players are advised to bring in a healer (ie: Yukiko) and someone who can cast buffs for the entire team (ie: Teddie) or negate enemy buffs (ie: Yosuke with Dekaja). Make sure the protagonist has a strong magic-attacking Persona, and make sure that it has Mind Charge and a -dyne tier Skill (recommended: Ziodyne). There are Persona with stronger Magic than Tam Lin, such as Dis or Surt.
Teddie and Yukiko are useful against Shadow Naoto thanks to their Amrita Skill. This will cure any status condition except Down or Unconscious.
Any characters that players bring into the fight with Shadow Naoto should have a maxed out Social Link or at least a Social LInk around Rank 8-9. If a character has their Awakened Persona, then add them to the lineup. At this point in P4G, players should at least have Yosuke or Chie's Awakened Persona. Once a Persona reaches its Awakening, it will learn a Passive Skill that increases the evasion rate of its Affinity Weakness. Since Shadow Naoto will target Affinity Weaknesses, having this Skill stacked with an Accessory that increases Evasion, is highly recommended.
Be sure to have Rise's Social Link leveled up as well. Rise is more likely to buff allies (ex: Mind Charge) if the Lovers Social Link is at a higher rank.
Buy HP or SP restoring items from Shiroku Store or use the gardening box outside the Dojima Residence. If players tune into the Shopping Network on August 21st, they can get x5 Hiranya Cabbage. These cure all status ailments besides Down and Unconscious.
If using the garden, consider getting the Tetracorn and Makaracorn from the garden, too. This will grant both Tetrakarn and Makarakarn to its user. Buy the Barrier Corn from the lady at Junes on June 25th, and plant them as soon as possible. Tetracorn and Makaracorn takes 8 in-game days to grow.
If players don't have Amrita Soda item, they should bring in at least one party member (protagonist not included) that knows Amrita to cure any status ailments.
Shadow Naoto Strategy
Shadow Naoto doesn't have any Affinity Weaknesses, but for some reason, she takes more damage from Electric-based Skills. She also has access to every elemental Skill (-dyne tier). This means targeting the party's Affinity Weaknesses won't be an issue for her. This is why Tam Lin is recommended for her boss fight. It has no Affinity Weaknesses, will Null Electric and Bless, and is Strong against Physical and Fire Skills. It also has Ziodyne as an innate Skill.
She'll start by using single-target Skills such as Agidyne or Garudyne. If she manages to Down someone, she'll follow up by using Heat Riser or Debilitate. If she uses Heat Riser, use Dekaja or a Purifying Water item to nullify the stat bonus. If she uses Debilitate, negate this with Dekunda or Purifying Salt. Alternatively, casting a Support Skill that increases any of the stats (ie: Evasion/Accuracy, Attack, and Defense) will cancel out at least one of the effects of Debilitate.
There are three unique Skills that Shadow Naoto will use over the course of battle:
- Galgalim Eyes: Reduces a party member's HP to 1HP and inflicts Enervation.
- Element Zero: Nullifies elemental resistances to the entire party.
- Mute Ray: Inflicts HP and SP damage as well as the Silence ailment.
Shadow Naoto will start using these Skills the closer she gets to half-health or if she manages to Down someone. If hit with Galgalim Eyes, cure it with Amrita and heal with Diarahan/Mediarahan as soon as possible. If hit with Mute Ray, have someone not Silenced use Amrita. Finally, to combat Element Zero, players can either use Skills that add elemental resistances (ex: White Wall), or they can just wait out the effects (lasts three turns).
Have characters like Teddie or Yosuke cast -kaja buffs to increase Defense, Attack, or Accuracy/Evasion. Yukiko can be in charge of healing and using Agidyne when not playing the support role. The protagonist (and the last party member) should be focusing on dealing Mind Charged or Charged attacks. Repeat this strategy, and Shadow Naoto will eventually go down.
Persona 4 Golden is available on PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.