Sacrificial fusion (イケニエ合体, Ikenie gattai)? is a feature of fusion in the series.
Appearances[]
- Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
- Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army
- Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
- Persona 5 / Royal
- Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
Role[]
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne[]
Sacrificial fusion can only be performed during Kagutsuchi's full phase. In a normal two-demon fusion, the resultant demon is always at a fixed level regardless of how much the ingredient demons have advanced. By adding a third demon which acts as a "sacrifice," the resultant demon will inherit more skills from all three participants and 1.5 times experience the sacrifice has accumulated, and possibly start at a higher level than its base level. This also means the resultant demon will not gain any exp. bonus from a newly contracted demon used as a sacrifice. If the demon created from sacrificial fusion receives experience, this bonus can be stacked if the said demon is used as a sacrifice in the next sacrificial fusion.
A demon who has gained bonus levels from a sacrificial fusion will not immediately learn its level-up skills until the next time it levels up, at which point it will learn every skill it has met its threshold for, in sequence.
The drawbacks of this fusion are twofold:
- The resultant demon could gain too much experience, making it surpass the Demi-fiend's level. This will prevent the fusion's successful execution.
- Since fusion accidents have a higher chance to happen at Full Kagutsuchi phase, the result will fail more often, but this can be offset by saving the game before performing the fusion.
Some special fusion recipes require specific participants and/or sacrifices; some may not demand a specific ingredient, but the rule of experience bonus still applies.
Sacrificial fusions cannot be performed when a Mitama is being involved in the fusion.
Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army[]
Sacrificial fusion serves as a way to easily strengthen Raidou's demons. Despite Victor's claims that skills can be transferred, sacrificial fusion serves only to strengthen a demon's base stats, with a demon's HP and MP receiving boosts as Magic and Vitality are increased. Unlike binary fusion, a demon's Loyalty does not need to be maximized in order to sacrifice it, however, it does need some Loyalty built up or it will refuse to be sacrificed. A demon cannot be sacrificed if its name is still grayed out while selecting the demon to be sacrificed. There is also a limit to how much a demon can be strengthened, represented by the transparent pips in a demon's stat bar for Strength, Magic, Vitality and Luck. This limit is roughly a little over half of a demon's base stats, and the limit cannot be raised further once the demon levels up by leveling. In order to increase this limit further, Raidou must increase a demon's stats using an Incense item, which will not only increase the demon's stat by one, but also add additional empty pips to a demon's stat bar that can once again be filled using sacrifice fusion.
While it is possible for accidents to occur while powering up a demon, an accident during sacrifice fusion will not change the resulting demon, but will either fail to increase its stats or increase a stat that the sacrificed demon does not usually increase. A Nekomata being powered up will still result in a Nekomata with whatever stats it had before the fusion attempt remaining.
The demon selected to be sacrificed will typically raise the stats of the demon getting powered up based on which stat shows a yellow pip mark in their stat bar while viewing their entry on the devil chart. Demons with no yellow pip marks in their stat bar will not increase anything when Raidou attempts to use them as a sacrifice. Demons that have received many sacrifices will still only boost a demon's stats by 1.
The Magnetite required for sacrifice fusion will vary based solely on the level of the demon being powered up.
| Order | Demon | Level | Cost | Stat Boost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frost | Azumi | 6 | 3,700 | St +1 |
| Pagan | Incubus | 51 | 30,300 | Ma +1 |
| Frost | Jubokko | 28 | 14,300 | Vi +1 |
| Pyro | Ukobach | 2 | 2,600 | Lu +1 |
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth[]
Sacrificial fusion returns in Persona Q, available after entering the 3rd floor of Group Date Cafe. This time, two Personas are chosen as sacrifices to give EXP to another, with certain ones leaving behind Materials needed to create items and equipment. The Persona receiving the EXP doesn't change, however. If the receiving Persona is of the same Arcana as one or both of the Personas being sacrificed, the experience it receives is increased, by a small amount if only one is of the same Arcana but more than doubled if both sacrifices are.
Expand to see the Personas which leave behind materials when sacrificed and the equipment for which they are required.
| Persona | Level | Material | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pixie | 2 | Pixie Wing | Pixie Knife |
| Oni | 17 | Club Shard | Oni ni Kanabou |
| Nue | 20 | Nue Claw | Shishio |
| Matador | 22 | Matador Sword | Bloody Estoc |
| King Frost | 25 | King Snowball | Frost Cannon |
| Orochi | 26 | Orochi Tail | Kusanagi no Tsurugi |
| Succubus | 29 | Lust Pheromone | Pink Shot |
| Pyro Jack | 32 | Black Lantern | Lantern Shield |
| Genbu | 35 | Genbu Shell | Genbu Greaves |
| Seiryu | 40 | Seiru Scale | Quinlong Yanyue |
| Suzaku | 48 | Suzaku Plume | Suzaku Feather |
| Skadi | 50 | Skadi's Shard | Ichibal |
| Kartikeya | 52 | Skanda's Wing | Peacock Tail |
| Jinn | 53 | Lamp Shard | Magical Gun |
| Cybele | 58 | Cybele Hair | Sabazios |
| Kingu | 60 | Broken Tablet | Destiny Tablet |
| Byakko | 61 | Byakko Claw | Byakko Reisou |
| Seiten Taisei | 61 | Huaguo's Rock | Reigan Greaves |
| Masakado | 67 | Masakado Shard | Masakado's Katana |
| Seth | 70 | Claw Shard | Claw of Revenge |
| Michael | 71 | Michael Shard | Deus Xiphos |
| Loki | 72 | Trickster Karma | Fimbulvetr |
| Vishnu | 72 | Vishnu Shard | Nandaka |
| Alilat | 75 | Goddess Obsidian | Kokuseki Senjin |
| Scathach | 76 | Broken Spear | Gae Bolg |
| Yoshitsune | 76 | Yoshitsune Shard | Usumidori |
| Satan | 77 | Opposer's Wing | Megido Gun |
| Shiva | 82 | Destroyer's Rage | Pashupata |
| Metatron | 82 | Seraph Wing | Metatronius |
| Beelzebub | 84 | Fly Shard | Corpse Rod |
| Asura | 86 | Asura Bone | Vajra |
| Chi You | 87 | Chi You Shard | Quintessence Bow |
| Zeus | 91 | Fearsome Shard | Fearsome Armor Fearsome Gown Fearsome Dog-Suit Fearsome V-Suit Fearsome Robe |
Persona 5[]
Sacrificial Fusion exists in the form of the Gallows, and is unlocked on June 21st in the Velvet Room. Two Personas are selected to perform it, and the second is sacrificed to bestow its experience to the first. There is also a multiplier to the experience bestowed based on the Confidant rank of the first Persona's Arcana; if uninitiated, there is only a 1x multiplier to the experience received, while a maxed Confidant gives a 3x multiplier.
If the protagonist sacrifices a Persona of a matching Arcana as the target, there is a 1.5x multiplier to the experience gain; using a Treasure Demon only bestows a 3x multiplier. Using a Treasure Demon of a matching Arcana will instead give a 5x multiplier to the experience. If the game is set on Merciless difficulty, the EXP gain will always be cut to 1/3.
At the same time, the first Persona will inherit one random skill from the sacrificed Persona; the skill it can inherit is also restricted by its inheritance type, and duplicates will never appear. For instance, Arsène, who can never inherit Physical, Gun, Bless or Recovery skills through normal fusion, will also never inherit such skills from the Gallows. This can be used to manipulate the chance of a desired skill being passed on from the sacrifice.
A Persona can only be empowered through use of the Gallows once per in-game day. However, a workaround exists: registering, deleting (either through itemization, fusion or sacrifice) and re-summoning the Persona will allow the protagonist to empower it again through the Gallows. While this method is costly, it is one way the protagonist can quickly level up a particular Persona, on top of having more control over which stats get increased from leveling up.
Persona 5 Royal[]
The requirement for sacrificial fusion in Royal has been changed from the base game, and is unlocked later. Much like how Persona itemization was unlocked after securing a route to Madarame's Treasure and the fusion alarm was unlocked after securing a route to Kaneshiro's Treasure, sacrificial fusion is unlocked after securing a route to Futaba's Treasure.
Sacrificial fusion by itself has largely remained the same as it was in Persona 5, but, like all Velvet Room facilities, during a fusion alarm, new things happen. Stat increases are bigger, and a Persona can be strengthened multiple times in the same day, but doing so causes the chances of an accident to increase. EXP multipliers for sacrifices performed during an alarm are as follows: 2x for sacrificing a normal Persona of a different Arcana, 3x for a normal Persona of the same Arcana, 5x for a Treasure Demon of a different Arcana, and 7x for a Treasure Demon of the same Arcana.
Furthermore, the once-per-day limit as described in the Persona 5 section above does not apply during a fusion alarm. However, the fusion alarm doesn't remove the restriction on a Persona if they went through regular sacrificial fusion earlier that day.
Additionally, the amount of skills that can be passed down from the sacrifice to the inheritor is simultaneously expanded and randomized in amount, ranging from one to three.
Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth[]
Sacrificial fusions return in Persona Q2 to compensate for the absence of Social Link bonus experience. Compared to the first game, this function becomes available much earlier, after the party recruits the cast of Persona 4 in the second Theater, Junessic Land.
Sub-Personas can now be sacrificed to bestow experience to either a Sub-Persona or a Main Persona. Sacrificing to boost a main Persona will naturally increase their owner's level, making this feature great for keeping the game's massive number of characters in line with everyone else. The sacrifice process now costs money, though Margaret will waive the cost for the first instance each Sub-Persona is used as a sacrifice.
The sacrificial fusion function can also be used to transfer skills between the sacrifice and the target Persona, once the player has obtained Blank and Wild Cards. Each Sub-Persona has a skill in their set that is highlighted in purple; this skill can be transferred through sacrificial fusion if the Sub-Persona has already learned that skill. This method can be used to impart skills that a Persona normally cannot learn or inherit through fusion.
A Blank Card is required when transferring skills to other Sub-Personas, while a Wild Card is needed if the same is being done for a Main Persona. Blank Cards can commonly be found after finishing a battle with rare Shadows or certain FOEs, while Wild Cards are only available as a rare drop from FOEs.
Trivia[]
- During the animation of sacrificial fusion in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, the sacrifice is dissolved along with the effect of the Mudo spell.
- In Persona 5, the sacrifice is "hanged" instead of being decapitated by a guillotine as with the ingredients in normal fusion.