How to Defeat the Reaper - Persona 3 Reload Guide - IGN (2024)

Throughout your time in Persona 3 Reload's Tartarus, you'll come to learn of a mysterious entity known as The Reaper that stalks the halls and preys on unexpecting victims. It'll only appear if we linger on a floor too long and, for most of the game, will be way too powerful for us to overcome.

However, by the time we've conquered Adamah and its Monad Passage and are ready to fight Nyx at the end of January, it'll be time to face this powerful being in a final showdown. Make sure you wait until your team is around level 85 before you seek him out.

Reaper Weaknesses and Resistances

The Reaper has no weaknesses and no resistances.

Prepping for the Reaper

This is without question one of the hardest fights in the game, largely because the Reaper is an absolute unit with a huge health pool that can not only do huge damage but also act three times in a single turn. As such, we're really going to want to prepare for this. Our suggested party for this battle is Aigis, Yukari and Junpei, although really, you can bring anyone if they're high-level and you're comfortable with them. Throughout this fight, however, we're using the suggested team.

Secondly, Makoto should have some very good Personas to bring into battle. A stong one that you'll be able to fuse if you're level 78 or higher is Thanatos, which is resistant to every form of magic outside of light. If you're level 82 or higher, Satan is also a great pick, as he can learn the Debilitate ability, which lowers all of an enemy's stats at once. If you're at a really high level (91 or higher), you can even bring Messiah, which can null all physical attacks, reflect light and dark, and resist fire, ice, wind and electric.

Going in, make sure every single member of your party is equipped with high-level gear that will help them evade or resist their weakness. We should also be picking accessories that help counter the Reaper's skillset. For our builds, we had Yukari wear the Incense Box, which allows her to insta-heal status ailments so she can cure the rest of the team if we get hit with confuse. Junpei and Makoto were wearing the Sacrificial Idol and Phoenix Charm, which allowed them to regain full health after their first death. And Aigis was wearing the Omega Drive, which upped her critical rate.

Before we head in, we're going to first grind through a few battles so that every single member of our party has a full Theurgy gauge. Once you have full gauges, return to the entrance, save the game, and then refill all your party's HP and SP bars.

How to Defeat the Reaper

Now, we're going to head to any floor of Tartarus and just wait. After a few minutes, Fuuka will warn you that the Reaper is approaching.

Activate Sylphid Aura from the Navi Menu, locate the Reaper and then perform an Ambush attack. You'll get the advantage. This is key, because, for the first round, we're going to cast buffs and debuffs that will give us the edge throughout this fight.

Two core points before we begin: Firstly, your defense needs to be buffed at all times and the Reaper's attack needs to be lowered as much as possible. It's immensely powerful and can one-shot the entire party considering it gets three turns every time it acts. Its power needs to be lowered whenever we can to ensure that it can't do massive damage every time it acts.

Secondly, you need to accept that this is going to be a long, drawn-out, tactical battle. The Reaper has the ability to finish the fight very quickly if we aren't playing defensively, so health, buffs, debuffs and status ailments take precedence before any attacks. If that means you can't deal any damage in a round, then so be it.

Finally, all damage is fair game here. The Reaper has no weaknesses but also no resistances. You can use literally anything, so pick the most powerful attack for every unit you're controlling.

When the battle begins, have Makoto lower the Reaper's defense, Aigis raise our attack and Yukari lower the Reaper's accuracy. As soon as we reach round two, we're going to unleash all those Theurgy attacks we charged to do a good amount of damage early. After, we'll settle into more of a rhythm.

Throughout the battle, every party member is going to be recasting and managing buffs and debuffs to make sure the Reaper can't regain its full strength. As he continues to fight, the Reaper is going to try and negate this, and buff all of its stats in one move. if he does buff all his stats, use Debilitator Sutras, Dekaja Gems or the Debilitate ability if Makoto's Personas have it to lower all of the Reaper's stats simultaneously, as well as using Dekunda Gems or the Heat Riser ability when it lowers our stats. If you have none of these items or abilities, we'll have to do it the only fashioned way, so spend a round casting individual buffs to negate his debuffs.

Meanwhile, Junpei and Aigis are going to go in on damage. Have Junpei use fire and slash attacks, while Aigis focuses on her best physical attacks. Yukari is going to spend a lot of this fight healing. Have her ready to cast Mediahrama every single round if needs be. If the team is fully healed, she's going to use wind attacks or lower the Reaper's accuracy. Finally, Makoto can essentially use anything in his arsenal, and should be the main damage dealer of this fight considering he'll have access to almighty attacks and other late-game moves.

One of the main elements we have to manage in this battle is status ailments. The Reaper will attempt to make this fight trickier by frequently inflicting confuse and poison on the group while also hitting you with heavy damage attacks. We need to be prepared for this at all times. Whenever it's cast, either use Me Patra if Yukari is acting or an item if anyone else is to heal the team. This needs to be quick. If the Reaper acts before we've cured everyone, he can combine confusion with God's Hand to do unbelievable damage and quickly wipe out members of the team.

Towards the end of the fight, he'll also crack out our least favourite skills: insta-kill light and dark attacks. He'll aim these at the whole team, so during the latter half of the fight, make sure Makoto has a Persona equipped that can null light and dark. If he takes out the majority of the group, spend each subsequent turn reviving the next party member until the full team is back on its feet.

Really, that's the main gist of the battle. It's all about endurance and remaining consistent, so ensure everyone's health is kept high, our stats are buffed and the Reaper's are debuffed, and all status ailments are cured quickly. When you've charged a Theurgy attack, unleash it to carve out a chunk of his health bar, and if you land a critical, execute an All-Out attack.

Stick to the plan, play defensively and, eventually, Tartarus' most fearsome foe will fall. With that, you've finally toppled the Reaper, and can enjoy a hefty influx of sweet, sweet EXP.