Reaper No Flu Walkthrough - Persona 5 Guide - IGN (2024)

The Reaper is a Mementos mini-boss that appears when you're on a floor for 5 minutes. Players found an EXP exploit, on the following dates: 11/13, 11/14, 11/15, 12/8 and 12/9, it becomes Flu Season. It has a chance of enemies catching despair, instantlly-killing them no matter what within 3 turns. You also max out the Star Confidant, allowing you to escape if it doesn't catch despair, and go to another floor. If The Reaper catches despair, it dies and gives you around 60K-200K EXP, usually 70K. It also may drop Divine Pillar, which halves all incoming damage, but you cannot evade. What if there isn't flu? They even removed this exploit in Royal, making it even harder to get to Level 99. There are many tricks, but I'll explain mine to you.

Preparation
By the time it's Flu Season, you'll have probably be finished the 6th palace. Make sure you maxed out Mishima so that you're party gets the same amount of EXP. You can also put the Expedite Ring to get 1.5x more EXP. You'll be around level 45-55, but make sure your party members have at least 450 HP, Heat Riser on Haru and at least 70 Strength/Magic for your Persona. (Magic for Kaguya Picaro and Strength for Yosh*tsune.) You'll have to grind for a while. Make sure you also have the skill Mediarahan or a large stock of Balm of Lifes, Soul Snuffs and Magic Ointment, or get Makarakarn. Get a multi-damaging move, such as Hassou Tobi or Shining Arrows. Make sure to have Heat Riser (Haru), Charge/Concentrate, Ali Dance (Optional) and you can have a defensive Persona with all the Auto-Kaja skills, I used Shiki-Ouji. Use the Omnipotent Orb on Joker if you want, if not, use the SP Adhesive 3. Make sure to have Morgana go first, Haru second, Joker third and Makoto last. The Reaper doesn't like Nuke or Psy skills, so he won't use them unless all the party members except Makoto or Haru are downed. The Reaper likes to use the first four elemental skills, Riot Gun, Vorpal Blade, Elemental Dyne skills, Affinity Break skills, annoying insta-kill moves, Megidola and Megidolaon.

The Fight
Let the Reaper attack you so he has one turn, but sometimes he has no turns if you attack him. Up to you. Since Morgana is the only one that can be downed, put a Magic Ointment on him for the first turn. The Reaper can't use Nuke and Psy skills since Morgana isn't downed, and will only use Concentrate and Megidolaon. Use Heat Riser from Haru onto Joker for the first turn, then on Haru. Use Charge/Concentrate on Joker, and make Makoto use a nuke skill to do some small damage. She's backup. Now the real challenge begins. Not much of a challenge though. The Reaper will use Megidolaon and Concentrate, so use Mediarahan or your recovery items mentioned above to heal. Put the Heat Riser on Haru. Attack with Shining Arrows/ Hassou Tobi. Make Makoto use a nuke skill again. The Reaper is still annoyed from the Makarakarn, so he'll continue spamming Megidolaon and Concentrate. So on your third turn, heal, attack with a Gun type move with Haru, Charge/Concentrate with Joker, and nuke skill with Makoto. You repeat this until the Reaper is defeated. Keep using Heat Riser on Joker first if it runs out, and use Charge/Concentrate with Joker, then attack the following turn. Never stop healing with Morgana, and if his SP starts to run out, use Makoto's turn to use an item. He won't use insta-kill spells either, since he hates moves that get repelled back at him. If it's a bit too hard, use Down Shot, and do not use an All-Out Attack, do what you need to do. You can change your party a bit if you have the items necessary, but keep Haru.

Keep repeating this until The Reaper dies, once again.

Results
Your party will level up and get better skills, eventually becoming stronger, so you don't have to heal as often, but keep doing the same strategy, but use One-Shot Kill instead of Triple down for Haru, do not get Atomic Flare instead of Freidyne, as in costs double the SP, but doesn't even do double the damage. You can use Salvation in battle when you unlock it for Mona, but I wouldn't recommend it, as there isn't gonna be any status effects. If you did get despair on the Reaper, well done! Free Experience Points!