Upon reaching 62F of Tartarus, you will be warned about a Reaper that can appear and chase you. What makes the Reaper in Persona 3 Reload (P3R) more terrifying than previous iterations of the Reaper in Persona 3 is the fact that once it spawns, it'll chase you up any number of stairs until you reach a Gatekeeper / Border Floor, enter a Monad Door, or use a Teleporter to travel to another floor.



The Reaper is by no means a secret boss since you're informed of it quite early on, but defeating it is required to unlock the secret super boss of P3R. To spawn it, you must be on a floor that spawns Shadows, and need to have spent 3~5 minutes on that individual floor (excluding Monad, combat, and any menu pauses). This timer is also much lower if you're on an anomaly floor (e.g. Dark Zone).

Cheese Strategy

Let's get the easy approach out of the way first.
By fusing Helel and Satan (requires max rank Star Social Link & protagonist level 88 or 83 with Sun Major Arcana Card), the Persona Compendium grants you the Armageddon Theurgy. Using it will set your HP and SP to 1 in exchange for dealing 9999 damage to all foes, which will erase the Reaper on turn 1 if you enter the battle with your Theurgy Gauge filled.

Proper Strategy

Because the Reaper gets two actions per turn and will usually take advantage of your party's elemental weaknesses, you can choose to either fight him solo or equip null element accessories on your party members to not give it One Mores. It also might be worth equipping Amritite Necklace to avoid the barrage of ailments.

In either case, you'll want to bring Debilitate and buffs such as Heat Riser & Charge/Concentrate depending on what type of damage you'll be using (I recommend physical attacks because the Reaper has no elemental weaknesses to take advantage of, but critical hits will still allow you to knock it down).

It's worth noting that despite the Reaper no longer being able to be afflicted by Shock and Freeze, its fight in P3R is still easier than its appearances in past versions of Persona 3 due to the added mechanics in P3R, and because its AI was made to be less punishing. One major difference is that it used to spam Megidolaon if you had either Tetrakarn or Makarakarn applied, but in P3R, the Reaper accepts its fate and allows all of its attacks to be reflected (this makes Ken a lot more effective than he would be otherwise).

Party Composition / Roles

• Yukari - Healer / Support
  Amrita Shower for curing ailments, and Tranquility Theurgy for team-wide Concentrate.
  
  
• Junpei - Offensive Physical
  Brave Blade spam and fish for critical hits, straight and simple.
  
  
• Akihiko - Offensive Physical / Debuffer
  With his enhanced Combat Characteristic and an active attack buff, Akihiko hits hard when using God's Hand. He can also debuff the Reaper's attack via Matarunda.
  
  
• Mitsuru - Offensive Magical / Debuffer
  Concentrate into Diamond Dust, and she can debuff the Reaper's defense via Marakunda or her Blade of Execution Theurgy.
  
  
• Aigis - Offensive Physical / Buffer
  Weaker physical skills in exchange for providing team-wide attack and defense buffs via Matarukaja & Marakukaja. She can also use Orgia Mode, which prevents the Reaper from gaining One More even if her weakness is hit.
  
  
• Koromaru - Buffer / Debuffer
  Mostly enables the team to deal damage by providing team-wide accuracy/evasion and critical rate increase buffs, plus Debilitate on the Reaper. His Power Howling Theurgy is also a solid team-wide Charge.
  
  
• Ken - Healer / Buffer
  Heat Riser for buffing an ally, and Divine Intervention Theurgy for team-wide Tetrakarn & Makarakarn.
  
  
• Shinjiro - Offensive Physical / Debuffer
  God's Hand, and has Debilitate. The fact that he has no elemental weakness, and has access to Bloody Charge & Endure means he can deal solid damage while being able to take a beating.

Ziroikabi has a video showcasing the power of repel against the Reaper - it was defeated solo just by manipulating the AI while having repel physical passives.

There are a few requirements you need to meet in order to unlock the super boss battle that is Elizabeth, and the earliest date you can accomplish all of these to challenge her is on January 1.

• Complete all 5 Elizabeth Dates (Elizabeth Request #77 - #81)
  
• Defeat the Shadow of the Void (Elizabeth Request #99)
  
• Defeat the Reaper (Elizabeth Request #100)

Complete all 5 Elizabeth Dates

Let's start with how to unlock the Elizabeth Dates.
Each Elizabeth Request has a challenge level associated with it, and after completing enough to meet the level threshold, Elizabeth will ask that you take her out to experience the world. These do not pass the time in-game, but do keep in mind that there's a three day cooldown period before you can take invite her out on a date after having already done so, so don't stockpile her requests and wait to complete them.

As an overview, here's the level requirement for each date event:
(Details regarding the challenge levels gained per Elizabeth Request is in the guide below)
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3152126686

Defeat the Shadow of the Void

The Shadow of the Void is found in the Monad Passage located on the 255F of Tartarus, and in order to access it, you first need to have reached the 255th floor, which involves defeating all of the Gatekeepers in Tartarus. Next, Monad Passages are always found on fixed floors right before a Border Floor and require certain Major Arcana Tarot Cards to be able to open them. Excluding the very first passage, every following Monad Passage requires having cleared the previous one and retrieving the Tarot Card found at the end. This means you must defeat all the bosses for every Monad Passage to arrive at the final one.

Here's some useful info on what every Shadow is vulnerable to in the Monad Passages.
(Use Full Analysis for full affinity details)

Lower Yabbashah 91F

Upper Yabbashah 117F

Lower Tziah 143F

Upper Tziah 171F

Lower Harabah 197F

Upper Harabah 225F

Adamah 255F

The Elizabeth Super Boss Battle is the most difficult challenge that you will face in Persona 3 Reload, and requires careful planning to defeat.

Rules of Engagement

There are a number of rules that Elizabeth will impose on the player. If you violate any of them, Elizabeth will switch to spamming Diarahan on her first action & insta-kill Megidolaon* on her second action for every following turn until you fall in battle.

These are the following restrictions:

• 100 Turn Limit
  
• You may not Null, Drain, or Repel any attacks (Ailments & Instant Death are OK)
  
• You may not Counter any physical attacks
  
• You may not equip the Omnipotent Orb
  
• The battle must end if you use Armageddon

*Her insta-kill Megidolaon deals 9999 damage. To differentiate it from her normal Megidolaon that she also uses, I will refer to her insta-kill as Megidolaon (9999) instead.

Elizabeth Data

Elizabeth has 20,000 HP, acts twice per turn, and cannot be afflicted with any ailments.

Persona Affinity Table

Main Skill Usages

Elizabeth Attack Patterns / Phases

Phase 1 (20,000 ~ 13,001 HP)
- Summons Persona (excluding Pixie) in an 8 turn loop based on the table above, with two actions per turn. (The skills listed don't necessarily reflect all of Elizabeth's Persona skills, only the ones you're most likely to encounter during your battle)

Phase 2 (13,000 ~ 10,000 HP)

Phase 3 (1st Time <10,000 HP)
Uses Heat Riser + Diarahan, then follows the 15 turn Persona loop below.

Phase 4 (2nd Time <10,000 HP)
- First Turn: Concentrate into Megidolaon (9999)
- Second Turn & Onwards: Diarahan into Megidolaon (9999)

Equipment Preparations

As I will be listing a number of different strategies you can take, the Persona preparations will be found under each strategy instead (you are also expected to max out the required stats for the Personas listed via Incense cards - purchase gems from Club Escapade and trade them in at Mayoido Antiques). In addition, the equipment listed (excluding Lucifer's Blade) may be unnecessary depending on the strategy.

To put it simply, we're choosing our equipment based on how useful their passive skills are.

• Lucifer's Blade
  > Dead Moon's Husk + Fallen Angel Wing (Lucifer ♥ Item) + 10 Gold Quartz + 10 Ruby
  
• Armor of Light / Hallowed Plate
  > Dead Moon's Husk + Savior's Augite (Messiah ♥ Item) + 10 Diamond + 5 Ruby
  > Nihil White Model + Prayer Angel Garland (Sandalphon ♥ Item) + 10 Garnet + 5 Diamond
  
• Shoes of Light / Shoes of Bane
  > Dead Moon's Husk + Savior's Augite (Messiah ♥ Item) + 10 Diamond + 5 Ruby
  > TV Shopping (November 29, ¥39,800)
  
• Amritite Necklace / Phoenix Charm / Earrings of Grit
  > Club Escapade (¥500,000)
  > Top of the Class Reward (December 21)
  > Club Escapade (¥200,000)

Theurgy Unlock Conditions

• King and I: King Frost + Black Frost
  > Elizabeth Request #24
  
• Armageddon: Satan + Helel
  > Star Rank 10
  
• Scarlet Havoc: Mithras + Siegfried

Acquiring Magic Mastery

Depending on your difficulty settings and DLCs, defeating Elizabeth can actually be done in just 2 turns. This section will cover how to accomplish these speedy clears with varying difficulties & whether the player owns DLC Persona.

Assuming you own the P5R Persona Set 1 DLC, it means you have access to some of the most broken passive skills in the game — Affinity Driver, which increases the damage of attacks of their affinity by 75% while also stacking with Amp (50%) and Boost (25%) skills.

For the following two difficulties' cheese strat, our focus will be on one specific Persona — a max St & Ma (99 Stat) Goemon. If you don't own the DLC, any Persona will work as long as you substitute Ice Driver for Magic Mastery (getting this via Skill Mutation will take some time, see the video in the previous section for more details).

Goemon / Alternate Skill List

• Ice Driver / Magic Mastery
  
• Ice Amp
  
• Ice Boost
  
• Multi-Target Boost (Only for Peaceful & Non-DLC Merciless)
  
• Auto (Ma)Tarukaja
  
• (Ma)Rakunda
  
• Evade / Resist Fire

2 Turn Kill - Peaceful Difficulty

Before engaging with Elizabeth, make sure your Theurgy is ready, and either get a Cups cards via Shuffle Time that enables you to start this battle with Concentrate, or have Fụuka's Theurgy ready so you can roll the dice on getting a Concentrate during the battle. When the battle begins, open with (Ma)Rakunda, and after Elizabeth switches to Surt on turn 2, use King and I to deal over 20k damage for a clean win.

5 Turn Kill - Merciless Difficulty

There is also a 4 Turn Kill strategy, but it has a number of RNG factors and requires a DLC Persona to even attempt, plus the general approach for 4 Turn Kill is the same as this.

The trick to defeating Elizabeth in so few turns is by taking advantage of her Rules of Engagement to prevent her from healing upon reaching sub-10,000 HP, similar to what people have done in prior versions of Persona 3's Elizabeth Battle via High Counter. In essence, our goal is to trigger her Phase 2 and prepare her to be in the 11,000 HP range so that we can repel her God's Hand on Turn 3 of Phase 2. Upon repelling the attack, Elizabeth is brought down to under 10,000 HP; but instead of using Diarahan on her second action, she will use Megidolaon (9999) because you broke the rules. This will give you one turn of action to follow up with Armageddon and end the fight before Elizabeth heals herself back to full the next turn.

For additional preparations, you'll need a Persona with Repel Strike to break the rule with, and make sure to have both Enduring Soul and Endure either on this same Persona, or equipped via a passive bonus from your equipment, so that you can survive two Megidolaon (9999). Lastly, make sure to have the Soul Fortune from the Fortune Teller at Club Escapade (speeds up Theurgy fill by 30%), grab a Cups card via Shuffle Time that grants you Concentrate at the start of the battle, and have a full Theurgy ready for you and Fụuka.

Arahabaki Skill List (Example Persona that learns Repel Strike at Lv 76)

• (Ma)Rakunda
  
• Repel Strike
  
• Enduring Soul
  
• Endure

*(Ma)Rakunda is preferred because this doesn't lower Elizabeth's repelled damage

Begin the battle with (Ma)Rakunda, and after Elizabeth switches to Surt, use King and I to deal ~8,900 damage. This will trigger Phase 2, where you'll want to switch to your Persona with Repel Strike + Enduring Soul and/or Endure. There's not much to do here aside from reapplying (Ma)Rakunda (may need an Almighty Skill to deal some extra damage if your initial attack doesn't hit the 8,800+ damage requirement), and using Fụuka's Theurgy to help refill your Theurgy (Theurgy gauge fills each time you're given a turn, and Fụuka's Theurgy makes it so that you're treated as being given another turn). You're basically waiting out the 2 turns for Elizabeth to use God's Hand. Once her attack has been repelled, you should be ready to use Armageddon, finishing the fight.

Here's a video of the 5 Turn Kill strategy.

Although players have figured out ways to skip phases and defeat Elizabeth quickly, this is obviously not what the developers intended, seeing as how they added "No Counters Allowed" to the ruleset when it wasn't there in the original version of the fight. This section will delve into how you were expected to approach Elizabeth.

Equipment Preparations:

• Lucifer's Blade
  
• Armor of Light
  
• Shoes of Bane
  
• Amritite Necklace

Additional Tartarus Preparations:

• Soul Fortune from the Fortune Teller in Club Escapade
  
• Cups card which provides Charge & Concentrate at the start of the battle
  
• Protagonist's and Fụuka's Theurgy Gauge Filled

Persona Preparations:

You should use Scarlet Havoc Theurgy on the second turn after debuffing Elizabeth, and save the next one to use ASAP upon entering Phase 2; Fụuka's Theurgy should also be used on the fourth turn when your auto-buffs wear off, and spamming Full Analysis afterwards will recharge her Theurgy faster. Outside of those two points, you'll mostly be consulting the Persona Affinity Table provided in the "Elizabeth (Introduction)" section, to use magic skills that her respective Persona is weak to. When she is not vulnerable to any of your skills, you should instead use that time to buff/debuff/heal. Lastly, as Elizabeth nears her final phase, you should save your Theurgy so that you can cast Armageddon in time.

Remember when I said the Elizabeth fight is the most difficult challenge you'll face? Well... the release of Episode Aigis -The Answer- changes things, and this newly added Super Boss Battle is now the hardest fight (the hardest challenge only applies to Merciless difficulty, and do note that the Expansion Pass is required to access this DLC).

Luckily, the requirements for unlocking this battle is much easier than what it took to unlock the Super Boss from the base game. All you need to do is reach the end of the Episode Aigis (technically just before the story's final boss), and complete Elizabeth Request #59 by defeating the Reaper once again. After that, you gain access to the Monad Chambers where you'll fight through 4 more bosses before reaching the true challenge.

The Reaper spawns the same way as it did in Tartarus (just wait on a floor that Shadows can spawn in), and the strategies for defeating it remain the same as before. Some general things to note is that Metis essentially replaces Aigis' original role in the party, and utilizing Ken's Divine Intervention Theurgy alongside Tetrakarn & Makarakarn is probably the easiest way to take care of the Reaper with minimal prep.

Monad Chambers

Let's talk about the the Monad Chambers' 4 boss battles before the Super Boss.

Boss Fight 1 - Immortal Gigas, Visceral Maya x2
A straightforward fight with the 2 Visceral Maya mainly spamming buffs/debuffs for the Immortal Gigas to use physical attacks. Prioritize debuffs to keep the Mayas occupied (once the Gigas is buffed and you're debuffed, the Mayas will focus on using Infuriate, and Garudyne / Panta Rhei with the occasional Megidola), and take advantage of their Fire weakness + Charm vulnerability to prevent the Immortal Gigas from dealing too much damage.

Boss Fight 2 - Heat Balance, Sky Balance, Primitive Idol
This fight mainly has the Idol using Affinity Break to enable the Balances using elemental attacks. They all have Endure, and when any of them trigger, Diarahan is used; so if you're not careful, the battle will be prolonged with multiple heals. Since the Balances will mix in debuffs to stall, try to end the fight quickly by exploiting their weaknesses & fairly low HP (Idol has 7000 HP, Balances have 5000 HP), and using One More to prevent heals after an Endure.
*Earrings of Grit from treasure chest after this boss

Boss Fight 3 - El Dorado Beast, Amorous Snake
The trick to this fight is that whenever Amorous Snake's HP gets low, it will use Life Drain on El Dorado Beast to remove 2,000 HP. Take advantage of this, alongside using Affinity Break skills, to get the beast low (Armageddon to make this fight quick and easy).

Boss Fight 4 - Brilliant Cyclops, Change Relic
The Brilliant Cyclops mainly uses ice attacks, follows up One Mores with Vile Assault, and can summon more Change Relics (when one of them greives); the Change Relics mainly use (Ma)Kougaon & (Ma)Eigaon. The catch to this fight is that the Relic is extremely weak, but if you kill them all, the Cyclops' attacks will switch to Concentrate & Megidolaon spam. Your goal this fight is to prioritize the Cyclops and avoid using too many AoE attacks.
*Dead Moon's Husk from treasure chest after this boss

Who's this Masked Boy? He seems familiar... Non-Heartless / Heartless Difficulty BGM: Last Surprise / Take Over

Rules of Engagement

I'll be referring to the Masked Boy as Joker (except in headers) henceforth. This fight is similar to Elizabeth's in that Joker imposes a number of rules, and when any are violated, he'll spam his insta-kill Sinful Shell (9999 damage to all) for all future actions.

These are the following restrictions:

• 20 Turn Limit (When Joker's HP falls below 18,000, he skips to Turn 11)
  
• You may not have an active Charge/Concentrate effect on Joker's 1st turn
  
• Aigis may not Null, Drain, or Repel any attacks (Ailments & Instant Death are OK)
  
• No more than 1 party member at a time can Null, Drain, or Repel an attack
  
• The battle must end if you use Armageddon

Heartless difficulty has additional restrictions, making it even tougher:

• Joker is immune to Critical Hits (Cannot be Downed)
  
• Joker gets to act first before your 1st turn
  
• You may only have two active debuffs on Joker at a time (e.g. Attack & Defense, but no Accuracy/Evasion)

Joker has some extra conditions during the Heartless difficulty fight, but they're phase specific, so they'll be discussed in the Attack Pattern breakdown below instead.

Masked Boy Data

Joker has 32,000 HP, acts twice per turn (+1 action per turn when he first falls below 18,000 HP), and cannot be afflicted with any ailments (can be Downed in non-Heartless difficulty).

Persona Affinity Table

Main Skill Usages

Joker Attack Patterns / Phases

Phase 1 (Turns 1 ~ 2)
For these 2 turns, Joker's actions follow this priority list (Dekaja if player has buff, use Heat Riser, Concentrate if Joker used Heat Riser before, Megidolaon for all remaining actions).
Dekaja → Heat Riser → Concentrate → Megidolaon

Phase 2 (Turns 3 ~ 5)
Joker cycles through all 6 elements across 3 turns, with the last turn always being Light & Dark (the one exception is when someone is Frozen, he’ll prioritize a physical skill for a guaranteed crit). In Heartless difficulty, his last turn will always be AoE attacks, and the last action will always be an insta-kill AoE skill.
*If he lands a Weakness Hit, he will use the One More to land another single-target skill of the same element on the Downed character.

Non-Heartless Phase 3 (Turns 6 ~ 7)
Joker uses Dekaja if the player has buffs, else Debilitate.
Turn 1: Dekaja / Debilitate + Down Shot → Cruel Attack
Turn 2: Heat Riser + Megidolaon

Heartless Phase 3 (Turns 6 ~ 7)
Joker applies a restriction on this phase, where after using Sexy Dance, he checks that all living party members must be either Poisoned or Charmed, and at least one of each ailment must be applied. If this is not the case, he will start his Sinful Shell loop.
Turn 1: Stagnant Air + Poison Mist
Turn 2: Sexy Dance* + Megidolaon

Phase 4 (Turns 8 ~ 10)
Joker will use Revolution, then cycle through all 3 physical types across his first 2 turns. His final turn will be Charge into any physical type.
*If he lands a Critical Hit, he'll use the One More on Heat Riser / Charge (Heat Riser if not buffed, else Charge).

Phase 5 (Turns 11 ~ 12)
*If Joker's HP falls below 18,000 before turn 11, he'll skip to Phase 5 & set his turn count to 11. This means you can avoid the no Charge/Concentrate on turn 1 penalty if you deal enough damage.

**Heartless Difficulty Only: If Joker's HP falls below 16,000 before he uses Wings of Rebellion, he will use Diarahan as his 2nd action instead.

Joker always starts with Will of Rebellion to increase his action per turn to 3.
*Skill choice per action will be listed in order of priority (e.g. turn 2 action 1 - prioritize Heat Riser if Joker not fully buffed, Marakunda if player defense not debuffed, Concentrate if Joker doesn't have it...)

Turn 1 Action 1: Will of Rebellion
Turn 1 Action 2: Dekaja / Heat Riser
Turn 1 Action 3: Heat Riser / Marakunda

Turn 2 Action 1: Heat Riser / Marakunda / Concentrate / Megidolaon
Turn 2 Action 2: Concentrate / Megidolaon
Turn 2 Action 3: Megidolaon

Phase 6 (Turns 13 ~ 14)
This is a mix of Phase 2 & 4, where turn 1 Joker uses Elec/Ice Break (only if your party has a null or resist for that element, else it's that element's AoE), an AoE of that element, then a random physical skill. Turn 2, Joker starts with Tetrakarn, followed by AoE Wind/Fire, and finishes with AoE Light/Dark (One More logic is also the same as past phases).

Non-Heartless Phase 7 (Turns 15 ~ 16)
Very similar to Non-Heartless Phase 3. Turn 1 just adds a Heat Riser, and turn 2 is Heat Riser until fully buffed Megidolaon spam.
Turn 1: Dekaja / Debilitate + Heat Riser + Down Shot → Cruel Attack
Turn 2: Heat Riser until fully buffed, then Megidolaon remaining actions

Heartless Phase 7 (Turns 15 ~ 16)
Joker has a similar restriction to Heartless Phase 3. After Sexy Dance, he will check that each of the following ailments are applied: Confuse, Poison, Fear, Charm. If this is not the case, he will start his Sinful Shell loop.
Turn 1: Stagnant Air + Tentarafoo + Poison Mist
Turn 2: Evil Smile + Sexy Dance* + Megidolaon

Phase 8 (Turns 17 ~ 20)
Repeats Phase 6 & Phase 7
*Heartless Difficulty Only Turn 19: Down Shot → Cruel Attack x3
*Heartless Difficulty Only Turn 20: Sinful Shell spam

Rewards

For defeating Joker, you're given these accessories:

• Omnipotent Orb: Null all except Almighty
  
• Amritite Necklace: Null all ailments

Because there'll be repeating information that is relevant across the different sections related to the Joker fight, this section will cover anything related to equipment, stats, and item grinding.



Extra Notes

• Dead Moon's Husk can found from green chests in Empyrean - 6% drop rate (I found all of mine by save/loading the guaranteed chest on B22 for a few hours)
  
• Fortune Major Arcana for Team Max HP increase
  
• Temperance Major Arcana to boost Theurgy Gauge refill rate (1.3x), since you can't access the Fortune Teller at Club Escapade for her Soul Fortune

Theurgy Unlock Conditions

• Dreamfest: Incubus + Succubus
  
• Shadow Hound: Cu Chulainn + Scathach
  
• Armageddon: Satan + Helel

Aigis Equipment List:
Weapon

• Cannon of Eminence (Magic Ability)
  Empyrean Monad Door

Armor

• Soul of Athena (Null all ailments)
  Nihil White Model + Jaw of Death (Thanatos ♥ Item) + Diamond x10 + Ruby x3
  
• Vest of Heresy (Insta-Heal)
  Judecca Monad Door
  
• Vest of Anguish (Insta-Heal)
  Ptolomea Monad Door

Footwear

• Legs of Heresy (Firm Stance)
  Judecca Monad Door
  
• Legs of Anguish (Reduce magic dmg (med))
  Ptolomea Monad Door

Accessory

• Divine Pillar (Firm Stance)
  Elizabeth Request #59
  
• Enchanted Necklace (Reduce magic dmg (high))
  Judecca Twilight Fragment Treasure Chest

Junpei Equipment List:
Weapon

• Laevateinn (Fire Boost)
  AS Refined Material + Múspell Rock (Surt ♥ Item) + Garnet x10
  
• Dojigiri Yasutsuna (Slash Boost)
  Empyrean B9 - 3 Twilight Fragment Treasure Chest
  
• Sword of Anguish (Slash Boost)
  Ptolomea Monad Door
  
• Masakado's Katana (Apt Pupil)
  Dead Moon's Husk + Emperor's Sake Cup (Masakado ♥ Item) + Gold Quartz x5 + Ruby x5
  
• Sword of Heresy (Apt Pupil)
  Judecca Monad Door

Armor

• Armor of Light (Reduce magic dmg (high))
  Dead Moon's Husk + Savior's Augite (Messiah ♥ Item) + Diamond x10 + Ruby x5
  
• Samue of the Tengu (Anti-Wind Master)
  Quality Nihil Cloth + Amethyst x10 + Emerald x5

Footwear

• Leather Shoe of Eminence (Enduring Soul)
  Empyrean Monad Door
  
• Dragon Boots (Auto Tarukabellion)
  Prime Nihil Cloth + Emerald x3 + Gold Quartz

Accessory

• Agni Bracer (Fire Amp)
  Quality Nihil Ore + Silver Quartz x5 + Garnet x2
  
• Nandaka Bracers (Slash Amp)
  Prime Nihil Ore + Opal x5 + Gold Quartz x2
  
• Slash Bracers (Slash Boost)
  AS Generic Material + Black Quartz x5
  
• Medallion of Heresy (Auto Rebellion)
  Judecca Monad Door
  
• Critical Enhancer (Auto Rebellion)
  Quality Nihil Ore + Soul Sea Droplet (♥ Item) + Onyx x10
  
• Omega Drive (Apt Pupil)
  Gift from Officer Kurosawa (Defeated 640 Shadows & Reached Judecca B24)

Akihiko Equipment List:
Weapon

• Fists of Heresy (Anti-Ice Master)
  Judecca Monad Door
  
• Fists of Treason (Anti-Ice Master)
  Antenora Monad Door

Armor

• Armor of Light (Reduce magic dmg (high))
  Dead Moon's Husk + Savior's Augite (Messiah ♥ Item) + Diamond x10 + Ruby x5

Footwear

• Leather Shoe of Eminence (Enduring Soul)
  Empyrean Monad Door

Accessory

• Earrings of Grit (Endure)
  Monad Chambers Boss Fight #2

Metis Equipment List:
Weapon

• Golden Crusher (Strike Amp)
  Prime Nihil Blade + Garnet x5 + Silver Quartz x3
  
• Celtis (Strike Boost)
  Quality Nihil Blade + Topaz x5 + Onyx x5
  
• Charun's Hammer (Auto Rebellion)
  AS Generic Material + Onyx x5 + Malachite x5

Armor

• Torso of Treason (Strike Boost)
  Antenora Monad Door

Footwear

• Pied of Eminence (Strike Amp)
  Empyrean Monad Door

Accessory

• Ekasha Gada Bracers (Strike Amp)
  Prime Nihil Ore + Gold Quartz x2 + Opal x5
  
• Strike Bracers (Strike Boost)
  AS Generic Material + Black Quartz x5
  
• Medallion of Heresy (Auto Rebellion)
  Judecca Monad Door
  
• Critical Enhancer (Auto Rebellion)
  Quality Nihil Ore + Soul Sea Droplet (♥ Item) + Onyx x10
  
• Omega Drive (Apt Pupil)
  Gift from Officer Kurosawa

Mitsuru Equipment List:
Weapon

• Snow Queen Whip (Ice Amp)
  AS Refined Material + Shadow Lipstick (Skadi ♥ Item) + Diamond x5
  
• Kokuseki Senjin (Magic Ability)
  Dead Moon's Husk + Black Pillar Shard (Alilat ♥ Item) + Gold Quartz x5 + Ruby x5

Armor

• Armor of Light (Reduce magic dmg (high))
  Dead Moon's Husk + Savior's Augite (Messiah ♥ Item) + Diamond x10 + Ruby x5

Footwear

• Leather Shoe of Eminence (Enduring Soul)
  Empyrean Monad Door

Accessory

• Varna Bracers (Ice Amp)
  Quality Nihil Ore + Silver Quartz x5 + Garnet x2
  
• Divine Pillar (Firm Stance)
  Elizabeth Request #59

With a decent amount of prep for Hard, Normal, Easy, or Peaceful difficulty, Joker can be easily defeated on your first turn so that you never have to deal with his shenanigans covered in the introduction. This section will explain the idea behind this strategy, and provide Persona builds + equipment guidelines. You're also expected to have done all of the hangout events to have everyone's enhanced Combat Characteristics (the key items for unlocking these can be found through opening the locked Twilight Fragment chests on boss floors).

Aigis Build Preparations
The P5R Persona Set 1 DLC is not required, but as mentioned previously in the Elizabeth Fast Clear section, it's absolutely broken because you gain access to Affinity Drivers — passive skills that increase the damage of their respective affinity by 75%, which also stacks with Amp (50%) and Boost (25%). For your main Persona this fight, you'll want a Shadow Hound Theurgy (Cu Chulainn + Scathach) enabler, so if you own the DLC, this'll be Milady (with max St & Ma for damage, and max Lu for crit chance), else just anyone with the skills listed below is fine.

Milady / Alternate Skill List

• Pierce Driver (DLC Only)
  
• Pierce Amp
  
• Pierce Boost
  
• Single-Target Boost
  
• Shift Amp
  
• Shift Boost
  
• Apt Pupil
  
• Crit Rate Amp

Opener Buff/Debuff Persona Skill List

• Auto Matarukaja
  
• Auto Masukukaja
  
• Auto Rebellion
  
• Debilitate / (Ma)Rakunda

As for equipment, you have a lot of flexibility on what to use because you're choosing based on their passive bonus. None of your equipment stats (weapon damage, defense, evasion) will affect your Persona / Theurgy damage output. In terms of what passives to use, Aigis pretty much has none to note because they're already listed for your Persona, but if you have any equipment with those same passives, you can omit them when building the Persona.

For the rest of your party members, they'll have a list of recommended equipment passives based on what's possible. They may or may not be necessary depending on your damage output.

Metis Build Preparations
To minimize the grind, you just want Psyche to have max St (ideally also max Ma for more damage, and Lu for crit chance). Her Persona doesn't learn any Theurgy buffing passives, so I'll only be mentioning equipment passives, which you want on her to compensate for the lack of passive skills.

• Strike Amp (Golden Crusher / Pied of Eminence / Ekasha Gada Bracers)
  
• Strike Boost (Celtis / Torso of Treason / Strike Bracers)
  
• Auto Rebellion / Auto Tarukabellion (Charun's Hammer / Medallion of Heresy / Critical Enhancer)
  
• Apt Pupil (Omega Drive)

Junpei Build Preparations
Similar to Metis' Persona, you want max St (and Ma for more damage, Lu for crit chance) on Trismegistus. None of the passives his Persona learns will be used for this, so I'll only talk about equipment passives.

• Slash Amp (Nandaka Bracers)
  
• Slash Boost (Dojigiri Yasutsuna / Sword of Anguish / Slash Bracers)
  
• Auto Rebellion / Auto Tarukabellion (Medallion of Heresy / Dragon Boots / Critical Enhancer)
  
• Apt Pupil (Masakado's Katana / Omega Drive / Sword of Heresy)

Akihiko Build Preparations
For Akihiko, you just want to max out his Ma (and St for damage) on Caesar.

Caesar Skill List

• Elec Amp
  
• Elec Boost

1 Turn Kill

Make sure to organize your party so that the battle order is: Aigis → Metis → Akihiko/Junpei (final 2 doesn't matter), and remember to prefill everyone's Theurgy Gauge.

Open with Fụuka's Theurgy for a team-wide Charge/Concentrate (can avoid this RNG if you get the right Cups card in Shuffle Time, or give everyone Auto Charge/Concentrate accessories), and follow it up with Debilitate/(Ma)Rakunda on Joker. On Metis' turn, use Charging Blitz Theurgy and hope for a crit (Downed enemies also take 1.25x damage). Shift back to Aigis with the One More, and swap to her Theurgy Enabler Persona to use Shadow Hound Theurgy. Akihiko will use Electric Onslaught Theurgy, and Junpei will use Hack n' Blast Theurgy. Depending on the difficulty level, you may not need all the physical attacks to crit, so play this out and see how it goes.

Here's a video showcasing this with & without DLC across multiple difficulties (also the first person to upload this strategy, to my knowledge).

Bonus: Infinite Turn Kill (Peaceful Difficulty)

As an extra tidbit, I figured I'd mention that you can infinitely revive on Peaceful difficulty. So even if you fail to kill Joker within 20 turns (or break a rule), as long as you have an Almighty skill, or at least one Affinity Break skill (e.g. Ice Break, Elec Break...), you can continue to chip away at Joker's HP even while he spams Sinful Shell on Satanael. It's a very amusing, albeit tedious, way to defeat him.

Since Joker gets to act first and is immune to critical hits on Heartless difficulty, the strategies for Non-Heartless difficulties cannot be used. If you're looking for a speedy 5 turn defeat on the hardest difficulty, you'll need to grind a ton (15+ hours) to be able to dish out max damage and endure his attacks; so in many ways, dealing with him using the full fight strategy might save you time.

There are technically two 4 Turn Kill strategies (using Mitsuru or Ken), but I won't be discussing them in detail because both involve damage variances and AI attack pattern RNG that further reduce your chances of success. Even with the DLC setup, which has the best odds thanks to Dark Driver, the clear rate still gets cut down to about 8% with Mitsuru, and under 1% for Ken (Mitsuru has better odds because of her higher damage output) due to the factors needed to refill the party's Theurgies in time. For the purpose of reliability, it's better to discuss the 5 Turn Kill setup since the general approach remains the same.

The goal behind this fast clear is to maximize everyone's damage through their Theurgies such that Joker takes a combined damage of barely under 14,000 HP, and then refill everyone's Theurgies ASAP for another round of simultaneous attacks to prevent Joker from even using Will of Rebellion (Joker follows up with Dekaja and Heat Riser during that phase, and you want to avoid wasting a turn reapplying buffs & debuffs).

Weapon
- Cannon of Eminence (Magic Ability)
Armor
- Vest of Heresy / Anguish (Insta-Heal)
Footwear
- Legs of Heresy (Firm Stance)
- Legs of Anguish (Reduce magic dmg (med))
Accessory
- Enchanted Necklace (Reduce magic dmg (high))
- Divine Pillar (Firm Stance)

Weapon
- Laevateinn (Fire Boost)
Armor
- Armor of Light (Reduce magic dmg (high))
- Samue of the Tengu (Anti-Wind Master)
Footwear
- Leather Shoe of Eminence (Enduring Soul)
Accessory
- Agni Bracer (Fire Amp)

Weapon
- Fists of Heresy / Treason (Anti-Ice Master)
Armor
- Armor of Light (Reduce magic dmg (high))
Footwear
- Leather Shoe of Eminence (Enduring Soul)
Accessory
- Earrings of Grit (Endure)

Weapon
- Kokuseki Senjin (Magic Ability)
Armor
- Armor of Light (Reduce magic dmg (high))
- Emergency Vest (Anti-Fire Master)
Footwear
- Leather Shoe of Eminence (Enduring Soul)
Accessory
- Varna Bracers (Ice Amp)

Aigis Persona Setup
*See Elizabeth (Introduction) section for how to get Magic Mastery

Party Member Persona Setup

To guarantee everyone's survivability, you'll want to max out everyone's HP. This can be done by continuously grinding the Normal Difficulty Monad Door (middle door) until the Fortune Major Arcana appears during Shuffle Time. Grabbing that card increases the Max HP of everyone currently in your party. Once acquired, head back to the dorm and refresh the Abyss of Time to reset your Major Arcana slots. Rinse and repeat until everyone hits the 999 HP cap.

You can technically attempt the fight once your entire party is in the 800+ HP range, but it comes with some risks that lower your clear chances - if Joker's damage variance falls in the upper range, or something like turn 3 Ice Age Freeze on Junpei happens, someone is guaranteed to die. So while non-max HP is an option, keep in mind the downsides.

• 4 Homunculus
  
• 2 Fierce Sutra / Matarukaja Potato (Team Str Up)

5 Turn Kill Steps

The main RNG for this fight is getting Fụuka to give everyone Concentrate buffs twice in a row (getting Joker to use Wild Thunder → Ice Age on turn 2 helps too depending on your party's armor choices; if he uses Ice Age first, you're likely to have 1 or more party members frozen, causing Joker to use an AoE physical attack and deal a ton of damage on his second action, followed by a One More on whoever is Downed).

Make sure to have the Temperance Major Arcana, and halve everyone's SP before starting the fight to boost everyone's Theurgy Gauge refill rate. This is required, or you won't have Theurgy ready in time.

The funny thing about the Monad Chambers is that it's a glorified Monad Door, so you're allowed to use Fụuka's Sylphid Aura before starting Joker's fight to open with Marakukaja & Masukukaja (no need for an Auto Buff Persona). This helps speed up retries a little because you won't need to switch Persona on turn 1. Be sure to utilize this trick, or equip a Persona with Auto Mataru, Auto Maraku, or Auto Masuku, to make Joker waste his first action on Dekaja.

Lastly, if you need to reset a run, pop a Tetrakarn/Makarakarn to trigger Joker's insta-kill.

This full fight section will only cover Heartless difficulty because it's a much more challenging fight that forces you to play at a slower pace thanks to Joker's added restrictions. The 1 Turn Kill setup for Hard difficulty & below should prepare most players to handle the lower difficulty fights - abuse Critical Hits for One Mores, and throw out another round of Theurgies.

With some luck, you can tackle Heartless difficulty Joker using a standard approach with just proper equipment and enough incense for your own Persona stats, though raising your party members' St and Ma will still help thanks to the increased damage. The main benefit is not needing to grind Shuffle Time to boost your party's HP because you'll be utilizing Guard to survive deadly attacks. For the best odds, grab the Temperance Major Arcana from Shuffle Time, and lower your party's SP (except your own) to just under 50% because these factors significantly speed up their Theurgy refill.

Lastly, if you're wondering why the party selection is comprised of Junpei, Akihiko, and Mitsuru for Heartless difficulty, that's because these 3 have the highest damage potential (when crits are excluded) of the entire cast when they're using the optimal equipment passives to boost their Theurgy damage.

Aigis Equipment
Weapon
- Cannon of Eminence (Magic Ability)
Armor
- Soul of Athena (Null all ailments)
- Vest of Heresy / Anguish (Insta-Heal)
Footwear
- Legs of Anguish (Reduce magic dmg (med))
Accessory
- Doesn't matter, I had Ring of Eminence (Regenerate 3 / Invigorate 3), effectively empty slot

Junpei Equipment
Weapon
- Laevateinn (Fire Boost)
Armor
- Armor of Light (Reduce magic dmg (high))
Footwear
- Leather Shoe of Eminence (Enduring Soul)
Accessory
- Agni Bracer (Fire Amp)

Akihiko Equipment
Weapon
- Fists of Heresy / Treason (Anti-Ice Master)
Armor
- Armor of Light (Reduce magic dmg (high))
Footwear
- Leather Shoe of Eminence (Enduring Soul)
Accessory
- Earrings of Grit (Endure)

Mitsuru Equipment
Weapon
- Snow Queen Whip (Ice Amp)
Armor
- Armor of Light (Reduce magic dmg (high))
Footwear
- Leather Shoe of Eminence (Enduring Soul)
Accessory
- Divine Pillar (Firm Stance)

Aigis Persona List (No DLCs)

Party Member Skill List

• 1 Bead Chain
  
• 2 Bead Chain EX
  
• 7 Homunculus
  
• 4 Fierce Sutra / Matarukaja Potato (Team Str Up)
  
• 1 Depleting Sutra (All Enemy Str Down)
  
• 1 Protection Sutra (Team Def Up)
  
• 1 Debilitator Sutra (1 Enemy All Stat Down)

*Should be able to swap Mitsuru for Metis/Ken but you may need to adjust turn actions.

Some adaptation is necessary during turns 3-4 and turns 9-10 because Joker can switch his skill usage, and you need to account for status ailments (Shock, Freeze, Dizzy).

The funny thing about the Monad Chambers is that it's a glorified Monad Door, so you can use Fụuka's Sylphid Aura before starting Joker's fight to have Marakukaja & Masukukaja (no need for Auto Buff Persona). This helps speed up retries because you won't need to switch Persona on turn 1. Be sure to utilize this trick, or have an Auto Buff Persona, so Joker wastes his first action on Dekaja.

Lastly, if you ever need to reset a run, use a Tetrakarn/Makarakarn to trigger Joker's Sinful Shell.

I hope you all find this information helpful in some way. Please let me know if you notice any mistakes, have any questions, or just want to suggest information that you would like to see added. Thanks!



Check out a few other guides I've made for Persona 3 Reload:
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3152126713 https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3152126765 https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3152126470