Persona games have lots of optional bosses that are downright crazy and sometimes nigh impossible to take down on your own. Persona 5 Reaper is one of those additional bosses. He is also the only optional boss to make an appearance in all Persona games since Persona 3.
Reaper is an avatar of death, and his presence is marked by chain clanking sound and lack of music. Experiencing Reaper for the first time is a horrific and bone-chilling experience, to say the least. To tackle this foe, we have a very extensive strategy that will help you defeat Reaper in Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal multiple times with ease.
Where to find Reaper in Persona 5
Persona series has a habit of using Reaper to make you feel despair. This is no different in Persona 5 Royal. Reaper appears in Persona 5 if you laze around for over five minutes on a floor in Mementos (preferably lower blocks).
Reaper can move through doors so it is useless to run away from him while being on the same floor. If you want to avoid this monstrosity, climb a platform or leave the floor altogether. Otherwise, just stay where you are, and he will find you.
Reaper weaknesses and resistances
Reaper is more difficult than any other main story boss in Persona 5 and on par with the bosses of third semester in Persona 5 Royal. He has no weakness to any elemental or physical attacks. You can’t down him for an “All-out” attack. Here is a breakdown of his stats.
- Level: 85
- HP: 5000
- SP: 12000
- STR: 99
- MAG: 80
- END: 80
- LCK: 80
- AGL: 75
With this amount of SP and luck, Reaper never runs out of magic attacks that are sure to land on your party. What makes it worse is that Reaper has two moves per turn making him a pain to deal with. Most of his attacks cause damage of around 300 per party member which is an instant kill on lower levels.
Reaper doesn’t have any elemental weakness. It doesn’t repel, null or drain but due to his massive defense, it absorbs a lot of damage and can drag on the fight if his defenses are not lowered.
At what level should you defeat Reaper in P5 Royal?
As always, we recommend fighting any boss in Persona series near their own level. The ideal level to fight Reaper in P5R is 80 with your persona also around the same level. To level up fast, use the following guidelines.
Expedite ring. Grants 1.5x more XP
Rank 10 Mishima’s link. Every member in the party (even those not active during the fight) gets equal share of XP.
Farming in lower levels of Mementos
If grinding and leveling up is too time-consuming for you, Reaper can be taken down around Level 60+. Though it will be more time-consuming and there will always be a chance of defeat. We don’t recommend fighting this foe below level 60.
How to defeat Persona 5 Reaper boss
A quick and easy exploit to defeat Reaper in Persona 5 is by using the flu-season exploit. Just head to the Mementos during Flu season and you will find Reaper with despair (as any other shadows). He dies automatically after three turns. This has been patched in Persona 5 Royal and Reaper is now immune to flu season.
So if you are playing P5R and want to defeat Reaper the normal way, read on below.
Recommended Party
Reaper uses a lot of powerful attacks that land on all party members. It is important to have a party member who can heal everyone in one turn.
Makoto (learns Mediarahan skill at level 65)
Haru (learns Makarakarn skill at level 44)
Ryuji (with Ring of gluttony accessory to boost defense)
MC (with either Trumpeter or Dionysus personas which can learn Debilitate skill at level 65 and 76 respectively. Dionysus can also use Thermopylae at level 72 which makes it a better choice)
Futaba (social link maxed. She can heal the party, recover SP, swap party members if two members are down and save a party member from insta kill hits)
Strategy for beating the Reaper
Mediarahan, which fully heals all party members, is a must skill for this fight. Reaper can be exploited by using Makarakarn which puts a barrier around a party member to save them from any magical attacks and put Reaper in a vicious loop.
Marakukaja or Vault Guardian skill to boost the defense of your party. Debilitate to lower the stats of Reaper.
And most importantly Thermopylae increases your attacks, defense and agility for three turns in case of an ambush.
Lots and lots of recovery items especially the ones that can revive your party members. In case you mess up something in the beginning.
Reaper has a major flaw in the game. In fact, two. Let it ambush you. Don’t panic. It will not only activate Thermopyle, but for some strange reason, it also decreases the number of turns to 1 for Reaper. This is a flaw in the game you can exploit.
Cast Marakukaja on MC and Reaper will go into tantrum mode. Reaper is extremely good at exploiting the weakness of your party members and can use some devastating attacks if a party member is down. Magic shield via Marakukaja will force reaper to spam Megidolaon which is an almighty attack and hits all party members.
Reaper will attack a single party member in the beginning with Bufudyne (ice attack), Hamaon (light attack), Megidolaon (almighty attack) and Riot gun (gun attack) skills.
He will soon turn to -MA versions of these attacks, and will damage all party members in one hit. Force him into a Mediadolan loop before this happens, or it will turn into a fight for survival.
Megiadolan requires an additional turn to charge (concentrate). With Reaper down to one turn only, you will effectively get 8 single turns (2 per party member) before the next almighty attack arrives.
Heal your party members, restore your SP, cast Debilitate to lower Reaper’s stats, fix your shield if it is down and dish out the most powerful attacks from your arsenal. Rinse and repeat this strategy and your victory is guaranteed.
For levels around 60, you need to brace yourself for the attacks by Reaper. Marakukaja is a must even on lower levels. Keep healing your party members and wait for “Showtime attacks” to appear.
These attacks can do up to 1000 damage even on lower levels. Just hold out for as long as you can and you can defeat the Reaper. Though it will be a daunting task on this level.
Rewards
- Unsurpassed Rebel achievement/trophy
- Minimum 60000 exp points which can go up to 200k+
- Divine pillar accessory. Halves the amount of damage taken but eliminates the evasion of the member. It is one of the best accessories for Morgana.
With this guide, you can take down one of the mightiest foes in all of Persona games and on par with Nyx Avatar from Persona 3 Portable. Reaper can’t be killed so you can farm him repeatedly with divine pillar accessory equipped, in addition to the above recommendations for quick level upgrades.
