The Reaper is one of the deadliest enemies in the Persona series and he’s stronger than ever in Persona 5 Royal, but there are some cheese options for those who want to beat it.
The Reaper is a constant, looming threat in modern Persona games. If a player gets a bit too comfortable on a floor of the game’s primary dungeon, the Reaper appears to chase them away. If they make the mistake of fighting it, they’ll very likely die.
This field boss isn’t unbeatable, though. While it’s designed to be more of a “motivator” or an endgame challenge, players can beat it and potentially farm it. Here’s how to find it, how to approach the fight, and what cheese options are available.
The Reaper weaknesses and resistances in Persona 5 Royal
The Reaper does not have any weaknesses or resistances to elemental damage in Persona 5 Royal.
While some of the game’s more challenging enemies have a defined weakness to exploit, this gunslinger doesn’t give Joker and company that luxury. Instead, parties will have to simply chip away at him until he falls.
The good news is that he doesn’t have any resistances, either. This offers players a great deal of freedom when it comes to beating him, and makes it so that he can be beaten through brute force if players just optimize Joker to the maximum.
How to beat the Reaper in Persona 5 Royal
Players can beat the Reaper in Persona 5 Royal by using defensive spells and waging a war of attrition.
Persona 3 Reload lets players nuke down the Reaper in one turn. Persona 5 Royal is not so generous. A straightforward fight with the boss is more manageable in some ways, but there isn’t any sort of defined cheese strategy to beat the Reaper in Persona 5 Royal. Instead, players just need to make sure they’re well-equipped and have a properly optimized party.
First and foremost is making sure that there are sufficient support and status effect spells on hand across the party. Forgettable romance option Haru in particular is valuable for this fight, thanks to her access to a broad variety of valuable support spells including Makarakarn, Heat Riser, and her exclusive Life Wall ability.
Joker should also have access to these skills, as well as Debilitate and buffs for the party. Players should also make sure to have a very powerful persona for Joker with no elemental weaknesses. Maintaining these buffs also requires a significant amount of mana, so saving up SP-restoring items is also wise.
The Reaper is threatening thanks to its bulk and ability to attack any elemental weakness within the party. It’s not a particularly gimmicky fight, but he has the ability to discover the weaknesses of each party member, exploit them, and repeat that process. If there aren’t any weaknesses to exploit and if players have the tools to heal more damage than he can put out, it will eventually translate to a win.
Is there a cheese strategy for the Reaper?
The only cheese strategy for beating the Reaper in Persona 5 Royal is turning the game’s difficulty down to safe mode.
Safe mode will automatically revive the party if they die, guaranteeing that players beat the Reaper eventually. If players proc this mechanic, they won’t get experience or rewards for the win, but it will still yield the Unsurpassed Rebel trophy.
While the original Persona 5 had a very effective cheese option for beating the Reaper during flu season, that’s gone in Royal. Playing in safe mode is the closest thing players have to a cheese strategy, though scoring a legitimate win isn’t all that difficult. It’s just very time-consuming.
