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Everything you’ve done inPersona 3 Reloadhas been leading to this, the Promised Day, the final battle against Nyx for the fate of the world. Ryoji gave your group the choice on how to approach the Fall, and choosing to fight brings you to the ultimate battle with Nyx.
As the final battle in the game, though, Nyx presents quite a unique challenge – he’s able to routinely change his arcana and will do so more than a dozen times throughout the battle, each coming with a new set of affinities. Here’s how to defeat Nyx in Persona 3 Reload.
As the final battle of the game, while we try to stick to the gameplay, this guide contains major end-game spoilers for Persona 3 Reload.
Nyx Changes Affinities With Each Arcana Change
Before heading into the final battle, you’ll have one last chance to heal andchange the partyyou’re using, so make anylast-minute decisionsbefore heading upstairs.
You’ve spent the entirety of Persona 3 Reload building up to the battle with Nyx, unknowingly learning a bit about the monster you’ll be facing on1/31as you handle the parts of its whole, sinceNyx changes affinities a dozen timesthroughout the fight to encompass each of the arcana Shadows you’ve dealt with so far.
Because of this, the battle with Nyx has a whopping14 total stages, so be sure tosave the game beforehand, as this fight can take upwards of an hour to complete even when facing him with a high level.
If your protagonist is KO’d at any point and you’re not wearing a revival accessory, you’ll need to start the entire fight over again from the first phase.
After you’ve depleted his HP, you’ll see a short cutscene asNyx theatrically changes its Arcana before each new phase of the battle. When you begin fighting again, you’ll need to immediately be wary of the new affinities, as not only canNyx’s strengths and weaknesses changewith each swap, but so willhis battle abilities.
Nyx begins tostack additional battle perksas the fight goes on, forcing you to deal with things like its feathers and status ailments if you hope to take him out.
Party Recommendation
Given the nature of the fight, there’sno one party setup that works better than others. Nyx is the toughest enemy you’ll face in Persona 3 Reload, so your best bet is tobring your strongest teammatesto the fight.
It’s helpful to spend some time training in the Adamah block of Tartarus ahead of the Promised Day, as certain roles (like healer) are pretty hard to swap without much notice, as your alternates may be underleveled.
We brought Yukari, Akihiko, and Mitsuru with us, as they were our strongest teammates, but with so many affinities coming your way in this fight, it may be best tobring a healer and your two strongest attackersfor this fight.
Complete Nyx Battle Guide
In the tables below, we’ve kept track ofeach time Nyx changes arcana, which, in turn, changes his affinities. You’ll need toconsistently change your battle strategyto keep up with these changes, and we’ve provided tips for each phase of the fight as well.
For each phase of the battle, you’ll need tocompletely drain Nyx’s HP in that stagebefore he changes arcana to usher in the next of the 14 phases of the fight.
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Given your level by the time you take on the final boss, you may not spend too long with Arcana Fool, but this serves as an introduction to how the arcana swap works. Nyx will use a move calledXXto change affinities, and this is the only move this phase seems to know.
The first two phases of the battle with Nyx in P3R are fairly similar, with Nyx easing you into his affinity change with an easy jump fromnullifying Fire magic in the first roundto then immediatelynullifying Ice magic in the second.
These stages are fairly easy, and Nyx tends to use attacks of the elements he nullifies during each phase, splashing in Almighty attacks that you can’t block from time to time.
Much like when you fought the two Emperor and Empress Shadows in Tartarus when you rescued Fuuka and recruited her to the team,Arcana Empress and Emperor resist magic and physicalattacks, respectively.
The solution to these two stages of the battle are also fairly simple -use physical attacks when Nyx is strong against magic, before flipping your script andusing magic attacks when it resists physical damage.
As soon as Nyx changes to Arcana Hierophant, itsfeathers begin to floatin the air around the battle. Because of this, your team will spend the rest of the fightmore susceptible to status ailments. This is when it helps to have your healer with status-curing moves likeAmrita Drop and Amrita Showerto help cure these quickly so your team can fight most effectively.
Items have an identical effect on curing status ailments, if you opted for a more offense-heavy team for the Nyx battle.
Like the Hierophant and Lovers boss Shadows back in July, you’ll spend almost as much time healing from status ailments to maximize your efficiency almost as much as you’ll use offensive skills, so come prepared to heal.
Null
These two stages of the battle against Nyx operate similarly to Arcana Emperor and Empress, except instead of being resistant to physical skills in one stage and magic attacks in another, Nyx nownullifies physical and magicdamage in these stages respectively.
Though you can technically use break skills to allow your teammates to use magic damage on Nyx during the Arcana Justice phase, it’s better to save time and SP by focusing on HP-based physical damage instead here.
Be careful of Shock during this stage of the fight, especially with your ailment susceptibility still raised with Nyx’s feathers floating. Having your protagonist use a Persona that resists or nullifies Electric damage can keep you safe from Shock during this stage.
This stage is, again, like the Strength and Fortune Full Moon battle from back in October, but thankfully, Nyx is only one Shadow. The bad part is that these are among is stronger forms, with the ability todrain and repel several types of attacksduring each phase.
More than ever as you round into the final stretch of the fight, it’s imperative to be mindful of Nyx’s affinities, as the last thing you want is to accidentally heal the boss Shadow - you’re already fending off enough status ailments that might make teammates do that, anyway.
Repel
Though you don’t need to contend with any angel statues during this phase of the final battle with Nyx in P3R, the return ofGrim Transcendencegiving Nyx more actions on his turn can easily wipe out the team if you’re under-prepared for this stage, so be sure to heal before KOing Nyx as Arcana Strength.
This time, instead of wasting time with status ailments, Nyx uses these turns todeal offensive damageandfocus to build its next moveinto something more powerful.
The final Arcana you’ll need to handle is Nyx’s true form: Arcana Death, whose powers far outshine those of each form before it.Death is the strongest of the Arcana, so be sure to head into this stage with as much HP as possible.Arcana Death has no strengths or weaknesses.
During this stage, Nyx will hurl everything he’s got at you, using hismost powerful attacks, both offensiveanddefensively. Among the more irritating of these are:
The Universe
Once you’ve dealt the final blow to the Death arcana, the fight against Nyx is all but over. From here, sit back and watch as your protagonist embodies the Universe arcana and deals the finishing blow to Nyx himself.
After you’ve left Tartarus and dispelled the Dark Hour, congratulations - there’s still the ending cinematics to watch, but you’ve effectivelybeaten Persona 3 Reload!
