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Though returning players are familiar with the towering labyrinth, newcomers toPersona 3 Reloadwho approach the game expecting traditional dungeons are in for a surprise. Instead of individual Palaces like Persona 5, you’ll instead be headed into Tartarus, one dungeon that takes the whole game to finish.
Broken into several different blocks and thematically different throughout, Tartarus is your one-stop dungeon in P3R that sees you battling progressively tougher shadows, discovering better loot, and unraveling the mystery behind Tartarus a little further with every floor you climb. Our guide has some helpful tips to help you out in Tartarus.
Though we aim to be as spoiler-free as we can in our overview guides, this Tartarus guide may contain spoilers for the progression of Persona 3 Reload.
What Is Tartarus?
Though more recent Persona games have dedicated dungeons for each chapter of the game’s story, in Persona 3 Reload, you’ll instead havea single dungeonthroughout the entire game. This isTartarus, which is only accessible during theDark Hourwhen it rises fromGekkoukan High. To get here,use the bulletin board in the dorm lobbyorspeak to your navigation teammate.
It’sMitsuru Kirijowhen the game begins, but this changes later on in the game whenFuuka Yamagishijoins the team - whoever your active navigator is can bring you to Tartarus if you speak to her.
When you first begin playing Persona 3 Reload, you’llautomatically be brought to Tartarus on 4/20for an introductory mission, where you’ll only explore the first floor. Past this, you’ll need tomanually choose to go to Tartarus that night, which will consume your Evening time slot and load directly into Tartarus during the Dark Hour so you can get started.
The dungeon is broken intoseveral different blocks, each of which spansmultiple floorsbefore you reach a temporary blockade at aborder floor. These borders are to keep you from pressing on too far too soon, as plenty of what happens as you climb Tartarus is tied intrinsically tostory progression.
In general, you should aim tocomplete a block of Tartarus per Full Moon- it keeps you on track to complete the tower by the end of the story, where the final floor is the scene for important end-game content, and puts you around the right level for Full Moon boss fights.
Most Of Tartarus Is Randomly Generated
You’ll find yourself doubling back to re-explore blocks of Tartarus, whether it’s for training, looting, orCompendium completion, but when you get there,the layout of most floors changes between visits.
In all, your goal on each floor is to defeat the Shadows here, loot treasure chests of various types (all of which offer different kinds of powerful rewards), and ultimatelyfind the stairs that lead to the next floorso that you can continue to climb the tower.
Once you’vecompletely mapped a floorfor that night, you’ll be able tofast-travel to the next floorof Tartarus, provided you already found the stairs. If you head back down to the entrance and go back up again, any floor you’ve already mapped still will be until you leave for the night.
Once Fuuka joins the team, she’ll be able to slowly but surely provide maps of Tartarus, allowing you to occasionally shortcut directly to the next floor or back to the entrance if needed.
What Resets Every Night In Tartarus?
The Layout
Unless it’s a floor with a stationary teleporter or a border floor, the layout of every other floor of the block will be completely different than it was the last time you visited and, as such, will need to be mapped out again.
Shadows
Each block has a range of Shadows that can appear between set floors, but the locations of each Shadow and which Personas spawn into each fight on which floor are randomized.
Arcana Burst
You’ll trigger an arcana burst after selecting enough Major Arcana cards each night, but the burst resets once you leave Tartarus,
Treasure Chests
Some floors will feature rarer treasure chests, and these will appear on different floors each night. You’ll see a short cutscene each time you enter a floor with a rare chest and hear commentary from your navigator to ensure you don’t miss it.
Breakable Objects
The mineral deposit remains of the Shadows that emerge from the floor sometimes in Tararus and offer different items on each block reset every night, meaning you’re able to always break them to get free items.
Teleporters
Certain teleporters only bring you back to the start, and the location will change as you leave Tartarus and come back.
Teleporters Can Bring You Between Floors, But Some Only Work One Way
Throughout your climb up through Tartarus in Persona 3 Reload, you’ll find ateleporter- typically every couple of floors, butalways on floors with Gatekeeper mini-boss fightsto allow you periodic starting points for later adventures through Tartarus.
There are two different kinds of teleporters in Persona 3 Reload:
Assemble Your Team, Visit The Velvet Room, Heal The Party, And More At The Entrance
When you first go to Tartarus each night, unsurprisingly, you’ll begin from thelarge, open entranceof Tartarus, which includes several things you’ll need to keep in mind to help as you push up the tower.
Clocks like the one at the entrance now randomly spawn on other floors of Tartarus, in addition to the one that’s always available to the left of the stairs to the first floor of Tartarus. They’ll typically be found pretty high up in a block, after you’ve explored a bit.
Provided youhave enough Twilight Fragmentsto use the clocks as you find them, you can fully heal your team without returning to the entrance, which can be just the push the team needs to finish your exploration goals for the night.
Climb The Floors Of Tartarus Between Full Moons
Though your only deadlines set in stone are the dates of the Full Moons and the final battleagainst Nyx, you’llprogress up into Tartarus throughout Persona 3 Reloadto keep making steady progress through the tower.
There aresix blocks of Tartarustotal, which are:
What’s The Difference Between Types Of Treasure Chests?
As you explore Tartarus, you’ll come acrossfour different kinds of treasure chestsdotted around sporadically in the ever-changing layout of the dungeon.
With the changing nature of Tartarus, only the chests on the Gatekeeper floors remain after you’ve left Tartarus for the night. This, though, can be helpful if you’ve defeated a Gatekeeper but didn’t have enough Twilight Fragments on you after the fight.
As such, you’ll need tograb chests as you find themon the map, though you may need to leave some Twilight Fragment chests behind if you don’t currently have enough on the night you find them.
Your teammates remark when a treasure chest is nearby, and you’ll receive special commentary about Rare or Twilight Fragment chests, so they’re pretty tough to miss provided you’ve explored the entire floor.
Shuffle Time Offers Unique Rewards
When you win a battle, you stand a chance ofrandomly triggering Shuffle Time, which brings upseveral cards for you to choose fromas an additional prize after the battle.
If you finish a battle with an All-Out Attack, you’re guaranteed to trigger Shuffle Time.
Each of the cards you’ll have to choose from offersa variety of prizes, including things likemoney, Personas, healing, and more. Thenumber on the card and the number of symbolsindicate whichlevel of rewardyou’ll receive, with higher numbers yielding better rewards.
Reward
Persona
If you don’t have this Persona:The Persona on the card joins your stock.
If youdohave this Persona:All Personas of the same arcana as the one shown on the card will receive an EXP boost.
Everyone on the team receivesadditional EXPfor this battle.
Blue Cup
Your team will receive some support benefit, includingHP replenishment or stat boosts
Red Sword
You receive aSkill Card, used to teach Personas moves they may not otherwise have access to learning.
Yellow Coins
Your protagonist receives someyen, ranging from a few hundred to several thousand depending on the card’s level.
Major Arcana
New in Persona 3 Reload,Major Arcana cardshave specific perks per card that offerpowerful boostsfor you and the team.
You won’t always have every option in each draw, though, andyou can only choose one cardwithout using bonuses from the Major Arcana cards, so choose wisely!
Arcana Bursts Power Up Your Shuffle Time Cards For The Night
New in Persona 3 Reload’s Shuffle Time mechanic, though, areArcana Bursts, which offer quite a powerful boost to the Shuffle Time mechanic.
Occasionally, during Shuffle Time, you’ll come across aMajor Arcanatarot cardin the deck of options - they offera unique prizethat changes depending on the cards, but if youcollect a set number of arcana cards available each night, you’ll trigger anArcana Burst.
You can see how many Arcana cards you’ll need to collect each night from the Shuffle Time screen, with an outline of how many Arcana cards you need in the lower-left corner of the screen.
More cards unlock as you progress through the game, specifically after completing differentMonad Passage challenges.
Once you’ve triggered the Arcana Burst by collecting the night’s Major Arcana cards,your Shuffle Time cards are boosted by one level, meaning you’llreceive better Shuffle Time rewards for the rest of the night.
Additionally, you’ll get tochoose one boosted card immediatelyfor an extra reward just for triggering the Arcana Burst (or more, if you’ve already unlocked the Major Arcana perk of picking extra cards).
Though, like the floors of Tartarus,your Arcana Burst resets every night, which means you’ll need to trigger a new one each time you explore Tartarus. This means the Major Arcana cards should be something of a priority whenever you trigger Shuffle Time.
Battle Gatekeepers To Continue Climbing
As you progress through Tartarus, you’ll occasionally encounter aGatekeeper, a decidedly strong Shadow that you’llneed to defeat before you can continue exploringthat block of Tartarus. You’ll findbetween two and six Gatekeepers per block, and you’ll be prevented from continuing until you defeat each one.
These Shadows aremuch stronger than others in that block, and they serve as a kind of litmus test before you move into another section -Shadows change throughout each block, typically right after you’ve handled a Gatekeeper battle. If you’re not strong enough to defeat the Gatekeeper, you’re not ready for what’s past them.
Gatekeepers are typicallyreskins of enemies you’ll battle later as regular Shadows, while the Guardians from P3P reappear as minor Shadows this time around, so don’t be alarmed if you see the same design pop up later on - you’llknowwhen you’re fighting a Gatekeeper.
Unlike normal Shadows, though,Gatekeeper Shadows do not respawn. Once you’ve defeated them, they’re gone for good, and you cansafely use that floor as a teleporterto continue your exploration at a later date.
Before you leave the floor to carry on, though, be sure tocheck the area just past the Gatekeeper for battle rewards, which are typically locked in chests.
Some of these require Twilight Fragments to open, butchests on Gatekeeper floors don’t despawn, meaning you can alwayscome back later when you have enough to open themif you don’t the first time around.
How Long Can You Stay In Tartarus?
Though it may be tempting to lean intothe social aspectsof Persona 3 Reload, it’s best that youdon’t save too much of Tartarus to complete all at once. There isn’t a technical limit stopping you, butsince Tartarus is where you gain EXP, you likelywon’t have much luck with Full Moon boss battles without training.
It’spossible to do a whole block in one night, provided you’ve come with enough HP and SP-replenishing options to keep the team in good shape, though. Make use of the auto-heal function outside of battle to have someone on the team automatically use a bit of SP to replenish the entire team’s HP, to keep everyone in good shape for the fights ahead.
However, there’s no shame in needing touse the teleporters to come and goas you need, with ample options to go heal at the clock or visit the Velvet Room to fuse stronger Personas.
