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Only one more Full Moon Operation stands between you and your promised goals inPersona 3 Reload, and now that Takaya and Jin have been dealt with, it’s time to push a little further down the Moonlight Bridge and handle the actual threat – Arcana Hanged Man.
But this final Shadow isn’t fighting you alone, depending on a trio of angel statues to fend you off while he floats safely in the air above the battle. By taking out the angel statues, you can send Hanged Man crashing to the ground and lay into him in this P3R boss Shadow battle.
Affinities and Weaknesses
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Attacks and Skills
Heat Riser
Boosts attack, defense, accuracy, and evasion for the Shadow.
The above is for Hanged Man himself only - the statues he’ll summon all have different affinities, so scan them often using Fuuka’s Full Scan ability to sus out what you’ll need to strike.
Hanged Man Battle Guide
The battle against Arcana Hanged Man beginsafter the fight with Takaya and Jinfrom Strega, who tried and failed to stop you from battling the Shadow just past them on the Moonlight Bridge. With them out of the way, it’s time toheal and change your partyif you need to before soldiering onto the main event for the evening.
When you first approach Hanged Man, you’ll see he’s gotthree angel statues in front of him, and Fuuka warns you that youcan’t hit the Hanged Man himselfjust yet - you’ll need to get rid of his minions defending him first.
The trickiest part of this portion of the Hanged Man Full Moon battle is thateach angel has its own affinities. For the first turn in battle,try various damage typesusing your four different combatants to see what might work on the angels. Each one will beweak to one physical damage type and one elemental damage type, while remainingresistant to all others.
Using multi-target attacksis a good way to quickly test all three at once, and it also opens your teammates up for a Shift boost, making this a powerful way to string together attacks.
If you don’t get all three angels on the first try, then after their turn to attack (which may likely tip you off on their weakness, since weaknesses are often elemental),ask Fuuka to scan the angel statues to pinpoint their weaknesses, and then use the following turn to sharp-shoot those weaknesses to either Down or KO all three.
As you defeat each of the angel statues on the ground, you’ll watch as Hanged Man’s restraints begin to snap and loosen. As soon as youdefeat all three angel statues, another cutscenebrings Hanged Man crashing to the ground, which is your opening to strike while he’s in range.
If you’re re-using teammates from the previous battle, theirTheurgy gaugewill be charged much sooner than other teammates, so keep an eye out and save single-target Theurgy attacks for Hanged Man, using multi-target ones on the angels.
Now that Hanged Man himself is within firing range, it’s time to startlaying into the Hanged Man Shadowwith everything you’ve got, keeping in mind that hewon’t take Fire or Dark damage, nor doStrike attackshave much impact, either. Everything outside of these three damage types, though, is fair game, souse your strongest attacks.
If you’re able todebuff Hanged Man on his first turn in battle, take the opportunity to do so. You’ll need to fight the main body itself a few times before it actually goes down, so debuffing it early can shave time off your fight.
One of the biggest things to watch out for with Hanged Man himself is the moveGrim Transcendence, which allows Hanged Man toperform several more actions per turn. He’ll even occasionally use his final extra action to cast Grim Transcendenceagain, restarting the process of additional moves.
When you’re on the final stretch of the fight, when the main body has abouta third of its HP, Hanged Man will call in his big guns -a single large angel statueinstead of three smaller ones. And as the size difference may suggest, she’s capable of some pretty impressive damage, so it’s best toheal if neededwhen she spawns into battle.
This is because this large statue usesAlmighty damage, which is impossible to block - unless your teammates' evasion stats allow them to avoid it by luck alone, Almighty damage isgoingto land. To complicate matters, defensively, the large statue isresistant to all damage types.
If you have a Break skill for someone on the team, now’s the time to use it, especially if your protagonist is also capable of dealing the same type of damage to allow you to double down on the advantage.
Once the large statue falls, the Hanged Man comes down for the final time. Lay into the Hanged Man with everything you have, being sure to heal the party as needed, until he finally falls - at which point, congratulations on defeating your final Full Moon Shadow!
