The true ending of Persona 3 Reload is possibly the easiest one to reach out of the franchise. All you have to do is allow Ryoji to live on the last day of December and then fight your way to the top of Tartarus on the last day of January.
However, while the true ending conditions are easy to achieve, the fight against the Nyx Avatar is far from simple. The boss fight is a 14-part endurance run, and you'll have to deal with all the special attacks you encountered during the Arcana boss fights. Because of this, even a well-prepared party in Persona 3 Reload will need time and effort to beat Nyx.
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How to Beat Nyx in Persona 3 Reload
The Arcana Shift Gauntlet
When you start the fight against the Nyx Avatar, they belong to the Fool Arcana. You only have to deal a relatively small amount of damage for them to use Arcana Shift and become the Magician Arcana.
Arcana Shifts happen on the turn of the character who reduces Nyx's HP to 1, and Nyx can shift multiple times before their actual turn.
Most of Nyx's Arcana forms have 1,500 HP, with the Fool and Fortune forms being exceptions. Nyx will slowly climb through the Arcana in order, and the climb ends when they reach their true Arcana, Death. Each new form resets its buff and debuff status, so you're better off buffing the party and not trying to debuff Nyx. Each form also comes with its own set of elemental affinities and special attacks.
Number | Arcana | Affinities | Special Attacks |
|---|---|---|---|
0 | Fool | None | None |
1 | Magician | Null Fire | Fire skills |
2 | Priestess | Null Ice | Ice skills |
3 | Empress | Resists All Magical | Wind skills |
4 | Emperor | Resists All Physical | Gains access to Sweep and Sunder (Slash) |
5 | Hierophant | Repels Light, Nulls Dark | Doomsday Doctrine (Fear), Mudoon, Ailment Susceptibility Increases |
6 | Lovers | Resists Pierce, Electric, Nulls Fire | Sexy Dance (Charm), Heartbreaker |
7 | Chariot | Nulls All Physical | Physical skills |
8 | Justice | Nulls All Magical | Light skills |
9 | Hermit | Resists Pierce, Nulls Electric, Wind, Dark | Electric skills |
10 | Fortune | Drains Fire, Ice, Wind, Light, but only 800 HP | Severe-level Magical skills |
11 | Strength | Resists Slash and Pierce, Repels Strike | Mobius Rondo |
12 | Hanged Man | Resists Strike, Nulls Fire, Repels Dark | Grim Transcendence, Charge, Concentrate, God's Hand, Megidolaon |
13 | Death | None | See below |
Facing Death
In their final form, the Nyx Avatar has no elemental affinities and 7,000 HP. Under the hood, Nyx also gains more points in every stat, including +30 to Endurance. That means those 7,000 HP will last longer since you can't deal as much damage. On the bright side, you can now freely use skills like Debilitate since Nyx won't be shifting forms any longer, plus even in this phase Nyx only attacks once per turn.
As Death, Nyx has access to several skills they gained from previous Arcana forms, including:
- Sweep
- Sunder
- Tera Spark
- Mobius Rondo
- Megidolaon
- Heat Riser
- Grim Transcendence
Nyx's Death form also has two new skills, one of which it'll use on its first turn. They are Apocalypse, which reduces every party member's HP to one percent of their total, and Night Queen, which deals a large amount of Almighty damage and has a high chance of inflicting a random status ailment.
Keep in mind that the status ailment boost introduced during the Hierophant phase is still in effect.
Fortunately, there's a way to end this phase of the fight with a single move. Players who have completed the Persona Compendium (or at least gotten close to it) should have access to their own world-ending skill: the Fusion Spell Armaggedon.
8,000 is a lot of HP, but Armageddon deals 9,999 unblockable Almighty damage, even to Nyx. So, while you should stick with the Fusion Spell Trickery during the Arcana gauntlet, since HP damage doesn't carry over between forms, Armageddon will let you end Death instantly.
There's more fighting after you beat the Nyx Avatar, but this is less of a battle and more of a cutscene that uses game mechanics. Enjoy your victory over Death, because you've earned it.
Persona 3 Reload
- Franchise
- Persona
- Platform(s)
- PC , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , Xbox One , PS4 , PS5
- Developer(s)
- P-Studio
- Publisher(s)
- Atlus
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence
