The Emperor and Empress set the stage by forcing you to face both enemies at once, and Persona 3 Reload continues the trend with the next bosses: the Hierophant and the Lovers. But while the imperial pair were part of the same fight, you will have to face the next two Arcana bosses one at a time.
On 7/7 of the Persona 3 Royal calendar, the two Shadows will appear in a love hotel. To start things off, all you have to do is follow Fuuka's instructions by going up to the third floor and entering the room with the big door. The boss fight will start the moment you walk through.
Persona 3 Reload: Best Early-Game Armor For The First Four Party Members, Ranked
In Persona 3 Reload, the SEES's characters need protection if they want to survive Tartarus. Along with weapons, they need the best early-game armor.
How to Beat the Hierophant
Both of the love hotel bosses inflict status ailments as their main gimmick. For the Hierophant, the ailment is Fear. A party member affected by Fear will sometimes refuse to act, and they have a chance of fleeing the fight if fleeing is possible. The Hierophant has a chance of hitting everyone in the party with Fear with the skill Doomsday Doctrine (known as Prophecy of Ruin in the original), and when it uses Assault Dive, it has a better chance of landing a Critical blow on a Feared character. It can also use Makouga, which is an Almighty attack that hits the whole party.
On the bright side, the Hierophant has no special strengths or weaknesses. It's immune to the Light and Dark elements, but that's normal for bosses. The biggest problem with defeating it is its giant pile of hit points, but if you bring Mitsuru, you can use her Rakunda ability to lower its Defense. Physical attacks are also helpful, since the Hierophant is vulnerable to Critical blows. Finally, you can use Theurgy attacks to deal big damage, but keep Fuuka's Oracle ability in reserve for the Lovers boss.
Persona 3 Reload: How Does Theurgy Work?
Theurgy is a new mechanic for Persona 3 Reload, and the way it works is a little different for each character.
Between Bosses: Mirrors and Mind Control
There are several ways to encounter bad endings in Persona 3 Reload, but the sequence between the two 7/7 bosses isn't one of them. Despite the seemingly high stakes, there's no real way to screw this part up.
First, try to leave the Hierophant's room by the front door. When that fails, interact with the mirror. After a cutscene, the Lovers will attempt to control the protagonist's mind. You can choose between resisting, giving in, or being apathetic. Resisting is the way forward: if you choose the other options, the dialog will loop around and force you to choose again.
Once you have control again, head upstairs to reunite with the rest of the party. Fuuka will explain that you need to find a mirror, so check the two rooms marked by an exclamation point in the minimap. To save some time, check the room in the center first. After listening to all the conversation, break the mirror that does not reflect your party. Don't forget to check the yellow glint for items while you're on this floor.
Next, head up to the third floor and check the rooms for another strange mirror. The one you're looking for is in room 304. Breaking the wrong mirror will reset you back to the stairs but do nothing else, so don't worry too much about messing up.
With the mirror broken, return to the Hierophant's room to face the Lovers. Remember to take a moment to restore everyone's HP before heading in, and equip Charm-resist items if you have them.
Persona 3 Reload: How to Fuse Weapons
Fusing a weapon with rare materials is a great way to increase its power in Persona 3 Reload. Here's what the process entails.
How to Beat the Lovers
The Lovers boss is similar to the Hierophant, but everything is harder. It has more HP, more resistances, and a better version of the status ailment gimmick. Specifically, it resists Piercing and Electricity damage, and it nullifies Fire. On the bright side, you can still knock it down with a Critical.
On its first turn, the Lovers will always use a Holy Arrow on a party member. This attack will always be a Critical that inflicts Charm. The Lovers will then follow up with Heartbreaker, an attack that hits every character, but hits twice as hard when the target is Charmed. This is to demonstrate the Lovers' gimmick. Heartbreaker will almost certainly slay the Charmed target unless they have a Defense buff, so it's a good idea to activate Oracle during the first round if possible.
Lovers can also use Marin Karin to target a single person with Charm, or use Sexy Dance to target everyone. Once its hit points drop low enough, it will cast Diarama to restore 1,500 HP. It can only do so once, so just think of it as secretly having a longer health bar. Its last special ability is Seductive Breath, which will raise ailment susceptibility for the rest of the fight.
You can defeat the Lovers using the same tactics that worked on the Hierophant. Focus on Physical attacks to get Critical hits (aside from Piercing attacks), use Theurgy when you can, and keep debuffing its Defense with Rakunda. You may be surprised by how fast you can tear through its HP once you combine the right skills and items.
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
