The most brutal boss of Persona 4 Golden isn’t Death; it’s actually the player’s longtime ally Margaret. This Velvet Room receptionist is arguably the coolest, calmest, and most collected character in the franchise, but that doesn’t mean she can’t throw down if needed.
Persona 4 Golden, and the Persona series as a whole, heavily emphasizes its missable content. Players only have a certain amount of time to max out every social link, finish every side mission, and optimize every party member. Even if they do that successfully, there are typically multiple bad endings in each Persona game that see the heroes defeated or potentially become the villains themselves.
This isn’t just limited to story content, though. Some of the Persona games’ most challenging enemies are hidden behind precise requirements. Because of that, it’s worth going over how to fight (and how to beat) Margaret in Persona 4 Golden.
How to Fight Margaret in Persona 4 Golden
The player can fight Margaret in Persona 4 Golden near the very end of a New Game Plus playthrough. This requires the player to have already beaten the game once before and be on pace to do so again with the good ending, which is a tall order given how long it takes to beat Persona 4 Golden.
Alongside this are a number of other prerequisites, including defeating every optional boss by January and finishing the Empress social link.
If the player has fulfilled these requirements and is positioned to get the good ending on their New Game Plus run, they need to progress to the point where Igor gives them the Orb of Sight. After gaining this key item, return to the Velvet Room to find it empty except for Margaret.
Margaret will then give the player another key item called the Aqua Invitation, requesting the player to meet her at “Heaven’s end. Meet her on the 10th floor of the Heaven dungeon before the area’s final boss.
Find Margaret, talk with her, and start the battle. This is the toughest boss fight in the game, so come prepared with Personas like Izanagi-No-Okami, the best skills for party members, weapons, and items.
How to Beat Margaret
The player can beat Margaret in Persona 4 Golden by using a combination of attacks and debuff spells. Though it’s not uncommon for players to generally ignore debuff spells in a regular playthrough, they’re a big help when it comes to dealing with Margaret.
Margaret starts the battle with immunity to dark and light spells and neutral resistance to everything else. As the action unfolds, Margaret changes her resistances so that she can resist, nullify, or drain some or all elements based on her last spell.
Players ought to prioritize physical attacks over magic due to Margaret’s ability to neutralize or absorb magic. Use debuffs to limit her damage output and whittle her down. This is a long boss fight regardless, so come prepared.
Persona 4 Golden will launch on PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on January 19.
