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While there’s definitely a lot to do around Tatsumi Port Island inPersona 3 Portable, it’s no secret that the primary mechanic inPersonais going through dungeons and kicking Shadow ass along the way. The premise is simple: build the best team, level them up, and make quick work of all the enemies lingering inside Tartarus.
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But if this is your first venture into the world of Persona, or you’re just looking for a little help you get started on the right foot, we’re here to help! Below, you’ll find a few handy battle tips to use in P3P.
This guide may contain slight spoilers for the story of Persona 3 Portable.
Better Equip New Recruits Before Bringing Them Into Tartarus
While you initially enter Tartarus with only Yukari and Junpei directly at your side as fellow combatants, as Mitsuru and Akihiko wait in the entrance, you’ll eventually unravelseveral different party members.
Each time someone new joins the team, be sure you’rechatting with thema bitbefore you head into Tartarustogether.
There are several instances where, if you talk to someone when you see them inthe Lounge at Iwatodai Dormitory, they’ll occasionally tell you more about their Persona.
Everyone has their own unique strengthsand weaknesses, which they’lltell you during conversation in the lounge, but they’re all just as eager to fight.
Unfortunately for you, despite the moxie, theyjoin the team wearing their regular outfits, which don’t offer much in the way of protection or power-boosting inside Tartarus.
Before bringing them into battle, it’s a wise choice tobuy them some new equipmentfirst.
As new people join your group, Officer Kurosawa seems to almost anticipate this, asthe police station always has gear for anyone on the team, even if they’re justjoining you.
You never know whensomeone might force their way onto your team, so it never hurts to be prepared if you may afford it.
Keep Training All Your Party Members
Riding the coattails of our last tip, it’s never a bad idea totrain party members you’re not using.
It’s pretty easy in a JRPG like Persona to fall into the trap of keeping the same party with you as you climb through Tartarus, especially asthe characters you’re not regularly using lag behind in levels.
They don’t all have to be super powerful, but you’ll do well totraineveryone, even if only a bit.
The reasons for this are plentiful. First, if you have astrong teammate, butthey’reweak to an element used in the fight ahead, it may not be the best idea to bring them.Letting enemies exploit weaknesseswill result in them earning afree bonus attack, and you’re aiming to keep your damage taken to a minimum.
Additionally, there will be times when you get back to the dorm at night asanother character leaves for the night. When this happens, that person isnot available to bring to Tartarus, which can really scramble your plans if you’ve been grinding with them and now need to use someone weaker.
Finally, won’t happen too often, but there will be times whenat least one of your party members is decided for you.When this happens, no matter how much you try,you can’t kick them off the team.
For example,Yukaridemands to take part in theFull Moon Operation battleagainst the Hierophant and subsequent Lovers bosses. Frustratingly, theHierophant uses electric magic, to whichYukari is weak.
If you’ve omitted Yukari from your main party by that point, she’ll bedramatically under-leveledfor the fight, resulting in an easy target for the enemy.
Thewidest spread of strengths and abilitiesyou can give your team, the better!
Split The Party To Gain More EXP – If Everyone Is Strong Enough
When you’re inside Tartarus, you’re able to bring up a command menu with your navigations expert, who caninstruct the party to do several different things.You can ask them tofight shadowsthey find, or simplyexplore the area.
There are many benefits to splitting the team. When you havefewer teammates in a battle, you’ll come away having earnedmore EXP for fighting alone. Especially when combined with Shuffle Time cards that grant additional EXP, this can help youlevel quickly!
The downside to splitting the team, though, is thatyour teammates regularly get pulled into battles, and they may not be strong enough or have the right elemental magic to deal with the shadows.
Because of this, it’s important thatthe team is a high enough levelbefore you make the decision on splitting up. If a teammate is hit by a shadow,they fight alone.
Of course, you may jump in to help them byhitting the shadow is fighting. This brings you into the battle as it currently is and can easilysave your teammates from fainting.
Not only will they run around leveling on their own, but your team can alsocollect treasure cheststo bring the goods to you when you go to the next floor, and they can evenfind the stairs or access pointsfor you, too.
When this happens, your navigations expert will ask if you’d like toleaveorcontinue to explorethe floor. Doing this can help you find the stairs in a level of Tartarus in seconds!
However, you’ll be warned if you’re trying to leave for the next floor andsomeone is still battling.
Choosing tomove onwhile they’re preoccupied with fightingremoves them from your current team. They go back to the entrance of Tartarus, and you move on minus one teammate.
If you haveseveral levels to get throughbefore reaching the floor you need, and the team can handle splitting up, it’s a good idea toask them to explore.
As long as nobody is fighting when the stairs are located, justuse the stairs right away. You’ll miss some loot along the way, but you canclimb floors of Tartarus in minuteslike this.
Pay Attention To Your Team’s Condition
The mechanic didn’t carry over into newer entries in the Persona series, but Persona 3 Portable makes players contend withcharacter condition.
There are four possible conditions in which you may find your protagonist and teammates:Great, Good, Tired, orSick.
By being inGreatcondition, you’lldeal more damageto the shadows you’re fighting. However, just remember that, while condition is pretty easy to alter in the real world,it can be hard to improve condition once you enter Tartarus.
No matter what, your team willget tired after a while in Tartarus. Dungeon-crawling is busy work, and your teammates warn you when they become Tired by commenting on their exhaustion out loud.
Keep an eye on thestatus menuin thesubmenu, from which you canalways check the team’s status. This is especially wisebefore choosing to go to Tartarus, as you may be planning to use a character who could do with a night off.
As everyone gets Tired, it may be wise to leave Tartarus at your earliest convenience. Tired teammates don’t fight as well, so even if you do push on, it’ll be something of an uphill climb.
However, if you’re not ready to leave when the team grows weary, offer them aYawn-B-Gone. This willremove the Tired status without leaving Tartarus to rest, so be sure to keep a stock if you’re planning a longer expedition.
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Analyze Enemy Weaknesses Often
Very early into exploring Tartarus, you’ll be taught how tohave your nav person analyze enemies.This will take them a turn to do, but by asking them to analyze what’s in front of you, you’ll be able tolearn their affinities and weaknesseswithout ever making an attack of your own.
This will help you and the team consistently be prepared for battle, as there aremore shadows as you climb Tartarus, which can make it tough to keep track yourself. When in doubt, ask Mitsuru or Fuuka.
Once you’veanalyzed an enemy once, your teamkeeps the knowledge forever.Be sure you’re keeping your index of enemy info current with the analysis.
It’s important to note that youcan’t analyze Full Moon Bosses.
When you’ve pinpointed a weakness,exploit the element to which the shadow is weak. This knocks combatants down and offers you afree bonus shotat them, so be sure you’reexploiting weaknesses wherever possible.
Fuuka Has More Advanced Skills Than Mitsuru
After you’verescued Fuukaduring thesecond Full Moon Operation, she joins SEES andtakes over for Mitsuruas your navigation person. Her Persona is not ready for combat, but it is excellent at detecting things throughout Tartarus.
OnceLucia, Fuuka’s Persona, levels up toLv. 32, she’ll be able to offer additional info with the skill,Third Eye.
Not only can you then see the enemies’ info in the analysis tab, but whenchoosing your attacks, you’ll be able to see on the game’s UIwhether the attack will hitor not.
Fuuka can tell you if the attack you’re about to select will be blocked, repelled, or drained, so be sure you’rechecking the reticlewhen choosing your target, as anX layered into the UIwhen aiming at them means the attack will not deal damage.
Use The Skill Cards You Receive
Skill cardsare items collected in a number of ways that canteach any Persona the skill listed on the card. Using skill cards does not factor in a Persona’s affinities, meaning you can teachany skill to any Personausing skill cards.
This makes them an excellent way tocover party weaknesses, if you need to give one of your Personas an attack of an element to which your team doesn’t currently have access.
Skill cards can be fordamage-dealing, healing, or support skills, meaning you truly can find just about anything.
The only caveat is thatonly you’re able to use your skill cards. Theycannot be given to your SEES Teamto use on their Personas, so keep it in mind when planning your strategies.
you’re able to obtain skill cards in a few ways, such as by:
Make it a habit to check out what cards you have fairly regularly, as you never know what new kinds of attacks you could learn with them!
Make Up For The Party’s Element Gaps With Your Larger Stock
While not anewmechanic to the Persona series,your protagonist’s ability to carry up to 12 Personasis once again in Persona 3 Portable, and it’s still something you’ll need to consider when fusing and buying Personas for use in battle.
When fighting with the other members of SEES, you’ll have access toyour teammate’s physical and magic attacks, meaning you can use them tohammer elemental weaknesses.
After you’ve assembled a team at the entrance to Tartarus,consider which skills your teammates have,and what elements on which you may be lacking coverage. Then, use your ability to carry multiple Personas toplug gaps in your coverage.
The cool part about the Compendium is that you’ll always find what you’re looking for, sinceyour protagonist doesn’t need to specializelike their teammates do.
Use your friends to cover as much ground as you canfor the battles ahead, and then use your own wild car ability to make up for it. By doing this, you’ll have options forexploiting any weaknessyou may be presented with during your battles, so be sure to bring a wide spread!
Leave The Floor If Death Is Coming
Longtime fans of the Persona series are no strangers toThe Reaper, and you should know before you venture into Tartarus that The Reaper is once again in P3P.
If you’re not familiar, The Reaper is asuper-tough optional boss fightyou can pick inside Tartarus, but we can’t advise enough that youmake the decision to engage carefully.
If you’re intending to complete all theVelvet Room requestsfor your attendant of choice, beware thatfighting The Reaperis one of the tasks.
In P3P, The Reaper is aLv. 99 shadowwho isstrong against all attacks except Almighty.
In addition to its wild defensive skills (with a cool10,000 HPwhen you fight it), it knows-dyne skills of every element, both thesingle and multi-target versions.
It can also useFire, Ice, Elec, and Wind Breakto destroy any strength you may have had against these elements.
Thankfully, with The Reaper being an optional fight, you’ll receive awarning before it spawns.
Mitsuru or Fuuka will warn youthatthey sense Death approaching, and after this, you haveabout 30 secondsbefore they radio again to tell you thatDeath has spawnedon the floor.
Once it arrives, you’ll hear therattling of chains, which getlouder the closer it is to you. It canengage your partyeithercollectively or individually, and if it corners an individual teammate, they’re usually as good as fainted.
The Reapercannot approach the party on thestairs to the next floor, making them something of a safe zone away from The Reaper, as shown below.
Note, however, that he doeswait for you right outside the stairs, so you’ll either have toleave or fight him, without much wiggle room.
Use this exploit if need be toheal or regroupbefore fighting The Reaper if you intend to.
There are a fewtells that The Reaper will spawn soon. They are:
The Reaper de-spawns as soon as you leave your current floor andwill not follow you upstairs. If you’d like to find The Reaper on a higher floor, you’ll have to trigger its arrival again.
Turn Off Party AI For Direct Control Over Battles
While there’s definitely an enjoyable kind of merit to setting the members of your party to act freely during assaults in Tartarus, if your teammates aren’t performing up to snuff, you can alwaysassume direct control over your team.
This will allow you toact as each of the four members of your team, offering control over whichever of the three other characters you set todirect controlswhen in theTactics menu.
This can help you in a number of ways and ties into our tip aboutusing your own stockto fill gaps in the party’s affinities coverage. By taking full control, you canchoose when to use your teammates attacks, which can prevent them from autonomously making some silly mistakes.
To have a say in every single move your party makes,set everyone to direct controls. If you don’t do this all the time, it may be wise to at leastdo it during boss battles, as they’re generally significantly tougher and have higher stakes for losing.
Experiment with a mix and find out what works best for your playstyle!
