Every Rare Shadow’s Weakness In Persona 3 Reload

Though all Shadows offer some EXP and loot for defeating them in battle, in Persona 3 Reload, you’ll also periodically encounter a slew of rare golden Shadow hands, all of which will be pretty tough to beat. Each rare Shadow drops progressively better rewards for defeating them, but they’ll usually only have one element able to do damage.

Since the rare golden Shadows are different in each block of Tartarus, though, you’ve got your work cut out for you if you hope to capture, fight, and defeat one of them – you’ll only have a turn or two to do it.

Updated on February 14, 2024: As we continue to push up through Tartarus and encounter new Shadows in P3R, we’re updating our guide to the Rare Shadows to include not only more affinity info for regular rare Shadows, but some information about Greedy Shadows that begin to appear in the Tziah block as well.

This guide is a
work in progress
that we’ll be updating as we push forward further into Tartarus, so check back periodically!

What Are Rare Shadows?

Occasionally as you arrive at new floors on your Tartarus expeditions, you’ll see a brief cutaway to a golden hand crawling around before being informed by your navigational teammate that they sense a rare Shadow on your current floor of Tartarus.

These are rare golden hand Shadows, and you’ll find different ones in each block of Tartarus, each with its own affinities and stats. As you begin to discover the map of the current floor of Tartarus, while all Shadows are represented as red dots, these Shadows are marked on your map as a red circle with a yellow outline to help you track them down.

Be wary when you approach them, though, as they’ll
flee when they see you
, which requires you to chase them down and hit them to begin the battle. They
vanish after a moment of running
, so you’ll need to be both cautious and quick.

Not only will you need to be quick in catching them when you see them, but you need to act fast in battle as well, since you’ve only got a turn or two to KO the rare Shadow before it runs away on the second or third turn. This means that after you’ve figured out its affinities (which we have listed below), you’ll need to quickly inflict as much damage as possible.

The caveat is that, occasionally, golden Shadows may begin the battle with support Shadows on the field with them. They’re often not the toughest battles you’ll fight, but they are prone to debuffing your team so you inflict less damage on the rare Shadow.

When this happens, your best bet is to focus on the rare Shadow as much as possible with the damage types you have while assigning a teammate who can exploit the support Shadows’ weakness to keep them down and prevent them from stalling for time.

A good way to reliable KO the rare golden hand Shadows in P3R is to
exploit their weakness
as soon as you can to knock them down, and then
follow up with an All-Out Attack
.

And after putting up with such a timed, tricky challenge, your rewards for the fight will always be a good amount of EXP for the team to share and a rare item. These items can either be shown to Elizabeth as part of her requests, or sold at the Police Station to earn some cash.

Increase The Spawn Rate Of Rare Shadows Through The Fortune Teller

As soon as you’ve worked up the requisite Level Two Courage and can head into Club Escapade at Paulownia Mall, you’ll find a fortune teller who’s set up shop directly to the right when you first walk into the nightclub.

If you haven’t found the fortune teller yet on your own, Elizabeth will send you there as one of her requests.

When you speak to her, she’ll offer to a progressively expanding list of fortunes that she can read for you, all of which are capable of changing something about Tartarus. The Rarity Fortune will run you only ¥3,000 and will increase the spawn rate of rare Shadows in Tartarus, but only for that night.

Greedy Shadows

Appearing as oversized Golden Hand Shadows when you encounter them beginning in the Tziah block of Tartarus, Greedy Shadows are sporadic spawns in Tartarus that steal all the loot on the floor you find them on – but don’t worry, since you can try to chase the Shadow down to get it all back.

After telling Fuuka you’d like to give chase, you’ll see a brief cutscene of the Greedy Shadow running away, and you’ll need to choose if you’d like to go left or right. There’s no real way to tell where the Shadow has gone unless one of your teammates pipes up to say they saw it, leaving the majority of your decisions up to chance.

Should you succeed in tracking down the Greedy Shadow, you’ll enter a battle as normal and need to defeat the Greedy Shadow in order to obtain multiple treasures that were stolen. If you don’t catch it, though, the Shadow makes off with most of the loot and leaves very few pieces behind for you.

Either way, Fuuka will have mapped the whole floor as you give chase, and she can lead you right to the stairs once the ordeal is over.

All Rare Shadows And How To Beat Them

Below is information on all the rare golden Shadows we’ve battled so far in P3R, including where they spawn in Tartarus and any notable affinities they may have.

Every Rare Shadow Hand’s Weakness In Persona 3 Reload

Check back as we push further up Tartarus and encounter new rare golden Shadows in P3R!