How to beat the Reaper after Persona 5 Royal patched that Flu Season cheat

In Persona 5 vanilla, defeating the Reaper, Mementos' strongest foe, yielded a bushel of rewards. You would get oodles of Exp, money, and items. You could even do it with ease by attempting the fight during Flu season, the Reaper would be immobilized, and ready to take the hits. Unfortunately, in the numerous changes made for Persona 5 Royal, Atlus removed the ability to cheat your way through to victory. Now you need to defeat them with your own strength. But how do you find and kill the dangerous foe?

Where can I find the Reaper in Persona 5 Royal?

Enter Mementos and wander around on any level. Eventually, the jangle of chains will enter your soundscape, meaning the Reaper is hot on your tail. Remain on that floor and continue to wander around: the Reaper will find you shortly. If you spot him before he spots you, feel free to run into him deliberately to commence the battle.

How to cheese the Reaper in Persona 5 Royal

Although the Flu Season Reaper cheese has been patched out, there are still quite a few ways to make this boss fight just a bit easier.

First, download the Persona 5 Legacy Pack. It will grant you multiple Persona that are well above your own strength, many of the given ones will be leveled to the 90s, perfect for fighting the Reaper.

If you lack the internet connection needed to claim the DLC, or have tried the above method with no success, there's also the possibility of briefly turning down your difficulty to easy via the system settings menu. You might notice a lower "Safety" difficulty, but avoid that if you intend on restoring the difficulty after your brawl. If you hit 'Safety' once, your game will be permanently locked there until you beat the game.

Although they both still require some elbow grease, these two methods are the easiest ways to cheese the Reaper in Persona 5 Royal. If you want to defeat him with your own strength, that's a whole other ball game.

How to defeat the Reaper with your own strength

If you choose to take on the Reaper with your own power, you're in for a difficult brawl, but you'll still be able to come out on top with some preparation. This is Persona 5 Royal's least forgiving fight, so make sure you're prepared.

1. Don't attempt to challenge him until you and your party are at least level 60. If you enter the fight any lower, you'll be swiftly defeated. The Reaper doesn't have any weaknesses, so make sure you fight them with party members that have had their confidants maxed out.

2. Make sure you enter with at least one party member that has the skill Makarakarn equipped. The ability allows one ally to be shrouded in a barrier that will repel a single magical attack. This should be used on Joker the moment your battle begins. Using the skill will prompt the Reaper to activate Megidolaon, which they'll then have to recharge from after using, giving you a reliable attack window.

3. To ensure that your team survives the Reaper's Megidolaon onslaught, there should be at least one person in your party with Marakukaja, an ability allowing you to increase your entire party's defense for three turns.

4. Somebody in your party should also have Mediarahan equipped, allowing them to fully heal the whole party with a single move. Ideally, you'd assign both to a single person that can be designated as the group's healer.

With the preparations complete, you can finally try taking on the Reaper. It's a tough battle, but you'll be given a bounty of goodies if you can win, including a trophy titled "A Unique Rebel." Go forth, defeat Persona 5 Royal's embodiment of death.

Persona 5 Royal is available now for PlayStation 4.