Persona 3 Reload: Phantom Mage weakness

The Phantom has a weakness.

Image showing the Phantom Mage in Persona 3 Reload.
Screenshot by Dot Esports

Persona 3 Reload features several powerful enemies that can do significant damage to your party—or outright wipe them out if you aren’t careful. One of these enemies is the Phantom Mage, a shadow that uses instant-kill attacks.

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If you’re wondering how to defeat the Phantom Mage in Persona 3 Reload, read on. This guide will teach you the shadow’s weakness and how to easily counter and defeat it. This pesky wizard also appears in Episode Aigis, though the fight plays out similarly.

What is Phantom Mage’s weakness in Persona 3 Reload?

Image showing the stats for the Phantom Mage in Persona 3 Reload.
The shadow is weak to wind. Screenshot by Dot Esports

Phantom Mage is the second Monad Door enemy you’ll come across in the Yabbashah block of Tartarus. It is weak to wind, resists electricity, and also reflects light. While just a regular shadow, it is particularly tricky to fight. This enemy can wipe out your entire party with the instant-kill light skills Hamaon, Mahama, and Makougaon.

What makes this especially dangerous is these skills have a medium chance of success. If you aren’t lucky, you and your party members will be wiped out. It’s also worth noting that if any party member has a Persona that’s weak to light, the shadow’s attacks will always land, killing them instantly.

How to beat Phantom Mage in Persona 3 Reload

To counter these attacks, make sure you’re not bringing any Personas or team members that are weak to light to the fight. Additionally, as the shadow resists electricity, bringing Akihiko along for the fight may be inefficient, so swapping him with someone who can deal damage will make the fight much shorter. 

As the Phantom Mage is weak to wind attacks, acquiring or equipping any Persona with strong wind skills, like Magaru and Garula, will provide great results. Bringing Yukari into the fight will also be effective as she uses wind skills.

Overall, bringing the best party members and using wind skills and some All-out attacks on the shadow should be enough to take it down.

What is Phantom Mage’s weakness in Persona 3 Reload’s Episode Aigis?

Much like in the base game, the Phantom Mage can also appear behind Monad Doors in Episode Aigis. We found this shadow in the tail end of Cocytus, usually as the first fight behind the trio of Monad Bosses.

Luckily, its weaknesses haven’t changed in Episode Aigis. Phantom Mage is still weak to Wind in the DLC, and it continues to resist Electricity and repel Light damage. Bringing Yukari makes this fight easier, and Metis can also throw in some Wind attacks if she’s leveled enough. Aigis can exploit the weakness even more to set up a chain of All-Out Attacks.

As usual, watch out for its instakill attacks like Hama, and don’t forget Aigis isn’t using Athena this time. Her affinities change based on her Persona, so don’t bring one that’s weak to Light. This enemy may also start a Death Chant, so don’t give it time to finish.

Author
Image of Abdul Saad
Abdul Saad
Abdul Saad is a seasoned entertainment journalist and critic and has been writing for over five years on multiple gaming sites. When he isn't writing or playing the latest JRPG, he can be found coding games of his own or tinkering with something electrical.
Author
Image of Pedro Peres
Pedro Peres
Pedro is Dot Esports' Lead Destiny Writer. He's been a freelance writer since 2019, and legend has it you can summon him by pinging an R-301, uttering the word "Persona," or inviting him to run a raid in Destiny 2 (though he probably has worse RNG luck than the D2 team combined). Find his ramblings on his Twitter @ggpedroperes (whenever that becomes available again).