By the time players reach the Tank-Form Shadow Boss in Persona 3 Reload, they should start expecting the unexpected. Each boss encountered thus far has had some interesting quirk or gimmick attached to them.
One of these is a tank-like shadow, who is no exception. Although none of its attacks hit particularly hard, its initial presentation makes it seem like a battle of attrition. It’s resistant to all damage types outside Almighty attacks and doesn’t go down when landing a critical hit. Here’s how to destroy this mechanical monstrosity without wearing yourself down.
Defeating the Chariot and Justice bosses
This tank shadow is two bosses that merge! To separate them and make them more susceptible to damage, the best thing is to activate one of your party members’ Theurgys when the bar gets filled. It does mean that fighting Chariot and Justice in their tank form is a battle of attrition until you force them apart.
One of the best things to do is keep at least one party member with a full Theurgy meter so they can unleash their strongest attack as soon as the pair merges again. Since these attacks negate damage resistance, it doesn’t really matter who you use, but ideally, stick to Theurgy attacks that hit one target.
The thing to look out for is its piercing attacks. In my experience fighting the Tank-Form, its attacks deal decent damage with a high crit rate, giving it extra turns. If it takes a turn to charge a blast that’ll hit the whole party, make sure everyone guards unless you are sure a character can tank the damage.
Regarding team layout, Yukari and personas with any healing spell are great for keeping the team topped off. Since neither opponent has any weaknesses, you need to land critical hits with physical attacks or down the bosses with the protagonist’s Jack Brothers Theurgy.
It’s for this reason I recommend bringing physical attackers like Aigis alongside a decent support character to keep health up. If there’s any moment that Reload demonstrates Orgia Mode’s usefulness it’s here, because Aigis is devastating with it active.
What’s more important is keeping a persona with at least some resistance to light attacks. Justice loves casting light attacks, namely Kouga and Hamaon. Chariot is comparatively less dangerous but is far more sturdy.
Resistances also separate when they’re apart, and neither is immune to any elements, unlike the Emperor and Empress fight. While Chariot inherits the physical resistances, Justice gets the magical ones. This means attacking either with any elements deals damage, but it helps being mindful of who you’re attacking with what. Keeping the attackers buffed with Tarakaja and enemy defense debuffed with Rakunda helps this, making the aforementioned Orgia Mode more effective even against Chariot.
Another thing to note is how to spread damage out between the two. If one is downed and not both by the end of your turn, the other will use the Restore skill to revive its ally. Each revive comes with less health, so taking out Justice a couple of times helps keep it near death when Chariot is about to go down.
Once enough damage has been dealt, the two bosses will reunite into Tank-Form. Keep at least one party member with a full Theurgy to separate them again.
It should be far easier managing them again once apart because Chariot’s revives will hardly restore Justice. Let it waste its turns reviving its companion as you chip away its health, healing, and dealing buffs/debuffs as needed.
Depending on how long it takes for Theurgy to charge, this fight can last a while but isn’t too difficult. There are some nasty attacks, but smart healing mitigates those. The only concern is resource management, but using Theurgy skills effectively will make short work of this duo.
