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The combat sections ofPersona 3 Reloadfollow the usual JRPG conventions in a few ways. Party members get experience, experience gives them levels, and levels give them new skills and better stats. You’ll need plenty if you want to take onthe late-game boss battles.
However, another way thatPersona 3 Reloadfollows the usual trends is by making you fight enemy after enemy to get those valuable levels. Fortunately, there are a few tricks the game allows for that canmake this process much faster.
How EXP Works In Persona 3 Reload
The most important thing to know about EXP inPersona 3 Reloadis thatthe number on the results screen isn’t always the amount of EXP you get. The game’s leveling system features diminishing returns, which means each party member only gets the full EXP amount if their level is equal to the Shadow’s or lower. If their level is higher, they only get a percentage of the EXP, and that percentage goes down as their level goes up.
On the bright side, this makes it easy for party members a few levels behind to catch up with the rest. However, this system also makes it harder for you to get more than a level or two beyond the most powerfulShadows you’re able to find in Tartarus. Fortunately, there are a few tricks you can use to stretch the limits of this system.
Rare Shadows
Compared to other Shadows in the same block,Rare Shadows provide more EXPthan any other enemy (aside from bosses, Greedy Shadows, and the Reaper). They’re also relatively easy to farm because they always show up on the map as agold-and-red dot, even if you haven’t explored the part of the floor they’re on.
Every time you enter or re-enter a floor in Tartarus, the game will randomly spawn a set of breakable objects and a set of Shadows. On every floor above 5, each Shadow has a low but consistent chance of being a Rare Shadow. You can boost these odds by buying aRarity Fortuneor aGamble Fortunefrom theFortune Teller in Club Escapade. Even without her help, you can farm for Rare Shadows by reaching the top of a Tartarus Block, taking the teleporter back to the start of the Block, and then using Shortcut to climb the floors until you spot a gold-and-red dot.
7
250
294
1,000
12
336
842
2,500
27
500
3,830
7,000
42
700
8,220
11,000
64
380
16,206
18,000
70
342
18,442
Melancholic Coin
30,000
To defeat a Miracle Hand or a Glorious Hand, you need to use a Theurgy abilityor an Almighty skill.
Shuffle Time
After you win a fight in Tartarus, you may get an extra bonus withShuffle Time. The odds of Shuffle Time appearing go up each time youdown a Shadow, and it’s guaranteed if you end a fight with anAll-Out Attack.
One of thecard suits in Shuffle TimeisWands, and each Wand card increases the EXP you earn from the battle by a percentage. This percentage goes up the higher the Wand card’s value is, and by the time you reach Adamah, a Wand card can more thandouble your earned EXP. This makes it a great card to pick after defeating a Rare Shadow.
The Fool Arcana cardalso gives you a10% EXP boost, and this one applies to every fight you win until you leave Tartarus for the day. In fact, the Fool bonus stacks with Wand bonuses. If you want to level up fast inPersona 3 Reload, don’t be shy about using these cards.
The Great Clock
Starting in Yabbashah, you can sometimesspawn the Great Clockby spendingTwilight Fragmentsthroughout Tartarus. This includes opening locked chests and using the restoration clock when it appears on a random floor.
The Great Clock lets you instantly bring two party members up to the protagonist’s current level, making it the singlebiggest source of EXP in the game. Evenbeating the Reaperwon’t give you as much EXP, especially if the party members you choose have been lagging behind. The protagonist never gets a single point of EXP from the Great Clock, but it makes leveling up the B squad unbelievably easy.
