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In Persona 3 Reload, the further you ascend through Tartarus, the harder the game gets. Thankfully, that curve is fairly smooth with the odd exception here and there. Once you reach floor 17 you will bump into your next boss. This chap can cause you a few problems if you don’t know what to do.
Swift Axle is, like many bosses early on in the game, a hidden tutorial that is trying to teach you a vital lesson through the application of pain. Previous bosses were designed to make sure you understood how to attack weaknesses. Swift Axle turns all of that on its head because this chap wants to strike your weaknesses. Spooky stuff indeed, but we’ve got you covered.
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Every Quiz & Exam Answer | Main Characters Canon Name | Ruthless Ice Ravens Guide | Wilduck Burger Big Eater Challenge | Barbaric Beast Wheel Guide
How Swift Axle Attacks
Swift Axle doesn’t have too many tricks up his sleeve. That being said, his one trick can end you if you aren’t careful. Swift Axle will strike you with a mixture of physical attacks and wind attacks like Garu. These can be dealt with by most of your party, however, there is one wrinkle in that plan.
Junpei is weak to Wind, and Swift Axle also has access to Magaru. Magaru is Garu, only it hits every party member at once. This means Junpei is constantly at risk of being hit by his weakness. Like you, if an enemy strikes a weakness, they get to attack again. This can result in massive damage to your party and can very quickly lead to Junpei dying.
Neither of these outcomes is great, so how do we beat him?
How To Defeat Swift Axle In Persona 3 Reload
Swift Axle, despite his high damage and wind attacks, is vulnerable to electric attacks like Zio. At this stage in the game, none of your allies have access to Zio (you will unlock one soon though). That being said, your main character can fuse many Persona with Zio. We opted to fuse Lilim as she had innate access to Zio and her Magic stat was the highest we had seen up until this point.
If you can’t fuse Lilim, then fuse any Persona with access to Zio, but try and prioritise those with higher Magic stats for the best results. If you don’t have access to any Persona with Zio, we managed to find a few Zio Skill Cards whilst exploring Tartarus. Simply consume one of these cards to add Zio to any of your equipped Persona. Again, prioritise those with high Magic stats. A final note would be to not have a Persona that is weak to wind as your Zio user.
From here it’s pretty simple. You want to strike Swift Axle with Zio to knock them down and then unleash an All Out Attack. Keep on applying damage and pressure where you can. Sticking to Zio and physical attacks will yield the best results here.
When it comes to Junpei, we highly recommend using his turn to Guard. Guarding allows a character to take reduced damage in addition to losing their weakness temporarily. This allows Junpei to take hits from Swift Axle but not give up free actions. This does leave you short on manpower during the fight, but with Zio, healing, and All Out Attacks, Swift Axle should go down without much hassle.
With Swift Axle defeated you are free to continue your perusal of Tartarus. Be sure to check back for more tips, tricks, and guides for Persona 3 Reload.
