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Though newer titles in the Persona series have individual dungeons,Persona 3 Portableis different in the sense that it has only one: Tartarus. Serving as the game’s central dungeon, you’ll spend your year in Iwatodai slowly but surely making your way to the top of the tower, which is where you’ll have your final battle against the game’s main antagonist after a long, hard-fought battle.
RELATED:Persona 3 Portable: Beginner Tips
But with the concept unique to P3P, newcomers may be curious how it functions as opposed to traditional dungeons, and we’ve got the answer! For help with Tartarus in P3P, TheGamer’s got you covered.
With Tartarus such a central mechanic to the story’s progression, this guide contains spoilers for Persona 3 Portable.
What Is Tartarus?
While other Persona titles see you entering various, highly stylized dungeons throughout, P3P keeps you ina central locationthroughout the game –Tartarus.
Erupting fromGekkoukan High during the Dark Hour, Tartarus is a looming tower where plenty of average folks from around Iwatodai have been going missing by the time you arrive.They hearvoicessummoning them into Tartarus, where they’re eitherlostordevoured by shadowson entry.
What’s At The Entrance?
When you first get to Tartarus on any given night, you’ll always begin fromthe first floor, which is theentrance to Tartarus.
Here, you’ll be able to do a handful of different things before going to explore the dungeon, like:
How To Progress Through Tartarus
Tartarus isbroken down into six blocks, with story progress-based blockades to stop you from going too far all at once. There willalways be a blockade at the end of the block, which is how you know you’ve reached the end.
Unlike traditional dungeons to which you may be accustomed if you’re coming into P3P from P5R,the floor layouts in Tartarus are almost completely randomized.
There are afew floors with set layouts, which is wherestory takes place, but for the most part, spawning onto a new floor will yield a new randomly generated layout for it.
When you enter a new floor of Tartarus, your goal is tofind the stairs that lead up to the next floor. You’ll repeat this process time and again until coming to a floor where there’s story, a mini-boss battle, or a blockade before the next block.
If your teammates are strong enough to hold their own against the shadows in that block, you may ascend through Tartarus quickly byasking the team to split up.
They’llcall out to you when they’ve found the stairsto the next floor (or a teleporter that leads back to the entrance), andyou can choose to leave the floor right from that screenif you’re ready to move on.
However, if someone is currentlyin battle or faintedwhen you leave the floor, you willmove on without them. They spawn back at the entrance again the next time you’re there.
But it’s not just exits your teammates can find. Throughout the dungeon, you’ll not only find hundreds of different kinds ofshadows(which quickly escalate in difficulty as you climb further), but plenty ofgood loot like money, weapons, armor, and healing itemsas well, hidden in one of two types of chests.
Regular Chests Versus Rare Chests
On almost every floor of Tartarus, you’ll find at least a fewtreasure chests. These look like silver briefcases and contain a rather wide variety of pretty standard items, like what we’ve listed above.
However, you’ll also occasionally stumble ongolden cratesas well, which containmuch rarer itemslikeMagic or Attack Mirrors, differentpowerful weapons and armorthat you’d not be able to get otherwise, or evenHomunculi, which cansave you from light or dark insta-kill spells.
Regardless of which kind of chest it is,it’s always worth it to open chests. Even if you’re not using what’s inside, you’re able tosell spare items to Officer Kurosawa at the police station. He pays outright in yen, making him agreat way to earn money when not in Tartarus.
Tartarus is your primary form of money-makingin this game, between chests and loot, so be sure you’re collecting everything you can!
What Is Shuffle Time?
After battles end a certain way (with knockdowns, weakness-exploiting moves, or All-Out Attacks), you’ll have the opportunity to participate inShuffle Time.
This handfulof possible cardswill be shuffled in one of a few ways that see youtrack which card you want as the deck is shuffledbefore being allowed tochoose one card.
These cards offerseveral different rewards, based on what you’ve chosen. The power of these cardsincreases the higher you go in Tartarus, ranging from1-10in terms of their power.Higher numbers yield higher rewards.
Green wand with leaves
More experience for winning the fight
Yellow coins
Red swords
Blue chalices
Restores HP
Any of the above that also shows a black, smoky skull and crossbones
The prize shown, but the arrival of The Reaper is sped up for your current floor
The Persona shown on the card *
White cracks
Nothing
- If you’vealready got the Persona in your stockthat’s shown on a card you draw in Shuffle Time, it will disappear, andyou will not get a reward, so choose carefully.
Until you’re in the endmost part of the endgame where money, new Personas, and more are no longer a worry (or if you’re worried about the number of death cards and aren’t ready to take on The Reaper),always take the chance to participate in Shuffle Time.
RELATED:Persona 3 Portable: Combat Tips
How Many Floors Is Tartarus?
On the whole,Tartarus contains 264 regular floors. The entrance is technically the first floor, but each of the other 263 floors will almost certainly pose a real threat.
To keep things organized for sake of the story,Tartarus is broken up into six main blocks with one auxiliary bonus block.
Thebel: 2-16F
The Thebel blockis your very first, and it’s where you’ll be receiving the bulk of yourin-game instructions from Mitsuru when you first go into Tartarus.
Thebel is primary a learning block, with low-level shadows that’s meant toorient you to the game style of P3P.Its Shuffle Time Personas are staple ingredients for high-level fusions, and it’s where you’ll get the overall lay of the land for everything ahead.
Arqa: 17-64F
The Arqa blockunlocks after your very first boss battle, when you’vebegun to get a stronger grasp on the gameplay.
When you enter Arqa for the first time, you’ll have one or two new teammates to add to your battle configuration. And with enemies growing more difficult, these higher-level teammates with moves you’ve not had access to yet will definitely come in handy.
Arqa is also the first time you’ll find ablockade midway through the block. This will become fairly commonplace, but these serve topause your progressuntil after the next major story plot-point, so you’re not too over-leveled or far ahead of schedule.
Yabbashah (65-114F)
The Yabbashah blockis the first time you’ll have access toevery possible member of SEES, so we recommendtinkering with your party configuration in here.
Theshadowsin Yabbashah aremaybe the most variedfor this exact reason – to give you a way totest out new team membersas you inch toward the end of the game.
Not only is it a good way totestnew teammates, but it’s a similarly good opportunity todo a good amount of levelingbefore the story grows more complicated in the next block of Tartarus.
Tziah (115-164F)
The Tziah blockmay be a bit of a challenge to get through in a timely manner. While itunlocks on 9/10after the Full Moon Operation against Arcana Hermit,story events consume a lot of your evening free time in September.
Between new social links (some of which haveintensedeadlines), finishing yoursocial stats, and story progression, it might be tough to find time for Tartarus in September.
However, Tziah still has50 floors and four Guardiansyou’ll need to work through, so don’t wait too long to check it out.
Harabah (165-214F)
The Harabah blockis your focus for longer than any other block of Tartarus. After itunlocks on 11/5shortly after yourfinal Full Moon Operation, your next block won’t open until the New Year, so you have plenty of time.
Possibly to counter this long expanse of time,Harabah has no barrier, so you can progress through it at the rate that feels most comfortable to you.
However, with the next section of Tartarus the ultimate and final one, use the strong enemies here and the time you have before the endgame totrain hard in Harabahto ensure you’re ready for the final boss.
Adamah (215-263F)
The Adamah blockof Tartarus isvery intricately tied to the progression of the endgame.
Adamah doesn’t unlock until1/1in the game, after you’ve made your choice about how to approach the arrival of Nyx on 12/31.
While the section is, in terms of battles and loot, identical to the blocks below it, you’ll pause every few floors torank up your Judgment social link with the Nyx Annihilation Team.
Your rank with this new social link willprogress as you climb Adamah, and this isthe only way to rank up the Judgment social link.
The final battle will take place on1/31on the very top floor of Adamah, but you’llneed to reach the final floor before 1/31in order to get there on the day.
The Monad Depthsis a totally optionalbonus blockof Tartarus that sits apart from the rest – literally.
In order tomanually unlock the Monad Depths, you must first take on anddefeat The Reaperon a normal floor of Tartarus. This is anextremelytough battle if you don’t have an exploit for it, so for some more help finishing the famously difficult fight with The Reaper,check out our guidefor his fight.
While one of yourVelvet Room Requestsis active, The Reaper will drop aBloody Buttonwhen he goes down. Bring this back to your Velvet Room Attendant to complete the request and unlock Monad.
The Monad Depths are accessed by thelarge white door to the right of the stairs into Tartarusonce they’ve been unlocked.
But there’s a reason the barrier to entry is so high - theseten floorspacked withsuper-tough enemies. They’re thehighest-level shadows that aren’t guardians or boss battles, so proceed with caution.
How Long Should You Stay In Tartarus?
What Does Condition Impact?
Each time you enter Tartarus, you’ll first need to account foryou and your teammates’ Conditions.These can be eitherGreat, Good, Tired, or Sick, and each has a different effect on your performance inside Tartarus.
Teammates inGreat conditiondeal vastly more damage and can take more hits before their performance goes down. Meanwhile, aSickteammate deals little damage, faints easily, and may even refuse to join the night’s expedition altogether.
You can check your teammates Conditions by eitherspeaking to your navigatorin theDorm Loungebefore going to Tartarus for the night, or from theStatus submenuin your main menu.Condition plays a big role in how well your team does in Tartarus that day, so be sure to keep an eye on it.
Whatever Condition you enter Tartarus in willdecrease as you push on through Tartarus. Teammates seem to grow weary faster than your protagonist, andyou can switch out Tired teammatesif your heart is set on continuing.
There are also a handful ofways to influence Conditionsin P3P. For more info, check out ourGuide to Conditions.
Can You Do All Of Tartarus In One Day?
While it’stechnically possibleto complete Tartarus in one day, with the game not stopping you from doing so in any way,we cannot recommendagainst itenough.
With264 floorsto get through andseveral dozen mini-boss battlesimpeding your progress along the way, it’s unlikely you’d reach the final floor before your protagonist and team alike have been killed or grown exhausted.
Not only that, butTartarus is where you grind for EXP. If you skip this pivotal part of a Persona game,you will likely not succeed on your Full Moon Operationsagainst vastly more powerful shadows. Without any work on your team’s levels,you’ll be completely unprepared for major boss fights.
It would be mucheasier to do on a NG+ savewhere your player level and Persona compendium has carried over, buton your first playthrough of P3P,do not save Tartarus for last.
What Are Guardians?
Since Tartarus doesn’t function as a normal dungeon, yourmini-boss battlesin P3P are againstGuardians of Tartarus.
These stronger-than-the-others shadowsspawn on set floors of Tartarusand exist toimpede your progress, since youcannot move on without defeating them.
On each of the floors, there’s ateleporterthat will serve as an elevator of sorts tohelp you jump between floors in Tartarus. After activating these teleporters, you can fast travel from any other floor with a teleporter, including the entrance.
The Guardians will always be waiting for you midway through the floor,physically blocking your wayin such a fashion that you literally cannot get around them.
Our P3P directory features a full collection of guides on each Guardian, each with tips, tricks, suggested party setups, and recommended Personas for the fight, so be sure to check them out if you need some help!
Before leaving the floor after the fight,look around for treasure chests. They may be slightly off the path to the stairs, but your prizes will almost always containHP or SP-replenishing itemsto make up for the dent the fight put into yours.
Townsfolk Go Missing Inside Tartarus
Throughout the ten months you play in P3P,people from around Iwatodai go missing in Tartarus, and, as Persona users, it’s up to you and SEES torescue them.
A handful will go missing in each block, and when it happens, you’llreceive a phone call from your Velvet Room attendanttelling you someone has gone missing. They’ll remind you inside the Velvet Room by telling you they“sense someone.”After this, they’ll offer you asmall range of floors where you’ll find the missing person.
For the most part, these people are random citizens, buttwo people who go missing are your social links. If you fail to rescue them in time, that character’s social link willlock, meaning you cannot progress it further without loading an older save and rescuing the missing person.
However,everyone you rescue will leave you a rewardfor saving them. To collect, head to thepolice station at Paulownia Mall. Officer Kurosawa will make a comment and then hand over whatever the rescued person has left for you.
For all the details on how to save the missing and where to find them all, check out ourMissing Persons Guide.
