Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis -The Answer- Complete Monad Guide

One of the biggest challenges in Persona 3 Reload was the inclusion of the occasional Monad door throughout Tartarus, the ones that'd randomly spawn every few floors and give you the chance to take on an optional tough extra boss. Completing these trials would yield some pretty sweet rewards, too.

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Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis brings Monad back into the DLC, but things have changed a little in -The Answer-. Now, you'll find three Monad doors instead of one, each more challenging and offering better loot than the last. Which challenge do you and your team feel up to beating?

Updated on September 21, 2024: Now that we've defeated all the Shadows inside the Monad Doors in Episode Aigis, we're updating our guide to include the affinity tables for every Shadow you'll encounter in each door in the Abyss of Time.

How Do Monad Doors Work In Episode Aigis?

If you played the base game of Persona 3 Reload, then you're no stranger to the Monad doors you'll find throughout your explorations. Where previously the Monad passages were exclusively for end-game leveling to grind a bit before going to fight Nyx, Persona 3 Reload integrated them a little more seamlessly into the base game itself.

Since so much of the Desert of Doors seems to very closely parallel Tartarus, you'll begin encountering Monad doors in Episode Aigis in the Cocytus section of the Abyss of Time. This is the second door you'll enter, and Monad doors are liable to show up as soon as the second floor, since Monad doors spawn randomly when levels generate.

Now, though, the Monad doors aren't tied to the Major Arcana cards - those get added to your Shuffle Time decks after defeating each of the door guardian Shadows in Episode Aigis. In the base game, Monad doors appeared near the end of a block of Tartarus, but they're now much more sporadic in the DLC. They're also more temperamental, given that the doors disappear if you leave the floor without entering them.

As such, you'll need to be sure you're ready for the challenge. You'll need to explore the current floor to find the room with the Monad doors, and there's a brief moment that allows you to heal the team before entering the door of your choice. Like before, finishing the fight within a Monad door reveals the floor plan of the current floor and the one after it, allowing you to traverse the Abyss of Time a bit more seamlessly.

If you encounter a Greedy Shadow on the floor after a Monad Door, though, you frustratingly seem to lose the floor layout and need to either chase the Shadow without a map or ask Fuuka to use Tartarus Search to map the current floor (if she's unlocked that ability).

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Three Doors, Three Waves Of Enemies, Plenty Of Potential Treasure

Step One: Choose How Many Enemies To Fight

The first time you encounter a Monad door in Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis, Fuuka comments on the doors to ensure you don't miss the chance to see how Monad has changed. Since there are three doors now instead of one, it's not surprising to learn that some things about Monad have changed in Episode Aigis.

Fuuka tells you that each door has a different difficulty level, with between one and three waves of enemies waiting to battle the SEES team inside. The conversation eventually gets to the potential loot behind each of these doors, and you'll learn that the tougher the fight that you win, the better prizes you'll receive. The caveat is that the doors lock after you enter one, which means you can only enter one door each time you discover Monad doors in the DLC.

If possible, it's best to charge everyone's Theurgy gauges before heading into the fight - it's never a bad idea to be able to fall back on a super-powerful move if you don't have an enemy's weakness covered, especially since plenty of the Shadows in Monad are tough and have either no affinities, or affinities that conflict with their support Shadows.

The enemies tend to be the same inside each door, but the difference is in how many waves of enemies you want to face. The left door only has a single wave, the middle door pits you against two groups of Shadows, and the third and final door makes you fight your way through three waves of enemies before claiming your prizes.

There's no right or wrong answer on which Monad doors to choose in Episode Aigis. Make the decision based on your current team setup, their HP and SP balances, and how much of a fight you feel like doing at the moment.

You don't technically have to enter any of the doors, so if you're not up to the fight at the moment, no shame in moving on and not letting the team get crushed.

Step Two: Claim Your Rewards In The Next Room

The Monad doors in Episode Aigis are your ticket to getting better gear for the team, since you'll often be rewarded with powerful armor or even special new weapons for certain teammates. Since you're pretty limited in how much gear you can get outright, it never hurts to grab some extra stuff for free, even if you sell it instead of using it yourself.

If someone on your current team speaks up when you open a treasure chest and comments on how they'd like to use that gear, it means the stats on that piece of equipment are higher than what they're currently using. You'll be given the option to give them this new piece of gear right away if you'd like to boost their stats immediately.

Each of the Monad doors has treasure chests for you to open after you win the fight, but the prizes you receive are decided based on the difficulty of the fight. You'll notice that the left door has the easiest fight with the least prizes, while the right door has the hardest fight and the most loot waiting to be opened on the other side.

The majority of the prizes you'll earn from the Monad doors in Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis are:

• Nihil gear, which are the base pieces for each weapon or piece of armor you have made for your team at Mayoido Antiques.
  • You can't ask the shopkeeper to make anything without first having the base piece that your gear of choice requires. One base piece makes one piece of gear, so keep plenty on hand if you're using her services.
• New weaponry that doesn't need to be assembled, that you can immediately choose to equip on a teammate if the one who uses that type of weapon is currently in the party.
  • You can change manually from the game's pause menu later, but the teammate in question will prompt you to give them that weapon if it's stronger than what they currently use.
• Gems that act as currency at Mayoido Antiques.
  • Not only will you need certain ones for weaponry and armor, but the shopkeeper will also trade you Skill Cards or items in exchange for gemstones.
• Accessories that you can choose to equip the team with to boost their stats, give them more HP or SP, add elemental immunity if they're weak to a type of magic, and more.

If you can spare the time and energy the fight will take, it's always a good idea to battle for some extra treasure!

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All Monad Shadows In Episode Aigis

In the table below, we've kept track of the affinities for each Shadow you'll encounter in Monad in Episode Aigis, noting any affinities to keep in mind. You often encounter these Shadows in pairs or small groups, but some of them come at you solo. The configurations you first find them in is how they'll stay - you don't find remixed boss fights in Epispde Aigis like that.

All Cocytus Monad Shadows

Shadow Name

Grouping

Weakness

Other Affinities of Note

Phantom Mage

Solo

Wind

• Resists: Electric
• Repels: Light

Elegant Mother

Trio

Fire

• Resists: Wind
• Nullifies: Dark

Muttering Tiara

Wind

• Resists: Fire

Maniacal Book

Wind

• Resists: Ice
• Nullifies: Light

Red Sigil

Duo

Ice

• Drains: Fire

Blue Sigil

Slash

• Drains: Ice

All Caina Monad Shadows

Shadow Name

Grouping

Weakness

Other Affinities of Note

Chaos Cyclops

Solo

N/A

• Nullifies: Pierce, Light

Eternal Eagle

Duo

Pierce

• Nullifies: Slash, Strike

Jealous Cupid

Ice

• Nullifies: Wind

Nemean Beast

Duo

Wind

• Resists: Light

Enslaved Beast

Fire

• Nullifies: Electric

All Antenora Monad Shadows

Shadow Name

Grouping

Weakness

Other Affinities of Note

Judgement Sword

Solo

Wind

• Nullifies: Pierce
• Drains: Electric

Grand Magus

Trio

Strike

• Resists: Fire, Wind
• Nullifies: Ice, Light

Prime Magus

Fire

• Drains: Ice

Magical Magus

Strike

• Nullifies: Ice, Electric, Dark

Minotaur III

Duo

Fire

• Resists: Slash
• Repels: Strike, Pierce

Minotaur IV

Ice

• Nullifies: Fire, Dark

All Ptolomea Monad Shadows

Shadow Name

Grouping

Weakness

Other Affinities of Note

Emperor Beetle

Duo

Fire

• Nullifies: Slash, Strike

Adamant Beetle

N/A

• Resists: Slash
• Nullifies: Pierce

World Balance

Duo

N/A

• N/A

Mind Dice

Fire

• Resists: Wind
• Nullifies: Ice

Death Castle

Solo

Ice

• Resists: Slash
• Nullifies: Pierce
• Repels: Dark

Crazy Twins

Duo

Slash

• Resists: Pierce, Light
• Nullifies: Fire, Wind

Immoral Snake

Slash

• Resists: Fire
• Nullifies: Wind

Beginning in Ptolomea, you'll encounter different groups of Shadows when you enter Monad. You'll still see the same Shadows paired up each time you encounter them, and you'll still only fight one, two, or three battles depending on the Monad door you chose, but there are more than three potential fights you may encounter beginning in Ptolomea.

This means you may not always fight the same three Shadows each time you venture into the same difficulty Monad door from here on out, so be prepared for anything!

All Judecca Monad Shadows

Shadow Name

Grouping

Weakness

Other Affinities of Note

Void Giant

Solo

Fire

Resists: Strike Nullifies: Slash Repels: Wind

Eternal Sand

Duo

Slash

Nullifies: Dark Repels: Ice, Electric

Infinite Sand

Strike

Nullifies: Fire, Ice, Electric, Wind, Light, Dark

Hakurou Musha

Duo

Ice

Nullifies: Wind Repels: Pierce, Fire, Dark

Vehement Idol

Fire

Nullifies: Ice Repels: Slash

Rampage Drive

Solo

N/A

Resists: Slash, Strike, Pierce

All Empyrean Monad Shadows

Shadow Name

Grouping

Weakness

Other Affinities of Note

Intrepid Knight

Solo

N/A

• Nullifies: Pierce
• Repels: Ice, Light, Dark

Reckoning Dice

Duo

N/A

• Drains: Slash, Strike, Pierce

Platinum Dice

Electric

• Nullifies: Slash, Ice

Phantom King

Solo

Fire

• Repels: Light, Dark

Fanatic Tower

Duo

Pierce

• Nullifies: Wind
• Drains: Electric

Doom Sword

Fire

• Resists: Strike, Pierce
• Repels: Slash

You may see former boss Shadows reappear as Monad door fights, so beware in case their affinities have changed.

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