Persona 3 Reload: Swift Axle weakness

In Persona 3 Reload, the Swift Axle is the third Gatekeeper boss in Tartarus, and appears on the 17th floor (17F). Like most enemies, the key to swiftly defeating the Swift Axle is identifying and exploiting its weakness.

Swift Axle is a large mechanical enemy in Persona 3 Reload, and if you’ve played a few JRPGs in your time, you’ll probably be able to guess its weakness, because 99 percent of mechanical enemies in JRPGs are weak to the same thing. You might be able to exploit its weakness right away, and fortunately, it’s easy if you know how.

What is the Swift Axle’s weakness in Persona 3 Reload?

Yes, like most mechanical enemies in JRPGs, Swift Axle’s one and only weakness is Electric damage (or Lightning damage, if you prefer). You can also deal decent damage to it using Fire, Ice, and Piercing attacks, but it’s resistant to Slashing and Bashing attacks, and Wind attacks won’t hurt it at all. Its own attacks are a mix of heavy physical attacks and Wind magic.

How to beat the Swift Axle in Persona 3 Reload

The quickest and easiest way to beat the Swift Axle is by repeatedly hitting it with Electric damage so you can perform All-Out Attacks again and again. But the S.E.E.S. Electric damage specialist, Akihiko Sanada, is still recovering from his injury and hasn’t joined the party yet. Having said that, it’s quite possible that you, the Leader, have already equipped a Persona that can deal Electric damage: Pixie.

If you haven’t found Pixie yet, or haven’t got her to level four, I recommend you grind the lower floors of Tartarus for a little while until you’ve got Pixie with the Zio skill. This will make the fight against the Swift Axle much easier.

But, if you’re determined to do this the hard way, you can still defeat the Swift Axle without Electric damage. Just wear it down with the Leader and Junpei’s Fire damage attacks (and Ice damage if you have that already), and Yukari’s basic attack. Yukari can keep everyone healed, and any buff or debuff skills from your Personas should come in handy. Make sure to get Junpei to Guard whenever he’s low on health, as he’s weak to the Swift Axle’s Wind magic.

Once the Swift Axle is out of the way, you can proceed up the Tartarus tower. You’re now only a few floors away from the first border floor.