Persona 4 Golden | How To Beat Contrarian King

Contrarian King is the first optional boss in Persona 4 Golden, and he drops a strong weapon for new party member Yukiko Amagi. Defeating the Contrarian King is a tough task, but it’s certainly not impossible. And while you don’t have to do it right away, you may enjoy the challenge. In this guide, we will give you a good strategy for beating Persona 4 Golden’s Contrarian King and coping with the big damage he deals out.

How To Beat Contrarian King In Persona 4 Golden

The first thing to point out is that Contrarian King is a lot stronger than anything you’ve fought before this point. There’s no shame in waiting until later to take him out when you’re much stronger. He deals a lot of damage with his rampage attack and increases that damage further still by reducing the defense of your party. The key to this fight is patience and ensuring you can survive his attacks.

Contrarian King is not weak to any elemental spell, so there is no chance of your party doing major damage with an easy all-out attack. He also takes zero wind, light, or dark damage, and he absorbs fire spells, which means two of your party members are very restricted on what they can do. Your key party members here are the main character and Chie, as they are the ones that can deal the most damage.

To beat the Contrarian King in Persona 4 Golden, you’ll need a strong persona equipped to your main character to get through the fight. I recommend Ghoul, who is available in shuffle time on the seventh floor. Ghoul has high endurance, meaning you have a better chance of living through the relentless attacks. He can use Sukukaja, a hit and evasion buff for your party and the powerful poison skewer attack, so you can inflict more damage over time. Another persona worth looking at is Cu Sith, also available on floor seven, who has Rakukaja, a defense buff that’s very useful here. Just be sure to switch back out to Ghoul as his endurance is not great.

Boss Fight Tips and Character Roles

Since Yosuke can’t deal any magical damage to the Contrarian King, he’ll need to play a support role. At this point in time, he should also have access to Sukukaja as well as the healing spell Dia. Use Yosuke to ensure that your character’s health is topped up and that the evasion buff is active at all times.

Chie should be busy attacking at all times unless she’s using Tarukaja to increase the attack of herself or the main character. She should have access to the skull crack attack which can confuse the enemy, hopefully making it attack itself and giving you a turn of rest. Chie uses ice magic too, one of the only two elements Contrarian King doesn’t resist, meaning you can feel free to spam ice attacks if needed.

Yukiko is your new party member and she excels at magical damage and healing. Unfortunately, the Contrarian King absorbs fire and uses it to heal. There’s no reason for you to use her Agi spells in this fight, so stay away from them. If you train her a little, she should have access to the media spell, a cure for your entire party. Yukiko should focus entirely on healing. Contrarian King does a lot of damage and if you’re not constantly healing you won’t last long.

Finally, as long as you stick to these roles you should eventually wear Contrarian King down and defeat him. You will probably need to invest in revival beads as none of your characters can revive each other. The boss also only uses physical attacks, so if you managed to get any physical mirror items, then you can use those to reflect these attacks back at him. What’s most important to remember is that it’s perfectly reasonable to come back later. Contrarian King is very strong for so early in the game, and if your characters just aren’t strong enough to win, you can still continue your progress otherwise.