Highlights

• Fusing is key to getting stronger in Persona 5 Royal - always aim to fuse for the best Personas available.
• Different Personas have unique elemental affinities and spells - some are powerful in any situation.
• Collecting and fusing the best Personas like Ishtar and Kaguya can greatly boost your party's strength.

Fusing and getting new Personas is the cornerstone to getting stronger in any Persona game - and this is still the case for Persona 5 Royal. Many can be collected through negotiations in the metaverse, and others are exclusive to just fusing. Many Personas can be both fused or collected, but fusing will always result in the best Persona.

Personas have different elemental affinities and learn spells based on those affinities. While all elements are useful depending on the enemy you are fighting, some Personas are so powerful they are useful in any situation. Here are the best Personas you need to collect, all ranked accordingly.

Updated By Nathan Round on April 2nd, 2024: We have updated this list with five more Personas that you can pick from the game. We have also updated this guide's formatting to fit with the current formatting standards here at DualShockers.

20 Abaddon

Niche Counter Persona With High Physical Damage

• Great Persona to use against enemies majoring in physical, gun, and curse attacks
• Offers healing, along with strong physical-based attacks

Abaddon is a very powerful Persona for its survivability, coming with the ability to absorb physical, gun, and curse attacks. Abaddon also comes with the trait Gluttonmounth, which increases personal healing done by this Persona by about 50%. Abaddon doesn't learn any healing spells specifically, but can gain some strong ones through fusion to greatly take advantage of this trait.

Abaddon also comes with multiple strong physical attacks. These powerful attacks will use up a lot of health when performed, but this Personas trait and absorptions can be used to counter the high cost of their powerful attacks. Abaddon also comes with a heavy ice attack, but its main focus will always be its physical abilities.

19 Odin

Great Counter For Electric Weak Bosses

• High-powered Persona majoring in high-damage electric attacks
• Perfect counter against electric weak bosses, along with offering protection against status ailments

Odin is an incredibly powerful electric user, learning the best severe electric attacks for enemies and a single target. These powerful skills, such as Thunder Reign and Wild Thunder, have an absurdly high SP cost. However, Odin's trait: Bargain Bolts lowers electric skills by 75%, making this Persona even more powerful and valuable for longer fights.

Odin also learns to Concentrate, which can be paired with either of his electric abilities to deal massive damage to his enemies. Odin also learns Fast Heal, which helps keep you from being affected by any status ailments. In all, Odin is great to use against electric weak enemies and doesn't necessarily have any elemental weaknesses.

18 Fafnir

High Damage Nuke Majoring Persona

• Persona majoring in dishing out high amounts of Severe Nuke damage
• Great counter for mitigating fire and nuke damage, but much of its best skills need to be learned

Fafnir is a nuke-focused Persona, capable of dishing out Severe Nuke damage with Cosmic Flare and Atomic Flare. Fafnir is also capable of learning the Nuke Amp passive ability, which boosts all nuclear attacks by 50%. This is a massive boost, making each nuke attack highly worth its high SP cost.

Fafnir later learns the ability of Debilitate, which is excellent for severely weakening an enemy before hitting them with some of the strong attacks that Persona has access to. Fafnir also is capable of absorbing fire damage, along with learning to absorb nuke damage - making it quite the tanky Persona. Unfortunately, most of these skills need to be learned. But, Fafnir does offer a Colossal Physical attack right from the get-go - at the cost of HP of course.

17 Metatron

Great Bless Damage Persona

• High damage Persona possessing heavy Bless and Almighty attacks
• Has Bless attack boosting passives, along with a colossal Physical damage attack

Metatron is a great Persona for dishing out Bless-damage. With the Makougaon skill, players can dish out heavy Bless damage to all foes - which can be boosted further with Bless Amp. Metatron also offers the skill Mahamaon, which has a medium chance of killing all foes. Though the SP cost of both skills may seem great, each can be reduced by 75% with this Persona's Martyr's Gift trait.

Besides dealing Bless damage, Metatron is also able to dish out severe Almighty damage to all foes with the Megidolaon skill. Metatron also has Sword Dance, which deals colossal Physical damage to a single target. This attack has a high critical rate, but does cost HP to use. Throw Concentrate into the mix, a skill that more than doubles the strength of your next magical attack, and you have yourself a high-damage Persona capable of exploiting several weaknesses.

16 Ishtar

Great Support Persona With Offensive Abilities

• Majors in restoring the HP of party members, along with reviving one ally with HP recovered
• Is capable of performing healing skills at a low cost, countering ailments, and dealing heavy Electric damage

Ishtar, though not necessarily the best Persona in the game, is a great support Persona to add to your roster. Ishtar is all about improving the longevity of the party, and this is made apparent by her plethora of support skills. Ishtar's innate skills are not to be slept upon, as both Mediarahan and Samarecarm can save you in the heat of battle. The first will fully restore the HP of the party, while the second allows you to revive one ally with HP fully recovered. Both are great for bringing your party up to tip-top shape when things go wrong.

Ishtar's Persona trait, Grace of Mother, also reduces the cost of healing skills by 75%, thus countering the high SP cost of Mediarahan and Samarecarm. Ishtar also counters ailments through her passive skill Insta-Heal, along with her SP skill Salvation. Pair this with her ability to dish out heavy Electric damage and Shock through Maziodyne, and you have a great support Persona that is also able to fight.

15 Kaguya

Ideal Persona For Both Support & Counter Attack

• Majors in restoring the HP of a party or a single part member through innate and learned abilities
• Provides numerous skills capable of repelling Physical damage and booster counter damage

Kaguya majors in two areas, both support and defense. For support, Kaguya offers Mediarama, her innate SP skill to moderately restore HP of the party. Though not performing as great as Ishtar's Mediarahan skill, Kaguya can fully restore the HP of one party member through Diarahan. Like Ishtar, Kaguya also offers the ability to cure the party of all non-special ailments through her learned skill Amrita Shower.

The main attraction of Kaguya, however, is her ability to repel numerous attacks. Her innate passive, Counterstrike, has a 15% chance of reflecting Physical attacks. However, they can be outright repelled passively through her learned skill Repel Phys. Her Persona trait, Inviolable Beauty, also increases the damage from repelling attacks, along with tripling counter damage - thus providing Kaguya the means to dish out some heavy damage. Throw in Kaguya's ability to dish out light Bless damage to all foes anywhere from 4 to 8 times a turn (Shining Arrows), and you have a great Persona for support and counter-attacking.

14 Messiah

Almighty Persona With HP & SP Recovering Skills

• Can dish out severe Almighty damage, along with boosting the amount of Almighty damage dealt passively
• Is capable of restoring HP of the party, and individual SP, along with nullifying debuffs

The Messiah is a powerful Persona, possessing mainly offensive-type skills, with some defensive capabilities thrown into the mix. Messiah's two main attacks, Megidolaon and God's Hand, allow you to deal severe Almighty damage to all foes, or colossal Physical damage to a single foe. Though the latter skill does cost HP to use, Messiah is capable of restoring HP innately through Oratorio, along with nullifying stat debuffs.

Messiah also has some great learned passive abilities that make him a formidable foe. For example, Regenerate 3 and Invigorate 3 working together will allow you to steadily recover both HP and SP. The amount of HP and SP recovered can also be doubled with Messiah's Persona trait, Hallowed Spirit. Messiah can also counter Physical attacks passively with Drain Phys, along with boosting the effective damage of Megidolaon with Almighty Boost.

13 Trumpeter

Good Persona With Great Stat Enhancing Passives

• Comes with the ability to increase gun damage, along with not being afflicted by status ailments
• Generally great for attacking single opponents along with restoring HP and SP

Trumpeter is a great Persona mainly for its various passive skills. Much like Abbadon, Trumpeter offers a power nuke attack (Mafreidyne) right from the get-go, but that isn't necessarily the main benefit of running Trumpeter. Trumpeters learned the passive ability Life Aid, which is the main focal point, as it is capable of restoring 8% HP and SP after victory - quickly sealing the end of a trip to the metaverse.

Gun Amp is another great learned passive skill for Trumpeter, as it will strengthen your gun attacks by 50% - allowing you to boost your gun attacks against single opponents considerably. The final passive skill, Fortify Spirit, reduces susceptibility to all ailments, making Trumpeter versatile for a wide range of different foes. Pair all these attributes with Trumpeter's Relentless Persona trait, and you have a superb Persona for decimating a single opponent at a time.

12 Sandalphon

Versatile Persona With Great Offensive & Defensive Abilities

• Great all-around Persona with powerful almighty, insta-kill, and healing abilities.
• Capable of reviving and curing team members, along with increasing evasion rates

Sandalphon is one of the most versatile Personas in the game due to its plethora of different skills. The main attraction around Sandalphon is its ability to insta kill enemies, both through its Mahamaon skill and the Omen trait combined. Sandalphon also offers superb defensive abilities through its learned ability to repel curse attacks (Repel Curse) and its capability to increase the evasion rate against most attacks (Angelic Grace).

Offense and defense abilities aside, Sandalphon also has two notable abilities that can come in clutch when a battle starts to go south. Samarecarm, for instance, revives and fully heals a lost party member. Amrita Shower, on the other hand, cures the whole party from any status effect, thus nullifying even the most damaging of plays. All in all, Sandalphon is almost a jack-of-all-trades in Persona 5 Royal, and is a great inclusion to any player's party.

11 Bugs

All Round Great Offensive & Defensive Persona

• Great offensive and defensive Persona, offering stat-boosting buffs and critical attacks
• Great for supportive play also, offering passive skills for recovery and evasion

Bugs is a great Persona for both offense and defense, with a versatile skillset that includes powerful single-target and multi-target damage abilities, but also throwing debuff and passive abilities into the mix. The main attraction to running Bugs is his ability to boost the attack power of all allies right at the start of a battle (Auto-Mataru). This, paired with Miracle Punch to deliver a powerful critical attack to a single opponent, allows you to make short work of foes.

Bugs is also great for support, halving the time needed to recover from ailments through his Fast Heal passive skill, along with tripling the evasion rate of physical damage with Evade Phys. Bugs' trait, Potent Hypnosis, further enhances his support rating by increasing buff timers by 1 turn, thus improving the player's longevity in battle. Bugs is rather weak to Nuclear damage, however, so keep that in mind.

10 Surt

Great Offensive Fire-Base Persona

• Offers Blazing Hell and Fire Amp, great to use against enemies weak to Fire
• Can reduce the SP cost of Fire skills, along with offering Physical damage attacks

Surt is a powerhouse when it comes to offensive abilities in Persona 5 Royal. Majoring in Fire damage, Surt offers the fire spell Blazing Hell, which inflicts severe Fire damage to all foes, and has a chance to inflict Burn. Pair this with Fire Amp to passively strengthen Fire attacks by 50%, and you have a Persona well-equipped for taking out opponents weak to fire.

While making use of fire skills does cost a hefty amount of SP, Surts trait Heated Bloodline halves the total SP cost for such attacks. Outside of pure Fire damage, Surt also learns physical attacks that do colossal damage to one or all foes (Brave Blade and Gigantomachia). Blazing Hell will be the majority of what you'll do with this Persona. However, bear in mind that Surt is weak against Ice.

9 Shiki-Ouji

Versatile Psychic-Based Persona

• Psychic-based Persona dishing out Psychic damage, along with halving the cost of Psychic skills
• Offers gun attacks and debuffing effects, making this Persona versatile for offense and defense

While Shiki-Ouji is an early-game Persona you can find in Madarame's palace, his defensive abilities can quite literally carry you throughout the rest of the game. He is resistant to physical, gun, bless, and curse damage, having one of the highest amounts of resistance of any Persona. Shiki-Ouji specializes in Psychic damage, offering two attacks to both a single and multiple enemies (Psio and Mapsi).

Shiki-Ouji's trait, Psychic Bloodline, halves the cost of all psychic spells, countering the high SP drainage his Psychic skills possess. While he learns all of his abilities by level 24, skill cards can be used to keep him relevant later in the game. Shiki-Ouji also offers other skills outside of simple Psychic attacks, such as dishing out Gun damage with Double Shot and debuffing enemy effects with Dekaja. This makes Shiki-Ouji a versatile Persona with a mix of offensive and supportive abilities.

8 Alice

Heavy-Hitting Instant Kill Persona

• Great Persona specializing in instant kill Curse skills
• Capable of dishing out high Curse and Almighty damage with learned skills

Alice is a great high-damage Persona to use for the late-game of Persona 5 Royal, sporting a multitude of impressive learned skills. Alice's main benefit is her skill Die For Me, which has a high chance to instant kill all foes with Curse damage. Though the SP cost of this particular attack is quite high, Alice's Persona trait, Just Die, lowers the SP cost of instant kill abilities to 0.

Instant kills are without a doubt Alice's specialty, especially when you employ Mudo Boost into the mix - which increases the success rate of instant death through Curse skills. Alice can also dish out severe Almighty damage through the use of Megidolaon, making this Persona adapt to exploiting different enemy weaknesses and resistances. Do bear in mind, however, that Alice is susceptible to Bless.

7 Black Frost

High Damage Ice Wielding Persona

• Great Ice-based Persona with powerful Ice damage attacks like Mabufudyne and Diamond Dust
• Inherits powerful passives like Frigid Bloodline and Freeze Boost that boost the effectiveness of Ice skills

If you want a high-damage Ice Persona, look no further than Black Frost. Black Frost is capable of dealing some pretty decent Ice damage to multiple or single targets, either through its innate Mabufudyne ability, or through its learned Diamond Dust skill. Each attack is pretty great against Ice weak enemies, but their damage output can be boosted even further by the Ice Amp passive skill.

The benefits of Black Frost do not stop there, as other skills further complement your ability to use both Mabufudyne and Diamond Dust. The Frigid Bloodline trait, for example, halves the SP cost of both Ice skills, making this Persona efficient at using Ice-based abilities. Attacks can be boosted even further with the Freeze Boost passive skill - which increases the chances of inflicting Frost. Not to mention Black Frost is also a great counter for Fire Personas, as it can repel Fire skills through the use of Repel Fire.

6 Maria

Outstanding Support & Recovery Persona

• Great support Persona capable of healing and reviving party members with Salvation and Holy Benevolence
• Can reduce the cost of recovery spells, along with restoring HP and SP

Maria is by far one of the best Personas for support and recovery in Persona 5 Royal. The main attraction for Maria is her innate spell Salvation, which can fully restore the HP of your entire party and cure all non-special ailments - making it the greatest healing spell in the base game. But that's not all, as Maria has a few more tricks up her sleeve - but do bear in mind that Maria is weak to Fire.

On top of healing the whole party, Maria can also revive the entire party with full HP recovered through the Holy Benevolence skill - providing you with an excellent safety net if things go south. Though these skills do cost a hefty amount of SP, Maria's trait (Ave Maria) reduces recovery spells SP cost by 75%. Maria can also bring back lost HP and SP with Holy Whisper, and boost the Attack, Defense, and Agility to members of your teams with Heat Riser.

5 Satan

Most Versatile Ice-Based Persona

• Versatile Ice-based Persona with powerful Ice attacks, Diamond Dust and Ice Age, capable of inflicting Freeze
• Can reduce the SP cost of Ice-based skills, along with dishing out severe Almighty damage

Satan is by far the most versatile Ice-based Persona in the game. Though Satan cannot inflict Frost like Black Frost can, he still has a plethora of powerful skills. Satan wields both Diamond Dust and Ice Age innately, allowing him to deal severe Ice damage along with potentially inflicting Freeze. Satan also serves as a direct counter for other Ice-based Persona, as he can passively absorb Ice attacks with the Drain Ice.

Satan's Persona trait, Cocytus, is immensely useful for countering the high SP cost of Diamond Dust and Ice Age, as it lowers the cost of Ice spells by 75%. Satan is also capable of learning a severe Almighty-based attack (Black Viper), thus granting him additional damage types should enemies prove resistant to Ice. But that isn't the end of it, for Satan can also boost the damage output of his magic skills via Concentrate, allowing you to be strategic with your plays.

4 Seth

Strong Fire Damage Persona With Buffing & Defbuffing Abilities

• Possesses a high-damage Fire spell with the chance to inflict Burn, along with inflicting Gun damage
• Capable of rebuffing enemies of Fire resistance, along with reducing susceptibility to ailments

Seth ranks quite high when it comes to the best Personas in Persona 5 Royal. Though not necessarily majoring in Fire damage, Seth has the innate spell Agidyne, which dishes heavy Fire damage and inflicts Burn on a single foe. Seth can also inflict severe Gun damage to an opponent with the One-Shot Kill skill - a skill that can be boosted considerably with the Gun Amp passive skill.

On top of just inflicting Gun and Fire damage, Seth is also blessed with the ability of elemental suppression. With Fire Break, players can suppress innate Fire resistances of all foes for 3 turns. This will boost the effectiveness of Agidyne to foes that might otherwise shrug it off. Throw Seth's ability to reduce the player's susceptibility to all ailments (Fortify Spirit), and you have a great Persona for both debuffing enemies and buffing your party.

3 Lucifer

Superb Damage Inflicting Persona With Great Defense Passives

• Offers high Physical and Almighty damage output with Gigantomachia and Morning Star
• Can absorb and repel Physical, Curse, and Bless attacks, granting Lucifer superb defensive abilities

Lucifer is somewhat of a mixed bag when it comes to Personas, being capable of performing a wide range of skills. Lucifer possesses two notable attacks, Gigantomachia and Morning Star, the first being capable of dishing out colossal physical damage to all foes at the expense of HP. The second dishes out severe Almighty damage to all enemies, and with Allure of Wisdom, at 75% less SP.

Lucifer is not all about offense, however, as he also grants some of the best defense passive abilities in the game. For starters, Lucifer is superb at countering niche attacks, capable of absorbing both Physical and Curse attacks with Drain Phys and Drain Curse. Lucifer is also capable of countering his own weakness by repelling Bless attacks with Repel Bless. He also learns Heat Riser, which boosts Attack, Defense, and Agility of an ally for the next three turns - along with recovering from an ailment in just one turn with Insta Heal.

2 Satanael

Heavy-Hitting, Damage-Boosting Persona

• Persona with high damage Curse and Almighty attacks, along with damage-boosting passives
• Capable of serving instant kills with Survival Trick, and bypassing SP management with Victory Cry

Satanael is close to being the ultimate Persona to use in Persona 5 Royal. Initially given to finish off Yaldabaoth, players will be rewarded with Satanael when entering New Game+. Right off the bat, this Persona comes with four innate skills, two of which are Maeigaon and Megidolaon, dealing heavy Curse and severe Almighty damage to all foes. Both of these attacks can be strengthened by 50% though the use of the Pagan Allure Persona trait.

To add even more damage potential, Satanael can also dish out severe gun damage with Riot Gun, along with boosting the damage output of all his attacks with Tyrant's Mind - a passive that can be stacked to improve its effectiveness. Satanael is truly powerful, and can survive instant kills in one turn via the Survival Trick. What's even more impressive is this Persona's ability to gear you up for subsequent battles, because it can fully restore your HP and SP after victory with the Victory Cry passive.

1 Yoshitsune

Overall Best Physical Damage Persona With Electric Skills

• A great physical damage-orientated Persona with the ability to learn Electric magic attacks.
• Capable of learning passive abilities for boosting damage further.

Yoshitsune is a great Physical damage-orientated Persona, capable of learning a multitude of different skills. Yoshitsune's main attack, Brave Blade, can deal colossal Physical damage to 1 foe - but does drain 25% of your HP for doing so. Alternative attacks, like Hassou Tobi, do light physical damage to all enemies eight times each. Both skills can be boosted by 150% through the use of the Charge skill - which has a fairly low SP cost.

On top of pure Physical damage, Yoshitsune can also learn Ziodyne, a powerful Electric attack that can inflict Shock to one foe. This attack is great on its own, but its damage output can be boosted by 50% with Elec Amp. Offensive capabilities aside, Yoshitsune also employs two support skills. The first is Last Stand, which reduces the hit rate from incoming attacks when being ambushed. The second is Fast Heal, halving the time it takes to recover from ailments. Both are great for survivability and resilience, making Yoshitsune a great counter for even some of the toughest of bosses.