Persona 5 Royal is known for having numerous Confidant skills for players to unlock. Some are beneficial to the point of game-breaking, while others are pretty forgettable. It’s also no secret that this game is notable for its heavy time-management mechanics, which require you to utilize your Confidants’ perks to complete the dungeon-crawling segments and even unlock some of the endings.
With a number of new Confidant abilities available in P5 Royal, fans may find themselves overwhelmed by the amount as they try to complete everything. To aid in reducing those stress levels, this article breaks down the most beneficial skills that will make your playthrough easier and smoother.
10/10 On The House – Iwai
Iwai starts you off with his On The House ability, which you can unlock once you max out his Confidant. This skill allows Joker to customize and swap gun mods free of charge. With this perk, you can arrange the elemental and ailment stats of the Phantom Thieves’ firearms to your heart’s content without wasting time grinding for cash.
Given that you need your Guts maxed out to progress far into Iwai’s story, you’ll most likely won’t complete his Confidant on the first playthrough until you’re near the end of the game. The urgency of this skill won’t benefit Joker’s team as much as others that are obtainable pretty early in the game.
9/10 Wakefulness – Maruki
While not the best skill on our list, Maruki’s Wakefulness can still prove beneficial in a pinch. Like Iwai, this skill unlocks upon reaching level 10 with the Councillor Confidant, which raises the amount of SP recovered from the Mindfulness ability during battle.
Because Wakefulness relies on the random activation of Mindfulness, you’re more than likely never going to find much use for this skill late game, especially since by the time you unlock it, you’ll have a sizable amount of SP rejuvenating items on hand. But, in the off chance you don’t have those items, Maruki will hopefully have your back in replenishing your SP.
8/10 Live Painting – Yusuke
Though Yusuke’s Skill Card abilities in the original Persona 5 were subpar to forgettable at best, Royal alters his services significantly, particularly his new Live Painting ability. This perk enables Yusuke to use the Card Duplication and Card Creation skills on the fly without consuming the entirety of a day. Using a Blank Card item as a canvas, Yusuke can paint any Persona skill he has previously memorized onto the card.
With this convenient benefit, you can easily replicate overpowering abilities for Joker’s Personas, ranging from null-elemental passives to SP regenerating skills. Live Painting unlocks for Yusuke after reaching level 7 in his Confidant.
7/10 Super Housekeeping – Kawakami
Unlocked after reaching level 6 (level 7 in the original Persona 5) with Kawakami’s Confidant, you can take full advantage of the Super Housekeeping ability early and mid-game.
As an upgrade of Housekeeping, Super Housekeeping allows Joker to request Kawakami to not only make coffee and do laundry, but also cook SP healing curry and craft infiltration tools for the Metaverse segments of the game. With this skill at your disposal, Joker can participate in evening activities without wasting the night cooking and crafting items himself. Kawakami will also prepare half of what Joker can craft depending on his Proficiency level.
6/10 Special Treatment – Caroline & Justine
Special Treatment in the original Persona 5 left a lot to be desired, mainly because by the time you reached the maxed rank in the Strength Confidant, Joker’s level would already be high enough for this perk to be more or less an afterthought.
Persona 5 Royal manages to mitigate this by altering the rank at which Special Treatment is unlocked — lowering it from level 10 to level 5. With this new quality of life change, you can fuse Personas well above Joker’s level (provided he has the money to spend) as early as the third or fourth Palace in the game.
5/10 Charismatic Speech – Yoshida
Yoshida’s Charismatic Speech is a pretty handy and alternative ability to strive for if you plan on having overpowered Personas above Joker’s level without wanting to spend an arm and a leg. Unlocked upon completion of Yoshida’s Confidant, Joker can form contracts with stronger-leveled Shadows in the Metaverse for a chance to obtain them as Personas.
Though a good substitute if Special Treatment proves too expensive to take advantage of, Charismatic Speech is somewhat limited in only allowing you to obtain the Personas found in Palaces and Mementos and not Personas that are exclusively obtainable via Fusion.
4/10 Immunization – Takemi
What makes Takemi’s Immunization perk nearly game-breaking is that it allows you to purchase SP Adhesives 1, 2, and 3. To say these accessories are overpowered is an understatement. By equipping one of these items, Joker and his party can regenerate SP by 3, 5, and 7 points, respectively.
While relatively expensive early game, any of these three adhesives are well worth the money since even one can allow you to grind and traverse Palaces and Mementos indefinitely, saving you a lot of days to complete additional Confidants and do other activities.
3/10 Togo System – Hifumi
The game’s most helpful Confidant battle ability is Hifumi’s Togo System, unlocked upon her story completion. This powerful perk allows you to swap current party members in and out of battle during anyone’s turn, giving you an advantage in just about any fight.
You’ll have to work hard to unlock this incredible skill, however, as you’ll need to max your Knowledge and eventually complete her Mementos request. You’ll most likely obtain this perk near the end of the game, but it’s worth it; Togo System will help tremendously against most late-game bosses.
2/10 Special Massage – Kawakami
Probably the most beneficial Confidant ability in the original Persona 5, Kawakami’s Special Massage ranks insanely high on the list, and for a good reason. As the name implies, this special perk allows Joker to request a massage from Kawakami, alleviating Joker’s body of stress and fatigue after exploring and enduring many battles in the Metaverse.
By no longer being restricted to Leblanc-only activity after dungeon crawling, Joker can spend time with additional Confidants that appear exclusively during the evening segments. Special Massage unlocks upon reaching rank 10 with Kawakami’s Confidant.
1/10 True Affinity Reading – Chihaya
Persona 5 Royal makes Chihaya’s fortune abilities from the vanilla version even better by replacing her original level 10 skill, Special Fate Reading, with True Affinity Reading. Joker can activate this Royal exclusive ability by spending a fee of 10,000 yen.
When spending time with a Confidant, True Affinity Reading highlights one or several of Joker’s dialogue responses in red, indicating that if you choose those options, he will receive the optimum amount of points needed to increase the level of his bond the following meeting. By knowing the correct responses to pick, you can quickly max most, if not all, of Joker’s Confidants in a single playthrough.
