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In the immersive world of Persona 5 Royal, leveling up is crucial for overcoming the game's challenging bosses and avoiding tedious grinding sessions in Mementos. This enhanced version of Persona 5 introduces numerous quality-of-life improvements and adds 20 hours of new content, including a new semester for the Phantom Thieves and updated boss encounters. Keeping your team at a high level is essential, especially with the influx of new gameplay elements.
Updated on January 13, 2025, by Renri Seong: While being over-leveled can trivialize the game, matching the levels of Palace Rulers is key, particularly when starting a new game. Persona 5 Royal offers various methods to streamline experience farming, from leveraging Confidant Skills to utilizing Jose in Mementos. Additionally, Joker can earn EXP for non-active Personas with the right passive skills. This guide has been refreshed to include strategies for quickly farming experience, including the use of the Insta-kill ability.
Accessories and The Moon Arcana
Mishima Yuuki's Confidant
In Persona 5 Royal, players can enhance their experience gain by downloading the free Team Glasses accessory from the PlayStation Store. Equipping each character with these glasses will boost their EXP gain by 15% during battles. However, only the active frontline members receive full experience; those in the backline earn less.
To ensure that backup team members also benefit from increased EXP, players need to advance the Moon Confidant (Yuuki Mishima) to Rank 3 and Rank 5. Reaching Rank 10 with Mishima's Confidant allows backup members to earn the same amount of EXP as the frontline fighters. Progressing through Mishima's Confidant is straightforward; just choose the dialogue options that resonate with him and bring a Persona of the Moon Arcana when spending time with him. It's important to note that Mishima's Mementos Missions are now integrated with his Confidant progression, so neglecting these missions can hinder your ability to rank up.
Mementos: Increase EXP Gain
Cognition of Mementos
Jose, a new character in Persona 5 Royal, plays a significant role in enhancing your gameplay experience, though he is less central to the plot than Kasumi and Maruki. Throughout Mementos, you'll find "flowers" and "Stamp Stations." Collecting these allows you to trade with Jose for items or to alter the Cognition of Mementos. Within Jose's Shop, you can choose to increase EXP, Money, or Item rewards, but these boosts are exclusive to Mementos. Upgrading EXP gain to 110% costs 5 Stamps, while reaching the maximum of 200% requires 12 Stamps. To fully maximize EXP Up, you'll need 85 out of the 165 available Stamps. Stamp Stations are located in "dead ends" behind breakable walls on Mementos floors, and you may encounter Jose upon entering a new floor.
Fight the Reaper
What Level is the Reaper?
The Reaper, a formidable recurring adversary in the Persona series, appears in Mementos if you linger too long on a floor. Warning signs include a blinking red screen, the sound of chains, and alerts from Morgana or Futaba. At the game's outset, defeating the Reaper is nearly impossible unless you're on a New Game+ file, given his -dyne tier spells and powerful Support skills like Concentrate and elemental Breaks.
The Reaper starts at level 85, boasting exceptionally high stats, with Agility being his lowest at 75, yet still sufficient to outpace under-leveled Phantom Thieves. Defeating him, however, yields a massive amount of experience and money, often resulting in a level up for all characters. To tackle the Reaper, it's advisable to reach at least level 60 and equip Defense-raising Support skills and Makarakarn to reflect his magic. Alternatively, utilizing the Persona DLC, specifically Izanagi-no-Okami (Picaro), allows you to stack Concentrate, Heat Riser, and unleash Myriad Truths for significant Almighty damage.
Defeat Treasure Demons
How to Summon Treasure Demons
Treasure Demons, unique Shadows first encountered in Madarame's Palace, become available throughout the Metaverse after your initial meeting. These non-aggressive Shadows tend to flee after a few turns. Each type of Treasure Demon has specific Affinity Weaknesses and Immunities, but all are susceptible to regular damage from Almighty attacks. To defeat them before they escape, use Shinya's Rank 1 Ability, Down Shot, to knock them down and initiate an All-Out Attack. Another option is to use high-crit attacks like Morgana's Miracle Punch, provided the Treasure Demon isn't immune to Physical damage.
Treasure Demons are more likely to appear in Palaces when security is high. You can also craft the Treasure Trap infiltration tool to increase encounters, which requires:
- 2x Silk Yarn
- 3x Plant Balm
- 1x Cork Bark
Use Persona with EXP Skills
How to Get Growth Passive Skill
Typically, Personas that Joker doesn't use in battle won't earn EXP. However, equipping them with the Growth Passive Skill changes this, allowing them to gain a percentage of battle experience even when inactive. The Growth Skills include:
- Growth 1: Persona gains a quarter EXP when inactive.
- Growth 2: Persona gains half EXP when inactive.
- Growth 3: Persona will gain full EXP when inactive.
The following Personas learn Growth upon leveling:
- Growth 1: Saki Mitama (level 7), Koppa Tengu (level 12)
- Growth 2: Lachesis (Innate), Kurama Tengu (level 36), Thoth (level 42), Ananta (level 47)
- Growth 3: Izanagi (level 25), Izanagi Picaro (level 28), Narcissus (level 50), Raphael (level 81)
In Persona 5 Royal, using the Electric Chair in the Velvet Room allows you to turn Personas into Skill Cards. However, the Personas that once transformed into Growth 1 and Growth 2 Skill Cards in the original game no longer do so. Izanagi Picaro is the sole Persona that converts into a Growth 3 Skill Card. To obtain the Growth 2 Skill Card, you must visit Miura Beach with Caroline and Justine between September 2nd and September 29th, after clearing event 6 (Sky Tower). You can spend time with them in the evenings by the Velvet Room Door outside Mementos.
Ryuji Sakamoto's Confidant
How to Unlock Insta-Kill
Insta-kill is a potent skill that allows Joker to instantly defeat Shadows during an ambush, provided his level is 10 levels higher than the target. In Persona 5 Royal, a successful Insta-kill not only eliminates the Shadow but also grants items, yen, experience, and potentially a new Persona if inventory space allows. Use Joker's Third Eye to identify Shadows vulnerable to Insta-kill, marked by a green outline.
To unlock Insta-kill, you must reach Rank 7 in Ryuji Sakamoto's Confidant. Ryuji's Confidant is one of the easiest to max out, with no Social Stat requirements. To progress quickly, spend time with Ryuji and select dialogue options that maximize your points. It's advisable to focus on this before expanding to other Confidants.
