The Persona series masterfully blends dungeon crawling and monster battling with deep social simulation, and Persona 5 Royal is no exception. At the heart of this experience are your relationships with various characters, known as Confidants. These bonds, or Cooperations, are crucial for progressing in the game and unlocking its full potential. This Persona 5 Royal Confidant Guide provides you with everything you need to efficiently navigate these relationships, ensuring you reap all the rewards they offer.
Each Confidant in Persona 5 Royal boasts a unique personality and offers a glimpse into the vibrant world of Tokyo. Building strong friendships with them involves understanding their personalities, knowing the right things to say, and choosing appropriate gifts. Some Confidants even offer the option for romance, adding another layer to these already engaging relationships.
Developing your Confidant relationships is not just about deepening friendships; it’s also strategically advantageous. Each Confidant unlocks unique abilities as you strengthen your bond with them. These abilities can range from shop discounts and battle EXP bonuses to more specialized perks, depending on the character. Furthermore, increasing your Confidant rank provides bonus EXP when fusing Personas of the same Arcana as the Confidant. Crucially, certain Confidant relationships are essential for unlocking additional game content and achieving the true ending in Persona 5 Royal. In essence, Confidants and Cooperations are integral to your Phantom Thief journey, significantly impacting your effectiveness and the richness of your experience.
While the core Confidant system is present in both Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal, Royal introduces some differences. Dialogue options may vary, and new Confidants are exclusive to Royal. Rest assured, this guide is comprehensive, covering all Confidant Cooperations in both Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal.
Minor spoilers regarding Confidant identities follow, proceed with caution!
Persona 5 & Persona 5 Royal Confidant Cooperations – Conversation Choices & Ranking Up
A core element inherited from previous Persona titles is the significance of time management. In Persona 5 Royal, you operate under a strict schedule with a limited number of days to achieve your goals. Each day is divided into segments, restricting the number of actions you can take. Therefore, strategic time allocation is paramount, especially when it comes to developing Confidant relationships.
Confidant Cooperations are a significant time investment. With 21 Confidants to befriend, efficiently managing your time is crucial. This comprehensive Persona 5 Royal confidant guide is designed to help you minimize the in-game time dedicated to Cooperations, freeing up valuable days for other activities.
By making optimal conversation choices during your Confidant hangouts, you can accelerate your relationship progress, saving precious in-game days. If you prefer not to rely on guesswork, this guide provides the answers you need to maximize your Confidant rankings efficiently.
To help you decide which relationships to prioritize and which Confidant abilities are most beneficial, beyond the detailed Confidant list below, we offer specific advice on:
- Confidant Time Limit Priority: Which Confidants to focus on first due to deadlines or early game advantages.
- Best Confidants & Confidant Abilities: Highlighting the most impactful Confidant abilities to enhance your gameplay.
For gift-giving strategies, while suggestions are included on individual Confidant pages, a dedicated Persona 5 Royal gift guide offers more in-depth advice.
Ann (Lovers) Confidant guide
This guide provides comprehensive details to maximize your Confidant rank with Ann as quickly as possible. It also includes instructions on how to romance Ann if you wish to pursue a romantic relationship with her.
Ryuji (Chariot) Confidant guide
Ryuji is your steadfast ally throughout Persona 5 Royal. Strengthening your bond with him unlocks valuable skills and combat options, especially beneficial for players who favor a tank-style character. This guide details the optimal conversation choices to enhance your relationship with Ryuji efficiently.
Makoto (Priestess) Confidant guide
The linked guide provides all the information needed to impress Makoto, including romance options, and outlines the skills and upgrades unlocked as you deepen your bond with her throughout the game.
Yusuke (Emperor) Confidant guide
Yusuke, the refined artist, is a valuable Confidant. This guide helps you efficiently navigate your relationship with him, ensuring you maximize the benefits of his unique abilities.
Futaba (Hermit) Confidant guide
Futaba, the reclusive but brilliant hacker, is a powerful ally. This guide provides the best conversation choices to deepen your bond with her, potentially leading to a romantic relationship, and unlocking her essential support abilities.
Haru (Empress) Confidant guide
Haru, the elegant heiress, may seem reserved but is a valuable member of the Phantom Thieves. This guide reveals the optimal choices to build your relationship with Haru, offering both friendship and romance options, and unlocking her gardening and combat abilities.
Kasumi (Faith) Confidant guide – Persona 5 Royal only
Kasumi, a brand-new character in Persona 5 Royal, is a party member with her own Confidant storyline. This guide covers everything about her Confidant, including romance options and crucial time limits you need to be aware of to maximize your relationship.
Goro Akechi (Justice) Confidant guide – Persona 5 Royal focused
Akechi’s Confidant in Persona 5 Royal is significantly different from the original Persona 5. It features player choices and is directly linked to unlocking the true ending. This guide is essential for navigating Akechi’s Confidant path in Royal and achieving the game’s ultimate conclusion.
Strength Fusing Solutions: Fusion guide for the Caroline & Justine (Strength) Confidant
The Twin Wardens, Caroline and Justine, require a unique approach to ranking up their Confidant. Instead of conversations, you must fulfill Persona fusion requests. This guide provides solutions to all fusion puzzles, enabling you to unlock powerful Velvet Room features.
Sadayo Kawakami (Temperance) Confidant guide
Kawakami, your homeroom teacher, offers time-management benefits and a potential romance. This guide helps you navigate the sometimes delicate nature of this relationship, highlighting conversation choices and time-sensitive elements to maximize your Confidant rank and unlock her highly useful abilities.
Tae Takemi (Death) Confidant guide
Tae Takemi, the back-alley doctor, is an invaluable Confidant for dungeon exploration. Ranking up her Confidant unlocks a wider selection of healing items at discounted prices. This guide provides the optimal path to quickly maximize your relationship with Tae and access her essential shop upgrades.
Ichiko Ohya (Devil) Confidant guide
Ohya, the journalist, offers unique benefits related to Palace infiltration. While her abilities might be less directly combat-focused, her Confidant skills can be strategically useful. This guide helps you navigate your relationship with Ohya and unlock her unique perks.
Shinya Oda (Tower) Confidant guide
Shinya Oda, the arcade prodigy, focuses on gun-related combat skills. Developing his Confidant unlocks abilities that enhance your gun proficiency and provide tactical advantages in battles. This guide provides the fastest route to maximizing your relationship with Shinya and mastering gun combat.
Sojiro Sakura (Hierophant) Confidant guide
Sojiro Sakura, your guardian, offers valuable everyday skills. Ranking up his Confidant unlocks coffee brewing and curry cooking, essential for creating SP-restoring items. This guide provides the optimal conversation choices to deepen your relationship with Sojiro and gain access to these crucial crafting abilities.
Hifumi Togo (Star) Confidant guide
Hifumi Togo, the shogi prodigy, offers strategic combat enhancements. Her Confidant abilities allow for tactical depth, including swapping party members mid-battle. This guide provides the best conversation paths to quickly rank up Hifumi’s Confidant and unlock her game-changing tactical skills.
Toranosuke Yoshida (Sun) Confidant guide
Yoshida, the politician, provides benefits that directly increase your gains from Palaces and Mementos. His Confidant abilities enhance negotiation success, Persona recruitment, and rare item drops. This guide helps you navigate Yoshida’s Confidant, which has a deadline, and maximize your rewards from battles.
Chihaya Mifune (Fortune) Confidant guide
Chihaya Mifune, the fortune teller, offers unique services that can significantly accelerate your game progression. While her Confidant requires an initial investment, her abilities to boost Confidant point gains and social stats are invaluable. This guide outlines how to unlock Chihaya’s Confidant, navigate her story, and utilize her powerful fortune-telling services effectively.
Iwai Munehisa (Hanged Man) Confidant guide
Iwai Munehisa, the weapons shop owner, is crucial for upgrading your arsenal. His Confidant unlocks weapon customization, allowing you to enhance your firearms. This guide details how to quickly raise your Confidant rank with Iwai and gain access to weapon customization and powerful gear.
Yuuki Mishima (Moon) Confidant guide
Mishima, your devoted fan, offers significant EXP bonuses. His Confidant abilities boost EXP gained in battle and allow inactive party members to earn EXP as well. This guide explains how to progress Mishima’s Confidant, which is tied to Mementos requests, and maximize your party’s leveling efficiency.
Takuto Maruki Confidant guide – Persona 5 Royal only
Maruki, the school counselor introduced in Persona 5 Royal, is crucial for accessing the new content and endings in Royal. This guide helps you navigate Maruki’s Confidant, which has time limits and specific choices that impact the story’s direction and the game’s conclusion.
Cooperation Guides: Fool, Magician & Judgement – Igor, Morgana & Sae
Certain Confidant relationships, such as those with Igor, Morgana, and Sae Niijima, advance automatically as you progress through Persona 5 Royal’s main storyline. This guide provides an overview of these automatic Confidant progressions, outlining their rank-up dates and unlocked abilities.
Confidant Relationships to Prioritize
While you have the freedom to pursue Confidant relationships in any order based on personal preference, especially regarding romance options, some Confidants are more beneficial to prioritize early on. These are recommended due to time constraints or significant gameplay advantages:
- Sun (Yoshida): The Sun Confidant has a strict deadline, becoming unavailable after mid-November. Yoshida’s abilities significantly improve Shadow Negotiation, making Palace and Mementos exploration much smoother.
- Temperance (Kawakami): Temperance provides invaluable time-saving abilities, allowing you to study, read, or craft tools during class time. Her ultimate ability, the special massage, is a fantastic bonus. Like Sun, Temperance also has a mid-November deadline.
- Moon (Mishima): The Moon Confidant briefly becomes unavailable in November. Mishima’s abilities grant substantial EXP bonuses in battles, accelerating your party’s growth and making combat encounters easier.
- Fortune (Chihaya): Fortune is strategically beneficial to max out early. Chihaya’s abilities can significantly accelerate your progress with other Confidants, making it easier to build multiple relationships efficiently.
The Best Confidants & Confidant Abilities in Persona 5
While every Confidant offers unique and interesting storylines and abilities, some stand out as particularly impactful for gameplay. Here are our top five Confidants to prioritize to gain access to their most beneficial abilities:
Death (XIII) – Tae Takemi
Tae Takemi, the Death Confidant, provides arguably the most universally useful abilities in the game. As you deepen your relationship with her, she unlocks a wider range of healing items in her clinic, culminating in a significant discount at higher ranks. Her items are invaluable for sustaining your party through challenging dungeons.
Our dedicated guide details how to find Tae and maximize the Death Confidant cooperation.
Moon (XVIII) Confidant – Yuuki Mishima
Yuuki Mishima, the Moon Confidant, is unavoidable but essential. His Confidant abilities are consistently ranked among the best. He unlocks skills that grant EXP to inactive party members and significantly boost the overall EXP gain in battles, drastically accelerating your team’s leveling.
Our detailed guide provides strategies to quickly rank up Mishima’s cooperation and conversation choices to maximize your relationship.
Sun (XIX) Confidant – Toranosuke Yoshida
Yoshida, the Sun Confidant, unlocks abilities that directly enhance your earnings and resources from Palaces and Mementos. His Confidant skills improve item drops from demon negotiations, increase the likelihood of Personas joining you, and provide chances for rarer loot from enemies, maximizing your dungeon rewards.
Refer to our dedicated guide for location information and strategies to advance the Sun Confidant cooperation with Yoshida efficiently.
Star (XVII) Confidant – Hifumi Togo
Hifumi Togo, the Star Confidant, excels in providing tactical combat advantages. Ranking up the Star Confidant unlocks powerful combat abilities, culminating in the invaluable skill to swap party members mid-battle and even on the fly later on, adding significant strategic depth to your combat encounters.
Hifumi becomes available a few months into the game. Our guide provides details on how to meet her and the optimal conversation choices to quickly rank up her Confidant.
Temperance (XIV) – Sadayo Kawakami
Sadayo Kawakami, the Temperance Confidant, is a consistently strong choice. Her abilities offer significant time-saving benefits, allowing you to slack off in class and perform other actions, maximizing your daytime efficiency. Furthermore, her ability to handle mundane tasks like laundry and coffee brewing frees up valuable after-school time for other activities and Confidant meetings.
While the story nudges you towards Kawakami’s Confidant, it doesn’t automatically initiate it. Consult our guide to learn how to start the Temperance Confidant and efficiently level it up.
