Confidants play a huge role in Persona 5 Royal. By choosing to spend your free time with characters that you meet during the game, you'll be able to increase their confidant rank. Increasing this rank unlocks bonus passive abilities and allows personas to gain more experience points upon being fused as long as their arcana matches that of your confidant.
Let's try to explain the process with an example:
Ryuji is tied to the Chariot arcana. By spending time with Ryuji, you'll gradually increase his confidant rank. Not only do you unlock bonus abilities at set ranks, but your personas will also benefit from your efforts to socialise. In this instance, any Chariot persona that you fuse will gain an increased amount of experience at the point of its creation, based on the strength of your relationship with Ryuji. The higher his confidant rank, the more experience your persona will gain.
This means that with a high enough rank, you may be able to immediately level up your fused persona, allowing it to learn extra skills right off the bat.
How to Increase Confidant Ranks in Persona 5 Royal
Increasing confidant ranks in Persona 5 Royal and Persona 5 is quite simple. Once you've unlocked confidant rank 1 with a character — many of these occur automatically during the story — you'll then be able to meet up with them at certain times and hang out. By spending time with confidants, their rank will gradually increase.
The maximum confidant rank for all confidants is 10.
How to Increase Confidant Ranks Quickly in Persona 5 Royal
A character's confidant rank may not increase after every meeting. Sometimes, you may have to meet with a character several times in order for your relationship to rank up.
There are two ways to ensure that confidant ranks increase faster:
- Select the right dialogue options during conversation. This can sometimes be a difficult task, but during conversations with confidants, try to pick dialogue options that you think the character in question will like. For example, if Ryuji is feeling down, try saying something like "I'm here for you" to cheer him up. Pick an effective dialogue option, and you'll see more music notes appear above the character's head. The more notes that appear, the more their confidant rank has just increased.
- Bring a persona that is of the same arcana as the confidant. Confidant rank will increase at a faster rate if you have a persona that belongs to the same arcana as the character in question. For example, hanging out with Ryuji while you have a persona of the Chariot arcana in your possession will make it easier to level up his confidant rank.
All Confidants in Persona 5 Royal, and Where to Find Them
Please note that confidants aren't always available to hang out with you. Most can only be found on certain days of the week, and some require you to have unlocked specific social stat ranks before you can befriend them. For example, in order to befriend Makoto, you'll need to have at least Level 3 Knowledge, or she simply won't want to hang out with you.
Be warned: there are potential spoilers below.
Ryuji Sakamoto
Arcana: Chariot
Where to find Ryuji: Ryuji can be found on the second floor of the school during the day, near the stairs next to your own classroom. When there's no school, he can be found at the arcade in Shibuya during the day.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Dashing attracts less attention from enemies in dungeons
- Instant kill enemies who are much lower level than your party by dashing and then ambushing them
- Various party bonuses in battle
Usefulness: Ryuji is a party member, so increasing his Confidant Rank should be a priority, as it'll increase his effectiveness in combat.
Morgana
Arcana: Magician
Where to find Morgana: Morgana's confidant rank will increase automatically as the story progresses.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- You can craft more infiltration tools at your workbench
- Various party bonuses in battle
Usefulness: You don't have to worry about increasing Morgana's Confidant Rank, as it goes up automatically during the main story.
Ann Takamaki
Arcana: Lovers
Where to find Ann: Ann can be found in the Shibuya Underground Mall, near the accessory store during the day.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Better negotiation rewards with shadows in battle
- Ann can cancel an opponent's attack in battle
- Various party bonuses in battle
- Romance option
Usefulness: Ann is a party member, so increasing her Confidant Rank should be a priority, as it'll increase her effectiveness in combat.
Igor
Arcana: Fool
Where to find Igor: Igor's confidant rank will increase automatically as the story progresses.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Unlocks negotiation with shadows
- Third Eye ability lets you see interactable objects in the environment
- Increases the number of personas you can hold
Usefulness: You don't have to worry about increasing Igor's Confidant Rank, as it goes up automatically during the main story.
Caroline and Justine
Arcana: Strength
Where to find Caroline and Justine: Caroline and Justine can be found in the Velvet Room, but you can't simply hang out with them. To increase their confidant rank, you must show them certain personas that have learned specific skills.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Unlocks persona fusion recipes that require more than two personas
- Unlocks persona detainment, which can unlock a persona's hidden skills
- Lets you fuse personas that are a higher level than Joker in exchange for money
Usefulness: Increasing Caroline and Justine's Confidant Rank can be a pain, but the rewards are worthwhile. If want to make the absolute most of persona fusion, then you should try to fulfil their requests.
Sojiro Sakura
Arcana: Hierophant
Where to find Sojiro: Sojiro can be found in Cafe Leblanc, behind the bar at night. Note, however, that Sojiro's confidant rank will only increase up to a certain point — Rank 3 or so — until you progress further into the story. If you feel like it's no longer increasing, leave it for it now.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Lets you brew coffee and cook curry at Leblanc — they can be used to restore your SP in dungeons
Usefulness: The only downside to brewing coffee and cooking curry is that it takes up a full evening. Otherwise, these are great healing items to have available, as SP is always in limited supply — at least until later in the game, when you'll probably have skills or accessories that restore SP automatically.
Tae Takemi
Arcana: Death
Where to find Takemi: Takemi can be found in her clinic in Yongen during the day.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Unlocks all kinds of healing items and accessories for sale at the clinic
- Romance option
Usefulness: It's well worth increasing Tae's Confidant Rank, because the late-game items that she offers can be extremely potent. In particular, her SP-restoring accessories can be a huge help when you want to delve deep into a palace, or Mementos.
Yuuki Mishima
Arcana: Moon
Where to find Mishima: Mishima can be found on Shibuya Central Street at night. Later in the game, he can instead be found in Akihabara at night. In order to increase Mishima's confidant rank, you need to complete the Mementos requests that he sends you.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Unlocks new requests that take place in Mementos
- Lets all party members gain increased experience points from battle, even if they're not in the active party
- Increases all experience point gains from battle
Usefulness: Increasing Mishima's Confidant Rank should be something of a priority, as his Mementos requests offer up some great rewards. What's more, the increased experience point gains are always worthwhile, especially if you want everyone's levels to be consistent.
Yusuke Kitagawa
Arcana: Emperor
Where to find Yusuke: Yusuke can be found in the Underground Walkway during the day, near the drink stand.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Lets you make copies of skill cards that you find
- Various party bonuses in battle
Usefulness: Yusuke is a party member, so increasing his Confidant Rank should be a priority, as it'll increase his effectiveness in combat.
Toranosuke Yoshida
Arcana: Sun
Where to find Yoshida: Yoshida can be found in Central Square, giving speeches at night. However, you'll need to take on the part time job at the beef bowl shop and work there a couple of times in order to unlock Yoshida as a confidant.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Get better negotiation rewards from shadows, especially with money
- Lets you recruit personas that are a higher level than Joker
Usefulness: Yoshida shouldn't really be considered a priority, but if you're in need of money, his perks can let you rack up some serious dosh through negotiations — especially if you're willing to grind out a bunch of battles in Mementos.
Sadayo Kawakami
Arcana: Temperance
Where to find Kawakami: Kawakami can be requested at night by calling her using the payphone found on the ground floor of Cafe Leblanc. This option becomes available as you progress through the story.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Lets you slack off during some of Kawakami's school classes, so that you can increase your stats by reading, or crafting infiltration tools without using up any of your free time
- Lets you call Kawakami so she can take care of chores for you, like cooking, doing laundry, or crafting infiltration tools
- Grants you additional free time at night if you visited a palace or Mementos during the day
- Romance option
Usefulness: Kawakami's perks can add a lot of additional free time to your schedule. Letting her deal with all kinds of housekeeping tasks means that you can go off and do something else, which can be a huge benefit during the game's busier periods.
Makoto Niijima
Arcana: Priestess
Where to find Makoto: Makoto can be found next to the library on the third floor of the school during the day. When there's no school, she can be found outside of the school gates during the day.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Lets you see additional enemy information during combat, like dropped items and stats
- Lets you see additional advice on enemy weaknesses and resistances in battle
- Various party bonuses in battle
- Romance option
Usefulness: Makoto is a party member, so increasing her Confidant Rank should be a priority, as it'll increase her effectiveness in combat.
Futaba Sakura
Arcana: Hermit
Where to find Futaba: Futaba can be found just outside of Cafe Leblanc during the day.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Unlocks all kinds of randomised stat boosts and bonuses which can occur in battle
- Romance option
Usefulness: Futaba is a party member, and although she isn't an active participant in battle, increasing her Confidant Rank should still be a priority — her combat-based perks are just too good to pass up.
Hifumi Togo
Arcana: Star
Where to find Hifumi: Hifumi can be found inside the church at night. You'll need to take the train to get there.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Unlocks all kinds of strategic techniques for use in battle, like party member swapping, follow-up attacks, and more
- Romance option
Usefulness: Increasing Hifumi's Confidant Rank should really be a priority. Her perks can make a massive difference in combat, giving you much more control over your party's tactics.
Ichiko Ohya
Arcana: Devil
Where to find Ohya: Ohya can be found inside the Crossroads Bar in Shinjuku at night.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Impacts how security levels work in palaces, in your favour
- Romance option
Usefulness: Unfortunately for Ohya, her perks are arguably least useful in the game. Unless you're somehow being spotted all of the time while exploring palaces, then she's not much help. She's still a fun character, though!
Chihaya Mifune
Arcana: Fortune
Where to find Chihaya: Chihaya can be found in Shinjuku at night, at her fortune telling stand off to the right of the main road.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Her fortune readings can grant temporary bonuses, such as increases to social stat points, Confidant affinity, and money drops
- Increases the chances of a fusion alarm in the Velvet Room, allowing for randomised persona fusion
- Romance option
Usefulness: Chihaya gives you access to some decent bonuses, and she can help you make the most of your time spent with Confidants — but we wouldn't say she's a priority.
Goro Akechi
Arcana: Justice
Where to find Akechi: Akechi can be found in Kichijoji at night, outside of the sports bar. His maximum confidant rank is 8. Rank 10 is attainable later in the story, as long as you managed to get to Rank 8 beforehand.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Gives you a chance of revealing enemy weaknesses and resistances right at the start of battle
Usefulness: Akechi's Confidant Rank should be a priority, both for gameplay and story reasons.
Sae Niijima
Arcana: Judgement
Where to find Sae: Sae's confidant rank will increase automatically as the story progresses.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- N/A
Usefulness: You don't have to worry about increasing Sae's Confidant Rank, as it goes up automatically during the story.
Haru Okumura
Arcana: Empress
Where to find Haru: Haru can be found on the school rooftop during the day.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Lets your grow vegetables on the school roof, which provide various benefits
- Various party bonuses in battle
- Romance option
Usefulness: Haru is a party member, so increasing her Confidant Rank should be a priority, as it'll increase her effectiveness in combat.
Munehisa Iwai
Arcana: Hanged Man
Where to find Iwai: Iwai can be found in his store in Shibuya at night.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Unlocks firearm customisation, which lets you greatly improve the effectiveness of various ranged weapons
Usefulness: If you want to maximise your party's effectiveness in combat, it's worth considering spending some time with Iwai. Late-game, customised firearms can be deadly.
Shinya Oda
Arcana: Tower
Where to find Shinya: Shinya can be found in the arcade in Akihabara during the day.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Provides numerous benefits to using ranged weapons in battle, including new techniques
Usefulness: Shinya's perks can transform your firearms into a destructive force. The only issue with building his Confidant Rank is that he isn't available to hang out with until quite late in the game.
Kasumi Yoshizawa
Arcana: Faith
Where to find Kasumi: Kasumi can be found in Kichijoji during the day. Kasumi's maximum confidant rank is 5 until later on in the story.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Unlocks long range grappling hook ambushes on enemies
- Nullifies enemy ambushes if Joker is attacked from the front
- Romance option
Usefulness: Increasing Kasumi's Confidant Rank should be a priority, both for gameplay and story reasons.
Takuto Maruki
Arcana: Councillor
Where to find Maruki: Maruki can be found on the ground floor of the school practice building on some weekdays. Maruki's maximum confidant rank is 9 until the 18th November. On that day, if you've hit Rank 9, you'll reach Rank 10.
Unlockable Confidant Perks:
- Grants party members a chance to snap each other out of status conditions in combat
- Grants a chance for Joker's combat abilities to be enhanced at the start of battle
Usefulness: Increasing Maruki's Confidant Rank should be a priority, both for gameplay and story reasons.
This article is part of our Persona 5 Royal Guide, which contains All Differences Between Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal along with Crossword Answers, Exam Answers, Romance Options, How To Get The Best Ending, New Game + details for Persona 5 Royal, and How To Unlock Persona 5 Royal's New Semester Endgame.
Have you forged relationships with the Confidants of Persona 5 Royal? Make some more friends in the comments section below.
Comments 2
You should add what to say when being asked by the Confidants.
@Torakaka Maybe one day, it's just finding the time to play through the whole game again.
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