'Persona 5' Confidant Guide: Essential Arcana Info And Tips To Rank Up

At long last Persona 5 is here, and the Social Link system of previous games has been replaced with the similar but improved Confidant Links system. Not only can you befriend (or romance) your party members, schoolmates and various NPCs, in Persona 5 these connections can yield major gameplay benefits, including an EXP bonus during fusion, the ability to create custom weapons and items. We’ve put together some spoiler-free tips to help you make the most of MC’s relationships and decide which Confidants you want to invest your time in.

Persona 5 Confidant Tips

• Certain Confidant Links will only be available on certain days of the week, sometimes during the day, at night, or both. It’s worth keeping a notepad handy to make note of which days Confidants are free, even if you can’t spend time with them that day.
• Checking the Thieves Guild (by pressing touchpad) can be another way to see which Confidants are available each day.
• Just like real life, sometimes it’s not enough just to strike up a conversation to make them into a friend. You may have to improve one or more of your skills, take a part-time job, or advance to a certain point in the story. In your first playthrough, you’ll come across some Confidants you can’t start right away, particularly those who require certain skills (Guts, Kindness etc) to be at a certain level. You’re not doing anything wrong; just think of it as a bonus for the New Game + crowd.
• Dialogue choices matter; keep multiple, frequent save files handy, in case you totally blow an interaction with a confidant.
• Even if you choose all the correct dialogue choices, you will still advance most Confidant links more quickly if you keep a Persona of the matching Arcana in your deck. For example, bring a Lovers Persona when working on Ann’s link. It doesn’t need to be equipped.
• The above rule isn’t particularly important with the first couple of ranks, which generally allow you to choose any response and are hard to mess up.
• Even if you pick all the right choices and bring along a matching Persona, you might have to spend time with the Confidant before advancing their link. This becomes more common once a
• Focus on advancing a handful of Confidant Links at a time, so you can have Personas to match. If you’re missing one, visit the Velvet Room in Shibuya and buy back a Persona from the necessary arcana by selecting the Register / Summon option.

Persona 5 Confidant Link Essential Info: Arcana, When To Start, Where To Find

This section will refer to confidants by Arcana only, and will not name characters to avoid spoilers. However, be warned there may be some mild hints connecting an Arcana with a particular persona, based on locations, etc.

Note that many Arcana require certain Skill levels; make sure you don’t neglect bolstering these traits through daily life activities like reading, studying, eating and watching movies. We’d recommend focusing on Sun, Moon, Temperance and Death early on, as they offer the biggest bonuses with the lowest time investment. We’ve listed the perks of each Confidant below, while trying to keep their identities and story details under wraps, to allow you to choose which Confidant Link bonuses work best with your playstyle.

The following Arcana advance as a result of the main storyline and cannot be ranked up at a time of the player’s choosing:

• Fool
• Magician
• Justice
• Judgement
• The World

Chariot

• Earliest start: 4/12
• Available days: All
• Locations: Outside Classroom 2-D, Shibuya Arcade
• Time of day: After school, afternoon (off days)
• Perks unlocked: Combat enhancements
• Conditions: None

Death

• Earliest start: 4/15
• Available days: All
• Location: Yogen-jaya Clinic
• Time of day: After school, afternoon (off days)
• Perks unlocked: Allows purchase of special medicines and discounts on those medicines.
• Conditions: Requires Lv. 2 Guts to start. Requires Lv. 4 Charm and completion of Momentos request to advance past Rank 7.

Devil

• Earliest start: 6/18
• Available days: any
• Location: Crossroads Bar, Shinjuku
• Time of day: Evening
• Perks unlocked: Palace security levels increase more slowly and decrease more quickly.
• Conditions: Must complete Momentos request to advance past Rank 7.

Emperor

• Earliest start: 6/14
• Available days: Most school days
• Location: Underground Walkway, Shibuya
• Time of Day: After school
• Perks unlocked: Combat enhancements, create Persona skill cards.
• Conditions: Requires Lv. 4 Proficiency to advance past Rank 5.

Empress

• Earliest start: 10/30
• Available days: Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.
• Location: School rooftop
• Time of Day: After school
• Perks unlocked: Combat enhancements, create SP restorative items.
• Conditions: Requires Lv. 5 Proficiency to start. Clear and cloudy days only.

Fortune

• Earliest start: 6/22
• Available days: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
• Locations: Shinjuku
• Time of Day: Evening
• Perks Unlocked: Pay to enhance Skills and Co-Op affection points (no time consumed).
• Conditions: Requires a Momentos request to complete Rank 7. Sunny and cloudy days only. Substantial cash investment (100k yen required to start and again at Rank 7).

Hanged Man

• Earliest start: 5/6
• Available days: Any
• Locations: Shibuya, Airsoft Shop
• Time of Day: Any
• Perks Unlocked: Customize ranged weapons
• Conditions: Requires Guts Lv. 4 to start. Moving from Rank 7 to 8 requires Lv. 5 Guts and completion of a Momentos request.

Hermit

• Earliest start: 8/31
• Available days: Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday
• Location: Outside Leblanc
• Time of Day: After school
• Perks unlocked: Special combat enhancements, battle healing, ability to substitute reserve members into battle after K.O. (Rank 9).
• Conditions: Requires Lv. 4 Kindness to start. Sunny and cloudy days only. Must complete a Momentos request to advance to Rank 7.

Hierophant

• Earliest start: 4/20
• Available days: Any but Wednesday
• Location: Leblanc
• Time of Day: Evening
• Perks unlocked: Create SP restorative items
• Conditions: Must clear a particular Palace to advance to Rank 5. Must have Lv. 5 Kindness to advance past Rank 6. Must clear a certain Momentos request to advance past Rank 8.

Lovers

• Earliest start: 4/15
• Available days: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday
• Location: Classroom 2-D and Underground Mall, Shibuya
• Time of day: After school, afternoons (off days)
• Perks unlocked: Combat enhancements
• Conditions: Must have Lv. 2 Kindness to start.

Moon

• Earliest start: 5/6
• Available days: random, but frequent
• Locations: Central Street - Shibuya, Shinjuku and Akihabara
• Time of day: Evening
• Perks: Enhances EXP earned in battle for active party and reserve members.
• Conditions: Requires Momentos requests completed before Rank 3 and Rank 5.

Priestess

• Earliest start: 6/25
• Available days: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
• Locations: Outside Student Council, near school gate
• Time of day: After school, afternoon (off days)
• Perks unlocked: Combat enhancements
• Conditions: Requires Charm Lv. 5 to advance past Rank 5.

Sun

• Earliest start: 5/6
• Available days: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
• Location: Shibuya Station Square
• Time of day: Evening
• Perks unlocked: Enhances benefits of Shadow Negotiation.
• Conditions: Work part-time at Beef Bowl restaurant twice after initial conversation. Sunny and cloudy days only.

Star

• Earliest start: 6/25
• Available days: Monday, Wednesday and Saturday
• Location: Kanda Church
• Time of day: Evening
• Perks unlocked: Enhances usefulness of reserve members in battle, including switching out reserve members mid-fight (Max Rank).
• Conditions: Requires Rank 2 in the Emperor Arcana and Lv. 3 Charm to start. Sunny and rainy weather only.

Strength

• Earliest start: 5/18
• Available days: All.
• Location: Velvet Room.
• Time of day: Any.
• Perks unlocked: Unlock Group Persona Fusions, Solitary Confinement (add resistances), and ability to create Personas above MC’s level (Max Rank).
• Conditions: Requires fusion of Personas with specific abilities. Will depend on MC current level.

Temperance

• Earliest start: 5/24 (or after clearing second palace)
• Available days: Friday and Saturday
• Location: Le Blanc (yellow phone)
• Time of day: Evening
• Perks unlocked: Frees up time spent in class, crafting items, or in dungeons for doing other activities.
• Condition: Requires Guts Lv. 3 to start. Advancing past Rank 7 requires completion of Momentos request. Costs 5000 yen per meeting.

Tower

• Earliest start: 9/4
• Available days: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
• Location: Arcade (Akihabara)
• Time of day: After school, afternoon
• Perks unlocked: Enhance functionality and damage of ranged weapons.
• Condition: Must complete Momentos request to start. Advancing past Rank 7 requires completion of another Momentos request. Sunny and cloudy days only.

Can’t get enough Persona 5? Check out some of our other articles and guides for the game, which we’ve designed to be spoiler-free:

• First Look (Review-in-progress): The Phantom Thieves Will Steal Your Heart, Then Steal Your Life
• Combat Guide: How To Exploit Enemy Weaknesses, Trigger All-Out Attacks And More
• Fusion Guide: Tips For Mastering The Velvet Room
• Palace Guide: Tips And Strategies For Dungeon Crawls And Stealing Treasure