'Persona 5' Fusion Guide: Tips For Mastering The Velvet Room

At long last Persona 5 is here, and creating a varied host of monsters to use in combat through Persona Fusion is critical to your success in the game. Which Personas are the best? How does skill inheritance work? How long should you hold onto a given Persona? Whether you’re an overwhelmed newbie or an old pro feeling a bit rusty since Persona 4, these basic tips and pointers will bring you up to speed with the need-to-know essentials for Persona 5’s Fusion system.

Persona 5 Persona Fusion Basics

• While Personas used in fusion will be lost, you can repurchase any previously registered Persona by selecting the Register / Summon option in the Velvet Room, then selecting View / Summon. Press R1, then triangle to quickly sort the list by level and price to summon.
• You cannot hold more than one of each Persona type at a time. Multiple Personas of the same arcana are fine.
• Generally speaking, a Persona created through fusion will be stronger than a “natural” Persona found in the wild. This is because fused Personas can inherit abilities of your choosing. That said, it’s still worth picking up “natural” Personas from battles to use as fusion fodder.
• You can only fuse Personas that have base level equal to or lower than MC’s current level. Yep, even if you have the proper ingredients, you can’t make a Persona at a higher level than your own. (Unless you manage to Max the Strength Confidant Link.)
• Be sure to register Personas in the compendium each time you visit the Velvet Room. That way, you can preserve any EXP growth or new skills learned.
• Be careful when registering “natural” duplicates of Personas you’ve created through fusion in the past. Make sure to compare these before simply selecting the “Register All” option. Why wear off-the-rack when you can have custom-made?

Persona Fusion: Planning For Palaces

• Personas can gain levels and skills just like party members, but not so quickly that it’s worth keeping them forever. Plan to do some new fusions when starting a new palace, or around when you plan to send a calling card to take on a Palace boss.
• At any given time, most of the Personas you plan to use in battle should be around MC’s current level. It’s okay to keep one or two low-level ones around for Confidant Links.
• Aim to keep a variety of Personas equipped to MC at all times, ideally one of each element. There’s no point in having three Personas with Zio-based magic, especially if one of your other party members also has it. Adjust your setup to complement, not overlap your party, especially in early game when you can’t hold very many Personas.
• It’s worth fusing some new Personas in the Velvet Room any time you do a lengthy Palace or Momentos run. If you’ve gained two or more levels check out the new fusion opportunities that may have opened up to you.
• After you complete a lengthy Palace or Momentos run, we recommend spending several days focusing on Confidant Links and other daily life activities. Then, right before you’re ready to head back into battle, you can enjoy the added EXP boosts from having strengthened several Arcana.

Persona Fusion and Cooperation Links

• If you’ve advanced the Confidant Link for a given Arcana, fusing a Persona will grant bonus experience and likely cause the Persona to be of a higher level than you could otherwise carry. This can give you a significant advantage.
• Advancing the Strength Confidant Link (available from May 18 in the Velvet Room) will open up more possibilities for Persona Fusion, allowing you to carry out group fusions, isolate a Persona to develop resistances and more.
• It can be tempting to ignore fusions that won’t earn an EXP boost, but don’t rule these out immediately. Sometimes, they may have skills you can’t get otherwise, and can always be used later to make a new Persona of a more developed Arcana.
• Once you advance the Hanged Man link (first available on May 6), you’ll be able to use Personas to make custom weapons. This is how to attain some of the rarest, strongest weapons in the game.

What do you think of Persona 5 so far? Do you like being able to choose for yourself which skills are inherited? Any other tips you feel should be included here? Feel free to chat all things Velvet Room in the comments.