"Maximize EXP in Persona 5 Royal: Top Strategies"

Quick Links

• Accessories and The Moon Arcana

  • Mishima Yuuki's Confidant

• Mementos: Increase EXP Gain

  • Cognition of Mementos

• Fight the Reaper

  • What Level is the Reaper?

• Defeat Treasure Demons

  • How to Summon Treasure Demons

• Use Persona with EXP Skills

  • How to Get Growth Passive Skill

• Ryuji Sakamoto's Confidant

  • How to Unlock Insta-Kill

In the world of Persona 5 Royal, leveling up is crucial for overcoming the game's challenging bosses and avoiding tedious grinding sessions in Mementos. As an enhanced version of Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal introduces numerous quality-of-life improvements and adds 20 hours of fresh content, including a new semester for the Phantom Thieves and revamped boss encounters. To fully enjoy this expanded experience, it's essential to keep your team's levels high and master the most efficient methods for gaining experience.

Updated January 13, 2025 by Renri Seong: While being over-leveled can make Persona 5 Royal too easy, it's crucial to match the levels of Palace Rulers, especially on a new game file. There are several strategies to streamline experience farming in P5R, from leveraging Confidant Skills to utilizing Jose in Mementos. Additionally, Joker can earn EXP for non-active Personas with a specific passive skill. This guide has been updated to include a new section on quickly farming experience using the Insta-kill ability.

Accessories and The Moon Arcana

Mishima Yuuki's Confidant

In Persona 5 Royal, players can enhance their EXP gain by downloading the free Team Glasses accessory from the PlayStation Store. Equipping these glasses on each character boosts their EXP gain by 15% during battles. However, only Joker and three other Phantom Thieves can participate in combat at once, leaving the backline members to receive less experience.

To address this, players should focus on increasing the Moon Confidant (Yuuki Mishima). Reaching Rank 3 and Rank 5 allows backup team members to gain EXP, and achieving Rank 10 ensures they receive the same amount of EXP as the frontline fighters. Building Mishima's Confidant is straightforward; simply choose dialogue options that resonate with him and bring a Persona of the Moon Arcana when spending time with him. Additionally, completing Mementos Missions assigned by Mishima is now linked to his Confidant progression, so don't neglect these tasks.

Mementos: Increase EXP Gain

Cognition of Mementos

In Persona 5 Royal, a new character named Jose can significantly boost your gameplay experience. Scattered throughout Mementos are "flowers" and "Stamp Stations" that can be collected and exchanged with Jose for various benefits. In Jose's Shop, under the Cognition menu, players can choose to increase EXP, Money Rewards, or Item Rewards specifically within Mementos. Upgrading EXP gain to 110% costs 5 Stamps, while reaching the maximum of 200% requires 12 Stamps. With a total of 165 Stamps available in the game, players need 85 to max out the EXP Up. Stamp Stations are hidden in "dead ends" behind breakable walls on Mementos floors, and you might encounter Jose when moving to a new floor.

Fight the Reaper

What Level is the Reaper?

The Reaper, a formidable foe in the Persona series, appears in Mementos if players linger too long on a floor. Signs of his approach include a blinking red screen, the sound of chains, and warnings from Morgana or Futaba. Early in the game, defeating the Reaper is nearly impossible unless you're on a New Game+ file. With level 85 and high stats, including powerful -dyne tier spells and Support skills like Concentrate and elemental Breaks, the Reaper is a challenging opponent. His lowest stat, Agility, is still at 75, which can outpace the Phantom Thieves if they're not adequately prepared.

However, defeating the Reaper yields a massive amount of experience and money, often resulting in a level up for all characters. It's advisable to engage the Reaper at level 60 or higher, equipped with Defense-raising Support skills and Makarakarn to reflect his magic. Alternatively, those with the Persona DLC featuring Izanagi-no-Okami (Picaro) can stack Concentrate, Heat Riser, and use Myriad Truths for heavy Almighty damage.

Defeat Treasure Demons

How to Summon Treasure Demons

Treasure Demons, unique Shadows introduced in Madarame's Palace, become available throughout the Metaverse after your first encounter. These non-aggressive Shadows will flee after a few turns, but defeating them before they escape can be highly rewarding. Each type of Treasure Demon has specific Affinity Weaknesses and Immunities, though all are susceptible to Almighty attacks. The most effective way to down them is using Shinya's Rank 1 Ability, Down Shot, which sets them up for an All-Out Attack. Alternatively, high-crit attacks like Morgana's Miracle Punch can work if the Treasure Demon doesn't nullify Physical attacks.

Treasure Demons appear more frequently in Palaces with high security. Players can also craft the Treasure Trap infiltration tool to increase encounters, requiring 2x Silk Yarn, 3x Plant Balm, and 1x Cork Bark.

Use Persona with EXP Skills

How to Get Growth Passive Skill

In Persona 5 Royal, Personas not equipped by Joker at the end of a battle typically don't earn EXP. However, equipping them with the Growth Passive Skill allows them to gain a percentage of the battle's experience even when inactive. There are three levels of Growth Skills:

• 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.

Personas that learn Growth at specific levels include:

• 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)

With the Electric Chair in the Velvet Room, players can turn Personas into Skill Cards. However, in Persona 5 Royal, only Izanagi Picaro can be transformed into a Growth 3 Skill Card. Growth 1 Skill Cards are unavailable, and to obtain a Growth 2 Skill Card, players must take Caroline and Justine to Miura Beach between September 2nd and September 29th, after clearing event 6 (Sky Tower), and spend time with them during evenings.

Ryuji Sakamoto's Confidant

How to Unlock Insta-Kill

Insta-kill is a powerful skill that allows Joker to instantly defeat Shadows without engaging in battle, provided he ambushes them and his level is at least 10 levels higher than the Shadow's. In Persona 5 Royal, a successful Insta-kill not only defeats the Shadow but also rewards items, yen, experience, and potentially a new Persona. To identify Shadows vulnerable to Insta-kill, use Joker's Third Eye ability; those with a green outline are susceptible.

To unlock Insta-kill, you must reach Rank 7 with Ryuji Sakamoto's Confidant. Fortunately, Ryuji's Confidant has no Social Stat requirements, making it one of the easiest to max out. To expedite this process, spend time with Ryuji and select the best dialogue options to maximize points, ideally before focusing on other Confidants.