Character Progression

The playable characters in this game are members of various groups dedicated to repelling shadows and confronting villainous people:

• Phantom Thieves (P5X) - The group led by Wonder.
• Phantom Idols - Cognitive manifestations of individuals Wonder has encountered. Created by Merope, they are granted powers known as Persona II (Persona Duo).
• Phantom Thieves of Heart - A separate Phantom Thief team from a parallel world, led by Ren Amamiya.
• Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (S.E.E.S) - Led by Makoto Yuki, this group investigates Tartarus, a mysterious tower that appears only during the Dark Hour.

In Persona 5: The Phantom X, combat roles are divided into seven distinct classes:

• Single-Target: Specializes in Single-Target attacks.
• Multi-Target: Specializes in AoE attacks.
• Buffer: Supports allies by applying stat boosts and other beneficial effects.
• Debuffer: Weakens enemies by inflicting debuffs.
• Tank: Provides team protection by generating shields or drawing enemy attacks through taunts.
• Healer: Focuses on sustain through healing allies.
• Navigator: Offers off-field support by granting buffs, debuffs, or healing.

There are 11 Affinities in the game, used by both playable characters and enemies. Each Affinity has a recurring effect or mechanic tied to it:

• Physical - Can knock enemies down if the attack is a Critical Hit, regardless if it resists Physical.
• Gun - Similar to Physical, can knock enemies down on a Critical Hit, even if it resists Gun.
• Fire - Has a chance to inflict Burn, dealing max HP damage each turn.
• Ice - Has a chance to inflict Freeze, which decreases the target’s ATK.
• Electricity - Has a chance to inflict Shock, making the target more susceptible to Critical Hits.
• Wind - Has a chance to inflict Winded, which lowers the target’s Defense.
• Psychokinesis - Deals increased damage to enemies affected by Mental Ailments (Dizzy, Forget, Sleep, Rage, Despair, Confuse, Fear, Brainwash).
• Nuclear - Deals increased damage to enemies affected by Elemental Ailments (Burn, Freeze, Shock, Winded).
• Bless - Grants allies a stackable Bless effect, which heals them each turn.
• Curse - Inflicts enemies with a stackable Curse effect, which deals damage each turn.
• Almighty - The true damage affinity of the game that ignores enemy Defense.

Each character typically has the following abilities:

• 3 Skills: Standard active abilities used in battle.
• 1 Combat Skill: Includes the HIGHLIGHT skill, and may also have additional effects for your GUN command, if applicable.
• 2 Passive Skills: Non-active skills that give boosts to the character.
• Base Awareness (Awareness 0): Includes the main mechanics of the character.
• 6 Awareness (Awareness 1 to 6): Boosts the character's power by upgrading the skills of the character and introducing new or upgrades to the existing mechanics. Unlocked through duplicate characters (Dupes).

• Attack – Increases the damage and effectiveness of most skills. The majority of characters scale with this stat.
• Defense – Decreases incoming damage. Some characters scale with this stat.
• HP – Increases your character’s Max HP. Certain characters scale with Max HP.
• Damage Bonus – Increases Damage Dealt.
• Effect Hit Rate – Increases the chance of inflicting various debuffs.
• Critical Rate – Chance of landing Critical Hits.
• Critical Damage – Increases the damage of Critical Hits.
• Speed – Determines your order in the round, certain characters scale with Speed.
• SP Regen % – Increases SP recovered from items and certain skills.
• Penetration % – When dealing damage, ignore certain % of enemy Defense. Applies before Defense Down debuffs.

There are various ways to improve your characters in Persona 5: The Phantom X, allowing you to take on tougher challenges. These are:

• Leveling up your character
• Upgrading your character's weapon
• Upgrading your character's skills
• Unlocking Awareness effects by obtaining duplicates
• Equipping and upgrading Arcana Cards
• Unlocking and upgrading your character’s Mental Image (CN)

Since there are multiple ways to improve your character, some upgrades have a more significant impact on overall performance. Here's a prioritized breakdown:

1. Character Levels - This indicates most of the stats you’re getting for the given character. Leveling up to the max (Lv. 80) is easy and highly recommended.
2. Character Weapon Levels - Grants substantial stat boosts. In this game, weapon levels are tied to the character, so when you switch to a higher-rarity weapon, it inherits the levels from your previous one automatically.
3. Character Skill Levels - Skill upgrades improve damage and effect scaling. These become more impactful as your character's stats improve
4. Arcana Cards - The gear system of this game, it consists of Revelation Cards and a Universe Card. Revelation Cards are your typical 4 Set Effects and the Universe Card offers bonus effects when matched with compatible Revelation sets. To check a character’s best Arcana Cards, you can check the BUILD section of their character page. If you want an in-depth breakdown of Arcana Cards you can check our guide here: