Persona 5 Royal – Every Confidant Ranked

One of the things that pleasantly surprised me about Persona 5 Royal was the updated confidants – they felt like a huge step up from Persona 4, and more often than not spending time with these characters ended up being beneficial to your Phantom Thieving.

I’ll be ranking all 23 confidants based on the abilities they give you and the story that plays out – so not necessarily the quality of the characters themselves!

Before we begin, you can check out some of my related blog posts below:

Meh

23 – Ohya

The worst confidant by far, and I think most Persona 5 fans would agree with this, is Ohya – the reporter.

Her story is really weak in comparison to others (with a really weird age-gap romance), and her abilities that lower Palace security levels are borderline useless in the grand scheme of things. The only confidant that can objectively be skipped.

OK

22 – Sae

The first of three story-only confidants, and Sae is easily the weakest of the trio.

Her story is basically ham-fisted into the rest, and she doesn’t even give you any abilities!

21 – Igor

Another story-driven confidant, but at least Igor gives you some more Persona slots and fusion capabilities.

20 – Morgana

And then Morgana caps off the trilogy of story-driven confidants.

I like his story of connecting to Joker the best, and he has some fairly useful abilities that help with infiltration.

19 – Iwai

Other than Ohya, Iwai felt like the least useful of all the abilities.

His story is decent, but I hardly ever used his gun upgrades and discounts.

Good

18 – Yusuke

Ah, Yusuke. You strange, strange man.

His confidant story is one of the funniest, but his Skill Card duplication ability is easily one of the ones I used least. I’m sure most people would find uses for it, though.

17 – Yoshida

Yoshida was one of two confidants I never bothered with – his story is okay, and some of his later abilities are great, but I never found a use for him.

His main purpose is to boost your money, but I’d already earned more than enough. He does help in Shadow negotiations, though, so he gets some bonus points.

16 – Chihaya

Chihaya is a bit of an odd one – in theory, her abilities are some of the best in the game that can boost you across the board. Her story is decent, too.

In practice, however, I had more than enough time to hang out with confidants and increase my social stats, so I didn’t really need her.

15 – Haru

Everyone’s least favourite party member, Haru is introduced far too late in the game to make a real impact.

Her gardening ability is decent, and can actually be quite clutch in later Palaces, but her story is cliché and too little too late.

14 – Takemi

I didn’t ask for a goth nurse milf in my Persona game, but I’m kinda glad we got just that.

Takemi’s story of accepting her duty as a medic was endearing, and her stock of health items was fairly useful, but I would have preferred SP items instead.

13 – Shinya

I would have loved Shinya’s confidant if he was introduced earlier in the game – he has some amazing gun abilities, but I wasn’t really using my firearm by the endgame.

Great

12 – Makoto

Makoto is the best waifu in the game, and I’m not taking anyone else’s opinion on that.

Her story of helping a fellow Shujin student was a fun one, and her abilities to analyse shadows were helpful on numerous occasions. And she’s best girl.

11 – Sojiro

I found Sojiro’s character to be a little too abrasive at first, but over the course of the game – and his confidant story – I learnt to accept his flaws.

Not only that, but his coffees and curries were a life-saver in some of the last Palaces.

10 – Mishima

Mishima gets a bad rap for being an annoying character, and while I can see where people are coming from I don’t necessarily agree.

I thought his story of being the only normal guy in a room full of superheroes was well handled, and his abilities to boost party XP were essential.

9 – Futaba

Futaba acted as P5’s version of Rise, so I immediately knew that her social link would be one of the most important.

Her story is fun and her abilities are good, but I don’t think they’re quite as useful as Rise’s from P4.

8 – Ann

A case of one particular ability causing the confidant to skyrocket up my rankings, Sexy Technique was quite literally a life-saver in every Palace.

Ann’s story and the rest of her abilities are decent, but that one ability single-handedly knocks her up to the top 10.

7 – Kawakami

If we were just looking at a confidant’s abilities, Kawakami would almost certainly make the top three – she can cook and clean while you’re away, give you extra free time in school, and even give you a massage that lets you go out in evenings when you previously couldn’t.

All great stuff, except the story you have to sit through to get these is incredibly cringy. Why are Persona games so dead-set on forcing these odd adult-student relationships?

Amazing

6 – Kasumi

Now we reach the tier of confidants that are solid across the board, with both great stories and useful abilities, and Kasumi does this with aplomb.

I love her story and how it’s intrinsically linked to the final Palace, and her HP boosts / ability to attack shadows from afar were both very useful.

5 – Caroline and Justine

I wasn’t really a fan of Caroline and Justine’s story, but their abilities meant I had to put them in the top 5.

They help massively with persona fusions, and their ability to fuse higher-ranking personas (for a fee) effectively breaks the game if you want it to.

4 – Hifumi

Hifumi’s story is pretty good, but it’s borderline criminal that her abilities aren’t fundamental features in the game.

The ability to flee battles more easily and to swap out party members mid-fight are crucial, and it’s baffling that you have to go out of your way for a confidant to get them.

3 – Akechi

Akechi has the inverse of the rest of this tier – his abilities are decent, and sleuthing can be really useful, but he has the best story of all the confidants.

I loved seeing his and Joker’s friendship grow gradually, only for their bitter rivalry to take centre stage during the last few levels of the social link. Props to Robbie Daymond for being such an awesome voice actor.

2 – Ryuji

The bro himself, Ryuji is one of the earliest available confidants, and he’s also the best in the base (non-Royal) game.

His story is fun, but the ability to Insta-kill weak Shadows is the greatest single ability in the game, and it made grinding in Mementos feel a lot less like a chore. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I hope Insta-kill returns in all future Persona games!

1 – Maruki

Royal brought along its own story and its own set of new confidants, and Dr. Maruki is the best of the bunch.

Like with Kasumi, I love how his story connects with the final Palace, and his abilities that cure ailments and boost SP are some of the most powerful in the game.

Aaand that’s my list! You can check out some of my latest blog posts below: