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In the world of RPGs, leveling up is crucial, and Persona 5 Royal is no exception. Failing to level up your team can lead to struggles against late-game bosses and time-consuming grinding in Mementos. As an enhanced version of Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal offers numerous quality-of-life improvements and adds over 20 hours of new content.
The game introduces a new semester for the Phantom Thieves and tweaks some pre-existing boss encounters. With this wealth of new material, maintaining high levels for your team and knowing the most efficient ways to gain experience is essential.
Updated January 13, 2025 by Renri Seong: While being over-leveled can simplify Persona 5 Royal, matching the levels of Palace Rulers is crucial, especially for new game files. Several methods can ease experience farming in P5R, from utilizing Confidant Skills to leveraging Jose's help in Mementos. Joker can also 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
To boost your EXP gain in Persona 5 Royal, consider downloading the free Team Glasses accessory from the PlayStation Store. Equipping each character with these glasses will increase their EXP gain by 15% during battles. Keep in mind, though, that only Joker and three other Phantom Thieves can participate in battle at a time, leaving the backline members with less experience.
To address this, you can enhance the EXP gain for backup members by advancing the Moon Confidant (Yuuki Mishima) to Rank 3 and Rank 5. Reaching Rank 10 will ensure that backup members receive the same amount of EXP as those in the front lines. Progressing through Mishima's Confidant is straightforward if you select dialogue options that resonate with him and bring a Persona of the Moon Arcana when spending time with him.
In Persona 5 Royal, Mishima's Mementos Missions are now tied to his Confidant rank. Neglecting these missions will hinder your ability to rank up his Confidant.
Mementos: Increase EXP Gain
Cognition of Mementos
Jose, a new character added in Persona 5 Royal, may not be central to the plot but is invaluable for gameplay. Within Mementos, you'll find "flowers" and "Stamp Stations" that can be exchanged with Jose for various rewards. Through Jose's Cognition menu, you can choose to increase EXP, Money Rewards, or Item Rewards specifically within Mementos. Boosting EXP from battles to 110% costs 5 Stamps, while maxing it out at 200% requires 12 Stamps.
There are 165 Stamps available in Persona 5 Royal, but you'll need 85 to max out the EXP Up. Stamp Stations are hidden in "dead ends" on Mementos floors behind breakable walls, and you may encounter Jose when transitioning to a new floor.
Fight the Reaper
What Level is the Reaper?
The Reaper, a formidable recurring enemy in the Persona series, appears in Mementos if you linger on a floor too long. The screen will flash red, chains will rattle, and Morgana or Futaba will warn you of a looming presence.
Early in the game, defeating the Reaper is nearly impossible unless you're on a New Game+ file. The Reaper wields powerful -dyne tier spells and Support skills like Concentrate and elemental Breaks. With a level of 85 and high stats, his Agility, though his lowest at 75, is still enough to outpace the Phantom Thieves if they're underleveled.
Successfully defeating the Reaper, however, yields a massive amount of experience and money, often resulting in a level up for all characters. It's advisable to challenge the Reaper at level 60 or higher, equipped with Defense-raising Support skills and Makarakarn to reflect his magic. Alternatively, if you've purchased the Persona DLC featuring Izanagi-no-Okami (Picaro), you can stack Concentrate, Heat Riser, and use Myriad Truths to deal heavy Almighty damage three times.
Defeat Treasure Demons
How to Summon Treasure Demons
Treasure Demons, unique Shadows introduced in Madarame's Palace, start appearing in the Metaverse after your first encounter. Unlike typical Shadows, they are harmless and will attempt to flee after a few turns.
Each type of Treasure Demon has different Affinity Weaknesses and Immunities, but all are susceptible to regular damage from Almighty attacks. The most effective way to defeat them before they escape is by using Shinya's Rank 1 Ability, Down Shot, to down them and follow up with an All-Out Attack. Alternatively, you can use high-crit attacks like Morgana's Miracle Punch, provided the Treasure Demon doesn't nullify Physical attacks.
Treasure Demons are more likely to appear in Palaces when security is high. You can also craft the Treasure Trap infiltration tool to increase encounters with them. The materials needed for the Treasure Trap are:
- 2x Silk Yarn
- 3x Plant Balm
- 1x Cork Bark
Use Persona with EXP Skills
How to Get Growth Passive Skill
Typically, Personas not equipped by Joker at the end of a battle won't earn EXP. However, if they possess the Growth Passive Skill, they'll still gain a percentage of the battle's experience even if unused. 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.
The following Personas learn Growth upon leveling:
| Growth 1 | Growth 2 | Growth 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Saki Mitama (level 7) | Lachesis (Innate) | Izanagi (level 25) |
| Koppa Tengu (level 12) | Kurama Tengu (level 36) | Izanagi Picaro (level 28) |
| Thoth (level 42) | Narcissus (level 50) | |
| Ananta (level 47) | Raphael (level 81) |
Once you unlock the Electric Chair in the Velvet Room, you can transform Personas into Skill Cards. However, in Persona 5 Royal, the Personas that previously turned into Growth 1 and Growth 2 Skill Cards in Persona 5 no longer do so. Izanagi Picaro is the only Persona that will yield a Growth Skill Card (Growth 3) when used in the Electric Chair.
Growth 1 Skill Card is unavailable in P5R. To obtain the Growth 2 Skill Card, you must take Caroline and Justine to Miura Beach between September 2nd and September 29th, after clearing event 6 (Sky Tower). You can spend time with them during evenings by speaking to them near the Velvet Room Door outside of Mementos.
Ryuji Sakamoto's Confidant
How to Unlock Insta-Kill
Insta-kill is a powerful skill that allows Joker to instantly defeat a Shadow without engaging in battle. To use it, you must ambush the enemy, and if Joker's level (not his Persona level) is 10 levels higher than the Shadow, it will be instantly defeated. In Persona 5 Royal, a successful Insta-kill not only defeats the Shadow but also rewards you with items, yen, experience, and, if you have space, a Persona.
You can identify Shadows susceptible to Insta-kill using Joker's Third Eye ability; those with a green outline are vulnerable.
To unlock Insta-kill, you need to reach Rank 7 with Ryuji's Confidant. Fortunately, advancing Ryuji's Confidant doesn't require any Social Stat prerequisites, making it one of the easiest to max out. To get Insta-kill as quickly as possible, spend time with Ryuji and choose dialogue options that maximize your points, ideally before you start unlocking other Confidants.
