"Maximize EXP Gain in Persona 5 Royal"

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 RPGs, leveling up is crucial, and Persona 5 Royal is no exception. If you don't keep your team leveled up, you'll find yourself struggling against the game's formidable late-game bosses, leading to tedious grinding sessions in Mementos. As an enhanced version of the original Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal introduces numerous quality-of-life improvements and adds 20 hours of fresh content.

The game includes an additional semester for the Phantom Thieves and tweaks to existing boss battles. With all this new content, it's essential to keep your team's levels high and to know the most efficient ways to gain experience.

Updated January 13, 2025 by Renri Seong: While being over-leveled can make Persona 5 Royal too easy, matching the levels of Palace Rulers is crucial, especially on a new save file. There are several methods 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 passive skill. This guide has been updated to include a new section on how to quickly farm experience using the Insta-kill ability.

Accessories and The Moon Arcana

Mishima Yuuki's Confidant

In Persona 5 Royal, you can enhance your EXP gain by downloading the free Team Glasses accessory from the PlayStation Store. Equipping these glasses on each character will boost their EXP gain by 15% in battles. However, keep in mind that only Joker and three other Phantom Thieves can participate in battle at a time, meaning those on the backline will receive less experience.

To address this, you can increase the EXP gain for backup members by advancing your relationship with the Moon Confidant, Yuuki Mishima. Reaching Rank 3 and Rank 5 with Mishima will allow backup team members to earn more EXP. If you max out Mishima's Confidant to Rank 10, your backup members will receive the same amount of EXP as those in the front lines.

Building a strong bond with Mishima is straightforward as long as you choose dialogue options that resonate with him. It's also beneficial to bring a Persona of the Moon Arcana when spending time with him. In Persona 5 Royal, Mishima's Mementos Missions are now linked to his Confidant progression, so neglecting these missions will hinder your ability to rank up.

Mementos: Increase EXP Gain

Cognition of Mementos

Alongside Yoshizawa and Maruki, Persona 5 Royal introduces Jose, a character who may not be central to the plot but offers significant gameplay benefits. Throughout Mementos, you'll find "flowers" and "Stamp Stations." Collecting these allows you to trade with Jose for items or to alter the Cognition of Mementos. In Jose's Shop, you can choose to increase EXP, Money Rewards, or Item Rewards, but these boosts apply only within Mementos. Upgrading EXP gain to 110% costs 5 Stamps, while maxing it out at 200% requires 12 Stamps.

There are 165 Stamps in total, but you'll need 85 to fully maximize the EXP boost. Stamp Stations are located in "dead ends" on Mementos floors behind breakable walls. You might encounter Jose when moving to a new floor.

Fight the Reaper

What Level is the Reaper?

The Reaper, a formidable enemy in the Persona series, will appear in Mementos if you linger on a floor too long. You'll notice the screen flashing red and the sound of chains, with Morgana or Futaba warning Joker of an ominous presence.

Defeating the Reaper at the game's outset is nearly impossible unless you're on a New Game+ file. With -dyne tier spells and Support skills like Concentrate and elemental Breaks, the Reaper is a level 85 enemy with exceptionally high stats. His lowest stat, Agility, is still at 75, which can outpace your team if they're not adequately leveled.

However, vanquishing the Reaper grants a massive amount of experience and money, often resulting in level-ups for all characters. It's advisable to confront the Reaper at level 60 or higher, equipped with Defense-raising Support skills and Makarakarn to reflect his magic. If you've purchased the Persona DLC featuring Izanagi-no-Okami (Picaro), you can stack Concentrate, Heat Riser, and use Myriad Truths for heavy Almighty damage three times.

Defeat Treasure Demons

How to Summon Treasure Demons

Treasure Demons are unique Shadows that debut in Madarame's Palace and continue to appear in the Metaverse. These harmless Shadows tend to flee after a few turns. Different types of Treasure Demons have varying Affinity Weaknesses and Immunities, but all are vulnerable to Almighty attacks.

To defeat them before they escape, use Shinya's Rank 1 Ability, Down Shot, to down them and set up an All-Out Attack. Alternatively, you can try Morgana's Miracle Punch, provided the Treasure Demon doesn't nullify Physical attacks.

Treasure Demons appear more frequently in Palaces with high security. You can also craft the Treasure Trap infiltration tool to boost encounters, which requires:

• 2x Silk Yarn
• 3x Plant Balm
• 1x Cork Bark

Use Persona with EXP Skills

How to Get Growth Passive Skill

Typically, any Persona not equipped by Joker at the end of a battle won't earn EXP. However, if they possess the Passive Skill Growth, they'll gain a portion of the battle's experience even if not used. 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 at specific levels:

• 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)

Once you unlock the Electric Chair in the Velvet Room, you can turn Personas into Skill Cards. However, in Persona 5 Royal, Personas that previously transformed into Growth 1 and Growth 2 Skill Cards no longer do so. Izanagi Picaro is the only Persona that will yield a Growth 3 Skill Card when used in the Electric Chair.

To obtain the Growth 2 Skill Card, you must take Caroline and Justine to Miura Beach between September 2nd and September 29th, after completing event 6 (Sky Tower). You can spend time with them during evenings by talking 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 Shadows without entering battle, provided you ambush them and Joker's 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 you with items, yen, experience, and, if you have space, a new Persona.

You can identify Shadows susceptible to Insta-kill using Joker's Third Eye ability; those with a green outline can be instantly defeated.

To unlock Insta-kill, you need to advance Ryuji's Confidant to Rank 7. Fortunately, Ryuji's Confidant doesn't require any specific Social Stats to progress, making it one of the easiest to max out. To quickly reach Rank 7, spend time with Ryuji and choose the dialogue options that maximize your points, ideally before you start focusing on other Confidants.