Picking the right party members is essential in a Persona game, especially one with a system based on the Etrian Odyssey series. Having squished together the cast of both Persona 3 and 4 to create Persona Q, it presents the prospective gamer with a huge amount of characters to choose from, since it features the full cast from both. In the vast majority of cases each of these characters retains their original traits, with skills even making the transfer to handheld. With so many options available to you, just who should you take with you on your journey? Join us below as we detail 5 of the best choices for dungeon delving companions.
5. Akihiko
The first character on our list is the ever-confident Akihiko. He’s always up for a challenge and this shines through in the dialogue within Persona Q. Of course, in a handheld crossover title you’re not quite going to get the true depth that we’re all aware exists within his personality, but he serves the purpose of being very outgoing, pushing your main character into new and exciting locales, despite their danger.
Akihiko is a physical powerhouse in Persona Q. His Persona grants him access to some excellent abilities, especially for boss battles, and his statistics mean that he’ll be able to take plenty of hits and keep coming back for more. Whilst he’s not the strongest defensively, he’ll manage on your front line just fine, and his stats are balanced enough to ensure that he won’t miss many attacks, unlike some others we could mention…
Key Skills & Statistics:
- (Skill) Champions Title: Greatly increases critical rate (passive).
- (Skill) Matarunda: Lowers all enemies attack.
- High Strength & Agility
- Medium Endurance
Party Build Tips
Akihiko is a heavy physical attacker, one of many available in Persona Q. To get the most out of him you’ll want to put him in the front row alongside something a little defensive, like Aigis perhaps, then load up the back row with magic users. He can work well as part of a duo up front, however we have found that the best option is to build a party with three members in the front row, which will result in a party that can overload almost any fight with huge physical damage.
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4. Persona 3 Protagonist
Next up is the Persona 3 Protagonist, who will take on the name you choose no matter which story you pick at the start of the game. This being a player controlled character, you really won’t find any personality traits transfer into this spin off, other than the reactions that his colleagues may have with him.
In Persona Q battles he takes on the form of a balanced magic user, able to turn his hand to almost any form of spell casting. His high magic stat makes sure that he performs at a high level no matter what. This makes him an ideal character for your back line. Put him there and let him support the rest of your team with a good healing sub persona, whilst he chips in some damage with his innate Fire spells. Oh and there is the small matter of Debilitate too.
Key Skills & Statistics:
- (Skill) Dekaja: Removes any buffs from your opponents.
- (Skill) Debilitate: Lowers all enemies attack, defence, hit and evasion.
- High Magic
- Mid to High luck and SP
Party Build Tips
The P3 main character is one of the best magic users that Persona Q has to offer, and one that can slot into almost any team build you could want. Debilitate is a fantastic spell that you should abuse as much as possible in boss fights, and he’s more than capable of just dealing high amounts of magical damage with a good sub persona equipped. It’s also worth noting that he’s an ideal candidate for accompanying Zen & Rei in the back row; their spells aren’t the strongest in the late game, so having Debilitate on hand in each battle will help to plug this gap. Finally, he has access to powerful Fire spells, so it would be best to avoid teaming up with Koromaru or Yukiko, since they also focus on this element.
3. Persona 4 Protagonist
Similarly to the P3MC, the Persona 4 protagonist really only lives on through his interactions with the other party members, so you won’t exactly find them incredibly interesting aside from any knowledge you may bring along with you from previous titles.
As a battle member he’s very strong, taking more of a physical role than his alternative. You’ll be best off putting him in the front row where possible and allowing him to dish out some big damage with his beefy two handed swords. Another small innate bonus is that he loses all elemental weaknesses later on in the game, something that he has over the P3MC. Plus he has access to Heat Riser, one of the best buffing skills for physical attacks in the entire game.
Key Skills & Statistics:
- (Skill) Dekunda: Removes any debuffs from your party.
- (Skill) Heat Riser: Increases a party members Attack, Defence and Agility for 3 turns.
- High Strength
- Mid to High Magic, Endurance and Agility
Party Build Tips
Much like Akihiko detailed above, the Persona 4 protagonist excels as a heavy physical attacker, but that doesn’t mean that he’s solely limited to this role thanks to well balanced stats. He focuses on the Zio series of spells, so pairing him with Akihiko or Ken might not be the best idea, though if you focus both him and Akihiko on physical attacks this isn’t an issue. We have found that he performs best in the front row alongside Aigis, Kanji or Chie and works very well with the P3MC in the back row, since Debilitate will make his physical attacks hit even harder.
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2. Naoto Shirogane
It was a real toss up between Naoto and our #1 pick for the best character in Persona Q. You’ll soon understand why if you pick her up and bring her on your dungeon grinds. As a character you really don’t get a great deal of detail in Persona Q. We know her as a troubled individual, lacking in confidence where perhaps she should not, but in PQ you’ll mainly see her serious and investigative side. It’s a shame that you cannot dig deeper, but that’s what the main line games are for!
In battle Naoto is, quite simply, broken. Her Dark and Light abilities have the potential to instantly kill entire swathes of enemies, and they regularly will. Most enemies have a weakness to either of these elements, and it’s not unusual to see Naoto completely remove entire random battles alone. This make her essential on higher difficulties, especially if you want to move anywhere quickly. We’re almost inclined to call her broken, and if we’re honest we sometimes bring other party members in her place to make sure the game is actually challenging…
Key Skills & Statistics:
- (Skill) Mamudoon & Mahamaon: Instantly kill enemies weak to these elements.
- (Skill) Megidolaon: Very high almighty damage to all enemies.
- High Magic
- Mid to High Agility & Luck
Party Build Tips
Naoto is a bit of an enigma in Persona Q, because she’ll fit into almost any party build and make it better. She does not focus on a regular element, instead choosing to bring instant death or non elemental attacks, so she will not clash with any other magic user. She is very strong in random battles, since she can essentially remove almost opponents with her instant death spells, but there are two key tips you really should know; Impure Reach is an incredible skill for her in general, and she’s not actually that great versus bosses, so be sure to bring plenty of single target damage in your remaining slots.
1. Aigis
If you’re at all aware of the Persona series, specifically Persona 3, you’ll be all too familiar with Aigis and her unique personality and importance. Again this is something that isn’t really explored in Persona Q, rather she is relegated to a very serious and sensible voice in the crowd. Happily she stands out in other ways.
As a battle character she is the absolute pinnacle of defensive capability. Her passive abilities will come to your rescue multiple times throughout every trip out into the games myriad dungeons, and you’ll find yourself constantly thanking her under your voice for saving you. She’s not limited to defence either, with her attack being a bash type and her Origia mode being available, though we’ll admit the cool down can be a pain. Take her on every exploration trip and you’ll find yourself a great deal safer each time.
Key Skills & Statistics:
- (Passive Skill) Swordbreaker: Medium chance to half damage when your row is attacked.
- (Passive Skill) Aegis Shield: High chance to nullify Elec, Fire, Ice and Wind damage to your row.
- Very high Strength and Endurance
Party Build Tips
If Naoto is an enigma then Aigis is an unstoppable monster of a party member. Her defensive capabilities are completely unmatched, meaning that she too can slot into almost any party build and perform to a very high level. It’s worth noting that she is so good that you can probably skip any other defensive members, and put her in either a duo or trio in the front row without issue. The only real detail here is that she does Bash type physical damage, so it’s worth bringing at least 1 Cut member to ensure weakness coverage.
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