Crafting the right team build can absolutely make or break a dungeon crawler such as Persona Q. Games such as these typically have a large selection of characters or classes available, of which PQ is not different, which often bestows the prospective adventurer with a myriad of options from which to pick. Unlike others in the genre however, the cast of either Persona game will come with something else attached: History. This can be dangerous however, because it’s all well and good picking your favourites based on their personality in prior titles, but what if you get hours into a dungeon and realise you’re bereft of a healer? Worse yet, you reach a difficult boss battle only to discover that your team is excellent at taking down random battles, but horrible at dealing significant single target damage? Well fear not intrepid traveller, we’re here to give you a little guidance in the form of four excellent team builds to help you on your way.
Powerhouse Leaders
- Aigis – Front Row
- P4MC – Front Row
- Akihiko – Front Row
- P3MC – Back Row
- Naoto – Back Row
One of the distinct differences between the Q series of games and the mainline titles is that the ‘1 More’ system has been removed. This has been replaced by the Boost system, which puts a character in a heightened state if they attack an enemy weakness. Those currently in the Boost state will act first in the subsequent round, and having more than one in said state also contributes to your chance to trigger an All Out Attack. Why are we telling you this? Well it’s key that you understand the system changes because these are what justify character changes – these are not exactly the same units copied wholesale from their main title, they have differences and quirks that cause them to play differently.
That said, you may recognise these 5 choices in particular, because they form the entirety of our Top 5 Best Party Members article. In short, there is nothing that this team cannot achieve, almost entirely because each of the members is a veritable powerhouse at their chosen role. Aigis is the absolute pinnacle of party defence thanks to a combination of incredible statistics and a tremendous skill set, Akihiko is a physical damage monster and Naoto’s group instant death attacks are well… Put it this way, we could count on one hand the amount of random encounters that she cannot just delete in one spell. Finally, we’ll not go too in depth on the Protagonists – you’re going to take one of them regardless, and they’re both such powerhouses that it makes sense to bring them both when you can.
Party Build Benefits
- Aigis provides unparalleled defensive abilities, and her front line team mates can take a beating and keep on coming too.
- Naoto will take up her role as random battle deletion, thanks to those overpowered instant death attacks.
- The Protagonists are immensely powerful statistically, and have access to the frankly epic Heat Riser and Debilitate in the late game.
- Anything not attainable through main Persona can be plugged using Sub options – these should be used to prioritise elemental gaps for exploiting weaknesses.
Alternative Members
- Front liners like Akihiko or the P4MC can be switched out with members like Chie or Junpei, but be aware that they function a little differently and are more ‘specialised’ – Chie for example, prefers to aim for critical hits, but she is a little less durable.
- Naoto can be replaced by any other back liner, however you will lose the incredible random battle deletion abilities. Ken can fulfill a similar role if you prefer.
- Aigis could be replaced by Shinjiro. His skills are less useful from a defensive perspective, however his statistics mean he can take plenty of hits.
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Team Sustain
- Aigis – Front Row
- Kanji – Front Row
- P3MC – Back Row
- Yukari – Back Row
- Zen & Rei – Back Row
Contrary to our first team build, which focused on all of the somewhat overpowered units in Persona Q, our next build is all about ensuring survival at all costs, hence the sustain name. It’s also a build that only features two members in the front row, something that’s actually quite unusual in a game that favours physical skills so much, but it’s worth noting that we’re choosing to take a hit to our offensive capabilities in order to increase survival as much as possible. The only real negative to this build, that we can think of at least, is that it’s heavily weighted towards Persona 3 characters – this might not be the best for fans of that particular game, however this is a team built with our heads not our hearts.
We should probably first tackle the contentious point: Yes we are using Zen & Rei. These two characters are rather controversial in the Persona Q fandom because they do not have the ability to equip a Sub Persona, meaning you’re stuck with the skills they learn and nothing more. We’ve chosen them for two reasons; they’re actually pretty damned good from a statistical perspective, and they have some excellent sustain abilities, including row heals, status cleanses and even SP sustain just for walking through dungeons. The remaining back line members offer similar benefits; Yukari will be the main healer thanks to her access to powerful group heals, the Persona 3 Protagonist will eventually access the best single target debuff in the game (Debilitate) and the front row combination of Aigis and Kanji will deal great physical damage whilst providing unparalleled defensive skills and statistics.
Party Build Benefits
- Yukari has access to excellent group heals and has a high magic stat to enable the use of some spell-focused Sub Personas.
- Zen & Rei actually have some excellent sustain, and they can keep it coming again and again thanks to their innate SP restoration. Their skills include heals, cleanses and even powerful elemental attacks.
- Aigis and Kanji offer incredible defensive skills and statistics for the front line. They can also deal some excellent damage as they level up, so you should still have access to some excellent damage abilities.
- P3MC will access the epic Debilitate ability in the late game, and in the meantime he has an excellent Magic statistic, allowing him to take advantage of some powerful spell casting Sub Personas.
Alternative Members
- The Persona 4 Protagonist can be switched out with the P3MC to make the team more physical damage in nature. He also has a good Endurance stat, so the team should still be able to sustain well.
- Shinjiro can also take up a position on the front line, though we’d recommend he replace Kanji – Aigis’ defensive skills are too good to miss out on.
- Zen & Rei can of course be replaced with a Sub Persona user. If you’re aiming to stick with the ‘sustain’ type of team then we’d recommend Yukiko, since she has powerful single target heals, however if you’re looking for further damage options then Mitsuru may be a better option.
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Persona 3 Team
- Aigis – Front Row
- Akihiko – Front Row
- P3MC – Back Row
- Ken – Back Row
- Mitsuru – Back Row
- Fuuka – Navigator
No doubt some of you out there are big fans of the dark and foreboding home of Tartarus, and you’re going to want to build a full Persona 3 team as a tribute to the game. We’d be hard pressed to choose between the two games if we’re honest, but if you squeeze us really, really hard then we’d probably concede that we enjoy the third entry a little more than the fourth. There is something very satisfying about climbing that tower little by little, learning more about your teammates and well, the ending is just something else. There’s little in the way of exposure to that story here, but we’re always happy to spend a little more time with SEES whenever possible.
In terms of our actual character choices, they honestly seem to pick themselves. Aigis is the consummate front line tank, capable of protecting the entire party on her own thanks to her incredible skills and passives, and Akihiko is strong enough to stand there with her and take plenty of hits whilst dishing out big chunks of physical damage. To offset this, plus the fact that we’re only taking two front liners, our back line is chock full of magical power. Mitsuru is capable of dealing huge amounts of damage with liberal usage of Concentrate, the P3 Protagonist can do the job just as well and Ken even makes for a reasonable alternative to Naoto, using his high luck to ensure that instant death attacks hit, though you’ll need to get creative with Sub Persona to allow him to use the group versions. It actually feels a little unfair on the P4 cast if we’re honest – it’s a little stacked in favour of the older game here.
Party Build Benefits
- Amazing defensive front line of Akihiko and Aigis, though both can still dish out physical damage when required.
- Excellent magical power in every slot of the back line. Mitsuru especially with her Concentrate skill.
- Ken can function as a ‘Naoto-lite’ thanks to his high luck, though he’ll need Sub Persona and some creativity to get access to the group skills.
- P3 Protagonist is an excellent magic user that gets access to the epic Debilitate skill later on.
- Fuuka is a superior Navi member for those that prefer healing.
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Persona 4 Team
- P4MC – Front Row
- Kanji – Front Row
- Chie – Front Row
- Naoto – Back Row
- Yukiko – Back Row
- Rise – Navigator
We should probably clarify our comments in the Persona 3 section. Yes, that is the game that we would consider our favourite of the two, but that doesn’t mean that Persona 4 isn’t an excellent game. The setting is of course completely different, focusing on a murder mystery in a village rather than the dark and dank setting of an apocalyptic city, but it does so with a charm and grace that encourages play, and whilst we do prefer the eventual story beats of P3, we would argue that the inter-personal relationships of Persona 4 are significantly better aside from a few highlights in the prequel. The battle system too is superior, though the portable version of the third did much to bridge the gap.
In terms of our actual team, we do feel like the P4 team gets the worse options overall. It has it’s highlights of course, after all Naoto is the random battle shredder, Kanji is an excellent front liner and the P4MC is a powerhouse no matter what he chooses to do. Rather our problem is with the concessions that must be made; Chie for example can do some excellent physical damage, but you’ll have to take care of her due to that low HP total. Similarly, Yukiko can do some fantastic things with her magic stat, but her health is among the lowest in the game, by which we mean that it’s absolutely tiny. The team will do fine of course, after all Persona Q is a very malleable game that can be completed with just about any team build, but you might find it a little harder if you restrict yourself to those that hail from the fourth game alone.
Party Build Benefits
- Kanji offers some excellent defensive skills. He might not reach the tanking heights of Aigis, but he’ll do almost as well and offers some great physical damage too.
- The P4MC and Chie have some great physical damage options, however be wary of the latter’s low HP total.
- Naoto will be Naoto and delete random battles like no other.
- Yukiko has an excellent magic stat – try to give her a Sub Persona with group heals to complete her kit, if for no other reason than to heal the missing health from her woefully low HP total.
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