Persona 5 Royal: Top EXP Farming Methods

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. Failing to level up your team can lead to struggles against formidable late-game bosses and tedious grinding in Mementos. As an enhanced version of Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal offers numerous quality-of-life improvements and an additional 20 hours of gameplay.

This updated version introduces a new semester for the Phantom Thieves and modifies several pre-existing boss encounters. With such extensive new content, maintaining high levels for all characters is essential, as is knowing the most efficient ways to gain experience.

Updated January 13, 2025 by Renri Seong: Being over-leveled can make Persona 5 Royal too easy, but it's crucial to match the levels of Palace Rulers, especially on a new save file. There are various strategies to ease experience farming in P5R, from leveraging Confidant Skills to utilizing Jose 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

In Persona 5 Royal, players can enhance their experience gain by downloading the free Team Glasses accessory from the PlayStation Store. Equipping these glasses on each character boosts their EXP gain by 15% after battles. However, this benefit is limited to the four members active in battle, leaving those on the backline with less experience.

To ensure all team members receive EXP, players should focus on ranking up the Moon Confidant, Yuuki Mishima. Reaching Rank 3 and Rank 5 allows backup members to gain some EXP, and achieving Rank 10 ensures they receive the same amount as the front liners. Progressing Mishima's Confidant is straightforward—choose dialogue options that resonate with him and bring a Persona of the Moon Arcana when spending time with him. Additionally, completing Mementos Missions assigned by Mishima is now linked to his Confidant progression, so don't neglect these tasks.

Mementos: Increase EXP Gain

Cognition of Mementos

Persona 5 Royal introduces Jose, a character who, while not central to the plot, greatly enhances gameplay. In Mementos, players can collect "flowers" and visit "Stamp Stations." These can be exchanged with Jose for various rewards, including the ability to alter the Cognition of Mementos. In Jose's Shop, players can choose to increase EXP, Money, or Item rewards, but only within Mementos. Upgrading EXP gain to 110% costs 5 Stamps, while reaching the maximum 200% EXP boost requires 12 Stamps. With 165 Stamps available in total, players need 85 to fully maximize EXP gain. Stamp Stations are hidden in dead ends on Mementos floors behind breakable walls, and players may encounter Jose when moving to a new floor.

Fight the Reaper

What Level is the Reaper?

The Reaper, a formidable foe in the Persona series, appears in Mementos if players linger too long on a floor. Warning signs include a blinking red screen, the sound of chains, and alerts from Morgana or Futaba about an ominous presence. Early in the game, defeating the Reaper is nearly impossible without a New Game+ file, as it possesses powerful -dyne tier spells and Support skills like Concentrate and elemental Breaks.

The Reaper is level 85 with high stats across the board, though its Agility (75) is its lowest. However, this is still enough to outpace the Phantom Thieves if they are underleveled. Defeating the Reaper yields a massive amount of experience and money, often resulting in level-ups for all characters. It's advisable to engage the Reaper at level 60 or higher, equipped with Defense-raising Support skills and Makarakarn to reflect its magic. Alternatively, those with the Izanagi-no-Okami (Picaro) DLC can use Concentrate, Heat Riser, and Myriad Truths to deal significant Almighty damage.

Defeat Treasure Demons

How to Summon Treasure Demons

Treasure Demons are unique Shadows that first appear in Madarame's Palace and subsequently in the Metaverse. Unlike typical Shadows, they are harmless but will flee after a few turns. Each type of Treasure Demon has specific Affinity Weaknesses and Immunities, though all are vulnerable to Almighty attacks. The most effective way to defeat them before they escape is by using Shinya's Rank 1 Ability, Down Shot, to knock them down for an All-Out Attack. Alternatively, high-crit attacks like Morgana's Miracle Punch can be used, provided the Treasure Demon does not nullify Physical attacks.

Treasure Demons appear more frequently when Palace security is high. Players can also craft the Treasure Trap infiltration tool to increase encounters, requiring:

• 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, Personas with the Growth Passive Skill can still gain a percentage of the battle's experience even when not used. There are three tiers of Growth Skills:

• Growth 1: Persona gains a quarter EXP when inactive.
• Growth 2: Persona gains half EXP when inactive.
• Growth 3: Persona gains full EXP when inactive.

The following Personas naturally learn Growth at certain 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)

In Persona 5 Royal, the Electric Chair feature allows players to turn Personas into Skill Cards. However, unlike in the original Persona 5, only Izanagi Picaro can be transformed into a Growth 3 Skill Card. Growth 1 Skill Cards are unavailable in P5R, while Growth 2 Skill Cards can be obtained by taking Caroline and Justine to Miura Beach from September 2nd to September 29th, after clearing event 6 (Sky Tower). Spend evenings with them by the Velvet Room Door outside Mementos.

Ryuji Sakamoto's Confidant

How to Unlock Insta-Kill

Insta-kill is a powerful ability that allows Joker to instantly defeat Shadows without engaging in combat. To use it, ambush the enemy, and if Joker's level is 10 levels higher than the Shadow, it will be defeated instantly. In Persona 5 Royal, a successful Insta-kill grants items, yen, experience, and potentially a Persona. Shadows susceptible to Insta-kill are identifiable by a green outline when using Joker's Third Eye ability.

To unlock Insta-kill, players must reach Rank 7 with Ryuji Sakamoto's Confidant. Fortunately, Ryuji's Confidant has no Social Stat requirements, making it one of the easiest to max out. To quickly reach Rank 7, spend time with Ryuji and select dialogue options that maximize your points. It's advisable to prioritize this before focusing on other Confidants.