Persona 5 Tips: How to Not Waste Your First Playthrough

Persona 5 Royal is one of those games where doing it wrong your first time is genuinely easy. You get hundreds of in-game days and zero tutorial on how to spend them efficiently. Confidants you need to max early are hidden behind story progression. The combat system punishes passive play. And Royal specifically adds content that dramatically changes what you should be doing compared to the original.

Here's what I wish I'd known before my first playthrough. This covers Persona 5 Royal specifically — the original P5 has slight differences but most advice translates.

Time is the resource that actually matters

Every action consumes time. Daytime, after school, evening. Not every action uses one slot — sometimes multiple activities consume the same slot. Not every activity advances your day.

Rule one: be efficient with your time. Don't waste afternoons or evenings doing nothing. Plan ahead.

Rule two: stat-building is as important as confidant-building. You need certain stats (Charm, Kindness, Proficiency, Guts, Knowledge) to access certain confidants and take on certain jobs. Leveling stats requires specific activities.

Rule three: rainy days are opportunity days. Reading in Shinjuku diner on rainy days levels Knowledge twice. Certain books also give double stats when read on specific days.

Confidant priority: who to max first

Not all confidants are equal. Some unlock game-changing mechanics. Some are just character development. Priority ones (max these first):

Takemi (Dr. Tae Takemi) — Unlocks combat heals and eventually access to the strongest items in the game. Her affection is raised through visits to her clinic and dialogue choices.

Iwai (Munehisa Iwai) — Gun store owner. Maxing him grants free gun customization and drops prices on weapons. Guns in P5R are very strong — don't sleep on this.

Chihaya (Chihaya Mifune) — Her fortune telling raises confidant points for anyone you hang out with afterward. Essential for efficiency. Also unlocks discounts and buffs.

Yoshida — Political speechwriter. Unlocks dialogue options that let you talk your way out of tough negotiations with shadows. Also Charm stat increases.

Mishima — Your old classmate. Unlocks extra XP after battles. Easy to max because he's always available in the evening.

Kawakami — Homeroom teacher. Unlocks "maid service" that lets you do multiple activities in the same evening. She's an S-tier confidant just for the time-saving.

Hierophant (Sojiro Sakura) — Your de facto guardian. Unlocks coffee and curry that give battle advantages. Passive point gain if you eat with him.

Shinya — Yongen kid at the arcade. Unlocks baton pass chance increase, which is combat-critical.

Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, Haru, Akechi, Maruki — Your party members. These unlock combat abilities specific to their party roles. Max them based on who you use in combat.

The confidants that are relationship-only (no combat benefit): Hifumi, Ohya, Chihaya (though her ability IS combat-useful), Sae, Sadayo, Sojiro. These are still worth doing for story and NG+ bonuses.

Don't sleep on Mementos

Mementos is the random procedural dungeon accessed via subway. It's not optional — it's the most efficient way to:

• Fight shadows for money and XP
• Complete confidant requests
• Farm specific personas you can only get there

Visit Mementos at least once per chapter. Twice is better. The requests you complete from the phantom aficionado website all involve Mementos. Requests give significant XP, money, and items.

Combat requires aggression

Persona 5's combat rewards offensive, efficient play. Defensive turtling loses fights you should win.

Every enemy has weaknesses. Discover them by trying attacks. Once a weakness is found, exploit it to knock the enemy down and trigger:

• Extra turn (you act again)
• Baton pass to teammate (they get a buff)
• All-out attack (massive damage)

Personas are fusion-based. Fuse new personas constantly to match the weaknesses you encounter.

The Joker (you) is the only character who swaps personas. Always have a variety of elements ready — fire, ice, lightning, psychic, nuclear, curse, bless.

Your party members are locked to their personas. Specific ones matter:

• Ryuji: Physical + Electric
• Ann: Fire + Charm
• Yusuke: Ice + Physical
• Makoto: Nuclear + Heal
• Futaba: Support (invaluable — heals and buffs)
• Haru: Psychic + Gun
• Akechi: Bless/Curse (story-dependent)
• Maruki: Royal's third semester party member, unique mechanics

Match your party to the palace you're tackling.

Palace pacing

Each palace has a deadline. Finish it before the deadline. But also don't rush it in one visit — you waste the time advantage of saving it for a rainy/time-efficient day.

The sweet spot: scout the palace to get the safe room unlock, then return on a strategically good day to push through.

Complete the palace early — once deadline is approaching, the Phantom Thieves deliver the calling card. Wait until late in the month to deliver the calling card, because you lock yourself out of palace exploration for a day afterward.

Royal-specific content

The third semester adds significantly more content. To access the true ending, you need to:

• Max Maruki's confidant (which requires high enough Persona social links)
• Make specific story choices

Don't skip Maruki's counseling sessions. They're set up for the third semester content.

Kasumi joins your party partway through. She's one of the strongest late-game fighters.

Stat-raising early game tips

Knowledge: Read books, rainy day Shinjuku diner (doubles), study in your room Guts: Horror movies, shogi with Hifumi, Sae's jazz club Charm: Public bathhouse, specific movies, fortune telling with Chihaya Proficiency: Baseball batting cage, lockpick crafting (also combat useful), botany Kindness: Plant watering, reading to plants, specific shrine prayers

Max your stats as much as possible. Low stats lock out confidants, jobs, and dialogue options you'll regret missing.

The flower shop and batting cages matter

Part-time jobs serve multiple purposes:

• Direct income
• Stat gains
• Some unlock confidant paths

Flower shop (Kichijoji) gives Kindness. Batting cage gives Proficiency. Working at the diner gives Charm and income.

These are always available in the evenings. Use them on days when you don't have a preferred confidant available.

Save the world, save your time

Checkpoint saves exist. Use them. If you made a mistake with a confidant choice or misallocated a day, reload. The game is too long to redo from scratch because of small errors.

Keep a planning document if you're a completionist. Map out which confidants you need to max by what point in the story.

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The shortest version

Plan your days. Max confidants efficiently — Takemi, Iwai, Chihaya, Kawakami early. Do Mementos every chapter. Fuse new personas often. Match party members to palace elements. Max stats through part-time jobs and strategic reading. Don't rush palaces but don't dawdle past deadlines. Royal specifically requires maxing Maruki for true ending.

And the most important tip: enjoy the time management. The moment-to-moment living-your-life feeling is what makes Persona great. Don't optimize so hard you stop having fun.