Persona 5 Royal: Best Ways to Get EXP
- By Emily
- Mar 26,2025
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In the world of RPGs, leveling up is essential, and Persona 5 Royal is no exception. Failing to keep your team leveled up can lead to struggles against late-game bosses, often necessitating 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 tweaks some existing boss battles. With all this new content, maintaining high levels for your team is crucial, and knowing the fastest ways to gain experience is a must.
Updated on January 13, 2025, by Renri Seong: While being over-leveled can make the game too easy, it's vital to match the levels of Palace Rulers, especially in a new playthrough. Persona 5 Royal provides several methods to streamline experience farming, from leveraging Confidant Skills to utilizing Jose's services in Mementos. Additionally, Joker can earn EXP for non-active Personas with the Growth 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, players can enhance their experience gain by downloading the free Team Glasses accessory from the PlayStation Store. Equipping these glasses adds a 15% boost to EXP gained from battles, but each character must wear them individually.
Due to the battle system limiting players to using Joker and three other Phantom Thieves at a time, those on the backline receive less experience after combat.
Advancing the Moon Confidant (Yuuki Mishima) to Rank 3 and Rank 5 enables backup team members to earn EXP. Reaching Rank 10 ensures that backup members gain the same amount of EXP as the frontline fighters.
To increase Mishima's Confidant rank, players should choose dialogue options that resonate with him and 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. Neglecting these missions will hinder the ability to rank up his Confidant.
Mementos: Increase EXP Gain
Cognition of Mementos
Persona 5 Royal introduces Jose, a new character who, while not central to the plot, significantly aids gameplay.
Throughout Mementos, players can find "flowers" and "Stamp Stations." Collecting these allows exchanges with Jose for items or modifications to Mementos' Cognition. In Jose's Shop, players can increase EXP, Money Rewards, or Item Rewards, specifically within Mementos. Boosting EXP to 110% costs 5 Stamps, while reaching the maximum 200% EXP increase requires 12 Stamps.
There are 165 Stamps in total in Persona 5 Royal, but players need 85 to maximize EXP gain. Stamp Stations are located in "dead ends" on Mementos floors behind breakable walls. Players have a chance to encounter Jose upon entering a new floor of Mementos.
Fight the Reaper
What Level is the Reaper?
The Reaper, a formidable foe from the Persona series, appears in Mementos when 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. The Reaper wields -dyne tier spells and Support skills like Concentrate and elemental Breaks.
At level 85, the Reaper boasts high stats, with Agility being its weakest at 75, yet still sufficient to outpace under-leveled Phantom Thieves.
Defeating the Reaper yields substantial experience and money, often resulting in level-ups for all characters.
It's advisable to engage the Reaper at level 60 or above, equipped with Defense-raising Support skills and Makarakarn to reflect its magic. Alternatively, those with the Izanagi-no-Okami (Picaro) DLC 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, unique Shadows introduced in Madarame's Palace, start appearing in the Metaverse after their first encounter. Unlike typical Shadows, they are harmless and tend to flee after a few turns.
Each type of Treasure Demon has distinct Affinity Weaknesses and Immunities, but all are vulnerable to Almighty attacks. The most effective method to defeat them before they escape is using Shinya's Rank 1 Ability, Down Shot, to down them and set up an All-Out Attack.
Alternatively, players can attempt to down a Treasure Demon with a high-crit attack like Morgana's Miracle Punch, provided the demon doesn't resist Physical attacks.
Treasure Demons spawn in Palaces when security is high. Players can also use the Treasure Trap infiltration tool to increase encounters with Treasure Demons. The materials needed for the Treasure Trap are:
- 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, equipping them with the Growth passive skill allows them to gain a percentage of experience even if unused. 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 gains full EXP when inactive.
The following Personas naturally 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)
In Persona 5 Royal, the Electric Chair in the Velvet Room can transform Personas into Skill Cards. However, unlike in the original game, only Izanagi Picaro will yield a Growth 3 Skill Card when used in the Electric Chair. Growth 1 Skill Cards are unavailable in P5R.
To obtain the Growth 2 Skill Card, players must take Caroline and Justine to Miura Beach between September 2nd and September 29th, after clearing event 6 (Sky Tower). Joker can spend time with them during evenings near the Velvet Room Door outside of Mementos.
Ryuji Sakamoto's Confidant
How to Unlock Insta-Kill
Insta-kill is a powerful ability that allows Joker to instantly defeat a Shadow by ambushing it. If Joker's level is 10 levels above the Shadow's, it will be defeated immediately. In Persona 5 Royal, a successful Insta-kill not only defeats the Shadow but also grants items, yen, experience, and potentially a new Persona.
Players 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, players must reach Rank 7 in Ryuji's Confidant. Fortunately, advancing Ryuji's Confidant doesn't require any specific Social Stat levels, making it one of the easiest to max out. To expedite this process, spend time with Ryuji and select dialogue options that maximize points, ideally before unlocking other Confidants.
