Persona 5: The Phantom X tier list for the best characters

Ann Takamaki (Panther)

Attribute: Fire
Role: Sweeper

Ann is the MVP of standard five-star attackers, thanks to her AoE and damage-over-time burn attacks. She's even still viable to use in endgame content on the Chinese version of the game today, so Ann comes highly recommended for those playing the global version too.

On top of her general fire and burn damage, Ann can also increase her attack, lower enemy attack, and heal an ally with the lowest HP when the La Vie en Rose effect ends. She can even do additional damage with her fire Technical attacks. To make Ann the best she can be, you'll want to unlock more of her Awareness levels, but this is very easy to do, as you can get multiple copies of Ann for free.

Ren Amamiya (Joker)

Attribute: Curse
Role: Sweeper

As the first limited-time five-star on the banners, of course Joker is the best DPS right now. If the Chinese version is anything to go by, he will slip down the rankings when other DPS characters start to get introduced, but that doesn't mean he can't still do the job—it'll just take longer in the future.

Joker's strengths lay in his AoE curse attacks, which you can make even better by building his Will of Rebellion stacks for increases to his raw attack stat. Joker also deals more damage during extra actions, and when there are any debuffs on an enemy. Just like Ann, if you truly want the best out of Joker, you'll need to unlock more of his Awareness levels, but this is harder to do, as you can only get duplicates of Joker by pulling on his limited-time banner.

Yaoling Li (Rin)

Attribute: Curse
Role: Saboteur

If you need a debuffer on your team, Rin's your gal. She excels at applying AoE curse debuffs and decreasing the enemies' defense. You just need to ensure you're building enough speed on Rin to increase her attack, and make the debuffs on enemies more effective.

Rin's kit did become less helpful when other buffers got added to the Chinese version of the game, but right now, she's incredibly strong, and a particularly great pick for those who have Joker.

Leo Kamiyama (Leon)

Attribute: Nuclear
Role: Strategist

Leon is still being paired with DPS characters in the Chinese version of the game today, so building him is a great use of your resources if you're in need of a buffer. Just keep in mind that while Leon's great now, he gets even better at maximum Awareness level, and when paired with future nuclear characters.

Leon's main role is boosting the crit damage and attack of your main damage-dealer, but he also provides shields, some healing, and can dish out a little damage of his own when not buffing. This makes Leon valuable for both general gameplay and tough endgame boss fights.

Miyu Sahara (Puppet)

Attribute: None
Role: Elucidator

Elucidators are your navigators in The Phantom X, and as there's only two of them available at the start of the global version, Puppet is pretty much a must-build if you want to keep your team alive right now. The usual caveat applies that once five-star Elucidators start appearing, Puppet's value declines pretty steeply. However, she still has value in being the only Elucidator with a focus on defense.

The reason Puppet is so useful is because she helps your team survive longer by applying shields and raising your party's defense, but Puppet can also restore some SP and increase your damage dealt.

Shun Kano (Soy)

Attribute: Ice
Role: Guardian

When paired with a smart team, Soy is incredible at allowing you to take on fights far above your current character (or skill) level, as his inherent taunt ability allows Soy to tank most of the incoming damage. He's another character still being used in the Chinese version of the game, so building him now won't come back to haunt you later.

On top of tanking, Soy can also apply the freeze effect, increase the entire party's maximum HP, and decrease enemies' defense when using ranged attacks and his Smash Hit skill. These are all incredibly useful and versatile abilities, so you can see why this four-star comes so highly recommended.

Morgana (Mona)

Attribute: Wind
Role: Medic

Morgana is a great healer with some other handy abilities, but he also suffers from won't-be-that-good-soon syndrome, as there are better five-star Medic picks coming to the global version of the game in future patches. Currently though, Morgana's only downside is that Cattle exists—an excellent four-star Medic that you get for free. While you can also get Morgana for free, you're better off picking another OG Phantom Thief from the beginner or standard banners over Morgana for long-term team building.

Morgana still has some tricks up his sleeve though, as he's the only Medic that can revive KO'd allies, which is an incredibly useful way to keep your team going during tough battles. Plus, Morgana can remove elemental ailments.

Ryuji Sakamoto (Skull)

Attribute: Physical
Role: Assassin

Ryuji is a great single-target DPS who’s thankfully just as easy to build as he is to play. However, he's not as effective outside of his damage-type (physical and electric) as other attackers like Ann and Joker are, and he doesn't have as much survivability thanks to his unique HP-based kit.

Most of Ryuji's skills cost HP to use, and he gets better under certain HP thresholds, which makes him a bit of a glass cannon. Ryuji can be very useful when short bursts of damage at the start of a fight are required, but otherwise, he's a risky character to play.

Lufel (Cattle)

Attribute: Fire
Role: Medic

If it's straight-up healing you need, then the four-star—and completely free—Cattle is a fantastic pick for almost any team right now. Cattle's healing is more reliable than even Morgana, and he even provides attack buffs, applies burn, and can decrease an enemy's healing. You just have to be wary of balancing the SP cost of all that healing when engaging in longer battles.

Once again (say it with me now), Cattle is really good right now, but better five-star Medics coming in the future will outrank him in due time. Such is the way of gacha.

Seiji Shiratori (Fleuret)

Attribute: Wind
Role: Assassin

For a four-star DPS, Fleuret is actually an incredibly strong pick, and is particularly useful in the early and mid game. Although, inevitably, he will drop off a bit later in the game when stronger five-stars make their appearance. Still, Fleuret is pretty easy to build, so if you need some assistance right now and you want to save your banner pulls, he's a great substitute.

As for how Fleuret works, building Wind stacks helps him deal high DoT damage. So, using his Saber Surge skill is key, as it applies Wind, reduces enemy defense, and boosts his crit rate for maximum damage. And when at maximum Awareness, Fleuret can get even more crit damage and crit rate.

Kayo Tomiyama (Okyann)

Attribute: None
Role: Elucidator

As one of only two Elucidators in the global version right now, you can rarely go wrong with slotting Okyann into your teams—unless you're struggling to stay alive. In which case, you'll want to replace Okyann with Puppet. Okyann's value will decrease when other Elucidators are added later, but she's still worth building to help you clear current endgame content.

As an offensive navigator, Okyann raises your party's attack, defense, and ailment accuracy, as well as restoring your party's SP, and inflicting random ailments on enemies herself. All very useful abilities to have!

Motoha Arai (Closer)

Attribute: Electric
Role: Sweeper

Closer is good, but her issue is that she won't be good for long, so you might not want to invest in her as your electric DPS. She's more of a shock-applying and electric-boosting support anyway, but it's nothing too special when compared to what even Wonder can do. So she's easy to use and build in the early and mid game, but falls off quite sharply when it comes to endgame battles.

Kotone Montagne (Mont)

Attribute: Ice
Role: Assassin

Mont is the very definition of 'okay'. She's a good enough follow-up DPS right now with some nice crit damage and the ability to freeze, but considering she's a four-star, there's only so much damage she can do. Useful at the start of the game, but she can fall off quite quickly, unless you really need an Ice attacker.

Haruna Nishimori (Riddle)

Attribute: Psychokinesis
Role: Strategist

If there were a consistent way to guarantee building Riddle's Childish Heart stacks, her place would be a lot higher on this list, as more stacks equals more attack for your entire party. Instead, there's only a chance of getting these stacks when your allies attack with the Affection status that Riddle applies with her Surprise Squad skill.

This inconsistently means that as more buffers get added, Riddles's usefulness will steeply decline. However, Riddle does also increase the healing and shields received by your team, and gives them a flat defense boost, so she can slot into good teams at times. It's just that her slot is usually best taken by somebody with more consistent boosts.

Yukimi Fujikawa (Yuki)

Attribute: Bless
Role: Guardian

Yuki's a bit too niche to fully recommend building, but you can make use of her if you're after the unique combo of an okay-ish bless DPS with defense and shielding capabilities. This attack/defend hybrid style isn't as useful when compared to characters who only perform in an attack or shielding role, but she can still help out a bit in the early and mid game, and slot into a Yosuke team in the future.

Kiyoshi Kurotani (Key)

Attribute: Fire
Role: Saboteur

Key is useful for increasing your team' fire and burn damage, but that's all he's good for really. He's also a very squishy character to have on your team due to his skills costing HP, so it can be a chore trying to keep Key alive for the sake of only mid buffs to fire teams. This is especially true when you can use better buffers or debuffers in his place who won't die as quickly.

Tomoko Noge (Moko)

Attribute: Psychokinesis
Role: Strategist

Like most four-stars, Moko's biggest problem is that she just doesn't do enough damage when compared to current, and future, five-star DPS characters. So really, you have to look at Moko's support capabilities to measure how good she actually is, and her support abilities are lacking when compared to other buffers and debuffers.

If you really want to use her, Moko can slot into a psychokinesis team in a support role, but just keep in mind that you're losing out on better buffs and debuffs if you pick her over somebody else.

Toshiya Sumi (Sepia)

Attribute: Curse
Role: Assassin

Sepia is designed to be a pure DoT curse DPS with no support capabilities, but his issue as a four-star is that he lacks damage compared to other DoT attackers, and there are five-star characters like Joker who are better at applying curse damage. So there's really no point in building Sepia unless you really need a curse attacker, or like Sepia's extremely easy playstyle of just spamming his Unexpected Tragedy skill.