Persona 5 Royal starts off like a fairly typical JRPG, just with an in-game social mechanic. You run around town buying supplies and completing small tasks during the day, and at night, you head to the metaverse to take on enemies in turn-based combat. Even the Persona system is familiar, with you collecting and stocking Personas like it’s a Pokémon game.
Persona fusion is where the game starts to deviate from genre conventions. Although fusing your hard-earned Personas seems confusing, the process is actually straightforward. Even better, the complexities of the fusion system aren’t necessary to make it through the game. No matter if you just want to get a grip on the mechanic or if you’re looking to unlock the most powerful Personas in the game, this guide on Persona fusion will get you set straight.
Fusions explained
Persona 5 Royal walks you through how to fuse Personas as you unlock new options in the Velvet Room. Still, for new players, the process is mystifying. In short, you can sacrifice two or more of your Personas to fuse them into a (hopefully stronger) result. In most cases, the resulting Persona is only slightly stronger. For example, if you fuse Silky, a level 6 persona, with Arsene, a level 1 persona, the result is a level 7 Succubus. You can exploit the fusion system to unlock powerful Personas early, though. Using Silky again, you can fuse it with a level 2 Pixie to unlock the level 26 Clotho.
We need to address levels before you can start fusing, though. You have to be at the resulting Persona’s level for the fusion to work. So, in the case of Clotho, you need to be at least level 26, despite the fact that the result comes from a level 6 and level 2 Persona. Each Persona has a base level — the number we’ve been referencing — and no matter what the levels are of the Personas you’re fusing, the result will always arrive at the base level.
So, simple enough: Sacrifice two or more Personas and make a stronger one. But, like a lot of systems in Persona 5 Royal, there’s more to it than that. Each Persona you have comes from a certain Arcana. When you fuse two Personas, you’ll get a set result based on the Arcana you’re fusing. For example, Personas from the Judgement and Lovers Arcana will result in a Persona from the Hanged Man Arcana. Atlus, thankfully, provides a chart in the game’s manual for tracking the fusion results.
On top of that, there are Arcana Bursts. Each Confidant you have in Persona 5 is tied to a specific Arcana. If your resulting Persona is in an Arcana tied to a Confidant — Ryu is tied to Chariot, for example — the Persona will receive an experience boost after fusion. The boost they receive is based on your social rank with the Confidant in question (the game also points out Arcana Bursts when you’re fusing).
You can even get around the level restriction mentioned above with Arcana Bursts. The extra experience comes after the fusion has happened, so any additional levels your fused Persona receives is just extra power, regardless of your level.
How Persona fusion works
One point of confusion when it comes to Persona fusion is simply how many different options and types of fusions are available, especially as you advance through the game and level up the Twin Wardens and Prison Master confidants. Here’s what they all do:
- Normal Fusion (dyad guillotine): This is the simplest form of Persona fusion. You choose two Personas, and it tells you the result. Good for when you want to get rid of some low-level Personas and don’t necessarily care what the result is.
- Advanced Fusion (group guillotine): The group guillotine uses three or more Personas to make a single result. You won’t use this very often, not least because advanced fusion is primarily for making powerful, high-level Personas.
- Fuse by Result (guillotine search): The most useful option, guillotine search lets you see all the Personas you can make from your currently equipped Personas, even sorting them by level. You should use this option whenever you start to fill up on Personas to clear space in your inventory while ensuring you’re getting a new and useful Persona out of the process.
- Network Fusion (public execution): This late-game option lets you send one Persona per day off into the ether to fuse with a randomly selected Persona from another player. It’s a gamble but can potentially result in powerful fusions. Not necessarily useful, but it can be fun to try late in the game.
There are also Fusion Alarms, which change the result of a fusion, but we’ll get to that shortly. Although it’s still best to use the Fuse by Result page, you can only view the possible fusions based on the Persona you have. Thankfully, there’s a handy open-source tool that shows all of the possible fusions and even includes stats for every Persona in the game.
When and how to fuse personas
The “when” part is easy: Head to the Velvet Room and use Persona fusion whenever your inventory of Personas starts to fill up. When you successfully capture new Personas during battle, you have the option to dismiss old ones if your inventory is full, but that’s a waste. Fuse Personas regularly to ensure there’s always room for new captures.
That isn’t the only benefit, though. Personas gained through fusion are far more powerful than those caught in the wild. For one thing, they’ll gain experience based on your corresponding confidant levels thanks to Arcana Burst, often leveling up several times immediately after you fuse them. And you get to choose several attacks from the component personas to pass down to the new persona, giving yourself a more versatile arsenal.
As far as the “how,” you’ll always want to start with the third option, Fuse by Result, so you can sort the possible results by level. This ensures you’re always making the most powerful possible personas while not wasting time trying to sort through fusions that are too high a level for you to even make.
Simply select Fuse by Result and use R1 or L1 to tab over to the Sort by Level page, then scroll down to Persona results that are at or under your current level. Start there and work your way down until there are no more results for you to make or until you’ve expended all the Personas you don’t mind giving up.
Persona 5 Royal Fusion Alarms explained
Exclusive to Persona 5 Royal, there are Fusion Alarms. After you find the route in the Palace dungeon — we won’t spoil anything here — Fusion Alarms will automatically unlock. If you use the guillotine during a Fusion Alarm, there are a few things that happen. First, your resulting Persona gets an additional stat boost. Additionally, Treasure Demons are treated as five levels higher during a Fusion Alarm, allowing you to fuse them with stronger Personas.
There’s some risk to fusing during a Fusion Alarm, though. Accidents can occur where your resulting Persona either receives a mutated skill or no skill at all. That’s not always a bad thing — the mutated skill can also be a better one. If you want to trigger an accident, you’ll want to fuse twice. After your first fusion, the result will show up in your inventory with a yellow name. Fusing this Persona with another will almost always result in an accident.
And it’s a big accident. If you fuse the result of a Persona fusion during a Fusion Alarm, the final result will have an entirely new set of skills.
Fusion Alarms aren’t happening constantly, though. After you unlock the mechanic early in the game, it’ll trigger afterward randomly whenever you defeat an enemy. You can trigger a Fusion Alarm manually, too. Chihaya Mifune, a fortune teller in Shinjuku, is tied to the Fortune Arcana. After Chihaya becomes your Confidant, level the Fortune Arcana up to level 9. After, you can request a reading from Chihaya, which will trigger a Fusion Alarm for a small fee.
Which Personas to fuse, what attacks to choose, and more
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to Persona fusion. That’s part of the beauty of this system: It allows plenty of room for experimentation while not punishing you for making bum fusions.
We do, however, have some general tips for Persona fusion in Persona 5:
Don’t get attached
It’s easy to get attached to certain Personas that you tend to rely on in battle, but the reality is that you shouldn’t hesitate to use them in fusion. If they’re powerful or useful, they’ll probably result in powerful fusions, too. And besides, if you’re not happy with the result, you can always re-summon that Persona from the Twin Wardens for a small fee.
Fuse high-level personas
Beyond completionism, there’s no reason to try to fuse every possible Persona at all levels. When you’re fusing new Personas, it’s perfectly fine to start with the highest possible level Persona you’re able to fuse and work down the list from there. You’ll wind up missing some, but that’s no big deal, and chances are you’ll encounter them later in battle anyway.
Register personas often
As a side note, register your Personas often. The first version of a Persona you get, whether through fusion or in battle, is registered automatically, and you have to manually register further changes. If you have two versions of the same Persona, this can cause problems. For example, if you have two Jack Frost Personas, but you’ve been leveling up the second one, you’ll lose all of that progress if you go to equip Jack Frost later. Update Personas as much as often as possible to account for new changes.
Fuse smarter, not harder
You can just use the Fuse by Result page and get through Persona 5 Royal without any problems. There is a method to the fusion madness, though, and that’s where you’ll find a lot of the fun in Persona 5. Use Arcana Bursts and fusion results to your advantage. As we’ll get to in the next few tips, being selective will allow your fused Persona to inherent the attacks you want, and you’ll get to complete tasks for the Twin Wardens. Being selective is important, but Arcana Bursts overtake everything else. If you can fuse a Persona with an Arcana Burst, you should.
Cover your elemental bases
A good rule of thumb when fusing personas is to try to pass down as many elemental attacks as possible. You can’t cover all weaknesses with just your teammates, and you don’t want to get stuck in a tough battle without a persona that has the correct attack to exploit an enemy’s weakness. Try to carry at least one attack of each type at all times.
To be successful, you’ll need more than just elemental attacks. As you progress further into the game, stat buffs and debuffs are practically required. More specific moves, like Tetraja, can provide a force field to protect allies and foil any instant-kill attacks your opponents might use.
It’s important to note; even the moves that leave significant damage can prove to be useful over time. Some bosses you’ll face won’t be impacted by make-based attacks— so be sure to have a mix of tools in your arsenal. Opt for a varied loadout in your fight.
Keep the Twin Wardens in mind
You could blend Personas if you want, but you’ll have to increase your social link by visiting the Twin Wardens in the Velvet room. You have to work a bit to get them to spot you; They’ll require you to find or create Personas with unique capabilities that match their specific descriptions. Stay patient and listen carefully to their instructions. The Wardens will offer you different choices for leveling, fusing, and summoning Personas to build something manageable.
Once the Wardens have given you the assignment to find and lock down a persona with specific moves, try to remember their specifications. Look for Personas that match that description, and continue using them with fusion until you’ve mixed a product that you need. You’ll find that advanced fusion won’t always get you what you want; the Twins may require results that force you to get a bit creative.
