Persona 5 Strikers: best characters tier list
The best Phantom Thieves.
In Persona 5 Strikers, you’ll have a whole lot of party members to choose from. With only four slots to fill, it’s hard to choose, so we’ve gone and helped you out. Here’s our tier list of the best characters to put in your Persona 5 Strikers team.
Spoilers for available characters - continue reading at your own discretion.
On this page:
Persona 5 Strikers best characters tier list
The thing with Persona 5 Strikers is that you’ll honestly want to use all your characters to ensure they don’t fall behind in levels when you really need them. More important than this tier list are the attack affinities and Persona elemental types available to you, so as well as this, make sure you’re studying your enemies and bringing out their weaknesses in battle. With that said, here’s the playable characters in Persona 5 Strikers, ranked from best to worst.
Top tier characters
Joker
Joker, or whatever your playable character’s given name is, is the best character in Persona 5 Strikers. This is by design, and is probably obvious to even new players. You have the option to use all kinds of Persona affinities, and with Joker in your party, you’ll almost always have a way out of a sticky situation. He’s got such a wide range of potential abilities, from pure brutal damage (which is honestly how I use him) to support, buffing, and healing. He has it all, and should be a staple in your squad.
Zenkichi/Wolf
Joining the Phantom Thieves midway through the game, Zenkichi has a load of extremely powerful abilities that make him a fantastic damage-dealer in your party. Activating Wolf’s Fury offers him huge amounts of damage and range, and the downside of self-damage is balanced out with his health draining abilities. Wolf lets you hit hard with Almighty and Gun damage, and is a great choice in many situations given how Almighty damage isn’t resisted by anyone. He can even buff your squad’s attack, defense, and crit-rate. A bit of an all-rounder.
High tier characters
These characters might not fit in your team in every single situation, but they’re pretty damn useful when it comes down to it. Switch them out when your enemy is strong against them, but keep them about when you’re struggling to make the decision.
Sophia/Sophie
Of course, the new face in the Phantom Thieves has to be pretty powerful. Sophia offers strong Bless damage, and combines her abilities with strong healing and support skills. Her yo-yo attack patterns are somewhat tough to get the hang of, but give Sophia a bit of time and she’ll become a vital part of your squad.
Makoto/Queen
Makoto is a high-damage savage, plain and simple. Her Johanna Persona deals a great deal of Nuclear and Physical damage, and her simultaneous ability to buff your party’s defense and heal them in a pinch makes her a really sound choice to put on your team. Of course, when Nuclear attacks are resisted you can switch her out, but for most of the game Makoto can be a vital part of your build.
Yusuke/Fox
Yusuke’s counter ability is seriously good. Pressing the special move button allows him to go into an all-out offensive if he’s under duress, turning the tide of battle. This is especially true against large swathes of enemies all converging at once. His Ice abilities are solid situationally, but not the main attraction - what you’re here for is a fast, critical-hitting damage machine, letting you knock down mobs and bosses alike much more easily.
Mid tier
You’ll notice a theme with the mid-tier characters here. They’re all really strong, but much more situational than I’d like a lot of the time. If a Phantom Thief is really strong, but prefers their unique elemental affinity, that makes them useless against a boss who drains it, for example. However, they absolutely have their place and can be hugely powerful in the right hands.
Ryuji/Skull
Ryuji’s power comes in his physical damage. His Master Arts allow him to charge up mega-powerful attacks, and using special gives him Toughness, reducing flinch and damage. The issue with Ryuji is that he has to take damage to deal damage thanks to the charge times required, and you’ll probably need to heal him up fairly regularly.
Haru/Noir
Haru is another character who hits like a truck, and Milady’s Psy and Gun attacks can be great when combined with Technicals and elemental strengths. However, when Psy and Gun aren’t available, things get a bit tougher. You do have Master Arts which allow Haru to hold down attack buttons and spin faster and faster to your heart’s content, as well as a rocket launcher to deal with numerous mobs, but there’s often a better choice.
Ann/Panther
It feels harsh putting Ann all the way down here. Her ability to debuff the enemy’s attack using her Crocodile Tears Master Art is super useful, and when fire damage is required in specific battles, Ann is a brilliant choice. Her versatility with healing is pretty nice too. The only problem is her low raw damage output. Carmen’s strength is pretty low unfortunately, and without a super-effective Fire attack, she won’t be downing a huge number of foes.
Low tier
Morgana/Mona
Poor Morgana. I’ve found myself using him less and less, chiefly because there are just so many characters to pick from and Mona doesn’t excel in a way that sets him apart. Damage, both Physical and Magic, isn’t brilliant, and while he has a range of healing abilities, he’s not durable enough to serve as a healbot on the team. Far too often Morgana just conks out before things have heated up enough, and you either have to use a different healer (or item) to resurrect the poor guy or go on ahead without.
Let us know if you agree! Remember, a lot of this is a matter of perspective, and in a well-balanced team, even the lowest characters on this tier list can perform excellently. Anyway, why not have a look at some more Persona 5 Strikers guides? We have all sorts, including the best ways to get BOND points, as well as advice on how to manage and restore SP.