My OP Persona and how you can make one.

(This was originally posted in my Classroom Answers thread, though I thought I should post this here so others have the option of breaking end-game boss fights too)

I realised by missing the christmas I wanted, I could make something I tried very hard to do in the past, but gave up on - a (near) perfect Yoshitsune, probably the most OP persona in the game.

For those who don't know, Yoshitsune is the hardest hitting persona you can get, but the (in my opinion) best combination for it requires you to miss your Christmas celebrations. (note you can make one almost as good without doing this, or make an equivalent using skill cards - detailed at the end)

For those interested, I'm including what I made below - there are many forms of Yoshitsune, but I went for the invincible one. It's much easier to do in P4: Golden as you, uno, can choose your inherited skills.

"Invincible" Yoshitsune

I suggest wearing a Book Of The Void accessory to seal the deal (bought from Tanaka near the end of the year / start of the new one, can't remember)

So, do you have a strong persona to share?

I had that on original persona 4. Though can't you get skill cards for every skill? I hope so... because then I'll just teach him whatever I want.

@AlisterCat: To my knowledge you can skill card most skills, though not all.

I do not believe there is a skill card for Debilitate or Arms Master, though there are ones for the absorbs.

Though note those ultra high-end skill cards (eg. absorb ice) cost 300,000 yen each if you register them (which you should) and you'll need to level up endgame personas to unlock them. Alternatively, the above process only costed me like 150K and 2 hours work levelling. The best skill cards also require a day in-game to get, which messes up 100% runs if you don't have spare time at the back end (at least to my understanding - you have to go to the coffee shop, right?).

@selfconfessedcynic: I don't know... I'm not that far in. Talking to Kanji on the roof of the school right now. Really, if you're doing this build you're doing it for new game plus because whats the point of building this just for the end of the game? So I wouldn't think anyone would care about missing the 100% social linking on that same playthrough. That's what I intend to do anyway. I don't want to miss the Christmas event though.

Also I'm excited that shuffle time gives you persona stats, so it'll be so easy to max out his stats and have the best skills. Izanagi-No-Okami was really lame after that.

I'd say this beelzebub from the original P4 is pretty pimp. Mine was a little bit different. Instead of Repel Wind I had Maragidyne and instead of Null Light I had Endure Light. I had a similar one in P3P as well.

Do any bosses in the game necessitate this level of Persona? I don't recall seeing any ultima weapon type boss in the original persona 4.

@mosespippy: Man, that beelzebub is pimp. I prefer a spellmaster Helel w/ victory cry and auto-matarukaja as my daily driver as this 1-shots almost everything in the game. (I usually roll with just 2 persona for fightin' and the rest are just fusion matts or s-link persona)

The main reason I like the helel, though, is that he's cool lookin' - Beelzebub is too ugly for me : P

You can't make a useful invincible helel though, so there's that. Well, maybe you can in this game if you go through the trouble of getting the absorb skill cards.

@Benny:

Well, there's two.

Aside from that I just like having OP stuff to futz around in my 2nd play-through, where I do all my S-Links.

Oh, and there's always solo runs if you roll that way (I don't though).

@AlisterCat:

Yeah, kindof what I'm ending up doing since I failed my first run (Hermit and Lovers were on 9 when the curtains closed : / SO CLOSE). First I'mma make a couple of OP guys to pass on that I'll probably post here and then I'll start my max s-link run on New Game +, Risky difficulty.

Man, if I had this game I'd have all the OP personas. Bitter about missing that Vita Amazon deal from the other day.

@Benny: Reaver, which pops out of random chests is a very strong enemy and is somewhere around level 80. Margaret is also very strong but there is a very specific way to beat her so not all powerful personas are valid for that fight. She'll hit for 9999 almighty damage on turn 100 no matter what. It's good for New Game+ since you won't be able to be hit by anything. You'll be able to just run through the early and mid game without trouble allowing you to focus on S-Links instead.

Surt in persona 3 was pure gold for me. Never been good at making the best of the best in RPG's but Surt was awesome.

@Karmosin said:

Surt in persona 3 was pure gold for me. Never been good at making the best of the best in RPG's but Surt was awesome.

You should try the lucifer and Satan combo. If you have both of these Personas at the same time you gain access to the most powerful combo spell, Armageddon, which does 9999 damage and can literally one shot a boss. Just make sure that lucifer has Victory Cry first because Armageddon uses all you SP and Victory Cry restores all of it after the ballte.

I created a perfect grinding/starting persona in Melchizedek in P3P, it had all the auto-ma skills, alertness, null dark and weapons master. So I could just rush anything without resistances, it made things a lot faster.

@Benny:

Well, there's two.

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

In New Game+ there's Margaret, and in both there is Death (who drops final weapons).

I got some magician cards during shuffle early on that gave me bufudyne and ice amp and fused auto tarukaja from hurt, now I just lay waste to everything. I kinda hate it, its too easy I should dismiss that persona.

@mutha3: I wanted Arms Master for two reasons

1. In this run I wanted to fuse my usual sweeper Helel for use in the future, so I needed something to level up quickly with without needing even more personas to back him up. So even though I usually don't solo, I ran around Megatsu Inaba alone with this guy, sometimes having to use Hassou Tobi 4-5x in a battle against enemies with high evade or resist physical. *shrug* Giving him Maziodyne totally works if you'll never solo though.

2. Maziodyne has a skill card unlike Arms Master, so I wanted to be safe. I can change this guy up in the future (eg. give him abs ice for example via skill card now that I have Isis).

anyway, I love talking about builds etc - and you're probably right, perfects are probably overkill in the end.

Heck, I've heard people have soloed those optional bosses with Black Frost having inherited all of the absorbs : P

I kindof want to do that >_>

My Jack Frost can cast Bufu on stuff....

@Nux said:

@Karmosin said:

Surt in persona 3 was pure gold for me. Never been good at making the best of the best in RPG's but Surt was awesome.

You should try the lucifer and Satan combo. If you have both of these Personas at the same time you gain access to the most powerful combo spell, Armageddon, which does 9999 damage and can literally one shot a boss. Just make sure that lucifer has Victory Cry first because Armageddon uses all you SP and Victory Cry restores all of it after the ballte.

I have Lucifer with VC and a heart item Messiah with Morning Star, Victory Cry, Repel Dark, and 1hSwd Master, but by the end of the game I was already level 99 with every fusion weapon so it was pretty much overkill. I never did finish all the S.Links either... I should really go back and play through on Hard.

Me, I'm just going to live the dream of having an amazingly powerful end game Izanagi. I tried making one in the original P4, and got all the way down to the last fusion, but gave up after what felt like a thousand attempts.

As an update, there are many really good skill cards but you need to have the persona for them and visit the coffee shop (after the first time, the skill card of your equipped persona is given to you)

For example: (these are followed by the level each persona LEARNS the skill - so you can get many of these before here and learn it through the fusion bonus)

• Victory Cry skill card: Izanagi No Okami (lvl91 World arcana, New Game + Only) - I just got this on like the last week of gameplay. Man.
• Absorb Fire: Hell Biker (lvl71 Hanged Man)
• Absorb Ice: Isis (lvl82 Empress)
• Absorb Elec: Lucifer (lvl98 Judgement)
• Absorb Wind: Horus (lvl 73 Sun)
• Repel Light: Yurlungur (lvl75 Temperance)
• Repel Dark: Michael (lvl76 Judgement)
• Arms Master: Futsunushi (lvl85 Chariot)
• Spell master: Shiva (lvl83 Tower)
• Salvation: Helel (lvl88 Star)

So I've made my Yoshitsune perfect by adding Absorb ice, and I also soloed Margaret with him after temporarily giving him Absorb Elec (as repel elec heals her).

A decent Izanagi that isn't to overpowered.

Primal Force (Beelzebub) / Power Charge (Yoshitsune) / Maziodyne (Kartikeya w/e) / Absorb Wind (Horus) / Absorb Elec (Lucifer) / Arms Master (Futsunushi) / Debilitate (Trumpeter) / Fast-Heal (Kaguya)

I only got Power Charge/Maziodyne on it so far,have yet tried the other Personas if it's true with the skill cards,I'll just spam the beach until I get the skills,I am way to unmotivated to actually "Train" them,I'm laughing my arse off just about thinking training Lucifer to level 99. Rather get an level 99 Izanagi,but yeah. I could've just gotten Absorb skills but didn't want to make him to overpowered,Fast Heal was for fun couldn't really think of anything else to get and I don't attend to use Book of the Void with Izanagi. Primal Force + Power Charge = Pretty good damage. Maziodyne to knock down,Debilitate to obviously kill them faster. Thinking of switching out Arms Master for probably Enduring Soul. I don't intend getting Victory Cry,where's the fun of getting max SP after every battle?

@TohruAdachi: Oh man, I just made my izanagi a tank >_>

Primal Force, Power Charge, Arms Master, Firm Stance, Absorb Phys, Repel Dark, Repel Light, Enduring Soul (and book of the void)

I made him to help me solo Risky Elisabeth, which I plan to do later this weekend : ) - and I have my Yoshitsune and Norn for debilitate.

I was considering trying to get him to have Ali Dance and Angelic Grace, but went with Firm Stance instead - it does the job well enough considering his resistances / endurance.

@selfconfessedcynic Hopefully you mean Margaret,and I hear you on Tank Izanagi,mine started tanking at Kanji's dungeon from all those Hanged Man shuffle time cards,by the time I got to level 40 with him he had 50+ STR/END. I was deciding to reorganize my build. Since my party will be Brosuke (Sukukaja(,Kanji (Tarukaja),and Teddie (Rakukaja). I know for sure I won't need Heat Riser or Ziodyne. I know for sure I'll be getting Primal Force/Debilitate/Power Charge,I'm discarding Arms Master and might bring in Firm Stance like you. I'm taking in Absorb Physical either way though since majority of shadows use it. I won't need Enduring Soul if I have Rise so I'll probably bring in:

Debilitate/Primal Force/Power Charge/Firm Stance/Agneyastra/Apt Pupil/Revolution/Absorb Physical. A pure Physical tank with high critical. You think this is good? I might take out Revolution though for something else,but that critical with Kanji's physical too. And alternating between Yosuke's magic/physical. Teddie my obvious healer/supporter.

I'm playing Very Hard at the moment with all weak Persona at the moment so it might take until my next gameplay to make him.

@TohruAdachi: Oh yeah, Elisabeth was P3, woops.

In general I try to not have too many buffs/debuffs on my MC because I don't want to be wasting turns with him - I usually roll with JUST debilitate then have Yosuke for youthful wind and/or Chie for revolution / dragon hustle and/or Naoto for Heat Riser. So yeah, I'd probably go for Ali Dance in that spot (for your teammates, since you can't dodge - but it's still a great skill) I don't believe there is a skill card for it though, so you'd have to get it from somewhere. Or you can give him Unshaken Will (or w/e - same as book of the void but a skill instead, I think it's from Asura). Other alternatives would be Spellmaster (as for much of the game 30sp for debilitate every 3 rounds can deplete you) / Invigorate 3 (Satan) / Victory Cry (Izanagi No Okami) / Cool Breeze.

But yeah, gl with the very hard run. It definitely isn't so bad at all. As for me, I just made that Izanagi because I like having an Izanagi with the same skills as my Izanagi No Okami for w/e's sake. I roll with No Okami once I get him, hence having repel dark in my build - I don't want to try taking on Margaret with OG Izanagi >_>

@selfconfessedcynic: I beat the game with True Ending on my first gameplay so I had access to Izanagi-No-Okami,but he's weak and doesn't look as cool as Izanagi in my opinion. And I just don't like switching out of my main Personas,kind of an hassle,but Ali Dance sounds like a good idea I already have the skill from Fusion Forecast,same for Firm Stance. Debilitate shouldn't be that bad since 30 SP isn't really a biggy if you plan on using Primal Force mainly along with another massive killer like Kanji using Primal Force too. I plan on having Yosuke use Youthful Wind so that along with Ali Dance is pretty impossible to miss. And if I'm going to have Ali Dance if you can correct me halves the oppnent hit rate and evasion rate,I probably won't be needing Debilitate since I have a Teddie with Marakunda so I might not need it after all and I honestly don't think I need to lower their attack if I have Firm Stance. So I'm still missing that one last skill.

Oh man, I can't wait until I have enough time to dive deep into P4: G. Persona does progression so well.

@TohruAdachi: I dunno man, base stats at 80 across the board is pretty G when combined with a Godly Robe (and for overkill an armband to make everything 95)

I was rolling with an Izanagi No Okami with stats like 97/92/99/93/95 after shuffle times. Plus, firm stance w/ his resists to all elements makes him preeeetty strong (he was taking 70 damage from Margaret on normal difficulty)

But yeah, Ali dance is awesome in general - as for that last slot, I'm always a fan of Unshaken Will, as stated earlier - but if you're not, then shrug. Sometimes I stick my physical dudes with Mediarahan (as Yukiko can pump out some sick damage of her own, and if you're not power charged it is sometimes better for the MC to heal)

@selfconfessedcynic I'll see about Unshaken Will since I always use the item from Nanako that might be useful,and still not a big fan of Izanagi-No-Okami I think I'm just a hater,but correct me if I'm wrong,but is it even useful against Margaret or any boss after Nametame? I might've been just a quick killer,but I remember dominating them pretty fast and I never got an aliment from any boss.

EDIT:

I actually want to go for something unique other than Izanagi. I'm really interested in seeing a godly Pixie,so I'm probably going to make a powerful tank Pixie. My build is going to be the same as Izanagi though,and I don't like magician builds that's why I'm not making it a mage.

@TohruAdachi: Well, Margaret now casts twice per round (so she does her uber Megidolaon and Morning Star on rounds 25 and 50 instead of 50 and 100 - then just rinse/repeats after that).

On Risky she does about 350 damage with her spells - though she still goes Fire, Ice, Elec, Wind as in the past - and 600 with her mind charged Megidolaon. Those numbers are against my Yoshitsune (who just absorbed the elemental but would get 1-hit by the megi if not blocking). Izanagi without Firm Stance was taking along the lines of 170/elemental and about 550 from megi. (I tried soloing her with just Yoshitsune, Izanagi No Okami and Helel but failed, so I ended up doing setting it to normal)

The plan this time round is to just soak up the Megidolaons with my absorb-all Ardha who has Firm Stance and Heat Riser, then use my Izanagi and Helel to take the Uber Megidolaon and Morning Star (as both have Enduring Soul), and the rest of the time just DPS with my Yoshitsune. I don't want to purposefully use Rise's get-out-of-gaol-free-cards.

Anyway, that all aside - you're bringing Agneyastra so I thought you'd be sweeping with your Izanagi as well (that's when I'd be using Unshaken Will - just for the day to day stuff). Against bosses, the only one which inflicts a meaningful condition is Poison by Izanami (nothing helps against that except manually removing it eg. with Salvation) - so in general you're right, Unshaken will is useless for boss fights.

Enduring Soul is always an option as for example the Reaper uses hama and mudo, or you can bring Repel Light since OG Izanagi already nullifies Dark.

@selfconfessedcynic Change in plans,I plan on using Pixie and I do plan on sweeping too,but I'll see since I have no other skills to put in,but I'll most likely be using Salvation often since I always do even when I have full health.

@TohruAdachi: Oh man, Pixie run :P

I kindof want to do a Black Frost run just for the effing Hee-Ho!

@selfconfessedcynic: I like Black Frost,but I prefer Jack Frost Hee mutherf*king ho.If I had to choose a favorite Persona though it be Nata Taishi reminds me of Astro Boy and mainly because I used to watch Journey to the West a lot. Sadly they made Sun Wu Kong some old arse monkey in this game.

@TohruAdachi: Mine would probably be Tam Lin, as Scottish mythos is pretty cool, and I love the portrait. Him and Helel as being raised in a christian-dominated society has made me inclined towards biblical notions of the fight between good/evil and that whole jazz - and again, his portrait is cool as fuck.

It's weird that I don't particularly like any of the Max S-Link persona beyond Helel and now Kaguya. Also wierd is that none of them have the best stats for anything from memory. Hachiman > Kaguya for Magic, Yoshitsune is higher than anything for Power, too I believe.

@selfconfessedcynic: As much as I love Yoshitsune I think he's way to overpowered. I mean I'm not a hipster,but I think there should be other choices of powerful Persona like maybe a for sure 3 hit critical exclusive physical skill for I don't know like Yatagarasu. They really need to buff some of the ultimate Persona that are low leveled like Hierophant and stuff,it's really disappointing on seeing how weak they are.

For favorite Persona it indeed be Kaguya,colorful and looks epic,but I hate her animation move,I thought she spread her wings or whatever the hell that is and be like PEW PEW PEW. My second favorite be Sraosha the ultimate Justice I believe,he looks pretty pimp.

@TohruAdachi:

Man.

Loki is SUCH a bummer - lvl 64 and nothing special goddamn it.

At least in Devil Survivor he's an epic badass.

The Kaguya animation is very "look at meeeeee!!", I'd agree. I haven't ever even used Sraosha in combat : / - yeah, they definitely need to buff the ultimates.

@selfconfessedcynic: Sraosha: http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Sraosha

Anyways yeah,they're called ultimates for a reason,they should've at least made Yoshitsune the ultimate tower persona instead of Shiva,and Loki was a bummer,but I was kind of hoping for Susano'O,but Yosuke made him pretty freaking badass so yeah.

Okay, done. Soloed Margret on Risky with only 3 persona:

Yoshitsune: Hassoutobi, Power Charge, Debilitate, Arms Master, Absorb Fire, Absorb Ice, Absorb Wind, Repel Dark

Izanagi No Okami: Primal Force, Power Charge, Arms Master, Firm Stance, Absorb Phys, Repel Dark, Repel Light, Enduring Soul

Ardha: Primal Force, Heat Riser, Spell Master, Firm Stance, Absorb Phys, Absorb Fire, Absorb Wind, Enduring Soul

She didn't even come close to ending me.

Now for the real challenge: Taking her on with different permutations of a team.

Okay, so I fought her with my normal team (Naoto / Yosuke / Yukiko) and she barely got off her first instant-kill AOE before going down (Rise just blocked it and it was over) - then I intelligently saved over my pre-fight save. I could go back to a previous one and get ready all over again, but the fight was so easy with multiple people wailing at her, I don't feel motivated to.

@selfconfessedcynic: I want to see you do a run with solo against her with only one Persona. :)

@TohruAdachi: Challenge Accepted!

... Challenge completed!

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

You can do this with many personas as long as...

• It has enough Magic and Endurance to take her hits when Heat Risered (this Yoshitsune has 56 Magic and 61 Endurance base).
• It absorbs at least 2 elements and nullifies the others. You can't do it if you reflect anything (she absorbs the elements she casts when she casts them), and you go on a downward damage spiral if you're just Strong.
• It should be Strong / Nullify or Absorb Physical (reflecting adds time but is nowhere near as much as reflecting an element does, you'll probably die if you don't have resistance though).

I suggest the build I used here (seen in the images above), it works for any persona - Primal Force can replace Hassou Tobi (it does about 30% less damage, but is the best alternative). Of course, I suggest you have above 90 Attack and Agility or you'll miss a bunch / do little damage.

I tend to not like doing it with 1 persona as it's costly to customise them and the resulting thing is usually useless for anything but this fight.

Oh, to be clear, the build I suggest is (for non-yoshitsune):

You should have Resist or higher against Phys with >90 Power, >70 Magic, >70 Endurance, >90 Agility, X Luck (after items)

• Primal Force
• Heat Riser
• Power Charge
• Enduring Soul
• Absorb Fire
• Absorb Ice
• Absorb Elec
• Absorb Wind

You can replace the elemental absorbs with Null Phys > Apt Pupil > Ali Dance if you already absorb it - but you should absorb or nullify them, Str or Reflect doesn't cut it.

@selfconfessedcynic: Wow I definitely want to try this,but I'm going for a Nata Taishi who has no absorb so this might be more difficult for me.

@TohruAdachi: GL! I'd say pick Abs / Null Phys over Absorb Fire and you're good.

The main thing is you'll miss some (though that's helped by Primal Force having an accuracy of 90 instead of Hassou Tobi's 75 ) and take a while longer. You SHOULD be healed for more damage than you're taking with 1 resist and 3 absorbs, though I'm not sure.

Just be sure to have over 70 magic / endurance after items, or you'll have to waste turns blocking Megidolaon which makes keeping up Power Charge and Heat Riser pretty hard.

I think I'm going to try this with OG Izanagi...

@selfconfessedcynic: Man I'm such a Persona hoar,I'm still thinking about which one to put the skills on... Titan,Nata Taishi, or that red Mitama persona. And I'm looking forward to the battle,you should take a video instead.

@TohruAdachi: Oh man, that'd be one long boring video, haha.

The fight took me 45 mins the first time I did it (with 3 persona, hotswapping), and 30 mins the 2nd time (with one customised persona).

I did, however, just figure out how to screencap with the Vita, so no more pointing my phone camera at it : P

As for personas, why Titan? Nata Taishi is astro-boy like, sure, and Ara Mitama is hilarious looking, but titan?

@selfconfessedcynic: You got a point there

Dude how did you do the fusion on 12/24?

If I skip the christmas eve dates it immediately launches me into 12/25. If i accept the dates, I just get a cutscene into 12/24 then immediately get launched into 12/25. Um, am I missing something here? Or did you get the date mixed up?

@CrimsonWing69: You have to capture Adachi ON that day, not before. Capturing him before causes it to fast forward as you have experienced.

Don't worry too much about that though as you can get a Debilitate skill card from Trumpeter at the Cafe for 150,000 after submitting it to the compendium (which you should do).

*updates OP with all the skill card info you need*

@selfconfessedcynic: I thought it was 200k on there other hand I'm going to be making a food recipe thread and skill card evolution thread soon. I got this so far:

Arrow Rain -> Akasha Arts

Gale Slash -> Heat Wave

Mind Slice (No evolution)

Aeon Rain - Agneystra

@TohruAdachi: You may be right on the cost, I'll check when I get home.

Yup - 200,000 yen to get Debilitate. I'm not sure if it's better than Heat Riser anymore, since it doesn't stick on Margaret... but meh. Good to have for NG+ assuming you want to roll past everything.

@Hunkulese: Yeah, that's happened to me before - you have to deal with Adachi before the 24th to get the event so yes, you've missed christmas, sorry.

Don't worry too much though - the events are the same as they were in OG, I didn't see any new content there. The main thing you miss out on is a nice little moment with whomever you would have spent time with - and all of them are on youtube.