Confidant



Confidant, known as Cooperation in the Japanese version, is a game mechanic in Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal.

This mechanic is almost identical to the Social Links of Persona 3 and Persona 4 and involves the protagonist building relationships with accomplices around the city. Unlike Social Links however, establishing and improving relationships with Confidants provides various tangible benefits outside of improving fusion results of their associated Arcana.

Generally, only the initial and final events are voiced with the exception of the Fool, Magician, Judgement and, in 5 only, Justice, Confidants which progress based on the story and are all voiced. Story events tied to the Justice Confidant in 5 remain in Royal, but they no longer progress the confidant, and the new Rank 8 event is voiced.

Appearances

 * Persona 5 / Royal

Persona 5
Similar to Social Links, each relationship with a certain character (or possibly a group) is represented by a major Arcana and ranking up each Confidant grants bonuses to Personas of correlated Arcana: experience bonus to newly-fused Personas, and shorter in-game days required for training a Persona in the Velvet Room to learn a resistance. Ranking up each Confidant also unlocks a new ability or benefit which directly affects performance in Palaces or otherwise opens up massive conveniences in day-to-day activities.

A plot point that renders Confidants unique from Social Links is that Confidants are identical to accomplices in committing crimes instead of simply being mere bonds. They are also considered a part of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts regardless of whether they're directly involved in their heists and are thus held accountable for the Phantom Thieves' case by the jurisdiction system.

The Confidants are founded by Igor (or more accurately, the impostor) in order to assist the protagonist in his "rehabilitation" and his rebellion against the world's corruption. Therefore, they are the only people who are immune to Yaldabaoth's machinations when they unravel in earnest during the last 3 months of the game.

A majority of maxed Confidants will be capable of:
 * Cheering the Phantom Thieves on taking down Shido while the rest of the general public unerringly support him to guide them into ruin.
 * Realizing the Qliphoth World being overlaid onto the real world while the public remains completely oblivious to the changes.
 * Cheering the protagonist and the Phantom Thieves up for defeating Yaldabaoth.
 * Assisting the protagonist to get out of his probation once Sae requests that he goes to Juvenile Hall to testify against Shido after Yaldabaoth's fall.

* All party bonuses are as follows, with varied rank requirements:
 * Unlocks Baton Pass. (P5 only, as Baton Pass is provided automatically in P5R)
 * Unlocks Follow-Up attack.
 * X Talk: Ability to automatically revert to the last negotiation question if the target is enraged by the answer by chance (5) or at all times under certain circumstances. (Royal)
 * Harisen Recovery: Chance to cure other party members of their ailments.
 * Endure: Survive with 1 HP once in a battle when hit by a lethal attack.
 * Protects the protagonist before getting hit by a single-target lethal attack.
 * Unlocks ally's ultimate Persona with additional skills and improved elemental affinities.

List of Confidant Guides
The following pages contain comprehensive guides for each individual Confidant dialogue options and skills.

Availability
This is the general weekly schedule of the Confidants. Normally, they're only available during specific days of the week, as well as only during a certain time of day (either day or night.) Additionally, during Rainy Days, some Confidants will not be available.

Sometimes the availability of each Confidants can change due to certain circumstances separate from their schedule such as the requirement to level up certain Social Stats or having to complete a certain Mementos Request. Party Confidants will not be available if the Palace has not been completed within a week before its deadline or after the option to send a Calling Card to a Palace owner has been made available leading up to the boss fight.

Persona 5= Persona 5 Royal=

Confidant Points
Generally, to be able to rank up a Confidant, the protagonist will first need to spend time with them or perform certain activities to bond with them. This is organized in points and a certain amount are required for each individual Confidant for each individual stage. Upon meeting the criteria to rank up, the Confidant's points will be reset back to 0 and the points received from the dialogue options of the next event will be accumulated for the next rank.

Generally, the protagonist can receive points from hanging out with Confidants, responding with the correct dialogue options or giving gifts. However, there are more ways Confidant points can be received, such as specific events, consulting Chihaya Mifune for Affinity Reading, visiting the shrine and sometimes when resting early in bed. These activities differ in one way or another.

In dialogue options that can grant more than a single note, 2 notes indicate double the normal value, and 3 notes indicate triple. For example, if the default value is 5 points, then 2 notes would indicate 10 points, and 3 notes would indicate 15. In between these values, 6 points would instantly leap to 2 notes.

Modifiers
There are several additional multipliers that help boost the amount of points that are received while hanging out. If the protagonist has at least a single Persona with the same Arcana as the recipient, the points received will be multiplied by x1.5. The protagonist's performance in an exam will grant a boost to specific Confidants until the next exam week: if the protagonist scores 1st place, the multiplier will be x1.5, if top 10, it'll be x1.2. Additionally, if the protagonist does not withhold invitations from Confidants until later, the event will grant an x1.2 multiplier. These factors apply to many instances where Confidant points can be received without having to be directly spending time with them, such as having Sojiro taste the protagonist's coffee.

The number of notes displayed also implies the growth rate of any present modifiers. If there are any multipliers at play, there will always be at least 1 additional note. If the multipliers surpass double the amount, then it'll display 2 more notes rather than 1. For example, if the default value were to be 5 (1 note), 2 notes would indicate 6-10 points, and 3 notes would indicate 11 and up.

Additionally, if a confidant obtains enough points for their next rankup, multicolored stars will appear around any note icons, as well as an extra shimmer jingle playing when points are obtained.

Romance Confidant Rewards
If the protagonist has maximized a Confidant and has entered a romantic relationship with them (as long as they're romanceable), he can spend time with one of them on December 24th, at which point they'll gift him a key item which increases the multiplier of having a Persona with a matching Arcana from x1.5 to about x10. The multiplier only applies to the Confidant that gifted the item, but it carries over to New Game Plus.

In Royal, Yoshizawa cannot give a Christmas item as the protagonist cannot enter a romantic relationship with her before then.

Gallery

 * Persona 5 Arcana

Trivia

 * With the exception of those directly affiliated with the Phantom Thieves of Hearts or residents of the Velvet Room, any Confidant that becomes maxed will eventually discover the protagonist is a Phantom Thief as the group only figured out their target's identity from revealing it to him directly.
 * The Sun and Councillor Confidants, Toranosuke Yoshida and Takuto Maruki are different from the other Confidants as they conclude based on general observations, rather than having the protagonist leak his identity by fulfilling a request.
 * In Royal, four characters have their confidant portraits changed under certain conditions.
 * When Caroline and Justine become Lavenza, a portrait of the latter will replace the former.
 * During the third semester, Akechi's portrait will change to give him a more stern face.
 * When Sumire accepts her true self, Kasumi's portrait will be replaced by Sumire's.
 * While Kawakami is doing chores for the protagonist, her portrait will change to her maid outfit and a heart sticker with "Becky" on it will be placed over her name.
 * For unknown reasons, the Confidant menu refers to some Confidants by a descriptor title instead of their actual name:
 * Igor is known as the "Prison Master."
 * Caroline and Justine are known as the "Twin Wardens."
 * Sae Niijima is known as "Prosecutor."
 * Chihaya Mifune is known as "Fortune Teller."
 * Tae Takemi is known as "Back Alley Doctor."
 * Toranosuke Yoshida is known as "Man of the People."
 * Shinya Oda is known as "Skilled Gamer."
 * Morgana, Yusuke and Haru are the only Confidants in Persona 5 to have a Confidant ability unlocked with each rank.
 * In Royal, as Baton Passes are no longer a Confidant ability, they no longer fill that criteria. However, their Confidants still grant the most abilities in the game.
 * Unlike the rest of the Persona installments, the Tarot Cards which are used to symbolize these relationships are written in French instead of English, as they are based on the deck. The only exception is Death, which is also unlabeled in said Tarot deck and referred to as such.
 * There are, however, alterations to the Tarot Cards' original designs:


 * The tarot cards also appear in blue in the game as markers when using the Third Eye in the real world. For example, it will mark Sojiro with a blue tarot card of the Hierophant Arcana floating over his head.
 * The game's internal data reveals the scrapped concept to reverse (called "doubt" in this game) and break confidants, just like in Persona 3 and Persona 4. However, it seems to be intended only for non-party member confidants with the exception of Fool, Hierophant, Strength, Moon and Judgement.
 * There are also unused files that represent ignored phone calls on all Confidants save for Fool. The list includes the World, despite it not being represented by any Confidant.
 * Unused dialogue also indicates that it is possible for a Persona corresponding to the Arcana of a doubted or broken Confidant to be fused, unlike in previous installments where they cannot be fused at all.
 * Doubted Confidants will prohibit the protagonist from getting its benefits, while broken Confidants will prohibit any Personas of the Confidant's corresponding Arcana from getting Arcana Burst.