In Persona 5 Royal, you start all the way at a measly level one. Compared to the 99 you can grow to, that’s nothing! As soon as you get the opportunity, you should try leveling up as much as you can. Why is leveling up so important? It makes the game easier for yourself if you have more power and you have a better chance to defeat difficult bosses.

Leveling up in Persona 5 Royal isn’t too difficult, luckily! Playing the game and fighting shadows regularly will level you up to be at a pretty decent and consistent level. But what if you want to be even more powerful so that you can just breeze through a palace? Here are the best ways to level up your team of Phantom Thieves!

5. Increase the Moon Confidant (Yuuki Mishima)

Phan-boy coming in clutch!

Yuuki Mishima is the leader of the infamous Phan-Site. While hanging out with him can be a little grating, it can help your team level up. It is incredibly effective, especially in the long run. It won’t directly level you up, but without the Moon Arcana, it’ll be a lot more difficult. 

When you first establish the social link, it will grant you Mishima's Support, which allows backup members of your team, those you aren’t currently fighting with, to earn EXP. This only increases the higher up your social rank with him is! Both you and your fellow Phantom Thieves earn more experience because of this confidant. The more experience you gain, the quicker you will level up. This confidant really comes in handy as you pursue the other options on this list. So, spend some time with Mishima every now and then.

How it works:

• As soon as you establish the confidant, you gain Mishima's Support, which allows backup members to earn experience.
• After rank 3, you receive Mishima's Enthusiasm which increases experience gained from battle.
• After rank 5, Mishima’s Support upgrades to Mishima's Desperation which increases experience earned by backup members.
• After rank 7, you learn Phanboy. Now your experience earned from battle greatly increases!
• Lastly, upon maxing out Mishima’s confidant, you get Salvation Wish. Backup members now earn the same EXP as current party members.

4. Collect Stamps in Mementos

Who knew stamps could bve so powerful? 

Stamps are a new mechanic introduced in Persona 5 Royal. As you traverse Mementos, you can drive through and find star-shaped stamps. 

How do you use them, you ask? You run into a little boy, Jose, who will trade the stamps in exchange for changes to Mementos. One of these is an increase in experience points learned after battles in Mementos. You can use a total of 85 points to get a 200% bonus on experience learned, doubling all that you have! This means you will level up two times faster in Mementos.

Similar to raising the Moon confidant, this method does not directly level you up, but it does help you out. However, finding stamps can be rather time consuming. Not all of them are at the stairs down! If you’re already spending the day in Mementos, it’s not too bad, but they can be easy to miss sometimes! We love when Futaba comes in clutch with the floor scan!

How it works:

• After meeting Jose, you can find and collect stamps.
• Everytime you see one, collect it.
• When Jose is on the same floor you’re on in Mementos, you can find his shop and trade stamps for bonuses in either EXP, money, or items. 
• If you want to level up quicker, choose EXP!
• The more stamps you give increases the experience you gain. 

3. Fight Every Shadow in Palaces

Show them all who's boss!

As you sneak around the palaces, there are plenty of times when you have the opportunity to stealth it. Hide behind the obstacles to get past unsuspecting shadows before moving on. However, this is not what you should be doing if you want to level up more! Hide until you get the chance to ambush enemies! From there, you’ll have an advantage. Defeating enemies is the primary way to gain experience and level up, meaning this is as effective as it gets.

The higher level a shadow is, the more EXP you’ll earn upon beating it. So, once you can easily beat the shadows in a palace, don’t waste time by going in on multiple days. You can only gain so much experience from a single palace. The shadows don’t level up with you! Instead, each palace will be more and more difficult. Sometimes stealthing around the palaces can be fun though, so it’s up to you! Naturally, some shadows can’t be escaped, especially by Will Seeds. 

How it works:

• Each shadow grants EXP when you beat it.
• The amount gained varies based on their level and how many shadows there are. 
• EXP is also multiplied based on the difficulty level, with safety giving you 1.5 times more and easy and merciless giving you 1.2 times more. 

2. Grind in Mementos

You can spend the whole day there if you want. 

Spending time in Mementos and defeating shadows is a great way to level up. You can find a lot of high-level shadows, indicated by the red around them when you use your Third Eye ability! That is what makes it more effective than fighting everything in palaces. 

One of the best things to do to get the most out of your time in Mementos is increase your social rank with Ryuji to rank seven so that you can gain Instakill. This will allow you to instantly kill weaker shadows by running them over with your Morgana bus! Now, you won’t waste time on the weak ones and instead focus on the stronger ones that will give you more EXP. 

How it works:

• This works the same way as fighting shadows in palaces.
• If you’ve gotten an EXP boost from Jose, that will gain you more EXP when fighting shadows in Mementos!
• Ram into them from behind and beat them to get the most out of your time and level up quicker!

1. Fight the Reaper

 Be careful, he smells like death.

The Reaper is one of the most powerful shadows in the Persona series. Its appearance in Persona 5 Royal is no different! Casual players might want to avoid this as soon as you hear it—the sounds of rattling chains. That signifies the Reaper is coming for you!

The Reaper will only appear in Mementos after Morgana mentions its existence and you have been on a floor for more than two minutes without proceeding to the next floor. However, there is a small chance it can appear right away when arriving on a new floor. Fighting it is not an easy challenge as it has a lot of powerful moves, but winning will give you SO much EXP! It is the most effective way to grind and earn a lot so that you can level up. You can fight him as much as you want, too! Whether it’s every time you’re in Mementos, multiple times all in one day, whatever you think you and your team can handle without all dying!

You should do this method after having leveled up Mishima’s confidant so that all of your thieves can reap the benefits of this powerful shadow!

How it works:

• Make sure you are equipped with all the items you need.
• Stay on a floor in Mementos low enough to trigger the Reaper. 
• Stay for at least two minutes. Once you hear the sound of chains, it’s coming for you!
• Find it, fight it, and level up a lot!

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