Best Personas - Persona 2: Innocent Sin Guides
As you may have guessed, in the Persona series the Personas that you can summon and control are very important and play a major role in the game. This guide is going to take a look at most of the Personas available in Persona 2: Innocent Sin and determine which Personas are worth using and why.
If you notice I said most Personas, that's because I won't be covering the ultra rare Personas like the Fool Arcana in this guide. Getting a Fool Arcana Persona for most players is not something realistic since they're so rare and good RNG is required to obtain them. I also won't be covering all the various mutations you can get from Personas in this guide either. For the most part this guide will cover the Personas that can be easily obtained from Tarot Cards in the Velvet Room or obtained through a Material Card summon.
Since this game has 5 characters in your party at all times and the Personas you have access to change as you level up - it's difficult to point at 5 Personas that are "the best" to use for each character. Which Persona is "the best" will change depending on the character, the situation and what part of the game you're currently in.
An example is a Persona like Kinnara which is really good for early game thanks to the low SP cost heals it has and the Healing Melody Skill which can be used in multiple Fusion Spells. Once you reach level 30 or higher though this Persona just isn't as good any more. A different example is a Persona like Hel, what makes Hel so good is that it can be used in virtually any Fusion Spell there is. By the time you reach level 40 though you'll probably want something stronger than Hel.
What I have done to try and account for this issue is I have split the Personas mentioned in this guide into two categories. I've sorted Personas by the ones I think are the absolute best throughout the game and the Personas that I think are 'honorable mentions'. Personas that I list as "the best" are typically ones I keep on my characters as long as possible or maybe even forever depending on the Persona.
Any of the Personas that are in the 'Honorable Mentions' category are ones that I typically use for a time but then swap out for something better when there is one available.
What Makes A Good Persona (for me)
- A good move set that allows for many Fusion Spells
- High resistances to a wide range of attacks
- Nullifies Dark/Light attacks (since they one-shot)
- Estoma
- Low SP Cost Healing Skills
- +1 Dexterity on Level Up
Best Personas:
(Level 24) Nemesis (Empress): The only ability you're getting this Persona for is Estoma. When you use Estoma it avoids combat with all low level enemies - which is amazing. Nemesis is worth keeping in your Persona bank for the entire game solely for this spell.
(Level 29) Sakya (Hierophant): You'll get the item needed to summon this guy from Abandoned Factory. What makes this Persona so exceptional is it's strong to everything in the game and he nullifies almost all skills that will one shot you.
(Level 31) Agrippa (Magician): This is one of the first (if not the first) Persona that comes with the Summon Spirits skill. You can use Summon Spirits in many different Fusion Spells; almost every element paired with Summon Spirits will be a Fusion Spell. Another nice thing about Agrippa is he gives a +1 Dx bonus on level up which is arguably the best bonus you can get on a Persona.
(Level 31) Dementer (World): Dementer gives +1 Dx on level up and nullifies Light/Dark attacks which means you're effectively protected from being one-shot. The downside of Dementer is he doesn't have the best skill set. Diarama is nice since it's basically a full heal but the only elemental attack he has is Mamagnara (Earth). If you want to make Dementer better, when you Summon him make sure to use a Skill Card on him that will give him a Fire or Water attack.
(Level 36) Seioubo (Empress): In my opinion this is one of the best Personas in the game. She is one of the only Personas that come with Heartfelt Prayer which is used in some of the best Fusion Spells and she has strong resistances to every type of elemental damage in the game. Use a Skill Card on her that grants a Fire, Wind, Earth or Water Skill so that she is even more useful.
(Level 37) Baal (Emperor): He has a low SP Cost (25 SP) and comes with Mediarama which is an amazing group heal. Photon Cannon and Fear Torrent are also great skills to use when you're not using Fusion Spells. Another bonus for using Baal is he gives +1 Dx on each level up.
(Level 41) Abe no Seimei (Magician): Abe no Seimei will reflect all magic attacks thrown at him which is amazing. He also will give you +1 Dx with each level up. The worst part of this Persona is it doesn't have the best skill set, he does have Summon Spirits though which is an amazing skill used in many different powerful Fusion Spells.
(Level 49) Manannan (Magician): This Persona is great, he gives +1 Dx on each level up and comes with Fear Torrent and Deathbound, two great skills that deal high damage to all enemies (plus they only cost 31 SP). He also has Makakaja (increases magical attack damage) and strong water based attacks. Also he has strong resistances to both Light and Dark Spells which will help you resist one shots. You can make him even better if you use the right cards when summoning him.
(Level 54) Phoenix (Temperance): Nullifies Light/Dark attacks and has a strong move set. Seriously, nullifying Light and Dark makes such a giant difference towards end game. You can make this Persona even better by using a Card with a different elemental attack other than fire.
(Level 54) Mucalinda (World): +1 Dx on each level up. Strong to every type of magic in the game as well as Light/Dark attacks. He has a decent move set, Samarecarm which is a full HP rez along with mostly water damage but that's ok because you'll mostly be using this Persona for his protections anyway.
(Level 55) Odin (Emperor): Another amazing high level Persona, he nullifies all magic attacks but is weak to physical attacks. Has Thunder Baptism and Deathbound skills which hit all targets for medium/high damage and also gives +1 Dx on level up.
(Level 86) Vishnu (Emperor): This Persona is really amazing, which is what you'd expect from a high level Persona. Strong against basically every type of attack in the game and nullifies Light/Dark attacks so it avoids most one-shot mechanics. You'll also get +1 Dx on each level up and the Persona has a solid move set. If for some reason you're still playing this game after leveling 81+ this is a great Persona to get.
(Level 99) Lucifer (Devil): Nullifies a couple of different types of magic and is used in some of the best Fusion Spells.
Honorable Mentions:
(Level 2) Pixie (Lovers): Probably the first Persona most of us buy, it comes with good elemental skills and heals. Usually Ginko uses this Persona to about level 10 on all of my save files. If you're lucky Pixie can also mutate into Budai who has the Estoma skill. He's the lowest level Persona in the game with this skill.
(Level 7) Phaleg (Judgement): What makes Phaleg good in my eyes is that he gives +1 Dexterity each time you level up. Dexterity is by far the best stat in the game and you can't force your party members to put points into it because you have no control over how they spend their stats... However with a Persona that grants +1 Dx on level up you can guarantee that they get points into Dexterity with each level they gain.
(Level 9) Airgetlam (Emperor): Airgetlam comes with Straight Slash which is useful for tons of Fusion Skills and he gives +1 Dexterity on level up. The only downside to getting Airgetlam early is you'll need enough Free Cards to purchase Emperor Tarot Cards.
(Level 13) Surya (Sun): Surya is one of my favorite early game Personas for Tatsuya since he comes with both Fire and Wind skills. There aren't any enemies in this game that give Sun Tarot Cards so you'll have to use Free Cards to obtain this Persona.
(Level 14) Nekomata (Hermit): I use Nekomata on either Maya or Yukki for a few dungeons on pretty much all of my save files. It's a very solid Persona with Great compatibility with over half your team.
(Level 15) Kinnara (Star): Comes with fire/light skills and Healing Melody which is a group heal. Healing Melody is also used in many different Fusion Spells. Also this Persona is low level which means the SP cost of the heal will always be low.
(Level 15) Xuanzang (Hierophant): This is mostly a healing Persona, he comes with Media and Diarama. Holy Light is the only offensive spell he has but with an SP cost of only 13 this Persona is worth keeping for most of the game as back up heals.
(Level 18) Jack Frost (Lovers): Has Bufula which you can use for Ice Blast Fusion Spell and he also has Sonic Punch which can be used in the Pegasus Strike Fusion Spell (an amazing Fusion Spell honestly)
(Level 18) Iris (Star): She comes with a good set of skills including Media and various Earth elemental attacks which can be used in Fusion Spells. Iris also has Great compatibility with the girls on your team. The only downside is you need her Material Card (Rainbow Light) which is found in Aoba Park to summon her.
(Level 22) Hel (Death): Comes with Wind, Fire, Earth, Dark and Ice attacks. She can be used in nearly any elemental fusion there is.
(Level 22) Pairika (Moon): This Persona has a few Wind abilities which are useful - but what really makes her unique is her resistances. Pairika nullifies almost all physical attacks and is strong to various elements too. She's an exceptional defensive Persona, definitely one of the best in the game.
(Level 22) Marshal Tianpeng (Hermit): He comes with Earth attacks as well as Poisma and Straight Slash. All of these skills can be used in Fusion Spells making this Persona a really good choice for this level range.
(Level 23) Umayadono-Ouji (Hierophant): She comes with Estoma which is an amazing ability that lets you avoid enemies lower level than you. You'll want to keep either this Persona or Nemesis with you at all times to help you avoid random encounters.
(Level 27) Tensen Nyannyan (Priestess): Mediarama is the main skill that you want to get this Persona for, to the best of my knowledge this is the first Persona that gets this skill. Since this is also a low level Persona it has a low SP cost for its abilities. If you want to make this Persona more useful when you Summon it make sure to use a Card that grants it an elemental skill like Fire, Wind, Earth or Water. This will give you more moves to work with for Fusion Spells.
(Level 29) Principality (Judgement): I put this guy under honorable mentions because he gives +1 Dx on level up and he has a good skill set. +1 Dx on level up is always amazing because Dx is the most important stat in the game and there is no other way to guarantee that your party gets Dx with each level up unless you give them a Persona like this (since you can't control how your party spends stats on level up).
(Level 35) Nezha (Justice): What makes this Persona so good is the strong resistances that it has to nearly every form of damage in the game. It also comes with Sonic Punch and Wind elemental attacks which are good for Fusion Spells. You'll be able to summon Nezha after collecting the Material Card from inside of the Abandoned Factory.
(Level 38) Hoenir (Star): Hoenir comes with Straight Slash which is used in many different Fusion Spells and Wind-based elemental attacks. Additionally he is very resistant against Light and Dark attacks which means your odds of getting one-shot will be significantly lower using him. Hoenir also has 'Great' compatibility with all of the girls on your team. Give him a Skill Card like Maragi or Magnara and you can make him even more versatile.
(Level 39) Heimdall (Sun): Strong resists to Light and Dark attacks and a decent move set. He comes with wind and ice attacks as well as a weak group heal.
(Level 40) Genbu (Hermit): Great compatibility on all party members with strong resists to Light/Dark and most other magical damage. He has a slightly limited skill set (all earth attacks) but is an overall good Persona to use on any character in your group. You can make him much better by combining a Card when making him to give him another elemental attack.
(Level 51) Izanami (Priestess): Nullifies Light and Dark skills which is highly needed for end game content and he comes with Heartfelt Prayer which is useful in some of the best Fusion Spells. The only thing that sucks about this Persona is the compatibility is only Good with some party members.
(Level 51) Cerberus (Fortune): Strong to Light/Dark spells and he has a somewhat decent skill set. Cerberus also repels various different magical attacks which is nice too. If you don't have a better Persona this isn't such a bad choice for higher levels. You can make Cerberus much better by giving him another useful move for Fusion Spells while Summoning him.
(Level 62) Tsukuyomi (Moon): Nullifies Light/Dark attacks and has a buff move set. Honestly this Persona is not that good unless you have someone in your party who has a Persona with Heartfelt Prayer. Because if you have Heartfelt Prayer it means you can turn Makakaja and Samakaja into group buffs instead of single target. Also I would strongly recommend giving this Persona a Skill Card that gives it a strong elemental attack.
(Level 65) Virochana (Sun): Nullifies Light/Dark attacks and has an 'ok' move set. The main reason you'd use this Persona is for the Dark/Light nullification, most of his skills can't be used in Fusion Spells aside from Agidyne. However you gotta admit, not being one shot every battle sure is nice and it's worth having a Persona without a super good move set.
(Level 66) Skuld (Fortune): He nullifies Light/Dark attacks and has Mediarama + other decent skills. Much like most of the other higher level Personas in this list the main reason you'd use this one is for the Light/Dark nullification. Without strong Light/Dark resists you'll constantly be reviving characters in the final dungeons.
(Level 68) Seth (Tower): He nullifies Light/Dark attacks and has a good set of moves. The biggest downside to using him is compatibility with your party isn't the best.
(Level 70) Fenrir (Fortune): Nullifies Light/Dark attacks and has a strong move set for dealing damage.