Most Powerful Persona Users Across The Series

The characters of the Persona series all have unique powers and abilities across their independent games and iterations. Some games portray characters that can fight and defeat literal gods and incarnations of desires, while some struggle against henchmen-type enemies. Figuring out who is the most powerful is pretty simple though, since the games give fans an overall context of what is strong and what isn’t.

For example, every protagonist has the wild card ability which allows them to wield multiple personas. This means they can use the Persona born from their own souls, or a literal angel from the heavens if they choose. After that, it all comes down to their unique abilities.

Updated on March 30, 2024 by Ritwik Mitra: The Persona series is at the very peak of its powers. It features some of the greatest JRPGs of all time, letting players interact with uniquely fun life-sim mechanics while doing everything in their power to ensure that the world is saved from a massive threat that threatens to end all of humanity itself. In the quest to stop evildoers and save the world, players must team up with friends and companions in a team that boasts varying levels of quality.

25 Futaba Sakura

Persona 5

Futaba is one of the most memorable characters in the entire series. Initially appearing as a hikikomori, it takes a while for the group to help Futaba come out of her shell and finally interact with the outside world once again.

After getting over her trauma, Futaba becomes the Oracle of the group and helps them out throughout their journey with her amazing hacking abilities. From a gameplay standpoint, the buffs and passive benefits she brings to the party are incredible, especially when her abilities are maxed out.

24 Rise Kujikawa

Persona 4

Speaking of characters who are scouts for their respective parties, it’s impossible to not talk about Rise Kujikawa. An idol who returns to her hometown of Inaba, Rise gets caught up with the rest of the gang after being abducted by the mystery killer and awakening her own Persona.

She replaces Teddie as the guide of the group and does a brilliant job in this regard. Her recovery abilities are in a class of their own and rejuvenate the party enough times to help them get to the end of a dungeon on their very first attempt.

23 Fuuka Yamagishi

Persona 3

Persona 3 Reload has done a great job of making Fuuka one of the best analysts in the series. Her Theurgy is great to rely on, buffing the party, restoring their SP, and supercharging their attacks whenever required.

It’s a far cry from the original iteration of Fuuka, which wasn’t the most powerful analyst players could rely on. The suite of abilities she has access to lets players boss most enemies with ease.

22 Takaya Sakaki

Persona 3

Strega is a group standing against SEES in their endeavors to stop the Dark Hour. In the group, there’s no denying that Takaya is easily the most unhinged of the lot. He’s directly and indirectly caused the death of several major characters in the series, making it clear that he needs to be stopped at all costs.

The only reason why he’s not one of the strongest Persona users in the game is because of the fact that his power was forced out of him, leading to a small chance that his Persona goes berserk and goes against him. If this handicap didn’t exist, then Takaya’s lack of weaknesses would’ve made him a force to be reckoned with.

21 Yosuke Hanamura

Persona 4

Yosuke is the typical goofball that is present in pretty much every game in the series. It’s easy to write him off as a trope, but this character is extremely well-written and was meant to be a romanceable option for the protagonist at one point.

He develops an inferiority complex when the protagonist ends up being way more effective than him as both a leader and a fighter. However, he gets over this issue, becoming even stronger and letting players go to town on enemies with his Wind magic.

20 Yusuke Kitagawa

Persona 5

Ryuji may fit the goofy best friend trope in Persona 5, but most people would argue that Yusuke is simply funnier because of how effortless his humor is. He’s a bit too simple at times, with his understanding of certain events being hilarious because of how awkward he can be.

However, that shouldn’t take away from his combat prowess in the slightest. Yusuke is deadly with a blade and uses Ice powers in battle to decimate his foes. His magic is great for incapacitating enemies, and his Physical skills are useful for conserving MP during dungeon raids.

19 Makoto Niijima

Persona 5

Makoto Niijima is one of the more complex characters in Persona 5, giving off a poor first impression as a tool of the school’s corrupt principal as she hounds the Phantom Thieves. However, she slowly regains her independence and thwarts the higher-ups who are trying to control her, joining the Phantom Thieves in the process.

The fact that her Persona initially appears as a motorbike should be proof enough of just how nuclear her abilities really are. She can dish out some serious damage and is one of the best members of the group by a country mile.

18 Akihiko Sanada

Persona 3

Speaking of party members who love fighting Shadows with their bare hands, Akihiko is one such character from Persona 3 who is pretty engaging in his own right. His bond with Shinjiro is one of the more complex relationships in the series, making it all the more heartbreaking when his friend dies in one of the most tragic moments in the series.

Akihiko wastes no time in developing his strength over the course of the game. He becomes one of Persona 3‘s strongest characters who can be relied on in a fight against the most powerful Shadows in the game.

17 Kanji Tatsumi

Persona 4

Party members with brute strength always end up becoming fan favorites in any JRPG. Kanji Tatsumi is no exception to this golden rule.

Of course, Kanji’s raw power isn’t the only reason why players absolutely adore this character in Persona 4. His character is also quite likable in his own right, featuring an arc that is surprisingly progressive for a JRPG.

16 Chie Satonaka

Persona 4

While Kanji excels in terms of sheer power, Chie boasts some helpful support skills, great magic, and amazing strength to boot. This aspiring martial artist ends up being one of the strongest Persona characters due to her immense utility in battle.

Things really take a turn for the better with her ultimate Persona evolution. Dragon Hustle is the most powerful support skill in the entire game, and it’s worth using your entire stock of MP replenishing items to ensure that she has enough energy to cast this spell multiple times during tough boss encounters.

15 Naoto Shirogane

Persona 4

Party members who join at the very last stretch in any Persona game end up being quite powerful to make up for their inactivity early on. This is precisely why Naoto ends up being such a powerful Persona user in Persona 4.

Her Almighty powers are an absolute boon and make her quite effective in battle, especially against bosses. This, coupled with her powerful support skills, makes her an extremely powerful character in the latter stretch of the game.

14 Mitsuru Kirijo

Persona 3

In the original game and Persona 3 FES, Mitsuru has the potential to be the most annoying member of the party. Her tendency to cast Marin Karin all the time can be quite a pain to deal with.

However, in Persona 3 Portable, Mitsuru ends up being an important member of the group. The ability to directly control her means that the player can make the most of her well-rounded offense to dish out some serious pain in battle.

13 Junpei Iori

Persona 3

Junpei Iori is a stronger persona user than most because of his special fusion with Chidori in Persona 3. Because of this fusion, Junpei retains his own abilities while obtaining the special abilities of Chidori, who was an exceptional persona user herself. Medea, Chidori’s persona, was able to give life, use telepathic abilities, and have other small specific powers.

Using the Spring of Life ability from Medea, Junpei essentially gains a second life that would heal any wound and save him before death. Junpei’s strength combined with this healing factor makes for an unstoppable powerhouse unlike any other persona user in the series.

12 Shinjiro Aragaki

Persona 3

Aragaki is a tragic figure who comes and leaves too soon during the events of Persona 3. The game deals with themes of death and loss, with his character arc being a great example of the same.

His death serves as a major turning point for characters like Akihiko and Ken, forcing them to confront their demons and evolve to live up to his legacy. From a gameplay perspective, players will hate to lose a party member with no weaknesses, which means that the only way enemies could’ve knocked him down was to hand a critical hit.

11 Takuto Maruki

Persona 5

The new antagonist introduced in Persona 5 Royal is also one of the strongest Persona users in the entire series. After all, changing someone’s entire cognition is no easy task, so it’s surprising to see just how well Maruki manages to pull this off.

It takes the combined efforts of all the Phantom Thieves to take down Maruki once and for all. He’s no slouch and shows exactly why he was powerful enough to bend reality in the minds of thousands all across Tokyo.

10 Maki Sonomura

Revelations: Persona

Maki is an interesting case in the Persona universe because her true power is only activated within very specific circumstances. Maki’s power comes from the fact that she is the “ideal” version of herself that exists in a parallel universe, which was birthed from her own thoughts. After defeating other, more evil versions of herself, Maki gains control of her parallel universe and essentially can do whatever she wants in it.

Maki may not be as strong as other characters from the Persona universe normally, but her powers are nothing to be laughed at. Fans speculate that there are probably only one or two threats in the universe that could contest Maki at full power, and none of them are persona users.

9 Tatsuya Suou

Persona 2

Tatsuya is one of the stronger protagonists of the Persona series because of the interesting abilities he obtains at the end of Persona Eternal Punishment. Tatsuya has the power to stop time with his persona, which is unlike any other ability in the Persona universe that persona users can do. This ability alone puts him above most and makes him unique as a protagonist.

On top of the ability to stop time, Tatsuya could also end the entire universe if he decided to. This power is not exactly his own, but he holds the key to it. Because of the resolution of his story, he had to give up the bonds he created with his friends to save the world. If memories of him return to his friends, the whole universe would cease to exist, causing a stalemate with whatever opponent he’s facing.

8 Tohru Adachi

Persona 4

Adachi is another interesting case since he is technically a wild card user himself like the protagonists of each game, who also has his own special powers. He calls forth his persona without an evoker or normal means like in Persona 4, which is reminiscent of early persona users.

Adachi has the same persona as Yu Narukami and the wild card ability which puts them both on even ground. He can also talk to shadows and command them within the TV world without becoming a shadow which is an interesting ability that indicates that he has the wild card. Other than that, his strength comes from his own negative emotions instead of positive ones like the protagonist, so it could be said that he is even stronger than his counterpart.

7 Goro Akechi

Persona 5

Another wild card user who is able to use multiple personas, like Robin Hood and Loki. Not only is Akechi able to use multiple personas, but it’s also implied in Persona 5 that he was able to clear the same palaces as the Phantom Thieves, all by himself. The Phantom Thieves had five or six members at the time with reconnaissance and could change their squad depending on the situation, so tackling a palace solo is obviously no small feat.

Aside from his persona and physical strength, Akechi also had the ability to make people around him go berserk. All these special abilities and powers in tandem made him a bigger threat than some protagonists of the series, even after they awakened their personas or got their big end-game buff.

6 Makoto Yuki

Persona 3

The protagonist of Persona 3 is almost without a doubt the strongest Persona protagonist in the entire series under normal conditions. He inherits the Universe Arcana which allows him to seal Nyx, a world-threatening god of death. This means his power is on par with characters from The Velvet Room who have also been shown to take down humanity’s negative emotions that incarnate themselves as gods.

Since Yuuki is the only character to get the Universe arcana, it’s unclear what the limits of his power actually are. When he obtains it, even Igor, the master of the Velvet Room, says he doesn’t know how strong the arcana truly is. It’s safe to assume there are more abilities sealed behind the arcana since it’s mentioned in other games but only bestowed to Yuuki.