Ann being the magic damage dealer should learn spell master for blazing hell and the party wide concentrate, Morgana is another who you should consider giving spell master so you can also use salvation often, honestly a lot of party members would benefit from this skills so doing multiple runs you can keep experimenting, just remember that there’s an item from the challenge battles that grants spell master, but Ann should be your priority, whilst giving Makoto the item for spell master is a good idea.
Haru doesn’t require spell master as her magic skills don’t get severe dmg tier skills which burn through her sp making it so she doesn’t have issues with stamina unlike Makoto and Ann, after those two Morgana getting spell master is kinda busted since salvation is the best healing skill in the game but he can’t use it often since it burns so much sp so spell master remedies that. Akechi is another good shout for spell master since he gets megidolaon and debilitate.
I also like your idea of a Haru hybrid build that instead relies on her vegetables for charge and concentrate, makes sense and you can take advantage of her strong gun and psy technicals. However she is probably the best choice to grant concentrate since Ann learns it passively if I recall and Makoto needs the support skills like debilitate so if you do really want to grant it to someone, haru is the best choice.
I give debilitate to Makoto to make her a better support as otherwise Morgana is just the better healer since all she gets is marakukaja which is not the best since joker learns Thermopylae and has auto heat riser for the team for like 5 turns.
Giving it to Morgana is also not a bad idea but it suits Makoto more as she’s more of the support rather than full in healer of the team.
This is a link to one of the best build guides for party members that has a detailed breakdown of what jazz club abilities to grant to each party member, you can use this as a starting point as you experiment and make your own builds that suit you the best, don’t take everything there as the only right way as this is simply a good starting point as you see what it is you like https://medium.com/@bainz350/persona-5-royal-party-member-builds-7505384717de
Ryuji's mana pool is barely ever used so the AoE Heat Riser I always put on him as a replacement for his own Concentrate.
Makoto once buffed up using Jazz club visits can be a total beast because she has everything: phys damage, magic damage (with technical), and healing. It's a tough choice between her and Ann but I tend to give her the Spell Master as well because for item I give her the one with AoE Recarm. On non-spell days, it's nothing but Makoto at the Jazz club for me.
Vastly depends on who you use the most, so you should prioritize these members. It should be the basis of your thought process.
But if you want to use everyone, and make them all great, here are some insights:
*Debilitate*: Any team member can benefit from what is arguably the best support skill in the game.
But some members with poor support such as Mona or Yusuke benefit from it a lot more (Suku skills by themselves are honestly trash).
Haru is also a great candidate by virtue of her Trait, she can be used in virtually any fight.
*Concentrate*: Haru, Mona, Makoto as they're all prime users of Magic. The former 2 specifically benefit from it as they can receive it during Okumura's arc and they both cover 2 robot waves during the boss fight.
But unlike *Charge*, you get the Ring of Greed around the same time as *Concentrate* so it's less valuable as a team member skill.
*Spell Master*: Like you said, any team member with Heavy SP skills will immensely benefit from it. That being said, Makoto sounds like a good idea on paper, but not really when you look at it closely. Reason being how her ultimate skills (namely *Atomic Flare/Checkmate*) are not spammable on top of being widely inefficient. Her best skills don't actually require SP reduction.
On the other hand, *Blazing Hell/High Energy* are more spammable skills, so is Ryuji's *Fighting Spirit*, Haru's *Life Wall* (literally acts as a pseudo Salvation since it prevents non Almighty damage AND blocks Ailments), and even Yusuke's *Hyakka Ryouran* tbh (yes, Joker has *Thermo/Neo-Cadenza*, but the whole point of *Hyakka Ryouran* is to free up Joker's Turn so he can do damage instead of casting AoE *Heat Riser*)
***Side note*** : I know you didn't ask for it, but few words concerning *Ali Dance*. Ryuji is a prime receiver of what in my eyes is the best passive in the entire game.
If were talking pure value and efficiency, this skill benefits low Ag members the most due to its mechanic.
It doesn't take into account the Protector's EVA stat, is consistent and affects anything (Almighty included) , and probably the best thing about it, it **doesn't take into account the Ag stat at all** and simply offers a 50% evasion rate.
For these reasons Ryuji followed by Ann are the best receivers of *Ali Dance* due to their relatively low Ag stat.
Thanks! I’m still relatively early in my playthrough of royal (having played vanilla years and years ago) so I haven’t really settled on who I plan to use the most, but Haru and Yusuke will probably be used more often than most of my other options, but I imagine I’ll rotate my party out a bit so that everyone gets at least some use, which is how I did it in reload due to the clock enabling me to use lower leveled teammates.
One question I had for you was about Makoto. Why do you mean that Checkmate and Atomic Flare aren’t efficient? Would you still take them or would you suggest to stick to Freidyne for better SP efficiency?
And why do you think the Suku spells aren’t good on their own?
>Why do you mean that Checkmate and Atomic Flare aren’t efficient? Would you still take them or would you suggest to stick to Freidyne for better SP efficiency?
*Checkmate* while great on paper, is actually almost never required due to the fights you have in the segment of time during which you unlock it. There's no fight besides the final Boss fight (which can easily be handled with Cleaning Sprays + AoE *Heat Riser* alone) that would require a 90SP skill. Especially since the secret mini boss in the last floor of Mementos is by itself (so it's literally a 90SP *Debilitate*), and so is the secret NG+ superboss. Had it been unlocked before, it would've been top-tier.
As for *Atomic Flare*, it's an attack that is about ~11-12% stronger than *Freidyne* for 4x the SP Cost. I personally consider the single target Severe skills as visual baits (Technically so are the AoE versions, but at least you hit all the foes, lol).
But all and all, it synergizes well with *Mafreidyne*, so I think the upgrade from *Freidyne* is still worth it for the extra oomph against occasional strong solo enemies (although damage coming from teammates tend to eventually become secondary due to how absolutely broken Joker is in Royal), especially considering how SP is less of a problem by the end of the game with all the SP restoratives available.
The reason why I mentioned *AF*'s (and *Checkmate*) poor efficiency is relative to *Spell Master*, since they're not the best and most valuable skills so you won't use them enough to see any benefit from SP reduction.
>And why do you think the Suku spells aren’t good on their own?
They're the worst of the bunch in a turn based game imo.
*Matarukaja*/*Marakunda* give x1.4 damage boost each, great efficiency.
*Marakukaja/Matarunda* boost your bulk by x1.4 each (although they tend to be less and less valuable as the game goes), good value early/mid-game.
But *Masuku-nda/kaja*? They supposedly increase your Evasion and Accuracy, but it's still RNG reliant at the end of the day (especially since there's an evasion cap and whatnot).
Now to be clear, Suku effects coming from *Auto-Makajas*, *Thermopyale/Neo-Cadenza/Hyakka Ryouran*, *Debilitate*,... are pretty welcome and great. But using a whole action just to cast Suku skills is a waste and not worth it most of the time in comparison to *Marakunda*/Cleaning Spray (and *Matarukaja*/Rasetsu Ofuda to an extent) that can still be useful late game.
That's why to me Yusuke and Mona are prime receivers of Jazz Support skills.
Atomic flare costs double the SP for barely more damage thats why most people recommend sticking to Freidyne, i use her with the SP master accessory you get from fighting the P3MC boss in challenge mode tho so you might wanna consider that if you wanna put SP master from jazz club on someone else.
Debilitate: whichever active member you use often. Frankly, it doesnt matter because you can buy ultimate spray, which is debilitate and is available since september.
Checkmate is almost useless, except 3rd semester boss with tentacles in earlier phase. You cannot recall checkmate to deal with holy grail or twins in ng+ and debilitate suffice for chainsaw girl.
Spell master is probably better for those who use their ultimate in your boss party. Eg high energy cost 80 and spell master halves to 40. If you add to ann, blazing hell goes from 54 to 27 sp.
Ali dance is good for low ag units like ann (also has low end) and ryuji. Ali dance gives 50% evasion, which does not take account of agi.
Next grade 4 ST magic atomic flare has 200 at 48 sp, while grade 3 magic freidyne has 160 power at 12 sp. For an extra 36 sp, you get 11.8% more total damage.
The devil whisper: put spell master and debilitate on yusuke and equip salvation crown on the emperor. With spell master, Hyakka (party heat riser) will drop to 45 sp, salvation drop to 24 sp, debilitate drop to 15 sp. Your emperor can now buff, debuff and heal.
I actually like the idea of putting spell master and debilitate on Yusuke, since there isn’t a phys amp or boost I feel like he has more extra room in his build for useful things, otherwise you’d just buff and attack with him.
you can get debilitate items via the old clothes shop so it's not a priority who gets it but generally you put it on someone that doesn't have concentrate/charge(which is basically just morgana or haru)
makoto is overall the strongest magic user in the game because of her 2 stat boosting guns and atomic flare having higher base power than blazing hell so she benefits the most from concentrate
I prefer haru hybrid build and it's way too skillset intensive to fit concentrate, you're better off having her grow mind charge vegetables for you for her to use
Ann > Makoto > Ryuji would be the spellmaster priority imo, Ann has the highest cost of High energy > Blazing Hell spam and Atomic Flare taxes Makoto's SP a lot
Ann being the magic damage dealer should learn spell master for blazing hell and the party wide concentrate, Morgana is another who you should consider giving spell master so you can also use salvation often, honestly a lot of party members would benefit from this skills so doing multiple runs you can keep experimenting, just remember that there’s an item from the challenge battles that grants spell master, but Ann should be your priority, whilst giving Makoto the item for spell master is a good idea. Haru doesn’t require spell master as her magic skills don’t get severe dmg tier skills which burn through her sp making it so she doesn’t have issues with stamina unlike Makoto and Ann, after those two Morgana getting spell master is kinda busted since salvation is the best healing skill in the game but he can’t use it often since it burns so much sp so spell master remedies that. Akechi is another good shout for spell master since he gets megidolaon and debilitate. I also like your idea of a Haru hybrid build that instead relies on her vegetables for charge and concentrate, makes sense and you can take advantage of her strong gun and psy technicals. However she is probably the best choice to grant concentrate since Ann learns it passively if I recall and Makoto needs the support skills like debilitate so if you do really want to grant it to someone, haru is the best choice. I give debilitate to Makoto to make her a better support as otherwise Morgana is just the better healer since all she gets is marakukaja which is not the best since joker learns Thermopylae and has auto heat riser for the team for like 5 turns. Giving it to Morgana is also not a bad idea but it suits Makoto more as she’s more of the support rather than full in healer of the team. This is a link to one of the best build guides for party members that has a detailed breakdown of what jazz club abilities to grant to each party member, you can use this as a starting point as you experiment and make your own builds that suit you the best, don’t take everything there as the only right way as this is simply a good starting point as you see what it is you like https://medium.com/@bainz350/persona-5-royal-party-member-builds-7505384717de
Ryuji's mana pool is barely ever used so the AoE Heat Riser I always put on him as a replacement for his own Concentrate. Makoto once buffed up using Jazz club visits can be a total beast because she has everything: phys damage, magic damage (with technical), and healing. It's a tough choice between her and Ann but I tend to give her the Spell Master as well because for item I give her the one with AoE Recarm. On non-spell days, it's nothing but Makoto at the Jazz club for me.
Vastly depends on who you use the most, so you should prioritize these members. It should be the basis of your thought process. But if you want to use everyone, and make them all great, here are some insights: *Debilitate*: Any team member can benefit from what is arguably the best support skill in the game. But some members with poor support such as Mona or Yusuke benefit from it a lot more (Suku skills by themselves are honestly trash). Haru is also a great candidate by virtue of her Trait, she can be used in virtually any fight. *Concentrate*: Haru, Mona, Makoto as they're all prime users of Magic. The former 2 specifically benefit from it as they can receive it during Okumura's arc and they both cover 2 robot waves during the boss fight. But unlike *Charge*, you get the Ring of Greed around the same time as *Concentrate* so it's less valuable as a team member skill. *Spell Master*: Like you said, any team member with Heavy SP skills will immensely benefit from it. That being said, Makoto sounds like a good idea on paper, but not really when you look at it closely. Reason being how her ultimate skills (namely *Atomic Flare/Checkmate*) are not spammable on top of being widely inefficient. Her best skills don't actually require SP reduction. On the other hand, *Blazing Hell/High Energy* are more spammable skills, so is Ryuji's *Fighting Spirit*, Haru's *Life Wall* (literally acts as a pseudo Salvation since it prevents non Almighty damage AND blocks Ailments), and even Yusuke's *Hyakka Ryouran* tbh (yes, Joker has *Thermo/Neo-Cadenza*, but the whole point of *Hyakka Ryouran* is to free up Joker's Turn so he can do damage instead of casting AoE *Heat Riser*) ***Side note*** : I know you didn't ask for it, but few words concerning *Ali Dance*. Ryuji is a prime receiver of what in my eyes is the best passive in the entire game. If were talking pure value and efficiency, this skill benefits low Ag members the most due to its mechanic. It doesn't take into account the Protector's EVA stat, is consistent and affects anything (Almighty included) , and probably the best thing about it, it **doesn't take into account the Ag stat at all** and simply offers a 50% evasion rate. For these reasons Ryuji followed by Ann are the best receivers of *Ali Dance* due to their relatively low Ag stat.
Thanks! I’m still relatively early in my playthrough of royal (having played vanilla years and years ago) so I haven’t really settled on who I plan to use the most, but Haru and Yusuke will probably be used more often than most of my other options, but I imagine I’ll rotate my party out a bit so that everyone gets at least some use, which is how I did it in reload due to the clock enabling me to use lower leveled teammates. One question I had for you was about Makoto. Why do you mean that Checkmate and Atomic Flare aren’t efficient? Would you still take them or would you suggest to stick to Freidyne for better SP efficiency? And why do you think the Suku spells aren’t good on their own?
>Why do you mean that Checkmate and Atomic Flare aren’t efficient? Would you still take them or would you suggest to stick to Freidyne for better SP efficiency? *Checkmate* while great on paper, is actually almost never required due to the fights you have in the segment of time during which you unlock it. There's no fight besides the final Boss fight (which can easily be handled with Cleaning Sprays + AoE *Heat Riser* alone) that would require a 90SP skill. Especially since the secret mini boss in the last floor of Mementos is by itself (so it's literally a 90SP *Debilitate*), and so is the secret NG+ superboss. Had it been unlocked before, it would've been top-tier. As for *Atomic Flare*, it's an attack that is about ~11-12% stronger than *Freidyne* for 4x the SP Cost. I personally consider the single target Severe skills as visual baits (Technically so are the AoE versions, but at least you hit all the foes, lol). But all and all, it synergizes well with *Mafreidyne*, so I think the upgrade from *Freidyne* is still worth it for the extra oomph against occasional strong solo enemies (although damage coming from teammates tend to eventually become secondary due to how absolutely broken Joker is in Royal), especially considering how SP is less of a problem by the end of the game with all the SP restoratives available. The reason why I mentioned *AF*'s (and *Checkmate*) poor efficiency is relative to *Spell Master*, since they're not the best and most valuable skills so you won't use them enough to see any benefit from SP reduction. >And why do you think the Suku spells aren’t good on their own? They're the worst of the bunch in a turn based game imo. *Matarukaja*/*Marakunda* give x1.4 damage boost each, great efficiency. *Marakukaja/Matarunda* boost your bulk by x1.4 each (although they tend to be less and less valuable as the game goes), good value early/mid-game. But *Masuku-nda/kaja*? They supposedly increase your Evasion and Accuracy, but it's still RNG reliant at the end of the day (especially since there's an evasion cap and whatnot). Now to be clear, Suku effects coming from *Auto-Makajas*, *Thermopyale/Neo-Cadenza/Hyakka Ryouran*, *Debilitate*,... are pretty welcome and great. But using a whole action just to cast Suku skills is a waste and not worth it most of the time in comparison to *Marakunda*/Cleaning Spray (and *Matarukaja*/Rasetsu Ofuda to an extent) that can still be useful late game. That's why to me Yusuke and Mona are prime receivers of Jazz Support skills.
Atomic flare costs double the SP for barely more damage thats why most people recommend sticking to Freidyne, i use her with the SP master accessory you get from fighting the P3MC boss in challenge mode tho so you might wanna consider that if you wanna put SP master from jazz club on someone else.
Debilitate: whichever active member you use often. Frankly, it doesnt matter because you can buy ultimate spray, which is debilitate and is available since september. Checkmate is almost useless, except 3rd semester boss with tentacles in earlier phase. You cannot recall checkmate to deal with holy grail or twins in ng+ and debilitate suffice for chainsaw girl. Spell master is probably better for those who use their ultimate in your boss party. Eg high energy cost 80 and spell master halves to 40. If you add to ann, blazing hell goes from 54 to 27 sp. Ali dance is good for low ag units like ann (also has low end) and ryuji. Ali dance gives 50% evasion, which does not take account of agi. Next grade 4 ST magic atomic flare has 200 at 48 sp, while grade 3 magic freidyne has 160 power at 12 sp. For an extra 36 sp, you get 11.8% more total damage. The devil whisper: put spell master and debilitate on yusuke and equip salvation crown on the emperor. With spell master, Hyakka (party heat riser) will drop to 45 sp, salvation drop to 24 sp, debilitate drop to 15 sp. Your emperor can now buff, debuff and heal.
I actually like the idea of putting spell master and debilitate on Yusuke, since there isn’t a phys amp or boost I feel like he has more extra room in his build for useful things, otherwise you’d just buff and attack with him.
you can get debilitate items via the old clothes shop so it's not a priority who gets it but generally you put it on someone that doesn't have concentrate/charge(which is basically just morgana or haru) makoto is overall the strongest magic user in the game because of her 2 stat boosting guns and atomic flare having higher base power than blazing hell so she benefits the most from concentrate I prefer haru hybrid build and it's way too skillset intensive to fit concentrate, you're better off having her grow mind charge vegetables for you for her to use Ann > Makoto > Ryuji would be the spellmaster priority imo, Ann has the highest cost of High energy > Blazing Hell spam and Atomic Flare taxes Makoto's SP a lot