Alright. So I’m back with another tier list. This time diving into Persona 3 Reload. Like my Persona 5 Royal tier list, I’ll be breaking down my opinions on each of the characters.

Also, I am covering both The Journey and Episode Aigis because some characters are better in one version over the other and there are some exclusives.

S+ Tier:

Makoto Yuki:

This is a no brainer. Even with the wild card. But now, the protagonist is given multiple ways to charge his theurgy faster all by summoning a Persona. I put him slightly above Aigis from the Answer because of Scarlot Havoc being available only on him.

Aigis (The Answer):

Similar answers to Makoto. Has the wild card, and even though she has access to different Theurgys, Aigis is still powerful in her own right.

Fuuka:

I don’t think I need to talk about this one. Fuuka is quite possibly one of the best Navis to exist. On top of being the only one who can apply a party wide Heat Riser, she can apply Charge/Concentrate, expose the enemies affinities, and heal your parties HP and SP. The only real thing that is needed is a Spell Master accessory/something that lowers her SP cost.

S Tier:

Metis:

Starting off, we have what many consider the best party member in Episode Aigis. Strong Strike and Slash damage with coverage in Ice and Wind. She is the only one in Episode Aigis to get both Matarukaja and Charge and has access to Dekaja. She also has no weakness meaning that the only way she’s getting knocked down is by a Crit.

She doesn’t get boosting passives on her Persona, but her equipment makes up for this. And she also gets Enduring Soul, Resist Phys and Insta-Heal like Aigis. Her Theurgys are also strong, although just Strike versions of Aigis’s Theurgys from the Journey.

There are some fights in late game that Metis struggles against, especially on Heartless, but for the first 90% of the game, Metis is easily the best.

Koromaru:

I’m gonna say it. How they transformed one of the worst party members in the original game into one of the best in the remake is actually baffling to me. Seriously, Koromaru is a strong unit in both playthroughs.

He specializes in Dark, which is much better because of the addition of Eigaon skills, while also having AoE Fire damage. Some Physical attacks on both playthroughs but I definitely think the Journey has the better one with Getsu-Ei. Gets access to Revolution and Masukukaja and he gets Debilitate.

His first Theurgy is fine, but his second one is broken. Party wide charge at the point where he comes in is just broken. And because of his kit, he largely benefits any Physical attacker in the game. Add in his charge condition where he needs to hit a weakness and Koromaru will be raking it up fast. Also he can get a weapon that changes his melee damage to Wind, so he’s got more going for him.

Oh yeah, his character trait is also exclusive and unobtainable by any means due to it being Auto-Masukunda. It’s not broken, but an auto debuff that the protagonist can’t do? That has value on its own.

The only real issue with Koromaru is the fact that his Mudoon skills are trash as he doesn’t get Mudo Boost. His Light weakness can also be annoying, but there are more than enough skills for Koromaru to be good with already and he can get armor to null his weakness.

Yukari:

I’m going to say something. People often put Yukari on lower tiers because of her damage. And all I have to say is if you’re using Yukari for damage…

You’re using Yukari wrong.

Yukari works like Makoto from Persona 5, where she’s built to keep the team alive. And boy does she do that job extremely well. On top of her getting healing spells all the way up to Mediarahan, she also now has a character trait that allows her to cut the cost of her Healing spells by 75%.

And because of this, this allows her Theurgy to charge faster, and she has one of the fastest charging ones in the game. Not only a Severe level Wind spell, but also a Party wide Concentrate that synergies with everyone except Aigis and Shinjiro. And you can pop this and use it to strengthen the magic Theurgys too. She also has Wind spells for coverage which in the Journey, she’s the only source of them.

I will say that I think Yukari could have used some more passives. Only Wind Amp in the 70’s doesn’t cut it. Also she doesn’t get Salvation, but neither does the party.

She is slightly weaker in Episode Aigis because of the mechanics and the fact that Ken bows gets them faster, but Yukari is still good to use for support.

Akihiko:

Something that generally upset me was how Atlas worded his Theurgy charge condition. But once you realize how it works, Akihiko won’t be leaving the party most of the time.

He lost Support in Rakunda and Sukunda spells for a bigger emphasis on offense and I think Akihiko actually got a fair trade here. Especially with how both of his Theurgys do solid Electric damage.

He still has Zio skills and Tarunda, but now he gains single target Strike damage up to God’s Hand, Shock Boost for his theurgy’s and Sukukaja. The only real problem with Akihiko I find is the early game where he has Sonic Punch for Physical damage. Other than that, he’s extremely solid.

A Tier:

Junpei:

I’m sorry if I upset people, but Junpei can be reliable and unreliable at the same time. I like his Crit based build and what he’s designed to do, but he lacks certain tools to fully execute this. Like a natural Apt Pupil.

But even with that, Junpei is extremely good. Has strong Slash, Strike and Pierce attacks and gains access to single target Fire Magic and Marakukaja. He has a mid charge condition, but once Apt Pupil gets added to him via equiptment, he starts to shine proper.

He also has strong Theurgy attacks. His first one is great for popping a Crit, but Junpei’s second Theurgy, Blaze of Life, is easily the best Magic Theurgy of the cast. Seriously, he was doing more damage than both Mitsuru and Akihiko’s theurgy’s with the right equipment.

My only issues after that is the fact that they remove him from two story boss fights and that his early game is a little lack luster. But other than that, Junpei is extremely good.

Aigis (The Journey):

The main buff bot did get a slight nerf to her support abilities. But she is still extremely strong.

She gets Marakukaja and is the only in the Journey to get Matarukaja and Dekunda. She has strong Pierce and AoE Strike damage and her character trait is a free Boost/Amp to all of her Physical attacks. She also gets Diarahan for emergency heals if needed. Her two Therugys are Pierce based damage. One for Orgia mode and another being Severe Pierce damage, but nothing broken in my eyes.

Oh yeah, she also gets really good passives in Insta-Heal, Enduring Soul and Resist Phys. Seriously, what were they cooking with her.

But like Koromaru and Junpei, Aigis takes time to cook before her kit can really shine proper. Also I found her weakness to Electric to be slightly annoying, especially for several in game fights.

B Tier:

Mitsuru:

The only real Mage focused character and sadly, she falls behind. Physical is on top for the world in Persona 3 Reload and Ailments are no where near as useful as they were in Persona 5 Royal. The only ones I really tried to learn being Tentarafoo and Eerie Sound.

But I will say this and I know the torches will be coming. I think Mitsuru is overhated by the community.

She lost Ice Amp on her persona. Okay. But she can get an accessory and a weapon to give it to her instead. She also has one of the higher SP amounts of the party, which is a good trade for some of the more expensive parts of her kit.

Her trait can work well with half of the party due to ailments like Distress being an easy Crit setup. She also gets Rakunda which is a fantastic debuff especially when you get her. In the Journey she only really excels in Ice, but in Episode Aigis she can learn Vorpal Blade, making her good for two damage types.

The biggest issue though? Her Theurgy. The first is good, but the second one is flawed. Theurgy attacks already pierce affinities so why is Blade of Execution Almighty when it could have been Slash based? Her charge condition is the slowest and her ability to only get Ice spells means Ice Break might be a consideration.

Ken:

Okay. Before you grab your torches and start rioting, let me explain. I don’t think Ken is a bad party member. Hell, there is a reason this stops at B unlike my Royal tier list with C. But there are some glaring issues with Ken that I can’t ignore personally.

For starters, his weakness to Dark. Having a frontline fighter weak to an instakill is a problem already, but a healer weak to instakills? That’s a recipe for disaster, especially when multiple bosses use it. Yes he gets Makarakarn, but by the time you would think to pop this on Ken, you’re already getting destroyed by a Eigaon or Mudoon skill.

Plus, with how much they give Yukari, I don’t find a lot of situations to use Ken over her unless the enemy is using Electric. His Theurgy charge condition is not bad on paper, but with a characteristic that is essentially Invigorate 4, that is just flawed as he won’t be going under half SP until you get some of his more expensive skills.

Outside of that though, he’s fine. He’s the only one to get access to Light spells and has single target Pierce and Electric attacks. Only gets Mediarama and Mediarahan for healing and Samarecarm for emergency revivals, but he gets Tetrakarn and Makarakarn to make up for it. He is slightly better in Episode Aigis due to him getting his healing spells before Yukari, but overall, that Dark weakness hurts him hard.

Shinjiro:

Alright. Here come the torches again. Shinjiro may be the worst, but he’s far from bad. His focus on Strike and Slash Physical skills is pretty good, and he gets Bloody Charge. On top of that, he has no actual weakness outside of a hidden one to Pierce attacks. He also has an abusable Theurgy charge condition where being under half HP makes it charge faster.

But that’s where it kinda of ends. He has no magic attacks or support skills outside of Debilitate, which you’re not getting on first playthrough because of story reasons. His character trait is just Heat Riser for himself, which is made redundant with an Auto-Buff persona, and he only has one Theurgy.

Still though, Shinjiro is a fantastic DPS character when you get him, but if you plan to use him, you definitely want characters in the back leveling up too considering he’s a temporary boy. You get him for one major boss in the Hermit and several area of Tartarus and that’s it.

Even with this, the devs at least built him to destroy the segments that you get him for, and I will give him points for that. But because he’s a selfish DPS attacker with no support and a temporary boy, I have to put him in B-Tier.

These three B tier characters are still miles better than a certain someone in Royal though. Just keep that in mind.