Maximizing Confidant Ranks

Maximizing Confidant ranks in Persona 5 Royal is a core aspect of gameplay, offering significant benefits and unlocking new abilities. This guide prioritizes maxing out all Confidants and collecting Shelf Decorations in a single playthrough. Careful planning and specific actions are required, including having the correct Personas for each Confidant and making optimal dialogue choices.

Hierophant Confidant: To start the Hierophant Confidant with Sojiro, you need a Hierophant Persona. Berith is a cheap option. On April 21st, start the Confidant with Sojiro and choose the dialogue option "Got it" for +3 points.
Death Confidant: To start the Death Confidant with Takemi, you need a Death Persona. Mandrake is a cheap option. On April 21st, start the Confidant with Takemi and choose "Please go easy on me" for +3 points.
Chariot Confidant: For Ryuji, ensure you have a Chariot Persona. Slime is a common and affordable choice.
General Tips:
- Always have a Persona of the matching Arcana when spending time with a Confidant to maximize affinity gains.
- Dialogue choices marked with "+2" or "+3" are optimal for increasing rank. For example, during a conversation where options are "What's this about? (+0)", "Of course we are (+2)", and "That's enough (+0)", choose "Of course we are." Another example is "Leave it to me (+2)".
- Some Confidants may require specific actions or items. For instance, the Hierophant Confidant Rank 3 scene will only appear if you are at Rank 3 and have the correct Persona.
- If you encounter issues with Confidant availability, such as a character not being available on a specific date, it might be due to needing to wait a few days after certain events, like talking to their Shadow.

While this guide is strict to achieve all collectibles and max Confidants, players who don't prioritize Shelf Decorations or maxing all video games/books will have more flexibility. New Game+ also provides an opportunity to catch up on missed content.