Who is THE BEST Party Member in Persona 3?

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I’m one of those really weird people who cares a lot about the combat of the persona games. Sure the social life aspect is ultimately what makes these games what they are, but I don’t think there’s nearly enough praise for the combat portion of the game. The Persona series has some of the slickest combat you can find in the genre. While I’m personally a little more impartial to the mainline SMT games when it comes to gameplay, the modern Persona games have a unique flavour of their own with the one more system and more dedicated party roles. And if you were to ask me, I think that Persona 3 FES has my favourite combat from these newer games. Sure the mechanics are a little more simple and the AI takes a bit to get used to, but the quirks exclusive to this game make it almost infinitely replayable for me. I’ve played and replayed this game so many times over the years to the point where I think I can confidently say that I’ve got a pretty good understanding of P3 and its design. So I think we’ve gotta ask the obvious question. Who is the best party member in Persona 3?
Firstly, let’s set some ground rules so we’re on the same page here. I want to look at these party members as individuals and analyze what they bring to the table. Factors like party composition and equipment, while important, won’t be the sole deciding factor. A party member’s ranking ultimately comes down to their stats, skills, and how those tools are applied in p3’s design. For this reason, I’m going to be excluding Fuuka and the main character since they don’t play by the same rules as everyone else. Also for the sake of pacing, and not having to make more than one list, this ranking is constructed with every version of these characters in mind. Though I’ll mainly be using FES and Reload as reference points. Sure portable has some unique changes but it’s not enough to completely redefine a character. Now onto the list!
Who is THE BEST Persona 3 Party Member? in this Persona 3 Reload video, Persona 3 Relaod Review, Persona 3 Reload Analysis, I will be reviewing every Persona 3 party member and Ranking the Persona 3 Party Members from Worst to Best. This Persona 3 Ranking video is solely focused on gameplay. This is not a standard Persona 3 Reload Review, Persona 3 Reload Analysis, Persona 3 Reload Critique, or Persona 3 Reload Retrospective. Rather, in this video we're going to find out Who is THE BEST Persona 3 Party Member. I've played Persona 3 FES, Persona 3 Portable, and Persona 3 Reload multiple times to construct this list so this will most likely be the most accurate Persona 3 Reload ranking video. Who is THE BEST Persona 3 Party Member is the best video by Nam's Compendium.

[@NamsCompendium]

Play War Thunder now with my link, and get a massive, free bonus pack including vehicles, boosters and more: playwt.link/namscompendium

[@kamenriderravager7667]

Hey nam I have sent you an tweet yesterday about chidori revival and I wanted to see if you thought on change especially since people have some defense for it and argue that it doesn't go against the themes presented in the game. The tweet had pics of the arguments

[@bingo784]

You're going to have to remake the video when The Answer comes out. When you do, don't forget to rank Fuuka, Makoto, and The Answer Aigis.

[@valhalla3566]

"Ken is a swiss army knife." Nah, Ken probably HAS a swiss army knife.

[@marioagainsttheworld6248]

Now I can't unsee Ken fucking mugging and stabbing people in the night streets of Japan 😭

[@machodgdon]

Shinji watching this list like 🧍‍♂️

[@kdjmhd]

R.I.P. secretly-weak-to-pierce-attacks.

[@wetlikewash8055]

You mean like this?💀

[@ShadowOfMassDestruction]

​@@kdjmhdHe got that boss affinity to where they are weak to pierce and they don't show it or get knocked but they take massive damage.

[@localidiot2777]

​@@ShadowOfMassDestruction Persona 4 moment

[@heroponriki518]

but at least he saw this

[@iantaran2843]

I dont think Junpei left my team in any of my play throughs Thats my bro.

[@Avenus112]

Ya, he got it backwards. In reload phys reigns supreme. Junpei and koro are monsters for very different reasons.

[@dallastn338]

yukari did not leave my party the entire game

[@xSakieru]

Junpei is just incredible in reload crit machine

[@ShinDSER]

Junpei, would you deal a moderate amount of damage to this boss? "Nah, I'd crit."

[@judthebudd6910]

⁠i had junpei do a 1700 damage crit one time towards the end of the game🤣

[@xSakieru]

@@judthebudd6910 in my first playthrough i got him to 99 str around level 70 he was killing every boss i threw him at 3500 crits with his theurgy

[@zooms9380]

​@@xSakieruthis man knows me, same dude, my Junpei was a monster. 99 str 70 luck, Junpei was my favorite teammate by far.

[@magnuscarlsson9969]

Junpei is the build around guy, throw in Koromaru into the mix then just use Koro's theurgy to grant Junpei charge then slap that theurgy into some poor bosses face... think the highest I've done is about 12k or so. Only one really outshining Junpei is Koro himself and Akihiko, Yukari is great if you just want a heal bot but given how easy it is to get SP items in reload her worth sort of falls off.

[@itsamekaizo4821]

Not giving Charge to my man Junpei is beyond my comprehension.

[@sharpmeth]

nah, i'd crit. -stupei

[@Cyclone9227]

Stupei Ace Defective

[@willfern1096]

Didn't see if he does get it, but he should have apt pupil and other alike

[@helpihavebats6392]

⁠​⁠@@willfern1096his Ultimate weapon I believe has it

[@TheMarioManiac]

@@Cyclone9227that’s not what Yukari called Junpei…

[@osmada]

They made the less good party members a lot better, but the FES kill squad of Yukari, Akihiko and Aigis still felt like the best. Ken is cool, but his versatility makes him unfocused and Yukari is just so ridiculously good at healing that she allows you to cut healing from everyone else's skillset and focus on big damage.

[@BelBelle468]

Ken is pretty fun to play as tho. Esp since charging his theurgy is super easy, and his support buffs and reflects are fun

[@osmada]

@@BelBelle468 He is strong and fun to use, but you probably need healing on your team aside from Ken's due to limited SP, and his barriers aren't really necessary for any fights. Yukari just offers insane role compression over him, you can build Aigis and Aki alongside her without needing to have a slot taken by Diarahan.

[@helpihavebats6392]

@@osmada all Ken needs really is Mediarahan. Yeah his Max Sp is worrying but he’s always replenishing a good chunk of Sp every turn plus its not really like you’re healing every turn. Yukari outside of healing is just kind of mid. For my experience after getting his Characteristics he never really ran low on Sp because i can just use Vile assault or fish for a crit with a basic attack because of his high LUCK. Magic in this game is also generally pretty underwhelming because Heavy Magic skills in the game have really low base powers for some reason and Yukari suffers as a result. Heavy Magic gets outdone by moves like Blade of Fury or Torrent Shot (if either get 3hits) without Boosts or Amps where Yukari doesn’t get a Wind boost Via level up and gets Amp as her last skill.

[@jolteon345]

@@helpihavebats6392Yukari shouldn’t be filling the role of attacking in the first place, outside of niche situations. She should only attack to hit weaknesses and if both your party is extremely healthy (including statuses) and you don’t need to extend the agility debuff. Even then, she’s probably better off keeping in the support role using an item to buff one of Makoto/Aigis/the whole party or debuff an enemy. In the limited fights where Yukari’s electric weakness is a problem, unless you neglected Fuuka’s passive making literally all of them a problem, you tend to need to supplement Ken’s support, either through items or one of the other characters flexing when his SP becomes an issue. I’m not saying that Ken *can’t* be your healing character. He’s just too unfocused to do it well, especially with the “If Makoto dies, too bad” problem. If Ken could revive Makoto with his second Theurgy, it would be a more proper discussion.

[@helpihavebats6392]

@@jolteon345 cant say i think thats super compelling saying that items supplement Kens support when you get access to a shop that literally sells every ailment cure (both single and aoe) which is what Yukari has over Ken in healing. Especially since items that cover Kens Support are fairly rarer than the tens of Dis-Fears you’ll find. unless you’re spamming Healing every turn Ken really shouldn’t be running out of Sp. While in Tartarus there plenty of times where Ken doesn’t need to use magic and could Crit fish because he has a really high LUCK stat (Because Heavy magic is pretty bleh in this game). For Bosses they don’t really last long enough to drain Ken (again only the case if you’re healing every turn). Kens Max Sp is an Issue because you do have to do Kens hangouts to get him going but after that its really not as big of an issue that people say it is. All you really need to be good at healing really is just Mediarahan. Curing ailments is nice but the games already give you plenty of curing items and Revives are generally Cheap. Healing isn’t a role in this game that really needs someone to focus on.

[@YourBudKoopa]

I agree with Junpei not being the greatest early game, but late game (around November) you can get him an accessory in the antique shop, where you can get him Apt Pupil, which gives him around a 80 - 90% crit rate, plus his extra damage on crits make him one of the best late game. Also Marakukaja makes him great since that's really all the MP he's gonna use.

[@s-wo8781]

Ooh maybe I need to get that accessory for him. But I am at the end now.

[@jschannel6319]

That’s a problem in and of itself, though. The fact he doesn’t get any criticism boosting passives, (Crit Rate Boost and/or Amp) especially Apt Pupil when we can get it as early as level 15 with Archangel, and Crit Rate Boost at level 14 with Zouchouten is crazy. His moveset especially in Reload just isn’t built around his gimmick. His magic is still ass, his support options are pretty shallow, and using up his accessory slot to raise his crit rate really isn’t all that. I know there are the Dragon Boots as well, but you get those pretty late in the game as well. He doesn’t even get Charge, Slash Boost or Slash Amp innately either.

[@matchanavi]

​​@@jschannel6319his Combat Characteristic is literally Crit Boost/Amp, wtf are you talking about.

[@jschannel6319]

@@matchanavi you are aware these can stack, right? Even if his characteristic is Crit Rate Boost/Amp, they stack with each other as well as with Apt Pupil, so my point still stands. Also, these are still gotten kinda late, whereas we can get these passives very early.

[@subb9011]

Is this reload only or also in fes?

[@osirisblade8145]

I don’t understand how people rate Koro so low when his charge Theurgy is so important to playing this game optimally. The two most important things in P3R is: 1. Getting Siegfried and his Theurgy 2. Getting an Auto-buff persona Once you’ve done that, every encounter should end with one use of that Theurgy (or brave blade if the Theurgy isn’t ready) if built correctly. And Koro does 2 things to help speed this up. He’s the only party member to have an auto-debuff, which makes the likelihood of enemies hitting Makoto before he can use his Theurgy nigh impossible with a sukukaja buff active. And his charge Theurgy, which is the only way to get charge on someone else without using a turn. Add to the fact that Koro’s magic damage becomes really good due to the easy Magic +5 / dark boost accessory you get only weeks after he joins, and he becomes extremely helpful. Crits are just too good in this game. Physical will always be more important than magic once you get to floor 4.

[@indecentthinking]

My Koro has the pumpkin mask, a knife i think i fused that has +5 magic (and something else i can remember), and his armor that gives him +3 magic. I also gave him some magic incenses. He also has Fire/Dark Amp in his skill slot. The dog is a POWERHOUSE. The agility boost is just a bonus at this point.

[@ThomBaws]

Koromaru was actually a mainstay on my team in Reload, simply because of how much better he is. His supportive skills really help a lot and I kept Getsu-ei on him for really long so he'd always do a ton of damage during Full Moon Bosses or when going to Tartarus right before a Full Moon

[@enricosaez3345]

Couldn't disagree more on Junpei. He just land SO MANY critical hits he is actually better than Aigis at dealing damage.

[@JK-xw5rn]

Yeah this guy was tweaking on his junpei take

[@ricardogianella]

Akihiko with apt pupil just stomps Jumpei. I think they fucked up with jumpei by not giving him Crit amp/boost to actually play around his critical dmg.Same with Aegis, she should get pierceboost/amp. altho you can actually get aegis criit boost gloves and crit amp trinket

[@enricosaez3345]

@ricardogianella It doesn't matter because Junpei's characteristic increases his critical hit rate AND damage, making him far more reliable than Akihiko for landing crits, especially since he can get a sword with Apt Pupil (and still hold another accessory). With that said, Akihiko is amazing as well. I believe the best party members are Yukari, Junpei and Akihiko.

[@jolteon345]

Aigis gets the natural boost on *all* physical attacks and supports better. It takes far too long for Junpei to get going on the crit game too, where you need to remove someone for Koromaru or have Makoto use multiple turns buffing to take full advantage of it before having the equipment to supplement it. That’s where he falls short, he’s great at it….late game, when you probably already have your party set. Unless you plan to bring Koromaru over Aki/Mitsuru, there’s no reason to bring Junpei in the mid game, and in the early game it’s better to bring Aki and Mitsuru most of the time. You shouldn’t be taking two turns buffing with Makoto if you don’t need to, and Aki already takes massive advantage of Aigis’s attack buff if you need to buff crit rates for a boss. I like Junpei, he’s fun to use, it’s just better to use Aigis most of the time, and then Junpei finally picks up.

[@zooms9380]

I ended up my first run with Junpei 99 strength and 70 luck. My bro and I using Susanoo was the only thing we needed to swing the whole Tartarus easily.

[@scottallen4569]

In Reload, every single character is great. Not just okay, not just good, great. Junpei was my undisputed strongest character, but I had everyone in the low 90s when I beat the game, just because I grinded a lot and used everyone because I loved them all.

[@migurusu-saint9160]

I loved Junpei once he started building up his characteristics and get his essential skills. In mid game when he gets shift boost and youre still trying to do mp management, Junpei can bust up a strong attack and claim the kill. Give him an auto-rebellion acc. and he's ready mid game.

[@SuperSpeed456]

If Akihiko is seen as the worst party member I’m leaving the persona community

[@ScrubsWasTaken]

aki is perfect for bosses

[@Hyp3rSonic]

It doesn't mean that he's bad tho. Unless they said that he's bad 🤔

[@afizsouji]

Is worst when all the other members are so good.

[@poppermintee]

I always have Akihiko, Aigis and Yukari for bosses 😂😂 depending on the boss too though. Most bosses I said

[@ashtonv418]

Bye ; - ) Wait! Come back!!!

[@gad8542]

Junpei was my MVP in reload. I spammed AoE physical attacks and if there were 5 enemies he just needed to crit one with his high chances to do it again and have the chance to chain them back to back. He deleted entire fights by himself once he got the multihit blade aoe.

[@Sewer-coon]

It’s yukari I’m just saying it right now

[@okagetheshadowking]

i'm seconding this

[@ShadowOfMassDestruction]

You just can't beat 5sp full party heals with the null ailment accessory bro

[@Hyp3rSonic]

​@@ShadowOfMassDestructionu mean 11 sp?

[@bulbaa2241]

​@@ShadowOfMassDestructionhonestly I had just never used yukari as ken works perfectly as a healer (while he spends more sp on healing he also gains sp back and has the most powerful healing ability in his 2bd theurgy which is better than anything yukari can do)

[@ShadowOfMassDestruction]

@@bulbaa2241 Maybe. Maybe not. I have character bias so there's literally no reason why I'd ever pick Ken over Yukari, also full party concentrate over reflect all day baby.

[@yuri_cobaia]

what the hell? Junpei critical hits literally kills every boss in this game pretty fast

[@tipsy634]

I'm sorry but Junpei scales way better than any other party member in Reload. The physical moves he has access to, and his crit rate, mean that he can make short work out of most enemies and bosses without even needing to use the magic spells available to him. Magic doesn't scale nearly as well this time around - A Tempest Slash from Junpei is more effective than Diamond Dust from Mitsuru 9 times out of 10. He even has access to some high damage punching moves in case your enemy resists slash attacks.

[@VVVU2x]

Ngl I think Junpei getting a theurgy move in Reload where he just heals himself and no one else is such a badass and dick move at the same time .

[@BelBelle468]

I mean TBF, he isn’t exactly healing himself. Chidori is :)

[@thefrubblewarrior4678]

MORE HEALTH TO BURN!

[@helpihavebats6392]

Its also the Strongest Magic Theurgy in the game (450 base Power for comparison Blizzards Edge is 180 and Electric Onslaught is 200).

[@ConJakPre]

I will never understand the Koro hate. Unless FES is bringing down his placement that much (haven't played it), then i really don't think he should be lower than Aigis solely because Debilitate is such a great skill. Had him on my endgame party just because of it, and it's great for flying through the final boss. Not having to waste a turn for Makoto to use Debilitate so he can instead start swinging is so good and shouldn't be underestimated.

[@Mark-bn5ek]

Koro is so strong in reload. Starting every boss with auto masukunda and power howling makes it easy to destroy enemies.

[@ShadowOfMassDestruction]

I'll just say that Koromaru and Ken got the biggest glow-ups of all time in Reload.

[@BoxcarPhill]

Koro is the kind character that's fun to use even if they arent the best compared to others. He's alot more useable in reload which I'm glad for because who doesnt want to have a playable dog party member

[@afizsouji]

Koromaru was so useless in FES. He got buff so much in Reload

[@NinjapowerMS]

I can't put him in the party, The dog voices obviously being made by a human being is taking me out of the game xD

[@alexinator-hh5fe]

I was absolutely shocked at how broken they made Ken's second theurgy. And it was at that moment that I decided that he was simply never leaving my party. Him, Akihiko, Aigis and Makoto pretty much remained my team for the backhalf of Reload

[@riku32]

Junpei ranked way too low. The point of crits isn't really damage. Its knocking down enemies and getting extra attacks. Junpei can knockdown basically every enemy that does resist all types physical damage which is very few. For bosses that can't be All Out Attacked in Reload, Aigis or Aki are better. For everything else including all of Tartarus, Junpei is the best physical attacker once he gets his traits and the first crit boostinf accessory

[@bullblood_fan17]

imagine that a dog and a guy that literally dies is still better than you in combat

[@starsandcards44]

Mitsuru, MC, Yukari and Junpei. My team can't complain

[@Ricrob_]

Had the same team

[@qazisgone7292]

Mines Mc, Yukari, aigis and mitsuru

[@_badmadsadlad]

-stupei +aki

[@lightbearer9220]

Mine in P3FES lategame is MC, mitsuru, akihiko, Aigis. I just heal for them to attack. For Reload though, still figuring it out, but Yukari is permanent.

[@willfern1096]

Mine was Mitsuro, Yukari and Akihiko in the original. Extremely versitile and makes your MC able to be 100% damaging focused.

[@obeseyoshi9686]

JUNPEI CARRIES IN RELOAD BRO GLORY TO CRIT CHANCE

[@pinklikemizutsune3336]

I used junepi for all of reload, kept giving hermes power incenses and getting equipment for him. He was my best party member, brave blade did so much damage along with his aoe phys skills carried me through the entire game.

[@chrisprizzle278]

"But muh magic damage"

[@thefrubblewarrior4678]

@@chrisprizzle278 If you can rank Shinjiro so high Junpei deserves the same.

[@ZANGETSUBRAH]

I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS

[@malik2978]

The jump from P4A music to Sonic Adventure 2 music gave me whiplash 🤣

[@rickrumble4715]

Don't wanna be too nit-picky cause it's all subjective, but Akihiko's ice weapon is still in the game. Sabazios, I want to say it's his second highest attack power weapon?

[@CraizyMotion]

7:32 never thought radical highway would fit so well with Shinjiro

[@CaribbeanStreak]

Nam ate these character transitions

[@Kriseiri]

this video brought to you by the Akihiko Sanada fan club

[@JP2427]

If Fuuka isnt SSS tier Im unsubing

[@Dressierter_Seeloewe]

Looks like a unsub. Cuz she is bad

[@DamnDaimen]

I mean, of the 3 navigators, Fuuka is the best. Fuuka has buffs on command and usable skills. Futaba is pure rng. And Rise is a creep.

[@qazisgone7292]

​@@DamnDaimenlmfao true

[@Valstrax420]

​@DamnDaimen Rise is the best one imo, just based on gameplay. The only thing fuuka has over her is prebuffs on command, but I'd rather take Rise over her because Rise has maaaaany pros over fuuka. She can save each of your members once per battle, meaning you'll always have 2 tries. She boosts your all out attack, doesn't take SP to identify enemy weaknesses, is more frequent in buffing, comes in early on just like fuuka. Futaba comes in too late and has demanding traits you have to max out to do her link, she's easily the worst and purely RNG and never comes when you need her. Rise is the best one, you can start her link and get moves much earlier than fuuka because fuuka gets them from story not link.

[@DamnDaimen]

@@Valstrax420 Oh, mechanicaly Rise is great. Her character is just so damn pathetic.

[@reeledpandora0976]

Junpei was in through-out my play through of FES including the answer. He’s my goat

[@bloomallcaps]

Putting junpei at the bottom just makes me think you didnt play the game correctly, he along with siegfried completely annihilates mid and late game

[@27Bayleefs]

Yeah pretty much this. Siegfried is so good I used it till end game. And I dislike the Aki wank. Yeah his buff boost is Godly but losing access to EVERY debuff is Not a blessing. I mean true aki can hit like a truck but he requires set up. Junpei....hit like a freight train naturally. His crits help far more exploring tartarus, and Akihiko's split damage means a lower stre stat. Junpei will still hit just as hard anyway, but crit far more often for AOU's. Not to mention if an enemy nulls Strike and elec he's screwed as it's all he has. Junpei has all phys plus fire and a buff to work with.

[@Augestein]

@@27Bayleefs It's more that Akihiko is a completely different character in Reload. In FES, Akihiko is just busted. Having access to every debuff, single target heals, and decent stats all around meant that at every given point he's useful. He started out with decent physical, and when it starts to get worse, he starts getting decent magic attacks. His "worst" part is when he's going to be using magic primarily in midgame but has debuffs everywhere, and then he gets Fist Master later on. In Reload, he lost the debuff downs and instead gets acc/eva boost and acc/eva down, which is handy, and instead he gets more physical moves to attack earlier instead. But his special gets buffed each time he has a buff, which is absurd-- and probably the most reliable one to be able to be built up. Especially if you have *any* auto AoE skills on, he becomes stupidly strong.

[@johnd.2114]

​@27Bayleefs I don't get why aki not being a debuffer is seen as such a negative now. Three multi target debuffs is useful, but it's completely inefficient as far as using turns and spending sp. Whereas a buff amped God's hand literally annihilated most of Nyx's phases on merciless. This is in addition to how easy it is to get debilitate through Koro, Mitsuru, or other personas. There's really no way in which fes Aki is better than reload Aki.

[@27Bayleefs]

@@johnd.2114 Because Outside of a ton of damage all Akihiko can do anymore is strike damage and elec damage. He has nothing else. Sure he has diarahn....OK cool but well....yukari is just better as a healer and makes that moot unless you aren't using her. In fes and portable one character handling the debuffs allowed me to fill the other slots with damage and a healer. Now Mitsuru Has to waste a turn with Rakunda, and yukari with sukunda. On top of that you have to spend time buffing him up to actually get that damage, on top of wasting days doing his events. In all honesty I will take utility over raw damage any day. Aki has God's hands and thats awesome but Junpei can waste the phases just as easily or a well built seigfried. not to mention Mitsuru doesn't get debilitate. So if you want to use him effectively he needs tarukaja at all times...plus an enemies well timed dekaja can practically neuter his buffs while Junpei's crit chance is inherent. I Find the aki wank over rated. Now he is definetly A tier but to call him the "best" is malarky.

[@BLP04]

I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I’d like to see one of these for the rest of the games

[@money1673]

Nah, Junpei "Crit King" "Da Man" Iori being dead last is absolutely wild, wdym

[@extrakrispy81]

Its crazy how good Junpei is in Reload. I dont even use Akihiko much so far. The crits carry so hard. Akihiko was a main party member the whole game in FES for me though.

[@hydra8916]

Akihiko’s biggest nerf is shock not working the same way in reload compared to the original

[@rcole7274]

Ken being so high up is crazy ngl. In the PS2 versions, most of what he can do is done by Yukari and better. His damage output in his skillset is also lacking because he lacks passive boosters, Cruel Attack/Vile Assault dont do high damage because the base power is low, on top of Ken's bad ST, as well as forcing enemies back up. In Reload, his theurgy gauge is one of the slowest in the game because his characteristic contradicts it. He also now starts with very low SP for a supporter/healer. As for Mitsuru, in all versions of P3 before Reload, Mind Charge only increased damage by 1.9x, essentially giving her a second useless skill that the AI loves to spam despite doing less damage, and saving 1SP for doing

[@joselacouture6423]

Ken and Aigis are rarely used by me cause yukari is just so goddamn good bro

[@funninoriginal6054]

Disagree highly on the first phrase. Ken starts off MUCH better than Yukari, and he only lacks Charmdi to compensate which is pretty whatever. He also gets three damage types to compensate for it.

[@jeangreffsbp]

This is the same guy that put Crit God Junpei on the bottom of the list, take his opinion with a grain of salt

[@DoesntMattertbh]

Yeah but yukaris should are very generic and not really versatile. She really is only useful in magic based teams which is already outshined by physical attacking teams

[@Mikey_573]

Ken’s characteristic actually helps his theurgy, since healing and walls are so expensive in this game anyway he can get to below half SP easily. Once he is below half, the SP regeneration can keep him there comfortably without letting him run out. You can also cheese to get him below half SP before a boss fight using HP boosting accessories and his healing if you want. He’s so good for Tartarus exploration because of the SP regen and starting any gatekeeper with his second theurgy is a free win.

[@allyrose9494]

16:12 THANK YOU!! Seriously Ken is easily one of my faves to use in both games and it always baffled me when people called him bad. Also, very good list and couldn’t agree more with the top 3

[@JayHeezy]

Great vid 🙌 would love to see this for all the persona games

[@jonathoncapshaw7610]

Reload was my first experience with P3, and I'd say Koro was my most useful party member from the second I got him! I played on merciless and his Revolution skill, tied with the knife weapon for the protag that increases critical hit rate had me just crit stomping every single random encounter. And then for bosses he had debilitate. He also gets a weapon with crit rate boost and armor that gives him auto-rebellion, so in fights where he had nothing better to do he could usually just get a crit and pass to someone who could do something more useful Honestly I almost stopped using magic altogether in the second half of the game because it got so easy to just crit everything to death

[@BelBelle468]

Yeah kinda wish they nerfed crits a bit. Theyre a bit too strong.

[@joselacouture6423]

Koro is a crit monster and his magic damage is also absued

[@bulbaa2241]

Another thing no one brings up is that although it isn't that good koro does learn virus breath a medium almighty damage dealing move meaning that if your up against an enemy that nulls everything (some of the golden hands) when you don't have theurgies available he can still hit them

[@jschannel6319]

@@bulbaa2241 that actually did save me a few times when I didn’t have any Almighty damage in my Persona rotations, and I fought some Golden Hands.

[@flashcashmore6994]

Interesting take on the character. Think I only disagree with koromaru. Nice video

[@tylercraig5633]

May not be optimal but having Ken and Yukari as a double healer package has been very strong for me. Koromaru is great as an offensive option

[@bubbletea_]

persona 3's party members and how versatile their spec options are definitely makes the game "feel" the most like an rpg to me. no other game in the series goes this hard. sure the other games give you a options, but they never felt as substantial due to being more lax and less demanding challenge-wise.

[@alvarofs131]

This is only acentuaded by the multiple weapons mechanic that the MC has in Fes, and that was unfortunately removed in Reload. Such a shame, considering how big of a deal in terms os strategy this is until today.

[@ezmoney4598]

It’s worth mentioning that Shinjiro was mega-overpowered outside of Tartarus as well as in it. His vegetable tending bonus and cooking gave the best bonuses of any party member by a long shot. If he had been a permanent party member he would have been the only person you would ever cook or plant with.

[@PersonaEnjoyer]

Didn't expect to see Yuka-tan so far. But for sure was expecting ma boy Akihiko in the first place. He is really cool, both gameplay and story-wise

[@BlazingAzureTheta]

I will rock Mitsuru, Junpei, Koromaru to my grave in reload. Crits on crits on crits.

[@sayianace2067]

Nah, Junpei hit like 15 crits against nyx.

[@ExcaliburX37]

Really good video

[@Jet-Steam-Gray]

I'll never get used to reading orgia mode. I'm an spaniard and it is written exactly the same as the spanish word for gangbang: orgía.

[@Draconated]

Great list, I agree completely. You should do these for the other Persona games, I'd love to see your opinion on the p4 cast.

[@brandongamea]

Just to clarify something said in the video, the statement that Koromaru only learns masukukaja in the answer is plain wrong. He didn't have it in the original P3 and got it in fes in both the journey and the answer. I assume it was just a slip of the tongue situation though as fes is closely tied to the answer.

[@KirbyChan]

Playing the Radical Highway music for Shinji's intro had me rolling, that was fantastic.

[@kratosaurion002]

16:20 Oh, look! My bench-warmer! ☺

[@Muke254]

Bro I dont even care if he's meta I hate his his ahh, so hes riding the bench 😭🙏

[@emmanuelwilson6750]

I’m just happy someone realizes ken’s strength

[@Triforce9426]

Reload cracked P3's combat like an egg. After a bit Yukari can cast heal skills for virtually no SP and Mitsuru can nuke all of an enemy's stats while dropping a Megidolaon on them. Honestly I think by late game Reload became even easier than P5R if you can believe it.

[@NinjapowerMS]

P3 went from the hardest modern Persona game to the easiest. Sad times.

[@igorbosso4541]

I think what breaks the P3R combat the most is how early you can build extremely strong personas (I'm looking at you, level 54 Siegfried with Vorpal Blade and almost 100% crit rate). I had this impression too, then I decided to replay Royal after Reload, and well, P5R still has easier combat. I took Maruki down with 2 Hassou Tobi's buffed by Baton Pass. But yeah, Reload later in the game is very easy.

[@NinjapowerMS]

@@igorbosso4541 Theurgies too. You can delete bosses in one turn. But yeah physical build is ridiculously easy to make in this one. I was blowing everything up with crits until I killed myself against a shadow with reflect lol

[@squidee]

This time hanging out with your party members drops the difficulty to literally baby game

[@shadowmaster9487]

Thank you for finally pointing out how good my boy ken is

[@christiangraves9597]

Yukari with heal and the accuracy n evasion debuff for enemy plus aigis and junpei literally ran down all enemies 😭 n saved so much sp items

[@AltoRosei]

He really said phy isn't good in Persona 3 Reload. My dude Junpei can crit almost always and will pretty much one-shot anything. Ya, early game, he suck but mid to late he a monster. He also has the best limit break after his persona fuse with Chedori

[@NamsCompendium]

I said magic was dominant in FES and that it was a lot better in reload. It’s why shinji is so good in that game.

[@extrakrispy81]

Fun fact Mitsuru still gets a theurgy boost even if the debuffs are nulled. I found this out a few days ago when I was doing some grinding.

[@Smuggy97]

I was not expecting Radical Highway music to fit Shinji so well

[@hermit2632]

Finally got Aragaki in reload on my team, can’t wait to use him on my final team!!!

[@mikeholt2852]

i play all of them for the sake of the plot. One party comp goes to the final monad door, one party of clearing dungeon, and one party for gatekeepers. Makes it seem like they all did it together

[@douglaspatrick7280]

Random questions on the final boss, what was ur party members. I had yukira, aigis, and junpai.

[@enthusiasticgmgaming4165]

My P3 Team was always Mitsuru, Ken and Akihiko! Love them! But man seeing Koro-chan at the bottom below Aigis was such a bummer. I see how you'd pick Yukari over Ken for her healing and concentrate theurgy, but I usually picked Ken for healing and his busted Theurgy was just so good!

[@remixrobots9493]

This is a pretty solid list. My problem with Ken in OG P3 is he's a late comer to a team that already has the holy trinity of Yukari, Akihiko, and Aigis. It's hard to mix up a good thing but the boost P3R gave Ken is legendary, he might be the best party member in the game.

[@jeezycreezy4220]

In Reload, Korumaru was part of my late game Reaper hunting party. Constantly hitting the Reaper with Debilitate basicly soft-locked the Reaper into trying to rebuff itself and it hardly ever actually attacked. From there it was pretty easy to grind my entire party to level 99 and trivialize the final stretch of Tartarus.

[@unidentifiedmogwai1321]

With Ken I end up holding on to his theurgy for a good moment to use it but then he just ends up dying before I can get a good use of it in

[@nicolasdiaz3553]

You have to do this for every modern Persona game

[@pikazilla6405]

Finally someone who understands how busted akihiko in reload is, I didn't play fes or any of the previous p3 games, I have no bias, but even I recognize that a well built akihiko is a juggernaut and his characteristic and theurgy charge condition being explained poorly is basically the only reason he gets underrated. I love him on a team with mitsuru and yukari because you get access to all 3 debuffs, strong magic, the potential to give akihiko concentrate and a never ending supply of healing from yukari, it genuinely feels unstoppable, and don't even get me started on how ridiculous he gets when you bump up his split atk and magic stats with incense.

[@frankwest5388]

Yeah the consistency with which he gets to spam his Theurgy would give him the highest prolonged damage and highest burst damage out of every character by itself. But his support is also just good by itself. A basic heal is good, increasing doge chance and decreasing team wide damage is a good way to increase survivability. And his damage also never feels bad because he gets elec boost and amp and gods hand, the latter allows him to take advantage of how busted crits are in P3R and do good damage even when out of SP in the early game he might be the only teammate that has good offense with both his magic and phys damage. So he also can cover when one of his elements gets nulled. Almost everything about him makes him just really good at all stages of the game.

[@StrikerEX]

I love trying to do crazy dmg showcases in these games

[@milesstorzillo7650]

After the 1st 2, I really have to question if we were even playing the same game.

[@somps8070]

Unironically konomaru in p3r became so good with his revolution,debilitate,and all party charge that I couldn’t take him off the team

[@mtlins7]

Peak video

[@davidsantana217]

Will NEVER stand for junpei slander

[@randomlurker7929]

When you think about it, this list is an accurate ranking of the party members both combat and personality wise.

[@LowkeyULoki]

if im not braindead, i believe aki still has his ice gloves that he can use in P3R because i did happen to get them in my first playthrough. I dont know if it was from a chest or from trading, but I had Aki with a pair of gloves that changed his affinity to ice. idk

[@narasnek]

yep, Sabazios are in Reload, you need a material from Cybele and obviously maxing Yukari social link

[@pongmin7484]

Junpei and koro is very good in reload wdym

[@MrBii03]

Koromaru is one of the best party members in reload, being able to increase crit rate plus the charge theurgy makes him useful with the buff to physical moves. Combining that plus his trait means you can easily get most if not all of the way through bosses in 1-2 turns.

[@johnhein462]

If you think this happens to do pretty well, how about ranking the party members for Persona 4 and 5?

[@daisukedoi9284]

The only thing that would put Akihiko under Yukari in Reload is the fact that Aki can easily run out of SP. He's usually out of SP in my playthrough within the first 5 floors of a Tartarus run

[@Litten-sb7eg]

Reload Junpei genuinley carried me through the game when I got his personality maxed and gave him Omega Driver lol

[@hilic3]

For me in reload the best team is Yukari (Best healer, great wind magic DPS, can heal statuses, 2nd Therugy gives everyone concentration), Amada (another great healer, great thunder and light magic DPS, learns both Dekaja and Heat Raiser, 2nd Therugy heals, revives and gives everyone physical defelction) and Koromaru (Fastest character, great Fire and Dark magic DPS, Learns Revolution and Debilitate, 2nd Therugy gives everyone Charge).

[@narasnek]

I agree a lot with you as they are the top 3 strongest party members I just change the order. Koromaru as the strongest in reload Yukari at second Ken at third Mc in charge of covering Ice and Strlke.

[@DamnDaimen]

I agree with your list, for the most part. I would put aki on the bottom below junpei, though. You need your party members to do one of three things: attack up, defense down, or heal. Aki does none of these things. At least junpei tries to crit fish while being a selfish lover.

[@jesuiscrissant3331]

is that fkn devil trigger but in a jazzy way at the end? who tf came up with that idea? its a banger tho

[@doorto6152]

One other thing that makes akihiko great is his availability, same with yukari. Dude is the fourth party member and is useful the entire time.

[@lennychurch]

My Final Boss team on all three of my runs of Portable was Akihiko, Ken and Yukari. I seem to remember using Mitsuru when I played vanilla P3 though.

[@exostudios8563]

Fun fact about Reload Yukari: It's better to keep the diarama/mediarama skills over the full heals. This is because you get a great amount of healing for get this 4 sp. Invigorate 3 gives 7 sp. It's quite literally free healing each turn.

[@TytanicManic]

Ken, Yukari and Akihiko being at the top is so damn true, literally the three of them together cause destruction

[@gethlight7432]

Heartful cry for aigis' part is an awesome choise x)

[@badboybrawl9977]

Koromoru Ken and agis is more than enough to handle bosses especially when they get debilitate and heat riser

[@hyrule_yt]

If you are going to run physical based team comps, Shinji, Aki, and Aigis are an insane trio. The short time they were in my party together I was sweeping. With Makoto wielding multiple personas, just make sure you have a healer. Then when Shinji dies swap him for Ken and just use Makoto to replace the lost damage bc you’ll probably have Siegfried that late in the game.

[@bulbaa2241]

Koro and kinda junpei also work greatly (koro with his full party charge on theurgy and having revolution is great for physical and him having access to getsu-ei makes him able to get some really powerful crits off) and junpei just can crit but is just worse than aki and aigis for using physical

[@genesisverse4802]

Mans just put an uncensored spoiler, that's crazy

[@Stringfox]

My party all throughout P3R were Akihiko, Koromaru and Yukari, when available. Felt it was a great balance

[@ngochanguyen5099]

My fave party mem in P3R is Junpei, Koromaru, Akihiko and Ken. They all can buff, debuff, deal heavy physical damage and healing if needed. In P3 Fes I'm probably going with Akihiko, Yukari and Mitsuru.

[@lewis9s]

I find that all party members in Persona 3 had their uses, super balanced overall. But yeah Akihiko is absolutely crazy good.

[@aquilafasciata5781]

The first and only time I removed Yukari in Reload was (trying) to fight Elizabeth. Completely busted.

[@GhostWalkr]

A funny think about the original P3 is that when any party member hits lvl 99 they get 999 for hp and sp, so it makes a healer like yukari really funny, but in most cases people only get the protag to that level because exp is slow and you dont NEED to be that high leveled

[@sonickhable]

Looking at p3 character models is wild after reload lol. Like, i played 4g so i thought 3 wouldn't look so bad but man

[@aleksanderzaremba9695]

Charm skills in P3 were the most cursed thing I experienced in series.