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Persona 5 Royal Stats guide: Increase Knowledge, Guts, Proficiency, Kindness, and Charm fast

by Alex Donaldson on 17 October, 2022

Persona 5 Royal features the return of Social Stats - meaning that as well as fusing Persona and leveling up in battle, you’ll also be managing five role-playing stats outside of battle: Knowledge, Guts, Proficiency, Kindness, and Charm.

This out-of-battle RPG progression mechanic determines the social standing of your self-named protagonist when outside of battle, and it’s actually vitally important to your progression through the story. Among other things, the Persona 5 Royal stats have an effect on your Confidant relationship choices, which part-time jobs you can get, and various dialogue options throughout the story. In short, raising your stats efficiently is vital.

The Persona 5 Royal social stats significantly impact how you move through the story. You'll want to max out all five - Knowledge, Charm, Kindness, Guts, and Proficiency, for the best results.

This guide will help you to level up all of the Persona 5 Royal stats quickly, and help you to understand what each social stat is useful for. This page is built for P5R, though it is largely appropriate for the vanilla Persona 5 too - some of the details will be slightly different, but not in a material way. 

How to increase Knowledge, Charm, Kindness, Guts, and Proficiency quickly in Persona 5 Royal

In order to increase your Knowledge, Charm, Kindness, Guts, and Proficiency - the five Social Stats of Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal - you’ll have to undertake a wide range of activities in between your Phantom Thief adventures. In this section of the guide, we list a bunch of the methods for raising social stat levels quickly. 

It’s worth noting that some activities will provide a random boost to your social stats. Taking part in the Big Bang Burger challenge by eating at that restaurant will test your social stats, but also offer boosts to the stats at relative random, even if you fail. Similarly, playing Billiards boosts stats at random - and the same is true for a few other stats.

In this list, however, we focus on the core ways, mostly repeatable, to quickly raise each stat. 

Best ways to increase Knowledge

Studying is one of several activities that you can undertake to increase your Knowledge stat.

Knowledge is one of the easiest stats to grind out, as you're given regular chances to increase it during your mandatory story sequences in school. You can also raise it more quickly with some extracurricular activities, however. Here's the best ways to increase knowledge in Persona 5: 

  • Studying. Across P5R’s world there’s a few spots you can study - the school library, the diner, or at home at LeBlanc. Rainy days are the best to study - studies at the Diner or LeBlanc are boosted on days when it rains. Be aware that the school library studies carry a debuff early in the game, and aren’t as effective until Kamoshida is taken care of. Studying in the run-up to exams is slightly more effective, too.
  • Do well in School. While the knowledge stat boosts your school performance, it’s also used to raise your stat likewise. Use our Persona 5 Royal school questions & exam answers guide to cheat, and make sure you answer questions right - each is worth a few Knowledge experience points.
  • Solve the Crossword. Each crossword puzzle you solve gives you a few Knowledge EXP. We make it easy, too - just consult our Persona 5 Royal Crossword Puzzle answers guide.
  • The Star Confident. Though you can’t meet Hifumi until later in the game, certain events during the Hifumi confident social link raise your Knowledge stat.

Best ways to increase Charm

If you want to woo people around you, you'll need to increase Charm quickly - and here's how to do that in Persona 5 Royal.
  • Ace your Exams. Make sure you’ve got a high Knowledge stat, and use our guide to answer exam and finals questions correctly. Placing highly will give you a boost to your charm stat. Speaking of school, dodging chalk when it’s thrown at you - determined by your proficiency rank - also raises your charm.
  • Bathhouse & Maid Cafe Visits. Heading to the Bathhouse in Yongen-Jaya boosts your charm - and you’ll get bonus points if it’s raining, or on Mondays and Thursdays. The Maid Cafe also raises Charm without the bonus boost, but offers points for other stats at the same time.
  • The Sun and Devil Confidants. The Ohya confidant (Devil) and Yoshida confidant (Sun) both can raise your Charm stat when you hang out with them. Both of these guys give you a flat increase to your Charm every time you hang out with them. 
  • Working at the Crossroads Bar. This is actually where Ohya hangs out, and just like her, taking on a part-time job at Crossroads can grant Charm - speaking to flirty clientele raises your charm. 
  • Read Charming books. Three of the many books available in P5R will raise your Charm stat; The Alluring Dancer, Playing the Game, and Reckless Casanova.
  • TV and Video Game usage. If you buy the TV or Retro Game Console from Yongen-Jaya, you can watch shows and play games. The Bubbly Hills 90210 and Not-so-hot-Betsy TV shows increase your charm, while the Gambla Goemon and Punch Out games do likewise.
  • Visit the Movie Theater. The exact movies vary from month to month, but several of them raise your Charm social stat. Fighting Friends (January) and Like a Showtime Tiger (September) will do the trick.

Best ways to increase Kindness

To increase Kindness quickly in Persona 5 Royal, you can do a variety of things, including work in the Flower shop.
  • Look after your Plant. Joker has a plant back at his home in LeBlanc, and you can purchase various plant nutrients to feed it from various stops - and not just limited to the flower shops. The more expensive the nutrient fed to the plant, the more it’ll raise your Kindness stat. 
  • Blossoming in a Part-Time Job. If you work at the Flower Shop in Shibuya Underground Mall, this part-time job raises Joker’s Kindness for every shift. You can even get a bonus depending on your choices while working. The same is true in the Crossroads Bar job, where speaking to the downcast woman raises Kindness.
  • Going goblin mode on Video Games & TV. If you buy the TV and/or Retro Game Console from Yongen-Jaya, you can then rent or buy DVDs and games. The TV shows Wraith and ICU will raise your Kindness, as will the video game Train of LIfe. 
  • At the Movies. Films can trigger increases to your social stats, and there’s slightly different movies at each theater depending on the time of year. The films The Cake Knight Rises (May), Mes Miserables (August), Clean Hard (December), The Duhvengers (October), Pop’s Nest (November), and The Good Father (February) all raise your Kindness stat.
  • Be a Bookworm. Reading books in your spare time can raise your stats, and the books Zorro, The Outlaw, The Illusory Popess, Buchiko’s Story, and Call Me Chief all raise Kindness.
  • Hang with the Hierophant and Tower. This of course refers to Confidants - the Sojiro (Hierophant) confidant and Oda (Tower) confidant both raise Kindness from time to time when you hang out with them. 

Best ways to increase Guts

Guts is one of the more difficult social stats to increase, but we've got some good ways to raise Guts quickly.
  • Gaming & TV at LeBlanc. If you pick up the TV and Retro Game Console for home from Yongen-Jaya, you can buy & use DVDs and games. The X Folders, Running Dead and Green DVDs all raise guts. For games, Star Forneus and Power Intuition do likewise. 
  • Reading Books. As with other stats, reading can give a boost. For Guts, try reading Pirate Legend, The Gallant Rogue, Cry of Cthulhu, Ghost Encounters, Master Swordsman, or The Hero with a Book. These can either be rented from the school library or purchased from Bookstores.
  • Hang out with Death. By which we mean the Death arcana confident Tae Takemi, not the Grim Reaper. Bring a Death arcana Persona with you, and enjoy the Guts boost as a bonus.
  • Head to the Cinema. Going to the movie theater, depending on the time of year you can find a number of films that raise Guts including Like a Dragon (July), Pach Saw (November), Fight Kebab (January), Marry Christmess (December), or Tanktop Millionaire (April). 
  • Big Bang Burger Challenge. The Big Bang Burger challenge boosts four of the five social stats, including Guts. The bigger the burger, the more guts you’ll gain. 
  • Make gutsy dining choices. If you go to the Shibuya Central Street Diner, which is a great place to study for knowledge, you can gain a Guts bonus by orting hot coffee 

Best ways to increase Proficiency

Proficiency can be increased in less ways than most of the Persona 5 Royal stats, but heading to the Batting Cages is repeatable.
  • Crafting Infiltration Tools. As well as giving you useful new items to use during your heist adventures, each time you craft tools, your proficiency increases a little.
  • The Batting Cage. A great way to pass the time with a little mini-game, visiting the Batting Cage and playing raises your proficiency. Do well and you’ll net other rewards, as well.
  • Fishing. Going fishing and successfully reeling in a fish will give you a small crumb of Proficiency. The more proficient you are, the better a fisher you become, too.
  • Working in the Beef Bowl Shop or Crossroads Bar. If you get your orders at the Beef Bowl Restauruant right, you’ll get proficiency points - while the Crossroads Bar part-time job can also grant proficiency, though with less regularity.
  • Reading Books. The books ‘Tidying the Heart’ and ‘Woman in the Dark’ can both be obtained,and when read at home give Proficiency boosts. 
  • Watching TV & Playing Games. If you buy the TV and Retro Game Console from Yongen-Jaya, you can use Guy McVer DVDs and Golf video games, available from Shibuya Central Street and Yongen-Jaya, to raise your proficiency stat.
  • Heading to the Movies. The showings at the movie theater don’t last long, but if you time your visit right you can watch Admission Possible (October) and March of the Sheeple (January) for proficiency, too.\
  • Repair the Broken Laptop. You can get this from Yongen-Jaya on 9/1, and it can be repaired at home with repair tools. This unlocks a new shop, but also grants proficiency. 
  • The Hanged Man Confident. Hang out with Iwai, the Hanged Man Confident, for occasional boosts to your proficiency as you rank up.

Social Stats Rank & EXP Requirements

Each of the Persona 5 Royal stats for social situations can be a level between the numbers of 1 and 5. Each rank up requires a certain amount of ‘EXP’ in that category to unlock - though the EXP numbers are hidden away and not surfaced to the player.

The exact level up stat gates vary from stat to stat, and are also different in P5R and regular Persona 5 - as they’re balanced based on how many opportunities you have to raise each stat. The Persona 5 Royal stats & EXP requirements are as follows:

Knowledge: 

  • Rank 1: Oblivious - 0-33 EXP
  • Rank 2: Learned - 34-81 EXP
  • Rank 3: Scholarly - 82-125 EXP
  • Rank 4: Encyclopedic - 126-191 EXP
  • Rank 5: Erudite - 192+ EXP

Charm: 

  • Rank 1: Existent - 0-5 EXP
  • Rank 2: Head-turning - 6-51 EXP
  • Rank 3: Suave - 52-91 EXP
  • Rank 4: Charismatic - 92-131 EXP
  • Rank 5: Debonair - 132+ EXP

Kindness: 

  • Rank 1: Inoffensive - 0-13 EXP
  • Rank 2: Considerate - 14-46 EXP
  • Rank 3: Empathetic- 47-93 EXP
  • Rank 4: Selfless - 94-135 EXP
  • Rank 5: Angelic - 136+ EXP

Guts:

  • Rank 1: Milquetoast - 0-10 EXP
  • Rank 2: Bold - 11-37 EXP
  • Rank 3: Staunch - 38-67 EXP
  • Rank 4: Dauntless - 68-112 EXP
  • Rank 5: Lionhearted - 113+ EXP

Proficiency: 

  • Rank 1: Bumbling - 0-11 EXP
  • Rank 2: Decent - 11-37 EXP
  • Rank 3: Skilled - 34-59 EXP
  • Rank 4: Masterful - 60-86 EXP
  • Rank 5: Transcendent - 87+ EXP

What Social Stats do, and why you should increase them in P5R

While you’d be right in thinking that this is a game about fighting demons and pulling off daring fantasy heists, you’d be a fool to ignore the Persona 5 Royal stats. The social stats are a gateway between you and many things in the game.

There are many things you can only do with the right level of social stats - like tell Igor to shut up, which requires Guts.
There are many things you can only do with the right level of social stats - like tell Igor to shut up, which requires Guts.

Here’s a few examples of things that you’ll only be able to do with a sufficiently high social stat level in a particular stat:

  • Story Dialogue Options. At many points in the P5R story, you’ll be given a choice of what you want your protagonist to say. In some cases, the dialogue options will be restricted based on the standing of your social stats.
  • Confidant Relationships. Several Confidants representing important Arcana will only engage with you or advance your relationship past a certain point if you have a social stat at a certain level. This includes Akechi (Justice), Ann (Lovers), Yusuke (Emperor), Makoto (Priestess), Futaba (Hermit), Haru (Empress), Hifumi (Star), Takemi (Death), Iwai (Hanged Man), Kawakami (Temperance), and Sojiro (Hirophant). 
  • Part-Time Jobs. Several of the Persona 5 Royal part-time jobs require a stat check for several of the social stats. You won’t even be able to apply for the job without the relevant stat.
  • School Performance. Though you can cheat your way through much of school by following our P5R school answers guide, your final exam performance is determined by a mix of your given answers and the strength of your Knowledge stat.
  • Shop Inventory. There’s a street vendor in Shibuya who will only sell items to you if you have a certain Charm rank.
  • Infiltration Tools, Fishing, and other Mini Games. Crafting Infiltration Tools, going fishing, or playing other mini-game ways of spending time are often gated behind or have your success rooted in your social stats.

As you can see, the benefits of raising P5R social stats are huge.