If you are a new player in Persona 5: The Phantom X (P5X) then at the very beginning you will be able to choose a 5-star character for free. This is great because 5-star characters are stronger than standard characters and have higher stats and better skills. A 5-star character can easily carry your team in the early and mid-stages of your game. However, building your character properly takes a lot of time and resources. If you don’t choose the right character at the beginning then you will have to grind a lot more than normal and your battles will also get more difficult.
You can choose between 3 characters from this first selector - Panther, Mona, and Skull. Each character has a different role and playstyle. You have to understand their strengths and how you can use them in battles if you want to make the best choice. In this guide we will talk about all 3 of them and help you decide which one will be the best for you. Before you start, you should opt for a Persona 5: The Phantom X top up from LootBar so that you can stay ahead of others and be ready to make upgrades to your character quickly and easily.
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Newcomer Contract Banner
At the start of the game, you will get a newcomer contract banner. In this banner, you can draw contracts using Gold Tickets. When you draw these contracts, you will have a 0.8% chance of getting a 5-star character, a 6.2% chance of getting a 4-star character, and a 93% chance of getting a 2-star character. After every 10 pulls you will get a guaranteed 4-star character at least.
However, the most important part here is that after 50 pulls, you will get a chance to choose one of three 5-star characters for free as mentioned earlier. This is not a temporary character but a permanent addition to your characters list. So, you really have to think about your long-term plans before you choose one. Another thing to note about this banner is that usually in other banners you need to spend 1 Gold Ticket for each pull. But here you can get 10 pulls for only 8 Gold Tickets.
Panther (Ann Takamaki)
Panther is a fire-element attacker and focuses on heavy AoE damage. Her skills spread burn across multiple enemies and she can follow up with high-damage fire attacks that scale well as she levels. You can use her burn damage even when she is not attacking, using which you can clear waves of enemies quickly. She is especially good against bosses that have weak firing power which makes her a reliable damage dealer for key battles. You can also easily use her in most team compositions. She does not need extra support to perform well, and you can also take advantage of common buffs like magic amplification or critical-rate boosts.
If you want to progress quickly and enjoy an aggressive playstyle then you should definitely go for Panther. You can also use her in late-game activities because weak firing power is very common in powerful enemies.
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Mona (Morgana)
Mona is mainly a healer and has a support role. He can heavily heal your teammates, remove status effects, and can even revive your teammates if they fall. Because of this if you are a beginner, you can easily use him even if you are still learning enemy attack patterns or experimenting with team setups. You can use him in drawn-out fights and high-difficulty stages where a single mistake can eliminate your whole team.
Mona’s damage dealing is lower than other attackers, but if you use him in your team then your other teammates can focus fully on the attack and you can provide healing from the back. He is really valuable if you prefer a cautious approach or if you want to experience new game content as soon as it unlocks rather than waiting to level up your characters first and getting ready.
Skull (Ryuji Sakamoto)
Skull is a physical attacker and is excellent in dealing damage to single targets. His abilities hit hard and scale well with physical attack stats which makes him very effective for bosses or elite enemies with a lot of health. He can easily break through enemy defenses. If you use the correct gear then he can deal one of the most damages among all the other characters.
However, the main problem with Skull is that since he is mainly focused on single targets, he is not as effective in multi-target battles as other characters like Panther. Also, he has no healing abilities like Mona. So, if you want to use him in your team then you will need good support and other attackers as well so that he can handle fights with multiple enemies.
If you like building a frontline team and prefer a single hard-hitter than multiple attackers, then you should definitely choose Skull. However, you will have to plan your moves properly and manage your resources for upgrading him at the right time. You should opt for a P5X top up so that you don’t have to worry about resources and you can focus fully on building Skull.
Other Characters After Progression
P5X releases new 5-star characters every now and then with special dedicated roles like debuffers, buffers, and hybrid attackers. After progressing for a while you will be able to get these better characters from regular banners or events. The first 5-star character that you choose from the newcomer banner does not have to be on your team at all times. But they can be extremely useful in the starting stages because of how well they can carry your team in difficult situations.
Conclusion
Choose the starter who matches your style. Panther is the best all-round attacker, Mona keeps the team safe with strong healing, and Skull delivers powerful single-target damage. Any of them can carry you early on, so pick the one you like and focus on building them steadily.
