In Persona 3, every member of the main cast developed as a part of the story– with only the women featuring Social Links. This meant the male members of SEES weren’t as developed on the side, but the trade-off was every member of the cast having their own narrative arc that spanned from start to finish– concluding only when they came to terms with their lot in life, awakening to their Ultimate Persona.

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Its PS2 sequel Persona 4 naturally brings back the concept of Ultimate Persona, but with every party member now having the meat of their development relegated to Social Links. As a result, it’s entirely possible for a party member to never awaken their full potential. This goes double in Persona 4 Golden. Persona 4 Golden adds new Ultimate Personas for each party member, but players need to put in the effort if they want to use them.

Updated February 14, 2023, by Ritwik Mitra: Persona 4 is one of the best JRPGs ever made, perfecting the formula established by its predecessor while allowing players to explore the quaint town of Inaba and solve a murder mystery that is plaguing the residents. As a new exchange student, players make several friends and form a gang of students who boast the power of awakening the physical manifestations of their inner selves to beat down Shadows and save victims from this serial killer. As players go through the story, they'll be able to form strong Social Links with the rest of the party and help them get over their own personal struggles. The original variant of Persona 4 had these characters awaken an evolved Persona after maxing out their Social Link, but Golden took it a step further. After 1/10, players can interact with their party members once more to awaken the ultimate variant of their Persona, which gives them an extremely strong power boost while also helping them learn an ultimate ability that is extremely powerful if used in the right circumstances. Here are the final ultimate personas of each character in Persona 4 Golden.

1 Yamato Sumeragi (Naoto Shirogane)

• Strengths: Repels Light & Dark, Blocks Fire
• Weaknesses: None
• Arcana: Fortune
• Ultimate Skill: Shield of Justice (Protects the entire party from damage once)

For what it’s worth, the unlock criteria for Ultimate Personas is the exact same for every member of the party: simply have their Social Link maxed out and speak to them between January 10 and February 5. A scene will be triggered and party members will awaken to their (new) Ultimate Personas.

Naoto awakens Yamato Sumeragi, which seems to be designed around making her a more viable party member for boss fights. Agidyne and Garudyne have been added to her skill set in order to offset her Hama and Mudo-focused skills, while her new Ultimate Skill– Shield of Justice– can block all incoming damage (albeit at the cost of quite a lot of SP.)

2 Kamui-Moshiri (Teddie)

• Strengths: Absorbs Ice, Blocks Wind & Dark
• Weaknesses: Electricity
• Arcana: Star
• Ultimate Skill: Kamui Miracle (Randomly heals, downs, or afflicts a status ailment on either friends or foes)

If players are going to get their hands on any one Ultimate Persona over the course of the game, it’ll likely be Teddie’s. Like the cast of SEES, Teddie actually develops during the narrative proper, with his Social Link automatically developing throughout the story. As a result, Teddie will always be available to speak on 1/10, unlike other members of the party.

Unfortunately, even an Ultimate Persona isn’t quite enough to pull Teddie out of the gutter. Already one of the worst party members in Persona 4, Kamui-Moshiri almost adds insult to injury. Worse is Teddie’s Ultimate Skill, Kamui Miracle, an RNG-based skill that has as much chance of healing enemies as it does killing the main party.

3 Kouzeon (Rise Kujikawa)

• Strengths: None
• Weaknesses: None
• Arcana: Lovers
• Ultimate Skill: Complete Analysis (Provides an entire breakdown of the enemy's strengths, weaknesses, and skills even if players haven't encountered them yet)

Replacing Teddie as the party’s navigator about a third of the way into the story, Rise is Persona 4’s only non-combative party member (similar to Fuuka in Persona 3 and Futaba in Persona 5.) Rise is useful enough in the vanilla game and works as an inherent member of the party, but Persona 4 Golden buffs her considerably.

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Even without her Ultimate Persona, skills like Vigor Song and Stamina Song make her invaluable on harder difficulties, restoring 10% of HP & SP after each battle respectively. Since Rise’s best skills are tied to her Social Link (and cut off at SL8,) getting Kouzeon really isn’t all that essential. There’s really no reason not to max out her S. Link, but all Kouzeon really offers is Complete Analysis– a skill most players won’t need by the final months.

4 Takeji Zaiten (Kanji Tatsumi)

• Strengths: Absorbs Electricity, Resists Physical
• Weaknesses: Wind
• Arcana: Emperor
• Ultimate Skill: The Man's Way (A chance of inflicting either Dizzy or Down on all foes)

Kanji makes for a solid early-game alternative to Chie once he first joins the party, but it really doesn’t take long for Chie to outdo him when it comes to strength. Although Chie has worse magic, Kanji’s no spellcaster, and even his Elec Amp’d Ziodynes won’t be dealing too much damage.

Kanji’s Ultimate Skill per his Ultimate Persona, Takeji Zaiten, isn’t much to write home about either. The Man’s Way is a fine skill in theory– an attack that hits all enemies with a chance to trigger dizzy & down– but the RNG elements do it no favors. It’s not as outright detrimental as Kamui Miracle, but The Man’s Way just highlights how poorly balanced Kanji is.

5 Sumeo-Okami (Yukiko Amagi)

• Strengths: Absorbs Fire, Blocks Electricity
• Weaknesses: Ice
• Arcana: Priestess
• Ultimate Skill: Burning Petals (Hits all foes for severe Fire damage)

Yukiko was already one of the better party members in the original Persona 4 (she kind of needed to be as the party’s only real healer,) but Golden ends up doing her a lot of favors for no real reason. Yukiko now has access to Mind Charge– giving her even higher damage output– along with Burning Petals.

Once Yukiko has awakened to Sumeo-Okami, she can trigger Burning Petals to deal severe fire damage to all foes. Paired with Fire Amp and Mind Charge, Burning Petals is absolutely monstrous. Yukiko can tear through enemy health like it’s nothing. If there’s one party member who benefits most from their Ultimate Persona, it’s Yukiko.

6 Haraedo-No-Okami (Chie Satonaka)

• Strengths: Absorbs Ice, Blocks Light
• Weaknesses: Fire
• Arcana: Chariot
• Ultimate Skill: Dragon's Hustle (Boosts all stats of all party members)

Chie, like Yukiko, ends up getting a few buffs heading into Persona 4 Golden. She was always a physical powerhouse, but Chie’s magic has been improved just a bit– not to the point where using her as a spellcaster is ever really advised, though. That said, this does round Chie out and paves the way for her Ultimate Persona to turn her into a monster.

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Haraedo-no-Okami’s Ultimate Skill is Dragon Hustle which turns Chie into as good a party buffer as she is an attacker by increasing the entire party’s hit & evasion for 3 turns. Since magic skills are cast from SP and Chie’s best physical skills are all cast from HP, she can juggle offense and defense effortlessly.

7 Takehaya Susano-o (Yosuke Hanamura)

• Strengths: Absorbs Wind, Blocks Fire
• Weaknesses: Electricity
• Arcana: Magician
• Ultimate Skill: Youthful Wind (Restores party HP and increases speed)

Yosuke is the most balanced party member in Persona 4 other than the main character himself. His high agility allows him to avoid a surprising amount of attacks, while his access to Garu, Dia, and debuff skills keep Yosuke consistently viable. His Ultimate Persona, Takehaya Susano-o capitalizes on this fact.

Yosuke’s Ultimate Skill, Youthful Wind, is similar to Dragon Hustle in that it increases hit & evasion, but Youthful Wind also has the added benefit of healing the party. Youthful Wind is surprisingly cheap SP-wise, as well. Since Yosuke, Yukiko, & Chie tend to be the best party members, Youthful Wind can seem a bit redundant, but it’s still a great skill.

8 Izanagi-No-Okami (Yu Narukami)

• Strengths: Resists Physical, Fire, Ice, Electricity, Wind
• Weaknesses: None
• Arcana: World
• Ultimate Skill: Myriad Truths (A skill that can only be used in the final boss fight)

Unlike every other party member in Persona 4, Yu Narukami– the player character– is locked out of his Ultimate Persona until New Game Plus. Not just that, players will need to have triggered the True Ending before they can even get around to fusing Izanagi-no-Okami. The fun doesn’t end there, however, as Izanagi-no-Okami is a 12-piece fusion.

Players need to fuse: Izanagi, Sandman, Nata Taishi, Girimehkala, Norn, Okuninushi, Orthrus, Kartikeya, Mithra, Tzitzimitl, Cu Chulainn, and Mithra. Realistically, Izanagi-no-Okami will be the last Persona players end up fusing, as its Level 91 base will limit it to the late game even on NG+. If nothing else, access to all Dyne skills along with their respective Amps makes Izanagi-no-Okami an endgame beast.

Persona 4 Golden is available on PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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