One of the most fun parts of Persona 5 Royal is playing around with the eponymous personas. There are tons to choose from, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. With the complexity of the fusion mechanics in the Persona series, there are also a lot of variabilities, even among similar summons. Raphael, one of the four mightiest archangels from Christian mythology, is but one of the many fascinating and powerful allies that Joker can call forth while raiding a palace for a villain's heart. This winged warrior is said to guard heaven's prison as well as give aid to lost travelers and desperate couples. Appropriately, they are in the Lovers Arcana due to being a patron of those who wish to express affection for one another. Being level 78, Raphael has quite a few strong skills, most of which pertain to Physically smiting foes or buffing the Phantom Thieves.
Their rare passive skill, Arms Master, reduces the cost of all Physical skills by a gracious 50%, which allows for even more usage of their colossally destructive Sword Dance that can annihilate a single target. With this excellent strategy, as well as more such boons, Raphael is one of the best Physically offensive personas. Because of the great benefits of this ally, most of their fusions recipes can be quite expensive, though there are a few that Joker can utilize to relatively save on some money. Additionally, if players need an even more powerful persona, Raphael can aid in bringing forth some of the end-game allies capable of trivializing certain battles, albeit at a steep monetary price.
10 Forneus & Koumokuten (Recipe) - $190,396
In this fusion, a demon from Ars Goetia and a deity from Buddhism combine to form the archangel, Raphael. Forneus is a being written about in The Lesser Key of Solomon, a famous grimoire containing information about hell's denizens. They are a shape-shifting sea monster said to bestow gifts of rhetoric and grant the ability to forge strong friendships to their summoner. Their Persona 5 incarnation has skills that reflect this lore in that Forneus has some decent passive skills that can allow one to survive a fatal attack and one that raises evasion.
The guardian deity Koumokuten protects the west of Buddha's realms as one of the Four Heavenly Kings. He commands troops of naga soldiers that he uses to shield the world. This lordly figure has a passive skill that regenerates 4% of his maximum health each turn, though because of his Gluttonmouth trait, this gets doubled to a sizable 8% health return. This enables him to unleash his Deadly Fury skill more often to severely damage single targets.
9 Vishnu (Result) - $257,950
As a thematically friendly fusion result, the angel Raphael merges with the benevolent Balinese deity Barong to form a major god from the Hindu pantheon: Vishnu. This mighty god was prophecized to stop evil many times across the universe's history while taking many different physical forms.
They are so powerful that they use the primordial serpent Ananta as a bed and the colossal bird-monster Garuda as a flying mount. With so many legendary traits, Vishnu's appearance in P5R suitably has mighty skills. Many of which pertain to unleashing severe Gun, Wind, and Almighty damage.
8 King Frost & Garuda (Recipe) - $192,007
With this fusion, a pleasantly plump fairytale noble combines with a mighty winged deity from Hindu legends. King Frost is the ruler of all Jack Frosts and is a reference to a story called The Frost Fairies. His powers over Ice are tremendous enough for him to freeze the entire world, though he does not realize his true strength. As anyone could probably guess, King Frost is one of the best personas to use if Ice damage is required since almost all of his skills pertain to freezing foes to death.
The mount of Vishnu is more than just a steed, for they were not always friendly with the gods. Once, Garuda fought against them but was later turned to the side of the divine by Vishnu's righteous might. In legend, their wingspan was said to be wide enough to block out the sun and with each beat could unleash hurricanes. This shows up in their skillset via heavily damaging Wind skills.
7 Surt (Result) - $283,150
When one fuses Raphael with the demon Lilith, the giant Surt is created. With their powers over fire, they wield a burning blade that they were said to use to forge the stars above the nine worlds in Norse mythology. At Ragnarok, the end of the world, they are predicted to bring the burning stars back down and cleave the universe asunder with their fiery falchion.
In addition to having passive skills and a trait that empowers their already obliterating Fire attacks, Surt can also use colossally damaging Physical-type skills, making them an excellent unit for offensive strategies.
6 Melchizedek & Titania (Recipe) - $194,158
Here is another mythology-mindful fusion for Raphael. The powerful angel Melchizedek is one of the few figures from Abrahamic lore that was once human before ascending to become an angel. They were once a king of men but were so kind and righteous that they rose to become one of the mightiest angels, both in mythology and in Persona 5 Royal. As one of the few personas to have both a trait and a passive skill that boosts the success chances of instant death attacks, their normal "medium" chances to wipe out the opposing team feel a lot closer to "high" chances.
The fairy queen Titania comes from European mythology, though is likely more well known for her appearance in the Shakespearean play A Midsummer Night's Dream which references this origin. Like her counterparts in other media, Titania's in-game form is full of powerful magic, particularly heavy damage-dealing Nuclear and Electric skills. However, it should be mentioned that she does have an excellent healing skill called Mediarahan, which fully restores the health of the entire party.
5 Mada (Result) - $323,443
This titanic pyre of a beast is the result of fusing Raphael and the Greek god Dionysis. Mada, from Hindu mythology, is a monster that was summoned by a sage to threaten the god Indra for insulting the twin deities Asvins. They were said to have two mouths so massive that they could swallow the Earth and sky in simultaneous universe-ending bites.
Their destructive power manifests in severely damaging Fire skills that can burn foes to ashes. Possessing one of the few traits that decrease a skill type's cost by a massive 75%, as well as the Spell Master passive skill (the magical equivalent of Raphael's Arms Master) that further reduces the SP requirement by half, players can spam normally very expensive skills for next to no cost. This makes Mada arguably the best Fire-oriented offensive persona in the game.
4 Lilith & Cerberus (Recipe) - $197,659
Sometimes both the lore pertaining to fusions, as well as the appearance of personas, are at odds with what gamers might expect. This is apparent in the fusion for Raphael involving Lilith and Cerberus. The former is from Abrahamic mythology and was said to be the wife of humanity's patriarch, Adam. However, she insisted on being his equal, which was against God's will, therefore was cast out of the Garden of Eden and became the sire of demons out of hatred for humans and the Abrahamic god. She is often depicted with a serpent, despite having nothing to do with the snake that tempted Eve into eating the forbidden fruit of knowledge. In P5R, she specializes in dealing heavy Ice and Nuclear damage.
The famous hellhound from Greek mythology also appears in a form very different than how they are normally depicted in that they have only a single head as opposed to three. Suitably for a guardian of the underworld, they possess mighty Fire-type attacks, though also has access to decent Physical ones.
3 Vohu Manah (Result) - $331,471
Raphael can polymerize with the sinister Macabre to create the benevolent figure from Zoroastrianism, Vohu Manah. This unique-looking persona represents all good human thoughts as well as all animals in creation. Appropriately, they have many powerful passive skills as well as one of the best healing ones, called Salvation, that fully heals the party and removes all non-special status ailments from them.
They can also unleash tremendously powerful Bless attacks. Their Divine Judgement skill is a rare one that lets Vohu Manah cut an individual enemy's remaining health in half, which is incredibly useful against stronger adversaries.
2 Bishamonten & Horus (Recipe) - $199,504
Here's a thematically considerate fusion for the archangel Raphael. Bishamonten, the heavenly king who guards the north of Buddha's realm in eastern mythology appears in a regal state, being the strongest of the Four Heavenly Kings in Buddhism. They concentrate on dishing out heavy Nuclear and colossal Physical damage to the opposition.
The brilliant other half of this fusion is the Egyptian god Horus, who represents the sun and is said to embody the sky and day. They are eternally locked in a brutal battle with the night god Set. As one would expect, they focus on using Bless and Almighty skills to heavily damage adversaries.
1 Satan (Result) - $327,430
In a strange yet not wholly inappropriate fusion, one can use Raphael and another angelic persona, Throne, to forge the prince of darkness, Satan. This figure from Abramahic mythology can sometimes be mixed up with Lucifer, who also appears in Persona 5 Royal as one of the highest level personas, though the game developers at Atlus classify Satan as the serpent sent to test man's faith whereas Lucifer is the fallen angel who rebelled against God.
Sometimes depicted as dwelling in hell's frozen heart, Satan has the suitably named trait, Cocytus, which reduces the cost of all Ice skills by a massive 75%. This lets Satan chill foes into untimely graves with their severe Ice attacks and can do so even more effectively if used after their Concentrate skill that significantly multiplies the damage of magical attacks. Those enemies who knew not the meaning of the phrase "Cold as Hell" will after succumbing to Satan's frozen ferocity.