In Persona 5, Skill Cards are special items that can be obtained in different ways. Named after spells, Skill Cards allow any Joker character to learn skills they can't learn by passing alone. While you can't turn all skills into skill cards, this guide will cover the skills that can become skill cards in Persona 5/Royal, regardless of platform.
How to get skill cards in Persona 5
To unlock skill cards in Persona 5, you will need to go to the Second Palace and get Yusuke Kitagawa's Confidant Contract. You can only use a skill card once, although it is possible to have multiple copies of the same skill card at once. Not all skills are available as a skill card, and only protagonist characters are customizable through skill cards.
You receive skill cards by defeating enemies, opening chests, sacrificing specific characters in the velvet room (itemization) through Yusuke's abilities, and completing side missions.
However, you need blank cards to get skill cards through running in the Velvet Room. A blank card is needed for each sacrifice. You can get blank cards by defeating enemies and opening chests.
The following subsections will cover the different ways to get Skill Cards and Blank Cards.
Free Skill Cards DLC
You can download the free Skill Cards DLC pack named “Skill Card set” for P5 and P5 Royal. It includes one of the basic skills such as Agi, Garu, Psy, Dia, Kouha, Tarukaja, Bufu, Frei, Zio, Eiha, Rakukaja, Sukukaja and three blank cards.
Buy blank cards from Jose
Purchasing blank cards at a retail outlet called “José's Shop” is another way to go. He appears randomly in Mementos, but the map will indicate his arrival with a cutscene of him driving past the Phantom Thieves. You can check its position on the map. Therefore, its mobile store is only accessible once you reach it.
Open Chests
You can find skill cards and blank cards in chests. Once you unlock the maps for a palace and walk past a chest, it will show up on the map. Be sure to check every chest in a palace if you go hunting. Keep in mind that out of all the chests you can find in Persona 5, 23 of them are locked.
Other Ways to Get Skill Cards
Random steals and reward requests may also generate blank cards. Besides getting Skill Cards as a rare drop from enemies, you can force them to give you Skill Cards.
How to Use Skill Cards in Persona 5
You can use the skill cards on any of the protagonist characters. Check out these steps to use one:
- Open the items menu.
- Choose a skill card from the menu.
- Use the chosen card on the Persona.
How to Use Blank Skill Cards in Persona 5
This section will explain how to turn your blank cards into usable skill cards using Yusuke's inventory and abilities.
Detailing: Persona 5
Personas can be detailed to create skill cards or equipment in the Velvet Room. The room's electric chair can only be used once per day in P5; however, you can use it multiple times per day in P5 Royal.
To perform the conversion, you will need a Persona and a base material. Typically, base materials are Black Kogatana for melee weapons, Black Robe for armor, Model Gun for weapons, Black Rock for accessories. Finally, the blank card is used to break down the personas into skill cards.
You can find the basic materials in the metaverse and in the real world. In the real world, you can get them through Tanaka's amazing products or some stores. In the metaverse, materials can come from open chests, defeated enemies, or Jose's shop.
Detailing: Persona 5 Royal Unique Mechanics
The following is exclusive to Persona 5 Royal.
A detailed Persona will create stronger than usual skill cards when you detail during an alarm. Therefore, if you're playing P5 Royal, you should get your endgame gear when the alarm goes off.
Note that during an alarm, the chance of failure will also be higher, meaning you might not get any items. Therefore, you must save your game before using the electric chair during an alarm.
Duplicate your skill cards via Yusuke in Persona 5
You can duplicate skill cards you already have by converting blank cards into skill cards through Yusuke Kitagawa. This feature is due to Yusuke's "Novice Duplication", "Adept Duration", and "Master Duplication" trusted abilities.
These abilities allow Yusuke to paint skill cards onto blank cards. At the start of his confidant, Yusuke will learn the process of "novice duplicating" skill cards, making it easy to get to. However, you will need to reach Yusuke's Trust Rank 5 to unlock "Adept Duplication" and Rank 7 to unlock Master Duplication. The former allows Yusuke to paint skill cards onto blank cards for medium skills, while the latter is for high-end skills.
Yusuke will duplicate skill cards for you for free. To duplicate a card, you must give it to Yusuke along with a blank card. You can retrieve completed cards by talking to Yusuke after the duplicating process is complete, but this process takes at least a day.
A temporary downside is that you can't immediately duplicate mid to high level skill cards, as you'll need to raise Yusuke's Trust Rank to 5 and 7 first.
Duplicate your skill cards in Persona 5 Royal
Yusuke's confidant abilities are different in P5 Royal. In this version, Yusuke can copy any rank 1 skill card using "Card Duplication", regardless of the level of the card.
At rank 5, Yusuke will learn "Making Cards". This ability allows him to copy a previously copied skill card without needing a blank card.
Finally, Yusuke learns "Live Paint" at Rank 7. Live Paint allows him to instantly create a skill card once per day with the benefits that come with card duplication and card creation.
By the way, you can have Yusuke create skill cards while infiltrating, but only when talking to him in a safe room.
How to Use Skill Cards on Party Members in Persona 5
Only Joker characters can learn skills using gallows, skill cards and more. Members of your party (confidants) cannot learn new skills using the same methods. Your allies will only get the skills they have by default. These skills will unlock when allies automatically increase their Confidant Rank.
You can go to the church to use the confessional stand for an ally's character so they can relearn an old skill. This mechanism is only accessible for the Personas of your confidant.
Increase the level of confidants
If you need a confidant's rank to increase faster to unlock specific abilities or skills, you can explore the following tips:
- Matching an Arcana of Personas: When spending time with a Confidant, you must use a character with an Arcana that matches that Confidant to earn extra points for rewarding dialogue choices.
- Social Stats: Maximizing your Social Stats helps level up your Confidants. For example, you participate in the burger challenge at the "Big Band Burger Restaurant" to increase your level of confidants and gain social stats. Also, opt for the right dialogue choices when speaking with Confidants to strengthen bonds.
- Chihaya Mifune: Upgrade her to Rank 7 to use her Affinity Reading, granting an Affinity Point for a chosen Confidant.
- Give gifts: You can improve your confidants with gifts. Unlike previous games, you can now give gifts to a confidant regardless of gender. It is possible to get freebies from real-world stores.
- Time Management: You should prioritize increasing your Confidant Levels when outside of Palaces. This means ignoring things like part-time jobs, as there are better ways to earn money in the game. You can also save time by finding your way to a palace's treasure room by a day.
Improve your skills and endure memories
Using Yusuke is a secure way to get skill cards you already have. But have you had your eye on a specific skill that one of your Personas has had for some time? You can opt for the Velvet room to manually transform the Persona into a new skill card that you have never had before. Although Yusuke cannot intervene in an inventory process, he can duplicate the newly obtained skill card for you, making it easier for you to perfect.
What is your favorite skill card? What skill card are you looking for? Let us know in the comment section below.
