While the protagonist of Persona 4 Golden is able to wield multiple Personas at once, his teammates aren't as lucky. However, when equipped with the right gear and Skills, their Persona can provide the backup that players will need in battle.

Like most Persona games, the only way to get the strongest Personas in-game is by maxing out Social Links. Persona 4 Golden has third-tier Ultimate Personas for each of the Investigation Team members, but they can only be obtained if Yu completes their Social Link before the final dungeon. The IT learns many Skills upon leveling up, so knowing which ones should be kept and discarded is important if players want a balanced team.

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The Protagonist (Yu Narukami/Souji Seta)

Yu Narukami is a special case in Persona 4 Golden in that he doesn't get his Ultimate Persona until NG+, and only if players get the True Ending. To top it off, Izanagi-no-Okami is part of a Dodecagon Fusion.

Despite Izanagi-no-Okami's impressive stat spread and lacking Affinity-weaknesses, he has better Passive Skills than Attack/Magic Skills. However, his Agility means he'll usually be able to strike first, and most likely 1HKO the enemy. An example of an Izanagi-no-Okami build includes these Skills:

The -dyne Skills can be swapped out depending on which Persona 4 party members the player likes to use in battle. For example, if the player likes to use Kanji, who learns Zio-spells, then it's safe to swap out Izanagi-no-Okami's Maziodyne for Agidyne or Garudyne instead.

• Angelic Grace and Victory Cry are must-have Skills for Izanagi-no-Okami. Angelic Grace doubles Narukami's evasion against magic attacks, and Victory Cry will fully restore his HP and SP after battle.
• Megidolaon is one of the strongest Almighty attacks in Persona 4 Golden.
• Having Spell Master increases the damage of magic attacks. By using Mind Charge, Yu's magic is doubled on the next turn. With these two skills, Yu will deal very powerful damage to the enemies.
• Bring the Satan Persona to the Chagall Cafe to get Invigorate 3. This skill will recover some SP at the end of each turn in battle. This is something Izanagi-no-Okami will absolutely need if he's going to be the party's main attacker.

Yu is going to make the most out of his Personas by getting Skill Cards from the Chagall Cafe in Okina City. Other Personas worth getting are Yoshitsune (Tower), Alice (Death), Surt (Magician), Loki (Fool), and Beezlebub (Devil).

Again, since Izanagi-no-Okami is locked behind NG+, it's a good idea to do as many Social Links as possible to have an array of Strong Personas by the last few dungeons in a first playthrough.

Yosuke Hanamura

Yosuke's best Persona is Takehaya Susano-o, which players will get in the 3rd semester as long as Yosuke's Confidant is maxed. The following skills are recommended for Yosuke:

Stat-wise, Yosuke's pretty all-around, but he's the fastest party member that isn't Yu. He'll be targeting enemies that have Wind Affinity weaknesses while providing support.

• Youthful Wind combines Masukukaja and Mediarama, allowing Yosuke to heal a modest amount of HP while also applying an Agility buff for 3 turns for all allies.
• Yosuke does better as a magic-attacker than a physical one, so have Garudyne and Magarudyne in his Skill List.
• Since Wind Amp and Wind Boost stack, have both to get the most out of Yosuke's Wind attacks.
• Dekaja is important because it will debuff any enemies afflicted with stat bonuses.
• Evade Elec increases Yosuke's evasion against Zio-spells, which Yosuke is weak against.

Chie Satonaka

Chie relies more on Physical attacks than Magic in battle, but she gains some good Support and Passive skills that are worth keeping on her Persona. However, remember her low SP when casting spells with her.

• Auto-Tarukaja will automatically increase Chie's Attack power at the start of a battle. After a few turns, this effect will fade.
• Apt Pupil increases her Critical hit ratio.
• Dragon Hustle will increase the team's Attack, Defense, and Agility/Evasion. However, it costs 150 SP to use. Coupled with Chie's already-low SP, Dragon Hustle should only be used when the IT needs to go all out in battle.
• Power Charge is the physical version of Mind Charge. It will double Chie's physical attack on her next turn. Use this before Agneyastra or God's Hand to deal massive physical damage.
• Evade Fire is a Must because of Chie's Agi Affinity weakness.
• Finally, while it may be tempting to have Mabufula or Bufudyne over Bufula, Chie's not going to be dishing out Magic attacks to deal damage. Having Bufula means she can target enemies with Bufu weaknesses just enough to Down them for a possible All Out Attack. Bufula is also a midtier spell, meaning it won't drain her SP as Bufudyne or Mabufula will.

Yukiko Amagi

The complete opposite of Chie, Yukiko is magic based and the team's Red Mage. She has powerful Magic and gets the best Healing skills out of all the party members upon leveling up. Her SP is also significantly high, meaning she can throw out spell after spell without needing to replenish SP.

• Diarahan and Salvation should be in Yukiko's Skill Setup. The reason for having two healing spells is because of Salvation's high SP cost. If only one character is "in the red", then it's best to use Diarahan to heal them instead of wasting a turn using Salvation. Since both spells fully heal HP, the Skill Divine Grace is not needed. Unlike Diarahan, Salvation heals all allies for full HP/SP and cures any status ailment.
• Fire Amp and Fire Boost are good for Yukiko's Agi attacks.
• Matarunda will lower the Attack of enemies for three turns.
• Samarecarm will revive a fallen ally for full HP.
• Burning Petals is Yukiko's exclusive skill for Sumeo-Okami. It deals massive Fire damage to all enemies. Because of its SP cost, players can either use Burning Petals or Agidyne for Yukiko's Fire attacks. Or, get rid of Diarahan and replace it with Agidyne if planning on using Yukiko as an attacker instead of a healer.
• Evade Ice is necessary to dodge Bufu spells, which Yukiko is weak against.

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Kanji Tatsumi

Kanji has the highest Strength stat out of the IT by the time he reaches level 99. He also has the best Endurance and decent Agility. However, between Chie and Kanji, players may choose Chie because she has higher SP. Kanji is good if players need a Zio-user on their team and want raw attack power.

• Avoid having too many magic-based Skills on Kanji's Skill Setup. Keep both Elec Boost and Elec Amp to improve his Maziodyne or Ziodyne spell.
• Players may want to forgo Takeji Zaiten's unique Skill and have Regenerate 3 or Power Charge in place of it. Regenerate 3 will make sure Kanji has enough HP to dish out Physical attack Primal Force, and Power Charge will double his Physical attack on the next turn.
• Alternatively, players could have characters like Teddie or Yosuke buff Kanji while he attacks the enemy. Matarukaja is fine to have for Kanji, but if players want, they can swap it out for one of Kanji's physical Skills.

Rise Kujikawa

Rise gains some amazing Support Skills as a Navigator, even with her second-tier Persona. Since Rise's Skills will be replaced when a stronger Skill is learned, players won't need to worry about fiddling with her Skill set as much.

However, it's best to prioritize her Social Link. Unlike the other IT members, Rise has a chance of shielding all allies in battle and reviving Yu once per battle (Social Link Rank 10) without wasting the player's turn. When fighting stronger enemies, Rise's abilities will prove to be extremely helpful.

Teddie

Poor Teddie's unique Skill, Kamui Miracle, isn't worth keeping and can be a hindrance in battle if RNG decides to be difficult with the player. While Teddie isn't a bad teammate and learns some decent Skills, he's easily outclassed by Yukiko and Yosuke. However, if players are looking for a magic-based Bufu user, Teddie may be worth making room for on the front lines.

• Teddie's strengths come in the form of Support skills and high-tier Bufu spells. Since his Strength is weaker than his Magic, it's not worth keeping any physical-dealing moves on his Skill list. Instead, equip Mabufudyne and Bufudyne along with Ice Boost and Ice Amp.
• Have Evade Elec so Teddie can avoid getting Downed by Zio-using enemies.
• He works better as an Attack-booster than Chie, thanks to his Matarukaja and higher SP. Matarukaja will raise all allies' Strength for 3 turns.
• Mediarahan is preferred over Diarahan since it's very likely Teddie won't be the player's main healer if they're using Yukiko. While Yukiko can focus on healing one ally at a time with Diarahan, Teddie can use Mediarahan to heal everyone to full HP.

Naoto Shirogane

Naoto's join time may hinder some people from fully using her like the rest of the team. Players will be scrambling to finish her Social Link just to get her third-tier Persona (or to romance her).

By the time Naoto joins, players may already have a solid team. However, Naoto's Persona-line repels Hama and Mudo spells and nullifies Agi. Unlike the rest of the IT, she has no weaknesses.

• Shield of Justice is a great Skill because it will make the entire party immune to all damage for one turn. Its drawback is, of course, its SP cost (160).
• Naoto will learn single-target -dyne Spells, so save two Skill Slots for two of them. Adjust them accordingly to the team. Garudyne and Agidyne are good backups to Yosuke and Yukiko.
• Mind Charge will double Naoto's magic attack on the next turn, and Invigorate 3 will restore her SP each turn.
• While Mahamaon is useless against bosses, it can take out pesky enemies that only have Hama Affinity weaknesses. If players are lucky or decide to equip Naoto with Hama Boost, Mahamaon may take out all enemies at once.
• Heat Riser will raise the Attack, Defense, and Agility/Evasion of one party member for 3 turns. Alternatively, Naoto could just cast this on herself before stacking Mind Charge.
• Being an Almighty spell, Megidolaon is good for dealing damage against enemies with many Affinity resistances. It's also a good spell to use on the Golden Hands crawling around dungeons.

Persona 4 Golden is available for PS Vita and PC.

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