Persona 5 Strikers Bond Skills: The Best and Worst

Persona 5 Strikers Bond Skills are new to the sequel and give your party a series of bonuses with big effects. You’ll need Bond Points earned from raising Bond Levels, another new addition, to unlock and level up each of these.

There’s no shortage of skills to focus on in this bond system, though there is a shortage of Bond Points. This Persona 5 Strikers guide is here to help you invest your points wisely.

How to Raise Bond Level 

Strikers gives you plenty of ways to raise your BL and earn BP in the process.  The most common and easiest way is just fighting. You’ll earn a small amount of Bond Points from every combat engagement, though the emphasis is on “small.”

The story gives you BP during certain events, though these aren’t very common.

Completing friend requests and hanging out with friends also grants a Bond Point boost. While the requests can get tedious, there’s never a reason not to hang out with friends since Persona 5 Strikers doesn’t have a time limit.

Finally, you can also earn these by cooking new recipes, and what d’you know — we have a guide just for that.

The Best Persona 5 Strikers Bond Skills

The game groups its Skills in specific categories, though you can’t see them all at first. The blocked-out ones unlock as you progress through the story. You can level up each of them several times, though some higher levels require certain side quests to unlock.

We’ll list each Bond Skill by group and recommend which ones are worth prioritizing in each group.

Stat Bond Skills

The first row boosts specific stat parameters. En is defense in Persona terms, while Agility affects evasion, and Luck is for critical hit rates

• HP Boost — Increases all party members’ HP
• SP Boost — Increases all party members’ SP
• Strength Boost — Increases all party members’ St stat
• Magic Boost — Increases all party members’ Ma stat
• Endurance Boost — Increases all party members’ En stat
• Agility Boost — Increases all party members’ Ag stat
• Luck boost — Increases all party members’ Lu stat

You shouldn’t spend many Bond Points on any of these, at least not early on. Gear and leveling up increase all of these anyway, without costing anything. SP Boost is more helpful, though the benefits gained from the skill’s first few levels aren’t worth what they cost.

Persona Bond Skills

The next set is more interesting and mostly revolves around Persona abilities.

• Pass Appeal — Showtime gauge fills faster after a Baton Pass
• Harisen Helper — Higher chance of Harisen Recovery
• Oracle Recovery — Party recovers HP and SP after completing a battle
• Martial Arts — Increases damage for physical Persona skills
• Spiritual Arts — Increases damage for magical Persona skills
• Tactical Arts — Increases status affliction chance
• Supportive Arts — Lengthens time Persona buffs/debuffs last

Oracle Recovery is a must-have, so level it up as soon as you can. The same goes for Pass Appeal, as we can’t overstate the importance of Showtime attacks during mini-boss and boss fights.

Enemies inflict status ailments more frequently in Strikers than the other two Persona 5 games, so investing in a few levels of Harisen Recovery is a good idea.

Enhancement Bond Skills

This category is a general catch-all, with abilities that affect a number of different gameplay aspects.

• Joker’s Wild — Increases mask drop rate
• Ambusher — Restores some party HP after performing an ambush
• Phantom Striker — Increases Phantom Dash damage
• Avenger — Stronger counter attacks after evading enemy attacks
• Ammo Hoarder — Increases every party members’ ammo capacity
• Proper Showman — Increases Showtime attack damage
• Spirit Striker — 1 More attacks restore user’s SP; All-Out Attacks restore Party SP

Joker’s Wild should be your priority here. You’re only as strong as your Persona, and having more of them means more fusion options. Increasing damage is always a good thing, but we recommend Ambusher and Spirit Striker.

Any way to restore health and stamina without using items (or stamina) is a good thing. You can exit Jails to restore SP, but restoring it in combat is much more convenient.

Sophia’s Shop Bond Skills

Some of these aren’t skills so much as perks. As the name suggests, they’re mostly about improving your shopping experience with Sophia’s shop with a couple of wild cards thrown in.

• Smart Shopper — Get better bargains at Sophia’s shop
• Metaverse Medic — Increases efficacy of restorative items
• Bondmaker — Bond Level rises faster
• Extortionist — Increases money earned in combat

Bondmaker is the best in this set for probably obvious reasons. Metaverse Medic is a close second and can be a literal lifesaver during intense boss fights. If you’re constantly short on cash, though, toss some BP into Extortionist.

Jail Bond Skills

The last bundle affects key aspects of your experience in Jails

• Safecracker — Unlock chests with advanced locks
• Master Chef — Stronger effects for food
• Treasure Hunter — Higher chance of finding Treasure Domains
• Packrat — Find more junk items
• Highwayman — Higher chance of finding items after battle

These last few aren’t quite as essential, though Master Chef is worth pouring some points into early on.

That’s it for our Persona 5 Strikers Bond Skills guide, but make sure to check out our other Persona 5 Strikers guides for more tips and tricks for the Phantom Thieves’ road trip.