Persona 5: The Phantom X – Best Queen/Makoto build, team comp, and Revelation Cards

Given that Makoto is a heavy favourite among Persona 5 fans, it’s no surprise that P5X goes out of its way to do her justice, making her one of the strongest characters in the game, but in order to get all of that potential out of her, you need to build her right. Queen is a powerful attacker who focuses on single-target strikes powerful enough to break even the toughest of foes, and leverages elemental ailments to deal even more damage.

We’ll break down the best Queen build in P5X, including who to team her with, and her best Revelation Cards.

All Queen skills and abilities in P5X

Johanna Skills

• Sanctioned Drift – Deal Nuclear damage to foes equal to 54.4% of Attack (5 hits). From the second hit, prioritize new targets and change damage to 20% for hits on the same target. Also inflict a random elemental ailment on the target of each hit, prioritizing inflicting ones the target doesn’t have. If the target has an elemental ailment, activate a Technical and deal bonus Nuclear damage equal to 19.2% of Attack. Inflict Radiation on the main target for 2 turns.
• President’s Power – Restore HP of 1 ally equal to 34.6% of Makoto’s Attack + 113. Increase Makoto’s Attack by 32.0% for 2 turns. Gain 3 Tenacity stacks and gain more Tenacity stacks for each unique elemental ailment on foes.
• Nuclear Fury – Deal Nuclear damage to 1 foe equal to 138.1% of Attack and gain 2 Tenacity stacks. If the main target has an elemental ailment, activate a Technical, dealing bonus Nuclear damage equal to 25.6% of Attack. When Crash Out is active, evolve this skill to Thermonuclear Fury.
• Themonuclear Fury – Deal Nuclear damage to 1 foe equal to 159.7% of Attack. For each elemental ailment the foe has, activate a Technical, dealing bonus Nuclear damage equal to 22.4% of Attack (up to 3 times).
• Thief’s Tactics – Highlight: Deal Nuclear damage to 1 foe equal to 307.2% of Attack, gain 2 Frenzied Voltage stacks, and activate the following effects: Spend 1 Frenzied Voltage stack to inflict 1 random elemental ailment on foes, continuing until foes have 2 elemental ailments. Spending all remaining Frenzied Voltage stacks to increase the damage of this skill by 20% per stack.

Hidden Abilities

• Chief Strategist – During battle, for each different type of elemental ailment on foes, increase Attack by 15%.
• Unshakable Will – At the start of battle, increase damage reduction rate by 2% and when Crash Out is active, increase damage reduction rate by 2% more.

Awareness levels and abilities

• A1: Execution of Justice – At the start of battle, gain 5 Tenacity stacks, allowing Makoto to activate Crash Out on her action. When Crash Out is active, increase Attack by 50% more and damage by 35%.
• A2: Hot and Cold – When Crash Out is active, inflict random elemental ailments on foes, and for each different type of elemental ailment, increase Makoto’s pierce rate by 6%.
• A3: Full Throttle – Increase the skill levels of Sanctioned Drift and Nuclear Fury by 3.
• A4: Fist of the Phantom Star – Highlight Enhanced: Increase maximum Frenzied Voltage stacks to 4. Inflict up to 4 elemental ailments on foes, and increase skill damage up to 4 times.
• A5: Feel My Wrath – Increase the skill levels of President’s Prowess and Thief Tactics by 3.
• A6: Fist of Justice! – When Crash Out is active, Makoto can gain an extra action. Also decrease the SP cost of Thermonuclear Fury by 33%.

What do Tenacity and Crash Out do?

Tenacity and Crash Out are Queen’s unique mechanics. She gains 1 Tenacity every time she hits a foe with a Persona skill and will gain 1 more Tenacity at the end of her turn for every elemental ailment inflicted on a foe.

If Queen starts her turn with 5 or more Tenacity, she will activate Crash Out. This increases her Attack by 40%, her Defense by 20%, and evolves her Nuclear Fury skill into the much more powerful Thermonuclear Fury.

How to use Queen in P5X

Use Sanctioned Drift Turn 1

For Queen to be effective, the foes need to have elemental ailments. The best way to do this is to have other characters in the party that can do this job before Queen acts, but Sanctioned Drift gives her an option to do it herself. If it goes well, then you’ll be able to get 5 Tenacity stacks by Turn 2.

Use President’s Power before powerful attacks

Getting the elemental ailments set up is good, but you don’t want to blow it too early when you could get even more power. Crash Out gives you two turns of Nuclear Fury being evolved into Thermonuclear Fury, so if you know that’s coming, use President’s Power the turn before to give Queen that 32% Attack boost.

Use Thermonuclear Fury whenever available

If it’s available, you should use it; it’s as simple as that. It is one of the most powerful offensive Persona skills in the entire game, and after activating Crash Out, you only get two turns to use it, so don’t waste them. Even if you have multiple targets, this single-target attack is so powerful that it’ll be worth it, especially if the rest of the party has done their job and set up ailments on the foes you want to target.

Best team composition for Queen in P5X

• Queen
• Vino
• Leon
• Okyann

Both of the other Nuke-element units in P5X are perfect for buffing Queen as much as possible. Vino is a must-have as she is able to inflict elemental ailments even more consistently than Queen, while Leon focuses on all-around Attack buffs for his party, though you can switch him out for someone like Mirian if you need a healer or Panther if you need a second strong attacker. Okyann is the best choice for Navigator because, on top of increasing Attack, she increases Ailment Accuracy, which is vital when working with a Nuke-based team.

Best weapon for Queen in P5X

The progression for weapons in this game is pretty simple: the more stars a weapon has, the better it is both in terms of stats and its abilities, so you should always try and pull the best weapon possible when building a character. Here are the stats and effects of all of Queen’s weapons:

• Iron Fists (2-stars) – HP: 80; ATK: 30; DEF: 18 – Increase Attack by 11.3%
• Flash Punch (3-stars) – HP: 99; ATK: 37; DEF: 21 – At the start of the turn, increase Attack by 6%. Stacks up to 3 times.
• Omega Knuckle (4-stars) – HP 133; ATK: 49; DEF: 29 – Increase Attack by 12%. When dealing Nuclear damage, increase damage by 4.4% for each Tenacity stack gained.
• Will of Extinction (5-stars) – HP: 166; ATK: 61; DEF 36 – Increase Nuclear damage by 24.2%. When attacking a foe with an elemental ailment. Increase Attack by 30%. When an ally inflicts an elemental ailment, gain 1 Heat stack. When Crash Out is active, spend all Heat stacks to increase next Nuclear skill damage by 10% for each Heat stack, up to 60%.

Best Revelation Cards for Queen in P5X

As we explain in our guide to the best Revelation Cards for every P5X character, Queen’s best combination is Truth & Awareness. Truth increases her Nuclear damage boost Queen’s Nuclear damage by 10% while increasing her Attack by 30% while targeting an ailing foe. Put Awareness on top of that and you get a futher 12% Attack boosts that pair well with a character like Vino using the Truth & Harmony combination.