One of the big changes in Persona 5 Royal is how the Justice Confidant is handled with Goro Akechi. In Royal, Akechi’s Confidant no longer ranks up automatically as you progress in the story. Instead, you’ll hang out with him like with any other Confidant.
You’ll definitely want to make the time to raise Akechi’s Confidant rank. You’ll need to get it to Rank 8 by November 18 if you want to unlock Persona 5 Royal’s true ending. Make sure you’re keeping up with your Charm and Knowledge stats prior to starting, as you’ll hit a barrier at rank three otherwise.
Also, the nature of Persona 5 Royal means there will be mild story spoilers in this guide.
Justice Confidant Rank 1
As with base Persona 5, you’ll automatically start the Justice Confidant on June 10 during the social studies field trip to the TV station. You don’t have to do anything specific during the conversation, as you get no bonus points either way.
What you should do from here on out is make sure you have a Justice Persona on hand every time you hang out with Akechi, so you get additional points during each Confidant event. Archangel is the cheapest and the one you’ll get first.
Justice Confidant Rank 2
You can get to Rank 2 as early as June 13. Head to Kichijoji, and you’ll find Akechi loitering outside Penguin Sniper. This is typically where he is for future events as well.
- 1: 1st choice (+2)
- 2: Doesn’t matter
- 3: 1st choice (+3)
- 4: Doesn’t matter
- 5: 3rd choice (+3)
- 6: 3rd choice (+2)
Rank 2 gets you the Sleuthing Instinct ability, which gives you a chance at revealing one enemy weakness when battle starts
Justice Confidant Rank 3
Get your Knowledge and Charm stats to Level 3 for this one. That shouldn’t be too hard, since the next Akechi event doesn’t open until June 23.
- 1: Doesn’t matter
- 2: 1st or 2nd choice (+2)
- 3: Doesn’t matter
- 4: Doesn’t matter
- 5: Doesn’t matter
- 6: 2nd choice (+2)
Justice Confidant Rank 4
Nothing special about rank four itself, but it does unlock the Jazz Jin club.
- 1: Doesn’t matter
- 2: 3rd choice (+3)
- 3: 1st choice (+3)
- 4: 1st choice (+2)
- 5: Doesn’t matter
- 6: 1st choice (+3)
- 7: 2nd choice (+2)
Now you get Sleuthing Mastery, which grants a chance at spotting all of one enemy’s weaknesses at the start of battle.
Justice Confidant Rank 5
- 1: Doesn’t matter
- 2: 1st choice (+2)
- 3: 1st choice (+3)
- 4: Doesn’t matter
- 5: Any choice (+2)
Justice Confidant Rank 6
Nothing noteworthy about getting to this point either and no rewards for ranking up. However, it starts to reveal more of Akechi’s past and character, and you’ll trigger the scene at Leblanc Cafe.
- 1: 3rd choice (+3)
- 2: 2nd choice (+2)
- 3: 1st or 2nd choice (+3)
- 4: 1st choice (+3)
- 5: 1st or 2nd choice (+2)
- 6: 1st choice (+3)
- 7: 1st choice (+3)
Justice Confidant Rank 7
Make sure your knowledge stat is at Rank 4, else you can’t access Akechi’s Rank 7 event. Plan ahead so you don’t miss out on valuable time.
- 1: 1st choice (+3)
- 2: Doesn’t matter
- 3: Doesn’t matter
- 4: 2nd choice (+3)
- 5: Doesn’t matter
- 6: Doesn’t matter
- 7: 3rd choice (+1)
Rank 7 unlocks Harisen Recovery. This ability randomly recovers status ailments for all allies.
Justice Confidant Rank 8
Getting to Rank 8 in Akechi’s Confidant is completely different from all the others. Spoilers ahead.
You have to fight Akechi in Mementos, so be prepared. None of your conversation choices matter during this phase. Because you fight alone, you’ll need to be prepared. Remember Akechi’s Persona uses Curse and Bless skills, so don’t use Personas with weaknesses to either (or equip the Ring of Vanity you get from Madarame’s Will Seeds).
Rakunda, Tarunda, and Sukunda or Sukukaja skills are helpful to decrease Akechi’s stats and boost your evasion. That’s important because there’s no way you can guard against Almighty skills like Megidola.
Finally, be sure you have plenty of restorative items. Beads are ideal since they restore all your HP. If you haven’t neglected Takemi’s Confidant, though, you should be able to stock up on HP restoring items at a decent price anyway.
When all is said and done, and you’ve ranked up to 8, your dialogue choices start counting again.
- 1: 1st choice (+3)
- 2: 2nd choice (+3)
- 3: “I accept”
Justice Confidant Ranks 9 and 10
You’ll automatically rank Akechi’s Confidant up to 9 and 10 over the course of the story. Saying any more would be completely spoiling one of the game’s biggest twists, so we’ll leave it alone and just say you unlock the ultimate Justice Persona.
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Assuming you got to this point, there are still more surprises in store. But you’ll need to have worked on your Maruki Confidant and Kasumi Confidant rankings as well. Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more Persona 5 Royal guides.
