Welcome to Persona 3 Portable – Basic Fusion Mechanics Guide.

In this guide, I’ll go over everything there is to know about fusions in P3P in general. Tips and tricks for making fusions as efficient and straightforward as possible, even when using random inheritance. And some peculiarities unique to P3 or P3P in general to mention.

In terms of recommended builds, I believe it is up to the player to decide what they want to build. As a result, I will not recommend a specific persona build.

 

Fusion Mechanic Basics

Multiple times, X and O.

We will first explain how fusion inheritance works. It is essential to start with the basics. In P3, Bi-fusion can only inherit 4 skills at maximum. Tri-fusions can inherit up to 5 skills, while Tri-fusions can only inherit up to 4. Any fusions that are higher than this can inherit up to 8. It is one thing to know how many skills you can inherit, but another to know what kind of skills you can inherit. This brings us to the concepts of “Noise”, “Skill Affinity”, or “Skill Rank”.

“Noise” is a term that refers to undesirable skills in ingredients. They can be inherited by the person who inherits them. Two things determine how “noisy” these skills are. These are “Skill Affinity and “Skill Rank”. “Skill Affinity” is the persona’s preferred type or skill to inherit. For example, in P3, Thanatos prefers dark spells. If the ingredients have dark spells, then random inheritance will likely give it to him. However, this system can be used to some degree. In the same example, Thanatos doesn’t like healing spells or light, so if his ingredients contain these skills, random inheritance won’t use them. This is an important mechanic. “Skill Rank” refers to the innate rank and type of skills that determine a variety of things, such as how a skill morphs when it mutates or what the skill will become.

But most importantly, it determines the likelihood that skills of the same skill type will be inherited. The rule is that a skill of a lower rank will be inherited less often. As an example, consider Thanatos. Even if the game contains all sorts of dark spells, Mudo will most likely inherit the skill, while Mamudoon will be the least likely. Any fusion calculator can provide information about Skill Affinity or Skill Rank.

These random fusion mechanics are necessary to keep in mind. It is also essential to reduce noise by using Skill Affinity or Skill Rank. The idea is to load the ingredients using (usually the same) desirable skills without creating any noise. (Or, if noise is present, having a high skilled rank for those). Depending on the persona’s preferred skill types, how helpful Skill Affinity can vary from one case to another. For example, almost all Fools inherit any type of skill so Skill Rank is more critical. A persona like Helel, on the other hand, does not prefer any elemental magic spells or insta-kills. Skill Affinity is easy to use by loading the ingredients with the following skill types. Skill Affinity, if available, is preferred during fusions.

Last but not least. Exclusive skills. P3 is pretty lax about the exclusivity of skills. (Handful of instances where they are not inheritable but exist as skill cards.) However, it is essential to understand which skills are non-inheritable. They can help in niche cases using the person with these fusion skills.

These skills include:

• Maralagidyne
• Die for Me!
• Black Viper
• Heaven’s Blade
• Weapons Master
• Magic Skill Up

A little tip to add: levels have an impact on Tri-fusion fusion results. If one were to use a Fusion Calculator, it would be best if it could change the levels of the people involved in its calculations.

These are the basic mechanics that determine inheritance. These are essential to ensure efficient randomized fusion using the original P3P and P4. The skills card is what makes P3P special. This brings us to the next section.

Skill card use

P3P skill cards can be used for multiple purposes. Anyone who has played in later entries knows that skill cards can only be used for one purpose. This is to fix any faulty skills in a persona. However, P3P can also be used for general fusions. Skill Affinity is a notable exception. It can be used to the point that you can guarantee determine what the resulting persona will inherit. Thanatos was my example. I loaded the ingredients with healing spells and support spells. Thanatos can’t learn these spells. The result is clear and easy to see, thanks to skill cards.

These are the ingredients:

Thus, skill cards are as crucial in fusion use as they are after fusion in P3P.

Important Skill Cards

It is essential to explain the purpose of skill cards and why they are important. To start, I will list the most notable skill cards for persona building and where they can be found. (If it is a persona, it will include levels).

• Vorpal Blade (Heavy Slash damage to all foes, 2x bonus damage if in great condition), Susano O (85 –
• Akasha Arts (Heavy Strike damage to all foes, hits 1x), Sandalphon (82)
• God’s hand (Severe strike damage to one foe), Metatron (95).
• Pralaya (Severe Pierce Injury to all foes, chance of instilling fear to enemies), Shiva (89).
• Maralagidyne, (Severe Fire Damage to All Foes), Mara (86).
• Samarecarm (Reveals one ally with full HP), Kohryu (74) –
• Salvation (Heals all allied to full HP, cures all ailments), Vishnu 87 – and January rescue reward
• Power Charge (Next skill to deal 1.9x damage): Setanta (34), and Narasimha (54)
• Mind Charge (Next magical skill that will deal 1.9x damage) Atropos (59).
• Revolution (Greatly increases critical rates), Kali (60).
• Fire Boost (Increases fire damage by 25%), Hua Po (25) and Antique store (1 turquoise/garnet).
• Ice Boost (Increases Ice Damage by 25%), Jack Frost (14) and Antique store (1 turquoise/opal).
• Elec Boost (Increases Elec Damage by 25%), Take-Mikazuchi (31) and Antique store (1 turquoise/topaz).
• Wind Boost (Increases Wind Damage by 25%), Kushi mitama (35), and Antique store (1 turquoise/emerald).
• Kumbhanda (63) -Fire Amp (Increases fire damage by 50%), Kumbhanda (63).
• Ice Amp (Increases Ice Damage by 50%), Titania (55)
• Elec Amp (Increases Elec Damage by 50%), Odin (66) –
• Wind Amp (Increases Wind Damage by 50%), Ganesha (65)
• Apt Pupil (Increases critical rates), Oukuninushi (50.0 –
• High Counter (20% chance of reflecting Physical attacks), Siegfried (67).
• Auto-Mataru, Melchizedek (68)
• Auto-Maraku (Automatic Marakukaja effect during battle), Raphael (68).
• Auto-Masuku, Horus (68 )
• Endure (Survive with 1HP after mortal blow once per fight), Hell Biker (66)
• Enduring Soul (Survive with full health after a mortal blow once per combat), Attis (76).
• Unshaken Will (Protects the user from fear, charm rage panic, panic, distress, and rage), Asura (93).
• Null Poison (Protects the user from poison), Barong 56 – and Antique shop (1 turquoise).
• Null Charm (Protects the user from charm), Antique shop (1 turquoise).
• Absorb Slash (Absorbs damage caused by Slash attacks), Helel 96 – Vision Quest reward (Priestess’ door)
• Absorb Strike (Absorbs damage caused by Strike attacks), Abaddon (75) and Vision Quest reward (Emperor/Empress Door)
• Absorb Pierce (Absorbs damage caused by Pierce Attacks), Nidhoggr 76 – and Vision Quest reward (Hierophant Door)
• Absorb Fire (Reduces damage from Fire attacks), Skadi 88 – and Vision Quest reward (Lovers’ door)
• Saturnus (85 – Absorbs damage from Ice attacks), Absorb Ice (Absorbs Ice), and Vision Quest reward. (Chariot/Justice Door)
• Absorb Elec (Absorbs damage caused by Elec attacks), Kartikeya 77 – Vision Quest reward (Hermitdoor)
• Absorb Wind (Absorbs damage caused by Wind attacks), Ananta 83 – Vision Quest reward (Strength/Fortunedoor)
• Repel Light (Reflects Light Insta-kills) Satan (87 –
• Repel Dark (Reflects Dark Insta-kills), Gabriel (76 –
• Arms Master (Halves HP cost of Phys skills), Chi You 94 – and Antique shop (10 pearl)
• Spell Master (Halves SP cost of Magic skills), Lucifer (97) and Antique store (10 diamonds)
• Regenerate 3 (Passively regain 6 HP per turn), Norn 70 – and Antique Store (7 Aquamarine).
• Invigorate 3 (Passively regain 7 SP per turn), Antique store (7 Amethyst)

The best card for grinding purposes is Growth 3. (Personas with this skill gain 100% exp when inactive), Jatayu 59 – and Antique shop (7 opal). This skill and its card are the most useful when farming other skill cards. This skill will significantly reduce the amount required to grind. If the persona has no farming skill cards or doesn’t give away its rank 10 exp bonus for farming, you can put this card in the persona. Then grind until it reaches the level required to get its card. Save the persona by going back to the entrance. You have now made this persona a skill-card fodder.

Two skill cards are worthy of special mention

• Weapons Master (Physic attacks using weapons’ damage increase by 25%), rescue request only (January).
• Divine Grace (Doubles the potency of healing spells), rescue request only, November

These skills cannot be grindable because they only appear once in a playthrough due to the way rescue requests work. P3P has reworked Naganaki Shrine’s Shrine in Naganaki Shrine so that you can duplicate your skill cards after five days. (A side note, it implies that the fox at the shrine speaks). These cards can be used multiple times, but not as many as the other cards on this list.

If this list is unsatisfactory, there are many other sources where you can find other skill cards that can be grindable.

Stats and Stats Inheritance

This game has four ways to increase your persona stats: Leveling up, Arcades, and Wand card from the shuffle. Stat cards are the best way to increase stats. For reasons that will become obvious, I recommend leveling your personas up to 99.

Stat cards are items that can be purchased from an Antique store. They require 2 onyxes and 1 other gemstone to make the best. These being:

Amethyst for King Of Swords (St+4 and Lu+2 –

Garnet for King Of Wands (Ma +4 & Lu +2 –

Turquoise for King of Cups, En +4 and Lu+2 –

Aquamarine for King Of Coins (Ag+4 and Lu+2 –

It is easy to grind onyx or the other gem, especially in NG+, where the Vision Quest Doors are available from the beginning. To find onyx, you only need to start at the 25th floor and climb up to the 36th. Keep fighting shadows. You will get 99 Onyx in …. a few hours if you do that enough.

The other gems depend upon the block you fight, but the best method for some is to use Vision Quest doors.

Amethyst can be found on the same floors as the Onyx, which is good.

Garnet is from Emperor/Empress Door

Turquoise comes from Chariot/Justice Door

Aquamarine can be found on floors higher than 36 in Arqa

Now, the bad news ….

Making 6 personas with max stats, relying only on stat cards, would take more than 4 grinding sessions why I recommend taking the stat boosts starting at level 99. This is not something you want to hear, but there are ways to minimize it. This is because of “Stats Inheritance”.

“Stats Inheritance,” as the name implies, allows for transferring a persona’s boosted stat to another persona via fusion. This will only work for stat boosts from stat cards (leveling, arcade, and wand card gains do not apply). This is how it works. The stat boost will be transferred to the result in the first fusion. The gains will be half for the second fusion that uses this result. Continue on, and the stats that were boosted will disappear. In other words, the stats boosted by Stat Inheritance will disappear after the first fusion. This is an excellent thing because great personas can chain up, and you will need fewer stat cards to boost the builds. Orpheus Telos, for example, is a group of six personas who are all great by themselves. If one is inclined to learn fusion paths, they could save multiple stat cards. As an alternative, there’s always onyx-grinding.

A demonstration of Stats Inheritance at work:

Orpheus receives 60 St stat cards (Nice), from Orpheus, who has 9 St.

Fusing with Nekoshogun creates a Uriel with 44 innate Saint (Will inherit 60 from Orpheus, even though this is more than the 99 limit. It has 99 St).

Fusing Uriel and Orpheus to make Samael. (Has 27 Stat base, inherited 30 ST from Uriel to make the 57-pound figure.

Fusing Samael and Black Frost to create Hanuman. (Has 26 St Innate, inherited 15 from Samael).

Important Personas

This section will only discuss some individuals who are notable in terms of fusion. This may also be useful for people who are planning fusion routes. Orpheus Telos is the first.

He is unique in many ways. P2 reference (To Kai/custom/prime persons), the only persona who both have a special recipe, (Hexagonal), and a multitude Tri-fuse dishes. He also has no innate skill other than Victory Cry. This makes him the persona with most skill sets. Even with these tips, fusion in P3P can be quite a task. Because he inherits everything, I suggest that people use Tri-fuse recipes instead of Hexagonal Fusion because it reduces how many personas are needed to be conditioned prior to fusion. You only have five skill slots, but skill cards can easily fix this problem.

Next is Thanatos.

This persona is a joke in terms of gameplay. Except for one thing, it’s a source of fodder for multiple other personas. Thanatos will always be able to bring skills such as 4th-tier elemental spells to Messiah, Orpheus Telos, and many more, due to the game’s recipes. I recommend that you don’t make a build of him, or at least not the one you build first. His unique position in fusion can be used to create greater personas than those who come before him.

Next, the multiple Fool personas (except Orpheus, Black Frost and Susano-O) are listed.

As you can see, these guys were given decently high skills to inherit. Fool personas only require one or two fusion steps to reach every other arcana. These Fool personas can be loaded with decent skills to facilitate the transfer of skills across the board.

Next is Metatron.

Although he is not apparent, he is necessary for magic repel inheritance. He can learn three of the four magic repels within one. I fused it down to the Fool personas shown beforehand. You can get from him (Garuda has to repel wind, which Metatron does not have).

Next is Alilat.

This is Metatron’s complete opposite. She can learn all phys repels in a single sitting, making it very useful for supporting roles. You can also combine these repels with other repels that are innate to certain phys elements like Girimekhala or Rangda. Could be support, or could be fodder.

Last is Anubis.

If fused correctly, a very versatile persona. If properly prepared and utilized P3P Fusion, could assume any role. However, phys resist is not required for most roles (Assuming Armor of Light).

Caution when dealing with money

This is just to remind you that fusion in P3 is a costly endeavor.

Keep in mind that fusion can be expensive. It is expensive to build strong personas. It’s a lot of work, with hours spent grinding for gems or yen. It is essential to learn the best way to make money in P3P. It is simply letting party members wander around Adamah and finding loot chests for them. You will soon reach max money after completing more than a few floors. Or to grind exp for party members and other purposes. If you are doing this for regular fusions and the protagonist is not moving, do it at the current block.

Even though max money is not very high, it is still a good value for the number of personas that have been built. These prices would be expected if one played on Maniac or Hard.

For lower difficulties, it is approximately 700K. It’s still not that much. It’s because of their stats. Personas with higher stats are more expensive. This is especially true in Hard or Maniac. That’s the warning.

This is all you need to know about general P3P Fusions.

 

This is all about Persona 3 Portable – Basic Fusion Mechanics; I hope you enjoy reading the Guide! If you feel like we should add more information or we forget/mistake, please let us know via commenting below, and thanks! See you soon!