Persona 5 Strikers retains a lot of the same elements and features found in its predecessors. One, however, that has seen drastic changes is the Confidant skills system, which has been simplified in the form of the new Bond skills in Strikers. In a nutshell, instead of needing to unlock these skills individually by hanging out with each member of the Phantom Thieves, they gradually become available to you as the story progresses. Unlocked Bond skills can then be obtained and leveled up through special Bond skill points.

How to Gain Bond Skill Points

While gaining points for your Bond skills is quite straightforward in P5 Strikers, you do have a few options to speed things up, especially for the pricier Bond skills like Oracle Recovery. In order to gain Bond points, you need to fill up the BOND meter. This happens naturally as the story progresses and whenever you undertake the few social events in the game.

To increase the rate at which the meter increases, you can do a couple of things. For one, you can defeat as many Shadows as possible every time you enter one of Persona 5 Strikers’ Jails. Defeating enemies will grant you more BOND meter, and consequently more Bond points for your skills. The other way is by completing Requests. These are the game’s equivalent to side missions and by completing them, you gain additional Boind skill points. Some are also repeatable and grant even more points when undertaking them several times. From the second Jail and onwards you’ll also get the option to do Requests for your fellow Phantom Thieves in the real world. These grant good chunks of Bond skill points and you should not be skipped as you can’t return to the real world locations once you’ve moved on.

Best Bond Skills to Unlock as Early As Possible

Persona 5 Strikers has 30 Bond skills in total. Each of them can be unlocked and raised up to level 3. Some Bond skills affect your party members’ combat abilities, their Persona skills, and other features, such as the potency of healing items and the amount of money acquired from battles. Below are the Bond skills you should prioritize as soon as possible to help make your Jail exploring easier.

Bondmaker

This one is a no-brainer. It increases your BOND meter level faster and that means more skill points. Getting this to level 2 will take some time but even at level 1, it’s an incredible boost to your Bond skill unlocking.

Oracle Recovery

This one is the most expensive in the game and for good reason. It grants you HP and SP at the end of each battle. SP comes in short supply and equally so do SP recovery items. By unlocking this skill and leveling it up to max as early as possible means you’ll be needing fewer trips to the real world.

SP Boost

As we mentioned above, Persona 5 Strikers, like its predecessor, is quite stingy on the SP front. For a small number of Bond skill points, you can increase the amount each party member has to help ensure everyone is combat-ready for longer before needing to retreat from Jails.

Spiritual Arts

Persona abilities are incredibly powerful in P5 Strikers. Once you master weaknesses, enemies will barely be able to land a hit before you’ve vaporized them. This Bond skill will improve the power of your elemental-based attacks which cover the majority of weaknesses in the game.

Extortionist

Money makes the world go round, and the same goes for the world of Persona 5 Strikers. Fuller Phantom Thieves coffers means better equipment and more recovery items. This Bond skill will increase the amount you gain after each battle. By pairing this with Smart Shopper, you’ll be able to save more to buy powerful gear down the line.

Pass Appeal

Showtime attacks are incredibly powerful but their meter fills up quite slowly. This is where the Baton Pass comes into play by increasing the rate at which it fills up. This Bond skill will make Baton Passes increase it at an even faster rate.

Proper Showman

The Phantom Thieves always want to close off their battles with a bang. This is why Showtime attacks exist. By unlocking this Bond skill, you’ll make the show even more spectacular by increase the amount of damage your Showtime attacks deal.