[ Guide ] Alchemy Stars: Should You Pull for Persona 5 Royal Thieves? First Impressions

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The Persona 5 Royal cast are split into two gacha banners in their Alchemy Stars collab, and it’s time to decide if you should be going for either of them.

First thing to note, the banners themselves:

Fool and Faith: Joker and Violet
Priestess and Emperor: Queen and Fox

If you’re going to pull for their Alchemy Stars versions, be sure you know which Persona 5 Royal banner you’re gunning for. Comparisons will be made against the character’s class and other Aurorians with similar roles in their respective element. Information as provided by the official account is taken at face value, which is presumably max level and max Breakthrough. Regardless, it would be good to know if it’s worth it to roll for any of these Persona 5 Royal incarnations in Alchemy Stars.

THE 6-STARS

JOKER

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CLASS

CHARACTER	RARITY	COMPARISON
Jona	6☆	Joker has high nuke potential with stacking multiplier over Jona. However, her skill has synergy potential with Joker due to reducing the combo tile count.
Tohru	6☆	More simple nuke and diminishing returns on combo. If you have her, Joker could be the better option if you don't need the knockback.
Giles	6☆	If you prefer "safer" plays instead of managing the Sanity system, then Joker is likely better suited for longer battles.
Frostfire	6☆	Joker is likely more able to spam his skill and stack Exploit Weakness for the skill nuke to Frostfire's "more conditional" On Kill requirement.
Leona	5☆	If you don't have Burning synergy, then Joker would be more flexible.
Momo and Anzu	5☆	Potential meme synergy with the Captain switch from Joker's Equipment skill.
Nails	4☆	Much like Giles, if you prefer "safer" plays without needing to manage his HP, then Joker would likely be preferable unless you have Bleeding synergy.
Chandra	4☆	Joker has more AOE potential with his Special Skill, though an invested Chandra /could/ offer more skill spam potential.

ELEMENT

CHARACTER	COMPARISON
Charon	Joker loses out on diagonal attacks, knockback and colour-reset.
Uriel	If you have Burn synergy and / or prefer tile conversion, then Joker would probably not replace her.
Sinsa	Has large skill AOE, reduces enemy defense, has diagonal attack, probably complimentary team member rather than replacing.
Gram	Has Teleport, and buffs his own attack with his stacking mechanic, and self heal, complimentary team member rather than replacing.

VERDICT

Maybe? He does have some utility with the Exploit Weakness / Special Skill as well as skill nuke potentials. Admittedly, the writer’s personal preference weighs heavily in favour of diagonal attacks, but Joker should be a pretty decent consideration for skill nuke or high burst teams.

QUEEN

CLASS

CHARACTER	RARITY	COMPARISON
Michael	6☆	Michael offers repositioning utility, so hardly a direct comparison.
Eve	6☆	Queen should have a faster ramp up time and more consistent damage, with increased on-element utility.
Revy	6☆	Queen has less diminishing returns, though Revy does diagonal attacks with ramp up time to offset her decreasing damage.
Requiem	6☆	Queen would probably be a more consistent damage dealer, especially on-element.
Dayna	5☆	Seeing as the text seems to say Queen has a map-wide skill, she beats out Dayna by a country mile.
Pittman	5☆	If you don't need knockback, Queen should be the clear winner here.
Tessa	4☆	Much like with Pittman, if you don't need any enemy repositioning, Queen should be the clear replacement.
Angel	3☆	Goes without saying Queen will replace her easily.

ELEMENT

CHARACTER	COMPARISON
Wrath	Considering Wrath's damage peaks having a comparatively longer cooldown, Queen should be able to replace her fairly easily.
Luke	Also has increasing damage multiplier, Queen probably winning out a little more for on-element battles.
Kanna	Her ramp up time is arguably more finicky than Queen's, so Queen should be better.
Florine	Should prove to be a complimentary member to Queen.
Amemori	Teleporting and Captain shenanigans might be fun. Replacement is not 1-to-1.
Reinhardt	If you rather not want to think about positioning and stances, then go for Queen, though she's not really a full "replacement".

VERDICT

Leaning to Yes, due to her on-element prowess and not being too shabby outside of it either. She can also help increase the combo count with her Equipment Skill for self-synergy.

GACHA 5-STARS

VIOLET

CLASS

CHARACTER	RARITY	COMPARISON
Charon	6☆	He has both diagonal attacks with defense ignoring damage, so it's more to complimentary party members than "replacement".
Sinsa	6☆	Similarly to Charon, his diagonal attacks and defense reduction on enemies should make him and Violet more complimentary.
Gram	6☆	He offers a teleport and more "simple" damage / utility, so not a 1-to-1 consideration for replacement.
Regina	5☆	Outside of knockback, Violet should be able to take her spot.
Benny and Curo	5☆	The duo arguably has a bit more "range", but Violet should be easier to use.
Taki	5☆	Has a bit of ramp up time. Violet could potentially replace him, more so for on-element battles.
Rouge	5☆	Violet has arguably less conditional damage multipliers.
Cordy	5☆	Likewise with Rouge, Cordy's damage can be considered more conditional than Violet's.
Patty and Patsy	4☆	Can offer decent skill damage burst with conditional damage multiplier. When considering utility and stacks, Violet should win out.

ELEMENT

CHARACTER	COMPARISON
Uriel	Utility in tile conversion, and Burn debuff. Not direct replacement considering the former.
Jona	Jona's Noon state reducing combo-count requirements could pair them nicely, but perhaps not worth the slot.
Smokey	Comparison takes into consideration her Manticore's Kiss, which has diminishing returns. However, this doesn't mean a 1-to-1 replacement due to Smokey's teleport utility.
Tohru	Arguably one of the most vanilla skillsets out there, so if you'd rather proc the Special Skill for damage without diminishing returns, Violet could take her place.
Giles	If you don't like "riskier" plays and / or want longer staying power, then Violet could sub in during these occasions.
Leona	If you don't have more Burn synergies, then Violet could take her place.
Barbara	Conditional damage multiplier and stun. Could be subbed with Violet for more consistency.

VERDICT

Leaning to Yes, similar to Queen thanks to her on-element prowess and ability outside of it, alongside her team utility.

FOX

CLASS

CHARACTER	RARITY	COMPARISON
Sharona	6☆	Has teleport and decently fast ramp up time. Unlikely to be replaced.
Bethel	6☆	Bethel's damage feels a tad overtuned on her own, unlikely to be replaced.
Azure	6☆	Skill allows her to cover more area outside of her cooldowns, unlikely to be replaced.
Regal	6☆	Can offer diagonal attacks when skill is active besides having the stats of a 6-star. If you rather not manage Vis, then Fox could be an option especially for on-element fights.
Corax	5☆	Has utility in a teleport, unless you're willing to forgo that to slot in Fox.
Elma	5☆	Conditional damage and arguably janky kit would likely see her be easily replaced.
Jane	4☆	Has some team utility and skill spam potential. Considering stats and "less conditional" multipliers, Fox could probably take her spot.
Kuma and Pengy	4☆	Minor utility in tile conversion and increasing team HP; can probably be replaced.
Seleucid	3☆	Minor utility in tile conversion. Stats alone should make Fox an easy sub in.

ELEMENT

CHARACTER	COMPARISON
Carleen	With her utility and damage, Fox is unlikely to take her place.
Connolly	If you want more range, then maybe Fox won't replace her.
Fleur	Has focused damage and light AOE, unlikely to be replaced.
Vice: Keen Sight	If you don't need focused damage, then maybe replacable?
Vice	Fox should be able to offer less conditional damage multipliers.
Kayano	Maybe for Captain swap shenanigans. Actual effect and utility should be tested on case by case basis.
Allura	Can offer a good nuke, actual replacement value will need to be tested.

VERDICT

Leaning to Yes, as with Violet and Queen, having the on-element utility should be pretty good. More so with Kayano in this element that could see a usable meme to utilize his Equipment Skill.

MONA

Unlike the previous collab, the not-a-cat is a free 5-star in Alchemy Stars for Persona 5 Royal. Is the investment worth it?

CLASS

CHARACTER	RARITY	COMPARISON
Migard	6☆	Considering her teleport and execution utility, unlikely to be replaced.
Paloma	6☆	Mona seems to be a spin off from her skill set, so you could consider testing out to see who feels more intuitive to you.
Migard	6☆	Could be considered a more bursty, explosive version of Mona.
Cuscuta	5☆	Her stacks only affect herself, and knockback is not universal, so you could consider replacing her.
Dawn	5☆	Her utility in possible double-casting and heals could be consideration to not replace her, depending on your needs.
Lola	5☆	Mona would be more flexible in not requiring Aurora Time for additional effects.
Leah	3☆	Outside of her arguably niche utility, Mona would certainly be better by stats alone.

ELEMENT

CHARACTER	COMPARISON
Hiiro	Offers additional utility with conversion, unlikely to be replaced.
Beryl	Sheer damage potential alone makes Beryl unlikely to be replaced.
Hedy	Being a Carleen-lite, it's unlikely Hedy would be replaced either.
Yao	Utility with Captain swap shenanigans will need to be tested but can be considered.
Lenore	If you prefer not to manage Sanity, Mona would be relatively more straightforward.
Barton: Deft Blades	Again, if you would prefer not to do any resource management, Mona could be a "replacement", but hardly.
Odi	Offers Slow and Poison, and has diagonal attacks.
Robyn	More "centralized" damage than Mona's more-or-less column area of effect.
Areia	If you want more reach over piercing attacks and find the ATK / DEF demerit "too much", then consider replacing with Mona.
Lucoa	Lucoa should be more effective than Mona.

VERDICT

Maybe. Considering the powerhouses in his element that pack the punch with or without the elemental advantage, raising him might not be needed.

OVERALL

For overall value, the Priestess and Emperor banner might be the better pick if you don’t have as many resources. Of course, you should always pull for your faves regardless, so good luck with your Alchemy Stars gacha adventure for the Persona 5 Royal cast!

Download

Alchemy Stars

Publisher: Tencent

Developer: TOURDOG Studio

Release Date: 2021-06-17

Android, iOS

As ancient forces collide, harness the power of the Light to save the world from darkness! A revolutionary RPG that pushes the genre to new heights of strategy and suspense presented by Tencent Games and Tourdog Studio