Captain Kidd Persona 5 Guide

You could argue that one of the main appeals of the Persona games is the various Personas themselves. In any given game, the most exciting Personas are those belonging to your party members. Captain Kidd is one such example of this, and what an example he is. Kidd is the second signature Persona you’re introduced to in Persona 5, meaning you’ll spend a lot of time with him. That’s why I’m putting together this Captain Kidd Persona 5 Guide.

Captain Kidd is as stylish as he is powerful. He’s a phenomenal early-game Persona that’s easy to understand – and his late-game potential is unmatched by any of the Phantom Thieves‘ signature Personas. I’ll explain everything you need to know about P5’s resident pirate right here.

Bottom Line Up Front

Captain Kidd is based on a real-life pirate that operated in the Caribbean under the same name. He started as a privateer and helped the English in a war against the French. However, he ultimately turned to piracy after losing the protection of the British Monarchy. While Kidd was a notorious pirate, his luck eventually ran out, and he was executed in May of 1701 for his crimes.

Captain Kidd made his first appearance in Persona 5 as the signature Persona of the Phantom Thief Skull. He returned in Persona 5 Royal, Persona Q2, and Persona 5 Strikers. Much like P5’s other signature Personas, Captain Kidd hasn’t appeared in any SMT game without the Phantom Thief cast.

Overview

• Location: N/A.
• Key Skills: God’s Hand – Deal Colossal Physical damage to one foe.
• Traits: Ragint Temper – Gives you a 20% chance to get a 40% damage buff on every Physical attack.
• Resistances: Electricity.
• Weaknesses: Wind.

Captain Kidd’s stats at level 99 are as follows:

• Strength – 73
• Magic – 43
• Endurance – 81
• Agility – 54
• Luck – 53

Captain Kidd is one of the best party Personas in all of Persona 5 Royal. He has access to both Charge and God’s Hand – which together make for some of the hardest-hitting damage you’ll see come out of the Phantom Thieves. Kidd never left my party during my initial Persona 5 Royal playthrough, and this damage potential is the main reason why.

In this Captain Kidd guide, I’ll be going over everything you need to know about Captain Kidd – from how to use him in combat to why he’s the signature Persona belonging to Skull. You’ll be a Captain Kidd expert when I’m through with you.

Appearance

Captain Kidd may just be one of the best-looking Party Personas ever created. He looks unlike any other Persona you’ll come across in P5, and right up to the last Palace remains one of the game’s more iconic Personas.

His design goes hard on its pirate inspiration, and it’s unashamed in just how much it revels in that. Captain Kidd himself is depicted as the skeleton of a pirate captain with burning, furious orange eyes. His clothing design is inherently chaotic, with the bright blues of his undershirt clashing with the black color palette that dominates the rest of the character.

Over that undershirt, Captain Kidd is wearing an overcoat with as much style as substance. He has two cutlasses attached to either side of his chest – with the blades curving to form a collar, framing his face perfectly. The overcoat flows out behind him, giving us a glorious look at the deep red lining inside the coat. This draws your eye and immediately gives you a sense of movement when looking at the design – which makes sense when you consider that this is all topped off by the fact that Captain Kidd is riding a pirate ship like a surfboard.

Captain Kidd’s Lore

The Captain Kidd Persona is inspired by the legendary pirate William Kidd. Kidd was a Scottish captain that started as a privateer, assisting the English in defending against French aggression in the Caribbean.

In recognition of his feats, the King of England granted Kidd legal protection, provided he remained loyal to the crown. That wasn’t to be, though, as an unfortunate mistake resulted in Kidd and his crew raiding a neutral vessel – thus forcing the King to withdraw his protection.

After some time spent as a pirate after this, he was tried and executed in London.

Ryuji Sakamoto’s Persona being based on William Kidd is no mistake. His story almost mirrors Ryuji’s in a way. Both were forced to live a life of exile and looked down upon by authoritative figures. “You’ve been disgraced already, why not hoist the flag and wreck havoc” is the line spoken by Captain Kidd during his awakening, which reflects that.

Both were not only forced into their positions but decided to fight back instead of simply accepting their circumstances. William Kidd fought against King William III, and Ryuji fought against Kamoshida.

Captain Kidd’s Key Moments

Given that Captain Kidd is new to the Persona series, it’s only natural that he wouldn’t have too many important moments to remember. While he has appeared in PQ2 and P5S, his most impactful moment was his initial awakening scene in Persona 5.

He’s the second Persona to awaken in that game – next only to the protagonist’s Persona. This gives Kidd a level of impact and importance reserved for few Personas. Persona 5 was many players’ first venture into the world of SMT, so there’s a high chance that Captain Kidd is one of the first Personas that many fans ever met.

He awakens in Kamoshida’s Palace shortly after the protagonist’s awakening and subsequent capture. He appears to make a pact with Ryuji Sakamoto, turning him into the Phantom Thief Skull and assisting in the rescue of Joker. From then on, he joins Skull and Joker as an original Phantom Thief Persona.

Featured Games

Despite the killer design and a featured role in Persona 5, Captain Kidd hasn’t had all that many SMT appearances. None, in fact. He’s one of the Personas created brand new for P5, meaning his only appearances come from that game and its spinoffs.

As it stands, these are the only four Persona/SMT games that Captain Kidd has appeared in:

• Persona 5.
• Persona 5 Royal.
• Persona Q2.
• Persona 5 Strikers.

Captain Kidd is a powerful Persona, and he looks incredible. We may see him in future Persona games in some capacity – potentially as DLC like many other featured Personas from past games. It would be a shame if he were a one-and-done, at any rate.

Captain Kidd’s Transformation

Captain Kidd is linked with Ryuji. The more effort you put into Ryuji as a party member, the more effective he is. When you maximize that effort and finish Ryuji’s confidant, Captain Kidd will transform into Seiten Taisei. He is a more powerful Electric Persona that will replace Captain Kidd permanently – there’s no way to revert to Kidd after this.

The two Personas keep the same trait, so there’s no gameplay benefit to not completing the transformation. What’s more, if you’re particularly anti-Seiten Taisei, reaching Persona 5 Royal’s Third Semester will allow you to transform the Persona again. This time, Seiten Taisei will morph into William – returning to the pirate analogy for the culmination of Ryuji’s character development.

Trait and Skills

Raging Temper

Captain Kidd’s Trait is called Raging Temper. It gives you a percentage chance to boost the damage of an ally’s Physical attack by 40%. According to some community testing, that percentage chance equates to roughly 20% of the time. So, on average, every fifth physical skill you attack with will deal an extra 40% damage.

Given that Captain Kidd is an early-game Persona, this trait is perfect. It’s simple to understand – and affects the most common attack type during the early game. There are plenty of Personas in the game that can be built for insane Physical damage – so having this passive chance at a 40% buff just from using Captain Kidd is incredible.

Captain Kidd is one of the best party member Personas in P5R. Provided you’re using Physical attacks, you should be running him.

Beyond his trait, Captain Kidd has a significant roster of potential skills to learn. There’s nothing complicated about his skill list – most of the skills are simple damage dealers. However, one or two technical skills can make or break Captain Kidd, depending on how you build him.

Here are the skills that Captain Kidd will naturally learn throughout your run:

• Zio – Innate: Light Electric damage and low chance of Shock to one enemy.
• Lunge – Level 5: Light Physical damage to one enemy.
• Tarukaja – Level 9: Increases the Attack stat of one ally for three turns.
• Headbutt – Level 11: Light Physical damage and a medium chance to inflict Forget to one enemy.
• Adverse Resolve – Level 14: Passive skill that increases critical rate while surrounded by enemies.
• Rampage – Level 17: Light Physical damage to every enemy. Each enemy is hit one to three times.
• Mazio – Level 21: Light Electric damage and low chance to inflict shock to all enemies.
• Memory Blow -Level 24: Light Physical damage and low chance to inflict Forget to all enemies.
• Assault Dive – Level 26: Heavy Physical damage to one enemy.
• Zionga – Level 28: Medium Electric damage and low chance of Shock to one enemy.
• Swift Strike – Level 32: Miniscule Physical damage to all enemies two to four times.
• Shock Boost – Level 35: Passive skill that increases your chance of inflicting Shock.
• Elec Break – Level 39: Support skill that suppresses all enemy’s innate Electric resistances.
• Mazionga – Level 43: Medium Electric damage and low chance of Shock to all enemies.
• Deathbound – Level 47: Medium physical damage to all enemies one to two times.
• Elec Boost – Level 39: Passive skill that strengthens Electric attacks by 25%.
• Megaton Raid – Level 53: Severe Physical damage to one enemy.
• Ziodyne – Level 55: Heavy Electric damage and low chance to cause Shock.
• Matarukaja – Level 58: Support skill that increases the Attack of your party for three turns.
• Charge – Level 63: Support skill that causes Ryuji’s next Physical or Gun attack to deal 2.5x damage.
• Maziodyne – Level 67: Heavy electric damage and low chance to inflict shock to all enemies.
• Agneyastra – Level 71: Medium Physical damage to all enemies one to three times.
• God’s Hand – Level 75: Colossal Physical damage.

Best Captain Kidd Build

Captain Kidd will be leveling up, transforming, and otherwise changing throughout the entire course of your Persona 5 run. So, what skills you’re running is going to be limited. You’ll typically want to take whatever skills suit your needs at the time, as opposed to focusing on a proper build. That being said, if you do have Captain Kidd at max level, here’s the skill loadout I would recommend:

• Charge.
• God’s Hand.
• Agneyastra.
• Maziodyne.
• Elec Boost.
• Ziodyne.
• Elec Break.
• Matarukaja.

You’ve only got room for eight skills – which typically isn’t a lot. However, Captain Kidd has very few support skills. This means that most of his slots will be filled up by attacks, giving you a little bit of breathing room.

The only mandatory skills in this build are Charge and God’s Hand, or an equivalent Physical attack until you unlock it. That’s where all of Captain Kidd’s damage is going to come from. I’ve included Elec Boost along with a global and singular Electric attack, too. This will help you spread out damage when you’re up against multiple enemies, and lets you cover the rather common Electric weakness – all with a 25% damage buff.

Matarkuaja tops off that skill list nicely. It offers a party-wide attack buff for three turns – and while Captain Kidd isn’t a support Persona, this skill is still nice to have in your back pocket.

Captain Kidd’s Playstyle

Captain Kidd is one of the hardest-hitting party member Personas in the entire game. He gets access to God’s Hand, which can deal ludicrous damage if you build a setup around it with Charge. Given that you unlock God’s Hand at level 75, Captain Kidd’s potential culminate very late in your runs, if at all.

Having said that, you do gain access to Charge at level 63, which is obtainable in a vanilla run. Once you have Charge, you should consider building Captain Kidd into a Physical attacker that has a few Electric attacks to cover weaknesses.

Beyond that, Captain Kidd’s early game strength is all about that Electric affinity, as well as the Physical damage it can deal. It has the highest damage potential out of all early party members, again thanks to its access to powerful Physical moves – so use him as a beat stick.

Best Team Composition for Captain Kidd

Captain Kidd is an intense, hard-hitting Persona that is built for pure damage, and he can pair with pretty much whatever other party members you want. However, you’ll get the most out of it by pairing him with some of the more support-heavy Phantom Thieves.

Captain Kidd is primed to be your party’s primary damage dealer if you’re at a high enough level and you build around him. If you support that damage output, you’ll be staggered at just how quickly even powerful Shadows fall.

It can’t carry your team as Izinagi can, but it does output as much damage as you’re going to get from a signature Persona.

Queen

Queen is the best healer in Persona 5 Royal – No it’s not Morgana, despite what you may think. Queen has access to group healing, as well as a ton of other powerful support skills. She has access to enemy nullification skills, has a group Haze Physical skill that can help boost Captain Kidd’s God’s Hand to even further heights, and is better at cleansing ailments from your party.

Queen is going to be your main support character, which you can supplement with your Persona if you want to go down that route. In a pinch, you can use Queen as an attacker, too, given that she does have half-decent damage.

Unlike Morgana, Queen doesn’t die to a slight breeze. She has enough health to tank at least one powerful hit – most of the time. Making her not just one of the best pairings for Captain Kidd, but an S-tier inclusion in any team composition.

Fox

Fox and Goemon are persona 5’s hardest-hitting party members, next only to Captain Kidd himself. You’re effectively building into Goemon the same way you’d build into Captain Kidd. You’re all about the Physical damage, with a splash of Ice again to cover weaknesses.

Be aware – this lineup will leave your party weak to anything that can absorb those Physical attacks, so make sure you have a Persona yourself that can cover your team in that scenario.

Fox doesn’t have access to Charge, which is what hurts his damage potential compared to Captain Kidd. Despite that, you’ll still output great numbers if you keep your buffs and debuffs up.

Beyond that, Fox doesn’t have too much to offer. Goemon’s skills never vary from that “Ice attack / Physical attack” pattern, so there’s no real room for a strategy with him. He’s simply there to follow up on whatever survives Captain Kidd’s beating.

FAQ

Weakness and Resistances

Captain Kidd resists Electric, naturally. Electric isn’t the most common damage type in the world, especially early game, so that isn’t actually all that impactful. What is impactful, is the fact that Captain Kidd is weak to Wind, which can become a problem depending on what Palace you’re in.

While he has great Physical defense with a maximum of 81 Endurance, his Magic stat is abysmal at 43. This means he’ll be taking a lot of damage from anything that isn’t a Physical attack, including all Wind attacks. More often than not, this will result in a one-shot. So, if you suspect an enemy has a Wind affinity, swap Captain Kidd out.

Thankfully, that’s where his weaknesses end. He has no reflect, absorb, or block elements. Captain Kidd keeps things simple – fitting with his position as the second Persona the player gets access to.

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Eoin Black

At the bright young age of nine years old, Eoin played his first-ever video game and has never looked back, turning his passion into a profession. Despite investing serious time into Esports, Eoin always found himself returning to narrative-driven games, vowing to one day make it as a narrative designer himself.

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