Only a few Personas throughout the history of the beloved Atlus franchise have been around since the beginning. One such Persona is also one of the most beautiful, with a stunning backstory to boot. That Persona is none other than Ishtar, who you can find out how to unlock in this Ishtar Persona 5 guide.
Ishtar is one of the most elaborately-designed Personas in the JRPG series and has been present in many games. That said, she is a valuable companion within Persona 5, specifically, and is one I have used in the past in my playthroughs. For this reason, I highly suggest that players consider adding her to your party if they want to excel in combat. To learn how to fuse and acquire her, her skills, and everything else, check out our Ishtar Persona 5 guide below.
Bottom Line Up Front
Ishtar is one of the oldest Personas in the series, being around since pretty much the conception of the original Shin Megami Tensei series from Atlus. She was even there at the beginning of the Persona series in its inception on the PlayStation 1 and has been present in several games since.
Her most recent appearance in the series, though, was in Persona 5 where she is a highly recommended Persona, especially for the endgame portions of the JRPG, since she is one of the last and most powerful Personas you are to encounter. She is challenging to get, though, since she is tied to a specific Persona 5 Confidant.
Ishtar Persona 5 Overview
During my time playing through Persona 5 and its definitive version, Royal, three separate times, a few key Personas are almost always part of my team. I have it down to a cycle at this point of using the same ones repeatedly.
I generally try to mix things up and use Personas that I didn’t use in the past, but there are still some that I gravitate toward more often than not. One of the Personas that surprisingly made the cut into my party in one of my most recent playthroughs was the star of this guide, Ishtar.
Ishtar is a Persona that I didn’t use much in my first couple of Persona 5 playthroughs, mainly due to acquiring her so late into the JRPG’s main story. That said, she was an essential part of my party in the endgame of the most recent playthrough, especially when it came to the Royal-specific content.
She is by far one of my favorite Personas in Persona 5 now and one of the most powerful at the same time. This makes sense since she is one of the endgame Personas tied to one of the many Confidant Arcana in the experience. Here’s everything that you need to know about Ishtar.
Appearance Explained
Ishtar has mostly had the same general appearance since her debut in the early days of the Shin Megami Tensei series. Even back then, in the SNES days, Ishtar had the mostly same impression of a beautiful goddess with long, flowing blonde hair that was so wavy and massive that perhaps even Rapunzel would be jealous.
She wears a simple outfit of a white skirt and a white top that doesn’t give her too much defensive protection in fights, but perhaps she doesn’t need it as a goddess. Her face is kind and pretty, but the most memorable part of her appearance is the two massive horns that are coming out of her head.
Overall, this gives Ishtar an intriguing appearance as everything feels so uniform and beautiful in this design, but then you have the horns thrown in there. They don’t necessarily give off this evil or sinister vibe to her, but they do enough to ensure that there is more to Ishtar than meets the eye. There is a reason this design has been consistent for all these years.
Origins
Like most of the Personas that you’ll meet in the series and Persona 5, specifically, there is a real-world equivalent and inspiration behind Ishtar. In her case, she is derived from places like Babylonia and later Assyria, where she was known as the goddess of a few different aspects of life.
Ishtar was in charge of fertility, love, and even war. In this way, perhaps she is the best example of how love and war are intrinsically tied to one another. In some cases, she is known to be the equivalent of the Sumerian goddess Inanna who fulfilled some of the same roles in her religion.
She was among the most popular goddesses and religious figures at this time and had many followers and seemingly temples that were based around her. In time, this led to other cultures and religions taking the idea of Ishtar and adopting her to their own beliefs with slightly different names and origins.
Featured Games
Ishtar has been the renowned and stunning goddess throughout a variety of games. Her introduction, at least in a way in which you could recruit her to your team and use her skills in battle, was in Shin Megami Tensei II. But there are so many other games beyond that where she is featured.
Here are all of the Atlus games that have let you use and collect Ishtar in the past:
- Shin Megami Tensei II: Though she was mentioned in previous titles, this was her first proper appearance where you could collect her.
- Shin Megami Tensei if
- SMT Devil Summoner
- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
- Imagine
- Strange Journey
- Persona 4 and Golden
- Devil Survivor Overclocked
- Catherine: One of the only cases of a non-SMT or Persona game where a Persona shows up.
- SMT IV
- SMT IV: Apocalypse
- Persona Q
- Persona 5 and Royal
- Persona Q2
- SMT Liberation Dx2
- SMT V
- Soul Hackers 2
Not only was Ishtar part of the SMT series from almost the first game in the franchise, but she was also there from the beginning of the Persona games. Oddly enough, though, she wasn’t in the next few games after the first Persona and didn’t reappear until Persona 4.
Since then, though, she has been a staple in nearly every Persona game. As such, it seems unlikely that she will be missing from any future Persona games, such as a possible Persona 6 someday.
How to Acquire Ishtar in Persona 5
In Persona 5, specifically, there is only one way to get Ishtar: fusion. This is not a situation where you can go around one of the Palaces or Mementos and find Ishtar in a battle there to recruit her. She is exclusive to fusion, and even there, there is a bit of confusion regarding this part.
For one, Ishtar is one of the highest-level Personas in Persona 5. You are going to need a certain Confidant rank or be basically near the end of the game’s main story before you can get her in a reasonable manner. However, it is only worsened when you have to literally unlock the ability to fuse for her in the first place. But here’s how to get Ishtar in Persona 5.
How to Unlock the Ability to Fuse Ishtar
First off, before you can do anything else, you need to unlock the ability to fuse for Ishtar. This is quite confusing since there are few Personas that do this, but Ishtar is the ultimate Persona of the Lovers Arcana in this JRPG. This effectively ties her directly to the Lovers Confidant in this game.
That person happens to be none other than Ann Takamaki. If you wish to fuse and create Ishtar, you are going to need to focus first on Ann. She is the first female Phantom Thieves member so you have plenty of time to get to know her throughout the game’s main story.
In fact, for some players who might want to romance or befriend her, for instance, this prerequisite may not even be an issue for you. Regardless, though, make sure to max out her Confidant ranks all the way to 10 before trying to get Ishtar. You don’t have to romance her to reach rank 10, either, so don’t let that be a hindrance for you.
Once you reach rank ten and max out your friendship with Ann, one of the various things you’ll unlock is the ability to fuse for the ultimate Persona of the Lovers Arcana, Ishtar.
Ishtar Level Requirement Explained
Once you finally unlock the ability to fuse for Ishtar in Persona 5, this is where the true fun begins. You see, you can honestly max out your friendship with Ann relatively early in the game, long before you even reach the level that is necessary for fusing for Ishtar.
But, in reality, the other requirement is you generally have to be at least level 85 to fuse for Ishtar since this is the level that she awakens at. That is very high, nearing the point where the max level would be. For most players who don’t break the game or use some wacky grinding method, you pretty much won’t get Ishtar until the final dungeon in the main story.
Thankfully, there is a way around this, and it has to do with another Confidant, which is the Strength Arcana. Caroline and Justine are the Velvet Room assistants in this game, and they have their own Confidant that is tied to showing them various Persona requests they ask for.
If you are able to max out their relationship, which is tough, admittedly, you will unlock a valuable ability that lets you fuse for Personas that are at a higher level than you. This is a broken ability, but the key here is that it costs a bonkers amount of money to make this happen, depending on your level and the level of the Persona you’re trying to acquire.
So, again, unless you found a way to break the game, it’s unlikely that you will be able to take too much advantage of this aspect with Ishtar on your first playthrough of Persona 5.
Best Ishtar Persona 5 Recipes
Without further ado, let’s dive into how to fuse for Ishtar. Despite being an ultimate Persona in this game, there are surprisingly multiple ways to fuse for her. This can be confusing for some players since there isn’t an obvious recipe you need to follow within the game.
Here are the three best recipes that I recommend using for Ishtar, due to the availability of the material Personas and the price it takes to make it happen if you’re resummoning these Personas:
- Kali (level 77 Persona from the Empress Arcana) and Sraosha (level 80 from Star Arcana)
- Abaddon (level 74 from Judgement) and Beelzebub (level 84 from Devil)
- Uriel (level 81 from Justice) and Attis (level 82 from Hanged Man)
What to Fuse Ishtar Into Next
Now, Ishtar is one of the endgame Personas, so there isn’t much of a need to fuse her into something else. You can certainly acquire her and keep her on your team until the end of the game, including the Royal Palace. I did this myself, and she is a valuable member of the party.
That said, you may want to keep expanding your collection and use Ishtar to fuse for even stronger or rarer Personas. In that case, here are a few recipes you can use to fuse Ishtar into something that is roughly around the same level or higher than she is:
- Ishtar and Throne (level 71 from Justice): This makes Satan (level 92 from Judgement).
- Ishtar and Raja Naga (level 55 from Temperance): Makes Zaou-Gongen (level 80 from Strength)
- King Frost (level 61 from Emperor) and Ishtar: Makes Vishnu (level 83 from Fool Arcana)
Ishtar Persona 5 Stats Breakdown
In the end, I don’t recommend fusing Ishtar into something else. Unless you’re just trying to fill out your Compendium and intend to resummon Ishtar back into your team later. Which by the way, she costs an unbelievable amount of money to bring back, so keep that in mind.
You should keep Ishtar as part of your team due to her immense stats and power in combat. She is arguably the best support and healing character in the entire JRPG. While her offensive techniques are lackluster at times, almost no other character specializes in healing the way she does.
And even with the lack of offensive skills, you can use skill cards to fix that issue and turn her into a Persona that you may never even need to switch out of. Here are the stats that Ishtar has when you summon her to your team:
- Level 85 (note that this level is the base one, and it will likely go up much higher based on the fact that you are maxed out with Lovers, so you get all of the XP boosts for her this way)
- Strength: 48
- Magic: 59
- Endurance: 49
- Agility: 58
- Luck: 48
Overall, these are some of the most mid-range stats that you would find for a Persona like Ishtar. They aren’t the best; honestly, even the Magic stat leaves something to be desired. For a Persona this high in level, you would want to see at least some skills in the 60s range, but it is what it is.
As you can see, the Strength stat is nearly the worst of the bunch, making her not helpful for melee attacks. However, her Magic is high enough that you could theoretically turn her into a ranged magical machine with some items to increase this.
Or she can remain the healing support Persona that you switch to whenever your party is in need of trouble. Regardless, there is a lot to love about Ishtar’s potential across the board regarding her stats, even if they aren’t the best.
Resistances
When it comes to resistance and weaknesses, Ishtar is relatively simple. This could also be a place where some players may be disappointed, but I find that she is still one of the more useful Personas, even with her primary resistance.
Ishtar is rather plain and simple. She has one resistance in Persona 5 and a single weakness. It doesn’t get any easier or more fundamental than that. She is weak to wind attacks, so watch out for all of those Garu skills and the like. So long as you avoid those, though, you are likely good to go.
On the other hand, she is entirely immune to electrical attacks. Now, what you can do is equip an item or boost Ishtar to get rid of the weakness of wind attacks. If you do this, you will make her a solid Persona that you can main with since you won’t have to worry about weaknesses to anything.
But you won’t have much resistance, either, so there is that trade-off at the same time. Usually, Personas around this level have a bit more resistance wiggle room to work with.
All Learned Skills Explained
Ishtar has only seven skills she learns naturally or already has when you fuse for her. That said, these are some of the best skills in the entire game for her respective role. Here are all of the skills that Ishtar learns and how to unlock them:
- Absorb Wind: This passive skill lets Ishtar absorb wind attacks. In general, this will nullify her one weakness, but there are some cases where this isn’t always viable. This is a default skill for her at fusion.
- Mediarahan: Another default skill for Ishtar. This one lets you heal every active party member instantly to total health.
- Samarecarm: Another default skill for Ishtar. This one lets you revive a fallen party member with total health.
- Insta-Heal: This is another passive skill but it is learned at level 87. This ensures that Joker will remove any status ailment he gains after a single turn of it inflicting him.
- Maziodyne: This electric magic skill is learned at level 88. Ishtar will deal heavy electrical damage to every enemy that is on the battlefield when used.
- Spell Master: This is a passive skill active at all times that is learned at level 89. It makes it so that Joker only has to use half of the SP for all magical skills.
- Salvation: The final skill that Ishtar learns at level 90. This is an amped-up version of Mediarahan that heals all party members to total health and takes away any status ailments they have, barring a few unique exceptions.
Overall, as you can see, Ishtar is the best healer in the game by a long shot. If you can use Spell Master properly, though, she can be a devastating magical attacker, too. But since she only has one single offensive skill, you’ll need to use some skill cards on her to help her be the best she can be.
FAQs
Question: How do you get Ishtar Persona 5?
Answer: To get Ishtar in Persona 5, you first need to focus on maxing out the Lovers Arcana Confidant with Ann Takamaki. Once you do that, you want to be at least level 85 or have the Strength Confidant maxed out. From there, it is as simple as fusing two Personas together, like Kali and Sraosha.
Question: Is Ishtar a Good Persona?
Answer: Yes, Ishtar is a good Persona in Persona 5. In fact, she is one of the best in the game and arguably the best support and healer in the JRPG. With the right magical offensive skills added to her repertoire through the use of skill cards, you could even make her into one of the top overall Persona 5 Personas.
Question: How to Make Ishtar Persona 4 Golden?
Answer: Like in Persona 5, the only way to fuse for Ishtar in Persona 4 Golden is to max out the Lovers Arcana first with Rise Kujikawa. You’ll need to be at least level 71 in this game to fuse her using Personas like Garuda from the Star Arcana and Alice from the Death Arcana.
Who to Fuse Next in Persona 5
When it comes to Ishtar, you are dealing with one of the best Personas in the entire game. While she is focused almost entirely on healing and support, you won’t find a Persona that does it better in Persona 5. This makes her one of your party’s most highly recommended companions,.
I know that I don’t regret using Ishtar as part of my team in Persona 5 and will likely acquire her again when I replay the game for an inevitable fourth time down the road. Again, as I mentioned before, she is best used by adding one or two extra magical skills to make her even more valuable.
That said, the main issue with Ishtar is how far into Persona 5 you have to be to unlock her. If you want a magical Persona that is quite good and you can get much earlier in the game, I suggest checking out the Midnight Queen, otherwise known as Queen Mab in Persona 5.
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