Izanagi No Okami guide

Izanagi No Okami Guide

Persona 4 is a great game. It combines life-sim elements with Atlus’ fantastic dungeon-crawling action and tells a beautiful tale about being taken out of your comfort zone but going from a total stranger in a foreign town to a well-respected and revered part of the community.

The closeness and camaraderie created through your actions really hit home with one of the bigger themes of the Persona series. That is the strength our bonds give us.

To really enforce this theme and bring it to the forefront, the protagonist will often unlock an ultimate persona at the end of the game.

A literal manifestation of how our bonds have made us grow and become more complete and stronger as a person. Not only is it a touching moment, but ultimate personas are often something the player can use for themselves.

Persona 4‘s ultimate persona is Izanagi No Okami, the founding patriarch god of the Shinto religion. Welcome to a Izanagi No Okami Guide.

Who is Izanagi No Okami?

The story of Izanagi can be found in the Kojiki and the Nihon-Shoki, two of the oldest literary works in Japanese history. They are part accounts of religious text dictating the earliest parts of their world and part historical records when talking about real people who ruled.

Izanagi No Okami is the full name of patriarch diety and one of the starting points for Japanese religion. In the myths, he and his sister and wife, Izanami, were sent down from the primordial chaos to create land.

To do this, Izanagi used a spear called Ame No Nuboko. As he pulled it up, the droplets formed the land he and his wife settled on.

This first island, called Onogoroshima, was where Izanagi and his wife first began their marriage rituals. To make a very complicated and confusing story much shorter, they did the ritual wrong, so their first children came out deformed.

They redid their marriage ceremony to fix the issue of giving birth to the second of the seven divine generations.

However, tragedy struck when Izanami was giving birth to Hi no Kagutsuchi: a god of fire. He was either made of flames or constantly produced flames. Either way, he ended up burning Izanami to death.

After killing his child and splitting him into pieces that created volcanoes and other gods (and I thought my dad was bad), he set off on a quest to get back his wife.

His quest led him to Yomi, the underworld where the dead lie. He spent some time with her there but found himself confused by her strange requests. She would insist that he eat and completely forbid him from lighting anything so that he could see.

Izanagi eventually broke the latter request when he lit a comb on fire to create a makeshift torch. This is actually part of the reason why it’s considered bad luck to break a comb in Japan. Upon lighting his comb, Izanagi witnessed his wife’s rotting face, realizing she’d already eaten the food of Yomi and had become a part of the dead.

Izanagi flees upward as his wife gives chase, eventually blocking the way with a boulder. Izanami shouts that for his betrayal, she’ll take 1,000 souls a day from the world of the living, and in response, Izanagi shouts that he’ll just give rise to 10,000 living souls before they go their separate ways.

As Izanagi washed off the filth from Yomi, he actually gave rise to three more Gods with his wife, Amaterasu, Tsukiyomi, and Susano’o. He was most pleased with these three and split his domain, which consisted of all of creation, between the three of them.

How Does this Connect to the Game?

Izanagi No Okami

One of Persona 4’s significant motifs is Shinto mythology. The protagonist’s starting persona is Izanagi, and his rival Adachi’s persona is Magatsu Izanagi. Ameno Sagiri and Kunino Sagiri are both bosses in the game.

The final dungeon is even called Yomotsu Hirasaka, named after the slope that leads into the cave entrance of Yomi.

However, the use of Japanese mythology doesn’t really go beyond motif. The story told in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki doesn’t really appear to bear any relevance to the game’s story. Just as Persona 3 used Greek mythology, and Persona 5 used tricksters, it’s more to create a cohesive visual aesthetic than something comprehensive.

Even looking at it from a design standpoint, the persona, Izanagi No Okami, takes more inspiration from the starting persona than from the myth.

The most I could pull is that the persona’s knife-spear weapon is a reference to the spear used to give rise to the lands. Everything else about its design seems to just exist because white and gold look cool together.

Role in the Story

In the story of Persona 4 and Persona 4: Golden, Izanagi No Okami is a product of all the bonds made by the protagonist during their stay in Inaba. These bonds are finally catalyzed during the final boss fight against Izanami after she drags all of his friends under. It’s a scripted story segment, but a touching one nonetheless.

After hearing the voices of the ones he’s made bonds with, his starting Persona evolves into Izanagi No Okami. This one persona has the power to shrug off Izanami’s attacks completely and retaliates with Myriad Truths, a special move that does Izanami in for good and rests the other world to its natural state.

This scene actually plays out differently in the Persona 4: The Animation tv series. Margaret is the one who shows up in the backstage area after Izanami pulls him under.

She actually challenges the protagonist, Yu Narukami, to a fight, and it’s during the course of his battle that Yu realizes his strength comes from his bonds to get Izanagi No Okami.

Izanagi No Okami’s Key Relationships

Izanagi No Okami's Key Relationships

Izanagi No Okami’s most significant relationship is with the protagonist of persona 4. It’s the result of all the feelings and lessons he’s accumulated over his time in Inaba.

It symbolically shows the strength of character that they’ve acquired through their ability to defeat Izanami and its sheer dominance as a usable persona.

You might even be able to say that Izanagi No Okami IS all of the player’s Key relationships made manifest, which is kind of poetic in a sense.

Its arcana being “World” is even a sign to show how complete it is. This is the apex of the Persona 4 protagonists’ power as he literally can’t go any higher than that.

How to Unlock The Persona

There is only one way to unlock Izanagi No Okami in the original Persona 4 and in Persona 4: Golden. You have to get the true ending and then start a new game plus. This may sound like a total bummer, and it kind of is, but Izanagi No Okami really isn’t made for first playthroughs.

It’s not only an extremely high level at 91 but also has the best resistances and best moves in the game. Just being able to fuse the thing is a humungous hassle because of all the personas it requires.

The personas you need to fuse Izanagi are these:

  • Izanagi (Fool)
  • Sandman (Strength)
  • Nata Taishi (Chariot)
  • Girimehkala (Moon)
  • Norn (Fortune)
  • Okuninushi (Emperor)
  • Orthrus (Hanged Man)
  • Kartikeya (Star)
  • Mithra (Temperance)
  • Tzitzimitl (Priestess)
  • Cu Chullain (Tower)
  • Legion (Fool)

This may seem like a completely random list of a bunch of random personas, but if you take the first kana of their names and write it out, you get a phrase that translates into “Create Izanagi No Okami,” which is pretty neat.

Izanagi No Okami also makes appearances in other games in the Persona series.

In Persona 4: Arena and Persona 4: Arena Ultimax, Izanagi No Okami is little more than a cameo that appears when Yu Narukami uses his ultimate “Myriad Truths.”

In Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth and Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, the player can obtain Izanagi No Okami through a special quest.

In Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, once you have both the protagonist from Persona 3 and Persona 4 reach level 55, a special quest called “The Power of the Wildcard” unlocks. You’ll be challenged to go two-versus-one with just the protagonist against Margaret, the Velvet Room Attendant.

Upon completion, both of their personas will evolve into Messiah and Izanagi No Okami respectively. The rest of the party’s personas will now also evolve on their own once they reach level 55.

In Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, it works much in the same way as it does above. You’ll get a special request from Elizabeth after completing special screenings 42 through 45. You’ll get four sooty films from each fight, upon which you’ll get to do battle with one of the Velvet Room Attendants.

The fights are significantly easier because you can bring more than just two characters. The protagonist from persona 3, the female protagonist from persona three portable, the protagonist from Persona 5, and Akechi are brought to the fight.

Upon completion, all of the personas save for Akechi, whose persona just gets stronger. The rest of the party’s personas will evolve once they reach level 55.

In Persona 4: Dancing All Night, Izanagi No Okami is a special feature of the final dance against the final boss Mikuratana No Kami. It’s more of a cameo than anything else, but it does get a cool double-necked guitar that resembles his usual weapon. I thought it was a pretty neat detail.

In Persona 5: Royal Izanagi No Okami is DLC that you can download from the digital store. It cost around $9.99 from the PlayStation store because he’s only a part of a DLC persona bundle that includes female Orpheus Telos, Athena, and Raoul. Because he’s DLC, he has no real direct impact on the game’s story, just being a usable cameo persona.

Izanagi No Okami’s Skills

Izanagi No Okami's Skills

The skills of Izanagi No Okami change from game to game, but one constant is that Izanagi No Okami is strong. Sometimes THE strongest persona in the game, even when it’s not even his game.

In Persona 4, technically, two versions exist. There’s the special one for the final boss that can only use Myriad Truths, and then there’s the one that’s actually obtainable for use in regular battles by the player. It resists physical, ice, lightning, fire, and wind, but it is only neutral to light and dark. Its skill list is as follows.

  • Megidolaon – Cost 60 SP, deals severe almighty damage to all foes. It knows this skill by default.
  • Victory Cry – Automatic, recovers all SP and HP at the end of the battle. It knows this skill by default.
  • Angelic Grace – automatic, double evasion rate against all attacks that aren’t light, dark, or almighty. It knows this skill by default.
  • Mind Charge – Cost 15 SP, the next magical attack will be boosted by nearly 3x. It knows this skill by default.
  • Agidyne – Cost 12 SP, deals heavy fire damage to one enemy. It learns this skill at level 92.
  • Bufudyne – Cost 12 SP, deals heavy ice damage to one enemy. It learns this skill at level 93.
  • Ziodyne – Cost 12 SP, deals heavy lightning damage to one enemy. It learns this skill at level 94.
  • Garudyne – Cost 12 SP, deals heavy wind damage to one enemy. It learns this skill at level 95.
  • Fire Amp – Automatic, strengthens fire attacks by 50%. It learns this skill at level 96.
  • Ice Amp – Automatic, strengthens ice attacks by 50%. It learns this skill at level 97.
  • Elec Amp – Automatic, strengthens electric attacks by 50%. It learns this skill at level 98.
  • Wind Amp – Automatic, strengthens wind attacks by 50%. It learns this skill at level 99.

This is a pretty good reward for getting the true ending. You’ve got a persona that can damn near kill everything with just a mind-charged megidolaon, and you don’t have to worry about SP cost since it recovers it all at the end of every fight. It’s a shame that it is locked behind new game plus, but I can see why it is. This persona is just flat-out too good.

In Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, Izanagi No Okami resists cut, slash, bash, fire, ice, electric, wind, and nulls dark. A pretty good baseline to start from, and its skill list is as follows.

  • Heat Riser – Cost 30 SP, greatly raises one party member’s attack, defense, and evasion/hit rate for three turns. It knows this skill by default.
  • Ziodyne – Cost 46 SP, deals heavy lightning damage to one enemy. It knows this skill by default.
  • Raijinzan – Cost 135 HP, deals a heavy amount of cut and electric damage. It knows this skill by default.
  • Dekunda – Cost 24 SP, removes all stat penalties. It knows this skill by default.

I like this version better than the others. While its skills aren’t nearly as good, the fact that you can get it on your first playthrough and still have a decent amount of the game left means you actually get to use this one. Its resistances are also pretty stellar too.

In Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, Izanagi No Okami has the same skill list as the regular Izanagi. It gets a skill evolution upon being upgraded.

  • Raikouzan – Cost 32 HP, light electric attack to 1 enemy that splashes to either side. It knows this skill by default.
  • Zanshinken – Cost 16 HP, light physical attack to 1 enemy. If unhurt during the turn, an extra attack activates. It knows this skill by default.
  • Tarukaja – Cost 8 SP, Boost attack of 1 party member. It knows this skill by default.
  • Protecting Sword – automatic, high chance of reducing damage to user’s entire row. It will learn this skill upon being evolved into Izanagi-No-Okami.
  • Elecstrike Link – Cost 24 HP, light electric attack to 1 enemy. Further allied attacks gain link damage. It learns this skill at level 20.
  • Leg Reaper – Cost 19 HP, medium physical attack to 1 enemy, with a medium chance of Agility Bind. It learns this skill at level 24.
  • Raimeizan – Cost 56 HP, medium electric attack to 1 enemy that splashes to either side. It learns this skill at level 28.
  • Brutal Slash – Cost 42 HP, medium physical attack to 1 enemy. If unhurt during the turn, an extra attack activates. It learns this skill at level 32.
  • Matarukaja – Cost 18 SP, raises the entire party’s attack for three turns. It learns this skill at level 37.
  • Mazionga – Cost 36 SP, medium electric attack to 1 all enemies. It learns this skill at level 43.
  • Raijinzan – Cost 82 HP, heavy electric attack to 1 enemy that splashes to either side. It learns this skill at level 47.
  • Heaven’s Blade – Cost 68 HP, heavy physical attack to 1 enemy. If unhurt during the turn, an extra attack activates. It learns this skill at level 56.
  • Blade of Fury – Cost 68 HP, heavy physical attack to 1 enemy that splashes to either side. Stronger in Boost. It learns this skill at level 61.
  • Maziodyne – Cost 52 SP, Heavy Elec attack to all enemies. It learns this skill at level 64.
  • Myriad Arrows – Cost 85 HP, 6 to 8 physical attacks to 1 enemy. Stronger in Boost. It learns this skill at level 69.

I think much of what can be said about the version of Izanagi No Okami from the first Persona Q game can be said about this one. You don’t have to beat the game, so it’s more useful in that it can be used on the first run. Its skills are also just WAY better, which makes it something worth getting as soon as you can.

As I mentioned above, you can also obtain Izanagi No Okami in Persona: 5 Royal as part of a DLC. The DLC comes in two versions. A regular one and a stronger picaro variant.

The picaro variant is very similar to the base persona but has a higher level and a few different skills. The base version is level 80, and its skills are as follows.

  • Myriad Truths – Cost 40 SP, heavy almighty damage to all foes 3x. It knows this skill by default.
  • Victory Cry – Automatic, fully heals HP and SP after the battle. It knows this skill by default.
  • Angelic Grace – Automatic, doubles evasion rate against all attacks except light and dark instant kills and almighty. It knows this skill by default.
  • Concentrate – Cost 15 SP, buffs the user’s next magic attack by 2.5x. It learns this skill at level 81.
  • Heat Riser – Cost 30 SP, Increase one ally’s attack, defense, and hit/evasion rate for three turns. It learns this skill at level 82.
  • Heat up – Automatic, randomly restore 10 HP and SP during battle. It learns this skill at level 83.
  • Salvation – Cost 48 SP, fully restores party’s HP and cures all non-special ailments. It learns this skill at level 84.
  • Almighty Boost – strengthens almighty attacks by 25%. It learns this skill at level 85.

There’s a mechanic in Persona 5: Royal called “persona traits.” These are special abilities that every persona has to give them some extra utility. Izanagi No Okami’s persona trait is Country Maker.

It raises the stats of the Izanagi No Okami based on the percentage of your compendium completion. So at 50%, he’ll have a 50% boost to its attack and defense stats, and if your each 100% compendium completion, its attack, and defense will be doubled.

There’s also another unique mechanic in the form of the “Electric Chair Execution.” In the velvet room, you can have your attendants throw a persona in the electric chair to get an item from them. The use of this is even greater thanks to “Fusion Alarms,” which have a chance to occur when you enter the Velvet Room.

The items you get when you itemize Izanagi No Okami are the Shining Headband which gives you Invigorate 3 (restores 7% of max SP every turn) and raises all stats by 2.

During a fusion alarm, you get the Shining Headband R which gives you Invigorate 3 (restores 7% of max SP every turn) and raises all stats by 3.

As a persona goes, Izanagi No Okami is extremely good. The items it gives you when in the electric chair are useful; its persona trait only gets better the more you play the game, and Myriad Truths is busted.

You get three megidolaons for just 2 SP more than the price of one. Nothing should be able to kill you when you can just spam that move constantly.

The picaro version of Izanagi No Okami is level 89, meaning it just has higher baseline stats. The persona has the same persona trait, and most of its skill list is the same, but it does have two skills replaced.

  • Heat Riser-> Debilitate – Cost 30 SP, reduce one enemy’s attack, defense, and hit/evasion rate for three turns. It learns this skill at level 91.
  • Heat Up -> Enduring Soul – Automatic, survive one fatal blow with HP fully restored. It learns this skill at level 92.

When used in an Electric Chair Execution, the items Izanagi No Okami Picaro gives the Mediarahn skill card, which is weird since it doesn’t have that skill, and during a fusion alarm, it drops the Salvation skill card, which makes sense because that’s a skill it actually has.

Despite Izanagi No Okami Picaro being the stronger persona, I like regular Izanagi No Okami more. To be frank, you can’t get much better than Izanagi No Okami. Myriad Truths is the best singular move in the game. It deals so much damage, all at once, to so many enemies you can finish most fights with it, maybe even the whole game.

Izanagi No Okami

Even the true final boss of Persona 5: Royal can’t really stand up to that much damage. The fact that it also hits every enemy completely bypasses the boss’s gimmick too.

Because the regular version of Izanagi No Okami is a lower level, you can get this absurdly busted move even sooner, which is more than worth the meager stat boost the picaro version has. Thanks to the Country Maker persona trait, the stat boost doesn’t matter either.

You can fuse Izanagi No Okami in Persona 5: Royal. The list for his normal variant is as follows:

  • Yamata no Orochi (Judgement)
  • Throne (Justice)
  • Inugami (Hanged Man)
  • Raja Naga (Emporer)
  • Barong(Emporer)
  • Norn (Fortune)

To fuse the picaro version, you need to fuse these:

  • Okuninushi (Faith)
  • Orthrus (Hanged Man)
  • Kali (Empress)
  • Mithras (Sun)
  • Cu Chulainn (Faith)
  • Lucifer (Judgement)

Just like in Persona 4, there’s a hidden detail in the Japanese text. By putting together the first kana from both the regular and picaro list, you get the phrase that reads. “Come forth, the great god of Yasoinaba,” which is a reference to the town of Yasoinaba from Persona 4.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Question: How Do I Get Izanagi No Okami?

Answer: How to get Izanagi No Okami varies with each game. In Persona 4 and Persona 4: Golden, you get Izanagi No Okami by getting the game’s true ending where you beat Izanami and then fusing him in new game plus.

In Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth and Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, you evolve him through a special quest involving the Velvet Room Attendants. In Persona 4: Dancing All Night, he’s a cameo that comes in during the final boss.

Izanagi No Okami is also relegated to a cameo during Yu Narukami’s ultimate attack in Persona 4: Arena and Persona 4: Arena Ultimax. In Persona 5: Royal, he’s DLC that you need to buy alongside the Persona bundle from the online store.

Question: How Good is Izanagi No Okami?

Answer: He’s often incredibly good, usually one of the best personas in the game. He’s the best persona in Persona 4 and Persona 4 Golden. In Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth and Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, he’s not the best but a definite improvment over the starting personas, and in Persona 5: Royal, he’s just downright busted.

By far and away, he is the best persona in Persona 5: Royal, and it’s not even his game. Make him ASAP, or don’t if you want to have some challenge.

Question: Is It Worth Spending Money on Izanagi No Okami in Persona 5: Royal?

Answer: To be frank, not really.

The best thing about Izanagi No Okami is that he’s so goddamn strong. He can tear through just about any fight in the game without an issue. But while the power trip may be fun at first, it quickly loses its luster on your first playthrough.

If you still desire something stupid powerful, you’re still able to fuse things like Lucifer with an almighty boost or almighty amp to get incredible numbers with not much effort.

On second playthroughs, you don’t need Izanagi No Okami because you can just buy back your strong personas from the compendium, including your stupidly strong Lucifer.

That aside, Persona 5: Royal is kind of straightforward. I didn’t struggle with a single fight until I got to the literal final boss. He’s fantastic to have, but Izanagi No Okami completely destroys any sense of balance the game had.

It’s made even worse by the fact that all DLC personas are free from the compendium on your first purchase, meaning you can be level 1, with a level 80 god-slaying monster as your persona. At that point, you’re just playing the game for the story, so save your money and put it on Very Easy difficulty instead..

In Conclusion

Izanagi No Okami really is that guy your girlfriend tells you not to worry about. He’s got some fantastic lore and one of the coolest designs in the series.

He’s not only crucial to the plot of Persona 4 but gets to be the highlight of the game’s most significant moment. He lords over the competition when he’s a usable persona in battle. He stands above the rest even when it’s not his own game.

I honestly don’t know what else to say. In a game with hundreds of personas, Izanagi No Okami stands above them all in every single way.

Thank you for reading. I hope this guide gave you some insight into who Izanagi No Okami is and why he gets mentioned by the community so often

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