I was one of those kids that were super into mythology. You know, the ones that read Percy Jackson till the spines wore out. That’s probably why I gravitated to the Shin Megami Tensei series when I got a bit older. It scratched the same itch with the bonus of being a fantastic video game.
As I tore through the games time and time again, I saw Loki show up. He makes an appearance in some special way. That’s either a minor role in a main quest in Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne, where he’ll try to sell you a 1,000 yen bill.
Or it could be something like Persona 5, where he’s the major Persona of a significant character. Regardless of how he shows up, he manages to be something worth having. So let’s go through it in our Loki Persona 5 guide!
Bottom Line Up Front
Loki is based on the mythological Norse god Loki. A trickster who played an integral role in the apocalyptic battle of Ragnarok. In the book on which Shin Megami Tensei is based, Loki is the main antagonist, summoned through an elaborate computer setup.
Loki’s most prominent role in the Persona series is by far and away when he’s Akechi’s second Persona. In the base game, Loki’s only a boss, but you can use Loki in the 3rd Semester of Persona 5 Royal.
As a playable Persona, Loki tends to focus on status moves, usually mind, and nerve, harkening back to his mythology as a mischievous trickster. Loki is often given a unique skill Nefilheim, named after the realm of the Forst Giants from Norse mythology.
A race Loki is a part of, which is why Atlus made his skin blue. The little details in how the myth is incorporated into the Personas are one of my favorite things about Persona, and they went above and beyond with Loki.
Who is the Mythological Loki?
Loki’s one of the most famous mythological figures. He’s a Norse god, meaning he’s from the north germanic people and is often associated with Vikings.
Like many mythologies, the specifics of Loki’s lineage aren’t super clear. The most accepted version is that he is the son of Farbauti and Byleistr, a giant and a goddess, respectively. Loki is the father of Sleipnir, the eight-legged horse, Fenrir the wolf, and the goddess Hel.
He was often portrayed as an antagonistic force. Either acting to entertain himself or because he doesn’t like the moment’s atmosphere. In the Poetic Edda, Loki’s annoyed by the festive air and gets himself kicked out. However, he comes back to antagonize the other gods and starts a flyting (a poetic roast) amongst the gods at Aegir’s feast hall.
Later in the Poetic Edda, Loki forges a weapon called Lævateinn to slay a mythological rooster atop a tree. What weapon it specifically was is unknown, and its existence is an addition to the poem’s manuscript by Sophus Bugge.
During Ragnarok, the prophecized war among the gods, Loki’s child Fenrir plays an integral role when he kills Odin. Loki is said to slip free of his bonds and join the Giants against the gods but dies in battle with Heimdallr.
What Atlus Adapted
Loki has two main designs that are seen throughout the series. His first is rather basic. It’s a tall, blue-skinned man with an annoyed expression, matching his motives in the Poetic Edda.
His second design was first used in Persona 4. He still has blue skin and long blond hair, but many things have changed. He floats in the air, sitting in a cross-legged position, and has bat-like wings. Loki’s now wearing a skin-tight suit and has a mischievous smile.
In the Shin Megami Tensei V, Loki has a side-quest involving another major character Idun. In the game, Loki kidnaps Idun to try and sell her magic apples for profit. The fact that he’s tormenting Idun could be a reference to the Poetic Edda, where he calls her “man crazed” to the point she slept with her brother’s killer.
In Persona 1, Loki has a Persona Talk with Fenrir, a reference to Fenrir being Loki’s son. His unique skill in Persona 5 Laevateinn is also from the Poetic Edda. It was an addition by Sophus Bugge. We don’t know what kind of weapon it was, but we know that Loki forged it to kill a rooster on a tree.Â
Why is Loki so Important to Atlus?
Some may ask why this seemingly random god is repeatedly one of the most important demons in the game. Why does Atlus give him so much attention? The answer lies WAY back in the book that started it all: Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei. The first Megami Tensei game was based on this book, and Shin Megami Tensei is technically a spin-off series that stems from it.
In Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, Loki is the first demon the protagonist interacts with and is the book’s central antagonist. Being so crucial to the book that started the entire series, Atlus usually makes Loki a reward for accomplishing something or a main boss.
Loki’s Past in the Persona Series
Loki has been in almost every Persona game and made notable appearances throughout most of the Persona animes, where his role differs from that in the games.
Persona 1
In Persona 1, Loki’s of the Devil Arcana starts at level 51. He has the best affinity with Reiji and a Persona Talk with Fenrir. He takes double damage to spear, expel, and miracle abilities. He drains death and reflects curses while nullifying nerve skills. That’s on top of resisting just about every other damage type, making Loki quite useful. His skill list is as follows:
- Baeiha – Medium Death damage each turn to an area, unlocked at rank 1.
- Wolvaan – Gives Beast status/Cures ailments to 1 ally. It learns this skill at rank 3.
- Marin Karin – inflicts the charm status to an area. It learns this skill at rank 4
- Bind Voice – Inflicts the bind status to an area. It learns this skill at rank 5.
- Mador – Gives Berserk status/Cures ailments to one ally. It learns this skill at rank 7.
- Fist of Fury – light fist damage to one foe. It learns this skill at rank 8.
Loki’s a pretty good persona that focuses on status moves. There is some risk in using skills like Wolvaan and Mador, but they have immense upsides. However, you do have to put in a lot of work to rank him to the point where he gets his best skills.
Persona 2: Innocent Sin
In Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Loki is a minor character overall. He doesn’t have any side quests or unique skills. Loki is unique for being the only persona in the Tower Arcana with a normal affinity with everyone. That gives him some utility toward the mid-game when you’re looking for a decent persona to give a character when there aren’t any better options.
Loki is a level 36 persona with an SP cost of 25. He reflects sword and havoc skills and is immune to light, dark, nerve, and mind. He has a chance to mutate into Cu Chulainn or Quetzalcoatl. Its skill list is as follows:
- Zionga – Deal medium Elec damage to one enemy. 30% chance of causing shock. It learns this skill at rank 1.
- Bufula – Deal medium Ice damage to one enemy. 30% chance of causing freeze. It learns this skill at rank 2.
- Hypnotic Waves – 40% chance to deal nerve-sleep ailment to all enemies. It learns this skill at rank 3.
- Marin Karin- 52% chance to deal mind-charm ailment to one enemy. It learns this skill at rank 5.
- Venom Needle – Deal low Thrown + Almighty damage to one enemy. 50% chance of causing poison. It learns this skill at rank 6.
- Bufudyne – Deal high Ice damage to one enemy. 30% chance of causing freeze. It learns this skill at Rank 8.
- Magic Seal – Deal Almighty mute ailment to one enemy with a 52% chance to work. This is a skill mutation.
- Ragnarok- Fusion Spell – Blow all enemies away with the storm of the gods’ struggles for non-elemental damage high damage. The order needed for this is
-
- Agidyne – Surtr
- Bufudyne – Loki
- Thunder Baptism – Odin
- Firestorm – Fenrir
- Ice Breath – Heimdall
Loki’s a pretty good persona in this game. He doesn’t just have status moves this time. He gets some decent damage from things like Bufudyne and Zionaga. His mutation skill has incredible utility when getting past a lot of the more annoying random encounters.
Persona 3
Loki is a persona that can be fused using a standard triple fusion. He has no unique skills, but he has a fusion spell with Susano’o called Trickster. It has a high chance of inflicting mind ailments on your enemies at the cost of 15% of your SP. He absorbs wind and resists ice and dark attacks while being weak to fire. His skill list is as follows:
- Apt Pupil – Passive, Increases user’s Critical Rate. It knows this skill by default.
- Garudyne – Cost 12 SP, Deals heavy Wind damage to one foe. It knows this skill by default.
- Bufudyne – Cost 16 SP, Deals heavy Ice damage. 10% chance to freeze one foe. It knows this skill by default.
- Stagnant Air – Cost 15 SP, Doubles ailment susceptibility to everyone for three turns. It learns this skill at level 58.
- Null Fire – Passive, Doubles the ailment susceptibility to everyone for three turns. It learns this skill at level 60.
- Repel Fire – Passive, Reflects damage from Fire attacks. It learns this skill at level 62.
- Trickster – Cost 15% SP, fusion spell, high chance to inflict mind ailments on all of your enemies. You need Susano’o and Loki to use this.
Loki is best used as fusion fodder. He gets the repel fire skill, which is one of the best things to start passing along your personas, but you need to level up Loki to level 62. I don’t mind grinding in Tartarus, so it wasn’t a problem for me, but if you play the games for their life-sim elements, Loki isn’t worth it.
Persona 3Â FES and Portable
Loki has one extra skill in the FES/Portable version of Persona 3. It’s learned at level 60, pushing up the level to learn every skill after it, like Stagnant Air.
- Megidola – Cost 65 SP, deals heavy Almighty damage to all foes. It learns this skill at level 60.
While Megidola is a great skill, 65 SP is too expensive for you to use a lot. That ultimately makes the skill very situational.
Persona 4 & Persona 4 Golden
In the Persona 4 duology, Loki is the ultimate persona of the Fool Arcana. Because the Social Link is story related, you don’t have to put much effort into unlocking the persona.
He’s a triangle fusion that doesn’t require anything specific. He does have a unique Niflheim skill that’s the strongest ice spell in the game. He absorbs ice, blocks dark, and is weak to fire.
- Bufudyne – Cost 12 SP, Deals heavy Ice damage to 1 foe. It knows this skill by default.
- Rakukaja – Cost 12 SP, Increases one ally’s defense for three turns. It knows this skill by default.
- Sharp Student – passive, Lowers odds of sustaining a critical hit. It knows this skill by default.
- Ice Amp – Passive, Strengthens Ice attacks by 50%. It learns this skill at level 66.
- High Counter – Passive, 20% chance of reflecting physical attacks. It learns this skill at level 67.
- Mabufudyne – Cost 22 SP, Deals heavy Ice damage to all foes. It learns this skill at level 68.
- Null Fire – Passive – Grants immunity to fire attacks. It learns this skill at level 69.
- Niflheim – Deals severe Ice damage to 1 foe. It learns this skill at level 70.
Loki is an amazing persona in this game. He gets one of the strongest ice attacks, Ice Amp, and Mind Charge to go with it. It’s not too hard to get him Ice Boost through fusion or skill card to push his damage even higher. He also gets null fire just to make sure he has no weakness. He’s a persona that can carry you through to the end of the game and even do great on the final boss.
Persona 4: The Animation
In the anime recreation of Persona 4, the ending is a little different from the game. While Magaret does show up in the limbo space after Yu gets sucked under by Izanami, Margaret ends up fighting Yu, and Loki is her Persona of choice.
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
In this game, Loki’s a level 72 persona of the fool Arcana. He likes to inherit ice skills, and the skill card that can be extracted from him is Trick Step. Due to the way Persona Q works, he doesn’t have his own resistances or weakness but does give an additional 140 HP and an extra 52 SP. His skill list is as follows:
- Trick Step – Passive, raises evasion rate against all attacks. It knows this skill by default.
- Bufudyne – A heavy Ice attack on one enemy. It knows this skill by default.
- Niflheim – A severe Ice attack on one enemy. It learns this skill at level 73.
- Pain Watcher – Passive, High chance of Pain-Eater when a battle starts. [Defense up, draw enemy attacks] It learns this skill at level 74.
- Ice Boost – Passive, Slightly raise Ice attack strength. It learns this skill at level 75.
- Rebel Spirit – Passive, Slightly raised attack against enemies with higher HP. It learns this skill at level 76.
- Mind Charge – Cost 40 SP, Nearly triple the user’s magic attack for the next hit. Lasts three turns. It learns this skill at level 77.
- Ice Amp – Passive, Raise Ice attack strength. It learns this skill at level 78.
Persona 5
In Persona 5, Loki is the true persona of Goro Akechi when he’s using his Black Mask identity. It’s first revealed in Shido’s palace and is used for Akechi’s boss fight.
During the first phase, he has no resistances or immunities (aside from instant kill spells not working), and his skill list is as follows:
- Kougaon – Heavy Bless damage to 1 foe.
- Eigaon – Heavy Curse damage to 1 foe.
- Megaton Raid – Severe Physical damage to 1 foe.
- Megidolaon – Severe Almighty damage to all foes.
- Charge – Next physical attack inflicts 2.5x damage.
In the second phase of the fight, you get to battle Akechi using Loki’s full might.
- Negative Pile – Heavy Physical damage to 1 foe. Medium chance of Despair.
- Desperation – Boost self’s attack but drop defense for three turns. Independent from -kaja and -nda and cannot be negated.
- Brave Blade – Colossal Physical damage to 1 foe.
- Laevateinn – Heavy Almighty damage to the protagonist after staring at him in the previous turn.
- Deathbound – Medium Physical damage to all foes 1x to 2x.
- Dekaja – Negate all buff effects of all foes.
- Dekunda – Negate all debuff effects of the party.
- Heat Riser – Buff attack, defense, and agility of 1 ally for three turns.
- Tetrakarn – Erect shield on one ally to repel 1 Physical/Gun attack.
- Makarakarn – Erect shield on one ally to repel one magical attack.
- Eigaon – Heavy Curse damage to 1 foe.
- Maeiga – Medium Curse damage to all foes.
- Maragion – Medium Fire damage to all foes. Rare chance of Burn.
- Megidolaon – Severe Almighty damage to all foes.
Akechi isn’t too dangerous during the first phase, but his second phase ups the ante to an insane degree. You’ll want to only buff or debuff twice since doing it a third time will proc Akechi’s use of Dekaja and Dekunda.
You’ll definitely want to keep a constant Rakukaja on yourself since Braveblade is incredibly lethal. Having Dekaja yourself is basically mandatory to overcome his Heat Riser. If you play carefully without risk, you should be able to get past him.
Persona 5: The Animation
Loki appears during the latter half of the anime in the Dark Sun Special. The battle still takes place on Shido’s ship, but in the anime, it’s only given a full reveal at the tail end of the fight. Once Loki is revealed, things are settled in a one-on-one battle with Joker, who beats him with Arsene.
Persona 5Â Royal
Loki remains the persona Akechi uses under his Black Mask identity. This means he still uses it during his boss fights, but in the added third semester, Akechi’s persona of choice is Loki, allowing the player to use it. You have all of Loki’s skills from the get-go, so there’s no need to unlock any. Loki resists curse and is weak to bless, and his skills are as follows:
- Fortify Spirit – Passive, Reduce susceptibility to all ailments.
- Laevateinn – 25% HP, Colossal Physical damage to 1 foe.
- Megidolaon – 38 SP, Severe Almighty damage to all foes.
- Debilitate – 30 SP, Decrease Attack/Defense/Agility of 1 foe for three turns.
- Riot Gun – 24% HP, Severe Gun damage to all foes.
- Eigaon – 12 SP, Heavy Curse damage to 1 foe.
- Attack Master- Passive, Automatic Tarukaja at the start of the battle.
- Evade Bless – Triple evasion rate against (non-instant death) Bless attacks.
His persona trait is Tactical Spirit which has a chance to decrease the cost of allies’ support skills by half.
Akechi is a fantastic party member! Debilitate is one of the best support skills anyone can have, especially during difficult moments in Maruki’s palace. Laevateinn is a wonderful skill for physical damage that actually beats out Brave Blade. Tactical Spirit doesn’t activate all that often, but it comes in handy when it does.
FAQs
Question: How Do I Get Loki?
Answer:Â Loki is usually a regular persona that can be made using a triangle fusion, but in Persona 4 and Persona 4: Golden, you’ll have to finish the Investigation Team’s Fool Confidant because Loki is the Arcana’s ultimate Persona.
Question: Who is Loki Based on?
Answer:Â Loki is based on the god of the same name from Norse mythology. Many of his skills’ names, like Niflheim and Laevateinn, also reference Loki’s past as being a frost giant and the weapons he crafted.Â
Question: Does Loki Appear again in the Series?
Answer:Â Honestly, I’m not sure. Because Loki was a persona used by an important character, he might become like Thanatos and be reserved only for DLC. Loki, as a Persona, you can just fuse like any other.
Conclusion
Loki is one of my favorite personas. There’s just so much about Loki to love. I love his inspirations the most. Atlus managed to pull so many different details and things into the character, from his design to his moves to make him feel like an actual adaptation of the character from mythology. It’s a ton of fun seeing what references you can find.
It’s like a weird game of “I-Spy.” I love it! Loki’s made even better by being a phenomenal demon in the games. He’s got good coverage of skills. Sometimes focusing on status ailments and other times raw damage. Either way, Loki is undoubtedly one of Atlus’ best Personas.
- Loki Persona 5 Guide - February 13, 2023
- Yaldabaoth Persona 5 Guide - February 3, 2023
- Persona 5 Romance Options Ranked - January 11, 2023