The Personas in Persona 5 are taken directly from the main Shin Megami Tensei series that it broke off of in the 1990s. These creatures are spirits and demons from folklore, religion, and myths worldwide.
Of the many Personas that exist, one of the most beautiful and intricately designed is none other than the star of this Suzaku Persona 5 guide.
Suzaku is a legendary Chinese creature, meant to be one of four celestial beings that appear in the various folklore in the country. It is a stunning, glorious bird with one of the best designs in Persona 5. It has been in the series for some time, with Persona 5 only being its most recent showing.
As a representative of the Sun Arcana in the game, it is surprisingly one of the earlier Personas you can collect. If you want to know how to get it and all of the various skills it learns, you’re in the right place with this Suzaku Persona 5 guide.
Bottom Line Up Front
Suzaku is the Persona representative of the legendary Chinese being Zhu Que. Known as Suzaku in Japan, this is the Vermilion Bird, who is the ruler over the south direction and the summertime.
Within the Persona series, it is seen as a glorious red bird that is extravagant with elegant details all throughout. It is, understandably, part of the Sun Arcana, and players can fuse it together in the game relatively early on to gain the Frei nuclear skill in battle as well as set up for some of the late-game fusions.
Suzaku Overview
Within the Persona series, there are many Arcana that are used to represent the various categories and Tarot cards under which the shadows you summon fall under. Of these Arcana, one of the most prominent ones is the Sun Arcana. This is where Suzaku falls in Persona 5.
From game to game, the Personas you can summon generally change up some, and that is the case with Persona 5 as Suzaku debuted its more vibrant appearance after its traditional Persona 4 and Golden variant. It became part of the Sun Arcana in this game as the first Persona that players can get based on its level in the group.
This makes it one of the earliest Personas you can acquire, at least from this group, and a highly recommended one for the valuable skills it grants you in the massive JRPG. It is one of the introductions to some of the new gameplay mechanics that launched with Persona 5 that weren’t previously shown off in the past Persona games.
You are in the right place for everything you need to know about Suzaku. I will break down how to acquire this Persona, what fusion recipes are best, the origins of this creature, and everything else here. Let’s get started.
Appearance Explained
The appearance of Suzaku is one of the most extravagant in all of Persona 5, hence my surprise at the fact that it is one of the earlier Personas. It is relatively similar to its Persona 3 art design but much more vibrant in its colors, with a massive crimson bird that soars above the player.
Suzaku has gigantic wings that spread out, with numerous feathers and pink accents on its chest and feathers. It has a long neck that goes up to its surprisingly small face, given the breadth of the rest of its design. It is an extraordinary bird Persona that makes for a colorful companion early in the game.
Origins
Suzaku is the Japanese name for Zhu Que, one of the four legendary beasts in Chinese lore that follow the constellations. Each of these creatures is based around the four directions in the world, and Suzaku represents the south direction.
It goes by many names, including the Vermilion Bird and even Zhuque in some of the other games from Atlus. Though it seems that the developer can’t agree on what to call this bird, it goes by Suzaku in Persona 5, which is what we are going to reference it as from here on out.
In addition to being for the south direction, Suzaku is also a representative of the fire element in Chinese lore, which is intriguing, as you will see in the skills that it uses in battle and learns through leveling up. It is also the face of the summer season, which is understandable then why Atlus chose to make it part of the bright Sun Arcana.
Featured Games
Suzaku is featured in many games from Atlus, with Persona 5 simply being the latest one in the sub-series that it is in. It first appeared in Shin Megami Tensei II in the 1990s, where it was part of the Avian race there.
It wouldn’t make its debut in the Persona series until Persona 2: Innocent Sin. Thankfully, it hasn’t left the series since, though. Here are all of the notable games that Suzaku is featured in:
- Shin Megami Tensei II
- SMT if
- Persona 2: Innocent Sin
- Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
- Soul Hackers
- SMT Nine
- SMT III: Nocturne
- Digital Devil Saga
- Persona 3
- SMT Imagine
- Persona 4/Golden
- SMT Strange Journey
- SMT IV
- Persona Q
- SMT IV: Apocalypse
- SMT Liberation Dx2
- Persona 5/Royal
- Persona Q2
- SMT V
- Soul Hackers 2
As you can see, Suzaku is one of the most prolific Personas and demons in the Atlus games, appearing in most of the mainline ones ever since its debut. Its most recent Persona appearance was in Persona 5 Royal, which was released after Persona Q2, where it also appeared.
However, its most recent appearance in the Atlus games was in Soul Hackers 2, a game that is by and large a Persona game in everything but name. On a side note, if you want something like Persona 5, where you can fuse together Suzaku, I recommend checking that game out.
How to Acquire Suzaku in Persona 5
Now that you know everything you need to know about the background of Suzaku, it is time to summon this Persona to your team. It is the first in the Sun Arcana group, which means that it has the lowest level out of the members of this Arcana.
This also means that it is one of the earliest Personas that you can get and one that I recommend acquiring. Unfortunately, there is only one way to unlock Suzaku in Persona 5: fusion in the Velvet Room. Sadly, you can’t meet it in battle and negotiate with it to join your team.
Thankfully, you can fuse it relatively early on, so I have you covered with the recipes you need to do so below.
Best Suzaku Fusion Recipes
In both Persona 5 and its expanded version Royal, you can acquire Suzaku exclusively through fusion. It remains the same level in both versions, at level 19. Unless you unlock certain Confidant ranks (which is doubtful at this point in the game), you’ll have to be at least level 19 to fuse together Suzaku in Persona 5.
With that requirement in mind, here are the best Suzaku fusion recipes I recommend you use to create this wonderful creature in the Velvet Room. I will note further down below how to acquire the Personas that are necessary for its fusion:
- Fuse together Berith and Inugami
- Fuse together Berith and Hua Po
Both of these Persona fusion recipes include Berith, so this is a required Persona that you’ll need no matter what. Thankfully, Berith is one of the more straightforward early Personas to get since it is only level nine and can be found in several ways.
You can find it in Kamoshida’s Palace, the first dungeon in the game, or through early fusion with Personas like Silky and Succubus.
On the other hand, you’ll either need Inugami or Hua Po as the companion Persona for this recipe. Hua Po is, technically, the easier of the two since it is, the lower level Persona at only level nine, too.
Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait for some to encounter it as it is found in the second Palace in the game. On the other hand, you can fuse it together with creatures like Berith and Incubus.
Lastly, if you go the Inugami route, you’ll find that it is level 14. It is located in Madarame’s Palace, like Hua Po, so it doesn’t really matter much which route you take.
Alternatively, you can fuse it together, possibly a little earlier on, if you have a Berith and Angel, the latter of which is in Mementos or can be fused itself. It’s ultimately up to you what you do from here.
What to Fuse Suzaku Into Next
Suzaku is the earliest Sun Arcana Persona you’ll find, so you’ll want to fuse it into something else once you level it up and learn its various skills. This is not a Persona that should last you too much into the third Palace in Persona 5, at best, honestly, before you get rid of it.
When you get ready to get rid of Suzaku, it’s ultimately up to you what you fuse it into from here. What I recommend doing beforehand, though, is saving it to your Compendium. This will keep it intact with all of the skills that it learned over its levels so you can resummon it anytime you need to.
While I don’t have a particular recommendation for what you should immediately fuse it into once it learns all its skills, there is something you should keep in mind for the future.
Later down the road, Suzaku is necessary for fusing with Byakko, Genbu, and Seiryu to make Kohryu. You might know those other three as the fellow creatures in Chinese lore. This is one of the better mid to late-game Personas, so it is worth keeping Suzaku in mind for then.
Suzaku Persona 5 Stats
Suzaku is one of the earlier Personas in Persona 5, so don’t expect too much from it in the stats department. Here is what you need to know about its stats, including all of the significant attributes in the game and its respective level when you first fuse it:
- Level 19
- Strength: 11
- Magic: 14
- Endurance: 10
- Agility: 18
- Luck: 11
These stats aren’t great, but they par for the course at this point in the game. The magic and agility are especially high here, which means that you want to be pumping out those elemental skills when possible for Suzaku, which should give it a nice edge when in battle.
Of course, suppose you spend time with Toranosuke Yoshida, the representative of the Sun Arcana in the Confidants for Persona 5. In that case, Suzaku should level up once or twice when you fuse for it, which will help it learn some skills quickly and get better stats.
However, given its early nature, it is possible you won’t even have the chance to meet Yoshida by the time you acquire Suzaku.
Resistances
Suzaku is one of the best Personas early on in the elemental department due to its impressive resistance. It is able to negate two of the elements around with only a single weakness, which is better than most Personas at this point, which has a single resistance at best. Heck, some of them don’t even have one this early on.
Suzaku doesn’t, oddly enough, learn any elemental fire skills in this game, which is a bit different from the other iterations of it in other Atlus games. However, it still pays homage to its fire roots by including this in its resistance.
It absorbs fire, which means that not only will fire not work against Joker when equipping this Persona but the damage will be transferred back to the player character and heal him for that amount. That is absolutely deadly this early on in the game when there are few instances of this sort of resistance.
But it doesn’t stop there. Suzaku also resists nuke, the element it learns the most. This means that you’ll have reduced damage from these attacks, but they will still hit you, so keep that in mind.
Conversely, the trade-off here is that Suzaku’s single weakness is to ice attacks. You’ll need to watch out for all of the Jack Frosts and the like this early on in the game.
Skills
Suzaku has eight related skills that it either inherently knows when you first get it or learns as it levels up. Here are all eight of Suzaku’s skills with descriptions of what each of them does:
- Frei: This lets the player deal light nuke elemental damage to a single enemy. Suzaku automatically learns this skill upon fusion.
- Tarunda: This lets the player lower the attack of a single enemy for three turns. This is another automatic skill.
- Marin Karin: This lets the player have a pretty good chance of casting the Brainwash status ailment on a single enemy. This is an automatically learned skill.
- Ominous Words: This status ailment skill lets you possibly put Despair on an enemy. Learned at level 21.
- Mafrei: This skill deals light nuke elemental damage on all of the enemies in battle. Learned at level 22.
- Speed Master: This passive skill ensures that you always have Sukukaja automatically at the beginning of each fight for a few turns. Learned at level 23.
- Matarunda: This lowers the attack of all the enemies in battle for a total of three turns. Learned at level 24.
- Life Focus: This trait skill boosts the power of HP restoration skills by 50%. This is exclusive to only Suzaku in Persona 5 Royal.
As you can see, the basis for Suzaku is mainly around dealing nuke damage and causing status effects on the enemies. This makes it one of the better dungeon fight Personas in the early games since you can render most enemies useless for a few turns and deal some severe damage.
Admittedly, nuke damage isn’t the most useful in the early parts of the game, but at least it isn’t often resisted, so you can reliably count on it. Given that Suzaku is one of only two Personas in Persona 5 that learns Frei, it is one of the earliest nuke Personas you’ll find.
Lastly, some players may want to send Suzaku to the electric chair in the Velvet Room to acquire some skill cards. If you do this, you’ll find that it gives the valuable and rare Mafrei skill card.
This is an excellent one for its ability to hit all enemies in a battle that you can transfer to other Personas that generally wouldn’t learn the rare nuke element.
FAQs
Question: How to Get Suzaku in Persona 5?
Answer: You can only get Suzaku in Persona 5 and Royal through fusion. You’ll need to either fuse together Berith and Hua Po or Berith and Inugami to get this legendary bird.
Question: Where is the Suzaku Location Persona 5?
Answer: The only location where you can get Suzaku in Persona 5 is in the Velvet Room through fusion at level 19 or higher. It isn’t found in any of the Palace dungeons or Mementos.
Question: Where to Get Berith Persona 5?
Answer: Berith is necessary for fusing together Suzaku. You can find Berith in the first Palace of the game, Kamoshida’s Palace. Alternatively, you can fuse it together in the Velvet Room early on at level nine.
Who to Fuse Next in Persona 5
Suzaku is one of the finest Personas you can get in the first two dungeons of the JRPG. It is helpful up until around the third dungeon at best, at which point you should start thinking about switching it out.
With its powerful nuke elemental abilities that are rare at this point in the game and its status ailment skills, it is a force to be reckoned with.
But it would be best if you didn’t use Suzaku forever. When you are ready to move on to the third or fourth dungeon, one Persona that I recommend checking out is Ame no Uzume.
She is one of the better low to mid-game Personas around, and she is involved in one of the requests from Caroline and Justine. Thankfully, we’ve already covered all of this about Ame no Uzume in the past, so you don’t have to wonder how to get it all done.
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