I have to admit I tried to like Ann, I really did. But her lack of screen time as the team expanded and lackluster Confidant made it impossible.

Nobody would call Joker the worst Phantom Thief anyway

Honestly Mona becomes useless after Futaba shows up

I would have to say Ann since I used her for one dungeon and then replaced her for the rest of the game with either Yusuke or Makoto.

Eh, I still used Ann all the way to the final boss.

Her attack drop was useful on bosses.

I just relied on my own character for things such as stat drops.

Morgana became the savior of my team during very single boss fight.

@Mako-chan You just made the list.

I also don't agree with most of this thread in general cos Ann and Morgana especially carried my team gg.

More people need to run luck stat Morgana.

I should say I can't actually say who I think the worst one is cos I didn't use like 3 of them for over one battle ever.

I like the look of Haru's skills the least though.

Everyone is useful, but Ann is outclassed by everyone else in every area except for pure magic damage. But, if you damage just use Ryuji, Yusuke, or a damage-speced Haru.

*if you want damage

Ann has the highest magic tho.

I mean it depends on equipment cos I know Makoto gets some ridiculous stuff but yes, she get's the magic equivalent of charge and fun times happen.

I don't use Ann and only use Mona as a backup healer in the end game

Ann is useless I only used her in Kamoshida's Palace, she might have high magic but she just isn't versatile enough to ever really be useful in my eyes.

Ryuji

She may have thr highest magic growth, sure. But what can she do exactly?

Healing? No, she only gets single-target healing, which is a big waste of a turn.

Tarunda? But Joker can fill that role, and still manage to do other things without wasting a spot on your team.

Status Effects? Outside of money farming, this is useless. Joker is better suited for that anyway since he's more bulky than Ann.

Magic Damage? She may deal the most, but she isn't as long lasting as a physical attacker, since SP is limited.

So, she's left with what? Dekaja?

Gameplay-wise? Probably Makoto. I mean, she's not Bad, but she's also not really that great compared to everyone else. Kind of a "master of none" mid game character who doesn't really get notably awesome skills like the others do.

I used her up through the final boss on my first playthrough, but as far as being a healer goes she's far outclassed by Morgana and the MC, and as far as damage goes she's outclassed by... well, everyone else.

Yeah but she does get a defense buff. Plus, she doesn't die as often as Morgana. I think her and Morgana are pretty interchangeable.

Makoto has more flexibility, though she learns healing spells later.

It's kinda like the tradeoff between Yukiko and Teddie in P4.

The fact that she is a jack of all trades probably makes her one of the more useful party members imo, maybe shes not as effective but the more versatile your party, the less I have to have Joker switching Personas every turn
besides Makoto is the natural Nuclear user, and Frei skills can be some of the most damaging skills in the game so Makoto earns her place well imo

all of the phantom thieves are good!!

even in terms of objective game stats!!

@hazama The whole 'Joker can do this better' argument means nothing cos he can do anything in the game better than any char. He should actually be the highest damage dealer so any turn he's debuffing instead of someone else who can is a waste.

SP being limited isn't really an issue, it takes like 1 turn of any char who has nothing better to do that turn to restore it all IF she runs out, which might not even happen in a boss fight (which let's face it are the only important battles).

Apart from that her and Ryuji are the best damage dealers in the game just because of their charge skills really.

"Joker can do this better" depends on how you built your Joker.

Like I fused for most resistences and most magic coverage, so I relied on the rest of the party for buffs/debuffs and healing.

I know the Joker argument is kind of invalid on the surface, but why waste a slot on your team with Ann if all you're going to have her do is use Tarunda? It's a waste. Every other character has a more varied and versatile moveset, but Ann gets single-target healing and status effects. She just got the short end of the stick in terms of her unique skills because they just aren't that helpful.

Everyone is a good phantom theif. there are no BAD ones.

Except Ann lol

ann will very likely be the character with the highest realistic damage output for most players by the end of the game!! most people aren't going to be above level 70, so ann having fire boost, fire amp, and concentrate make her very strong for the last stretch of the game!!

I'm surprised no one said Yusuke. I love the guy but Ryuji straight up outclasses him once he gets Swift Strike, and they're about the same before then.

yusuke's strength comes from masukukaja, and his ability to wreck large enemies once they're downed!! he's not really meant to be a boss-killer!!

Most random fights aren't a huge issue though, and Yusuke needs a Baton Pass to do more damage. He just feels less necessary than everyone else.

@hazama This is vs bosses, so Tarunda is p crucial - Makoto's party def up would give the same effect but costs 3 times the SP.

Idk what you mean by varied moveset other than chars having different ways to do damage but again she's one of the two best damage chars, only Ryuji is higher.

Also yeah I used Yusuke till the end but he is one of the least useful really </3

Heres a reason why there isn't a bad phantom thief.

Joker: Hes.. the person who can wield more than one persona, he can set up as any type of player in the battlefield, hes the most useful

Ann: Good at using Special attacks (I-i mean Magic attacks.. Pokemon has taken over my life)

Ryuji: hard hitting Mothereffer! He'll get the job done in one swipe!

Morgana: Good at using his Magic attacks and hes a good healer too

Yusuke: An all around good fighter, can pack some punches and Freeze anyone to death!

Makoto: Her Nuclear moves are good enough to hit a lot of shadow's weaknesses. And just like Morgana, shes a good healer too

Futaba: Has a chance to buff up some stats and make you have the first move. She can even fully scan mementos. How cool is that!?

Haru: Shes a good stat buffer and just like Makoto, Her PSI attacks can hit a lot of shadow's weaknesses. Shes also amazing with her gun attacks when she has learned all of her moves

This is why I think there aren't any bad theives overrall!

I mean in versatility. Ryuji, Yusuke, and Makoto all have party buffs to offer when attacking isn't a viable option. Haru has options like the karn skills, or status effect clearing. Morgana only really has healing or wind damage against bosses, but his healing is good enough that it's justified. Ann only really has straight magic damage, worse healing than anyone else offers, or Dekaja. I just don't see the point in using her. I finished at about level 75 on hard mode and I only used her once after getting Makoto. Even if her damage is astronomically high, she doesn't have a lot of other options outside of damage. If you managed to make her work, then good on you; but from my and others' experience it just isn't worth it to use her.

...I was thinking about character and personality when I made this, but you guys make some good points about Ann and Makoto.

Oh my answer for personality is Ryuji hands down <3

I can't really tolerate chars that actually endanger something as important as the identity of the group so often cos of sheer carelessness for a start so...

Don't like Makoto much either.

Honestly, a lot of whether or not Makoto is useful to you boils down to whether you're inflicting physical ailments on enemies, too.

Haru at least has her insane gun damage output to back up her ability to capitalize on mental ailments, but Makoto's defense buff is pretty much the only unique thing she has going for her. And really isn't as useful as Ann's attack debuff (especially since I pretty much always have a persona running Auto-Maraku at the start of any important battle with MC).

Oh, you meant personality and character wise?

....Still Ann.

Tbh if we're talking about any non-boss battle or even any boss battle where it can be crit Morgana makes it trivial. It got to a point where he wouldn't NOT crit for me so that was fun.