Chie Satonaka

A second-year at Yasogami High. A girl who loves kung fu and meat. Learns physical skills. Expect powerful attacks, but her low SP hinders her utility. Best in the front row. Chie is one of the physical powerhouses in the game, with an innate Power Charge, Mind’s Eye and Furious Fists (her 4th skill), making it so she will be getting a lot of critical hits. Couple this with her good luck and agility, and you have a very powerful member of the party. Despite the low SP, her constant critical hits will make it so it doesn’t really matter.

Kanji Tatsumi

A first-year at Yasogami High. An impulsive but faithful young man. Learns electric and support skills. His attacks are powerful, but his lack of speed is a problem. Best used in the front row. Kanji, as the description above points out, is a physical bruiser and a slow character. However, his slow speed is offset by the fact he learns Bestial Roar/Dragon Cry naturally, so he’ll always have the chance to go first with a single skill. Give him Power Charge and some multi-hit physical skills, and he’ll be able to deal a large amount of damage. His 4th skill, Uprising, basically makes it so his attack is greater when enemies have higher HP.

Naoto Shirogane

A first-year at Yasogami High. The “Detective Prince” who helps police. Learns light and dark skills. She is well-trained, but won’t learn skills to make her shine. Best used in the back row. Naoto is the closest thing to a broken character in this game. Not only does she have high Luck, Speed and Magic, but she learns both dark and light skills. Slap Impure Reach on her, which can be gotten as low as level 14, and she makes most random encounters trivial. It’s wise to give her a physical skill that can be used from the back row, since the chance of a critical hit will give her Boost, so she can use her Almighty spells more often. If there’s any downside to Naoto, it’s that her initial skillset doesn’t make her great in fighting bosses and FOEs, so it’s a good idea to make her specialize in ailments or binds.

Persona 4 Protagonist

A second-year at Yasogami-High. Leader of the Investigation Team. Learns electric skills. Basically an all-round type. Good at almost everything. He’s best in the front row. As the description says, the P4 Protagonist is an all-round character and is best suited for the front row. He has strong attack and defense, also learning both physical and magical attacks, but his balanced stats tend to make him average and he is surpassed in certain areas by other characters. Of course, he does make a good tank and can act before most enemies, but there are other characters that are faster than him. One of the biggest pluses to using him is when his Persona is upgraded, he’ll resist everything but light and dark, with dark being nulled.

Teddie

A mysterious creature from the TV world, now living in Yosuke’s closet. Learns ice and healing skills. Versatile and useful, he is adorable, but somewhat slow. Best used on the front line. Teddie is considered to be one of the worst characters in the game, as his innate skills aren’t that great, he is slow, and his role isn’t clearly defined (although he is a support character by some definitions). Coupled with his low speed is low endurance, making it so you might have to put him in the back row. He only gains access to ice skills and revival ones, making it so you have to do some work to make him useful. One of his few plus sides is that he has great Luck, which means it might be possible to make him a debuffer, although something like a Ma-Ag accessory might make him work better. His 4th skill, Amrita, fully heals a single party member, along with removing any ailments and binds.

Yosuke Hanamura

A second-year at Yasogami High. Son of the Junes store manager. Learns wind skills. Has great speed, but is disappointingly unlucky. He’s best in the front row. His description describes Yosuke perfectly, as he is a fast character that has horrible luck. This is troublesome, as he does learn one of the best status ailments in the game, Panic (Tentarafoo). Of course, you can use a Ma-Lu switch accessory to give him a better chance to make the ailment stick. You can also switch his Magic and Strength to make him a linker. His 4th skill, Death Needle, is not that great, as there are both better physical moves and insta-kills.

Yukiko Amagi

A second-year at Yasogami High. Prim, but with an odd sense of humor. Learns fire and healing skills. Her elemental attacks are powerful, but watch out for her low HP. Best suited for the back row. Yukiko is similar to Yukari in a lot of ways, as they are magic-based characters in a game that is dominated by physical attacks. She’s good at healing, but she’s slow and will need to heal with the enemies’ attacks known beforehand, so she can heal after they inflict damage. However, she only has access to single-target healing skills, meaning that Yukari edges out over her there. One of the better ways to use Yukiko is by outfitting her with a St-Ma accessory and give her Flame Link, Fire Amp (or Boost), Demon’s Cut and you’ll have a great linker with Dragon Cry.