Kindness is just one of many social stats that you’ll have to improve over Persona 5’s campaign, and it might be a bit more challenging than anticipated. Dialogue options generally don’t improve kindness apart from very specific scenarios. Luckily, there are a few ways to raise kindness in Persona 5 consistently, and we’re here to help you get the most benefits from your interactions.
All the Ways to Raise Kindness in Persona 5
Out of all social stats, kindness is probably one of the most counterintuitive to raise. It doesn’t get increased during regular dialogue, and choosing options that appear kind or empathetic won’t actually raise the stat.
There are a few primary sources of kindness in the game, most of which are repeatable and don’t require a significant investment.
Tending to the Houseplant
When you decide to clean up your living quarters inside Café Leblanc, you’ll immediately get a small plant in your care. Each time you fertilize the plant, you get a slight boost to kindness depending on the nutrient’s quality (i.e., price).
Plant nutrients can be bought from a few shops around the map, namely the underground mall flower shop and the discount store in Shibuya, alongside other flower shops you encounter. There are three tiers of plant nutrients:
- Garden Energy costs 500 yen and gives one kindness.
- Bio Nutrients cost 1,200 yen and provide two kindness points.
- Mega Fertilizer is pricy at 3,000 yen but will boost your kindness by three points.
The plant can be tended to once every 16 days, allowing you to get kindness over time slowly. It’s not much, but it’s a steady stream of stat boosts. Tending to the plant doesn’t cost time, so you can do it without repercussions at the end of the day.
Working Customer Service
You can get various customer service jobs in the area, including working at Café Leblanc itself. Interacting with customers can provide you with a steady kindness increase. However, not all restaurants or customer-oriented jobs provide kindness, so you will need to check whether your current one does.
Reading Books
Most books in the game help your character one way or another. Check out the books available in the school library or the bookstore to find some that build up your kindness stat:
- “Zorro, the Outlaw” in the Shujin Library
- “The Illusory Popess” in the Shujin Library
- “Buchiko’s Story” in Taiheido Bookstore
- “Call me Chief” in Naiguri Bookstore
Some locations and books are locked behind other books and character appearances, and you only have “Zorro” available from the game start for a moderate (3 note) boost.
Helping Certain NPCs
Some NPC interactions can improve your social stats, including kindness. Talking to lonely people is generally the best way to improve this stat short term, but this strategy relies on finding the NPCs suitable for the kindness gain.
Interacting with Sojiko Sakura (Hierophant) and Shinya Oda (Tower) is your best way of getting kindness points from NPC, and you should look for them whenever you need a boost to progress into the next rank.
Why Does Kindness Matter
You need to advance kindness to higher ranks early and often if you want to progress further into the game. It will also give you access to more playable characters and game locations.
A higher rank of kindness will also allow you to improve your relationships with other characters, making it a vital social stat.
Be Kind in Persona 5
Ranking up your kindness stat is a somewhat lengthy process in Persona 5. However, it’s not particularly thought-intensive, and the few repeatable sources should be enough to get you to higher ranks relatively quickly.
Did you find a quicker method of raising kindness in Persona 5? Let us know in the comments below.
