Breakdown walkthrough of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax’s shadow characters, the TRUE self!

“I am a shadow… the TRUE self!” Persona 4 Arena Ultimax introduces playable shadow versions of most the characters. These versions of their non-shadow selves play quite similarly but have a completely different feel and strategy to them. In a sense, by adding shadow characters, Atlus has doubled their character pool.

First things first, shadows cannot:

• Use bursts
• Awaken
• Use Instant Kill Finishers

Shadows:

• Have 2000 more HP
• Do 20% less damage
• Gain SP at nearly double the rate of non-shadows
• Their SP carries over from round to round
• If the shadow wins while Shadow Frenzy is up, you’ll retain half of your SP into next round
• Use Awakened SP Skills anytime

Shadow Frenzy:

• Need 100 SP
• Activate by pressing down 3 times then X+Y+B or Square+Triangle+Circle
• SP drains during
• SP moves at reduced cost
• Normal attacks can be jump canceled

Your ability to rapidly gain SP and enter Shadow Frenzy makes up for your lack of raw damage. The ability to literally chain SP Skills into each other multiple times during one frenzy can be absolutely devastating. Not needing to be awakened is nice for the chance to chain Awakened SP Skills whenever but the lack of that extra and bonus 50 SP when you’re almost beat sucks. I definitely suggest giving your true self a whirl – you may like what you find.