Best Fox (Yusuke Kitagawa) Build in Persona 5: The Phantom X

Yusuke Kitagawa (codename: Fox) is an aggressive damage dealer who makes his debut on Persona 5: The Phantom X's global server. As a Sweeper unit, he specializes in Ice attribute attacks and AoE damage. Together with his Persona, Goemon, they inflict enemies with Taunt effects and deal damage to them through Counterattacks. As one of the original Phantom Thief characters who arrived in Version 1.2, Fox excels at crowd control effects, inflicting Freeze effects, and dealing Counter damage to enemy targets.

This guide provides an introduction to Fox and his Main Persona, Goemon, in Persona 5: The Phantom X, including a breakdown of the Phantom Thief's combat specializations and recruitment conditions. Additionally, this page outlines the Phantom Thief's essential Persona skills, valuable Awareness skills, recommended Space and Heaven Cards, preferred Katana weapons, and suggested teammates by role. Lastly, this Fox build guide recommends the best Normal Personas and Dagger weapons to equip when teaming up with Wonder in combat.

Fox and Goemon Overview

Before you start leveling Fox and his Persona, Goemon, you need to understand his abilities and combat specializations in Persona 5: The Phantom X. Here is Fox's character summary, including how to recruit the Phantom Thief in the game.

Fox Phantom Idol Information

Goemon Persona Skills and Priorities

Raising Goemon's Persona skills increases his Counterattacks and Ice attribute damage. Here are Goemon's Persona skills, with their priorities:

Goemon Persona Skills and Effects

The following are Goemon's skills, including their skill cost, type, and effects:

Goemon Persona Skill Priorities

The following are the suggested Persona skills for Goemon to level up in order of priority:

Goemon's Keen Eye support skill is his primary skill, since it increases his Counterattack damage based on his Defense stat, and it also provides Shield effects to him. Next, Keen Eye activates Taunt effects against enemies and boosts his resistance to Fire attacks and negative statuses. After that, level Bone-Chilling Cold to increase his AoE damage, which deals five strikes to enemies, while Keen Eye is on cooldown. Then, increase Goemon's Thief Tactics skill to increase the damage of his Highlight ultimate and improve his Inspiration counter chance. Lastly, raising Goemon's Frozen Presence skill is optional, as it would only benefit teammates who capitalize on his Freeze effects or game modes that grant bonus damage to foes under Freeze status.

Always keep Fox covered with a barrier to increase his Ice damage and Piece rate (Penetration rate) against foes.

Goemon Persona Skill Rotation

Here's the recommended Persona skill rotation for Goemon:

Goemon's skill rotation switches between his Keen Eye and Bone-Chilling Cold skills. Start your first turn by utilizing Keen Eye to taunt enemies and prepare for Inspiration counterattacks. On your next turn, use Bone-Chilling Cold to attack foes numerous times, while dealing Ice damage to them based on Fox's Defense stat. If you wish to inflict Freeze on a main target, utilize Frozen Presence rather than Bone-Chilling Cold for one turn. Always utilize Goemon's Highlight ultimate while it's available.

Always check the status of your enemies, since some shadows can nullify or absorb Ice damage as HP.

Fox Awareness Skills and Priorities

Getting multiple copies of Fox will improve his abilities and damage. Fox's Awareness Skills and their priorities are as follows:

Fox Awareness Skills and Effects

The following are Fox's Awareness skills, including their levels and effects:

Fox Awareness Skill Priorities

Here are the Awareness Skills vital for Fox in order of importance:

Getting Fox's A1 skill, Natural Talent, will increase his counter damage. Furthermore, this Awareness skill enables Fox to activate his Imagination counterattack immediately after utilizing his Keen Eye skill twice in battle. If you reach A2, Fox will gain more damage from his counterattacks, but the condition requires him to be at least 70% HP. Having this Awareness Skill active will be challenging if your team cannot sustain it with healing or shields for the rest of the battle. To get the most out of Fox, you can pull multiple copies of him and reach A6. Unlocking Fox's Awareness Skill 6 will double the instance of his counterattacks and significantly increase his damage. Lastly, Fox will gain a Pierce rate or Penetration rate increase against enemies.

If Fox is at Awareness Skill 2, you will need a healer on the team to keep his HP at 70% or higher. This will keep his Counter Damage boost active in combat.

Best Card Sets for Fox

Fox, as a DPS unit, has few card set options as of Version 1.2. Here are recommended Space and Heaven card sets for Fox and Goemon, along with their optimal main stats and substats:

Meditation and Opulence Card Set (Crit-based Counter DPS Build)

This card set improves the damage of Fox's Ice attacks and Counterattacks. Also, the Meditation and Opulence card pairing provides Fox Crit Damage bonuses. Using this set will be beneficial for event battles or game modes that feature Follow-up damage or Counter damage buffs.

The Meditation and Opulence card set is excellent for Fox builds that lack Crit Multiplier or Crit Damage stats.

Growth and Opulence Card Set (Ice-based Counter DPS Build)

Another choice for Fox is the Growth and Opulence card set. This set does not provide Crit Damage, but instead focuses more on his Ice attribute damage and Counterattacks. Also, the Ice damage stacks in this card set provide Fox with an extra source of damage boost, allowing his team to win game modes that demand high scores, such as Nightmare's Gateway and Velvet Trials.

This Growth and Opulence card set can also be assigned to other Ice DPS units like Mont.

Faith and Peace Card Set (Defense-based Counter DPS Build)

Fox's damage scales with Defense, so the Faith and Peace card set would benefit him. Plus, the Shield effects he received from his allies and Wonder's Normal Personas would significantly improve his counterattacks in battle.

You can assign the Peace Heaven cards to other Defense-based units like Yuki or Puppet.

Fox Card Set Main Stats and Substats

The following are the suggested primary stats and substats for Fox's Space Card and Heaven Cards:

Defense Percentage, Crit Rate, Crit Multiplier (Critical Damage), Pierce Rate (Penetration), and Speed are Fox's top picks for main stats and substats. As a Defense-scaling DPS, he needs a substantial increase in his Defense stat to boost his counterattacks in combat. Although Fox is a damage dealer, he needs Speed stats to act first before the rest of the team. This allows him to cast his Keen Eye skill early and apply Taunt effects on enemies.

When it comes to Fox's Moon Heaven Card, it can be either Defense Percentage or Attack Multiplier (Damage Bonus). Defense Percentage is more valuable in the long term because Fox's Counter damage scales with it.

Fox's Frozen Presence and Bone-Chilling Cold skills also scale with his Defense stat.

Best Weapons for Fox

Fox's Katana weapons enhance his Defense and Counterattack damage. His best weapons are provided below:

Fox's five-star and four-star weapons help improve his Defense stat and Counter damage. What distinguishes Shadowkiller is that it takes advantage of his shields and uses them as an additional damage boost for his counterattacks. In addition, this five-star weapon substantially increases his defense and damage multipliers. However, these dedicated weapons for Yusuke do not enhance his other priority stats, such as Crit Rate, Crit Multiplier, Penetration, and Speed. To compensate, players can craft Space and Heaven cards to feature these stats. Also, they can partner Fox with Strategist characters who can provide these buffs.

Best Wonder Weapons for Fox

Wonder's dagger weapons also improve Fox and Goemon's combat abilities. His preferred Wonder Weapons are as follows:

Wonder's All-In dagger is the recommended Wonder weapon for Fox-centric teams in Version 1.2. This dagger offers Fox improved shields and damage boosts in the form of defense bonuses. For future dagger weapons, Wonder can choose between Ex Machina and Starry Compass. Ex Machina is effective with Mono-Ice teams or Ice-focused teams featuring Fox as your main DPS. Meanwhile, Starry Compass can reduce the enemies' defense and make them susceptible to Freeze status.

Best Wonder Personas for Fox

Wonder's Normal Personas can help Fox and Goemon in battle. Below are his suggested Normal Personas:

Early Game Normal Personas

Endgame Normal Personas

Normal Personas that specialize in casting buffs, establishing debuffs, inflicting Freeze status, and applying Shield effects are the best Wonder Personas for Fox and Goemon. Personas who can constantly cast shields are essential for the Phantom Thief since they maintain the buffs from his passive skills, Painter's Focus and Artist's Intuition, active throughout a battle. In addition, having shield coverage prevents him from getting knocked down by Fire attacks and being inflicted with ailment effects. Furthermore, gaining protection buffs from these Personas will dramatically boost his Ice attribute damage and counterattacks.

Best Teammates for Fox

In Persona 5: The Phantom X, Fox and Goemon have several party members to pick from. Here are their suggested teammates by combat role:

Fox Recommended DPS Teammates

Fox has several Sub DPS or Support DPS choices available for him in Version 1.2, like Mont and Bui. Given that Mont and Fox have the same Ice attribute, she can equip a Harmony and Power card set to boost Fox and their team's Attack Multiplier or Damage Bonus stat. As for Bui, she can utilize a Trust and Prosperity card combo to increase their damage in combat. Otherwise, she can use her passive skill, Let's Go Together, to enhance the Crit Rate of Fox.

In Version 4.2.1, Fox has more DPS teammates available, such as Mont Figure Skater, Violet, and Crow. Mont Figure Skater, a five-star variant of Mont, can change into her Ice attribute form and cast a field called Winter Night Domain that provides additional shields to Fox. Also, Mont Figure Skater can grant a defense boost to Fox through her passive skill, Longing. As for Violet, she can provide a Crit Rate buff to Fox through her Dance Partner skill if you get her at A1. When it comes to Crow, he already has access to buffs and debuff skills that Fox can capitalize on. At A2, the Detective Prince can provide more damage boosts to Fox, provided that he uses a different elemental skill than the one he used previously in battle.

Allowing Fox's DPS teammates to switch to card sets with support-related effects will lower their damage in combat.

Fox Recommended Support Teammates

Fox is compatible with any 5-star or 4-star support characters except for Key. Buff support units such as Moko and Leon increase his damage output, while Riddle increases his defense stat and shields received. Debuff units like Rin and Vino can weaken enemies' defenses, allowing the Phantom Thief to do more counter damage.

Fox has more Strategist and Saboteur allies available for him in Version 4.2.1. Buff support units like Wind Vast and Summer Marian focus on increasing Fox's Crit Rate and Crit Multiplier stats. Meanwhile, Turbo and Luce improve Fox Pierce's rate and Defense stat. When it comes to Chord, she assists Fox in activating his Highlight skill early on, ensuring that his Inspiration counterattacks remain active in battle. Howler, like Rin and Vino, supports Fox in reducing opponent defenses.

Howler and Turbo will become available in the Phantom Idol Draft standard banner once their debut and featured banner releases have ended. However, their inclusion in the standard banner will take at least six months.

Fox Recommended Sustain Teammates

Fox has limited options for healers and shielders. For Medic characters, he works well with Marian A1, who gives additional Pierce rate bonuses. Yukari will be another healer option for him in future versions because she can deliver Attack Multiplier bonuses and reduce enemy damage. Yuki is Fox's recommended Guardian ally in Version 1.2, as she can provide him with defensive boots and shields during battle. Cherish will be added later in the game, and he is Fox's top-tier teammate in terms of damage buffs, defense increase, and shield coverage.

You can acquire a copy of Marian and Cherish in their debut banner release. Then, wait for them to become available in the standard banner to get their duplicate copies by chance. Waiting for Marian's inclusion in the standard banner will take 6 months in the Global, JP, and SEA servers.

Fox Recommended Navigator Teammates

Fox and Goemon work well with most Elucidator characters in Persona 5: The Phantom X. Among them, Puppet and Oracle provide damage boosts, debuffs, and shield coverage. Alternative options are Phoebe and Ange, who grant Elemental damage and Pierce rate bonuses to Fox, respectively.

Phoebe is the only five-star Navigator available in the standard banner after her debut and limited banner ends.

Yusuke Kitagawa is an important DPS character to acquire in Persona 5: The Phantom X. As Fox, he provides the player access to Ice attribute damage. Like Bui, he can deal Follow-up attacks through Counter damage, and inflict Freeze effects on enemies. As a defense-scaling unit, Fox can be played without healers and survive through the shield provided by Yuki and Puppet. In the future versions of P5X, Fox will get better teammates, such as Mont Figure Skater and Cherish, who will increase his damage output and enhance his defense-scaling abilities.

Having Fox and Goemon on the player's roster broadens the player's team-building possibilities in Persona 5: The Phantom X. With his unique skill set, the player can build several teams, such as Mono-Ice, Follow-Up, and Counterattack teams. Similar to Closer and Joker, this artistic Phantom Thief can lead his team and clear battles with or without a Sub DPS. By leveling Fox's essential Persona skills and using the appropriate card sets, he can withstand any challenging encounters and respond to enemies with his unrelenting counterattacks.