SP/Persona/Burst Gauge Usage - Persona 4 Arena Guide - IGN (2024)

SP Gauge

The SP Gauge normally versus when in Awakening The SP Gauge starts each round at 0 and has a max of 100. SP grows over the course of the match through attacking, defending, and other actions. If a character enters Awakening, then the max becomes 150, and the character gains an extra 50 SP for free.

The SP gauge resets to 0 and Awakening is removed at the beginning of each round, so it is in your advantage to use up all available SP each round!

Gaining SP

Gainings SP is pretty simple: do just about anything! Attacking, blocking, and even getting hit all give you SP. You can also completely fill your SP gauge by hitting the opponent with a Max Burst.

Reduced SP Gain

After performing attacks that consume SP (such as Skill Boosts, One More! Cancels, Guard Cancel Attacks, Instant Kills), the amount of SP you gain from standard actions will drop significantly for a limited amount of time (speculated to be 75% reduction for 300 frames), similar to the systems found in BlazBlue and Guilty Gear.

Skill Boost

Skill boosts are similar to EX attacks in games like Street Fighter 4. Skill boosts cost 25 SP and enhance a character's special attacks by giving it new properties such as increased damage, reduced recovery, new attack angles, or something entirely unique.

When performing a Skill boost attack, the character will flash blue and have a blue silhouette trailing him/her.

SP Skill Attack

Aigis performing one of her supers SP Skill Attacks (commonly known as super attacks) cost 50SP and are giant flashy attacks. They usually do lots of damage or have other interesting properties such as invincibility. Each character has at least one super attack that is disabled until he/she enters Awakening.

When performing a super, the characters will briefly freeze in place (commonly known as "Super Flash") and the background will briefly show the character's portrait. You can also perform super cancels in order to create bigger combos.

Guard Cancel Attack

Press Right+A+B while blocking to perform an attack with guardpoint against all attacks and throws that blows the opponent away slightly. Guard Cancel attacks cost 50 SP and can help a player who is in a defensive position reverse the momentum of a match. Combos that start with a Guard Cancel Attack can not kill the opponent no matter what. The opponent will always survive with at least 1 Health.

One More! Cancel

One More! Cancels cost 50 SP. Press A + B + C after your attack either hits or is blocked by the opponent to cancel the recovery of the attack and immediately return to a neutral state. One More! Cancels can be used to extend combos, cancel the recovery of attacks to make them safe from counter attack, or to reset block strings in order to continue attacking the opponent. Note that if you whiff an attack (an attack that does not touch the opponent at all), then you can not perform a One More! Cancel.

There are also a few select attacks that can not be One More! Canceled such as Bursts, Kanji's command throws, and Furious Actions.

Instant Kill

Instant Kill attacks are aptly named: they instantly defeat your opponent. Each character's Instant Kill is unique and has very different properties, but most aren't very good. The character portrait will flash white when the Instant Kill is available. There are a few specific conditions that must be met to perform an Instant Kill: Must be match point for you, Must be able to use your Persona consumes 100 SP

Persona Gauge

The four card shaped symbols below each character's life gauge represents each persona's life. A card is lost each time the character OR his persona is hit (including by things such as Bursts) when the persona is visible.

Persona Break

If all four cards are lost, then the character enters Persona Break. While in Persona Break, attacks that use the Persona such as C and D attacks, some Specials and Supers, and Bursts are all disabled.

During Persona Break, the Persona Gauge will take 10 seconds to refill. Once refilled, the character leaves Persona Break and will have a full Persona Gauge.

Burst

A recovering Burst Gauge and a full Burst Gauge Bursts are a special type of invincible attack that can be performed by pressing A+C+D and requires a full Burst Gauge. When the Burst is unavailable, a black "B" will be shown instead. This "B" will slowly fill up over time and as you get hit. Once it's full, you can perform a burst again. If you burst at the end of a round, then next round you must wait until it refills to perform another Burst. Bursts are a precious resource and must be considered carefully before using or else you may not have it when you need it next round. An empty Burst Gauge takes 90 seconds to refill if you don't do anything, Getting hit will raise the Burst Gauge slightly. Bursts in Persona 4 Arena have different properties depending on when a burst is performed.

Max Burst

Pressing A+C+D while in a neutral state (meaning not attacking, blocking, or getting hit) will perform an Max Burst (also known as a Gold Burst). If the opponent is hit by an Max Burst, then the opponent is blown back and your SP will fill to max automatically (100 normally and 150 when in Awakening). The Burst gauge will also automatically start from 25% full instead of completely empty. You can not combo into or from a Max Burst. Thus it might be in your advantage to simply lay on the ground until you naturally recovery, however this gives your opponent more time to set up an offensive, so you must take in consideration pros and cons of this.

Defensive Burst

Press A+C+D while blocking or getting hit to perform a Defensive Burst (commonly referred to as Blue/Green Burst) that blows the opponent away on hit and deals no damage. Defensive Bursts are used to interrupt your opponent's combo or pressure and allows you to prevent damage or reset the momentum of a match. Performing a Defensive Burst completely empties the Burst Gauge. Defensive Bursts can be Disabled

Burst Gauge available versus disabled There are times when Defensive Bursts are disabled, even if your Burst Gauge is full: When being thrown When being hit by a Super Attack or Instant Kill When your Persona is disabled due to Persona Break or Mute When being hit by certain attacks like Aigis's Megido Fire The Burst Gauge will be crossed out during these conditions.

One More! Burst

Press A+C+D while performing an attack to immediately cancel your attack into a One More! Burst. One More! Bursts completely empty the Burst Gauge.

One More Bursts have the following properties: Blow the opponent into the air on hit, allowing for an easy combo Upscales damage scaling, meaning further hits in the combo will do more damage than they otherwise would.