☆ Version 3.2 is now live: Tempest Riko
┣ Winds of Change | Windplum Dance
┗ Demogorgon | Riko Synergy | Mio Synergy
★ Version 3.1 Content: Howler | Runa Synergy
☆ Tier Lists: Characters | Personas | Rerolls
★ Boards: Companio | Friends | Toy Trading
Runa Dogenzaka, AKA Howler, is a playable character in Persona 5: The Phantom X (P5X). Read on for details on Howler's build, along with her character profile, voice actors, weapons, her Persona and their skills, how to use her, materials to raise her, and best team comps here!
| Character Guides | |
|---|---|
| Runa Dogenzaka Character Build | Runa Dogenzaka Synergy Bond Guide |
List of Contents
Howler Runa Dogenzaka |
| Persona |
|---|
| Aura |
| JP Voice Actor |
| Mikako Takahashi |
| CN Voice Actor |
| TBD |
Howler Runa Dogenzaka |
| Persona |
|---|
| Aura |
| JP Voice Actor |
| Mikako Takahashi |
| CN Voice Actor |
| TBD |
Runa Dogenzaka shows up in the Metaverse as Howler in the Metaverse. They do not have powers to wield a Persona, but they still assist Wonder and his team as they descend down Mementos.
| Character Rating | Reroll Rating |
|---|---|
|
►Characters Tier List |
►Reroll Tier List |
Howler specializes in inflicting either a single-target or an AoE defense debuff on the enemies. Her AoE has conditions where only Fire, Ice, Wind, Electric, or Resonance damage can benefit the extra defense debuff, while outside of that, they can only use half of it. She has the strongest defense debuff for AoE damage dealers, but other than that, she does not excel much, hence her placement in S-tier.
![]() Aura |
|||||||||
| Rarity | 5★ | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Affinity | |||||||||
| Role | |||||||||
| Weaknesses and Resistances | |||||||||
| - | - | △ | - | - | |||||
| ◯ | - | - | - | - | |||||
◯ = Weakness | △ = Resists | - = Neutral
Aura is Howler's initial Persona, which is unlocked upon being pulled by obtaining the character either through story progression, events, or the Gacha Banners.
| Skill | Cost | Tags |
|---|---|---|
Welcome Hug
|
- | Fire / Multi-Target |
| Effect: Deal Fire damage to all foes equal to 48.0% of Attack. Decrease target's Defense by 15.4% of Runa's ailment accuracy for 2 turns (up to 17.3%). Also, when the target of this effect takes Fire, Ice, Wind, or Electric skill damage, decrease Defense by 17.3% more. The Defense decrease effects from this skill and Furrious Bark do not stack. Also, 50% chance to inflict Burn on the target, and gain Big Welcome for 2 turns | ||
Furrious Bark
|
- | Fire / Single-Target |
| Effect: Deal Fire damage to 1 foe equal to 112.0% of Attack. Decrease target's Defense by 9.6% + 31.4% of Runa's ailment accuracy (up to 35.2%) for 2 turns. The Defense decrease effects from this skill, and Welcome Hug do not stack. Also, gain Furrocious Follow-Up for 2 turns. | ||
Woof Woof Blaze
|
- | Fire / Multi-Target |
| Effect: Usable when Big Welcome or Furrocious Follow-Up are active. This skill's damage is counted as a Resonance. Deal Fire damage to all foes equal to 72.0% of Attack. Increase target's damage taken by 24% of Runa's ailment accuracy (up to 26.9%), and Fire, Ice, Electric and Wind damage taken by 13.4% for 2 turns, or Deal Fire damage to 1 foe equal to 144.0% of Attack. Increase target's damage taken by 34.3% of Runa's ailment accuracy (up to 38.4%), and Resonance damage taken by 19.2% for 2 turns. | ||
Thief Tactics
|
- | Fire |
| Effect: Deal Fire damage to all foes equal to 140.8% of Attack. Permanently inflict 2 Enthusiastic Fuse stacks on foes. Stacks up to 2 times. Enthusiastic Fuse: When any foe takes Fire, Ice, Electric, or Wind skill damage or Resonance damage, spend 1 Enthusiastic Fuse stack, and increase the damage by 22.9% of Runa's ailment accuracy (up to 25.6%). If Runa's skills and Resonance activate this effect, Enthusiastic Fuse will not be spent.
1 More: Deal Fire damage to 1 foe. |
||
Peppy Guard Dog
|
- | Hidden / Talent |
| Effect: During battle, increase Runa's Attack by 20% of her ailment accuracy. | ||
Faithful Dog
|
- | Hidden / Talent |
| Effect: When Runa inflicts a debuff on a foe with a skill, increase her Attack by 11% for 1 turn. When an ally deals Fire, Ice, Electric or Wind damage or Resonance damage, grant them the same Attack increase effect. | ||
| Skill Rotation | |
|---|---|
| Order | Skill |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
| Skill Rotation | |
|---|---|
| Order | Skill |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
| 4 | |
If you are facing against a single enemy, you want to start the fight with Furrious Bark to deal single-target damage and inflict more defense debuff to the enemy.
If you are facing multiple enemies, you want to start the fight with Welcome Hug to deal AoE damage and inflict a decent amount of defense down to the enemies. Do take note that this skill has more restrictions where the additional defense debuff will only apply to Fire, Ice, Wind or Electric elements.
After using either Furrious Bark or Welcome Hug, you only have 2 turns until you can spend the unique effect it gives you to use Woof Woof Blaze. If you used Furrious Bark then it will turn to a single-target skill. However, if you used Welcome Hug it will remain as an AoE skill. Both effects will inflict the same defense debuff that is related to the previous skill you used before Woof Woof Blaze.
If you have her at Awareness 6 you can use both skills before using Woof Woof Blaze to get the most out of it inflicted to your enemies.
Use highlight only if your main DPS of the team can't activate and they are the next character to act after this because this highlight will inflict a unique debuff that increases the damage they receive but only for 2 Fire, Ice, Wind, Electric or Resonance skills. Do take note that Runa's skills will not consume Enthusiastic Fuse stacks.
| Jump to a Section! | |
|---|---|
| Priority | Skill |
|---|---|
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
| 4 |
You want to max all of her skills except her Thief Tactics as much as you can because she uses all of it all the time depending on your team. However, if you need to prioritize then maxing out Welcome Hug first is ideal as she performs well with AoE damage dealing characters such as Panther. Do the same for her Furrious Bark as both skills works the same except for if you need single-target or AoE debuff.
Next would be Woof Woof Blaze to increase the effectiveness of it, as she will always use it on her second turn or third if you have her at Awareness 6. Last would be her Thief Tactics or her highlight, you can leave it at level 8 as she rarely uses it.
| Recommended Cards | |
|---|---|
Freedom
|
Defeat
|
| Recommended Main Stats |
Recommended Substats |
| • Damage Mult. • Ailment Accuracy • Attack |
• Ailment Accuracy • Critical Rate • Critical Damage • Attack |
Howler's best cards are Freedom, for a party-wide damage dealt increase to enemies inflicted with a debuff and Defeat for more ailment accuracy and damage of her skill.
For her main and sub stats, her star slot should always be Ailment Accucary because her skills scales with it. You also need to hit at least 180% Ailment Accuracy for her skills to reach the maximum amount of debuff she can inflict to the enemies. The rest of her stats should be offensive so aim for Damage Mult., Critical Rate, Critical Damage, Pierce Rate and Attack.
Enhance Primary Skills Enhance Primary Skills Welcome Hug
・Skill Multiplier +% ・Def Decrease Cap +% Furrious Bark ・Skill Multiplier +% ・Def Decrease Cap +% ★★★★★ |
Enhance Extra Skills Enhance Extra Skills Woof Woof Blaze
・Damage Taken Increase Cap +% ・Fire Damage Taken Increase +% ・Resonance Damage Taken Increase +% Highlight ・Skill Multiplier +% ・Damage Taken Increase Cap +% ★★★★☆ |
Ailment Accuracy Ailment Accuracy Increase Ailment Acc. %
★★★☆☆ |
|||
General Stats General Stats Increase HP Increase Defense Increase Attack ★★☆☆☆ |
Damage Mult Damage Mult Increase Damage Mult +% ★☆☆☆☆ |
||||
Note: The amount of ★ indicates the Mind Level to prioritize reaching the max level with.
The best mindscape to prioritize for Runa is enhancing her Skill 1, Welcome Hug, and Skill 2, Furrious Bark, to further increase the defense debuff she inflicts to the enemies. She also uses her Skill 3, Woof Woof Blaze, a lot that is why enhancing her Skill 3 and Highlight is the second best to choose from so she can increase the damage taken of the enemies.
Once you've leveled those mindscape nodes, you will need more Ailment Accuracy to reach the higher cap it provides so level stats up for Ailment Accuracy as your third priority with Damage Mult being the last as she doesn't really need more damage.
Station Square Mascot★★★★★ |
Station Square Superstar★★★★☆ |
Howler is fully functional at Awareness 0 therefore, you can stop right away once you get her as she can perform well without needing to invest more pulls on her banner.
If you wish to change her playstyle while providing even more debuffs to the enemy then your next goal would be at Awareness 6 as she can utilize the debuffs of both Welcome Hug and Furrious Bark and change her skill rotations to every 3 turns.
| Pick your team! |
|---|
|
|
| Recommended Personas for Wonder | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
★★★ Surt
|
★★★★★ Dominion
|
★★★★ Dionysus
|
|||||||||
| Party Composition | |||||||||||
Howler
|
Panther
|
Chord
|
Oracle
|
||||||||
Howler's goal in this team is to provide high AoE defense debuff to the enemies and further increase fire damage output of this team.
Wonder will start with Surt with the Ex Machina dagger for more fire damage buff. He first uses Dionysus to provide more crit rate and crit damage buffs then to Surt using Marakunda to inflict an AoE defense debuff then on the third turn to Dominion and casting Cohesion to provide a massive damage boost.
| Recommended Personas for Wonder | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
★★★★★ Thor
|
★★★★ Dionysus
|
★★★★★ Vishnu
|
|||||||||
| Party Composition | |||||||||||
Howler
|
Bui
|
Chord
|
Oracle
|
||||||||
Howler's job for this team is to provide single-target defense debuff and increased resonance damage taken while helping BUI activate her follow-up often because all of Howler's skills are attacks.
Wonder will start with Thor with the Ex Machina dagger for more electric damage buff to the party. He rotates to Dionysus on the first turn to cast Rebellion on BUI then switch to Vishnu, cast Wind of Nirvana to reduce defense of the enemy and get a chance for a follow-up with BUI. The buffs these personas provide only lasts 2 turns so this team only needs 2 personas to function with Thor only there to provide the electric damage buff at combat start.
| Awareness Level | Effect and Details |
|---|---|
A0 |
Station Square Mascot When Big Welcome or Furrocious Follow-Up are active, Runa can use Woof Woof Blaze. When using Woof Woof Blaze, 60% chance to decrease target's healing received by 30%/40%/50%, and Defense by 6%/12%/18% (effect changes at Lv. 1/50/70, respectively) for 2 turns. |
A1 |
Legendary Devotion After using Woof Woof Blaze and activating the effects of Big Welcome, increase target's Fire, Ice, Electric and Wind damage taken by 36% for 2 turns. When activating the effects of Furrocious Follow-Up, increase target's Resonance damage taken by 50% for 2 turns. |
A2 |
Trapped in Shibuya When a foe has a debuff inflicted by Runa, increase target's critical damage taken by 36%, and decrease healing received by 20%. |
A3 |
I ❤︎ Shichi-kun! Increase the skill levels of Woof Woof Blaze and Thief Tactics by 3. |
A4 |
Welcome to Shibuya! Highlight Enhanced: Increase number of Enthusiastic Fuse stacks inflicted on foes to 4, and increase the maximum number of stacks to 4. |
A5 |
I ❤︎ Shibuya! Increase the skill levels of Welcome Hug and Furrious Bark by 3. |
A6 |
Station Square Superstar At the start of battle, gain Big Welcome, Furrious Bark,, and Woof Woof Blaze by 1 turn. When Big Welcome and Furrocious Follow-Up are both active, increase Woof Woof Blaze's Fire, Ice, Electric, and Wind damage taken effect on all foes by 30%, increase the Resonance damage taken effect on the main target by 60%, and the effects granted by Big Welcome and Furrocious Follow-Up will both activate (the damage taken increase effects do not stack, and the greater effect is applied). |
Cerberus Claws★★★★★ |
HP:172 ATK:56 DEF:34 | Doggone Savage Increase ailment accuracy by 36%. When an ally uses a Fire, Ice, Electric or Wind skill or activates a Resonance, increase Runa's ailment accuracy by 23% for 2 turns. This effect does not stack. When using Woof Woof Blaze and activating the effect of Big Welcome, decrease the target's Defense by 16.7% more for 3 turns. When the effect of Furrocious Follow-Up is activated, decrease the target's Defense by 33.3% for 3 turns. These 2 debuffs do not stack. |
|---|---|
Hunting Hound Claws★★★★☆ |
HP:138 ATK:45 DEF:27 | Doggone Vicious Increase Attack by 12%. When Big Welcome or Furrocious Follow-up is active, increase Runa's ailment accuracy by 22%. |
Guard Dog Claws★★★☆☆ |
HP:103 ATK:33 DEF:20 | Doggone Devoted For every foe inflicted by Runa's debuffs, increase Fire damage by 5.4% (up to 16.2%) |
Plushie Claws★★☆☆☆ |
HP:86 ATK:28 DEF:17 | Doggone Determined Increase Attack by 11.3% |
| Level Unlocked | Materials Required |
|---|---|
| Lv. 10 to Lv. 20 | |
| Lv. 20 to Lv. 30 | Whiff of Iris x12 |
| Lv. 30 to Lv. 40 | |
| Lv. 40 to Lv. 50 | |
| Lv. 50 to Lv. 60 | |
| Lv. 60 to Lv. 70 | Essence of Iris x12 |
| Lv. 70 to Lv. 80 | Essence of Iris x18 |
| Total Needed |
Whiff of Iris x17 Essence of Iris x30 |
| Skill Level | Materials Required |
|---|---|
| To Lv. 2 | |
| To Lv. 3 | |
| To Lv. 4 | |
| To Lv. 5 | |
| To Lv.6 | |
| To Lv. 7 |
|
| To Lv. 8 |
|
| To Lv.9 |
|
| To Lv.10 |
|
| Total Needed |
|
Howler currently has the highest defense debuff against multiple enemies if Oracle is out of the picture. However, the added defense debuff is restricted to Fire, Ice, Wind and Electric elements only unlike her single-target skill, Furrious Bark, which is a universal defense down without any conditions to meet.
This makes her a bit awkward to place in existing strong teams for example, Noir, Queen or Joker's teams but outstanding when paired with F. Mont, Ann or Fox. Basically, only pull for her if you ever need another Saboteur to any of your teams and it is worth noting that she will be permanently added in the standard pool 6 months after her banner ends.

Runa Dogenzaka, or better known as Howler, released on the Version 3.1 update of P5X, which was on January 22, 2026 after the end of Justine and Caroline's banner.
Version 3.1 Patch Notes and Summary

| Wonder's Team | ||
|---|---|---|
Nagisa (Wonder) |
Lufel (Cattle) |
Motoha (Closer) |
Shun (Soy) |
Wind(Riko) |
- |
| Alternate Characters | ||
Summer Closer |
Seaside Tomoko |
Frostgale Kotone |
Tempest Riko |
- | - |
| Phantom Idols | ||
Yaoling (Rin) |
Haruna (Riddle) |
Yui (Bui) |
Minami (Marian) |
Yumi (Phoebe) |
Seiji (Fleuret) |
Kiyoshi (Key) |
Yukimi (Yuki) |
Miyu (Puppet) |
Kotone (Mont) |
Tomoko (Moko) |
Leo (Leon) |
Kayo (Okyann) |
Toshiya (Sepia) |
Chizuko (Vino) |
Yumi (Phoebe) |
Ayaka (Chord) |
Kira (Messa) |
Masaki (Cherish)
|
Runa (Howler) |
- |
| Phantom Thieves of Heart | ||
Makoto (Queen) |
Yusuke (Fox) |
Ren (Joker) |
Morgana (Mona) |
Ryuji (Skull) |
Ann (Panther) |
Futaba (Oracle) |
Haru (Noir)
|
- |
| Velvet Attendant | ||
Justine and Caroline |
- | - |
| Upcoming Persona 5: The Phantom X Characters | ||
|---|---|---|
| Luce | Matoi | Ange |
| Turbo | Berry | Blitz |
| Upcoming Alternates for Characters | ||
| Wind (Strategist) |
Rin (Chinese New Year) |
Marian (Summer) |
| Puppet (Summer) |
Yui (Nuclear) | - |
| Upcoming Phantom Thieves of Heart | ||
| Crow | Violet | - |
| Upcoming Collaboration Characters | ||
| Makoto (P3) | Yukari | Akihiko |
| Mitsuru | Fuuka | - |
Runa Dogenzaka (Howler) Character Build



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